The flames of war blazed in outer space, and the two Mechanical Deities, one white and one black, collided into a blur. The exchanges between their weapons continued to explode outward in shock waves.

Psionic energy collided with psionic energy, and metal crashed against metal!

Surrounded by their huge mechanical armies, which hovered around them like crows, they fought tirelessly. The entire area was filled with molten metal caused by the high-intensity energy rays, which would rapidly cool and condense into weird-shaped metal blocks. Some fell down to the surface of the planet, while others turned into space debris, orbiting Planet Magnetic Cloud.

It looked as though two gods that could penetrate the sky and earth were leading their respective armies to engage in a battle of the universe.

This burst by Han Xiao allowed him to obtain a significant amount of combat power. His Intellect rose by almost forty percent, and his degree of Machinery Affinity also skyrocketed. With the twenty percent increase from Manison’s Character Summon Card, it only further magnified his strength.

According to his calculations, these tens of thousands of Attribute Points in Intellect enhanced his Mechanic abilities way beyond his rewards from the attack on Hila mission. It could be said that this was the current peak state of Han Xiao!

Because he did not have the time to familiarize himself with his newfound strength, Han Xiao’s control over his power was not as fine as it should have been. However, this still gave him quite the confidence, and riding on the increase in his senses, he adapted a pure offensive style.

The sharp glint of a blade flashed continuously as the Celestial Punishment Edge twirled in Han Xiao’s hands. Every slash he made was heavy and unrelenting, fierce and ruthless. He seemed to be embodying the spirit of Guan Yu[1], killing his way through with reckless abandon.

His boosted Mechanical Force controlled the Mechanical Deity to become even more agile than before. The Celestial Punishment Edge in his hands seemed to exude an even higher amount of strength, breaking through the shield around Manison and leaving gaping wounds in his armor.

While Manison was surprised at Han Xiao’s combat power after his boost, it did not affect his performance. With the support of his six Universal Treasure Equipment, his trident endlessly counterattacked, poking large and small holes in the body of Han Xiao’s Mechanical Deity.

Both sides suffered from various injuries, being evenly matched. Only these two figures could be seen traversing the starry sky, taking the universe as their battlefield. The trident and the halberd crossed dozens of times in an instant, blasting out electrical arcs.

While it seemed like they were simply fighting each other in close combat, the two parties were actually mixing their melees with a lot of advanced technology. Force fields, electromagnetic pulses, and energy conversions were merged seamlessly. In addition, there were also countless control-type mechanical devices exerting their effects. Various restrains were wrapped around each Mechanical Deity like a spider web, restricting their actions. At the same time, they also maintained their artillery bombardment, with countless muzzles around their bodies spewing high-energy beams like a torrential downpour blasting into each other’s shields, creating fireworks.

This seemed to paint a beautiful picture, but it was full of an energy that could destroy the world.

The Mechanic Emperor’s Apostle Weapons were too powerful in combat, having a huge advantage in the Mechanical Army fight. Han Xiao could only continue to pull out his troops from the secondary dimensional army box, using numbers to make up for his lack of advanced combatants.

The battle gradually approached a climax, and under the countless excited and shocked gazes, the two fought in outer space for quite a lengthy period, unable to extricate themselves.

Swoosh!

Han Xiao’s blade condensed and swept across, slashing into Manison’s neck and slicing three quarters of the way through, almost beheading the Deity.

At the same time, the trident pierced through Han Xiao’s head, scattering countless broken machinery.

The two Mechanical Deities, however, acted like they were unaware of the injuries. They raised their hands, grabbing the opponent’s weapon that was embedded in their bodies before pulling it out. They raised their legs and kicked toward each other’s crotches. Their moves were at least ninety percent synchronous with each other! While they shot backward, both parties simultaneously raised their hands, throwing their weapons at the same time. Both their huge weapons shot through the air, colliding halfway before bouncing apart. The trident slammed down toward the planet surface, landing in the wilderness with a loud bang, printing an outline on the planet’s crust.

The Celestial Punishment Edge spun off course and smashed into the battlefield of the mechanical armies, wiping out countless soldiers on both sides.

At this moment, Manison’s figure suddenly flickered and disappeared as he warped through space. The next moment, he appeared behind Han Xiao, and a bright light shot out from his waist.

A silver-colored short sword was pulled out its sheath, and the sword drew an upward arc. The light of the sword swept across Han Xiao’s waist, instantly bisecting the Mechanical Deity.

Han Xiao reacted quickly, turning his upper body to whip his arm condensed with psionic energy toward Manison. It broke through the shield, and the remaining force slammed into Manison’s head, beheading it and throwing it out toward one of the three Universal Civilizations’ fleets. It was smashed into pieces by the intercepting fire from the fleet.

At the same time, Han Xiao’s severed lower body disintegrated, re-transforming into mechanical soldiers, which once again integrated back with the Mechanical Deity. The Celestial Punishment Edge, which had been sent off course, stopped in midair before flying back as though being pulled by an invisible rope, forcing Manison to retreat as it circled around before landing back in Han Xiao’s hands.

Another Universal Treasure.

Seeing Manison take out another weapon, Han Xiao felt bitter in his heart.

His Emperor’s Cape had the effect of strengthening the internal structure of his Mechanical Deity, but the short sword sliced through it easily. It had to be Gold Grade equipment.

The fact that his foundation was insufficient was already a sad issue, but after fighting for such a long time, the Mechanic Emperor was still so fierce and lively, not showing any signs of weaknesses. His reserves were unfathomable, and his endurance also surprised Han Xiao.

It stood to reason that so long as a lot of energy was consumed, the number of bonus stacks would decrease, resulting in a temporary decline in status and attributes.

Because he had the ability to convert HP to energy, he had always stayed at the peak, but this old man seemed to have eaten Viagra, for him to be able to maintain this state for such a long period of time!

While the old man also managed to come out with equipment that would allow him to convert damage to energy, Han Xiao discovered that there was a limitation to this piece of Gold Grade equipment. There was a cooldown required after each absorption, unlike his own talent which was effective anywhere.

Thus, maybe Old Man Manison possessed some kind of talent that would allow him to retain his energy bonuses but at the cost of a reduction in strength. That sort of ability was rare but not unique.

But this was not the main point. Han Xiao was surprised to discover that not only did Manison’s strength not drop, it was even slowly rising

He’s probably the same as me, having talents to continuously obtain bonuses in battle… He’s worthy of being the top powerhouse in the universe, just as difficult to handle as myself.

Han Xiao ground his teeth.

Even after fighting for so long, they could only be evenly matched. Attempting to expand on his advantage would only cause him to be blocked by Manison time and again, as if he was some spring that could not be completely compressed

Fortunately, the same was true for Manison. Neither was able to suppress the other.

The time for the Character Summon Cards is ultimately limited, and I cannot keep this state up forever. Manison’s attributes are also slowly climbing, and if we continue to fight, the situation that I finally stabilized will be reversed once more… Damn, it’s usually me who kills the enemy after a protracted battle. Now I’ve finally met someone who can last longer than me.

Han Xiao analyzed the grim situation, but his mood was actually quite relaxed.

It was a lonely thing to not be able to find an opponent. It was rare to also face a strong enemy that required him to utilize all his moves. He had fought heartily and comfortably, venting all his energy on the Mechanic Emperor.

Furthermore, he had managed to witness Manison’s combat power to estimate the gap in their strength, which was not small at all.

In fact, the hit-and-run tactics were still effective against Manison. While his avatar might be durable, it was in no way comparable to himself. The problem was that the other party had deeply hidden himself within the Mechanical Deity, and he could not damage the other party in any way. As long as he did not shatter the Mechanical Deity, there was no way he could hurt his opponent’s avatar. This was something he needed to pay attention to. In other words, he was now obtaining experience on how to deal with Manison.

As all sorts of thoughts flashed through his mind, Han Xiao spoke in the wide-area communication channel.

“Mechanic Emperor, we’re evenly matched, and there won’t be any results even if we fight for the next ten days. Are you sure you want to continue?”

“You’re thinking too much. I don’t think you can hold on for so long,” Manison replied blandly. “This should be your current peak, but you’re at most only able to fight evenly with me. How long can your burst mode last?”

“Never counted, but it should last till the end of our fight.”

Since no one knew of his details, Han Xiao just made up a lie calmly. “So, you wish to fight a protracted battle with me?” Manison let out some emotionless laughter, as though scorning Han Xiao’s confidence. “How much of your machinery can you waste? Is it even a fraction of mine?”

“Isn’t it just money? It’s not like anyone here lacks cash.” Han Xiao smirked.

While he spoke this manner, the Great Mechanic Han had to still admit that the old man had a stronger ability to make money.

He wished to test out his strength against Manison, not to show off his accumulation.

Han Xiao also did not forget that Manison still had some Beyond Grade A ‘collectibles’ in his hands, which were not used. They had probably not come out because this was not a good time to use them, since he did not wish to show them off in front of the three Universal Civilizations.

In other words, this might not be Manison’s true strength.

While their growth models had a difference of heaven and earth, there was one thing that Han Xiao agreed with—the importance of accumulation to a Mechanic.

Were Manison’s attributes higher than his? That remained to be seen, but his opponent definitely had much stronger machinery compared to his. That was due to his accumulation over the years.

The Mechanic class was different from all the other professions. Even when everyone reached a bottleneck in power, the Mechanics could ignore the bottleneck and improve their own combat power through manufacturing, research, and development of machinery. Thus, it could be said that P2W was the root behind all the powerful Mechanics!

This gap is not small at all… Han Xiao shook his head.

While he considered himself affluent, compared with Manison, who was filled with Universal Treasures, he suddenly looked a lot more shabby.

In this manner, the difficulty of me defeating Manison currently is too high. Manison wants to beat me in order to maintain his face, so I have to draw with him at least. It is impossible to retreat or escape, or else I will lose all credibility…

Just as Han Xiao was thinking of which trump card he should utilize, the situation on the battlefield changed once more.

A different group of machines suddenly broke into the battlefield, attacking Manison’s troops at the same time, separating the battlefield and preventing the two forces from fighting. A dozen streams of light flew from the distance, stopping between the two as they faced Manison.

Han Xiao and Manison looked at the dozen or so figures, which were the other Beyond Grade A avatars originally watching the show.

“Mechanic Emperor, let’s stop here,” Kant said.

Manison glanced at the others, slowly asking, “You all are helping him?”.

“Black Star doesn’t need our help. There’s no clear winner now, and even if you fight for a month, the battle likely won’t end.” Kant deliberately spoke using the wide area channel. He chuckled. “It’s impossible for the three Universal Civilizations and us to be here watching you for a month, so we’ll consider today a tie.”

“Tie?” Manison’s tone sank slightly.

“Isn’t it so?” Kant smiled as he replied.

Manison narrowed his eyes. “And if I wish to continue fighting?”

“We are also people that take our dignity seriously. Since we have spoken, we will act.” Kant laughed. “If you don’t give us face, then I’m sorry, but we can only join you for a couple of rounds.”

Just as he spoke, all the Beyond Grade As collectively took a step forward. While they did not say it clearly, their intention to protect Han Xiao was clear.

Want to touch Black Star?

You’ll have to do it through a gang fight!

Seeing this, Manison sank into silence. The battlefield was at the Machinery Faith temple, so he naturally wished to suppress Han Xiao. While Han Xiao’s burst mode was strong, it was only temporary. If they continued fighting, he was confident in winning. However, the situation caused his plans to fail.

The battle between them was interfered with, and Manison could naturally see what they intended to do. They wished to create a situation where it was a tie, forcing him to accept this instead of fighting for a win.

After thinking for a bit, he understood the reason.

Manison raised his head to look at Han Xiao, speaking in a somewhat complicated tone.

“This is really… a case of a just cause enjoying abundant support.”

Having spoken, he did not intend to stay, collecting all his troops and recalling his avatar, cancelling the Lord’s Descent skill before leaving

No matter how confident he was, he did not plan to challenge all the Beyond Grade As present.

Seeing this, Kant laughed before looking at Han Xiao.

“Alright, this matter is over.”

Han Xiao was a little surprised. “I thought you’d continue spectating. Why did you suddenly help me?”.

If the dynasty aided him, he could understand this. But why did the mechanics from the federation and the church also stand up for him?

Could it be that my heroic act of destroying the virus core convinced them to forget their grudges?

Sigh, blame me then, for inadvertently failing to restrain my inner charm, infecting and influencing them too much.

[Mechanical Catastrophe] Francisco snorted coldly. “Don’t over think this. We’re not doing this for you.”

“You could have fought for over ten days, so how could the three Universal Civilizations continue to keep watching? Thus, they asked us to interfere and end the battle.”

“Then that’s weird. Couldn’t you have done that earlier? You had to wait till we reached this stage?”

“Hehe, it’s not just an order. All of us were quite happy to see the Mechanic Emperor suffer a little,” Kant said in a tone full of schadenfreude.

Alright, I understand now…

The majority of people present had been bullied by Manison before but could only hold in their anger. Seeing Black Star’s brave performance, they felt that they could take the opportunity to attack Manison, so they chose to intervene.

The result of deliberately promoting a tie was the small revenge for this group of people. This would shake the Mechanic Emperor’s position as the main deity for the Machinery Faith, building momentum for Black Star.

As long as the record was set, Black Star would be able to disperse the firm belief in the Mechanic Emperor among those of the Machinery Faith, allowing Manison to suffer. Of course, the premise of doing so was that Black Star had to be able to withstand the Mechanic Emperor. If Han Xiao kept getting beaten up, then this group would not have deliberately chosen the best time to help him.

Intervening in the battle was not just because of orders but also a decision from their hearts.

As for whether or not there was a factor of admiration due to Black Star’s actions, only they themselves knew.

Once Han Xiao understood this, he also sighed in relief.

Indeed, the more people you have close relations with, the more benefits you obtain.

Ignoring how Manison has lived for so long and has a wide range of contacts, in the eyes of the Beyond Grade A Mechanics, the Mechanic Emperor’s image is worth very little. He’s offended too many of his peers in the Beyond Grade A realm!

As the saying went, ‘a just cause attracts much support; an unjust one finds little’!

[1] Guan Yu is a character from the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms.