Chapter 1032 The Oriole
In the dreamlike nebula, the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy returned from the secondary dimension and appeared in front of everyone’s eyes.
This was an enormous cluster of bright red energy in the form of fog, like a boiling cloud. Gray lights flickered within like lightning. The energy at its center was the densest, and the further away from the center, the less dense the energy was. At its edge, red energy swayed and danced like silk. When looking closer, this energy seemed to be formed by countless tiny particles.
A large number of tiny red light clusters danced around the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy. These were the sub-bodies the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy produced, something like its offspring or underlings. What Evans had once met was one of these.
The Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy was a Primal Esper Ability Entity. It had its independent consciousness. Most of its consciousness and energy had been hibernating, only leaving a small portion of its instincts to maintain daily activities. It gave up thinking to let itself wander the universe randomly.
This large cluster of bright red reflected in the pupils of the crew of every organization through the porthole, lighting up the surprise and excitement in their eyes.
“It appeared! Move, quickly!”
This time, all the organizations present activated the spacetime stabilization traps they had set earlier.
Buzz!
All the devices around were activated, as well as all kinds of magical runes and items.
The erupting spacetime energy expanded from different points like ripples, quickly flattening the ‘folds’ in this area. The spacetime became extremely stable. Be it hyperdrive or wormhole, they could no longer be used!
The Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy was very sensitive to the changes of the space. It instantly sensed the drastic change in the environment around it. Its hibernating consciousness awakened with shock. The enormous energy cloud suddenly retracted. It shrank, and its density increased at an extremely high rate, attempting to turn into a black hole to break the stable spacetime of this area and tear open a crack in space.
The space in the area was like a piece of paper, and the traps were like forces that stretched outward to make the paper straight and tight. The Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy making itself extremely dense was an attempt to poke this piece of paper, concentrating its energy in one point to create a fold in space. These two forces were fighting each other. Under normal circumstances, this ‘piece of paper’ would have been penetrated immediately, but it would not be as easy in this highly stable space.
Seeing this, a voice appeared in the public area channel.
“Quickly contain the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy. The spacetime coefficient is falling from the peak. If it keeps resisting, it will escape our trap sooner or later!”
The next moment, the closest small fleet immediately charged toward the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy, which had already turned into an extremely bright cluster of light. The exterior armor of these spaceships slid open, showing a special mechanical device that released an astonishing absorption force toward the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy. The Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy started to vibrate slightly. Waves of energy were pulled away from the cluster of light and sucked into the devices, like streams of light.
These organizations that had gone to fight for the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy had made thorough preparations. This was a device used to contain and restrain energy life forms. Even though the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy could condense itself, its energy would still be sucked out. It would be like a tug of war.
However, this time, without any warning, the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy shot out a flurry of dense light beams, which bombarded this fleet.
The next second, their shields were penetrated, and their ships exploded into fireworks immediately. This fleet was annihilated by one round of attacks!
With the explosion of its energy, the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy’s psychic attribute was activated. Waves of impactful Psychic Currents appeared and expanded outward. The people who surrounded the Psychic Current all felt headaches, like they were affected by infrasound, as if they were heavily drunk.
Inside the dynasty’s fleet, Ravenlaude saw this, and his lips curled up.
“Hehe, the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy isn’t something you can get without risks.”
Primal Esper Ability Entities were extremely ancient. They were clusters of energy without owners. Therefore, they used their own methods to use their powers, such as shooting their energy out in beams continuously.
At this time, the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy turned around and fled at an extremely high speed like a meteor. The fleets around immediately chased after, trying to block its path.
“Let me!”
Ravenlaude’s eyes sparkled. He left his ship and chased after it with magic at high speed, simultaneously casting spells.
Runes and spells surrounded his body, shining with magical lights. Dense magic energy dragged down the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy and increased its speed drastically. At the same time, arcane impact waves were sent flying into the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy, turning into magical runes controlled by Ravenlaude to mix foreign energy into the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy, reducing its control over its own body.
The effect was clear. The Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy could no longer maintain its condensed form, and the cluster of light exploded quickly, expanding back into an energy cloud cluster. Its hitbox multiplied countless times over.
Beyond Grade A Mages often travelled in secondary dimensions. Ravenlaude’s experience in dealing with energy entities was way too rich, so it was no difficult task. The energy beam the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy shot out with all its might was easily blocked by him with magical shields.
As the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy was gradually falling into Ravenlaude’s hands, a powerful wave of psychic energy suddenly approached him from behind.
Ravenlaude narrowed his eyes, diverted his attention to use defensive spells, and blocked the psychic attack. Not far away, the silhouette quickly surpassed him and charged right toward the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy. In its hands was a highly advanced enhanced version of the portable energy entity container.
“Humph, Psyker.”
Without any more words, Ravenlaude launched attacks toward Psyker as well. The two of them fought while chasing after the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy, dragging each other down.
The organizations around saw this and wanted to use it as an opportunity. However, any spaceship that even came close to the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy was shattered by the ‘fallout’ of the battle between Beyond Grade As.
Ravenlaude had the upper hand and suppressed Psyker’s attacks. However, despite the battle being rather intense, neither of them went all out. They did not forget about saving some energy to contain the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy.
With two Beyond Grade As present, the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy would not be able to cause any trouble. Sealing runes were punched onto its body one after another. Its resistance grew weaker and weaker, gradually showing signs that it was about to be completely contained.
At the same time, the Modo Civilization’s team was also wandering around the edge of the battlefield. The dozens of Calamity Grades in the ship stared closely at the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy and softly discussed possible tactics.
“Guys, the two of them are holding each other down. Should we act now?”
“The odds of success are too low. We will only be able to guard their attacks for a very short moment even with all of us working together. There won’t be enough time for us to retreat. We will certainly have to sacrifice many lives. It’s not worth it, is it?”
They exchanged looks and shook their heads in their minds.
Their boss had told them to improvise, but there was no opportunity at all. Although these Calamity Grades were usually quite proud, they had absolutely no confidence in facing Beyond Grade As. Even though they were truly loyal to the Modo Civilization, no one wanted to waste their life for nothing.
Roddick stayed silent in the communication channel for a while before saying, “If there’s not a chance, forget it. Don’t interfere.”
Hearing this, the dozens of Calamity Grade relaxed their uptight bodies with relief.
Roddick was a little bit disappointed but was not too persistent about it. His original goal by sending so many Calamity Grades was to have the absolute upper hand in terms of power if there were no Beyond Grade As.
However, with the interference of Beyond Grade As, the mission had basically failed. Since there was no chance, the best choice was to retreat. There was no need to let the Calamity Grade elites of the civilization die in vain.
“This is just a side mission, no need to force it. The upper echelons will understand in cases like this. If I sacrifice many elites because of this, the upper echelons will even blame me for it.”
Having this thought, Roddick loudly said, “Guys, retreat!”
“Roger!” Everyone responded with joy.
However, the next moment, a drastic change occurred!
The Modo Civilization’s fleet suddenly turned around and charged right toward the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy. Not only that, they suddenly fired all their weapons at Ravenlaude and Psyker!
Everyone present was completely stunned.
Even the battle between Ravenlaude and Psyker stopped as they had to block this sudden attack. Both of them looked a little confused.
T-they dared fire at us?
Who are these brave soldiers‽
Inside the command center at the base, Roddick’s expression changed drastically. He yelled with rage, “What the hell are you doing? Are you out of your mind‽”
“We have lost control of our spaceships!” The many Calamity Grades were stupefied.
Roddick suddenly thought of something, and his face turned pale.
This familiar feeling...
It’s Virtual Intrusion‽
*sshole!
With wrath and shock, Roddick was just about to yell at everyone to flee.
However, before he could, the remote communication link was cut off. The screen turned black, reflecting his furiously twisted expression.
“Black Star!”
Bang!
Roddick roared and smashed the communicator into pieces. The room was filled with his rage and helplessness.
The interference of a third party attracted enough attention. Both Ravenlaude and Psyker stopped fighting each other for a moment. Magic tides and psychic storms slammed directly into the Modo Civilization’s fleet, swiftly eliminating the small fleet.
The dozens of Calamity Grades were panicking. They immediately fled their spaceships and scattered. However, Ravenlaude and Psyker did not enjoy letting people who suddenly attacked them go, so they chased after them.
The Calamity Grade elites, whom the Modo Civilization had spent tons of efforts to raise, lasted barely a moment before they fell one after another.
These people had no chance in fighting back; they could only run with their lives.
After more than eighty percent of Calamity Grades were eliminated. Only then did Ravenlaude and Psyker stop and return to fighting each other.
This intimidated the other organizations present. They all moved further away with their fleets and did not dare fight against the two of them for the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy.
The dynasty’s fleet was not just watching. It was battling the Star Pupil Holy Race’s fleet. In terms of both spaceship technology and size, the dynasty was superior. The Star Pupil Holy Race’s fleet was slowly getting beaten.
“Still want to fight me?” Ravenlaude raised his brows and sent a voice message through a spell. “We can fight for days and nights, but your fleet will be wiped out. I’ve heard your people are very important to you. So, is the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy worth you sacrificing that many lives?”
Psyker sent out a tsunami-like wave of psychic energy to shatter the flying arcane bomb, clenched his teeth, and said, “Do you think you can make me give up with just a few words? Your dynasty’s fleet will suffer quite a lot of losses too!”
“That’s right, but those are the dynasty’s soldiers. I don’t care about their casualties,” Ravenlaude said. “You won’t be able to win against me, so don’t make unnecessary sacrifices. As soon as I contain the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy and let my people disarm the space stabilization trap, I can leave this battlefield via a teleportation gate in an instant. Will you be able to chase me as a Psychic?”
Psyker looked to be conflicted. Then, he stopped fighting and turned around to help his fleet force the dynasty’s fleet away.
Seeing this, Ravenlaude knew that Psyker had given up on competing and smiled with satisfaction. Without anyone standing in the way, he focused on casting sealing spells, sending countless arcane lights into the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy.
Very soon, a magical shield shrouded the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy and quickly shrank. The Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy was then sealed into the crystal magic ball in Ravenlaude’s hands.
“It’s done!”
Ravenlaude’s eyes sparkled. He could almost see the Universal Treasure that the dynasty had promised waving at him.
Before he had time to feel the joy, the moment the sealing was complete, a mind spell that had been prepared for a very long time suddenly crashed into him and slammed into his mental barrier. With his mind shaken, Ravenlaude entered the state of being stunned for a short moment.
At the same time, a figure flew out from an ordinary fleet and approached at a very high speed, casting spells on the way. Magic arrays formed around Ravenlaude one after another, but countless blue magic tentacles appeared from these arrays and tightly tied Ravenlaude’s body.
This was not just simply tying him up. The official name of this spell was [Descent of Atomte—Devil’s Tentacles]. It was a top tier spell that had a short silence effect on Mages, as well as the ability to restrain their soul. Once tied up, the target would enter an even longer period of immobility, unable to control their body.
“There’s another Beyond Grade A‽” Psyker, who was not far away, sensed the energy wave that had suddenly erupted and turned around in shock.
Ravenlaude finally regained consciousness. Absolutely shocked, he hastily tried to escape the restraints.
However, this silhouette had already come right beside him, taken away the magic ball sealing the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy, and pressed his palm onto Ravenlaude’s chest.
Powerful and rich magic energy gushed out and turned into a violet beam of light, immediately blowing Ravenlaude far away.
This attack did not cause much damage. Ravenlaude flew a short distance back and quickly regained his balance. He looked up with shock. Seeing this person covered in tattoos, his expression stiffened for a second.
“It’s you, Secret Master!”
Given how small the Beyond Grade A circle was, famous Beyond Grade As all knew each other. Secret Master’s position in the circle was a little higher than his.
Secret Master’s expression was cold. He did not care about Ravenlaude, who was conflicted with rage and fear. He sized up the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy in his hands, nodded, and said with the same indifferent face, “Thanks for helping me to contain the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy. I let you safekeep it for me for a few seconds. Now, it’s returned to its original owner.”
Ravenlaude was so furious he laughed. “I thought Black Star is the most shameless among Beyond Grade As. I didn’t expect you to be not much worse. What return to its original owner? Since when were you the owner of the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy?”
“I’m here, so it’s mine,” Secret Master said coldly.
Angered, Ravenlaude said, “Cut the cr*p. You think you can just leave?”
With the opportunity to gain a Universal Treasure right before his eyes, even if Secret Master was stronger, Ravenlaude would not give up easily.
Secret Master glanced at him and said with a poker face, “I can leave whenever I want.”
The moment his sentence ended, a huge crack suddenly appeared on the space stabilization traps in the area, and some of the devices even exploded. While they were setting up the traps, Secret Master had secretly planted invisible, remote-controlled explosion runes so that he could use a teleportation spell after he succeeded.
The spacetime coefficient and the effect of the traps plummeted, no longer able to stop Beyond Grade A space magic. Ravenlaude’s expression changed drastically as he immediately understood what Secret Master’s plan was. He quickly started to channel spells to restrict Secret Master’s teleportation.
However, Secret Master was even quicker. He had prepared the fundamentals of the teleportation gate well in advance, so it activated instantly. A blue vortex appeared right beside him.
Seeing Ravenlaude fast approaching, Secret Master was completely calm.
“Till next time, Ra... hmm‽”
Suddenly, he felt his hand become heavier. The sealing container of the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy in his hands disappeared, replaced by a mechanical arm that was connected to a human-shaped machine with flickering blue-gold eyes, which had appeared beside him out of nowhere.
“You...” Shock finally appeared on Secret Master’s face.
This machine tilted its head and suddenly vibrated. A strange Void Energy expanded instantly and shrouded a large area, including even Ravenlaude.
The next second, Secret Master and Ravenlaude realized that the space in this area had become thick and dense. Their movements were forcefully slowed.
Void Prison!
With a flash of insight, Ravenlaude immediately recalled the owner of this ability. “Black Star‽”
Han Xiao’s Lord’s Avatar turned to look at him and smiled. “Yo, you recognized me?”
“You’ve come at the right time!” Ravenlaude was overjoyed. He thought that Han Xiao was secret backup sent by the dynasty.
Han Xiao saw through what he was thinking immediately and shook his head. “I’m not here for the dynasty.”
Ravenlaude’s smile stiffened.
He immediately understood. Unlike him, Black Star was not fighting for the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy for the dynasty but had uncovered this information himself and wanted to obtain it.
This way, although Black Star was also a dynasty ally, he was his competitor in this matter.
Having realized that, Ravenlaude’s heart sank a little.
At the same time, Secret Master narrowed his eyes. Having all his effort go to waste made him embarrassed and enraged. He coldly said, “Black Star, you took my Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy?”
Han Xiao turned to look at him and smiled.
“To borrow your words... thank you for safekeeping it for me for a few seconds.”
He had been there for a long time. His Lord’s Avatar and mechanical army had hidden nearby, watching the whole thing while messing with the Modo Civilization.
Only when Secret Master broke the space stabilization trap and was about to leave did the Lord’s Avatar finally find the right opportunity to strike. It immediately used [Void Swap] to exchange itself with the sealed container holding the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy. Thus, the container was in the hands of his mechanical army.
However, this way, the energy ripple would cause the mechanical army to be exposed as well. To avoid the two of them from chasing after the mechanical army, he had used his Lord’s Avatar to activate Void Prison immediately to restrain Secret Master and Ravenlaude, while the mechanical army could leave with the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy.
Once they returned to the safe area, it would be a complete success.
As the mantis stalked the cicada, it was unaware of the oriole behind it. Secret Master thought that he was the oriole, but he did not know that Han Xiao had hidden even deeper than him.
“The only problem is...”
Han Xiao turned to look at Psyker, who was far away. This guy was not in the range of the Void Prison, so he could chase if he wanted to.
Noticing Han Xiao’s stare, Psyker’s expression looked as if he had just fallen into a pile of feces.
This time, the voice of a Star Pupil Holy Race officer sounded in the communication network.
“Leader, we have detected a mechanical army that has suddenly appeared. It is escorting the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy and fleeing at high speed. Shall we chase after it?”
“No, retreat!”
Having seen Han Xiao, Psyker backed away without hesitation.
He did not want to have a direct conflict with Black Star at this time.
Most importantly, even if Black Star’s mechanical army had no Lord’s Avatar in it, he felt that he still might not be able to win.
Han Xiao could not help but scratch his head and laugh in his mind.
He’s this smart‽
He then looked at Secret Master, who had a troubled look and was full of hostility, and stretched his neck.
“I shall take the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy with a smile. If you’re not happy about that... how about I give your bones a good stretch?”