An immediate infusion of light radiated throughout the throne room. Brilliant light that shone magnitudes brighter than the artificial sunlight produced from the lightstone crystals above.

All that light, light that was bespeckled with glittering speckles of gold, centralized like a mandorla around a single, humanoid figure.

The Collector did not even have time to turn to this figure's direction, and when it barely began to perceive the humanoid's form, the specimen was already upon the Collector.

In a blinding flash of gold-infused light, the specimen crossed the one hundred meters from one end of the throne room to where the Collector was in the span of a single instant.

The specimen's long, lanky punched forearm deep into the Collector's back, punching straight through the hyperalloy carapace, longchain chitinous sublayer, and ultrafiber muscle all as if there had been no resistance at all.

The Collector registered severe damage. Not damage targeted to its vitals, however as if the humanoid was intentionally keeping the Collector alive.

This close, with the humanoid's arm sunk into the Collector, it could clearly perceive its physical attributes, as well as an intensive aura of heat and the crushing weight of concentrated mana.

The humanoid was almost half the size of the Collector but still managed to raise the Collector up with one arm like it was weightless. One hundred and eighty five centimeters tall. Leanly muscled build wrapped up in a black bodysuit that extended all the way around the specimen's head before it seemingly fused into a golden mask spiked at the ends in the visage of sunlight rays.

The mask completely covered the specimen's face, leaving but the eyes open, and these were not truly human, shining like orbs of sunlight with no visible pupils.

A large, loose white mantle with golden feather trimming covered much of the humanoid's shoulders and chest. A waistcloth made of the same pure white material and feathered trimming covered its lower body, and golden, segmented greaves ran up from its feet to its shins.

The humanoid possessed a naturally exceptional amount of magical energy, but notably intensive magical energy concentrated around its forearms.

Specifically, at the glove-like structure covering them.

Golden segments wrapped around its fingers, their tips ending in sharp points like claws. Running from the five segments capping its fingers were five particularly phosphorescent, thin golden lines that ran up its knuckles through the curve of its black covered arms and ending as they attached to its ivory white shoulder pauldrons.

The humanoid's aura of magical energy emitted slight circulations of wind pressure around it, lifting up its mantle for a second.

On its chest, where its heart was, there was etched the outline of a sun shaped sigil with nine points that shone strongly gold against the black of the bodysuit.

And in the center of that solar outline, there was the numeral IX.

"Why do you run, my lovely creature?" said the humanoid. He cocked his head ever so slightly as his eyes landed on the Collector's horns. "My dear child of night?"

The Collector twisted its body as much as it could with an arm driven into the center of its back. To reach the humanoid, it dislocated its arm, bending it at unnatural backwards angle to swipe at the humanoid with monomolecular claws.

This humanoid was powerful beyond measure.

Several dozens of leagues beyond anything the Collector had encountered, even the four-star adventurer and the elites.

To the Collector's current capacity to sense mana, the humanoid might as well have had immeasurable strength.

But monomolecular claws split matter on the atomic level. No amount of durability would resist it. Not even the god the Collector had faced.

The humanoid swayed his head back, dodging the swipe. The humanoid shook his head once before four feathery wings comprised entirely of golden energy materialized to his sides.

In the next instant, the humanoid flew up to the ceiling at staggering speeds, slamming the Collector into the lightstone crystals above face first with intense impact that generated a shockwave of force.

The Collector utilized {Dispersal}, getting the general timing of this humanoid's exceptional speed to dissolve the shock of the blow.

The Collector felt carapace all around its head and chest shatter deeply even through {Dispersal}, but had it not utilized {Dispersal}, it calculated an eighty eight percent chance of suffering a near fatal wound to its brain.

"Oh, marvelous! Superb!" exclaimed the humanoid as he sensed the Collector still living. He swiveled to the side, tossing the Collector into the ground, far from the pond of hyperspace waters.

The Collector shot downwards like a meteorite, and it braced for impact, using {Dispersal} again as it gouged out an enormous crater into the ground, large chunks of shattered stone flying off from it from the impact.

The Collector felt damage wrack the entirety of its body.

Utilizing {Dispersal} was more difficult against this humanoid for he possessed enormous physical stats that far out stripped the Collector. {Dispersal} required perfect timing, and though the Collector possessed vast processing capabilities, approximating the humanoid's speed and strength was still challenging.

The Collector could still mitigate a vast majority of damage from an impact, but if the timing was even slightly more off and the dispersal incomplete, then transferring shockwaves of strong impact throughout the body imperfectly could cause severe internal damage.

And {Dispersal} was the direct opposite of {Guard} which concentrated defensive mana, meaning the Collector could not utilize both at once.

{Guard} was easier to use, more straightforward as a defense, but had less potential to mitigate as much damage.

And here, if the Collector did not take the risk to use {Dispersal}, it calculated a ninety nine percent chance of having died already. {Guard} would not nearly have been enough to fend against the humanoid's overwhelming raw stats.

"To think there would be another beautiful little night child here! To think I may bring the salvation of the sun to not one, but two shadow crawlers!" The humanoid shouted to the ceiling; his arms raised up as if in praise.

With a jarring switch in gear, the humanoid became calm again, dropping his arms to his side. He floated slowly down, pointing his masked gaze to the female daemon specimen.

"But do not be jealous, my dear, for know that it is you that I have been searching for," said the humanoid as he neared the female daemon.

The Collector stood to a knee, taking in breaths and circulating a {Flow} of mana around its body to compensate for damage accrued to its muscles and bones while the humanoid distracted himself with the daemon.

The daemon specimen tried her best to crawl away from the humanoid with one arm and severe fatigue.

She stared up at the shining humanoid with complete and abject fear, but there was not just fear there, there was recognition.

"You remember me, my lovely child, you do!" The humanoid grew excited with a shiver, and then in a split second almost teleported right atop the daemon, putting a greaved foot down on her stomach and pinning her to the hard floor.

The female daemon squirmed as the foot, almost as large as her entire, small child's waist, pressed down and slowly crushed her.

"All those nights we spend together, oh, I remember them so fondly. You must too, I know. I treated you with so much love, more love than any other wayward night child.

You must remember it, no? How I etched my love deeply into you," said the humanoid as he ran a hand across his chest slowly, as if in ecstatic remembrance.

The female daemon shuddered and squirmed again.

The Collector assessed the situation while the humanoid distracted himself.

The humanoid was not operating to his maximum combat capacity. To what degree the humanoid restrained itself, the Collector could not accurately determine for the humanoid was simply that far above the Collector.

But there was one thing the Collector knew: it had witnessed this type of magical energy before.

From the very beginning. When it had fought the enormous being of light on this world's atmosphere. The magical energy signatures were not exactly the same, but they approximated similar enough frequencies that the correlation was unmistakable.

Of course, compared to that being of light, this humanoid was nothing. Infinitely weaker.

But to the Collector now, he was leagues more powerful. A nigh unbeatable enemy.

Was this the higher end of strength upon this world? The Collector had not banked on encountering such a powerful foe this early on in its conquest.

It had calculated and determined from the amount of resistance it was facing that it was yet to have been discovered on a large scale. Its assessment of the world had determined that this planet's defenses were not yet wary of the Collector.

And, judging from the humanoid's reaction, they still did not truly know of the Collector's presence.

No, the humanoid was only after the female daemon specimen, but what was she that she merited such an extreme and formidable response?

There was no point in conjecture. The Collector geared its mental processes to the fight. To its mission.

The Collector knew it could not win in any engagement against this humanoid aside from infinitesimally improbable outcomes.

It had already suffered enough damage to compromise its combat capability to sixty four percent.

All six of its recently regrown arakka legs were completely shattered. Its wings were severely damaged, making flight untenable.

But all the Collector had to do was reach the hyperspace waters and interface with it to fulfill its mission.

Contact the Collective. Initiate a Dawning.

With the force of a thousand Collectors bearing down on this planet, nothing would survive. This humanoid's incessant rambling would turn to screams in quick order.

And all that required a simple touch, one single moment.

The Collector took one of its monomolecular claws and snapped it from the base.

While the humanoid distracted himself with the daemon, the Collector discreetly used its still barely functional spinneret to attach a thin tether of silk to the claw's shattered base.

The Collector slithered upright, eyeing first the humanoid who stood directly in the way of the Collector and the hyperspace waters, and then to the hyperspace waters, assessing a potential means to escape this predicament.