“Ha! My help is here!”
Strength appeared in Kirkmond’s body all of a sudden. While Bagdora was still shocked, he slashed his sword down Bagdora’s arms, instantly cutting away many of his energy-made arms.
Bagdora hastily retreated away from Kirkmond, regenerated his arms then looked at Han Xiao with a grave expression. The confidence he had earlier was nowhere to be found.
Beyond Grade As of the main universe were not easy to mess with. This was common knowledge in the secondary dimensions. He did not expect Kirkmond to have a connection with a stranger Beyond Grade A.
“Who are you? I’m warning you. Don’t interfere with the matters of the Void Dimension. I’m master Kasuyi’s subordinate!”
Bagdora immediately brought up a big name. Among the names he knew from the main universe, Kasuyi’s name was the most impactful.
“He’s not! He’s just trying to scare you!” Kirkmond exposed his lie without mercy.
“Humph, don’t trust him. Kirkmond is a liar! He’s definitely just using you!”
“You’re the liar!” Kirkmond was enraged.
“No, you!”
Even in this situation, the two of them did not stop arguing.
Han Xiao, however, had no plan to join the argument. Electric sparks appeared in his eyes as countless machines swarmed out. Then, an enormous net formed by Mechanical Force grabbed all the machines and pulled them toward him, quickly assembling.
This huge move caused all the void creatures on the battlefield to stop fighting and look over.
A Mechanical Deity formed very quickly. Since the opponent was just a Void Duke, he did not summon a lot of machines. Therefore, this Mechanical Deity was not too large, only about ten thousand meters tall.
The most conspicuous part of it was the enormous metal cape on its back. It was not soft like cloth but was completely mechanical. It looked extremely delicate and complex.
It was the Emperor’s Cape, which Han Xiao had sent into battle for the first time.
“Mechanical Deity‽” Bagdora was knowledgeable enough to know what this was. His panic was clearly expressed from his fluctuating mind frequency.
If he had a face, his fear would have clearly shown on it.
Without saying anything, Bagdora immediately turned around attempting to escape. He disappeared in an instant and entered Void Hyperdrive.
However, Kirkmond was prepared for this. Being a Void Duke as well, he had all kinds of ways to prevent Bagdora from escaping. He swung his long sword sideways and slapped the space before him. Dense Void Energy exploded, sending out shockwave-like ripples. The space of this Void Dimension was easily sealed.
The next moment, Bagdora appeared again as he was forced out from hyperdrive by Kirkmond.
“You…”
Bagdora was frustrated. However, before he could try anything else again, Han Xiao controlled his Mechanical Deity and charged toward him. He was not planning to just watch on the side.
Seeing this, Bagdora did not even try to escape anymore. He quickly sent out long-ranged attacks with Void Energy at the Mechanical Deity, hoping to stop Han Xiao from getting closer.
Without slowing down, the Mechanical Deity grabbed a corner of the Emperor’s Cape and pulled it to its front.
Buzz!
An energy shield appeared on the surface of the cape. It was extremely thick and strong. Countless Void Energy attacks landed on it, only to create tiny little ripples, unable to slow down the Mechanical Deity at all.
At the same time, the Emperor’s Cape also increased the mobility and speed of the Machinery Deity by a large extent. At the edges of the cape, the space could be seen bent, which drastically increased the Machinery Deity’s speed.
“Don’t come any closer!”
Shocked, Bagdora wanted to back away, but Kirkmond stopped him from doing so. Unable to flee, he could only watch as the Mechanical Deity moved closer.
“Take this!” Han Xiao raised the Mechanical Deity’s arm and punched forward.
Highly condensed psionic energy fused with all kinds of electromagnetic and shockwave force fields formed a light blue energy shield shrouding the Mechanical Deity’s fist. It was extremely destructive.
Boom!
Bagdora’s defense did not have much effect. His enormous energy formed body was flattened and pressed onto the Mechanical Deity’s fist. His greenish-copper short spears were all shattered into atoms, and his Void Worm died right on the spot, not leaving even ashes behind.
Some time ago, Han Xiao had obtained [Machinery Control Master] through the few Beyond Grade A captives, which drastically increased the strength of armor-type equipment when used by him. Furthermore, his melee-range combat capability was also enhanced tremendously.
The power of this punch was way too much for a Void Duke like Bagdora. He was heavily injured instantly.
Void creatures had their own level system and were not included in the combat capability measurement standard of the main universe, so there was no clear comparison. However, at Han Xiao’s level, he could easily estimate it.
With the advantage of fighting in its own territory, the Void Dukes could fight back and forth with ordinary Beyond Grade As for dozens of rounds, but that was all. Only the strongest Dukes and Void Lords, Void Ancients, could compete with real Beyond Grade As. As for peak Beyond Grade As, their power exceeded the upper strength limit of void creatures.
Basically, Bagdora was about as strong as his Apostle Weapons, which were between Lv260 and Lv280, basically almost Beyond Grade As. They would easily crush Calamity Grades but would be thrashed by Beyond Grade As.
With such a large difference in strength, the only reason Bagdora was not completely obliterated was thanks to the special physique of Void Dukes; his various resistances were extremely high.
Bagdora’s flattened body stayed still for an instant on the Mechanical Deity’s fist before shooting out the next moment like a rocket, creating an empty path on the battlefield.
The Mechanical Deity remained on the same spot. It extended two fingers and aimed at Bagdora, who was flying further and further away. Its fingertips turned sharp and became a barrel, blinding light appeared from within.
“Evil Perish Cannon!” Han Xiao gave it a ridiculous name for fun.
Xiu!
An energy beam shot out from the fingertips of the Mechanical Deity and caught up to Bagdora instantly, penetrating his body.
Bagdora’s body suddenly became stiff. He started to evaporate from within like snow on a hot day, gradually melting.
Very soon, only a gray sphere was left floating. This was what was left of Bagdora—the core essence of a Void Duke.
“This guy is finally dead!” Kirkmond was overjoyed. Through hyperdrive, he jumped over and grabbed Bagdora’s core. Feeling the lingering frustration emotion in it, he could not hold back his laughter.
As their master died, Bagdora’s army fell into disarray. Most of the void creatures tried to flee in different directions and were chased; the rest stayed and surrendered. The situation became one-sided.
Seeing this, Han Xiao deactivated the Mechanical Deity and tutted like he wanted more.
This Void Duke was too weak. I didn’t even enjoy it enough…
This time, Kirkmond held onto Bagdora’s core and returned to Han Xiao. His tone was filled with joy.
“Haha, I knew I was right to trust you. To think you killed Bagdora so easily. You must be someone very well known in the main universe!”
“Not really, not really.” Han Xiao gave a humble response.
“According to our agreement, half of the core is yours. We’re friends from now on. If you need help in battle, just call me. This is my energy mark; you can contact me if anything happens.”
Han Xiao received energy from Kirkmond, which turned into a mark on his arm. He already had a ton of enchantment tattoos on his body and looked like a gangster, so having one more was no big deal.
Han Xiao looked at the interface.
The mission was shown to be completed, and the reward was given. He obtained 12 billion EXP and one Kirkmond’s Character Summon Card, and Kirkmond’s faction’s Favorability reached [Respect]. The Character Summon Card’s ability was Void Lock, which was a quite useful controlling ability and could be used five times.
Compared to the low difficulty, this was quite a rich reward. However, only Beyond Grade As like Han Xiao would be able to deal with this mission so easily, so it made sense.
The milestone mission for [Void Conqueror] started too. His progress was at one eighth for the Void Duke forces he destroyed and a twenty-five percent for the void faction favorability he had achieved. He should be able to activate this milestone very soon.
This time, Han Xiao smiled and said, “Any interest in expanding your territory?”
“Oh? Do you plan to continue helping me?” Kirkmond paused, not pleased but surprised, and started hesitating.
The way he looked at it, what Black Star meant was that he wanted to make him his subordinate like Kirkmond. The reason that Kirkmond did not join Kasuyi was that he did not want to work for others, and now he was troubled.
Han Xiao understood what he was thinking from his hesitation. He thought about it and said, “Don’t worry, I have no plan to learn from Kasuyi. Since you’re willing to fight for me, making your forces stronger is basically indirectly helping myself.”
The Void Dimension was Kasuyi’s territory. If he came here to grow his forces, he would undoubtedly offend this void movie lord. Therefore, Han Xiao planned to help some Void Dukes in the form of hiring them as mercenaries.
As long as they agreed to be his spare tires… ahem, helpers, he would help them to take over the forces of other Void Dukes. This way, he could both complete his milestone mission and obtain more troops at the same time.
“That sounds good.” Kirkmond was relieved.
Having seen Han Xiao’s strength earlier, he knew that he was no match. If Han Xiao decided to force him, he would not be able to resist at all, so he felt that Black Star had no need to lie to him.
After communicating a little longer, Kirkmond went to the side to enjoy the essence of Bagdora. Ames, who only watched beside Han Xiao, suddenly shook her head and said, “You don’t ever forget about increasing your forces, do you?”
“I’m used to it. After all, I’m a good faction leader…”
Then, Han Xiao gave Ames a look with unspeakable meanings.
“… What kind of look is that?” Ames’s brows raised slightly.
“I’m appreciating your beauty.”
“Humph, cheeky.”
…
Over the next few days, Han Xiao took Ames to travel in the Void Dimension back, looking for new partners to work with and merging the forces of Void Dukes one after another. With his peak Beyond Grade A strength, the progress of the [Void Conqueror] milestone was very quick.
Such frequent movements also attracted more attention from the boss of the Void Dimension. When the news spread to Kasuyi’s territory, the Void Dukes under his command reported it to him.
Somewhere in the Flickering World, Kasuyi frowned and narrowed his eyes. Looking at the kneeled void messenger in front of him, he felt alarmed.
“Black Star went to the Void Dimension and is now helping the Void Dukes there to take over the forces of their enemies?”
Could it be that Black Star had set his eyes on the forces of the Void Dimension and wanted to take over void creatures to form an organization like him?
From the way he looked at it, since Black Star had the blood of void creatures and was at the peak Beyond Grade A level, when his God’s Trait Transformation reached a certain extent, it was very likely Black Star might develop new abilities related to the void.
Kasuyi was actually not interested in what Han Xiao was doing in the Void Dimension. As the Void Dimension was large enough and had more than enough energy, having one more person to share it with was completely harmless and would not affect him at all. Han Xiao would not be considered as a competitor.
However, he had a big problem with others putting their fingers on his void army. The Void Dimension was his headquarters, and all the void creatures were his own in his eyes. Black Star’s actions made Kasuyi a little unhappy.
Never mind if you came to my farm to dig away some soil, but taking away my harvest is crossing the line.
The entire universe knows that the Void Dimension is my home. How can you just come to my home and cause trouble like this, Black Star? Have you ignored my existence?
Kasuyi thought about it and slowly said, “Go back and relay my decision to those Void Dukes. Tell them to get into contact with Black Star and obtain information about what his goal is. Also do the same with the other Void Dukes he helped.”
The messenger received the order, shook his body, and returned to the Void Dimension, disappearing without a trace.
With Kasuyi’s position, calling Han Xiao directly was the most convenient. However, that would mean that there was no room for any excuse or discussion. Hence, he hoped to take a gentler approach and ask about Han Xiao’s goal through a middleman.
The so-called Beyond Grade A Association was about to be formed, and he did not want to mess with Black Star, who was leading it.
“Speaking of which, Manison seems very active recently and has been digging up his old connections. Looks like he really wants to be the one in charge…”
Kasuyi looked interested.
Kasuyi had no plan to do the same. He had never cared too much about the Beyond Grade A Association to begin with. He only saw that Beyond Grade As being in groups would become a trend in the future, so he wanted to obtain a senior position. As for the position of the president, he would not take it even if it was given to him for free. Sitting in that position meant being at the front of all issues. Anyone in that position would be heavily monitored by the advanced civilizations.
Some of the peak Beyond Grade As had the same thoughts as him; very few tried to become the president. Including Manison and Black Star, there were only four of them.
“Hmm, the association can only have one president, who also cannot be a direct member of the three Universal Civilizations, or it would go against its goal… I wonder what plans Black Star has. Although he’s not as senior, as the star of the Flickering World and the key initiator of this project, his chances don’t seem low…”
