Chapter 951: Mechanical God!

Chapter 951: The Mechanical Deity!

Along the route, starships drifted aside in unison, carving a wide corridor for the Black Star Fleet to pass.

Beneath the gaze of countless onlookers—thrilled, expectant, and hungry for chaos—the Black Star Fleet drifted slowly over the skies of Tyrant Black Star; pitch-black steel bay doors hissed open, and a torrent of diverse mechanical soldiers poured forth, coiling into metallic dragons that swiftly wove themselves into dense, immaculate battle formations, claiming the heavens as their armored hulls mirrored the same river of stars.

Pairs of indifferent mechanical optics looked down upon the ochre planet below, their focus locking onto the solitary figure of the Overlord.

Heber stood with his hands clasped behind his back, utterly unmoved, his cold gaze fixed on the dense mechanical legions above; suddenly, he let out a sharp snort, his formidable lungs unleashing a thunderous sonic wave.

Voom!

The echo rolled like muffled thunder, and in the next instant, every cell in Heber’s body frantically pumped out energy, triggering high-energy alerts on every ship’s radar; martial aura roared and surged within him, coalescing into his legs as his body seemed to gain immeasurable weight, and though he stood perfectly still, the earth beneath him cracked and splintered with a grinding roar, fissures spiderwebbing outward without end.

Both sides assumed their battle stances, poised to strike, and a grim, taut atmosphere descended like an invisible net, instantly ensnaring the entire arena.

The hearts of countless spectators tightened in an instant, and they could not help but hold their breath in anticipation.

At that moment, the Sovereign Avatar stepped forward from the ranks, taking position at the vanguard of the mechanical legion; blue-gold arcs of mechanical force crackled across its frame, its eyes blazing with radiant light, serving as the vessel for Han Xiao’s will.

"I have arrived," Han Xiao’s voice echoed across the wide-band channel.

"Hmph."

Heber let out a cold snort.

This time, the Empire offered no interference; both men knew the battle would only conclude when one of them fell.

In a sudden blur, Heber bent his knees and kicked off the ground, a shockwave rippling outward from his epicenter.

Boom!

The earth shattered into a chasm beneath his stomp, and Heber launched skyward like a missile, his eyes flashing with frigid battle lust; wreathed in a sun-bright crimson-gold martial aura, he tore toward the mechanical legions above like a golden meteor.

Above, a torrent of violent mechanical force erupted from the Sovereign Avatar, instantly linking every unit in the mechanical legion; in that same breath, Han Xiao activated a cascade of abilities, instinctively casting a Curse of Misfortune upon Heber.

The next moment, the vanguard units tasked with assault and attrition dove sharply, charging straight toward Heber.

Words were utterly superfluous in such a moment; there was no prelude, no posturing—the instant they met, they plunged straight into the heart of the fray, swinging with full, brutal force.

The golden meteor collided with the mechanical vanguard, and a storm of molten armor and shattered components detonated like explosives, spraying in every direction.

Bang, bang, bang—

Heavy mechanical soldiers shattered and plummeted one after another, and only after the golden meteor had carved deep into the formation did its momentum finally wane, ensnared by a swarm of mechanical limbs.

Meanwhile, the rear-line artillery units scattered with a thunderous roar, swirling around Heber like a metallic tornado; psionic cannons and dark-energy annihilation beams lanced out, a ceaseless barrage of light striking him from every blind spot and angle.

The dense, dark mass of the mechanical legion encircled Heber, a spectacle akin to a murder of crows dancing madly around the sun; from the center, crimson-gold martial shockwaves periodically erupted, piercing through the avian-like ranks like flares of solar fire.

A blinding crimson-gold energy wave shot forth, and dozens of mechanical soldiers synchronized their psionic shields; the wave detonated against the azure barriers in a swelling blast of energy, the sheer concussive force scattering the machines in disarray, yet none were crippled in a single blow—after tumbling through the void, they recalibrated their frames and turned back to rejoin the fray.

Han Xiao’s mechanical legion had undergone countless reinforcements, rendering them far from fragile even against a Super A-Class entity; though this batch of older models had yet to be replaced by the creations of a Divine Throne Mechanic, bolstered by his current mechanical force, they were no longer mere tin soldiers Heber could casually obliterate.

In this battle, the situation Heber faced was fundamentally different from before.

During their previous duel, Heber’s goal had been to assert his dominance, intending to swiftly eliminate Han Xiao’s main body.

Now, however, Black Star had risen to fame, and Heber no longer needed a quick victory; he knew perfectly well that with Han Xiao’s true body absent, the only path to triumph was to annihilate every mechanical unit on the field.

Destroy every troop brought by Black Star’s avatar, and victory would be his!

Thus, Heber’s mindset had grown steady and unhurried; fully prepared for a war of attrition, he focused solely on slaughtering the mechanical soldiers, carving brutally through their ranks with no intention of charging straight for the commander.

The protective aura flooding his body condensed into a golden sphere, enveloping him completely; psionic cannons struck him intermittently, but the vast majority of the damage was shaved away by his defensive aura and a myriad of damage-reduction traits.

Yet, the residual damage still pressed upon Heber with greater weight than before; every psionic blast that breached his protective qi and struck his flesh carried a tangible sting of pain.

Secretly startled by Han Xiao’s terrifying rate of growth, Heber gritted his teeth and calculated in silence:

"Though a prolonged fight is my only option, the longer this drags on, the worse it becomes for me. I must increase my kill efficiency."

With that thought, he inevitably ramped up both the frequency and ferocity of his strikes.

On the other side, Han Xiao piloted the Sovereign Avatar to survey the battlefield, his brow furrowed as he scanned the combat data on his interface.

"Truly a ridiculously tough and bloated damage sponge."

During their last encounter, Heber’s combat profile had been riddled with question marks; now, with his own level surpassing Heber’s, the data had finally resolved into completeness.

Heber stood at level 296, a portion of which stemmed from secondary professions; Han Xiao was an anomaly, making raw level differences largely irrelevant for comparison.

Though their total levels were not far apart, Heber’s tier remained a plain S, lacking the "+" suffix—a gap born entirely from cumulative bonuses.

Heber’s health pool hovered around eight million, his endurance attribute exceeded twelve thousand, and he carried a staggering arsenal of burst skills amplifying strength, agility, and stamina, not to mention a dense, nearly unreadable catalog of martial arts techniques.

His resistance traits were numerous: true damage immunity, low-damage immunity, flat damage reduction, supreme tenacity, and more—all abilities Han Xiao had witnessed in their previous duel, culminating in a truly terrifying defensive capability.

Their last duel had ended abruptly due to Imperial intervention, concluding with the Overlord’s retreat and a technical draw for Han Xiao; in truth, he had failed to inflict any grievous wounds upon Heber at that time.

Against Heber, the only strategy was to slowly whittle down his health; fortunately, his own mechanical force bonuses and the legion’s repeated upgrades had significantly boosted their damage output, accelerating the attrition.

Consequently, Han Xiao had not activated the Perfect Mechanical Sense character card this time, nor did he need to.

In his baseline state, the Overlord was already no match for him!

Once combat commenced, an S-rank quest titled "The Overlord Heber" popped up on his interface, identical to the one triggered during their last duel; such boss quests generated randomly based on the circumstances of challenging a Super A-Class, and it had duly appeared once more.

"This avatar of mine only carries a fraction of my attributes and abilities, but it is more than enough to engage Heber head-on and slow his slaughter of the mechanical legion."

With a mere thought, Han Xiao sent the Sovereign Avatar surging forward; it tore through layered battle lines, lunging straight for Heber at the center, a metal fist wreathed in mechanical force and psionic energy crashing down with brutal finality.

With a cold snort, Heber’s muscles swelled; beneath his skin, it seemed as though tangled pythons writhed and pulsed, tendons stretching taut as living muscle fibers coiled into a single cord, winding up devastating elastic force as terrifying power gathered from his entire body into his arm, and he pivoted to throw a counter punch that met the Sovereign Avatar head-on.

The crimson-gold fist and the azure metal gauntlet collided with savage force, erupting in a violent ring of energy shockwaves that rapidly expanded outward!

Thoom!

The violent aftershock hurled surrounding mechanical soldiers a considerable distance away, sending them tumbling in disarray, while the atmospheric clouds above Tyrant Black Star were blasted into a vast, empty void.

Bolstered by scalable traits like Might of the Titan and Divine Void Strength, Han Xiao’s strength now exceeded six thousand points, rendering his close-quarters offensive power remarkably formidable.

The duo’s combat sphere orbited around Tyrant Black Star, the eyes of distant interstellar citizens locked unwaveringly upon the clash.

Aboard one of the observing vessels, a Radiant Federation scout diligently recorded the entire engagement.

Both the Radiant Federation and the Void Spirit placed immense importance on this battle, having each dispatched operatives to gather intelligence.

Black Star’s current combat prowess would directly influence their subsequent plans regarding the Evolution Cube, making close observation an absolute necessity.

At this very moment, a remote projection of Manison stood in a corner of the cabin, watching the battle through the observation window as he spoke in a measured tone:

"The Overlord’s chances of victory are exceedingly slim."

"Is that so? I feel that although the Overlord is heavily surrounded, his physique is extraordinarily resilient; he should be able to endure until the mechanical legion is completely wiped out," the nearby captain ventured cautiously.

Manison shook his head. "I can sense that Black Star has grown stronger than before. Heber will not last that long; his condition will only deteriorate... Moreover, Black Star has yet to play many of his trump cards, such as the void abilities he displayed at Lighthouse Star."

Hearing this, the captain nodded repeatedly in agreement.

"The only question is..." Manison paused, his expression turning contemplative, "how much has Black Star truly grown? Could he have already brushed against the tier I occupy? Surely it cannot be that fast..."

Just then, a patch of distant space suddenly rippled, and the majestic Arcane Sanctuary warped into view.

"Oh, the brawl has already begun. It seems I am late."

Atop the Arcane Sanctuary, Austin sat cross-legged in midair, gazing from afar at the two combatants tumbling and clashing across the sky, a look of keen interest dancing across his youthful features.

At that moment, the majority of the crowd’s attention remained fixed on the duel between Han Xiao and the Overlord; though they noticed Austin’s arrival, they spared him only a fleeting glance before eagerly turning their eyes back to the battlefield.

Han Xiao’s gaze flicked toward Austin as well, the corner of his mouth twitching involuntarily.

Why is it that every time we clash, you arrive to play referee?

Are you some kind of perpetual arbiter, descending like a dragonfly upon every skirmish?

Yet there was no leisure to humor the wretched old man now; Han Xiao retracted his focus, sinking his consciousness back into the Sovereign Avatar to meet Heber head-on.

Boom, boom, boom—

The crust of Dominating Black Star was swiftly reduced to a scarred wasteland, as shockwaves from their clashes and stray psionic cannons rained down, blasting open countless colossal craters.

As the battle raged, the planet’s surface fractured and pitted, peeling away layer by layer like an onion until its very silhouette warped; the swirling vortex of Han Xiao and the Overlord’s combat acted as a sculptor’s chisel, carving the world with sweeping, brutal strokes.

Facing a tidal wave of steel alone, with the mechanical legion’s devastation far surpassing all expectations, Heber was swiftly forced onto the back foot, his movements growing desperate as every heart in the War Domain clenched in dread.

To think His Excellency the Overlord would be so thoroughly suppressed by a mere detachment, and so early in the engagement… Could the chasm between them be far wider than we dared imagine?!

During their last duel, the Overlord had clearly held Black Star beneath his heel, yet in mere years the tables had turned entirely; how swiftly the wheel of fortune spins…

Watching the Overlord’s increasingly ragged state upon the battlefield, Frothes clenched his fists until his knuckles blanched, his expression shifting like storm clouds.

……

Thud, thud, thud!

A relentless barrage of psionic cannons slammed into Heber’s back, the force piercing straight through his flesh; a coppery sweetness rose in his throat and his frame faltered for a fraction of a second, but that fleeting opening was all the Sovereign Avatar needed to unleash a torrent of brutal, rhythmic strikes upon his chest and abdomen, before fusing its hands into a massive cannon that vomited a blinding azure beam, blasting him skyward.

He had scarcely reached the apex of his arc when he attempted to right himself, only for another concentrated volley of psionic fire to engulf him, sending his body tumbling end over end.

Suddenly, a tremendous impact shattered against his spine as a swarm of close-combat mechanoids, wielding an arsenal of vicious blades and hammers, crashed into his back, violently altering his chaotic trajectory once more.

Enduring such a relentless, storm-like bombardment for so long, even Heber’s indomitable physique began to buckle; he felt like a heavy bag being mercilessly pummeled, every inch of him screaming in agony, his windows to counterattack shrinking until he could barely defend himself.

Crash!

After being battered through several brutal rotations, Heber plummeted straight toward the earth, cratering the ground in a perfect, human-shaped depression!

“Cough… Star-Shattering Fist!”

Swallowing the searing pain, Heber desperately marshaled his remaining strength and hurled a thick, brilliant golden wave of martial energy at the pursuing mechanical horde above, detonating a massive sphere of chain-reaction explosions that swallowed countless mechanoids in its radiant maw.

Yet as the luminous haze faded, it became clear that most of the machines had weathered the blast behind psionic barriers; though heavily scarred, they remained combat-ready, failing to trigger even a single instance of [Scrap Refitting].

“The gap… how could it possibly be this vast?!”

Shock and fury warred within Heber; he had entered this fray with quiet confidence, certain that against a single detachment of Black Star’s forces, victory would well be within his grasp.

Yet after this grueling, protracted slaughter, having exhausted every technique in his arsenal, he was forced to confront the grim reality that he might not even survive a single detachment!

How could it come to this!

In the opening moments, at his absolute peak, Heber had managed to hold back the mechanical tide, but as his wounds deepened and his stamina bled away, his condition inevitably deteriorated.

Han Xiao, however, was a creature who thrived in the crucible of war; his blood-and-azure cycle alone kept his energy reserves perpetually brimming, bolstered by combat-scaling proficiencies like [Advanced Tenacious Life], [Battlefield Clarity], and [One Against Ten Thousand], meaning the longer the fight dragged on, the more terrifying his output became, and as their fortunes inverted, Heber was reduced to a ragged punching bag.

At this rate, defeat is absolute!

The realization dyed Heber’s eyes a sudden, violent crimson; he despised failure in any form, but to be so thoroughly humiliated by Black Star, a latecomer who had surged past him, was a bitterness he could scarcely swallow.

Boom!

In the next instant, Heber’s aura erupted in a blinding conflagration, his high-energy readings spiking in a grotesque, unnatural ascent as surging martial waves shredded every approaching mechanoid into scattered scrap.

“Oh? What technique has he invoked?”

A flicker of curiosity crossed Han Xiao’s mind as he glanced at his interface, noting a new status flashing in Heber’s column—[Extreme Path Style: Cellular Hyper-Release].

The skill was no stranger to him; a martial art even players had mastered in his past life, designed to forcibly ignite cellular potential, overclocking every attribute from physique to energy, temporarily granting the combat prowess of his next evolutionary tier for hours or even days.

Yet the backlash was crippling: once activated, all future character and skill advancement costs would permanently increase by seven percent, stacking with every use without limit!

It was nothing less than mortgaging one’s future potential for a fleeting surge of power!

Under normal circumstances, no sane warrior would resort to such a desperate measure unless backed into a corner.

Han Xiao was momentarily taken aback. “Is it truly that unbearable to lose to me? To unleash a technique that cripples you just to strike back…”

But the moment his eyes met Heber’s gaze, understanding dawned.

Those bloodshot eyes burned with the unyielding defiance and fierce pride of a true powerhouse.

Though the Overlord’s usual posturing and theatrics often drew scorn, in this moment, Han Xiao could not deny that he stood before a genuine warrior.

“As expected, those who reach the Super A-Class are never ones to yield easily,” Han Xiao murmured, pressing his lips into a thin line.

The sudden detonation of Heber’s energy signature rippled across every radar in the vicinity, jolting the onlookers to attention as voices erupted across the wide-band channels.

“Whoa, the Overlord’s high-energy readings are still climbing!”

“What’s happening? Is Heber preparing his trump card?”

“I thought he was finished, but it seems the tide might yet turn!”

“Is the Overlord about to reverse the battle?!”

Heber’s aura blazed like a supernova, shattering past the 52,000 energy threshold as his rank surged to S+, his grievous wounds knitting together at a visible pace.

Locking a furious, unblinking stare on Han Xiao, he cupped his hands before him as a piercing golden spark ignited between his palms, swelling in brilliance with each passing second, his stance reminiscent of a legendary energy wave as he channeled a cataclysmic strike.

Yet at that precise moment, Han Xiao’s Sovereign Avatar halted midair, looking down upon Heber as the warrior’s momentum spiraled into a frenzy.

“Since you are committing yourself so utterly, I can no longer afford to toy with you.”

As the words left him, a spiderweb of mechanical force violently expanded, tethering itself to every single mechanoid on the field.

In the next breath, the entire mechanical legion shot toward the Sovereign Avatar like a flock returning to its roost, interlocking and fusing as a colossal mechanical construct began to take shape.

The mechanical chains binding each unit pulsed like the nerves, veins, and sinews of a gargantuan living entity!

Zzzzt, zzzzt, zzzzt—

One mechanoid after another became mere components, the scattered army rapidly coalescing into a single, unified whole.

“Th… this is…”

Beneath the stunned gazes of countless onlookers, a heaven-piercing mechanical colossus materialized above Dominating Black Star, its scale utterly staggering.

A profound, heavy resonance radiated from the titan, instilling a visceral certainty in every observer—this was no mere patchwork of scrap, but a wholly independent, newborn entity!

Heber’s eyes widened in sheer disbelief, his concentration shattered so thoroughly that the martial energy gathering in his hands flickered erratically like a failing bulb.

At that exact moment, aboard the Radiant Federation vessel, Manison’s usually placid demeanor was shattered as if struck by a sledgehammer, his eyes flying wide as a flash of pure astonishment cut through his gaze:

“Is that… a Mechanical Deity?!!”

——

(A touch delayed, but the chapter length is decent at over 5,300 words; posting first, editing later.)