Chapter 1 The News Spreads

With the spread of news by numerous onlookers, the word of Black Star's challenge to Heber spread quickly throughout the Shattered Star Ring and the major star fields.

The past grudges between the two were dug up again by the rubbernecking masses, adding an interesting gimmick to this battle, attracting widespread attention.

Conflicts between allies of advanced civilizations were not unheard of in history. Although they worked for the same civilization, the allied forces were not of one mind, but rather for mutual benefit. Resources were ultimately limited, and conflicts of interest would inevitably arise.

As long as the friction between allies did not cross the line and did not cause serious infighting, advanced civilizations would not intervene. First, they did not intend for each ally to maintain good relations with each other. Second, competition brought vitality. Third, many issues of interest distribution were difficult to mediate even for advanced civilizations.

Black Star's challenge to Heber was on that borderline where the empire could intervene or not.

This matter also made it to the conference table of the empire's top leaders.

Central Star Sea, Crimson Ring Star, high-level conference room.

"A few days ago, Black Star officially delivered a challenge to Heber, inviting him to a battle twenty days later. Heber accepted. Now this news is spreading like wildfire. Everyone, what are your views?"

At the head of the table, Ulan Rier tapped the table with her slender, white fingers, and looked around at the high-level officials present. No one's face revealed their attitude.

"Well, Black Star didn't consult with us and acted first and reported later. His actions will cause fluctuations in the empire's influence in the Shattered Star Ring. It's not a good behavior," a high-ranking official said sternly.

"Indeed, the empire's external environment is worrying. For us, maintaining the stability of the star field is most important. I think we should intervene in this matter," someone echoed.

On the other side, someone held the opposite opinion. This person was an official from the Head of State faction: "That can't be said. Black Star's actions are understandable. Years ago, Heber proposed a challenge to Black Star, who had just entered the Super-A level. Black Star therefore joined the empire and accepted our protection. Now that his wings have grown, it's normal for him to want to settle previous grudges."

Seeing this, a neutral faction official also spoke, "That's right. We didn't stop Heber at the time because Black Star joined us after accepting the challenge. The agreement between Super-A grades cannot be easily withdrawn, so we shouldn't stop Black Star's current challenge now. That's fair."

"Yes, moreover, the behavior of the War Domain recently affected the interests of the Black Star Army. If we favor Heber, it will greatly affect Black Star's perception of the empire."

"But Heber's prestige..."

The officials present were divided into two sides, one supporting intervention and the other supporting non-interference. However, those who spoke were the daily active figures of each faction, that is, the pawns. Their job was to throw out ideas to indirectly convey the faction's position.

The real faction leaders were silent at this time.

Ulan Rier listened calmly and glanced at Tarrokov, the commander-in-chief of the Exploration Army, "Tarrokov, what do you think?"

As soon as these words came out, the whole audience fell silent, knowing that it was time for the大佬 (dàlǎo, big shots) to speak and make decisions. Their words carried weight.

"Black Star, I'm very familiar with him." Tarrokov smiled slightly, "I believe he knows what he's doing."

"Mm."

Ulan Rier nodded and looked at Bekrodi, one of the leaders of the hardliners, "What about you?"

Bekrodi's face was as deep as water. He glanced inadvertently at Lutherville, who was smiling but not smiling, and slowly said, "I... support neutrality."

Hearing this, a hint of hidden doubt flashed in Ulan Rier's eyes, a little surprised.

He knew that Bekrodi had always been a staunch hardliner, disliking Black Star in every way, as if his wife had been slept with by Black Star.

When he asked him just now, he wanted to elicit opposing opinions, but he didn't expect Bekrodi to stand on Black Star's side at this time.

Supporting neutrality now is supporting Black Star, because everyone present knows that if the duel is allowed to proceed, Heber's prestige will be seriously damaged, and Black Star's reputation will skyrocket.

What Heber didn't know was that in the eyes of the empire's top leaders, even if his opponent was just a clone of Black Star, his winning rate was less than 10%!

Because not long ago, the empire's outposts submitted an observation report of Black Star's advancement, and this report had caused a sensation among the empire's top leaders.

It had only been a few years since Black Star entered the Super-A level. The Beacon Star battle and the fall of the Otherworld God all demonstrated his growth. The empire originally thought that he would be silent for a while, but Black Star was like drinking high-energy oil, his butt was on fire, and he soared into the sky. He had actually grown again in the short term.

Compared to the standard evolution speed of Super-A grades, a few years was simply too short!

Although it was not yet known what level Black Star had reached, according to Dark Emperor's speculation, Black Star might have approached the level of peak Super-A grades, decades or even hundreds of years earlier than expected. Even Dark Emperor was taken aback, saying that he had never seen such a pervert.

So in the eyes of the empire, Heber's chances of winning were pitifully low, and they even suspected that Black Star only sent a clone to fight, whether it was to anger Heber, make Heber feel that he had a chance of winning, and lure the other party to accept the challenge.

And the result of this battle could be predicted. Black Star would become the empire's main spokesperson in the Shattered Star Ring, and although Heber's power could continue to grow, in terms of the deterrence and status of the Super-A grade, he would always be suppressed by Black Star and would never be on par with Black Star as in the past...

This meant that in the eyes of outsiders, Black Star would sit on the top spot of the Super-A grade in the Shattered Star Ring!

Ulan Rier naturally wanted to see this scene happen, so the Head of State faction was all towards Black Star. She originally thought that someone would definitely jump out today and insist on interfering with the duel. She was prepared to suppress all disobedience, but she didn't expect Bekrodi, the person she thought was most likely to cause trouble, to change his position!

Secretly frowning, Ulan Rier looked at Lutherville again.

"I also support neutrality." Lutherville's expression was calm, not because he was grateful to Black Star, he always followed the Head of State faction's stance.

Moreover, he was not as radical as the hardliners. Curbing Black Star was the worst policy. What he thought more about was exchanging or buying evolution blocks.

What's wrong today, why is everyone so talkative... Ulan Rier muttered secretly.

Hearing this, Bekrodi narrowed his eyes slightly and glanced at Lutherville meaningfully.

Just a few days ago, Sorokin, who had an agreement with him, secretly sent a message, expressing the hope that he would stop the duel. Bekrodi also knew the stakes. If Black Star's reputation continued to rise, Sorokin's plan would be more difficult to achieve.

If it were in normal circumstances, he would definitely insist on the position of intervention, but now the situation was different. Lutherville came to him more than half a month ago to chat, and his words were meaningful, which made him suspicious.

Bekrodi could only ignore Sorokin's opinion, restrain himself temporarily, and observe the situation - plotting the evolution block was good, but self-preservation was more important.

The conference room was a little silent, and the atmosphere seemed strange. The high-ranking officials of other factions saw that these大佬 (dàlǎo, big shots) had unified their tone, and no one jumped out to object, and they all echoed.

"Since there are no objections." Ulan Rier only felt that it was going too smoothly, calmed down, and slowly said: "Then it's decided, as long as Black Star doesn't do too much, such as beating Heber to death or disability, we won't interfere."

"Understood."

Everyone nodded with their own thoughts.

...

"Black Star and Heber are fighting?"

In the Crimson Empire's Super-A grade group chat, Bayonne spoke with interest, immediately blasting out all the divers.

"I knew that those two would fight one day." Old Dragon hummed.

"Don't say anything, let's open a gambling pool." Bayonne rubbed his fists.

"A small bet is fun, I bet on Black Star, 50 million Enas." Ravenlaude smiled, not blushing at all for selling Heber.

"Well, I'm very familiar with Heber, and I'm very clear about his strength..." Verus pinched his chin, "So I bet on Black Star, 10 million."

"Black Star, 200 million." Swordswoman Fu was concise and calm.

"Hey, you're all betting on Black Star, how can we open a gambling pool?" Old Dragon was dissatisfied.

"It's simple, you call all the Ancient Ones over, and I'll call over the allies of the Glorious Federation and the Void Spirit Religion. It's more interesting with more people." The third strongest Pillar of the Nation, who usually lurked, popped up and joined in the fun.

"Wonderful, wonderful." Old Dragon laughed.

Although the Void Spirit Religion injured him, the other party lost even more blood, and he didn't have any grudges in his heart.

The Super-A grade circle was so big. Although they belonged to different advanced civilizations, some people also had private friendships. The third strongest Pillar of the Nation had a good relationship with many Super-A grades from the other two families.

The allies of the three major civilizations, plus the Ancient Ones, basically included more than half of the Super-A grades in the explored universe. It was no exaggeration to call it a grand event.

Regarding the duel between Black Star and Heber, everyone was not only not worried, but even enjoyed the excitement - the identity of allies only had that kind of restriction on them, and only the true empire direct lineages would wholeheartedly consider the empire.

They were all Super-A grades, how could there be a good show without a fight.

...

A distant star field, a blood-red planet.

On the scarlet land, the boundless tide of beasts was like a black ocean, constantly charging towards a red figure in the center. Countless broken beast corpses lay on the ground, and blue blood seeped into the soil, leaving patches of blue on the red land.

This kind of beast was a ferocious interstellar creature that could drift in hibernation in the universe. Once it landed on a planet, it would reproduce rapidly, eating everything edible on the surface, forming a disaster from the sky.

In the prosperous star fields, this interstellar creature had been cleaned up, but in some remote and barren areas, there were still nests.

At this moment, a group of rich dark red energy was constantly exploding in the center of the beast tide. The energy swept across, reaping lives, and blasting the beasts to pieces.

Hela's eyebrows were as cold as ice, and there was nothing else in her eyes except the beast group. The death energy was sprinkled out as if it didn't cost money. The dying beasts escaped a stream of soul energy, which merged into her body, constantly strengthening her ability.

In the sky, Ames floated in the air, overlooking Hela slaying the beast tide alone, without intervening.

Coming out to train was not sightseeing. If Hela wanted to increase her ability quickly, the fastest shortcut was to slaughter stars, but this time, the target was changed to various ferocious beasts.

I don't know how long the battle lasted. The last beast fell. Hela's whole body was already wet with blue blood. She gasped for breath and looked around.

As far as the eye could see, corpses were everywhere, and the earth was dyed blue. The corpses were endless, numbering in the hundreds of millions.

The blood of this creature smelled like expired milk, sour and smelly. The choking smell of blood was everywhere. Hela held her breath and dragged her tired body to Ames.

"Very efficient." Ames nodded lightly.

Looking down at the tragic situation on the surface, Ames grabbed with her palm.

Rumble—

The earth shook, like an earth dragon turning over, and earth dragons broke out of the ground, rolling over the surface, the scene was spectacular.

After using the force field to roll for a while, the sand and dust gradually dissipated, and all the corpses were buried underground, as if the land had been plowed once.

If Ames took action, destroying the beast tide would only be a matter of flipping her hand.

"When you can snap your fingers and reap the lives of hundreds of millions of creatures, you will reach the Super-A grade."

The white jade-like palm retracted into the black hollow carved sleeve, Ames said with a light smile.

Hela nodded calmly, expressionless, as if the wet blood all over her body did not exist.

"By the way, I just saw a news." Ames took out the communicator and shook her head with a chuckle, "Black Star has challenged Heber. They will fight in ten days. Just like a few years ago, even the twenty-day agreement has not changed. He is really has an evil taste."

Last time, Ames fought alongside Black Star, so she remembered it deeply.

"Huh?" Hela frowned slightly, and a cold baleful aura faintly revealed, "Do you want to go back to help?"

"Hehe, don't worry..."

Ames smiled faintly.

"He doesn't need me to help him now."

...

The forces in the major star fields were paying attention to this matter. Under the instigation of interested people, more and more people's attention was attracted by the duel between the two.

The gossiping interstellar people interpreted various meanings from this battle. Some people thought this was Black Star's "revenge battle", some people thought this battle would compete for the title of the number one Super-A grade in the Shattered Star Ring, and some people even thought that the two were fighting for Ames. This was a duel between rivals in love, and they made up a大佬 (dàlǎo, big shots) love triangle of millions of words.

The gambling industry also started its own operations. Originally, Black Star's chances of winning were very high, but because he didn't come to the scene in person this time, only a clone and two million mechanical troops came, so the gambling industry adjusted the winning rate comparison and set it to 60-40, Heber 60, Black Star 40.

Ordinary people had no way of understanding the actual combat power of the Super-A grade. In the eyes of many people, although Black Star's recent record was impressive, the veteran like Heber was not weak. Heber's name had been called for so long and had long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the Shattered Star Ring citizens. Many people always felt that the Super-A grade who did not come in person would not be the opponent of another Super-A grade, so there were actually many people betting on Heber.

Under the uproar, twenty days passed in a flash.

...

Klent Empire territory, Sol Star Cluster, Heber Black Star.

This was originally a numbered barren planet. More than ten days ago, Heber chose the battlefield here, so Klent directly changed the planet's name to this on the star map.

Perhaps Klent intended to turn this planet into a future tourist attraction, but the rubbernecking masses who came to the scene to watch felt that this name would not last long - after the fight, it was hard to say whether this planet would still be there.

Black Star didn't mind choosing the battlefield in Klent's territory. On the one hand, it made people feel his strong confidence, and on the other hand, it was because the mechanical troops were not afraid of losses, and Klent could not do anything about it.

The Super-A grade Mechanic was a headache in this regard. As long as the wallet was thick enough, one could recklessly take risks, and Klent had no choice.

At this moment, countless spaceships gathered on Heber Black Star, a sea of ships.

Having learned the lesson from a few years ago, all the rubbernecking masses stayed far away, and no one wanted to be the next lucky audience to be randomly killed.

The War Domain's fleet floated around on alert. Heber stood alone on the ground, like a mountain, closing his eyes to rest his mind. The mountain-like burly body stood straight, and a black cloak fluttered, and the aura was very powerful.

"...Can he really win?"

On a battleship, a vanguard officer couldn't help but break the silence, his face uneasy.

"Are you doubting Lord Heber?" Flothers looked at him unkindly.

"Don't you?"

Flothers gritted his teeth, glared at him fiercely, turned his head back, but did not refute.

In fact, he was also sweating in his hands.

If Heber could not beat Black Star himself, he would be disappointed, but in fact, he was prepared in his heart, so he recognized it. However, this time it was only a clone of Black Star. If Lord Heber still couldn't beat him...

"No, it's impossible. In just a few years, how could Black Star be so strong?"

Flothers shook his head violently, muttering to himself, not knowing whether he was persuading others or comforting himself.

Jod turned his head and glanced at the worried vanguard officers, his face darkened.

Once upon a time, the eight vanguard officers had absolute trust and loyalty to Lord Heber, but now...

When did it start to waver?

...Yes, after Black Star entered the Super-A grade and Heber lost the first initiative to challenge, this trend appeared.

Thinking of this, Jod felt complicated and secretly annoyed.

If I had known, I should have firmly defied Heber's intention back then and strangled you in the secret war.

Black Star... what a core-pointing poison plan.

Be sure to win, Lord Heber... otherwise, if the hearts are scattered, the team will not be easy to lead.

"Alas, unfortunately, there is no if in the world." Jod sighed secretly.

At this moment, Heber suddenly opened his eyes and looked in one direction.

Beep beep beep—

The radars of every spaceship all sensed it, and everyone looked in the same direction, subconsciously holding their breath.

The Black Star fleet slowly appeared in the distance, unhurriedly, arriving late.

"It's finally here."

Heber's eyes were cold, and the hands behind his back suddenly clenched.

————

(ps: Recommend a book, "Old Hutong", the author is the senior god Yin Weizhe.)

(Introduction: Beiping in the 25th year of the Republic of China is about to usher in a major change with wars everywhere. Behind the prosperity, the hutong hides evil. Chu Mu Feng, a small criminal police officer, has great ambitions!)