Chapter 238: The End of the Calamity Legion, the True Calamity Bai Fu
With the intelligence support from the Origin Consortium, the fleet led by Bai Fu quickly arrived at the region of space where the Calamity Legion frequently operated.
By now, Bai Fu had more or less become a celebrity. The moment her flagship, Silent Night, appeared, it instantly drew widespread attention.
“There was news not long ago that the Calamity Legion ambushed Bai Fu midway. Judging by this setup, is Bai Fu here for revenge?”
“Definitely. Other than dealing with the Calamity Legion, I can’t think of any other reason why Bai Fu would suddenly come here.”
“Which side do you think will win—Darkmoon Tide or the Calamity Legion?”
“The Calamity Legion, I guess. After all, they’ve been a famous mercenary group for a long time.”
“I still want Bai Fu to win. Not even talking about character, just based on appearance—if Bai Fu dies, it’s way more regrettable than Bloodthorn dying.”
“Damn, we’ve got looks-obsessed folks here too?”
For a while, the entire Fringe World buzzed with discussions about the outcome of this battle.
Many news outlets even launched special programs, inviting renowned commentators and espers to analyze the strengths of both Darkmoon Tide and the Calamity Legion in an attempt to predict the victor.
Below these programs were voting links—what should have been a life-or-death battle was turned into a popularity contest.
In fact, this kind of thing was quite common in the sea of stars.
Espers always had excess energy with nowhere to vent, so brawling was an everyday affair. And people, by nature, loved gossip and spectacle.
The Saintess of Salvation, Bai Fu, vs. the Mad Mercenary, Bloodthorn. At a time when Transcendents rarely fought and supercivilizations rarely waged war, this was a rare, mouthwatering feast.
Seeing how hot the topic had become, how could the major gambling companies in the Fringe World miss out on such a lucrative opportunity?
“This is outrageous! Why does no one have faith in Fufu? Fufu is the Sovereign of the Deep Night, the Player’s Guide, the only mentor of the Psionic Class, the hidden protagonist! If Fufu loses to Bloodthorn, I’ll eat her right on the spot!”
While making an analysis video of the Bai Fu vs. Bloodthorn battle, Digger Ji scrolled through online materials, so furious that her hair stood on end.
Convert-to-Fu shrugged. “Can’t be helped. Fufu is still considered a newcomer in the sea of stars. Look at them—they say the only reason Fufu drove off the Calamity Legion before was because the Origin Consortium assisted. No one believes Fufu beat up Bloodthorn herself.”
Digger Ji pouted. “Why doesn’t Fufu just release the video footage?”
“Fufu isn’t the kind who cares about fame. Alright, alright, stop dwelling on this. Once Fufu crushes Bloodthorn with her own hands, all these people trash-talking her will flip sides and start praising her.”
Digger Ji nodded. She understood the logic, but she still felt annoyed.
So, she had to do something.
For example, bet on Fufu winning!
“Go ahead and revel now—later, you’re all gonna lose big time, you jerks!”
Not only Digger Ji, but many other players also bet on Bai Fu to win after studying the odds.
Their reasoning was simple: with so many official titles endorsed for Bai Fu, there was no way she’d lose to someone like Bloodthorn—an NPC likely irrelevant to the main storyline!
Bet on Darkmoon Tide to win big. Saint Fu Sovereign, let you win till your hands go sore!
“Now that’s more like it.”
The reason Bai Fu hadn’t rushed to clarify that she personally crushed the Calamity Legion was precisely to let things develop this way.
A couple of days ago, when the related news first broke, someone online even exposed that the Origin Consortium barely played any role in the ambush battle, and that Bai Fu had won on her own strength.
The moment she saw that, she got mad. Was that something to be revealed now?
Don’t mess with your big sister’s money-making scheme!
Bai Fu personally stepped in, used a small alt account to send Hei Fu far away to furiously counter that leaker—
“You bastard, did Bai Fu pay you to say this? Praising Bai Fu like this—absolutely shameless!”
What a joke!
If the outside world didn’t cast doubt, how could the players make big money? If players didn’t profit, how would she profit?
When it came to dealing with players, Bai Fu always upheld the principle of “sustainable strip-mining”—let the players enjoy themselves first, then they’d willingly offer themselves up for her enjoyment.
That was the true win-win!
While Bai Fu was hunting for traces of the Calamity Legion, far away at Star Covenant’s headquarters, the Oathkeeper also received intelligence.
“Lord Simoon, I think I should report this to you—Scarlet Leaf followed Bai Fu to fight the Calamity Legion.”
Silver Vermilion respectfully addressed the Oathkeeper, who was contemplating hand-to-hand technique applications.
This statement left the Oathkeeper utterly baffled.
“The Calamity Legion? Has Scarlet Leaf lost her mind? The Legion’s commander is a High Calamity!”
She immediately contacted the Origin Consortium for information.
With the Oathkeeper asking personally, Andras dared not hide anything. He told her everything about Bai Fu’s true strength and plan, down to the last detail.
After listening, the Oathkeeper was even more stunned.
“She can beat a High Calamity after just half a year?”
Good heavens.
She had approached Bai Fu previously out of interest in the players, but now, for the first time, she was genuinely interested in Bai Fu herself.
“According to Andras, Bai Fu has made thorough preparations for this operation. But if anything unexpected happens, and both she and Scarlet Leaf are lost there…”
The Oathkeeper looked to Silver Vermilion. “Silver Vermilion, go in person. If they run into danger, discreetly lend a hand.”
Silver Vermilion bowed and turned to leave.
At the same time, the Oathkeeper wasn’t the only high-ranking individual watching this battle.
The other two Transcendents of the Fringe World—Yuan Yi, manager of the Arcane Library, and Rufus of the Myriad Spirits Council—were also closely monitoring the situation, since Bai Fu was nominally affiliated with Star Covenant.
The major supercivilizations of the Fringe World, large mercenary groups, and competitors of the Origin Consortium were all paying attention.
Calamity-class beings in the Fringe World were already considered entities that could step off the gameboard. If Bai Fu managed to destroy the Calamity Legion in this battle, everyone’s attitude toward her would shift.
“She’s a talent. Though her past remains unclear, what’s certain is that she has no connection to those people. If she can win this battle, perhaps we should consider extending an olive branch.”
Within Taim Civilization territory, a man with a prominent scar across his eye propped up his chin with both hands, staring intently at Bai Fu’s profile video.
He looked unremarkable, but his name was known across the Taim Civilization. He was one of the candidates for the next head of state—Neris.
...
“The Calamity Legion can’t really be planning to hide like rats forever, right?”
It had been four days since Bai Fu arrived in the Calamity Legion’s active region.
During these four days, she followed the Origin Consortium’s intelligence and checked every possible location the Calamity Legion might appear—yet hadn’t found even a single strand of hair.
The way things were going left many observers speechless.
Wasn’t the Calamity Legion supposed to be a group of lunatics?
Now Bai Fu had killed some of their members and was parading around in their territory, yet they chose to hide? Were they trying to do a base-swap with Bai Fu? Even if they took over Ulysses Star, they’d still have lost all their dignity.
“This is too much. All my preparation was for nothing.”
Bai Fu helplessly spread her hands.
On her way here, she had spent over a billion experience points to gamble on prayer cards. Not only had she upgraded all the prayer cards on hand to a higher tier, she also fused three new ones.
These were: the summoning card [Dark Magic Hawk], capable of summoning a beast-type true spirit skilled in ranged magic attacks; the control card [Dark Mystery], which could confuse enemy perception; and the damage card [Annihilation Torrent], a high-level version of Psionic Burst.
Though this round of gambling hadn’t improved her survivability much, it had greatly boosted her offensive power.
After leveling up the prayer cards, Bai Fu invested more experience to raise her Apostle Walker class to level 30, successfully unlocking the new bonus available once the total level of her main classes reached 140—
[Calamity-class Exclusive Stat Bonus]
This bonus specifically enhanced her weakest attribute.
From an NPC’s perspective, it meant that after reaching a certain stage as a Calamity-class, the body would become more perfect, automatically compensating for previous weaknesses.
For Bai Fu, her greatest shortcoming among the six stats was Strength.
Without any bonuses, her base Strength was only 383. Even counting all bonuses and wearing combat gear, it barely reached 801.
This value paled in comparison to Scarlet Leaf and Cessia.
Keep in mind, even without extra buff skills, Scarlet Leaf and Cessia’s base Strength was over 1500.
1500 vs. 801—this wasn’t just double. Fortunately, she was a skill- and item-focused player. Otherwise, she’d have been pinned down and meowing during practice matches with Scarlet Leaf and Cessia.
After receiving the Strength bonus, Bai Fu’s base Strength jumped straight to 670.
Her attributes now read—
[Strength 670, Agility 867, Constitution 1080, Intelligence 690, Spirit 894, Inspiration 3094]
This upgrade could only be described as enormous!
After activating all her skills, Bai Fu’s Inspiration surged to 4355—an increase of 10% compared to when she previously fought Bloodthorn. That was the source of her confidence.
But Bloodthorn wasn’t showing up.
“Let’s wait a bit longer.”
Bai Fu waited another two days. After those two days, good news finally arrived.
[Calamity Legion Commander Bloodthorn challenges you to a duel tomorrow.]
Oh?
Bai Fu glanced at the map Andras had sent.
“Judging by this, the Calamity Legion must have made a lot of preparations at the so-called duel site.”
Andras said, “There’s a Calamity-class mechanic in the Calamity Legion. I’m guessing these past few days they’ve been stalling to buy time for him to deploy a mechanical legion.”
Bai Fu nodded.
Bloodthorn had likely learned his lesson and wanted to use a mechanical legion to counter her psionic legion, so he wouldn’t have to tangle with them and could charge straight at her.
Nice plan—but Bloodthorn overlooked one thing.
“I’m not fragile. And my melee combat strength is far greater than my psionic legion’s.”
On the contrary, Bloodthorn had exposed a weakness.
Normally speaking, mechanics were even more fragile than psionic preachers. They just liked to hide inside mobile fortresses or mechs.
Well, lucky coincidence—Cessia was best at dealing with tin cans like those!
Just suck their blood. That’s it!
“Trying to play assassination games with me? Then let’s see who decapitates whom!”
Bai Fu redirected her fleet and flew straight toward the Calamity Legion’s location.
This news was immediately noticed by everyone paying attention to the situation.
It was happening—the long-awaited duel was finally here!
Live news broadcasts, commentators’ analysis, battlefield simulations… everything was kicked into gear!
All the major media outlets in the Fringe World acted like it was New Year’s, hyping the event until everyone knew about it.
Some savvy media even invited fans of both Bai Fu and Bloodthorn as commentators, displayed both sides’ support rates below the livestream, and showed the heart rates of supporters above the screen.
They truly bridged the PK from offline to online.
Even Digger Ji, known for showmanship, was stunned by this station’s presentation.
“You cosmos people really know how to make a show!”
[Charge! Fufu cannot possibly lose!]
[I’ve already voted for Fufu. Go Fufu!]
Under the gaze of the masses, Bai Fu’s fleet arrived at the destination.
She didn’t rush in. Instead, she first placed a Prophet Mark on the perimeter before charging into the battlefield.
As the saying went, enemies meeting ignited rage. Bloodthorn had waited nearly half a month for this moment. The instant Bai Fu appeared, he commanded his brothers and subordinates to attack.
“As long as we take down Bai Fu, the remaining three will be easy to deal with!”
Truthfully, his urgency wasn’t only due to hatred for Bai Fu—he also feared retaliation from Star Covenant.
If the battle dragged on and Star Covenant forces arrived, not only would he fail to kill Bai Fu, but he himself might die here.
“Once this job is done, we’ll go join the Supernova Battle Group. Then even the Oathkeeper won’t be able to track us down!”
The Calamity Legion charged in haste, just as Bai Fu had hoped.
Assassinations and decapitation tactics required speed like the wind, striking before the enemy could react.
So, the moment she exited her ship, Bai Fu summoned her psionic legion.
“Bloodthorn, you’re dead today!”
Bloodthorn sneered. “We’ll see about that!”
A mist of blood filled the sky, blinding Bai Fu’s sight. Seconds later, massive beams of light burst through the blood mist, aiming straight at her psionic legion. Following the beams was a torrent of machines.
The Calamity Legion’s mechanic didn’t produce especially strong individual units, but their overwhelming numbers paralyzed Bai Fu’s psionic legion in no time.
“Ha! Now’s the time!”
Bloodthorn’s blood surged. He’d waited too long for this moment. Now he’d let Bai Fu taste the full extent of his rage!
Swoosh—
A blood-colored beam shot toward Bai Fu like a laser cannon, unhindered.
Fueled by sheer fury, Bloodthorn’s face twisted grotesquely.
But to his surprise, Bai Fu’s expression didn’t show the slightest panic.
What was going on?
“Ha! Now’s the time!”
Bai Fu instantly burned 20% of her psionic energy to activate her second health bar, simultaneously cloaking herself in a psionic shield.
You think you can kill me?
Elsewhere, behind her, Cessia—who had long been lying in wait—crashed into the Calamity Legion’s fleet like a runaway train.
When it came to ferocity, Cessia was no less savage than Bloodthorn!
She only ever lost to Bai Fu because of her lack of experience and her large body reaction lag.
Against the Calamity Legion’s members, once she activated Life Drain, she strolled through the crowd, drawing all fire to herself, yet didn’t lose a drop of health in several seconds.
Seconds later, she reached the Calamity-class mechanic.
Just as not all milk is called Te X*su, not all mechanics are surnamed Han!
Seeing Cessia arrive before him, the Calamity-class mechanic panicked.
Too bad—it was already too late.
The turning point of battle often came in an instant.
In just one second, Cessia unleashed all her finishing moves on the mechanic surrounded by his mech.
A fragile mechanic getting brutally beaten by a vampiric brawler—how could he possibly survive?
He felt dizzy; his previously smooth and plump face suddenly turned rough and wrinkled, and a hollow emptiness surged from deep within.
“You…”
Bang!
Cessia punched the mech, her face twisted with rage and madness.
You tried to ambush Bai Fu. You schemed against Bai Fu. You opposed Bai Fu…
Only I am allowed to fight Bai Fu!
Kill you kill you kill you kill you kill you kill you!
Without the mechanic’s control and attribute boosts, the mech’s defense dropped significantly. Under Cessia’s relentless pounding and tearing, it quickly turned into a pile of scrap.
Rip—
Cessia tore open the last layer of protection on the cockpit and yanked the stunned mechanic out before he could even react.
“Let him go!”
The other two Calamity-class members of the Calamity Legion, upon seeing this, abandoned their fights with Scarlet Leaf and Hei Fu and charged at Cessia in a frenzy.
But Cessia, eyes glowing red, ignored them. Her steel-clawed right hand pounded into the mechanic’s chest like a pile driver, spraying blood and organs everywhere, leaving all onlookers horrified.
“This sick freak!”
Even Scarlet Leaf couldn’t help but complain. The Calamity Legion’s people were even more shaken.
“How is this possible?”
Bloodthorn looked at Bai Fu—whom he had struck but appeared unharmed—then at his dear comrade whose head had been smashed off by Cessia. It felt like the sky had collapsed.
He didn’t understand—really didn’t understand.
What the hell was Bai Fu?
Why did her arrival lead to both Scarlet Leaf and Cessia, who had been stuck at S+ rank, consecutively breaking into Calamity-class? Why could a psionic preacher like her tank his attacks head-on?
Although he’d never met the President of the Society of Truth, Starshatterer, the Master of the Secret Tower, or the Grand Steward, at this moment, Bloodthorn wasn’t alone—he spiritually resonated with all of them!
Anger, instability, mental breakdown—he was on the verge of turning into a maniac.
Thankfully, Doctor Bai Fu stepped in with a massive slap to calm him down considerably.
But at this point, it didn’t really matter whether Bloodthorn calmed down or not.
He was being locked down by Bai Fu, while the other two Calamity-class members were getting thrashed by the melee trio of Cessia, Scarlet Leaf, and Hei Fu.
“Charge! Smash the Calamity Legion fleet and show them who the real Calamity is!”
Inside the ships, players eagerly piloted their ships and fighters into battle.
Bloodthorn knew the tide had turned.
Staying here meant certain death. But escaping would also come at a heavy cost.
“Bai Fu! Bai Fu!”
“Alright, alright, stop shouting. Too many people are yelling like that.”
Bai Fu chased Bloodthorn down and beat him mercilessly.
Her Dark Force Field, Prison Domain, Darkness Unbound, and Dark Mystery were all designed to prevent Bloodthorn from escaping.
Under the brutal assault of Darkmoon Tide, the Calamity Legion was quickly crushed and routed.
Bloodthorn used all his strength to break out of the encirclement, but without a ship, he had to hide on the nearest inhabited planet, hoping Bai Fu wouldn’t find him in time and would eventually withdraw.
“Hehehehe…”
Bai Fu couldn’t help but laugh.
She’d brought over 300,000 players with her—did he really think he could hide?
Bai Fu quickly contacted Andras and asked him to reach out to a TV station to broadcast the Bloodthorn hunt live.
This way, she could both intimidate those plotting against her and earn a hefty broadcast fee from the TV station. Two wins!
“This program will be called ‘Where’s Bloodthorn!’”
When the live reality show titled Where’s Bloodthorn aired, everyone following the battle was utterly stunned.