Chapter 1 Raging Thunder

Boom!

Raging lightning bolts shot out wildly, like a multitude of coiling, twisting dragons, swirling around Han Xiao.

The mechanical heavy spear shifted direction, transforming into a thick bolt of electric light as it thrust out once more, assailing another armored, shield-bearing Avatar of the Gods in crimson.

This crimson Avatar of the Gods was being held back by the Apostle Weapon, unable to dodge in time. It hastily assumed a defensive stance, its war hammer striking the edge of its shield. Immediately, light bloomed across the shield’s surface, projecting a shield-like phantom, magnified thousands upon thousands of times, incredibly dense, and blocking the path ahead.

Crack!

The heavy spear crashed violently into the shield, and the seemingly indestructible shield shattered in an instant, utterly fragile. The shockwave spread instantly, like the sound of breaking glass exploding in everyone’s minds.

The tip of the spear unleashed a pillar of light-like energy, the lightning flashing past, instantly tearing away half of the Avatar of the Gods’ body with a single blow!

Just then, Ulnos flickered in from a distance, focusing his power to deflect the spear’s tip with an elbow, preventing further damage and dragging the heavily injured Avatar of the Gods to the side for an emergency rescue.

Ulnos re-evaluated Han Xiao, sensing the mechanical deity's further enhanced energy fluctuations, a complex look flashing in his eyes.

"This is your full power? It seems I underestimated you… no, it would be more accurate to say you hide yourself too well. Just like the rumors say, no one knows how many tricks you’re hiding or where your limit lies."

"I don't recall ever hearing that rumor," Han Xiao casually replied.

During these past few days of tumultuous fighting against the direct descendants of the three great civilizations, he had been suppressing his impulse, holding onto his character summon card, specifically as a precaution against Ulnos.

They could request divine empowerment, and he had a character card with similar functionality. They were both schemers; what was there to fear?

At this moment, he had already activated the Dual Mechanical Sense and the Dual Ancient Ones, causing his strength to surge, instantly entering an explosive state.

If he had activated the character summon card earlier, the direct descendants of the three great civilizations wouldn’t have lasted six days. Even if they could have, the number of direct descendant Super A-grades killed by him would have been much higher.

"A hundred years is but a fleeting moment, at most the adolescence for a Super A-grade. Yet, at such a young age, you possess a skill that surpasses all others in the galaxy… In known history, no one has ever possessed your talent. It's impossible to imagine how vast your future will be."

Ulnos said with a sigh, taking out the last few vestiges of divinity, molding them all into Avatars of the Gods, scattering them into the battlefield to join the mechanical army in combat, each utilizing their own abilities.

He had brought over a dozen god statues and remnants of divinity with him. He originally hadn't wanted to use the rest, but the current situation forced him to expend them.

"Just a few? I'm afraid it's not enough for me to kill," Han Xiao raised an eyebrow.

These Avatars of the Gods each possessed different abilities, and while they had the battle power of a high-level Super A-grade, they also had shortcomings, namely, that they were relatively fragile.

His battle power in the Explosive State had already shattered common perceptions, utterly overwhelming high-level Super A-grades. As long as the Avatars of the Gods didn't have special abilities or expertise in defense, evasion, or recovery, he could eliminate one with a few swift strikes, even more easily than dealing with those direct descendant Super A-grades protected by various galactic treasures.

"You'll only know if you try."

Ulnos clasped his hands together, and his body suddenly swelled, rapidly becoming gigantic, transforming into a towering giant. Compared to Han Xiao's mechanical deity’s size, he had been like an ant facing a mountain, but now their sizes were comparable.

The robes of the priest upon his body did not tear, but extended and enlarged along with his body, the surface lighting up with dense magic circuits. It was clearly also an enchanted galactic treasure-level equipment, preventing him from going streaking in front of the entire universe.

This guy can get bigger?

Han Xiao's eyes flickered. This was something not shown in the intelligence reports.

As if seeing through Han Xiao's doubts, Ulnos slowly explained, "My divinity transformation is complete, and I can operate the Giant bloodline to its limit. This is also the first time I've used this ability."

He had cultivated in seclusion in the Arcane Church for many years. Because the Arcane Treasure and his own abilities were directly related to "divinity," his divinity transformation was countless times smoother than other peak Super A-grades, having completed two divinity transformation routes long ago, but had never told anyone.

Ulnos himself already possessed a portion of the Giant bloodline. The divinity transformation of the race route greatly enhanced his Giant bloodline, transforming it into its most optimized form, gathering all the advantages of the evolutionary route.

"You truly have strong luck. Not only are your abilities a perfect fit, but you also have the full support of the Arcane Church."

Han Xiao frowned.

This annoying guy was probably also a protagonist-type character and likely possessed a high-level luck halo. He had been developing in secret for countless years, equally hidden and discreet, just like a sweeping monk.

He looked down at Ulnos' empty hands, and said, "Are you planning to fight me hand-to-hand the whole time?"

Hearing this, Ulnos fell silent for a moment, then sighed.

"... My weapon has been sealed by you."

Han Xiao was taken aback, and then he immediately understood.

Damn, so the Myriad Deity Scepter was also this annoying guy's equipment!

Specifically, Ulnos only shared the right to use it. The Myriad Deity Scepter essentially still belonged to the Arcane Church, and was generally kept in a high place as a strategic deterrent, but was unfortunately sealed by the Time Amber.

That’s right, the mechanism of this galactic treasure also perfectly matched Ulnos' abilities, so it was not surprising that the Arcane Church allowed him to use it… but now he had no chance to use it.

Just then, the Imitation Mechanical Deity finally returned to the battlefield along the path carved out by the fleet collisions, fearlessly continuing to pounce forward, relying on its recovery power like a stubborn iron-headed kid.

Han Xiao twisted his body, and the mechanical heavy spear rapidly transformed, as if turning into segmented whips, abruptly swinging backward, exploding with a skyful of lightning, dazzlingly bright.

In the Explosive State, Han Xiao's speed and strength had both increased tremendously. This sudden, lightning-fast attack instantly struck the Imitation Mechanical Deity in the waist, nearly cutting it in half, incidentally knocking it aside, sending it flying away while rolling.

At this moment, a searing surge of energy came from behind. Han Xiao turned around and held his spear horizontally, blocking Ulnos' fist.

Boom!

The shockwave erupted violently!

The two sides' immense power clashed against each other. Han Xiao’s thrusters were at full power, giving him the upper hand, slowly pressing down on Ulnos.

"The Giant bloodline is pretty strong, your strength is comparable to a martial artist," Han Xiao grunted.

"Likewise."

Ulnos suddenly withdrew his fist to gather momentum, and in the next moment, he unleashed a skyful of fist shadows—when drunken boxing is fast to the extreme, it becomes a style without style.

Han Xiao was not to be outdone. The mechanical heavy spear spun like a whirlwind, accurately meeting each attack, as he grappled with Ulnos, creating a chain of shockwaves exploding in the air.

At this moment, the Imitation Mechanical Deity flew back, joining the battle, constantly being knocked away, yet repeatedly charging, tirelessly and endlessly.

Ulnos had the Arcane Treasure protecting him, while the Imitation Mechanical Deity had inherited his own super recovery power. The only breakthrough point on the field right now were the other Avatars of the Gods, which was also what Han Xiao planned, but he was being blocked by two massive entities, forcing him to withstand the attacks and assassinate the Avatars of the Gods.

Having reached this point, there was no room for trickery. The two sides were engaging in a relentless, head-on clash, the scene intense, the aftermath astonishing, having already entered a fever pitch.

Watching the live broadcast, countless galactic citizens’ hearts were in their throats, their eyes glued to the screen.

"So strong, this Super A-grade, he's the three great civilizations’ ace in the hole!"

"Gods bless us, may Black Star be defeated… this is probably our last hope."

Many galactic citizens couldn't help but secretly pray.

On the other side, contrary to the public opinion online, the player community was in a frenzy of excitement.

"Oh yo, I'm familiar with this area. The Boss is entering phase two!"

"Clear the mobs first, then deal with the Boss. Old Black is doing it right."

"Anyone taking bets? I'm betting Old Black wins, betting three million Enas. Who's in?"

Numerous legion players were discussing excitedly, and the forums had already been flooded with recordings of the live battlefield. After flipping through more than a dozen pages, it was all footage of Han Xiao's battles from the past few days, edited into spectacular highlight reels like special effects blockbusters.

In the main ships of the three great civilizations, many direct descendant Super A-grades silently watched the battlefield outside the window, many with rather bitter expressions.

"I didn't expect Black Star was holding back against us… if he had used this kind of power before, many people in this room would have stopped breathing," Verina said with a wry smile.

Hearing this, many Super A-grades turned to look at her, feeling even more unpleasant in their hearts.

They originally thought they were deadlocked with Black Star, but the reality was that they were just being presumptuous. Not only were they exhausted, but they also had to thank him for not using his full power…

Thinking of this situation, the mood of the crowd remained low, their confidence severely shaken.

Oulu held it in for a long time before managing to utter a sentence:

"Two monsters!"

Even as a peak Super A-grade, Oulu had to admit that these two were so strong that they terrified him. Not only was Black Star's strength astonishing, but Ulnos was also stronger than he had been many years ago. The two of them had surpassed everyone else, existing in a realm of their own in his eyes.

At this moment, Guzar frowned and spoke, "Only two days are left on the ultimatum. Are we really going to let them duel and just keep watching from the sidelines?"

Hearing this, Klotti gravely said, "Of course not! Once the ultimatum time is almost up, we'll all swarm him. We don't need to care about Ulnos. We have to bring Black Star down no matter what. We should focus on recovering now. If Ulnos still hasn't ended the battle by tomorrow, we'll have to take action again."

The crowd’s hearts tightened, and they nodded.

…

Time flew by amidst the onlookers, and under the intense gaze of the public, Han Xiao and Ulnos tumbled and rolled, fighting fiercely for more than a day, and the situation had gradually become clear.

Han Xiao had finally eliminated all the Avatars of the Gods except for the Imitation Mechanical Deity, at the cost of a large number of mechanical troops.

Although he was being entangled by Ulnos and the Imitation Mechanical Deity, Han Xiao's mechanical deity's Explosive State gave him a significant advantage in individual attributes. He repeatedly broke through the blockades while withstanding the siege, not caring about injuries at all, eliminating the Avatars of the Gods one after another, making the comparison of battle power rise and fall, becoming increasingly easier.

In the end, even the last few Avatars of the Gods were not eliminated by him personally, but were besieged and killed by the mechanical troops and Apostle Weapons. Now, the remaining mechanical troops had freed their hands to besiege only Ulnos and the Imitation Mechanical Deity.

Clang!

The two clashed again, and Ulnos abruptly retreated a distance, flinging his hand to knock away an Apostle Weapon that kept attacking his eyeballs, suddenly exclaiming, "All the Avatars of the Gods I brought have been killed by you. It seems I can't do anything about you."

"What, out of tricks already?"

Han Xiao slapped the Imitation Mechanical Deity away again, scoffing.

"... Only the two of us are left, if we keep fighting like this, we won't be able to determine a victor," Ulnos shook his head.

"Anyway, there's only one day left on the ultimatum. I don't care."

Han Xiao didn't mind.

Although he had killed all the Avatars of the Gods, he couldn't break the Arcane Treasure and couldn't kill the Imitation Mechanical Deity. Ulnos was equally unable to threaten his life. Right now, it was just two big meat shields grinding against each other. I can't kill you, and you can't kill me.

He conservatively estimated that he and Ulnos could continue grinding for ten days to half a month without rest.

"Since that's the case, then let's end it here," Ulnos said softly.

"You think you can end it just because you say so?" Han Xiao curled his lip.

Ulnos glanced at him, then suddenly chuckled softly, his giantized body abruptly shrinking, returning to his normal size. He opened the wide-area channel and said decisively, "I'm not your opponent, I concede."

Han Xiao was immediately stunned, not expecting Ulnos to do such a thing.

For the direct descendant Super A-grades to stand up for the three great civilizations, conceding in public would go against the original intention, let alone that no one had shown any signs of defeat, at most it was a draw. What was the point of deliberately conceding?

Ulnos snapped his fingers, and the Imitation Mechanical Deity suddenly stopped, exploding from the inside out. He directly deactivated this Avatar of the Gods.

Han Xiao frowned, raised his hand to have the mechanical troops stop their attacks, and asked doubtfully, "... What are you doing?"

Ulnos turned off the wide-area channel, switched back to psychic communication, and said meaningfully, "Black Star, you are the most astonishing talent among all the Superhumans so far. You are the most likely to open the door to the next level. I said in the beginning that I didn't want to be your enemy."

"What do you mean by this? Conceding in public, aren't you afraid the Arcane Church will have objections to you?" Han Xiao's brow furrowed even more tightly.

"I've done what I could, which is enough to explain. As for my purpose… perhaps one day, you will know."

Ulnos revealed a strange smile, turned around, and flew toward the three great civilizations’ fleet.

Han Xiao had the mechanical troops open a path, not stopping him, silently staring at Ulnos' departing back, discovering that he did not understand Ulnos' character and thoughts.

In his previous life, both the Dark Emperor and Oulu died in the World Tree War, but only Ulnos never took action to participate. Han Xiao did not believe that the Arcane Church had not issued any orders. What was this guy thinking? He had no idea.

"... Forget it, I can't figure out his thoughts. Anyway, the mission reward is in hand."

Han Xiao breathed a sigh of relief, opened the panel to take a look, and revealed a satisfied smile.

The Super A-grade Challenge Mission exclusive to Ulnos was shining with golden light, showing that it was in the "Completed" state.

He retracted the mechanical troops, deactivated the mechanical deity, sat on a new divine throne, swept his gaze across the three great civilizations’ fleet, opened the wide-area channel, and slowly spoke:

"Who's next?"

As his voice fell,

The entire channel fell silent, utterly silent.

…

On the other side, as soon as Ulnos returned to the main ship, many direct descendant Super A-grades surrounded him, their faces quite unfriendly.

"How could you concede in public?!" Klotti said in a deep voice.

"I couldn't win, so naturally I had to concede," Ulnos casually replied.

"Do you think we're blind?" Verina said angrily, "You clearly showed no signs of defeat, and could have continued to fight Black Star for a long time!"

Ulnos swept a glance at her, and faintly said, "And then what? Just keep fighting until the end of the ultimatum? I remember I said I wanted to duel Black Star, but you already didn't plan to respect my request and were ready to swarm and attack, right?"

Hearing this, the crowd's momentum faltered.

"With your petty thoughts, I can guess it with my eyes closed."

Seeing this, Ulnos shook his head, pushed through the crowd, and strode away, leaving only his back.

He didn't want to participate in the war from the very beginning, and originally wanted to slack off to the end, but the Arcane Church Leader issued a death order, so he had no choice but to take action.

However, Ulnos' mindset was not to defeat Black Star, but more to see and experience Black Star's true battle power, try his best to fight, and be able to barely deliver a result was enough.

He actually wasn't lying. He truly admired Black Star, but his motivation for conceding was not out of admiration, but for another reason…

Ulnos simply did not want to stop the three great civilizations from breaking out into war with the Super A-grade Association, and instead was happy to see it happen!

This was the core!

For so many years, Ulnos had been stuck at an invisible bottleneck, discovering that no matter what, his own hard power was difficult to increase, as if some kind of restriction existed in the dark, preventing him from touching a higher level of power.

He had always believed that competition and pressure could produce strong people, just like the exploration era of yesteryear, when Superhumans fiercely fought, and Super A-grades were born in response. The appearance of the first Initial One was like some kind of signal, and afterwards, more Super A-grades appeared one after another.

In his view, the advancement of individual power may require a pioneering genius to break the boundary, and later people will be able to successively follow and drink the soup.

Black Star, whose rate of rise had broken historical records, had thus entered his line of sight, the person in his eyes most likely to become a pioneer.

Ulnos did not like the harmonious atmosphere of the Super A-grade Association. He preferred to see Super A-grades fighting every day, like raising Gu worms to produce stronger people. And now, the three great civilizations attacking the Association was even more in line with his needs.

In this regard, Ulnos and the Heterogeneous God had the same obsession, but were walking different paths. Compared to the Heterogeneous God's self-serving style, Ulnos hoped that all the powerhouses in the universe would work together… to put it in a more fashionable way, he hoped to see an era where everyone was a dragon, and let others be the pioneer.

—After all, with his ability mechanism, doing so would instead be more effective, the more powerhouses in the universe, the higher his battle power peak would be.

Various thoughts flashed through his mind, and Ulnos lowered his eyes.

"Today, I will give you my fame, let me see how far you can go."

…

And at the same time.

The scene of Ulnos publicly conceding was broadcast on the news, falling into the eyes of countless people.

At this moment, the hope that countless galactic citizens had managed to ignite was like being extinguished by a squirt of urine, chilling them from head to toe.

All the galactic citizens who had expected Black Star to be defeated all wilted at once, collapsing into their seats, their faces filled with listless despair.

The huge three great civilizations couldn't even find a powerhouse who could defeat Black Star, and even shamelessly launched a gang fight, yet they were beaten so badly that they lost face.

How embarrassing!

Without being depressed for long, countless galactic citizens became nervous again, because today was the last day of the three great civilizations’ ultimatum. If the two sides still didn't yield, war would most likely break out!

Seeing that there was no hope, many galactic citizens stopped agonizing over it. With a nothing-to-lose mentality, they began to vent the anger induced by anxiety and fear online, as well as the resentment that Black Star had not been defeated "according to their wishes."

For a time, the public opinion supporting the three great civilizations once again stirred up, no longer calling for a stop to the war, but instead moving to another extreme, to a certain extent reversing into a fanaticism supporting the start of the war. The core argument was just one thing… strongly support the three great civilizations in defeating the Super A-grade Association and eliminating the unstable factors in galactic society!