Outerspace Obliteration

Outerspace Obliteration is the second Hidden Nightmare of Chapter 4. It takes place in an area settled by a race of Aliens named the Plutonians.

Introduction
The player starts off in a huge open field with a cleared-out pathway, with several ominous scarecrows always standing in the distance. No matter how far you run towards them, they never seem to get any closer. As they walk along the pathway, they spot several drones flying around the area. The player gets spotted as the drones sound their alarms and fly into the distance. Bierce comments: "Aliens? Since when did Malak get visitors from the cosmos to serve him? Careful love, it is said the Plutonians possess technology far beyond that of humanity, don't let them take your guard down!" The player proceeds to enter the cornfield, which is Zone 1.

Act 1
Zone 1 is the same size as Bearly Buried's Zone 2. It comprises a supposedly limitless meadow of wheat and corn with an unpaved soil road permanently leading off towards the perimeter. There are tractors and farmhouses scattered around the area. A comprehensive arrangement of long-forgotten bloodstained wooden fences dots the ground of Zone 1, seemingly boundaries between sovereignty and an indication of a conceivable chronological disagreement. Drones will fly around the maze and search for the player similar to Mascot Mayhem's cameras with a blue area marking their view. If the player is detected, the drone will disappear in a bright flash and four Plutonians appear near the player in bright flashes. The Plutonians are tall and can see the player from long distances, and they move slightly faster than the player. They also can bypass surrounding obstacles with the four cybernetic tentacles protruding from their backpacks, which they rely upon as a quick and versatile mode of transportation. Occasionally, the Plutonians will use a ray gun to shoot a laser dart if they are too far away from the player, dealing moderate amounts of damage. The player can use invisibility to sneak by the drones. Five Plutonians will automatically be present in the maze, and there are ten drones, which can lead to 45 Plutonians chasing the player at a time if the player is found by all the drones.

There's also Spoocher, a robotic dog acting as the Plutonians' slave. Spoocher will rely on flashlight-like beams originating from their eyes to help them to see in the darkness, making it slightly more difficult for the player to avoid being spotted. When they see the player, they will quadruple their speed and begin playing loud music from his boombox, gathering nearby foes to the player's location and increasingly boost the player's Deafness Meter to the max (although this last until the bar drains completely, and if the bar fully rises, the effect will last a full 30 seconds). Spoocher also has the ability to use their thruster packs to launch themselves into the air, allowing them to reach taller structures above them and bust through traps and windows, offering him a rapid alternative to ambushing the player. Collect all the soul shards and proceed to Zone 2, the campsites.

Act 2
Zone 2 consists of the forest with Plutonian campsites, buildings, and landing ports scattered throughout it. It is twice the size of Zone 1. The drones are not present here. The player is introduced to the variants of the Plutonians. Each variant possesses a unique ability that counters the player's own abilities which force the player to optimize their chances of survival. About 5 of each variant will spawn. Due to the Plutonians various mechanics, this can prove extremely difficult. Various traps are also present now, including security cameras that alert nearby Plutonians to the player's location, laser gates, and laser turrets. The player must collect all soul shards and leave the campsites in another open field with flat ground. Several Plutonians appear behind the player with their ray guns out, but the player uses Primal Fear on them and snatches one of their ray guns. A long set of drones named the Xenophore M.E.U appears and serves as a mid-boss.

Mid Boss Act 1
The Xenophore M.E.U will often circle the player or try to swoop down on it, with its drone segments trying to attack the player with its claws or shoot laser darts. All segments shoot and attack independently of each other. The Xenophore's head can shoot laser darts, and laser beams, charge at the player to attack the player with its claws, and fire missiles at the player through its turrets. The Xenophore moves very fast and attacks very quickly, but the huge size of the arena is enough to give dodging room. The player must use the ray gun to shoot at the Xenophore's tail segment, a target will appear in the center of the screen and the player will always aim at that spot with the gun. The projectiles the player shoots home in if the tail or head is locked onto by the target, which can help since the Xenophore moves too fast for the Blow Dart ability and is immune to Primal Fear. Pressing and holding causes the player to release a charge shot, which deals five times more damage than a normal shot. The Xenophore's tail segment has 50 normal shots of HP and the head has 100 HP. After defeating it, a huge mothership appears and the Xenophore enters it, but the player uses teleport right before the ship takes off, allowing them to enter the mothership.

Act 3
The mothership serves as Zone 3. It has narrow hallways and is three times the size of Zone 1. The interior of this futuristic mothership has everything that you can think of; it has sleeping chambers, testing areas, engine rooms, and more. It has several other rooms such as bunkers, a trash compactor, a storage room, and a cockpit. All previous Plutonian variants return, but there are now 10 of each type along with a special type: The Lich of the Stars. The Lich of the Stars is a Plutonian with specific mechanical enhancement making it a cyborg. It will hunt down the player along with other Plutonians. The Lich of the Stars can command the Plutonians similar to how Mama Bear can command the Trigger Teddies. Here, Spoocher’s AI is significantly less aggressive and dangerous, yet nonetheless still annoying enough to be a distraction tool. Spoocher will purposefully cling onto the player's legs and regularly make squeaking noises as the player is running around, increasing the likelihood of garnering the attracting nearby enemies towards their location. The player may get around this by triggering the Invincibility Barrier ability, which temporarily repels Spoocher through a single knockback.

Laser gates, turrets, and security cameras return as traps. Upon collecting all the soul shards in the mothership, the player must proceed to the engine room where they must sabotage the ship to redirect it to the Plutonian's main fortress. After rerouting the ship the floor disappears and the player finds themselves in a large chamber and the Lich of the Stars will appear, sounding the alarms and causing the monsters to enter frenzy mode. The Lich of the Stars will initiate a boss battle, and a crowd of Plutonians will watch. The Lich of the Stars will monologue: "Mortal Earthling, you dare challenge the Plutonians? Don't you know that what is the outside surrounds the inside, and just like that analogy we have you surrounded? We've already had the main fortress prepare themselves for you, and you will not be leaving this place with the ring piece, all you will get is a free invitation to death itself, as you will be assimilated into Malak's army and will no longer be able to pursue your goal of reuniting with your family!

Mid Boss Act 2
The Lich of Stars will levitate above the ground slightly, he will slash with his large laser blade, shoot laser beams from his central eye on his helmet, creating plasma spikes, shooting spears in a spread, charge forwards, teleport and create slash projectiles. After a minute, the mysterious orb from Bearly Buried will appear and give the player a weapon, with which they can hit the Lich of the Stars. The Lich must be hit 30 times (60 on Hard Mode and Infernal Mode and 90 on Lunatic Mode) before he is defeated. The Lich of the Stars will be damaged enough, and the mysterious orb will use her shock ability to finish him off. The Orb states that she cannot kill them, but she can knock them out. The Orb then instructs the player to proceed to the fortress.

Act 4
The Fortress serves as Zone 4. It is four times as large as Bearly Buried's Zone 3 and has multiple floors that can be accessed via staircases, warp portals, and elevators. The maze-like hallways are filled to the brim with futuristic architecture and technology. The disorienting nature of the halls originates from their irregular, "twisted" shape, leaving them feeling vast, yet narrow. LED lights are present on the ceiling of each hallway, serving as the only source of luminescence on the level. The Fortress looks to be located in Antarctica. All previous variants. There are now 15 of each type and 3 Liches of the Stars. A new enemy called Plutomorphus also appears. He is a deformed Plutonian: instead of an arm it has 3 red tentacles, it has a mouth on its stomach, it has a long neck, it has an arm instead of a leg and it has a mouth on its head and a long tongue. He will look for the player and chase him if he sees him, he has a unique ability, which is that he can make the enemy's ability that he consumes. For example, if Plutomorphus consumes a Wallmaker Plutonian, the Plutomorphus will have the ability to create holographic walls that counteract the ability to teleport.

Spoocher’s AI undergoes a significant personality shift, in which they’re truly obedient to a Plutonian directive and behave very militaristic in their approach. They will launch several long-reaching homing missiles that completely divert from their original path to seek the player nearby. Additionally, Spoocher can cut through the wall surface by shooting their laser beams and can deliver a short-ranged tackle that will momentarily knock the player to the ground. This stance normally only lasts a few seconds (approximately within the duration of 30 seconds maximum) with a cooldown and is initiated when one of the Plutonians issues an order to Spoocher.

All previous traps return. The room with the ring altar is located in the middle of the Fortress but is blocked off by several laser barriers. On each floor, there is a lever in a room blocked off by a soul shard barrier, which is broken when all the shards on the floor are collected. All the levers must be pulled in which the player can access the Ring Alter, but the alarms will blare again and the monsters return to their frenzy mode. Malak also appears. For every lever that is pulled, the Plutonians will call for reinforcement:
 * The first set of reinforcements are 4 Murder Monkeys and 3 Lifter Leviathans
 * The second set of reinforcements are Agatha, 6 Gold Watchers, 8 Xutep Grunts (2 of each type)
 * The third set of reinforcements are 5 Dread Duckies, 3 groups of 6 Clown Gremlins, a Jester, a Ghost Magician, two Fallen Gladiators, 3 Night Gazers and an Ectoraptor
 * The fourth set of reinforcements are 3 Reaper Nurses, a Harvester Dentist, all 5 members of the Joy Joy Gang, and Mama Bear.
 * The fifth and final set of reinforcements are Pharaoh Zumarud, Destruction Ducky, and Chuckles the Clown.

Boss Act
After collecting the ring piece, the player will be guided by an orb to a room where a small mech is located, the player must board the mech and warp back to Zone 2 where the Xenophore M.E.U was fought through a warp. In the mech, that player will have access to the turrets of the mech and a chainsaw arm. Bierce comments: "You know how to pilot this thing, right?". The player, now in the mech, must navigate through Zone 2 and Zone 1, but they can use the mech to fight off the tons of Plutonians. The player will end up in the starting fields, but the portal gets blocked off by a laser wall and suddenly the Xenophore M.E.U reappears, now in its frenzy mode. The player will then fight the Xenophore. The Xenophore retains all its previous attacks but gains new ones, such as deploying laser-firing probes, summoning artificial lightning, creating illusions of itself, and teleporting. The Xenophore must be hit 1000 times before it is defeated once again and explodes.

Escape Act
The laser wall blocking the portal vanishes, the player jumps out of the mech and heads through it, escaping and ending the level.

Trivia

 * The Lich of the Star's boss battle was inspired by the boss fight against Tartaglia in Genshin Impact.
 * The Plutonians aesthetics are based on the Martians from Terraria.
 * This level contains several Invader Zim references throughout the level:
 * For starters, the voice actor of both the Plutonians, Plutomorphus, and the Lich of the Stars respectively is Richard Steven Horvitz, whose casting choice was intentionally a nod to the eponymous villain protagonist of the series.
 * The Xenophore's color scheme happens to be mimicking the luminous parts of GIR's physical appearance. Its obsession with eating tacos and voice actor, Rosearik Rikki Simons (the same guy who previously did GIR), definitely reinforces this comparison.
 * Spoocher's appearance, mannerisms, and personality is clearly a reference to GIR as well.
 * The Xenophore's obsession with eating waffles, despite its lack of a mouth, could be a reference to the "Zim Eats Waffles" episode.
 * One of the Plutonians' kill animations where they remove the player's eyeballs in a gruesome fashion and replace them with new, artificial eyes could be a reference to the "Bestest Friend" episode.
 * The "Short Body, Big Ego" achievement has the player encountering a strange alien that looks like Zim and his pet Spoocher, who apparently are waiting to be sent to the world's moon, which is a giant food court, after crashing into the ship of the lift of the stars.
 * The name and requirement of the "Dark Harvest" achievement is an obvious reference to the infamous episode of the same name, where Zim goes on an organ-stealing rampage at Skool as an attempt at making himself seem more human so Dib won't expose him, as well as replacing his classmates' internal organs with random objects. The Plutomorphus's ability may be inspired by that episode.
 * There's a poster advertising a Joy Joy Gang restaurant through the corridors of the mothership, which may be a reference to Bloaty's Pizza Hog, a fictional Chuck E. Cheese-style restaurant chain within the Invader Zim universe. Additionally, there's also graffiti of "PUSTULIO DEMANDS YOUR ATTENTION!" scribbled on the walls, referencing the character from the "Rise of the Zitboy" episode.
 * Inside the Plutonians' fortress, there's a secret room filled with several of the Professor's inventions, including the TODD Machine (Temporal Object Displacement Device), and thousands of Hangry the Pig plushies scattered everywhere, which references the "Bad, Bad, Rubber Piggy" episode.
 * Some of the in-game soundtracks appear to contain leitmotifs from the Invader Zim OST. "Invasion", "Abduction", and "Exocity" all have the opening theme sample, whereas "Wrath of the Warping Warrior" specifically has the credits theme instead.
 * On the Mothership, there's a living room featuring two giant bologna sausages sitting on a couch, referencing the "Bolognius Maximus" episode. There's also an easter egg of Detective Evans suspended in a variable time stasis field generator, which references what originally happened to Dib at the beginning of the "Walk for Your Lives" episode.
 * The Plutonians' mech has an uncanny resemblance to the Megadoomer X-3 Combat Stealth Mech from the episode with the same name.
 * The Plutonians' skin is severely allergic to water, which is probably a reference to "The Wettening" episode.
 * At the beginning of the Lich of the Star’s entrance, the player could notice a Plutonian wearing a Trigger Teddy costume on the monitors. This could be a reference to the “Battle of the Planets” episode.
 * There are several containment pods on the Mothership that has the following characters from Invader Zim (and other works created by Jhonen Vasquez) trapped inside. These are:
 * One of Zim's lawn gnomes
 * Skoolchildren (Gretchen, Keef, Melvin, Lizard Boy, Zita, Poonchy, etc)
 * Countess von Verminstrasser
 * Nick
 * Agent Darkbootie
 * Mr. Elliot
 * Coach Walrus
 * Mr. Dwicky
 * Chickenfoot
 * Turkeyneck
 * Peepi the Hamster
 * Roboparents
 * Officer Squidman
 * Lard Nar
 * Zorphic (Madness)
 * Pustulio
 * Happy Noodle Boy
 * Poop Dawg
 * Sergeant Slab Rankle
 * Giant Fish in a Bear Suit
 * Invader Tak
 * Minimoose
 * Planet Jackers
 * Adult Dib
 * Count Cocofang
 * Shadowhog
 * Mortos Der Soulstealer
 * Meekrobs
 * Sizz-Lorr
 * Hummelflesh, Destroyer of Worlds
 * Mr. Sludgey
 * The Scary Monkey
 * Vampire Piggy Hunter
 * Invader Skoodge
 * Sergeant Hobo 678
 * Fillerbunny
 * Iggins
 * Pigboy
 * Giant Flesh-Eating Demon Squid
 * Slaughtering Rat People
 * Moofy (alongside the rest of the Girly Rangers)
 * Shnooky the Nhar-Gh'ok
 * Lice Queen
 * President Man
 * Mysterious Mysteries Anchor
 * Alien Abductors (Mary and Fred)
 * Nightmare Bitters
 * Clembrane
 * Recap Kid (from the comics)
 * Outerspace Obliteration is so far the hardest level in the entire expansion excluding the rematch with Chuckles the Clown.
 * This title will be short-lived however, as Chapter 5's Hidden Nightmare has been stated to be the 'hardest level of the entire game'.