“You’re the one that attacked the slave market!”

Han Xiao acted shocked as well like he had only just recognized Ember.

According to the intel that DarkStar had, he was just an unimportant passerby. As soon as they got into a battle, the fact that he was the witness who briefly battled Ember would definitely be discovered. From Ember’s perspective, they had only met once, when they attacked the slave market. Hence, he acted as if he recognized Ember as the attacker of that night from his Esper power. It was a normal reaction.

There was another reason he faked this—to hide the fact that he knew about the truth of DarkStar.

At the moment of being attacked, these thoughts were already brewing in Han Xiao’s head.

And as expected, seeing his surprise, Ember totally did not have any thought of him being the mysterious man who discovered DarkStar’s identity.

On the night of the attack, due to the area being in a blackout and them wearing a mask and mechanical suit, they did not know each other’s identity. And now, they met coincidentally again.

Han Xiao was the first person that was immune to Ember’s [Carbon Atom Deconstruction] despite being one grade lower. Although it was just a short battle, he had left such a strong impression on Ember that he would not be able to forget.

Ember was shocked. He swept away his careless attitude, and his eyes were filled with curiosity and battle desire. “Our last battle was too short to determine a winner. This time, I’m not in a rush.”

The witness was the reason that the attack had been exposed, and his real identity was their target this time—Black Star. With both old and new grudges, Ember was full of fighting spirit. He decided to go all out this time.

Ember’s hand grabbed the air, and black carbon dust formed a straight double-edged diamond sword, extremely hard yet flexible due to Ember’s powers.

Boom!

At the same time, endless black dust shot out from the ground everywhere, trying to aim for the gaps in the mechanical suit.

Han Xiao felt the pressure from the increased fighting spirit of the enemy.

Initially, Ember had thought that dealing with Han Xiao would be a simple mission, but he realized that he was wrong. This was a tough opponent. Thus, he became serious and faced Han Xiao with the attitude of facing a strong enemy.

Hu!

Seven Sonic Spheres flew out and hovered in the air, creating an amplification field. The space inside the cell created by Ember was limited, perfect for sonic attacks.

With the Scythe in his hands, the Hovering Shield Shuttle hovering around his body, and the light shining from the armor pieces on his hand, arms, and legs, Han Xiao was at his peak performance.

Due to the signal interference, Han Xiao could not activate the backup parts that were far away. He could only battle with the mechanical suit’s basic mode—there was no backup equipment. It was very disadvantageous for a Mechanic.

“Hide aside,” Han Xiao said as he pushed Aroshia away. He swung the scythe and slashed at the wall, but it did not even leave a scratch.

He frowned. The wall was too hard, and there was no way to break through.

The only choice left was to fight.

This time, the seven DarkStar warriors struck. Three Pugilists covered in flames surrounded Han Xiao in a triangle shape.

Bang!

With a swing of the scythe, they clashed!

The aftershock echoed in the prison cell!

Aroshia was forced to the edge and could only watch.

Ember was very curious about Han Xiao’s ability to resist his powers. Anyway, the signal disruption device was already set up, and Black Star could not call for backup, so there was plenty of time to find out.

As Han Xiao was attacked and having a tough fight, all the players far away on the other side of the floating island who were doing their duty in aircrafts triggered a new mission.

_____________

[Urgent Mission – Backup]

Mission Introduction: Your captain has been ambushed and is engaged in a tough fight. As a member of the mercenary group, you are his backup.

Mission Requirements: Arrive at the scene quickly and provide backup for Black Star. The coordinates are…

Reward: Depends on the speed and number of the backup.

Rejection Consequence: -300 Black Star Mercenary Group Favorability

_____________

All the players became spirited.

…

The Esper’s power was very strong. Not only was it strong in close-quarter combat, but it could also control countless dust particles and turn them into spears to strike or tentacles to constrain Han Xiao’s mobility. The most dangerous threat of that ability was the dust infiltrating into the gaps of the mechanical suit that changed their form inside the suit to destroy Amphiptere’s interior. At least one-third of the damage came from Ember.

The seven DarkStar warriors had very good cooperation—three Pugilist to limit Han Xiao’s mobility at close range through exchanging hits, one Esper that could secret acid, and another that could inject energy in the galaxy into specially made metals and turn them into bombs. These two Espers were hiding at the side while throwing acid and metal balls at Han Xiao.

There was one more Mechanic who was good at electromagnetic disruption and smart hacking, connecting to Amphiptere through his own combat suit and disrupting Amphiptere’s system through the hacking program that he wrote. He was even trying to take control of Amphiptere. Han Xiao’s smart technology was still within the bounds of basic knowledge, so he had no choice but to turn off most auto functions and leave only the nerves connection controls on, to stop detection and analysis as well as to prevent Amphiptere’s system from being taken over. This Mechanic was also controlling numerous shield generators to block attacks for his teammates.

The last one was an Electric Mage. His cooperation with Ember was the closest, unleashing his electric sorcery by using the carbon dust as a bridge. Ember turned them into graphene, which was more conductive, to increase the power, attacking Han Xiao from all directions and burning the internals of Amphiptere.

Boom boom boom!

Attacks rained down on Amphiptere, and the number of wounds gradually increased. Facing seven enemies of the same grade and one whose grade was even higher than his own, Han Xiao was like facing a terrifying tsunami—he could hardly fight back.

Even with [Snake—Devil] activated, he could just barely hold on.

The mechanical suit’s durability dropped very quickly. After only a few minutes into the fight, it was already at sixteen percent, close to being completely destroyed.

Han Xiao took a deep breath. He poured all the energy into the mobility device, and with a sharp arc, he escaped from the close-range battle and headed straight for the Esper who could secrete acid. He closed in extremely quickly while firing a shot at the Mechanic to make sure he could not control the shield to protect his teammate. Then, with a swing of the scythe, he was about to slash at the Esper.

“Burst!” Ember yelled as he clenched his fist. Before Han Xiao could land the attack, Ember could give the wounded Amphiptere one last attack to destroy it!

Countless spikes formed inside Amphiptere within a second!

The mechanical suit became covered in holes and was on the brink of shattering.

At this moment, a blurry white light bloomed. Amphiptere, which was about to shatter, came back together like a miracle, and its energy level recovered to its prime.

Machinery Continuation!

“What!” Ember was shocked and surprised. The attack that he had been so confident in could not break Han Xiao’s suit, and it was now too late to stop him.

The acid Esper initially believed that Ember could stop Han Xiao, but now he was horrified and could only watch the scythe growing in his vision.

Flaming Will!

Swoosh!

With a flash of light, blood spilled all over. A ferocious wound extended from the acid Esper’s head to his chin, spitting his face in half.

His health dropped a large chunk in an instant.

“Ahhh!”

The acid Esper fell to the ground and writhed in agony as blood gushed out from his face. Ember hastily moved him away before Han Xiao could land another hit.

The next moment, Amphiptere crumbled into pieces.

Machinery Continuation made Amphiptere last for five seconds longer, and in this time, Han Xiao landed this hit and heavily injured one of the enemies even while he was under siege.

Han Xiao was breathing heavily. He had wanted to get rid of that guy a long time ago—it was so disgusting to have him keep spitting acid at him.

Ember had a very gloomy expression. His subordinate was heavily injured, and his mistake was partly to blame. Anger arose from inside his heart.

This was a pure accident, and it was not going to happen again. Black Star had reached his limit after lasting for so long. From the moment his mechanical suit shattered, he was a sheep waiting to be butchered and would not have any chance to fight back anymore.

A Mechanic that lost his machines was at most half as strong!

“This is it for you. I’ve said before, you can save yourself a lot of pain if you don’t resist, and I am a man of my word…”

Ember then said with freezing cold eyes, “Are you ready to feel pain?”

Amphiptere shattered, and the backup mechanical suit could not be summoned. Han Xiao’s body had no more protection. He glanced at the broken parts all over the floor, but his expression did not change at all. He did not seem to be bothered about his current situation. He casually placed the black scythe on his shoulders and said, “Don’t celebrate too soon. The fight only ends when I can’t fight anymore.”

The Great Mechanic Han was never one to back away from a fight.