Chapter 1053: I, Black Star, Did Not Cheat! (Thanks to Zai San Xu Zhong Shi's Silver Alliance Million Reward!)

Chapter 1053: I, Black Star, Do Not Cheat! (With gratitude to the Silver Alliance patron for the million-point reward!)

Sageman and the others, awed by Han Xiao’s energy fluctuations that defied conventional limits, remained paralyzed in shock, never expecting Black Star to strike the moment he spoke, and were instantly stricken with terror, hastily raising their defenses.

Rumble, rumble, rumble——

In the very next instant, over a dozen Super-A rank figures were instantly swallowed by the boundless ocean of the mechanical legion.

The moment combat engaged, the dread within their hearts deepened into profound horror, as they felt an unparalleled, crushing pressure radiating from the mechanical host.

Had they faced a standard Super-A rank mechanic’s forces, they could have carved a path through the ranks with ease, yet Han Xiao’s mechanical legion trapped them as if in quicksand, immobilized and unable to breach the encirclement, leaving only Ksuye and Serion capable of moving freely.

It was not merely because the sheer scale of Han Xiao’s personal mechanical legion outnumbered the combined forces of the two mechanics present by dozens of times, but also because the combat prowess of the mechanical units far exceeded their wildest imaginations, with the mechanical energy granting such a terrifying combat bonus to the war machines that it elevated them entirely to a higher tier!

Han Xiao had already mastered the [Perfect Mechanical Resonance] specialization, and by now activating Nilo’s character card, he layered a dual Perfect Mechanical Resonance, catapulting his mechanical affinity into an entirely new realm.

Confronted with this avalanche-like pressure, the Super-A ranks of the Radiant and Void Spirit factions had no time for further deliberation, instinctively joining forces to halt the mechanical legion’s advance.

Boom!

The battle erupted, instantly plunging into a white-hot frenzy, devolving into a chaotic melee.

Within the endless black tide of the mechanical legion, over a dozen luminous orbs drifted through the metallic sea, countless beams of light converging ceaselessly upon them, each orb marking the crucible where the legion besieged a single Super-A rank combatant.

“How could his combat power surge to such heights!” Sageman’s voice trembled with awe.

“Black Star’s last all-out effort was during the Beacon Star Campaign, and now, over two decades later, this is his second time going to the limit, yet he has grown so immensely stronger!” Tayledi’s voice wavered with disbelief, a mixture of panic and envy.

More than twenty years ago, those Void Spirit veterans who had witnessed the Beacon Star Campaign still vividly remembered Han Xiao’s performance, and though time had passed and they knew Black Star had grown formidable, they never imagined he would become this terrifying!

“This caliber of pressure… it feels like facing the Mechanical Empire itself…” Ksuye’s expression grew grave.

He too lay within Han Xiao’s range of attack, currently relying primarily on evasion and conserving his strength, quietly calculating the next moves of his grand design, making no immediate move to strike back with full force.

Black Star’s ruthless assault was understandable to him; as the targeted party, Black Star could not afford to let them retreat unimpeded and had to demonstrate a resolute counteroffensive, yet the sheer magnitude of power Black Star unleashed now far exceeded Ksuye’s expectations.

At that precise moment, Serion spoke in a low voice, his tone unable to conceal his shock:

“This is… the Extreme Path: Cellular Overdrive Limit Break!”

Upon hearing this, everyone was startled.

Was that not an explosive technique from the Martial Arts discipline? How could Black Star possibly wield it? He was a mechanic, after all!

“I did not see wrong, the aura radiating from Black Star matches this technique precisely, forcibly extracting his own potential to temporarily borrow power from a higher realm!” Serion declared with absolute certainty, “Regardless of why Black Star can utilize this move, the underlying principle remains unchanged!”

This explanation was quickly accepted, and complex emotions clouded their faces as their gazes pierced through the mechanical legion, fixing upon Han Xiao with eyes wide in astonishment and disbelief.

Did this mean… Black Star was willing to burn his own potential just to keep them trapped?!

He could have simply allowed them to withdraw voluntarily, was it truly necessary to push himself to such extremes?!

If that were the case, it was no wonder Black Star possessed combat power of this caliber, given that it was merely a temporary state.

——Yet, an explosive output of this magnitude was still utterly terrifying!

Witnessing Han Xiao’s unwavering resolve, hesitation began to creep into the hearts of many.

Ksuye sighed quietly within himself.

Initially, seeing Han Xiao suddenly steal the spotlight had irritated him, prompting plans to intervene, but upon recognizing Black Star’s unmistakable determination, Ksuye abandoned any notion of going all out.

Since Black Star had staked everything, he decided to show him some respect and hold back, for a performance must be played out to the end, and he trusted that Black Star knew exactly what he was doing.

Nearby, Hela, witnessing Han Xiao’s magnificent display of power, felt a surge of revitalization, initially caught between shock and exhilaration, but upon hearing this revelation, she froze completely, as if turned to wood.

In the very next second, Hela’s irises suddenly flooded with crimson, instantly brimming with violent rage and murderous intent!

She never expected Black Star to be willing to burn his potential, and tracing the root of his actions, was it not all to save her?!

A soul-piercing ache suddenly surged forth, flooding her heart like a devastating flood.

Hela stiffly turned her head, her gaze upon Han Xiao transformed, leaving only a bone-deep sorrow and profound guilt, her emotions churning uncontrollably.

“I…”

Hela opened her mouth to speak, but Han Xiao raised a hand, cutting her off, his tone light and serene:

“Say nothing at all, I am perfectly fine.”

“…I am deeply sorry.”

Hela pressed her lips together, her fists suddenly clenching tight, and without another word, she charged into the fray.

Death energy swept around her like a gale, carrying her straight toward the Void Spirit’s Super-A ranks, pouring her raging fury entirely upon the enemy!

Watching the uncontainable killing intent radiating from Hela’s entire being, Han Xiao wore an expression of helpless resignation.

The aftermath of the Extreme Path: Cellular Overdrive Limit Break permanently increased character and skill upgrade costs by seven percent, effectively burning potential… yet, what these people did not know was that Han Xiao was utilizing the Tyrant’s character descent card, which, though usable only once, carried no side effects from the card itself, meaning absolutely no lingering consequences.

Serion’s misjudgment had sown confusion among them.

“Let the misunderstanding stand, it is no great harm, and in fact, it works to my advantage.” Han Xiao shook his head, naturally refusing to offer any clarification.

Some of these character cards were single-use, granting temporary, beyond-standard combat power to exchange for permanent capabilities, which was undoubtedly a profitable trade.

He now felt an unprecedented surge of power coursing through his entire body, the Tyrant character card overclocking his base attributes and ability intensity, temporarily elevating him to the threshold of his next breakthrough, while the dual mechanical resonance also skyrocketed his mechanical forces’ combat power, and combined, his overall strength had reached a truly terrifying apex.

And the most profoundly enhanced were the elite combat units, such as the Apostle Armaments.

……

Swish!

The red demon Toraine leaned back sharply, narrowly dodging Youzu’s unadorned spear thrust, his thick magical barrier cleaved cleanly in two, a deep gash tearing across his ribcage studded with bone spurs, exposing the reddish-copper sternum beneath.

Toraine hastily lashed his tail, swinging the bony spurs at Youzu’s mechanical frame, while Youzu, utterly unfazed, simply raised the spear shaft horizontally to absorb the blow head-on.

Bang!

Spear met bone, and a ring of shockwaves erupted outward!

Toraine, a melee mage who favored self-buffing, had layered numerous enhancement spells, granting him immense strength, yet Youzu, wreathed in golden mechanical energy, braced against the demon’s heavy tail, matching its force without yielding a single inch.

“Help me, quickly! His Apostle Armaments are too powerful!” Toraine shrieked.

With the mechanical energy bonus from dual mechanical resonance, even a single Youzu now pressed heavily upon him.

Moreover, he was not facing Youzu alone; close-combat specialists like the Heaven-Suppressing Banner and Purple Sky Spirit, alongside ranged strikers such as Silver Flash and Crimson Fire Legion, had all the Apostle Armaments converging to besiege Toraine.

Han Xiao’s strategy was simple: use the mechanical legion to pin down the rest, then concentrate his elite forces on a single target, dividing and conquering.

“You are utterly useless!” Sageman, also trapped in a deadly encirclement and locked in fierce combat with the mechanical legion, felt a surge of irritation upon hearing this.

Yet he could not abandon his own, so amidst his frantic struggle, he diverted his efforts to provide aid, turning his assault toward the Apostle Armaments surrounding Toraine, unleashing a torrent of surging photonic energy.

Hum!

At that very moment, countless nanomaterial particles surged forth in the neutral zone, instantly coalescing into a massive fortress, severing Toraine’s battlefield from the rest.

Streams of flowing light slid across the surface of this colossal mechanical fortress, rapidly converging to form a pale gold, semi-transparent arched barrier, standing firm before the photonic assault.

Boom, boom, boom——

Sageman’s attacks hammered relentlessly against this pale gold barrier, instantly sparking violent arcs of electricity and blinding flashes of light!

Soon, the glare of the explosions faded, revealing the barrier standing immovable, its radiance flowing and flickering slightly, having successfully repelled the wave of assault and shielding the mechanical fortress with absolute security.

“Such formidable defense!” Sageman was taken aback.

This mechanical fortress stood as one of Han Xiao’s apostle armaments, christened the Skyward Rampart; much like the Nether Ancestor’s War Spear, its luminous curtain served as a symbiotic armament known as the “Warding Bulwark,” forged primarily for defense.

Yet the Skyward Rampart possessed more than one companion weapon, boasting another of offensive nature dubbed the “Verdant Ion Flame.”

The fortress extended a multitude of cannon barrels, spewing forth emerald lances of light that rained down upon Sagman and his comrades; this was its signature “Verdant Ion Flame,” a peculiar plasma energy that carried not only lethal force but also a spectrum of arcane, attribute-laden effects.

“Damn it, I’ve been cut off,” Tolein gasped in panic, striving to break free from his pursuers and rejoin his allies, when suddenly a bone-chilling warning prickled his senses.

In an instant, a slender, obsidian-hued beam slipped silently through the gaps in the surrounding mechanical ranks, piercing his arcane shield with effortless grace; Tolein darted aside in haste, yet the ray still grazed his shoulder.

Boom!!

The very next moment, a massive, through-and-through wound erupted across his shoulder, bypassing all defenses to inflict pure, unmitigated damage.

Clutching his wound as he retreated, he frantically scanned the direction from which the shot had come, spotting a pitch-black, humanoid apostle armament raising a peculiar firearm directly at him.

The instant Tolein’s gaze met it, the armament dissolved into invisibility, vanishing without a trace.

—Dark Heaven’s Shadow, an assassin-class apostle armament specializing in sniping, wielded the symbiotic “Phantom Camouflage,” granting it unparalleled capabilities in invisibility, stealth, disguise, and environmental masking; the rifle in its grasp was a highly concentrated sniper weapon, devastating against solitary targets.

“Curse it, what manner of armament is this? My regeneration is being suppressed…”

Before Tolein could catch his breath, the Mystic Artificer arrived, unleashing a thick, roaring beam from a great distance; Tolein could only barely summon his arcane shield to hold it back.

Yet the chaotic mystic energy carried a psychic resonance; though he blocked the physical strike, his soul reeled from the impact, shattering his concentration and halting his incantation.

Seizing the opening, Hela showed no mercy; deathly energy crashed down upon him like a tempest, crackling and exploding across his frame until he lay battered and drenched in his own blood.

“Why is everyone targeting me?” Tolein wailed, tears of frustration welling in his eyes.

Surveying the battlefield, it was undeniably he who suffered the most dire fate.

I am but a fresh-faced, newly ascended Super-A rank; is this not sheer bullying?!

While Tolein faced imminent peril, Sagman and his companions burned with anxiety, hastily devising a countermeasure:

“Black Star’s mechanical legions are too numerous, and their combat prowess too overwhelming; we cannot be bogged down here. We must strike at Black Star himself. Talerdi, unleash the forbidden spell scroll upon him.”

“He possesses an immortal physique; can we truly wound him?”

“We must succeed now, or never. There are no other options. We will coordinate with the forbidden spell and focus our fire.” Sagman snarled.

At his words, Talerdi wasted no time, tearing open an offensive forbidden spell scroll.

Whoosh—

A cascade of black, arcane meteors shot forth from the parchment, piercing through successive void-energy shields along their path and hurtling straight toward Han Xiao’s physical form; this spell possessed extraordinary energy penetration and armor-shattering potency, a devastating trump card originally reserved to cripple Hela.

Sagman and his allies did not idle; synchronizing with the forbidden spell, they unleashed a unified barrage toward Han Xiao. Photonic surges, martial arts tremors, high-tier incantations, and void-energy cannons were hurled in a relentless torrent, forging a devastating wave of assault.

The violent energy fluctuations drew the attention of the Radiant forces engaged in fierce combat nearby; they turned to witness the concentrated barrage, their hearts sinking in silent dread… Were they to face such an onslaught in his place, most Super-A ranks present would be forced to retreat.

As the violent energy crashed toward him, Han Xiao remained utterly calm, standing firm without a single step; with a mere flick of his hand, spherical mechanical discs converged at breakneck speed, each bearing a shard of Spacetime Amber, instantly forming a double-layered bulwark before him.

Swish—

Every ranged energy strike behaved as water meeting a reef, sliding harmlessly off the Spacetime Amber spheres, failing to so much as graze Han Xiao.

Witnessing this, their spirits plummeted, bitterness and envy churning within them.

The existence of the Spacetime Amber was no longer a secret; Han Xiao’s personal arrival meant that this nearly invincible cosmic treasure had come with him.

Capable of withstanding even the strikes of the Scepter of Ten Thousand Gods, the threat posed by ranged attacks to Han Xiao’s physical form had been reduced to an absolute minimum… Yet even without the Spacetime Amber, his sheer durability alone would have allowed him to endure the barrage.

To wound Black Star himself was a task of near-impossible difficulty!

“We can strike his physical form with psychic attacks!” Haidis urged hastily.

Crystal Soul and Haidis, both telekinetics, gathered their mightiest psychic forces to assault Han Xiao’s mind across the void. Observing this, Ksuye pondered briefly, then went through the motions, directing a deliberately weakened psychic shock toward Han Xiao.

Telekinetics were masters of psychic warfare, capable of striking a target’s soul from nothingness, making such assaults exceedingly difficult to guard against.

“My weaknesses were long since fortified.”

Han Xiao’s expression remained unchanged as he activated Zisco’s character card: “Telekinesis: Bulwark of the Mind”!

He stood immovable, while Crystal Soul and Haidis, who had committed their full strength, suddenly trembled violently; their telekinetic power withered instantly, and they suffered a severe psychic backlash.

Zisco’s character card drastically reduced the actual damage of psychic assaults while reflecting a portion of it; Crystal Soul and Haidis, holding nothing back, were struck by their own power, whereas Ksuye’s half-hearted effort spared him from misfortune.

Crystal Soul fared better; his superior strength and possession of a cosmic artifact like the Star-Force Crown, which amplified telekinesis, kept his injuries minor. Haidis, lacking such prowess, immediately paid a heavy price.

“He can even reflect psychic damage?!”

Haidis’s face drained of color, his eyes wide with shock.

Does this bastard have no flaws at all? How can he master everything?!

The man and the crystal refused to yield to fate, yet the more they attacked, the greater the psychic backlash became; Han Xiao maintained an air of serene detachment, while the two telekinetics were wounded by their own assaults.

Master Artificer Han could naturally withstand considerable psychic damage through his own mental resistance, but absorbing harm was inferior to reflecting it; facing over a dozen foes, he seized every opportunity to diminish their combat effectiveness.

...

After a brief but fierce engagement, the numerous elites of the Radiant and the Ethereal found themselves thoroughly on the defensive, trapped in an ocean of mechanical legions, unable to advance a single step.

Such a colossal mechanical force, combined with Han Xiao’s true damage specialty, served not merely as a distraction for the Super-A ranks; should they carelessly face a few rounds of concentrated fire with their bare bodies, they would fall instantly, keeping every nerve in the camp taut as a bowstring.

Against an ordinary mechanician, over a dozen Super-A ranks would have already closed the distance, but facing Black Star, most could not even muster the desire to charge.

—He was simply too tanky, so overwhelmingly durable that all tactical thoughts evaporated!

Serion was no exception to this rule; as a peak Super-A martial artist, he could still carve a path of slaughter through the heavily augmented mechanical legions, striking left and right with unmatched prowess.

Like the Hegemon, he possessed true damage immunity, granting him the ability to ignore the legions’ concentrated fire and rampage through the mechanical horde; yet the handful of war machines he destroyed amounted to but a drop in the ocean compared to the whole.

Serion’s arm muscles bulged as he unleashed a martial arts tremor capable of obliterating stars directly at Han Xiao, yet it was once again refracted by the Spacetime Amber, failing to land; seeing this, he gritted his teeth, steadied his breathing, and addressed Ksuye.

“Let us coordinate. Use your telekinesis to pin down the mechanical legions and help me close in on Black Star. You know my explosive power; I do not seek to kill him, only to test whether I can subdue him.”

Ksuye: “I have no energy left.”

Upon hearing this, Serion nearly choked on his own breath.

You were fierce as a dragon and vigorous as a tiger when fighting me just now, your mana pool seemingly bottomless; now you claim you’re spent? Are you trying to fool a ghost, you bastard?!

Fuming with rage, Serion abandoned Ksuye entirely, plowing through the mechanical war machines in his path and charging toward Han Xiao; all four of his arms were wreathed in highly concentrated martial aura, as if coated in a layer of black lacquer.

“Hmph. I knew you would close the distance.”

Han Xiao’s brow arched; he had long been prepared. Instantly activating his skill, a portion of the mechanical war machines flew toward him, assembling at breakneck speed.

In the very next moment, the Mechanical Deity that spanned the cosmos descended once more!

The instant it materialized, the Mechanical Deity twisted its hips, swung its arm, and hurled a punch directly at Serion; the fist was shrouded in a hazy white sphere of impact energy, fusing void power with force fields.

Four obsidian-hued fists collided thunderously with a mechanical iron fist hundreds of millions of times larger in scale.

Boom!!

A colossal, ring-shaped shockwave erupted, expanding with a deafening roar across the cosmos!

The outer armor of the Mechanical Deity’s struck arm rapidly disintegrated, the damage spreading toward the shoulder as countless mechanical components shattered. Meanwhile, at a severe disadvantage in mass, Serion was sent flying by the blow, hurtling an unfathomable distance at a speed greater than his approach.

In the contest of raw power, the two were undeniably evenly matched.

“With a strike like that, I fear even a star’s core could be ripped out. For Serion to withstand it head-on truly befits a peak Super-A martial artist.”

Han Xiao’s thoughts stirred faintly.

And at that very moment, Francisco, the Calamity of Machines, beheld the manifestation of the Mechanical Deity, his gaze flickering as he instantly reached out to Mornisa, the Mechanical Queen of the Radiant faction.

"He has unleashed the Mechanical Deity. This is our opening. You, I, and Rama, who assists from afar, shall unite our efforts to launch a virtual incursion against the deity. Even if Han Xiao is a Virtual Machinist, he will be forced to tread carefully against our assault."

"Agreed." Mornisa nodded with grave solemnity.

At this critical juncture, the Super-A Rank elites of the Radiant and Ethereal factions were compelled to forge a temporary alliance, each wielding their unique prowess to withstand the overwhelming boss, Black Star, who had ignited his latent potential.

The three machinists swiftly converged within the virtual stratum, unleashing a torrent of emerald data streams that surged forth to batter Han Xiao's virtual firewall.

Han Xiao instantly perceived the enemy's maneuver, a wry, amused smile touching his lips.

"Oh? Attempting to breach my defenses?"

Bolstered by his virtual specialization and the advantage of dual mechanical resonance, Han Xiao's virtual technical prowess was currently amplified to extraordinary heights.

Among the trio of adversaries, only the "Warden" Rama possessed the virtual machinist specialization; the other two hailed from different branches. Moreover, Rama had not dispatched his Sovereign Avatar to this front, leaving his primary intelligence adequate for defense but severely lacking in offensive virtual incursion power.

Within the virtual expanse, Han Xiao and the three adversaries immediately engaged in a bloodless yet fierce skirmish. Though they relentlessly pressed their incursion attempts, Han Xiao's defenses stood impregnable, fiercely guarding the backdoor.

Instead, it was the trio who found themselves counter-invaded by Han Xiao along the very connection they had forged. The Radiant faction's two members, bolstered by their primary intelligence's computational might, could barely keep Han Xiao's data probes at bay.

Francisco, the Calamity of Machines, however, stood alone and isolated, lacking specialization in virtual arts. His fragile defenses, singled out by Han Xiao's focused assault, were thoroughly pierced, his backdoor riddled with breaches.

His mechanical legions swiftly turned traitor, absorbed into Han Xiao's forces, and immediately swung their weapons upon their former comrades.

"I cannot hold on!" Francisco cried out, overwhelmed, his Sovereign Avatar's movements faltering and growing sluggish.

At that precise instant, a mechanical leviathan of a hand, vast as a canopy, descended and seized Francisco's fleeing Sovereign Avatar, crushing it with a merciless grip.

Crack!

Francisco's Sovereign Avatar instantly shattered into a heap of twisted scrap, its vessel destroyed, the summoned power automatically retracting into the void.

Han Xiao curled his lip in disdain, casually scattering the remnants of Francisco's avatar into the dust.

"Heh. Fragile little thing."

Machinists who relied on Sovereign Descent were impossible to capture, capable of severing the skill at any moment; to force them from the battlefield, one need only shatter their avatars.

After all, not every machinist's Sovereign Avatar possessed the same durability as his own.

Witnessing this, Mornisa grimly abandoned her plans for an offensive incursion, forced to focus entirely on fortifying her defenses to prevent Han Xiao from breaking through.

And at that very moment, the tide of battle shifted abruptly.

Besieged by the multitude of Apostle Armaments and Hela herself, Tolien could no longer hold his ground.

The surrounding mechanical legions delivered the brunt of the devastation. Lacking immunity to true damage, Tolien's vitality plummeted wildly under their concentrated fire, while his allies, pinned down and helpless, could offer no relief.

Boom. Boom. Boom—

"Ahhh!!"

Tolien was once again swallowed by the barrage. Already at the end of his tether, he had finally reached his absolute limit.

Barely a patch of unmarred flesh remained upon his body; his demonic horns were shattered, and his mind, tormented by Hela and the Arcanists, had dissolved into a murky haze, plunging him into prolonged disarray and stripping him of all combat capability.

Hela, her eyes burning with lethal intent, prepared to deliver the killing blow, but Han Xiao commanded the Mechanical Deity to extend a limb, gently pushing her aside.

"Do not take his life."

"Why? They caused you to..." Hela ground her teeth, unable to force the bitter words past her lips.

"A captive holds far greater value."

Han Xiao shook his head, seized the nearly unconscious Tolien, drew him into the Mechanical Deity's chassis, and transported him internally to stand beside his own physical form.

With a fluid motion, Han Xiao produced the Spacetime Amber and instantly sealed the defenseless Tolien within its crystalline depths.

Gazing at the frozen expression of agony upon the man's face, Han Xiao allowed himself a satisfied smile, reminiscent of an aged farmer surveying a year's bountiful harvest.

"The first."

...

"Tolien has been captured!"

Sageman was seized by shock and fury, his gaze fixed upon the Mechanical Deity that had claimed his comrade, yet a creeping dread inevitably took root in his chest.

He needed no further explanation to know Tolien would soon taste the Spacetime Amber's cruel embrace, a profound sense of shared doom washing over him.

Given the peculiar resilience of Black Star's physical form, conventional tactics against ordinary machinists were useless; only one arduous path remained: the annihilation of Black Star's mechanical legions.

Yet Black Star fought upon his own turf, his potential fully ignited, his unique machinist combat doctrines unleashing a terrifying might that could be divided into three focal points: the Mechanical Deity itself, the elite Apostle Armaments and their commanders, and the vast mechanical legions.

The late-game dominance of a machinist relied upon a multi-front engagement mechanism, distributing forces to achieve the effect of one against many—the Mechanical Deity clashed evenly with Serion, pinning a peak Super-A Rank, while the legions held back numerous others, allowing the elite armaments to focus fire and dismantle them piecemeal.

To drag this war of attrition on against Black Star, he could not fathom how many of his own would be left to rot upon this battlefield.

Previously, Black Star had merely possessed formidable regeneration; now, with his direct combat prowess elevated, he stood in Sageman's eyes as an utterly despairing, overwhelming force of nature!

"Lord Kusuye, what course shall we take?"

Sageman could not help but turn his gaze toward his captain.

In this moment, his trust still rested entirely upon his commander... utterly unaware that the waters Kusuye had been holding back had already swollen into an ocean.

"Black Star has burned his potential to forge such power; it cannot endure. The operation has failed, and further combat will only yield ruin. We withdraw." Kusuye spoke slowly.

"What of Tolien? Shall we simply abandon him?"

"You cannot even be certain of your own escape, yet you still have the leisure to concern yourself with others." Kusuye shook his head.

Though he led the expedition, he harbored no objection to Black Star capturing a few souls to vent his wrath; in his view, since Black Star had burned his potential, it was only fitting that a cosmic-tier civilization offer some compensation... especially since it would not cost him a single coin.

This cadre of Super-A Ranks had come to assassinate Hela, already incurring Black Star's ire; to deny him this release of fury would contradict both the Mechanist Nation's interests and his own designs.

——

(This chapter reached seven thousand words; my head is spinning and I can no longer write. (*ˉ?ˉ*;))