The Almighty Ring

Defending against a coordinated attack comprised of a squadron of Level 5 Metahumans was a feat few could accomplished. Nevertheless, that feat would not be today. Not when Isabella was going in with her Domain ability fully activated right from the start. There was no need for her to watch for her energy count as the Core of Life was there for her.

Her scale armor allowed her to fully ignore all enemy attacks. Be it hyper-compressed high energy particle or Antimatter beams, all of these projectiles would just bounce off Isabella’s armor. Perhaps a concentrated fire by the Antimatter cannons could hinder Isabella’s movement but that had been rendered impossible after 0543 did something with their targeting system.

“I say, our friend Jiang Fei might have been a worrywart for nothing! What are we supposed to be scared of with this technology? Nothing beats a solid punch to the face!” Lee Shi laughed it off when he saw how Isabella was taking hits after hits of cannons without sustaining even a scratch.

Just then, when Lee Shi came too close to Isabella, he took a hit from the concentrated bombardment. The attack was not strong but as Lee Shi saw and determined how weak the attacks were after observing Isabella, he was caught off guard. The attack did not cause any damage to him but it did manage to send him rolling on the ground.

“What the hell is that?!” Lee Shi roared after he got back to his feet and embarrassingly dusted himself off.

“Hahaha! Little fat shorty! Look where you’re walking or you’ll be tripping over a banana peel!” Bai Shien laughed.

Enraged by Bai Shien’s friendly jab and the fact that he, a Level 5 grand master got sent flying by a random cannon, Lee Shi kicked the ground hard, leaving deep chasm as he did, and zoomed across the battlefield. With a well-aimed shot, Lee Shi knocked over several Unknowns before he punched the Unknown that was responsible for his humiliating display of weakness.

Just when he thought his fist was about to land on the Unknown, a blue faint barrier materialized, stopping his fist dead in its tracks before it could land on its target. The barrier merely rippled at the punch. It was not strong enough to break it yet.

At this point, Lee Shi was so mad that he failed to understand why his punch would not disintegrate his enemy like how it always did. The shame he felt grew stronger when the punch that was supposed to be a redemption for his shame did not do anything. Unfortunately for him, the enemy had a means to defend against the superhuman punch.

The Unknown reacted quickly. Before Lee Shi could throw a second punch, it quickly retreated. Lee Shi, not wanting to allow his enemy to stay alive, chased after it easily whilst throwing more punches. It was only after eight punches did the shield finally get destroyed. Once the shield was gone, the ninth punch did exactly how Lee Shi had always thought it would; the moment his fist made contact with the Unknown, the sheer amount of force behind the fist caused the Unknown’s head to disintegrated. Even so, Lee Shi was not satisfied. Instead, he was worried.

“Are all of these bastards this strong?” Lee Shi said to himself. When Lee Shi was having trouble killing one enemy, at the fifth and sixth punch, the rest of the grand masters were jesting with each others, thinking that Lee Shi was not focusing his powers properly. Only when the ninth punch came did everyone start being worried. The smiling faces were quickly replaced with a frown. It was then that they knew that Lee Shi was taking things seriously and the enemy was just too strong. The enemy were not the same kind of enemy that they had encountered in their thousand years of journey. It was something else entirely. If they had not attacked with the element of surprise, things might turn ugly quickly.

“Time to show these folks how we do things,” said Bai Shien as he made a look toward Xiahou Shangyuan. Xiaohou Shangyuan saw it and gave a quick nod. The two got together and unsheathed their weapons; the personalized Godblades that Jiang Fei’s “master” had “reforged” for them. When the aura of Valium filled the atmosphere, other grand masters turned to them in awe.

The two had thought that Godblade would have a strengthening effect on the user but they had it all wrong. The prowess of Valium would only work against living beings with flowing blood. Their enemies were Unknowns, living machines that were made up of metal. Their frames were even protected by a powerful layer of barrier. As such, the greatness of Godblade could not be used on them.

Compared to the grand masters, Isabella had things easier. Because of her almost permanently active domain ability, her combat prowess exceeded even the strongest grand master then. Three punches was all she needed to kill an Unknown, compared to Lee Shi, who had needed nine.

“This young girl is something else!” Zhuge Qinlong thought to himself. At first, everyone was wary of Sylphy for being able to hide in a room filled with grand masters. She could very much kill everyone without them knowing with a Godblade.

Isabella, on the other hand, was like an unstoppable force that kept on killing. The enemies were clearly trying their best to stop her but no beams, no cannons could even slow her down. The girl was exhibiting strength that superseded any Level 5 Metehuman’s strength. Assassination was not her forte but if it was, she might truly be the one entity that no one could stop.

At that moment, all grand masters had the same thought. How much of a mystery could Zhuge Shanzhen be? What is Jiang Fei’s background and how is he going to be stronger in the future?

Seconds later, all ten grand masters got together to make a formation. Cooperating with each other was now the key to defeating the enemy fast. They were doing it so well that all of the Unknowns’ forces were now directed toward them. At the same time, 0543 was using this opportunity to hack deeper into the enemy’s system.

“Something’s coming. There is a disturbance in spacetime!” Ariel flashed herself closer to Jiang Fei and informed him.

As soon as the message was delivered, pillars of white light came flashing down from the sky. These were undoubtedly the Unknowns’ reinforcements, the Mutants.

High energy beams were fired, this time concentrated and organized. The Unknowns did not have a large army but they managed to compensate this by arming the Mutants, providing them with a means to attack and defend. The situation had only gotten from bad to worse when 0543 did a quick count and revealed that there were at least 500 Mutants.

“Sheesh… I cannot catch a break with these guys,” Jiang Fei sighed. They were all intermediate ranking Mutants but it did not matter as they were not fighting with their abilities but with weapons provided by the Unknowns. With their new alien tech, attacking was made easier and with hundreds of concentrated fire, not even Isabella dared to charge in without worrying about them!

During this moment of crisis, a thicker, larger beam of light was fired toward Bai Shien. The white light encased Bai Shien and solidified into a light prison.

“What nonsense in this!? Let me out!” Bai Shien roared as he tried everything in his powers to escape. Unfortunately, be it his punches or energy expulsions, everything was absorbed by the walls of the prison. Not even qi or the Water Splitting Er Mei Needle could do anything against the prison.

“Fire the dispersion beam!” Jiang Fei roared. He was prepared for this. He knew the one effective method to stop a Level 5 Metahuman, as well as the method to release them! The girls from the New Saint’s Guards quickly started the machine they brought along and fired a beam of seven colors toward the light prison. As soon as it hit, the light prison cracked open a small opening, allowing Bai Shien to flash himself out of it.

As the battle continued, more and more grand masters were trapped in the light prison. Even though they were quickly released from it, their killing efficiency dropped by a notch.

“How ridiculous!” The bold man, Feng Tianqi roared disgruntledly at the thought of being captured. He, as well as the other grand masters, could not fathom the thought of being overpowered by these inferior beings. If it wasn’t for Jiang Fei’s magical light… thing, they feared they might even be captured as slaves.

“0543, what’s the ETA?!” Jiang Fei pressed. The energy he had in possession was extremely scarce and the machine releasing trapped grand masters was consuming a hell amount of energy to work. If he were to prolong this entire process, he would run out of energy and might send these grand masters off to a bad ending.

“60 seconds until complete shutdown,” 0543 replied.

“Ariel, I think they need your help out there,” said Jiang Fei, sending Ariel out into the battlefield. He had no other choice but to suck it up and fight until the end.