1034 Duel

Psyker was scared away by Black Star, Secret Master was held back by the Lord’s Avatar, and Ravenlaude teleported to chase after the mechanical army. The situation of the battle changed multiple times in a short period. The fleets of the other organizations present became mere onlookers.

At this point, these organizations knew full well that the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy would have nothing more to do with them.

They were somewhat disappointed but not surprised. A few days back, when they realized that the dynasty and church had interfered in this, they knew that their chances were negligible.

However, being able to confirm that the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy had appeared in the Emerald Star Cluster, as well as having the opportunity to watch a battle between many Beyond Grade As, most of them felt it was worth the trip.

Although the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy was taken away by Black Star, they did not disperse immediately but took out their snacks to watch the wrestling between Black Star and Secret Master.

Only a few organizations who had yet to give up wanted to chase after the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy, but they were stopped by the mechanical army. Looking at the dense psionic barrels, these people could only remain there with resignation.

While the Lord’s Avatar led the mechanical army to fight Secret Master, the dynasty’s fleet responded as well and immediately reported Black Star’s interference in this battle. This got to the man in charge of this operation, an upper echelon of the dynasty’s hawk faction, Bekorodi.

“Black Star is there too? And he got it‽”

Far away in the remote command center inside the dynasty’s territory, Bekorodi’s eyes opened so wide that they almost popped out. He was shocked and enraged.

“His Excellency Ravenlaude is already chasing after it. He will probably have a direct conflict with Black Star. What should we do?” the fleet’s commander asked cautiously.

Hearing this, Bekorodi frowned heavily. He was filled with hesitation.

He felt that this matter was very difficult to deal with. Black Star was an important ally to the dynasty. Usually, the two sides should avoid conflict as much as possible.

However, before this, the dynasty did not know that Black Star would interfere with this, which made Bekorodi rather worried.

With the dynasty’s control of the Flickering World, somehow, they did not notice that Black Star had sent a team out to that place. This showed that the Black Star Army had secretly built quite a number of things in the Flickering World by making use of the dynasty’s support.

Bekorodi felt that in situations like this, Black Star should be the one to take a step back first. However, Black Star clearly saw that the dynasty was involved, yet he still took part in the battle. To Bekorodi, this was Black Star not giving the dynasty’s face, which made a hawk faction upper echelon like him rather unhappy.

Undoubtedly, he felt that the situation was all Black Star’s fault, so he was in a dilemma.

Should he continue the operation while taking the risk of offending Black Star or back off and give up the plan?

“Sir, should we contact the Ruler?”

While pondering, his subordinate’s voice pulled Bekorodi out of his train of thought. He paused then said with a deep voice, “Don’t notify the Ruler yet. Contact Black Star first. I’ll talk to him.”

He knew that Urranrell liked Black Star, so he did not want to notify her. He could only control the mission if he dealt with it himself.

The command center called up Black Star’s number. It rang three times before it was picked up. Han Xiao’s face appeared on the screen with a meaningful smile.

“Not bad, not bad, you contacted me earlier than I expected.”

Bekorodi’s eyes twitched. He suppressed his anger, forced out a smile, and said, “Black Star, remember me? I’m Bekorodi.”

“Hello, we meet again. Have you eaten?”

“Just had dinner.”

“You look quite well. Have you been sleeping well recently? You’re not young anymore, so don’t work so hard. Rest more.”

“I’m used to working hard, just can’t seem to be too free. After so many years, I’ve gotten used to working every day long ago, but I have indeed been getting rather good sleep recently. I…”

Halfway through speaking, Bekorodi suddenly stopped.

He only just noticed that without knowing, he had followed Han Xiao’s lead and actually subconsciously started chattering, almost forgetting what he wanted to say in this call.

Plus, we’re not even close! Black Star, are you trying to play for time?

Bekorodi coughed heavily, trying to cover up the awkwardness. He then quickly gained back control and questioned, “You know why I’ve called you, don’t you? It’s a surprise you’ve had your eyes on the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy too. This information came from EsGod’s heritage. You should have notified the dynasty or at least reported your actions. If you’d done that, the accidents today would have been totally avoided. Why didn’t you?”

Han Xiao’s expression looked strange, as if he was saying, What kind of question is that?

“Doesn’t not notifying you guys mean that I want it for myself? Plus, I don’t seem to recall that I’m obligated to give all the intelligence I have to the dynasty or report my personal activities. We’re allies, not employer and employee.”

Bekorodi made a serious expression and said, “Anyway, there’s no need for discussion on this matter. Listen to me. The dynasty doesn’t want the outside world to see us fight with our allies. This needs a solution.”

“It’s simple then—give up. Give the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy to me, and it’s done.” Han Xiao smiled.

“Impossible,” Bekorodi said subconsciously, but he then realized that his tone was not very appropriate, so he calmed down. “The dynasty needs the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy too. We won’t let it go so easily.”

“What do you need the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy for?” Han Xiao was curious.

Bekorodi shut up immediately.

It was not like he could tell Black Star the truth and say that it was to replicate the Evolution Cube’s abilities.

They wanted the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy to make Gaud grow quicker and step into the Beyond Grade A territory sooner. The goal of that was to analyze the Evolution Cube. Gaud would only be able to analyze the Evolution Energy with his Esper Ability if he was Beyond Grade A.

After quite some time, Bekorodi finally forced the words “It’s confidential…” out of his mouth.

“Never mind then.” Han Xiao shook his head. “Anyway, I won’t just back off like this. It’s true that we’re allies, but I can’t possibly give everything to you once you just tell me to do so. Even those Ultimate Knowledges required me to make contributions to gain access to them. You can’t just ask me to give selflessly, can you?”

Bekorodi nodded. “Okay, then let’s make a deal. We’re willing to exchange for the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy. What do you want? Intelligence? Knowledge? Resources? A Universal Treasure? I’m guessing you want the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy probably because you want to turn it into a Universal Treasure, so you might as well exchange it with us. You can choose from the list we gave you last time. I can approve this deal personally.”

The dynasty had to give Ravenlaude a Universal Treasure to hire him to start with, so since the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy was now in Black Star’s hands, Bekorodi just made the same deal with Black Star.

The deal with Ravenlaude, of course, would no longer be valid. He would at most receive some resources as compensation…

Ravenlaude, who was still chasing the mechanical army, did not yet know that his employer had already given up hope on him and that the Universal Treasure he had been thinking of was basically out of his reach.

Han Xiao raised his brows. “And what if you go back on your word?”

“If you agree, I’ll make Ravenlaude retreat first, and you can keep the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy for the time being. Then, you will make a public announcement to eliminate the rumors caused by this conflict. Following that, you can exchange it for a Universal Treasure with us. Therefore, you don’t have to worry that we won’t keep up our side of the deal.”

Bekorodi did not plan to play any tricks at all. He at least had this much pride as a superior in the dynasty.

However, Han Xiao did not plan to agree immediately…

If my teammate runs away, who do I beat up?

“We’ll talk about this next time. I have yet to decide if I want to give you guys or not. I need to think about it. Therefore, for now, let’s just compete fairly… Since you don’t want the outside world to know, we’ll fight in a place where there’s no one else.” Han Xiao’s tone was calm, and he did not completely reject the deal.

Bekorodi’s face stiffened. He was very annoyed.

He did not want to waste any more time and gave a simple “okay”. He then ended the call. He told his subordinate to notify Ravenlaude that he had to obtain the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy.

In his mind, Han Xiao’s original body was still in Black Star Palace, and only a Lord’s Avatar and a group of mechanical troops were there. Secret Master was restraining the Lord’s Avatar, so Ravenlaude should still have a chance.

…

Inside the bright nebula, Ravenlaude chased after the fleeing mechanical army, getting further away from the battlefield that the Lord’s Avatar was in and out of everyone’s sight.

Without the restrictions of the space stabilization devices, Ravenlaude’s teleportation spells were quicker. No matter how fast the mechanical troops were running, he could catch up in an instant. He had only slowly followed behind all this time because he wanted to get further away from the Lord’s Avatar so that it would not be able to interfere with his battle.

After all, whether the Lord’s Avatar was present or not would make a bit of difference. He did not want to face the Lord’s Avatar’s attacks with his body like Secret Master. After all…

I’m a proper Mage! I’m like paper!

Remote artillery style is our forte. Melee combat? How can you call yourself a Mage‽

That Secret Master, who drew all over his body, had quite strong melee combat power, but Ravenlaude was an old fashioned Mage who had mastered pure arcane arts. To make him fight in melee range would be the same as Mechanics rushing into Pugilists’ arms… Hmm, except for Black Star.

This is far enough.

Ravenlaude focused his mind and used another teleportation spell. He appeared right before the mechanical troops. With a wave of his hand, a top-tier magic staff appeared and hovered above his head. The gem at the top of the staff shone with a bright magical light.

The next moment, thick magical books appeared one after another around Ravenlaude, circling him slowly like a ring of stars and giving off powerful magical energy.

As the magical books opened and the pages turned extremely quickly, a thick and enormous purple magic light appeared and expanded instantly, turning into a spherical, dark-purple energy barrier that shrouded all the mechanical troops before him. The sphere was extremely large.

Looking from inside, the inside wall of this sphere was dark purple covered in circulating streams of bright blue and flaming white magical streams of light, like arcane comets. It looked like a purple curtain decorated with blue and white patterns.

“Wall of Tragal—Dark Purple Arena. This is a new forbidden spell created by my spell research team.”

After casting this spell, Ravenlaude smiled with confidence as if the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy was already in his hands.

The Mechanical Force lightning on the mechanical troops suddenly became much weaker. They fired at the wall, but the psionic cannon attacks disappeared when landing on the inside of this sphere like they were absorbed. Some mechanical soldiers flew to the edges, but the moment they touched the inside wall, a bright arcane explosion repelled the mechanical soldiers away.

Ravenlaude was certain that the mechanical troops could not escape. In a situation like this, the villain soul lying deep inside his body started to boil. He started to perform the signature move of a villain—explain!

“This is a forbidden-level sealing spell. It can absorb the energy attacks inside it and transfer it to its outside. At the same time, it prevents any material from passing through its wall. Your mechanical troops won’t be able to escape. Furthermore, this spell can also reduce the efficiency of energy transmission. Haven’t you noticed? The Mechanical Force you applied on them has become weaker.”

He was having a good time talking, but the mechanical troops ignored him and continued to physically attack the inside wall, getting repelled away time after time.

Seeing this, Ravenlaude shook his head and smiled. He slowly said, “Stop wasting your time, Black Star. I know you can hear my voice. Let’s discuss this.”

After a few seconds, the mechanical troops gave up trying, turned to look at him, and opened the area communication channel. Han Xiao’s voice appeared.

“Discuss what?”

“Black Star, I respect your strength, but your Lord’s Avatar isn’t here. If you fight me, you’ll only waste these troops. So, why not just give me the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy? I’ll remember this favor I owe you and give you enough compensation. You know, we’re allies; we don’t have to solve the problem with violence.”

Ravenlaude smiled faintly and felt that he was giving Black Star a lot of face.

However, only inexperienced youngsters would give up their own profit because of a few kind words. Although Han Xiao was considered basically a baby in terms of age among the Beyond Grade As, his experience in life was far from being this immature. He was completely unaffected and immediately ordered the mechanical troops to fire.

Tu tu tu tu!

The mechanical troops surrounded Ravenlaude and fired at him immediately. However, Ravenlaude was prepared. Multiple layers of arcane shields protected him while he moved at a high speed to dodge attacks. Offensive spells were thrown out from his hands continuously, bombarding the mechanical troops.

The size of this sphere was extremely large, giving Ravenlaude enough space to kite. In addition, his mobility provided by teleportation could keep the battle at medium range, so it would be a battle of cannon fires and spells.

“The goal isn’t to destroy the mechanical army. It’s best to leave after getting the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy.”

While shooting spells at the mechanical army, Ravenlaude noted the location of the mechanical soldier that was escorting the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy.

Suddenly, the formation of the mechanical army showed a flaw. There was a gap in the protection of the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy for an instant, and he noticed it immediately.

“Chance!”

Ravenlaude cast a spell that he had already prepared long ago. An invisible shockwave shot out and divided the mechanical army. He cast another teleportation spell, which was also prepared beforehand, immediately appearing beside the mechanical soldier escorting the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy. A purple hand formed of arcane energy grabbed toward the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy contained right before his eyes.

At this moment, a dark blue tint of light suddenly appeared at the edge of his sights. The sharp feeling it gave off made his hair stand on end.

In an instant, Ravenlaude hastily retracted his abdomen to dodge the light. A white spear covered in a gold pattern and surrounded by dark blue energy easily tore open all his shields, slipping right past his vital spot under his abdomen. He was suddenly covered in cold sweat.

That was close, almost lost my offspring.

Psionic Prime, who had been lying in wait among the army for a long time, twisted his spear, shooting out an energy wave and directly slapping Ravenlaude away!

The Psionic Prime Spear was his ‘Life Weapon’, which appeared when he became an Apostle Weapon. It had a silver-orange Grade, and it would become stronger together with the Apostle Weapon.

At this point, the Psionic Prime Spear had many new characteristics. When used by Psionic Prime himself, these characteristics would be enhanced. It was a terrifying close- to mid-range weapon in his hands that could easily penetrate most shields. Ravenlaude’s magic shield was like paper in front of the Psionic Prime Spear.

Psionic Prime shook his spear and chased right after Ravenlaude, not letting go of the opportunity that he had gained by suddenly attacking. As he caught up in no time, he immediately used a smooth Mechanical Pugilist combo on him, not giving Ravenlaude any time to catch his breath.

Not long after, Ravenlaude once again felt a strong sense of danger behind him. A few more hidden Apostle Weapons charged toward him at close range. They were all good at close combat, such as Mad Sky Hunter, Purple Sky Spirit, and Heaven-Suppressing Banner. They forced Ravenlaude to not have the time to use teleport to increase the distance between them.

Other than Apostle Weapons that had usual sizes such as Giant King Kong, all the other Apostle Weapons were there and had been hiding among the mechanical troops. Now, they finally all struck. Psionic Prime led some of them to fight at close range while Silver Flash led the other ones to attack from a distance. They cooperated perfectly.

With the success of the surprise attack, Ravenlaude was stuck being passive.

With Han Xiao’s Mechanical Force enhancement, every single one of these Apostle Weapons had Beyond Grade A strength. Now that Han Xiao had gone through another Promotion, his machinery-related abilities were strengthened again, so the strength of his Apostle Weapons had increased as well. Even just one could fight with a normal Beyond Grade A for a long time… and it went without saying whom this referred to.

‘Dueling’ more than a dozen of Apostle Weapons with this kind of strength at the same time… Ravenlaude could hardly hold on.

There were no tricks to get out of this. It was a complete difference in raw strength. The situation quickly turned one sided.

I can’t even beat a medium-sized mechanical army without a Lord’s Avatar? Has his strength already grown to this level‽

Ravenlaude clenched his teeth and endured the fierce attacks from these more than ten Apostle Weapons. The magic energy in his body flew out like a broken dam. His heart was filled with disbelief and helplessness that sank deep into his bones.

Feeling the state he was in now, Ravenlaude could fully confirm one thing—Black Star had become stronger again!

At this time, he suddenly recalled his experience against the Mechanic Emperor many years ago…

This was how it felt!

So strong that even a Beyond Grade A like him was afraid!

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