The war was still ongoing, and the Black Star Army continued to develop.
Three years passed in the blink of an eye.
Chapter 691 - Successor
In Ames’ palace, two people were standing outside the gate. One of them was Aesop, and behind him was a tall, purple-haired human lady. Her skin was a little blue, her face looked gentle and pretty, and she had alluring eyeshadow on. She was looking up at the palace apprehensively.
Aesop looked at the beautiful, purple-haired woman and said with resignation, “Vilna, don’t be so nervous. It’s just meeting Ames.”
“I–It’s my first time meeting a Beyond Grade A. What kind of person is Her Excellency Dragon Emperor? It’s rumored that she’s very controlling. Is that true?”
Vilna bit her lips and crossed her fingers nervously.
“Fake, of course! That’s a rumor that only appeared in the last few years. It’s to deliberately vilify Ames because Black Star… Sign, let’s not talk about this.”
Aesop seemed to have thought of something troubling. He shook his head and sighed.
“Anyway, Ames is very friendly. This is your first time meeting her since joining Floating Dragon, so leave a good impression, will you?”
“I—I’ll try my best.”
Vilna still did not have much confidence. She inhaled deeply and tried to calm her emotions.
After walking into the palace, Aesop got to know where Ames was by asking the guard. He took Vilna to an outdoor area. From afar, they could already hear the sound of energy clashing
When they got closer, Vilna noticed two people fighting in this open area, and three people were watching from the side.
She looked at the fight, and her eyes were immediately caught by the two sides of the battle.
Ames was personally training Hila, flipping the light green force field barrier with her fingertips, spinning in midair. Her black dress was blossoming like a lotus, showing her long, snow-like legs from time to time.
Hila’s face was cold. Her body was surrounded by thick dark red streams, and she kept attacking Ames’ force field, making loud bangs.
Ames maintained the strength of her force field at the Grade B level. Still, she controlled it extremely accurately and completely overpowered Hila.
“Stop for a moment. Someone’s here.”
Ames suddenly stopped her Esper ability and slowly landed on the ground.
Hila glanced at Aesop and Vilna, slightly frowning, unhappy with how her spar had been interrupted. She deactivated her Esper ability as well, and the dark red energy surrounding her entered her body. Then, she followed behind Ames like Aurora, who had been watching from the side, sizing up Vilna.
“Your Excellency Dragon Emperor, I’m…” Vilna hastily wanted to introduce herself.
Ames raised her hand and said, “I know your name. Since you’re Aesop’s friend, stay around and see if there’s anything you can do. I don’t have any requirements here.”
“0—Okay.”
“You seem to be a little nervous.” Ames slightly raised her eyebrow.
“Er… you’re the first Beyond Grade A I’ve ever seen. I’m your idol… um, I mean, you’re my admirer…” Vilna blushed and could not even speak properly.
“Don’t be nervous. Beyond Grade A isn’t a big deal. I don’t bite.” Ames smiled faintly and spoke with a gentle tone. She raised her hand and touched Vilna’s cheek.
Feeling the touch of Ames’ palm on her face, Vilna’s body stiffened, and she did not know where to put her hands.
Aurora, who was at the side, pulled the hem of Hila’s shirt and softly asked, “Sis, is this woman Floating Dragon’s new officer?
“Yeah.”
As usual, Hila spoke with very few words.
Aesop coughed and said, “We shall take our leave and not disturb you guys. I’ll take her to get familiar with the job.”
As he was speaking, he took Vilna away, who was still stunned, disappearing before the other three.
Ames’ smile slowly faded. She looked in the direction that Vilna had left from and kept silent with complicated emotions in her eyes.
“I heard this new officer is someone Aesop called over from another Star Field. I wonder what she’s doing here.” Aurora was curious.
Hila pushed her red hair aside and said emotionlessly, “Aesop is training a new officer so that she can replace Han Xiao’s position in the future.”
“Han Xiao won’t leave, right? Big Sis Ames is so good to him,” Aurora said.
“Humph, there have been a lot of rumors in the past few years. Many people created rumors so that Han Xiao and Floating Dragon would be separated.
“Plus, don’t I know him? If he really becomes a Beyond Grade A, he will definitely further strengthen the organization under his command. Because of that, he won’t be able to continue using Floating Dragon’s name, so he will definitely create one for himself.”
Ames turned around and glanced at the two of them. “It’s nothing worth chatting about. At least for now, he’s still mine. Hila, continue to attack.”
Three years had passed, and Ames was no longer troubled anymore. She was waiting for Han Xiao’s choice.
The three of them stopped chatting and continued the combat training.
On the other side, Aesop took Vilna out of the palace.
This time, Vilna finally said with surprise, “The Dragon Emperor is so friendly. The rumors are not true at all.”
Aesop shook his head with resignation.
Over the past three years, many people had been manipulating public opinion to vilify the Dragon Emperor, wanting to make Ames seem like someone who was very controlling and intimidating. Their goal was to split Black Star and the Dragon Emperor apart.
Throughout the last three years, Black Star’s reputation had become more and more firm. The Black Star Army had also digested its rapidly expanding size and slowly stabilized. Its business range had already extended to most Star Systems in the Colton Star Cluster, becoming an enormous Star Cluster level organization.
Furthermore, the Black Star Army had officially become the Purple Crystal Civilization’s long-term partner a year ago, receiving tons of support.
Nominally, the Black Star Army was expanding for Floating Dragon. However, Ames was completely uninvolved, clearly intending to just let things flow on their own. If a conflict could be created between the two of them, Black Star would definitely leave with the Black Star Army. If Black Star and Dragon Emperor became enemies because of that, it would be the best case.
The other Star Cluster civilizations and the various large organizations did not want to see two Beyond Grade As forming a union or alliance. It would only be balanced and aligned with the benefits of these organizations if the two of them were enemies and limited each other in various respects. Therefore, they did everything they could to spread rumors, believing that they would one day influence the mindset of the two of them.
Aesop trusted Han Xiao’s potential fully, so he felt that Han Xiao would certainly leave Floating Dragon in the future. Hence, he decided to plan ahead.
As such, Aesop had found Vilna, a friend whom he had met in another Star Field. Despite having a rather soft and gentle personality, she was very reliable. He asked Vilna to come to the Shattered Star Ring and join under Dragon Emperor so that he could nurture Vilna to become Black Star’s successor.
“You don’t have to work on Floating Dragon Island. You’re responsible for building a new Field Team. Quickly pack your things and let’s get going,” Aesop said.
Vilna nodded and curiously asked, “How do I start exactly?”
“You have to look for someone and express your intentions to him. He will provide help. Just follow his arrangements.”
“Who do I have to look for?”
“Black Star.”
Vilna’s eyes opened wide. After coming to the Shattered Star Ring, she had immediately heard about the famous Black Star. Plus, he was her senior and currently th
e top officer of Floating Dragon.
“But I heard that our connection with Black Star only exists in name now. Are you sure he will help me?” Vilna was worried that Aesop was sending her into a wolf den.
“Stop talking about that, just a false rumor. Black Star is a core member of Floating Dragon. He will only help you, not hurt you,” Aesop said with a heavy tone.
He deliberately sent Vilna to Black Star to let Han Xiao personally groom his successor. This was a signal of friendliness, expressing that they hoped things would end on peaceful terms.
He wanted Vilna to build a new Field Team to show that they had no desire for the Black Star Army. This way, he believed that Black Star would be willing to guide Vilna, use his Black Star Army to help Vilna develop, and give Floating Dragon a new Field Team.
Of course, if Black Star did not actually plan to leave, it would be even better. This would then just be expanding the size of Floating Dragon’s Field Team.
“Understood.”
Vilna nodded and could not help but be curious about Han Xiao. She wondered what kind of person this extremely famous senior of hers was.
At the same time, in the desolate region between the Seoul Star Cluster and the Colton Star Cluster, an intense war was underway.
The Klent Kingdom had built many logistics channels in the desolate region. Those were key facilities that Purple Crystal was always eager to destroy.
In the past three years, the situation of the secret war had been changing constantly. Finally, the battles in the West Wind, Kaya, and Chaida Star Systems had entered a stalemate. The Bloodshed Land had expanded to a certain extent and was finally stopped.
Han Xiao could demolish the majority of Calamity Grades. After suffering the huge loss of many more high-level combatants, the Bloodshed Land had learned their lesson and occasionally avoided direct contact.
The core members of the Bloodshed Land knew about the Tyrant’s stance, so they took Black Star as a dangerous challenge to train themselves, treating him with extreme caution and not recklessly fighting him head-on. This led to fewer and fewer situations where Han Xiao was needed.
Letting him stay in Colton was a waste of talent. Thus, Purple Crystal had him lead a surprise attack team and move within the desolate region, searching for the Bloodshed Land’s logistics transit stations and destroying them.
This operation had been going on for half a year. Han Xiao had been doing a great job, causing the Bloodshed Land’s advantages to keep getting reduced, almost destroying all the transit stations.
At this time, he was leading his fleet to attack the last logistics transit station…
Chapter 692 - Any Day That No One Attempts to Assassinate Me, I Feel Uncomfortable
Sylvia was wearing a light mechanical combat jacket and kept her shield constantly active. The suit’s protection measure for her head was a semi-circular metal ring wrapped around the back of her head, fixed on her ears. Her face was protected by a semi-transparent arc-shaped shield, and in her hand was a silver alloy sword.
She was gasping for air like a wind box and felt that her lungs were about to start burning. The sweat all over her body made the mechanical combat jacket feel sticky and wet.
Roar!
A Thousand Beast Soldier suddenly dashed out from the side. Its huge mechanical metal claw slashed right down, vibrating at a high frequency.
Sylvia forced some energy out of her body, clenched her teeth, and raised her soft arm. The thin and tough silver alloy sword in her hands clashed with the claws, creating blinding sparkles.
Clank!
The swift yet strong mechanical combat jacket suddenly increased its power, and Sylvia suddenly became faster. She quickly changed her stance, spun her sword, and stabbed at the Thousand Beast Soldier from a tricky angle. Mechanical Force lightning appeared on the alloy sword for an instant, and a tint of yellow light circulated on the blade as it stabbed into the body of this Thousand Beast Soldier in an instant.
Bang!
A huge, yellow beam of light penetrated the Thousand Beast Soldier’s body and shot out from its back, leaving a large bloody hole. The Thousand Beast Soldier was blasted away, fell onto the ground, and died. Around it were tons of Thousand Beast Soldier corpses and shattered artilleries.
This was the surface battlefield on one of the armed satellite fortresses of the Bloodshed Land’s logistics transit station. A boarding team was difficultly moving toward the core energy furnace of this armed satellite fortress. Thousand Beast Soldiers came from all directions like waves, and the two sides fought intensely, leaving a path of corpses behind everywhere they went.
Sylvia had countless comrades around her. She was in the boarding team as well, responsible for one side of the team.
With the sword in her hands, she had been fighting for a long time. She could not even recall if she had killed a hundred or two hundred Thousand Beast Soldiers. Her combat jacket was damaged, and she was slightly injured. She was covered in sweat and exhausted.
Being on the battlefield, Sylvia could not hear any sound other than the explosions and roars. All she knew was that she had to follow the big team and keep marching forward, forward, and forward.
She looked up at the sky. Outside the armed satellite fortress was a magnificent galactic battle scene. Countless bright ‘shooting stars’ flew across the sky, braiding a net made of light. Those were the lights from countless ion cannons, illuminating the darkness and burning in silence.
Sylvia’s vision was suddenly filled with a strong light. An ion cannon shot landed on the surface not far away, hitting the dense Thousand Beast Soldier army, blasting away a large number of people.
Boom!
The fleet could occasionally penetrate the protective shield of the satellite and provide supporting attacks, clearing the obstacles in the boarding team’s path toward the energy furnace.
“That almost hit us.” Fear lingered in Sylvia’s heart. Before she could even catch her breath, several more light beams headed in her direction. She had no choice but to expand the shield on her arms and quickly block them.
Bang bang bang!
The beams shattered upon hitting the shield. Her arms withstood the impact. She felt a piercing pain in her arms and shoulders and could barely even move them. Sylvia clenched her teeth and endured the pain. There was only one thought on her mind.
I want to go back to studying!
At least my life wouldn’t be in danger!
Three years ago, Sylvia had been able to reach Grade B. She had delightfully gone to tell Han Xiao the good news, and Han Xiao had been very glad. He had immediately thrown her into the advance team for real combat training.
At first, Sylvia had been rather happy, but now, she was full of regret.
That was especially so when the direct boss of the team was Lagi. Before every battle, Lagi would follow procedure and boost his subordinates’ morale… and every time, it made her feel like she was definitely going to die.
At this time, a dark outline of a person suddenly flew in her direction from afar, landing heavily on the ground not far away. The huge impact created a dent on the metal ground like it was made of paper.
This person seemed to be rather hurt from the fall, only standing up and levitating after quite some time. He then turned to look at the boarding team which Sylvia was in.
Clearing seeing the look of this person, Sylvia felt her heart was half frozen. This person was the enemy Calamity Grade stationed at the logistics transit station. He was supposed to be fighting in outer space, but he had landed on the satellite surface, seemingly having been blown there.
The battlefield was constantly changing. The expressions on the people of the boarding team all suddenly changed as they immediately turned toward this new Calamity Grade enemy, preparing to guard against his attack. There were no Calamity Grades among them.
As everyone was getting extremely anxious, another meteor landed from the sky and heavily clashed into this Calamity Grade, pushi
ng him dozens of miles away, creating a ring of sonic impact. The impact blew away the Thousand Beast Soldiers around, and the violent wind tipped Sylvia and the others off their balance.
“It’s His Excellency Marian!”
“How timely! I almost thought we were going to die.”
Sylvia heard the exclamations from behind. She regained balance and looked over. The ‘meteor’ that had blown the Calamity Grade enemy away was levitating. It was the Grade A Mechanical Pugilist that had joined the Black Star Army three years ago, Marian.
Marian was covered in a black Super heavy mechanical suit like a heavy armored knight. He turned and looked at the boarding team. He nodded to signal for the boarding team to continue going forward and not worry about anything else.
Then, he accelerated and disappeared, chasing the enemy Calamity Grade Super and focusing on his own opponent.
“I wonder how’s the battle above going…”
Sylvia looked up at the sky again. Her vision seemed to be able to penetrate the darkness. She knew that her teacher was in the fleet overlooking the entire battle.
Meanwhile, Section Zero’s fleet was attacking the logistics transit station aggressively, destroying the enemy battleships one after another.
Han Xiao was in the command room of the flagship, observing the real time battlefield projection, moving the troops, and overlooking the overall battle. A circle of staff sergeants stood around him.
Compared to three years ago, Han Xiao gave off a sturdier vibe. He had short hair, an angular face, and stubble on his chin. He wore a compressed orb necklace and a black windbreaker that could not cover his built body. The charm of a mature man was emanating from him, head to toe.
His current position was the top commander of this fleet.
This was a standard mixed team. Forty-five percent of the fleet belonged to Han Xiao, the largest force present. The rest were from a few other Section Zero members, all under Han Xiao’s command.
Over the last three years, the Black Star Army had become the top member among Section Zero. A year ago, Purple Crystal had finally made the Black Star Army their long-term partner. The Black Star Army had then been the officially acknowledged leading organization of Section Zero. Therefore, Han Xiao had become the commander.
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