Chapter 116: Flesh Against Armor

Pachis pushed back the massive Mechanical Door. A continuous stream of armored Zombies surged forward, their limbs twisted and their movements bizarre.

Although wearing the Dark Star armor raised the difficulty of dealing with these Zombies by a whole tier, it also meant there was no need to worry about accidentally getting scratched during the fight.

Pachis held the Mechanical Door with one hand and rapidly operated his Smart Terminal with the other.

"Internal purge protocol activated... Shoot-to-kill mode confirmed!"

Clack-clack-clack—along the Ship's Metal Corridor, cracks opened up on the smooth surfaces.

Along the walls and corners, Turrets unfolded with a crash. Their large-caliber barrels exuded a fierce aura; most of them were Electromagnetic Kinetic Cannon Turrets.

In some areas, there were Laser Cannon Turrets, which possessed greater piercing power. This was the Main Ship's internal purge protocol, designed to activate only when under attack.

It could rely on the Dark Star armor to distinguish friend from foe, but Pachis had just removed that restriction. As long as it moved, nothing would be spared!

The Turrets unleashed their roars. The large-caliber blasts were deep and resonant, the sound carrying the vibrating metallic hum of the barrels.

In the Prison Block, Turrets also emerged from the ceiling, but Kalash, Pachis, and Gore eliminated them at the first opportunity.

After all, those things currently did not distinguish between friend and foe; they shot at anyone.

"Kalash... born on Morich Star. Your entire family was killed when you were a teenager, and you were taken away by the Rampant Tiger Marauder Group. You had a miserable upbringing and eventually became a member of Rampant Tiger..."

Li Yu twisted the cannon barrel he had torn from a Turret into a knot, tossed it aside, and continued:

"It was not until Dark Star annihilated Rampant Tiger that you were absorbed into Dark Star. After the former Scarlet Commander, Glazed Star, stepped down, you were immediately appointed to take her place."

"I am very curious as to why you are so loyal to Dark Star. You should know that there is no difference between Dark Star and Rampant Tiger."

"Is it because... you always craved this Marauder lifestyle? Wallowing in it... In the dead of night, do you ever think about your family who was murdered by Marauders?"

Li Yu spoke in a calm tone, but his words pierced deep into Kalash's heart. This was the intelligence he had obtained from Glazed Star.

Kalash subconsciously clenched his fists, then relaxed them. Completely uninterested in verbal sparring, he said coldly, "I only have one thought in mind, and that is to take you down!"

He unclipped a red Metal Grip from his waist and gave it a gentle wipe. A Crimson Blade extended out. On the forearm of his other arm, the armor split open.

Several faint red dots of light appeared, and red lasers linked together, forming a Half-Body Laser Shield.

Gore looked at the situation with some apprehension. His Strength was too low to help Li Yu; he could only watch helplessly.

If Li Yu failed, them not being able to escape would be a minor issue. Gore's biggest fear was that Dark Star would discover Glazed Star's betrayal.

Thruster ports extended from the outer armor of Kalash's calves. He moved at incredible speed, arriving in front of Li Yu in an instant. Bullet Time activated, although Bullet Time was gradually struggling to keep up with Li Yu's pace.

But it still provided some help. The crimson Light Blade emitted a searing heat as it slashed right toward Li Yu's head.

This was a wide, sweeping, crushing fighting style. Only someone who believed their opponent was completely outmatched would use such an inflexible attack method.

Kalash was not lacking in decisiveness. He had spared Li Yu's life earlier because of Dark Star's instructions, but the current situation no longer allowed him to hold back.

Purplish-red Electric Arcs flashed across Li Yu's body as he instantly dodged to the side. The surface of the Crimson Blade, blurrily reflecting his face, descended right before his eyes.

Just as Kalash was about to turn his straight chop into a diagonal slash, Li Yu raised his left hand. Purplish-red Scale Armor wrapped entirely around his palm, and he backhanded Kalash squarely on his abdominal Combat Armor.

A sharp metallic clang mixed with sparks and Electric Arcs. Kalash stumbled back several steps, looking somewhat incredulous.

"Electricity... Fire... two elemental-class Gene Chains..." As a C-Tier Lifeform of the Interstellar Humans, this meant his opponent had already fused three Gene Chains.

Since E-rank Gene Chains could not possibly contain Elemental Power, both of the opponent's D and C Gene Chains had to be powerful ones harboring Elemental Power.

The gap in Gene Chains would clearly reflect in combat strength.

"Stop!" A bizarre syllable escaped Li Yu's mouth, but Kalash was completely unaffected.

"What are you saying... is it that weird Superpower?" Kalash sneered. Dark Star's records had long indicated that Li Yu possessed a Superpower that allowed him to manipulate enemies through speech.

Therefore, he had disabled external audio transmission from the very beginning, relying on the armor's built-in AI to translate and relay everything to him instead.

The armor's AI couldn't translate the words Li Yu had just spoken, which led him to this guess.

"You came prepared, huh..." Li Yu was slightly surprised, but it was also within his expectations. Much of his past data was hardly a secret.

"Die!"

His eyes turning frosty, Kalash charged forward again. He was much more cautious this time; raising his left arm, he used the Light Shield for support and the Crimson Blade for the primary assault.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Boom! Boom!

Blade after blade swung down, accompanied by a continuous series of explosions. Purplish-red Scale Armor covered Li Yu's arms, and every single scale acted like a miniature contact Bomb.

Upon touching Kalash, they erupted with blinding flames and Electric Arcs. The Light Shield dimmed, even chipping away in places.

The Crimson Blade moved like a phantom, every strike aimed at Li Yu's vitals. The blade also began vibrating at a high frequency, indicating a specialized combat mode.

Li Yu's Scale Armor shattered directly whenever it touched the blade, making it difficult to defend... But his Self-Healing Ability was astonishing, and he would recover in no time.

Kalash's expression grew increasingly solemn. The Dark Star Commander Armor was a C+ Class Combat Armor, yet he was still struggling to take down this opponent.

According to Dark Star's intelligence files, the guy had only been a D-Class Lifeform last time!

"Not a bad attack... I hear you're a Cyborg Lifeform. How about you strip off that Armor and we have a fight between real men?" Li Yu still had the leisure to joke.

"Heh... are you just waiting to die?" Kalash wasn't worried. "Once the soldiers inside the Ship have been mostly purged, the Dark Star soldiers outside will flood in. You won't be able to escape!"

"Then let's wait and see..." Li Yu's tone shifted as a terrifying heat steamed off his entire body. "Watch how exactly I make my escape!"

"Magma... a top-tier Gene Chain!?" Kalash never expected that this perpetually wanted guy actually had the capability to fuse a Gene Chain of this caliber!

Boom!

Li Yu melted a massive hole into the metal floor. He lunged in front of Kalash and smashed down with two glowing red fists.

Kalash raised his Light Shield, but the already heavily dimmed shield was completely shattered.

Reacting with incredible speed, Kalash swung his Crimson Blade like a rainbow straight for Li Yu's head. Li Yu's pupils shrank as he tilted his head slightly, ruthlessly driving his other fist into the opponent's chest.

The terrifying force transmitted through the chest caused the Crimson Blade's trajectory to skew significantly. An explosion intertwining lightning and Fire erupted at Li Yu's shoulder, and streaks of blood sizzled as they evaporated against the Crimson Blade.

At such close range, the high-frequency vibrating Light Blade sliced through the Scale Armor's defense and carved into his muscle, stopping only when it hit the bone. Li Yu's eyes turned icy, and he immediately grabbed the Crimson Blade embedded in his body with both hands.

Purple Electric Arcs and crimson Magma spread across the Crimson Blade. Beneath his helmet, Kalash's face revealed an incredulous expression. The Crimson Blade began to destabilize, sputtering with sparks.

He tried to pull it back, but Li Yu locked the Crimson Blade tightly in place. Scorching exhaust flames jetted from the soles of his feet, yet even then... the Light Blade remained firmly clamped in Li Yu's grip.

Seeing that the Electric Arcs and Magma were about to travel up the blade and onto his Armor, Kalash was forced to let go of the hilt.

He punched his arm toward Li Yu's head, the Thrusters on his back running at maximum capacity to grant him astonishing speed. Li Yu didn't hesitate either.

He gripped the Crimson Blade, yanked it out of his shoulder, and without even having time to turn the blade around, he swung it outward like a club.

The hilt slammed into Kalash's helmet, sending him toppling to the side. With his hands dripping blood, Li Yu finally flipped the weapon around and gripped the hilt properly.

"Abnormal response... Abnormal response..." A harsh electronic voice blared from the hilt, and then the entire Light Blade dimmed and shut off.

"Fuck..." Li Yu couldn't help but curse inwardly. It had an identification lock.

He thought for a moment, then tucked the Metal Grip away. He stared at Kalash, who was struggling to stand up in the distance, displaying obvious signs of damage on his chest armor.

Within the same class level... Armor sat at the very bottom of combat power, because metallic objects were difficult to repair automatically unless they utilized nanotechnology.

'Is he that fierce?' Gore was incredibly shocked. Once upon a time, the two of them had fought in the same arena... Uh... and Li Yu had forfeited...

He hadn't expected the other party's combat power to have grown so terrifying.

"Useless trash!" Pachis cursed angrily. The Mechanical Door was suffering wave after wave of bombardment, the roaring from outside ringing in his ears.

However, the frequency of the impacts was slowly decreasing. Obviously, the armored Zombies had mostly been cleared out.

Pachis never expected that Kalash wouldn't even be able to take Li Yu down.

"Why don't you try it yourself..." Kalash shot back furiously. It was easy to talk when you were standing. He looked at the wound on Li Yu's shoulder—which had almost stopped bleeding and was already scabbing over—and felt a wave of alarm.

What a terrifying Self-Healing Ability. It shouldn't be an Amplification from a Gene Chain; he must have undergone some other form of enhancement. No wonder his Strength was so formidable.

'What is this guy's background!?' He was already beginning to doubt Dark Star's intelligence files. Could a mere Scavenger really possess this kind of power and resources?

"Forget about those mutated soldiers, get over here and help me take him down!" Kalash's voice dropped low as he simultaneously issued a command: "All soldiers outside, enter the Main Ship immediately. If you see any companions acting strangely, shoot to kill!"

However, what sent a chill down his spine was the agonizing lack of a response.

"What kind of trick did you pull this time!?" He jerked his head up and glared at Li Yu... Even from inside his mecha suit, protected by temperature-regulating devices, he still felt chilled to the bone.

'There's no way the mighty Dark Star could fall at the hands of this one person, right!? Absolutely impossible!'

Pachis abandoned the Mechanical Door. The armored Zombies piled up by the entrance instantly flooded in, unleashing hollow roars as they lunged forward to kill.

The numbers weren't massive, only a few dozen. Many more were intercepted in other areas.

Li Yu had Gore hide inside a Prison Cell while he stayed by the cell to block the oncoming armored Zombies.

Kalash, who was busy dealing with the swarming armored Zombies, suddenly noticed something.

Not far away, Li Yu stood motionless at the door of the Prison Cell. The Zombies swarmed all around him, trying to squeeze into the cell, yet they were utterly helpless against him.

They completely ignored Li Yu standing right in front of them, turning a blind eye to his presence.

"He has a way to make these things ignore him!" Kalash hissed, gnashing his teeth. He blasted away the zombified soldiers around him over and over, yet they kept lunging back.

It wasn't until he accidentally crushed one of the soldier's skulls that the corpse twitched on the ground and finally stopped moving.

"Aim for the head!" he reminded Pachis.

Pachis was feeling incredibly irritated. He was considering the consequences of this disaster; the Main Ship had practically fallen, and they had no idea what was happening outside.

Wouldn't Dark Star be furious enough to die when he returned? Dark Star already disliked him because of his ties to the Star Glory Empire. Now that Dark Star had become an A-Tier Lifeform, he would have no more scruples and would undoubtedly use him as a sacrificial pawn.

'I can't stay here with Dark Star anymore. I have to go back... But if I return just like this, the Empire will probably hold me accountable...' Pachis's expression was moody.

And Li Yu in front of him was a perfectly good Excuse... But...

Kalash and Pachis did not know that the entire perimeter of the Dark Star Main Ship had already been engulfed by a grayish-black sandstorm. A massive number of Dark Star soldiers were trapped inside, scurrying about like headless flies.

Streaks of blue lightning flashed intermittently, accompanied by miserable wails.

Blue eyes, peculiar Scimitars... The Azure Remnants had arrived.

"Leader... why are we suddenly attacking Dark Star?" Someone was still a bit confused, unsure of the reason. His face was covered by a Gas Mask.

They had come as soon as they received the order, but they didn't know why.

"No Man's Land has been blockaded. We must find a way to leave, or else we will all die here. Someone found the Elder and made a deal..."

The Leader explained briefly, his face also obscured by a Gas Mask. He wiped the residual blood off his blade and, like a phantom, resumed his slaughter.

In the core region of No Man's Land, Bauhaus gazed down at the streets below from the massive floor-to-ceiling window of his Office.

Just then, his Smart Terminal rang urgently.

"Boss... Dark Star is really under attack. It seems to be the same group that assaulted the Green Knight."

Bauhaus's breathing abruptly grew heavy. His expression turned moody as he paced back and forth.

Ding-dong!

The Smart Terminal vibrated again. This time it was an anonymous message: "Dark Star has been summoned away by the Star Glory Empire. Here are the Stargate coordinates: --*. The choice is in your hands!"

"P.S. Have your people wear Gas Masks."

Even though it was anonymous, Bauhaus was completely certain of the sender's identity.

This message was like the final straw that broke the camel's back. Gritting his teeth, Bauhaus opened his Smart Terminal and located the communication links for the leaders of several large Marauder Groups in No Man's Land...

The words Li Yu had previously told him echoed in his mind: the losses after the Stargate's construction... the annihilation of their trade network.

On one side was a powerful Slave Tycoon, on the other was a pathetic, retired old man. He would not choose the latter; that was not his destiny!

'My fate is mine to decide, not the heavens!'

Dark Star was also tied down. This was the best opportunity, and he could no longer hold back.

Li Yu's message came at the perfect time, giving him absolutely no time to ponder the deeper pros and cons.