Both fleets faced each other in a standoff in the dark universe.

EsGod’s figure then disappeared from his throne and appeared beside Fakisen in the control room.

“The other party is the dynasty’s armed fleet with almost five million battleships. The strength of their battleships is superior to our fleet. Since they appeared suddenly before us, it means that they can accurately grasp our coordinates. My suggestion is not to fight them but retreat immediately…” Fakisen began analyzing the situation upon seeing EsGod.

However, EsGod ignored him completely and expanded his senses. He could clearly feel three sun-like energy sources from within the dynasty’s fleet.

Counting the number of opponents, EsGod revealed a look of disappointment.

“Only three of them?”

Right at this moment, the radar rang out again and an Arcane Church fleet appeared behind them.

After feeling the two Beyond Grade As in the Arcane Church fleet, EsGod’s brows began to relax.

“Five people… only then will there be a meaning to fight.”

“The Crimson Dynasty has indeed chosen to work together with the Arcane Church. It seems like they have already laid an ambush here and plan to wipe us out with a fleet three times our size. I recommend that we break through their encirclement and retreat immediately,” Fakisen said.

EsGod did not even bother looking at him and calmly said, “Inform the fleet to prepare for battle. Hold them back, and don’t let the enemy battleships disrupt my battle.”

“I understand,” Fakisen said with a disappointed tone as if he expected that. He knew that EsGod did not care about their lives and only treated them as tools.

Fakisen then issued an order in front of EsGod and formed a defensive formation.

EsGod nodded, and the next moment, his body appeared outside the battleship.

Following which, a wave of spiritual energy exploded with EsGod as the center. The dynasty and church’s fleets had the equipment to block out a certain degree of spiritual energy, but the five Beyond Grade As received EsGod’s spiritual fluctuations at the same time to build a communication channel.

Han Xiao was also part of the group, and he heard EsGod’s calm voice.

“I have been waiting for a long time.”

Upon hearing that, Han Xiao looked at his teammates, and they nodded to each other.

If EsGod decided to run away from the very start, it would be impossible for them to block him. Since EsGod said those words, it meant that he was prepared to stay behind and fight them. If that was the case, the first step of their plan was successful.

Looking at each other, Han Xiao’s group of three left the dynasty battleship and entered the universe. The two from the church also flew out of their battleship and surrounded EsGod.

Milizaus and the other two mages hid in the darkness and began locking down the spacetime of the region. Manison also hid the fact that the Federation of Light had participated in this ambush and hid himself. He only passed his spacetime stabilizer to someone else. After some discussion, the five who were assigned to face EsGod head on were Han Xiao, Viru, Lotus Swordsman, Sun Hunter, and another Psychic from the Arcane Church.

The job of the two Psychics was to use their mental attacks. Viru served as the tank, and Sun Hunter was the main damage dealer. As for Han Xiao, his main body was present this time, and he was in charge of control, main tank, physical damage, and many other positions.

EsGod’s gaze swept over everybody before landing on Han Xiao. “Black Star, it’s you again.”

“Since you ambushed me, this day had to come. You knew that, right?” Han Xiao raised his brows.

“Sigh, destiny is truly strange. I didn’t plan on dealing with you, but you still want to pester me. You are truly taking the initiative to seek death… or perhaps it can be said that all of you are seeking death.”

EsGod shook his head.

Upon hearing that, Sun Hunter could help but interrupt coldly. “I wonder if that brain of yours still remembers how many times you have been forced back by three Beyond Grade As. When facing the five of us, do you think you will still be able to emerge victorious?”

“Ah, that was the past me. In fact, I still have to thank Black Star for the Evolution Cube. The dynasty and church will regret sending all of you to deal with me.”

Even before EsGod could finish what he had to say, Sun Hunter took the initiative to launch an attack, and a modified psionic Particle Cannon appeared beside him. A brilliant bolt of Mechanical Force shot out from his body and filled up the Particle Cannon, with a brilliant beam being shot out from the cannon the very next moment.

EsGod dodged the attack with his instantaneous movement, and a Fallen Ark battleship that was behind him was easily torn apart. The high-density alloy was ripped apart like a piece of paper, and the entire battleship was swallowed by the light and reduced to dust as though it had melted into nothingness.

With the first attack being launched, the dynasty and church fleet opened fire and the Fallen Ark fleet fought back. Both parties exchanged fire, and the dark universe was lit up by the exploding cannons.

The battle had erupted!

Han Xiao’s group of five had also launched their attacks.

The Apostle Weapons under the lead of Psionic Prime began to encircle EsGod, Viru charged toward EsGod with his weapon, Lotus Swordsman and the other Psychic began launching their Psychic attacks, and Sun Hunter rapidly opened fire like an artillery tower.

The battlefield instantly became chaotic.

EsGod’s combat method was to use various different abilities depending on the surroundings. He would not fight five Beyond Grade As head on. With his instantaneous movement ability, the encirclement of the five did not put that much pressure on him. At the same time, he was able to easily weave through the mechanical army and approach his enemies.

His powerful mobility meant that he had the initiative of the battle in his hands. At the same time, it also guaranteed him his safety as he could just leave whenever he wanted.

As such, EsGod did not intend to leave at the moment but treated the five as useful opponents to test his strength.

However, it was impossible to win against five Beyond Grade As single-handedly. This was a feat that no individual in the universe was capable of accomplishing. It was not just a simple comparison of battle prowess. The dense attacks of five Beyond Grade As would result in an individual being only capable of defending but not attacking. At this moment, EsGod had the initiative and could appear and disappear like a ghost. However, Han Xiao’s group of five could support each other, and he was not able to defeat each of them individually.

The battle immediately fell into a stalemate.

Han Xiao had his guard up against EsGod, afraid that EsGod’s strength might have improved greatly. But after exchanging a few blows with EsGod, Han Xiao was no longer that worried.

During the battle on Planet Lighthouse, Han Xiao had fought EsGod before and was familiar with EsGod’s strength. Although EsGod did have some improvement in strength, it had not reached a qualitative change.

It seems like the Evolution Cube was not sufficient to cause an earth-shattering change in him, and he still belongs to the Beyond Grade A rank.

Han Xiao heaved a sigh of relief.

If EsGod really broke through the Beyond Grade A rank and entered the so called ‘new realm’, his combat capability would definitely soar greatly, and there would be a huge gulf between them.

Thankfully, although the Evolution Cube was powerful, it was not sufficient to allow an individual to break through into the next realm.

As he planned for this operation, he had tried his best to overestimate EsGod’s strength, but the current strength that EsGod displayed did not reach his expectations. This way, Han Xiao had greater confidence in succeeding.

The other four also had similar thoughts. If EsGod’s strength did not exceed their expectations, they would not have too much trouble holding him back.

However, an abrupt change happened!

EsGod used his instantaneous movement to avoid a wave of fire and suddenly sent out a message to Han Xiao and the others.

“Warm up is over.”

The moment he said those words, he shot out black spheres from his body. These black spheres were the doppelgangers that he had prepared, and they all transformed into fog-like bodies emanating with energy.

Every doppelganger had a different Esper Ability that EsGod obtained and had a quasi Beyond Grade A strength. Furthermore, there were dozens of these doppelgangers around!

“Why does he have so many doppelgangers‽” Sun Hunter cried out with shock.

Information about EsGod was no secret. Everyone knew that his doppelganger ability had an obvious upper limit, and he was not capable of creating too many doppelgangers. This was already in their records!

Upon witnessing such a scene, Han Xiao’s heart shuddered, and he immediately understood what was going on.

The Evolution Cube did not allow EsGod to break through into the next level but expanded his strength at the same realm. It did not increase his ‘depth’ but increased his ‘breadth’. Compared to the other classes, a Mechanic understood just how frightening numbers were. A Mechanic relied on a large mechanical army to increase their strength and achieve a qualitative change.

The upgraded EsGod was also similar in this regard.

EsGod’s main body did not achieve a breakthrough in strength, but his ability to produce doppelgangers was improved. There were tens of Beyond Grade A doppelgangers present, and every doppelganger was like half a Beyond Grade A. Even if his doppelgangers were fragile, they had many different Esper Abilities and were still a powerful army.

This meant that the number of Beyond Grade As that Han Xiao’s group had to face had increased by dozens of times!

The threat that they faced had also increased greatly!

The three Universal Civilizations had tried to surround EsGod many times before. It was not that they had not sent out more than five Beyond Grade As before, but even if EsGod could not win, he could still retreat.

This time, EsGod already had the strength to deal with five or more Beyond Grade As head on, and he was not satisfied with escaping. If he could fight back or even kill the five Beyond Grade As that the Universal Civilizations sent, his own record would be broken, and he would be able to shock the entire universe.

However, EsGod did not know that he did not only have five opponents but another six hiding in the dark, waiting to ambush him.

The majority of the doppelgangers began to split up and surround Han Xiao’s group of five. Instead of the five surrounding EsGod, it was now EsGod surrounding the five.

The remaining doppelgangers entered the battlefield of the battleships and used their Beyond Grade A strength to rapidly wipe out the dynasty and church’s fleets. The Fallen Ark fleet that was originally at a disadvantage was gradually regaining ground.

Han Xiao and the other four felt a huge increase in pressure. It was akin to fighting tens of Beyond Grade As with different Esper Abilities at the same time. If not for the aid of the mechanical army, it would have been impossible for the other four to hang in there.

Through his doppelgangers, EsGod could unleash all his Esper Abilities without any restraint. His main body reserved the use of ‘Strengthened Self Recovery’ and ‘Black Hole’, and his other doppelgangers had many different Esper Abilities.

In the chaotic battle, Han Xiao looked at EsGod’s main body, which did not participate in the encirclement, with a grave look.

EsGod’s current appearance truly lived up to his nickname.

The god of all Espers!

Of the five of them, Han Xiao was still alright as he was sufficiently tanky. However, his mechanical army was rapidly being wiped out under the attacks of the many Beyond Grade As, and even his Apostle Weapons were trapped in a bitter battle.

Han Xiao originally wanted to save his ‘Perfect Mechanical Sense’ Character Summon Card, but he knew that it was impossible for him to do so right now. He immediately activated the Perfect Mechanical Sense Character Summon Card, and his Mechanical Force became thicker.

Han Xiao then endured the crazed attacks of EsGod’s doppelgangers and got his mechanical army to open fire at EsGod’s doppelgangers.

Every Esper Ability could only be used by a single doppelganger, and most of his doppelgangers did not have tanky abilities and were all very fragile. As such, the rapid attacks of the mechanical army were effective.

Rays of blue light struck the black fog like figures, and a quarter of EsGod’s doppelgangers were wiped out.

However, the next scene immediately caused all of them to become nervous again.

EsGod then made use of his Black Hole ability and sucked in all the attacks to create more doppelgangers and replenish the fallen troops.

Everyone’s heart sank as they witnessed this scene.

“We’re in trouble now…”

…

“They’re in trouble…”

On the other side, the six Beyond Grade As waiting in ambush had also formed a mental network through the Psychic. Their hearts all sank upon finding out about the ability that EsGod had displayed.

“EsGod’s doppelganger ability has been strengthened, and even if we are able to successfully lock down spacetime, he would be able to make use of his doppelgangers to drag for time. This plan will not work,” Ravenlaude said with a grave tone.

Their plan was to lock down spacetime to trap EsGod and control him according to Han Xiao’s plan before he could escape.

However, the strength that EsGod had displayed was out of their expectations. Even if they were able to temporarily trap him, they could not control him before he escaped.

“We still have to give it a try. Don’t stop.” Milizaus was not confident but could only continue according to plan. They did not have any other choice.

“I wonder how much longer they will be able to hang in there,” Manison said calmly.

They could not enter the battle before the trap was complete, and holding EsGod back could only be left to the group of five.

The six of them in ambush were not sure if they could hold on until the trap was completed.