The Legendary Mechanic

The death energy ravaged the fleet, eroding and penetrating the outer armor of every spaceship. They burst apart like fireworks as Hila's figure sailed through.

Uncountable troops on Gorutan's side were killed by the mixture of physical and mental damage. The death energy sapped their vitality, supplementing Hila's HP instead, and their soul fragments were absorbed by her to enhance her powers.

After receiving this attack, the fleet was in chaos for a short moment, but they quickly retaliated and fired a volley at Hila. However, most of their attacks were evaded or blocked by her death energy shield, and only a small portion caused damage.

In front of Hila's highly efficient vampirism ability, those injuries were healed in the blink of an eye.

Gorutan's eyes seemed like it was about to spit fire, his anger reaching extreme heights. He suddenly raised his speed, almost instantaneously breaking through the death energy barrier surrounding Hila. This time, he did not show mercy, raining blows on Hila's body, pummeling her.

Boom boom boom!

Bursts of compressed air blasted out from his fists, shattering Hila's internal organs and bones. The angered pinnacle Beyond Grade A pugilist's fists exuded great killing intent, as though he wished to beat her up into a ball of flesh.

However, Hila had received stolen plenty of vitality from the people she had just killed, so her HP constantly dipped and soared, barely supporting her through the intense attack.

Hila continued to dodge the blows as much as she could, and she even opted to retaliate at times, trading injury for injury.

"You're seeking death!"

Gorutan's fury knew no bounds, and as he pummeled Hila, he gazed with killing intent over at the Black Star Army's fleet.

Since Hila had dared to kill his subordinates, he could do the same to 'pay respect' to the Black Star Army.

But his eyes soon narrowed, as he saw that within the Black Star Army's fleet, a mechanical troop flew out from within one of the spaceships, standing at the very forefront. The lead mechanical soldier gave off frightening energy fluctuations. It was likely that Black Star had chosen to descend as an avatar.

Han Xiao's mechanical army remained in position, without any intention to save Hila, but Gorutan knew that if he were to attack the fleet, then it would become a two against one scenario.

There's only one of me, and I can't even summon an avatar. If I attack Black Star's fleet, I'll have to face off against him. Hila will then be able to freely slaughter my subordinates.

As this thought flashed through his head, Gorutan could only dismiss the thought of attacking the Black Star fleet, becoming even angrier in the process.

He was a dignified Pinnacle Beyond Grade A, so why did it seem like he was being forced to train the enemy?

Black Star, do you think that I really won't kill your subordinate‽

Good! Since you are not going to act, I'll beat your Deputy Army Commander to death!

From the time Hila began to slaughter his men, the degree of conflict had escalated, and Gorutan no longer held the mentality to test out her skills but rather had the intention to kill…

I shouldn't provoke Black Star? So what! We're both Beyond Grade A pinnacles. Does Black Star think that I'm afraid of him? This daddy here also has a temper!

Gorutan immediately stepped up his offensive, bombarding his opponent in front of him.

Such a mad attack would mean that he was more prone to vulnerability. Hila was bleeding all over, but she ignored the pain and kept calm, staring at the increasingly intense death energy on Gorutan's body. Her eyes flickered with an unknown light.

At this time, Gorutan's fist swirled with a violent aura, and after utilizing his skills, the power surged. Space seemed to warp around his fist.

Swoosh!

The fist passed through Hila's chest, as though piercing through it, separating the red ocean of death energy surrounding her.

But Gorutan's eyes narrowed. He did feel as if he had hit something concrete.

Hila's body dissolved into a mass of death energy, and disengaging from Gorutan's arm, the ocean of death energy took on the shape of a humanoid, reshaping into Hila's body.

[Advancing in the Dead Sea]!

Hila could turn her body into an energy life form and perform teleportation in any area filled with death energy with just a short cooldown. This was one of her few displacement skills.

Gorutan frowned. After beating his opponent for such a long time, he had assumed that she had no ability to teleport and dodge.

Just as he was about to pursue her, Gorutan felt his fist sinking. In that instant, Hila had commanded the death energy to wrap around his fist, releasing a huge attractive force that was forcing his arm to sink in the ocean of death energy.

At the same time, the [Death's Erosion] stacks on his body soared from ten to fifteen stacks!

[Extradition of the Dead]!

Hila's method of superimposing the [Death's Erosion] stacks was not just based through general attacks. She had the ability to stack multiple Death's Erosion instantly onto a target, and this skill was one of them.

She had initially been hiding her skills, all for this sudden blitzkrieg. She covered all fifteen stacks on Gorutan in one swoop before detonating them using [Reaper of Souls].

She had only attacked Gorutan's fleet to activate her vampiric effect, creating a battlefield that was conducive to herself to improve her endurance, as well as to attract hatred.

In her point of view, only by using a decoy and provoking Gorutan's anger would he reveal flaws for her to obtain the opportunity to attack. As long as he stepped up his offensive, the energy spent toward defense would weaken.

Hila's eyes were calm, and the moment the skill came into effect, she did not give Gorutan time to react, seamlessly connecting it with [Reaper of Souls], detonating all fifteen stacks.

Boom!

Gorutan exploded with a dazzling red light!

Hila took the opportunity to back away, distancing herself.

However, a dark brown pugilist flame wave burst out from within the explosion right after, evaporating all the death energy along its way as it slammed directly into Hila. It pushed her all the way toward Planet Phiri.

The brown ray of light penetrated Planet Phiri like a toothpick going through an orange.

The next second, the light fully pierced through both ends of the planet and began to expand rapidly, revealing the red glow of the planet core.

Buzz!

Everyone's eyes were greeted with an expanse of white, forcing them to subconsciously close their eyes. If the battleship porthole did not have the function to automatically adjust spectrum and brightness, this level of light would have been enough to burn the eyes of the majority present.

"Warning! Warning! High energy reaction detected! Reaction output level: Planet Annihilation!"

A harsh alarm sounded on every ship, and when everyone reopened their eyes, the huge planet had disappeared as though it had never existed.

All that remained were some bits of dust floating in its place. The entire planet had been collapsed and annihilated, and Hila was nowhere to be seen.

This moment, the death energy from Reaper of Souls collapsed, revealing Gorutan's body, which was covered in corrosive wounds and slowly healing.

Because his level was too high, the judgment of death was unsuccessful, but he had still lost twenty percent of his HP from that one blow!

Ever since he had stepped into the pinnacle level of the Beyond Grade A realm, Gorutan had rarely suffered such a serious injury. He had expected it to be a simple matter to deal with this newly born Beyond Grade A; he did not expect to suffer from such a loss.

In this fury, Gorutan had activated one of his aces, his self-created pugilist technique [Beast Ancestor Style—Light of Annihilation]. This was not just a pure Pugilist skill but also contained the laws of the universe that ran through his body.

On the surface, it seemed to just be a pugilist flame beam, but it actually stirred up the space around it, creating a terrible radiation energy to amplify its damage. Hitting the planetary core would cause a chain reaction to occur, resulting in planetary obliteration.

Hila's HP was not full to begin with, and with this blow, it was likely that she would have been instantaneously killed.

Gorutan's murderous eyes turned toward Black Star in the distance, the aura around him rising exponentially.

Having killed the Deputy Army Commander in front of him, Gorutan did not think that Black Star would remain unmoved, so he began to prepare to face this formidable foe.

However, much to his surprise, Han Xiao and his mechanical troops did not rush over as expected but rather turned to watch the smoldering wreckage of the planet.

Just as he was feeling puzzled, specks of gray shone around the wreckage of Planet Phiri and gathered to form a whirlwind. Hila's spiritual body was within that whirlwind, and this also attracted Gorutan's gaze.

The next moment, Hila's body reformed within the whirlwind, and the death energy draped around her like a cloak, only revealing a face that was deathly pale.

One of the mechanical soldiers threw out an Army Emblem, which Hila activated, turning it into countless nanoparticles that formed a Crimson Snake battlesuit around her body. Immediately afterward, the life potion of Aurora that was built within the suit was injected into her, and Hila's sluggish state after defying death quickly vanished, her HP recovering to more than half.

"Not dead‽" Gorutan's eyes narrowed, his expression sinking.

If he had not intended to kill Hila, that would have been all good, but since he had already revealed his killing move, this only made Gorutan feel even more humiliated.

But Black Star had already intervened, so continuing his attack was out of the question. Gorutan frowned, choosing to rearrange the formation of his fleet instead. In his view, since Hila did not die, Black Star definitely had to give him an explanation.

On the other side, Hila flew back to Han Xiao's avatar, and Han Xiao glanced at her with a slight smile on his face, "How is it? Do you want to continue being beaten up?"

Hila shook her head. "I can't beat him, but I managed to give him something to remember."

She felt that this battle was quite rewarding, allowing her to accumulate more experience and lessons on dealing with other Beyond Grade As. At the same time, she had harvested a lot of the opponent's troops, and her ability strength was slightly enhanced.

In particular, there were several Calamity Grades who had died by her hand, so the bonus provided was quite impressive, better than the beasts she had slaughtered during her training.

As she spoke, Hila suddenly paused and said with some uncertainty, "This time… did I cause trouble for you?"

In order to reverse her disadvantage, she had attacked the other party's fleet. This sort of combat method made it too easy to incite hatred, so Gorutan would probably have a deeper hatred against her.

Of course, Hila had no intention of apologizing to Gorutan at all. The moment she entered a fighting state, the enemy's life was nothing but a mere blood bag in her eyes. She would only apologize to Han Xiao.

My character seems to make enemies easily. Perhaps staying in the Black Star Army is the wrong decision…

Hila could not help but think that way, pursing up her lips.

She was still the same Goddess of Death who treated life like weeds. This could be a characteristic brought by abilities. The only thing that was better was that she would not kill ordinary people indiscriminately, and her cruelty was only aimed toward the enemy.

Han Xiao knew that Hila was not good with words. She spoke her mind frankly, and expecting her to stay her hand was impossible.

Han Xiao shook his head, answering with an unquestionable tone. "We'll talk more when we return. Just go and rest. I'll deal with the rest."

Hearing this, Hila opened and closed her mouth repeatedly, but in the end, she nodded quietly and boarded the spaceship.

Han Xiao controlled his avatar to move slowly toward Gorutan's troops.

Upon reaching the center of the two fleets, the troops threw out a multitude of compressed orbs, which transformed into a small floating sanctuary of around a thousand square meters. The door of the base opened wide, and Han Xiao made an inviting gesture toward Gorutan.

The latter narrowed his eyes but flew into the base. The sanctuary was full of fresh air, and in the middle was a long conference table, with a high seat at both ends.

Han Xiao sat on one of the seats, nodding toward Gorutan.

"Please sit."

Gorutan plonked down on one of the chairs and grumbled, "Black Star, your Deputy Army Commander is really brave. I haven't seen such a Beyond Grade A who seeks death so readily. Does she think that she can do as she pleases with you as a backer?"

"Haha, what sort of words are those? She has always been bold, and it's nothing to do with me." Han Xiao shook his head.

"I don't want to continue talking nonsense with you." Gorutan waved his hand. "I'm giving you face by not wanting her life. But she killed my descendants, and this debt must be settled. Let's discuss how to solve this."

"I think it's simple." Han Xiao controlled the avatar to stroke its metallic chin. "You take your troops to leave this place, and I won't pursue the matter any further. How about that?"

"What did you say‽ Say that again!" Gorutan glared furiously, his pugilist flame raging around him.

"Don't get too agitated." Han Xiao waved his hands to placate Gorutan. "I don't think Hila promised to challenge you, so who is to blame for this? And I think you probably discovered it, but she attacked your fleet not to vent her anger but rather to show her abilities and create a favorable battlefield for herself. After all, she's not your match, so of course she needed to utilize her surroundings. From my perspective, it seems like it was your entire fleet facing off against her. Isn't that more unfair?"

"I've not come into contact with you much before, but it seems like your reputation really precedes you. You're every bit as shameless as the rumors say." Gorutan coldly laughed.

"Is that so?" Han Xiao clicked his tongue. "A pinnacle Beyond Grade A bullying a newly born Beyond Grade A, is that very glamorous? I have no grudges nor hatred with you, yet you choose to provoke and bully my Deputy Army Commander. Of course, she is not your opponent, but you actually didn't even allow her to create a favorable environment for herself. If that's not bullying the weak, what is?"

Gorutan's words were stuck in his throat, and he finally growled in a deep voice, "No matter what, many of those killed were my descendants, and some were even Calamity Grades that I'd painstakingly raised. She attacked my fleet first, so this matter was incited by her. I won't let this go!"

Han Xiao laughed in response. "Wasn't this entire thing started by you? Why is it now our problem? Furthermore, you actively provoked me first, and now you're saying that my subordinates have gone too hard on you. I feel that you're more shameless than me."

Bang!

Gorutan slammed the table heavily as he stood up, the fury apparent in his expression.

"Black Star, watch your attitude!"

"Alright, let's say that you make sense. Then, what do you want us to do?"

"Of course, I want compensation!" Gorutan coldly replied. "I won't force you to repay a life with a life, but I want you to compensate me and make Hila apologize to me."

"Oh, sounds reasonable." Han Xiao smiled. "But I refuse."

"Black Star!" Gorutan smashed the table between them into smithereens, bellowing, "You wish to make me an enemy‽"

At this moment, Han Xiao's pleasant tone turned cold. "You think you're the only one who's angry? You bullied my old friend and even wanted to poach her. I haven't settled this with you! And also… what sort of mistaken notion makes you think that I cannot afford to make you an enemy‽"

The Lord's Avatar slowly rose up, floating until it came before Gorutan. The two of them stared straight at each other, and their gazes looked as though it could wipe out planets with it alone.

Han Xiao slowly spoke.

"It's far from your turn to manage my people!"

As he spoke, he raised a hand, poking at Gorutan's chest as his voice grew steely.

"You people come and test my patience and limits every day. You think that I'm without a temper? This daddy here has killed your people! You want to play with me? I'll play to the end with you. Can you even afford that‽"