Chapter 995: Three for One?

Chapter 995: Three for One?

Before long, the procession of Beyond Grade A experts arrived beyond the Psionic Restriction Belt, selecting a desolate expanse as their arena.

Han Xiao and Silver Shadow stepped forth from the ranks, standing far apart across the battleground, while the other onlookers lingered at the periphery, linked by a telepathic channel woven by Swordmaster Fu, quietly observing the spectacle.

“To think Silver Shadow would choose Black Star as his opponent; one wonders how long he can possibly endure,” Viru murmured, shaking his head.

Swordmaster Fu replied coolly, “Even if he defeats Koller, his influence would merely rank second to last. Better to challenge Black Star; if he can merely cause him some trouble, a loss would still yield greater dividends than victory over Koller.”

Koller: “...”

Though it was the unvarnished truth, such blunt honesty was hardly the way to keep friends, sister!

Ravenlaude mused aloud, “Silver Shadow appears remarkably confident, as though he truly holds some assurance. Perhaps he possesses a unique ability.”

“I heard he is a martial artist? He looks far more like an esper.”

“I looked into his records. His speed is extraordinary, rumored to stem from a unique flight technique that allows continuous acceleration, even artificially reaching mid-tier warp states. Moreover, he seems to carry a fraction of Void lineage.” Maximus pointed toward the distant Silver Shadow. “Also, if you shift to microscopic vision and examine his surface, that seemingly smooth silver shell is etched with incredibly fine forbidden mana circuits. He must have paid a Beyond Grade A mage from the Sea of Star Spirits to enchant him.”

At his words, the assembled Beyond Grade A experts adjusted their sight, slipping into a microscopic state, and indeed discovered a dense web of energy circuits across Silver Shadow’s form, resembling semi-invisible tattoos.

“There are only a handful of Beyond Grade A mages in the Sea of Star Spirits. Given that wild, unrestrained circuit style, it must be the Secret Lord from that elderly idol troupe. Though he operates as a semi-neutral mastermind behind the interstellar black market, his fees are exorbitant. Silver Shadow has clearly spared no expense.”

Ravenlaude frowned in displeasure. “What do you mean, elderly idol troupe? They are the Ancient Ones!”

Swordmaster Fu focused on another detail, her eyes narrowing slightly. “He carries far too many personal enchantments. To withstand such a tremendous load, his physique must be excessively resilient.”

“Indeed, that seems to be the case,” Beoni sighed helplessly. “But no matter how tough his body is, could it possibly rival Black Star’s?”

“...A fair point.”

With Han Xiao having already set the precedent, the crowd had long grown accustomed to all manner of impenetrable juggernauts.

“Come to think of it, since his clash with the Mechanic Empire, Black Star has not crossed blades with a Beyond Grade A in nearly twenty years. At that pinnacle, even he can no longer sustain that once-terrifying pace of growth,” Viru remarked, shaking his head.

Cloti, who rarely spoke, interjected softly, “He nears the known ceiling of individual might. To ascend further would require shattering the limits of the entire explored cosmos. Countless Beyond Grade A figures throughout history have failed to forge a new realm; such a feat is never easily won.”

As the group conversed, Han Xiao and Silver Shadow had already assumed their stances.

The Sovereign Avatar hovered in the void alongside a compact mechanical detachment, few in number, their obsidian armor wreathed in faint, blue-gold currents of mechanical force.

The mechanic himself stood perfectly still, while it was Silver Shadow across from him who actively created distance.

Such a sight was rare; the watching Beyond Grade A experts exchanged knowing smiles—likely only Black Star, a mechanic of his caliber, could make a martial artist hesitate to close the distance.

Silver Shadow circled Han Xiao from afar, hunting for flaws and openings, yet holding back his strike.

Han Xiao watched him orbit in place, seeing no sign of an imminent assault, and finally could not help but speak:

“How long do you intend to circle? Come at me already!”

Silver Shadow offered no reply, continuing his orbit as his pace gradually quickened, his flight speed climbing until his form blurred, resembling a silver comet dragging a train of afterimages like the fiery tail of a meteor.

Through his Void Vision, Han Xiao could clearly perceive that Silver Shadow’s velocity was not merely raw speed; the space around him warped subtly, continuously compressing behind him to create a tidal effect, allowing him to surf the crest of spatial waves for additional acceleration.

At the same time, a familiar void energy radiated from Silver Shadow, confirming that his adversary indeed carried a fragment of void genetics.

Han Xiao possessed a fair understanding of Silver Shadow’s general capabilities. Among the Beyond Grade A, Silver Shadow was widely known for several distinct traits: first, his blinding speed, capable of sustaining warp jumps for extended periods, and at his peak, reaching high-tier warp velocities.

Second, his physique was extraordinarily resilient, bordering on indestructible.

Third, his racial gift was exceedingly rare.

Fourth, he was notoriously unprincipled in his methods.

Silver Shadow’s vitality was not particularly high, yet his defensive capabilities were absurdly exaggerated, surpassing even Heber’s, a trait intrinsically tied to his nature as a mutated cosmic treasure.

Thanks to these myriad special abilities, though Silver Shadow was technically a newly ascended Beyond Grade A, his actual combat prowess likely surpassed Koller and Beoni, stood equal to Viru and Heber, and fell slightly short of Maximus, Ravenlaude, and Swordmaster Fu, placing him firmly in the middle tier—his mental fortitude remained his glaring weakness.

As one of the Empire’s premier Beyond Grade A combatants, Han Xiao remained utterly composed, willing to let Silver Shadow unleash his full arsenal; after all, his opponent served a unique purpose and was worth befriending, allowing him to display his prowess and secure his voice within their circles—a gesture of gracious fulfillment.

It was not arrogance that guided Han Xiao, but clear-eyed calculation; he had run the combat simulations in his mind countless times, arriving at a single conclusion:

—With his current strength, he could dictate the flow of battle entirely. There was no need for elaborate maneuvers against Silver Shadow; a straightforward, overwhelming advance would suffice.

With dragons mounted and bearing down, defeat was an impossibility.

Let your blades dance with dazzling flourishes; I shall simply raise my hand and end it with a single shot.

Han Xiao waited patiently for Silver Shadow to build his momentum, only occasionally ordering his mechanical detachment to fire from a distance.

At last, sensing his warm-up was complete, Silver Shadow snapped his head around and launched a ferocious charge, streaking like a beam of light, crossing a vast stretch of void in the blink of an eye as he bore down upon Han Xiao’s mechanical forces.

The combat AI, Sparta, acting on Han Xiao’s permission, reacted instantly, activating spatial solidification arrays and chrono-stabilization anchors.

The ambient spatial stability surged dramatically; since a portion of Silver Shadow’s velocity relied on spatial distortion, his speed instantly plummeted, though he remained blindingly fast, moving beyond the perception of even Calamity-grade experts, visible only as a slender silver thread.

Relying on his residual speed, Silver Shadow entangled himself with the mechanical detachment; psionic cannons frequently struck empty air, while silver martial shockwaves continuously hammered against the matrix-style combined psionic shields deployed by the machines, failing to pierce through.

After a period of probing skirmishes, Silver Shadow pivoted and charged straight toward the mechanical unit’s psionic barrier, resembling a silver comet once more.

Just moments before impact, the silver comet underwent a sudden metamorphosis, fracturing like a cluster warhead into hundreds of minute silver meteors that scattered in every direction in an instant, skimming rapidly along the surface of the psionic shield before veering inward through the unguarded flanks, plunging directly into the mechanical formation.

Each fragment was a mass of silver, liquid-metal-like substance, each reshaping into a miniature replica of Silver Shadow, all severed yet integral parts of his own body.

This was Silver Shadow’s racial gift; the metamorphosis within his star core had granted him mutation, allowing his body to achieve nano-fission and shapeshift at will, entirely under his own command.

Moreover, these split entities retained considerable combat effectiveness; since his total power remained constant, each fragment’s strength depended on the energy ratio and mass Silver Shadow allocated, while his void lineage allowed him to channel power remotely through the void dimension to sustain them, their vitality likewise dictated by their proportional size.

Yet it was his cosmic treasure attribute that bestowed upon him his terrifying defense, a trait that did not divide among the fragments; thus, even if each sub-entity possessed modest offensive power, they were nearly indestructible, forming his greatest advantage.

Thanks to such a unique ability, among the grueling ranks of martial artists, Silver Shadow stood as a rare aristocrat of combat, never forced to dirty his own hands for every strike.

A portion of the fragments wove through the mechanical ranks at breakneck speed, striking and slashing; yet with their power dispersed, their rapid assaults failed to damage the mechanical soldiers, which had been reinforced across countless generations and further augmented by Han Xiao’s mechanical force, leaving only shallow grooves upon their outer armor.

Meanwhile, the remaining fragments coalesced once more, reforming into a slightly smaller Silver Shadow that shot straight toward Han Xiao, closing the distance in the blink of an eye.

The Sovereign Avatar did not stir; instead, deep blue arcs erupted from his eyes as Supreme Virtualization struck directly into his foe’s mind!

In the next instant, Silver Shadow lost all command over his body, his high-speed charge catastrophically failing, sending him tumbling head over heels!

The scattered fragments likewise lost all coordination, effortlessly captured by the mechanical detachment.

Han Xiao shifted his stance slightly, letting Silver Shadow roll past him, then reached out with precise timing, seized him by the ankle, and hauled him back.

Silver Shadow’s weakness lay in his mental defenses, and Supreme Virtualization was not merely a psychic assault but carried the decryption complexity of virtual technology; with Han Xiao’s mastery and overwhelming tier suppression, it would take Silver Shadow an eternity to break free, leaving ample time to twist him into any manner of compromising positions.

Nano-mechanical tentacles extended from the Sovereign Avatar’s back, binding Silver Shadow layer upon layer in an inescapable coil, while the appendages deployed electromagnetic and spatial suppression devices; simultaneously, disc-shaped micro-psionic floating cannons deployed from the avatar’s shoulders, hovering in a ring around Silver Shadow’s head.

The distant mechanical detachment also converged, swiveling their barrels in unison toward the restrained Silver Shadow while projecting an inverted psionic barrier that sealed both Han Xiao and his captive inside, stripping Silver Shadow of the open space required to build his acceleration.

Only then did Silver Shadow finally shake off the Supreme Virtualization, his mind heavily battered and plagued by multiple debilitating conditions; the moment his consciousness returned, he found himself utterly immobilized.

“Shall we continue?” Han Xiao’s voice echoed through the telepathic channel, laced with quiet amusement.

“...An array like this cannot truly harm me.” Silver Shadow strained against his bonds, found escape impossible, and simply wrenched his own head free, abandoning the bulk of his body to break the restraint; his head shrank into a diminutive figure, standing atop the smooth, silver cross-section of his own neck.

“I am aware. Your body possesses extraordinary resilience, and my forces may struggle to inflict meaningful damage upon you,” Han Xiao nodded, offering a faint smile. “Yet you cannot possibly leverage that to gain the upper hand against me... Trust me, I have ample experience in this regard.”

In truth, he was a natural counter to Silver Shadow; had the Spacetime Amber been present, the battle would have been trivial, as the tiny split fragments were perfect for the amber’s formation, allowing him to seal them away one by one and steadily whittle Silver Shadow down—but this was merely a Sovereign Avatar, and the amber remained with his main body.

Silver Shadow fell silent for a moment, his aggressive aura receding as he finally nodded. “You win.”

He had originally hoped to catch Han Xiao off guard with his velocity, fission, and unyielding physique, aiming only to seize a fleeting advantage; he never truly believed he could defeat Black Star, not even a single Sovereign Avatar.

Yet his long-prepared offensive had been dismantled with casual ease, leaving him squarely in his enemy’s grasp, a stark revelation of the crushing disparity in their strength; the entire battlefield had never left Black Star’s control.

With the majority of his body held in Han Xiao’s grip, pressing the fight would only lead to further humiliation, and recognizing Black Star’s deliberate restraint to let him showcase his abilities, Silver Shadow felt a quiet gratitude; he knew when to stop, unwilling to drag out a futile struggle, for though he sought to challenge the mighty, he had no desire to court needless torment.

Hearing this, Han Xiao released the restrictive seal, allowing Silver Shadow to revert to his original form, and smiled. "You owe me a favor now."

"What do you wish for me to do?" Silver Shadow asked.

"Hmm, let it stand as a debt for now. I will come to you when the thought strikes me." Han Xiao pondered for a moment, choosing not to voice his request immediately.

He harbored a desire to study Silver Shadow's physique and unravel the hidden attributes of the cosmic treasure, yet their rapport had not yet deepened to such a degree; the other would hardly be willing to offer his body for scrutiny—a venture fraught with peril for any Beyond Grade A entity.

Thus, it would be wiser to cultivate their bond further before making such a demand, for this was no fleeting transaction; only by fostering goodwill could he ensure Silver Shadow's willingness to lend himself for such purposes in the days to come.

In his past life, Carrot had been a close confidant of Silver Shadow, which was precisely why he had been granted so many complimentary private sessions.

Come to think of it, Carrot should have enlisted in the Imperial military by now; though his true awakening remained distant, one could only wonder whether his trajectory had shifted under the weight of my interference...

"Very well. I shall keep it in mind," Silver Shadow nodded.

"When time permits, seek me out in the Shattered Star Ring or the Glittering World. Should you encounter any tribulations, my aid is yours," Han Xiao laughed heartily.

Silver Shadow nodded in silence, deeply comforted by Black Star's geniality; the man carried himself like a seasoned elder brother, stopping just short of outright declaring, "I have your back."

A quiet sigh stirred within his heart:

While other Beyond Grade A experts sought to humble the newcomer, Black Star alone stood apart; this, indeed, was the magnanimity befitting a future pillar of the Empire.

As the duel drew to a close, the Beyond Grade A spectators who had watched from the periphery closed in.

The outcome surprised no one, yet Black Star's unshakable composure still drew murmurs of awe. Striking again after two decades of silence, he no longer felt like a gambler walking a razor's edge, but a sovereign force crushing his foe with dignified, overwhelming might, all while holding ample strength in reserve.

Though none had crossed blades with him, the onlookers measured Silver Shadow's displayed prowess with sober minds, quietly simulating their own clashes against him; the consensus was clear: though a novice, his combat prowess was formidable, leaving even Koller and Beoni uncertain of victory.

Koller, in particular, could not help but breathe a silent sigh of relief that Silver Shadow had declined his sparring invitation, sparing him from certain humiliation.

Yet to subdue such a Silver Shadow, Black Star had done so with effortless grace; the disparity in their realms was truly staggering.

Clot aside, the reverence harbored by the assembled Beyond Grade A experts toward Han Xiao deepened considerably.

Back aboard the vessel and charting a course for the Crimson Ring Star, Han Xiao exchanged pleasantries with Silver Shadow while summoning his interface, his eyes falling upon the Beyond Grade A challenge quest, which now gleamed with a "Completed" status.

He refrained from claiming the rewards immediately, intending to wait until his consciousness returned to his true body so he could indulge in a satisfying session of touching Fudin first—a crucial ritual he dared not overlook.

...

Upon their return to the Crimson Ring Star and the exchange of communication frequencies, Silver Shadow took his leave of the group and headed toward his quarters to rest.

Just as Han Xiao prepared to dismiss his Dominator Avatar, an Imperial official approached him.

"Lord Black Star, Mr. Bekrodi requests an audience with you."

"Bekrodi?" Han Xiao recognized the name as a key figure among the Empire's hardliners, a man whose path rarely crossed his own; curiosity piqued, he asked, "What does he want with me?"

"He wishes to discuss the matter of the Evolution Cube."

Han Xiao's mind stirred; over the past decade, as the Radiance and the Void Spirit ceaselessly applied pressure, a faction of the Imperial high command had remained steadfast regarding the Cube's ownership, and Bekrodi was rumored to be one of its most ardent advocates.

What exactly does he intend to discuss?

Intrigued, Han Xiao gave a slight nod. "Very well. Lead the way."

"Please, follow me."

The Imperial attendant took the lead, guiding them through the corridors of an administrative edifice, past layer upon layer of security wards, until they arrived at a secluded conference chamber.

The moment Han Xiao crossed the threshold, his eyes fell upon an aged yet imposing Imperial officer seated at the head of the table; his skin was drawn taut over deep-set wrinkles, his nose somewhat prominent, his thin lips pressed into a rigid line, and his sunken eyes radiated an unyielding sternness.

"Greetings, Black Star. I am Bekrodi. This is not our first encounter," Bekrodi managed a strained smile.

"Yet it is our first private meeting," Han Xiao replied with a shake of his head, taking a seat at the opposite end of the table.

Previously, he had only glimpsed the man during full assemblies of the Imperial high command, never exchanging more than passing formalities.

"I am not a man for idle chatter, so I shall speak plainly." Bekrodi planted both hands on the table, sitting rigidly upright as his voice dropped to a grave timbre. "The Empire wishes to trade certain assets for the Evolution Cube. Name your price."

They want to trade for my Evolution Cube? Han Xiao's gaze flickered.

Truth be told, the omens had long been present, marked by numerous subtle maneuvers, yet only today had the Imperial high command finally laid their intentions bare before him.

"I assume this is not merely your personal directive?" Han Xiao asked, a half-smile playing on his lips.

"Correct. I trust you understand this bears no personal animosity. In the past, we would not have pursued this; leaving the Cube in your hands posed little concern. However, the Heretic God's legacy has yielded the Evolver Totem and a wealth of evolver civilization technologies. The Cube has become the linchpin of these arts, altering its significance entirely. The Empire desires control over this strategic cosmic treasure, and only His Excellency the Chancellor's steadfast support for you has delayed this proposal until now."

Han Xiao nodded; this, he could comprehend. As a sovereign civilization, the Empire was burdened with myriad concerns, and an artifact of such strategic weight could only bring peace of mind when held within their own grasp. Profit was but one facet; more fundamentally, a mature civilization could never place its entire fate in the hands of individuals or allies.

The Crimson Empire was no exception; whether under the Radiance or the Void Spirit, the emergence of the Evolver Totem and its accompanying technologies would have spurred identical decisions, if not far more ruthless ones.

Had he been a direct vassal Beyond Grade A of a superior civilization, they might have simply ordered him to surrender it, rather than entertaining his demands.

As an external ally, the Empire could not forcibly confiscate his private property for public use without courting disastrous repercussions, hence their recourse to negotiation.

To advanced civilizations, Beyond Grade A entities were merely instruments of war; the civilization itself remained the true protagonist of the cosmos.

Conversely, few Beyond Grade A experts truly served their civilizations with unwavering loyalty; it was, at its core, a symbiosis of mutual exploitation and convenience.

"Allowing me to name my terms is rather generous..." Han Xiao chuckled. "There must be a ceiling, surely. Why not state your offer outright?"

"Very well." Bekrodi nodded. "The Empire is prepared to exchange cosmic treasures for your Evolution Cube."

Han Xiao shook his head. "As you just stated, the Cube's significance has shifted. A straight one-for-one swap—do you think I would come out ahead?"

"You misunderstand. It is not a one-for-one exchange."

Bekrodi offered a faint smile, his words measured and slow:

"Three cosmic treasures for a single Evolution Cube. This is the Empire's sincerity. What say you?"

——

(I ate dinner before writing today, and almost missed the midnight deadline (T_T)