Chapter 382: With Stats and Mechanics Both in Hand, How Could It Be Played Without a Nerf?

Deathly silence spread among the stars.

At this moment, everyone stared with varied expressions at the dim-yellow satellite, more than half of which had shattered.

Unlike the small fry still quietly waiting for the result, the high-rank Professionals already knew who the final victor was.

"Imperial dogs, looks like we're still a step ahead of you."

"Heh, does the little dragon whelp down there have a single cent to do with your Federation? And you Federation trash don't actually think the fight ended this easily, do you?"

"?"

Unlike the Federation-Empire duo currently bickering, Seth was looking at the scene before him with some astonishment: "He won? Bolabol, you discovered this little one's ability earlier?"

To be honest, after recognizing 【Imperial Choice · Piercing Star】, he had once thought the Liang Society would fall into a disadvantage.

The result was that the little dragon whelp pulled out something black and hard in return, and then the battle developed in a way he hadn't anticipated.

Seth hadn't expected this Juvenile-stage fellow clansman to actually possess such a weapon.

If he had to evaluate this weapon, it would be: disgusting, and very easy to one-shot on first encounter.

Its only flaw was that its killing power was somewhat insufficient; as strength increased, the threat this weapon could pose would undoubtedly grow smaller and smaller.

Unless Li Ang could perform a secondary enhancement on it.

Of course, this unknown weapon was still plenty strong at the Fourth Energy Level.

Facing Seth's question, the pale-purple mist swayed slightly: "Bulu."

Hearing this, Seth immediately furrowed his brow and looked at the still utterly quiet scene before him: "You're saying the Empire still has a trump card they haven't played?"

"Bu."

Bolabol uttered a single syllable in affirmation, then fell silent.

After receiving the answer, Seth's pair of golden vertical pupils stared fixedly at the scene, his expression gradually growing solemn.

At this moment, at the edge of the battlefield.

The star bandits under Otavio watched the motionless satellite in the distance and subconsciously swallowed.

They also didn't know who had actually won in the current situation, because the starship's radar had completely lost function.

After much hesitation, they still decided to move closer to check on the situation.

But before they could get close, a human figure wreathed in dense white mist flew out from the satellite ruins.

Li Ang lowered his head to look at his body, which was continuously being repaired by Reverse Birth: Three Layers, and couldn't help but sigh: "So strong."

Even though he had used every defensive measure available to him, he still hadn't fully blocked Otavio's desperate strike.

Fortunately, Li Ang's stats were high enough, and with the boost from certain specialties, 【Piercing Star】 had ultimately only given him light injuries.

Though by his standards, anything short of a fatal wound counted as a light injury.

This was the worth of Reverse Birth: Three Layers!

"Too bad I can't feed the tree."

Looking at the information popping up on his panel, Li Ang let out an almost imperceptible sigh.

【High-intensity combat using Blood Inheritance, Professional EXP +32564】.

【High-intensity combat using Word Spirit, Professional EXP +18927】.

【Current Level: Mao's Blood Heir lv11 (2653/21000), Bronze and Fire King lv3 (24786/110000)】.

The Professional panel had tallied up, proving the battle was over.

Li Ang could indeed use his Rinnegan to capture Otavio quietly drifting in space—this 【Star-Riding Knight】 looked thoroughly, unmistakably dead.

Obviously, the Divine Tree couldn't extract energy from a corpse.

'Well, no helping it. Either way, at least there's some consolation prize.'

There were still a few Fourth Energy Level Professionals under Otavio; although they couldn't compare to him, they could still speed up the Divine Tree's progress somewhat.

And besides that, 【Imperial Choice · Piercing Star】 had also been preserved intact, currently lying quietly in Otavio's hand.

Li Ang had been eyeing this weapon covetously for a long time—it would be perfect for strengthening 【Great God Declaration】.

Although 【Sure Hit】 + 【Pierce】 couldn't compare to powerful combinations like 【Sure Hit】 + 【Instant Death】, it could still greatly boost Gungnir's killing power.

If Gungnir had possessed both concepts in that battle just now, it wouldn't have been so easy for Otavio to respond.

Thinking of this, Li Ang looked at the corpse that had already drifted before him under the Rinnegan's control, and couldn't help muttering: 'Come to think of it, this thing shouldn't have any usage restrictions, right?'

He couldn't quite judge for the moment; he'd have to research it to know the specifics.

Just as Li Ang reached out to put away 【Imperial Choice · Piercing Star】, he suddenly noticed Otavio's finger twitch slightly.

!!

Not dead?!

Without the slightest hesitation, Li Ang immediately flashed backward.

But it was still too late.

The gray-haired man in tattered armor suddenly opened his eyes, and wild laughter burst uncontrollably from his mouth: "You think when I was in the Empire, why was I called the 【Undefeated Knight】!?"

Faster than his voice was the long spear in his hand, flowing with dark-gold light.

In that split second, 【Imperial Choice · Piercing Star】 arrived at Li Ang's chest in the blink of an eye, carrying tremendous force.

Unlike the previous crude way of exerting force, this tremendous force was held in reserve, concentrating all power on a single point.

This was the strongest attack Otavio could unleash without any preparation.

"Die!"

In his roar, the gray-haired man seemed to see the image of his opponent being pierced through by the spear.

In all fairness, even looking across his entire career, the dragon across from him was troublesome enough to rank in the top three.

If not for his innate talent boost, he really might have lost this time.

Fortunately, just like the opponents he'd faced before, this enemy had also subconsciously lowered his guard upon seeing him motionless.

【Man-Cloth Unity】, the holder of this talent receives a set of clothing at birth that strengthens as their power grows; the specific style of the clothing can be decided by the talent holder themselves, and after wearing this set of clothing, the talent holder's strength will receive an extremely large boost.

More critically, this talent possesses an active ability: the holder can enter a Burst-Clothes state, briefly entrusting their life to the clothing. However, after activating this ability, the clothing will enter a one natural day state of destruction.

Just as Ottavio thought he had victory in his grasp, a flash of astonishment crossed his eyes.

【Emperor's Choice · Piercing Star】 had been blocked.

At this moment, Li Ang's left hand gripped the dark-gold spear tightly, a faintly mocking smile on his face: "Didn't expect that, did you? My stats and mechanics are above yours!"

【Body Strength: 4419.4】 + 【Reverse Innate】 + 【Dragon's Body】 + 【Sage Mode · Dragon】 + 【Reverse Birth: Three Layers】 + 【Primordial Lu En Runes】 + 【Body Enhancement-Type Word Spirit】.

Even though Li Ang had no time to deploy any active defensive measures in his haste, these feats and status-type skills still brought his defense to an absurdly exaggerated level.

Among these abilities, the most exaggerated were the two damage-reduction feats 【Reverse Innate】 and 【Dragon's Body】.

Under Li Ang's current attributes of 【Spirit: 5369.8, Energy: 18815.5】, these two feats brought him enormous damage reduction.

Moreover, as his attributes continue to rise in the future, this damage reduction will only continue to increase.

If he were to obtain some other damage-reduction feats, Li Ang even felt he might be able to achieve one hundred percent damage reduction.

More critically, the above attributes do not include the Six Paths Mode bonus; with the Six Paths Mode bonus, these attributes would only be even more exaggerated.

Especially the Energy attribute.

Under the dual blessing of stats and mechanics, Ottavio's sneak attack simply failed to achieve its intended effect.

【Emperor's Choice · Piercing Star】 had barely sunk a little into Li Ang's chest before it could advance no further; even the 【Piercing】 concept it carried only managed to wound his heart.

Hearts — Li Ang had as many as he wanted!

Although his mind was awash with thoughts, his hands did not pause in the slightest; a golden Samsara Burst shot forth.

At such close range, Ottavio, caught off guard, instantly had a huge hole blown open in his chest and abdomen.

Gravely wounded, the gray-haired man could not help but cough up a great deal of fresh blood: "Cough-wah!"

But even though he had already reached the end of his rope, this 【Star-Pillaging Knight】 still had not given up.

He used every ounce of strength in his body, trying to wrench 【Emperor's Choice · Piercing Star】 free from Li Ang's grip.

However, after losing his talent's blessing, Ottavio was completely unable to prevail in the contest of strength.

Now, it seemed there was only one option left to him: abandon the spear and flee.

The gray-haired man's face flushed crimson, and an uncontrollable roar burst from his throat: "What kind of—"

"—joke!"

As mentioned earlier, Ottavio possessed the pride of a strong one; this could be seen from how he had previously been willing to wait for Li Ang to reveal his true form.

As for the sneak attack—

—it was merely a normal tactic in battle.

At this moment, the knight did not choose to abandon his spear and flee; instead, he actively closed the distance with Li Ang.

If the spear wouldn't work, then fists would!

Watching the sky-filling barrage of fists, Li Ang responded: "Your fists are soft and weak!"

But since Ottavio had made such a choice, he would return the respect in kind.

Li Ang's left hand gripped the dark-gold spear tightly, while his right hand continuously hurled terrifying chakra fists forward.

Eighty Gods Vacuum Strike! Fist against fist!

In an instant, fist met fist, and terrifying shockwaves repeatedly ravaged the already battered, dim-yellow satellite.

Finally, the Fesastar satellite, gravely wounded by that earlier 【Piercing Star】, could hold out no longer and shattered into enormous fragments.

It was at this moment that Li Ang and Ottavio exchanged their final punch.

——!!

A soundless shockwave swept the surrounding satellite fragments aside, and then a figure was sent hurtling at tremendous speed into them.

Bang-bang-bang—!

After smashing through who knows how many satellite fragments in succession, the figure gradually steadied itself.

It was Ottavio.

He stared at his empty right hand, his expression incomparably complex: ". I lost?"