Chapter 651 Sparring

Outside the U-energy Inhibitor Belt, Han Xiao and Viru floated in space, a spaceship watching from a distance.

The spaceship carried Krotia and several other Super-A Grade members, as well as Ames and Izo who had come later, both sides watching the battle on the same ship.

"Long time no see, Izo," one of the Ancient Ones greeted with a fake smile.

"Ravenlaude, still alive, I see," Izo retorted unhappily.

"Since you were kicked out of the Ancient Ones, I haven't heard from you. So you went to the most remote Shattered Star Ring. What, couldn't make it in the other star fields?" Ravenlaude's tone was playful.

"You've lived too long, your brain's starting to forget. As I recall, I voluntarily left the Ancient Ones, didn't I?" Izo glanced at him indifferently.

Izo's relationship with this person was only so-so among the Ancient Ones.

Back when Izo quit the Ancient Ones, apart from not wanting the title to hinder his death-seeking behavior, part of the reason was also the discord with some of the Ancient Ones. As a powerful esper with precognitive abilities, he disliked using his abilities for irrelevant people, and the more he refused, the more it became a source of conflict.

Ames, on the other hand, didn't know anyone, standing alone watching the battle, clearly separated from Krotia's group.

This was an opportunity to observe Black Star's strength. Except for the uninterested Krotia, everyone else perked up, waiting for the two to fight.

Everyone knew Viru's strength. His combat power had been tested countless times and was beyond doubt. So the only question was, how passive would Black Star be forced to become?

It was said that Black Star had the nickname "Undying Body," and his physical toughness seemed to be on par with Herber's. They wondered if he could withstand Viru's heaven-cleaving blade.

Han Xiao activated his mecha, the helmet concealing his face, making his expression unreadable. Then, with his arms outstretched, a Sub-Dimensional gate opened, and a black mass of mechanical legions poured out, instantly covering the battlefield.

"Quite a number, but before me, they're all fodder," Viru sneered inwardly, his muscles bulging, indigo flames surging and burning on his surface.

He made a gesture of grasping in the air with his right palm, and surging flames condensed in his palm, constantly lengthening, turning into a blue energy blade several hundred meters long, as if solidified into a physical object.

Depending on the martial arts style they were proficient in, Martial Arts users also had different branches. The Warblade branch, as the name implied, was good at using weapons. This was different from Mecha-Martialists. Mecha-Martialists relied entirely on weapons to fight, using their mechanical force to enhance the power of mechanical weapons, while Martial Artists merely used weapons to better display their martial arts, the source of their lethality still being their own martial arts aura.

With a swell of his chest, the aura poured into the hundreds of meters of warblade, and Viru slashed out several blue light blades in succession, their length constantly extending, sweeping out swaths of empty space in the mechanical legion's formation. The mechanical soldiers that were struck head-on shattered, while the power of the light blades constantly diminished. The mechanical soldiers behind them were heavily damaged but only sent flying, staggering.

Han Xiao activated many buff skills in succession, controlling the mechanical legion to besiege.

Viru was heavily surrounded by the black mass of mechanical soldiers, his warblade danced into a watery blue ball of light, the radiating light blades constantly tearing through the mechanical soldiers' formation, causing wave after wave of huge damage, as if an energy tornado had appeared in the universe.

"This guy's lethality is indeed amazing. I'm afraid Herber is not as good as him." Combat information streamed out like water, and Han Xiao clicked his tongue inwardly.

Compared to Herber's weighty, mountain-like fist, Viru's combat style was mainly swift and sharp, with considerable AoE damage, and even more terrifying single-target lethality. Just now, a defensive giant soldier several hundred meters tall with its shields fully deployed was still split in two by Viru with a casual slash, the blade's momentum unimpeded.

But Han Xiao hadn't chosen this opponent casually. Viru had strong attack power, but there was one thing he couldn't compare to Herber… and that was that his "meatiness" was far inferior to Herber's! (meatiness refers to his ability to tank damage)

Although this guy was a Martial Artist and also possessed a large number of damage reduction talents, he lacked a very core tanking ability… he had no true damage immunity!

Viru had a talent that reduced True Damage by 50%, which was much weaker than True Damage immunity. Half of the True Damage was still scarily high compared to normal damage!

These two people's styles were respectively a meat shield warrior and a DPS warrior. The former was like bubblegum, only able to rub against each other with their bodies, while the latter was precisely the existence that Han Xiao indirectly countered!

Light blades radiated everywhere, causing considerable damage to the dense formation. The mechanical legion responded, scattering and unleashing a barrage of ranged fire.

A barrage of U-energy cannons focused fire, and Viru's blade light danced into a ball of light, activating some kind of martial art, turning the blade light around his body into a special shield, resisting most of the U-energy cannons. One by one, explosive light clusters were born and disappeared in the midst of the blade light's waving.

However, there were too many mechanical legions. With such dense attacks, Viru's defense was inevitably flawed. U-energy cannons that managed to pass through the blade light shield bombarded his body, causing the aura protecting his body to fluctuate incessantly.

Feeling the annihilation of the cells within his body, Viru's gaze changed.

"Such strong power… a battle of attrition isn't suitable for me. I need to attack his main body."

With that thought, Viru's aura suddenly shook, and the blade light shield condensed around his body spread out, shaking away the surrounding mechanical soldiers like a shockwave.

Immediately afterward, he held the blade in reverse, and his entire body turned into a blue phantom charging toward Han Xiao, dragging out countless afterimages. Charging to the front ranks of the mechanical troops, he switched the warblade from reverse to normal grip, and with a thrust, all the afterimages seemed to merge into this one attack.

Star Shattering Style Martial Art—Blade Shadow·Torrent!

Thousands of light blades erupted at the same time, spreading out in all directions, like a dam breaking and releasing floodwaters, instantly collapsing the front ranks of the mechanical troops in one direction, piercing through several layers of defense, and scattering shattered mechanical parts everywhere.

Seeing this, Han Xiao clenched his palm suddenly, and blue-golden mechanical force shot out from the void dimension, like a lightning net, catching all the parts and sticking them together.

[Scrap Modification]!

[High-Level Mechanical Creation]!

The shattered parts were restored into mechanical soldiers.

However, in this short instant, Viru's figure disappeared, passing through the heavy encirclement as if teleporting, flashing to Han Xiao's face, the warblade formed from martial arts aura in his hand shrinking from hundreds of meters to normal size, its power even more concentrated, and slashing down!

"This isn't the first time I've fought a Mechanic!"

Viru was expressionless. It was no secret that Mechanics possessed the ability of [Scrap Modification]. He was experienced and knew that the Mechanic would definitely use this move, taking advantage of this moment, using a special movement skill to instantly close the distance. He was a swift-style Martial Artist, and his means of closing the distance were more abundant than Herber's.

Swish!

The blade light passed through Han Xiao's body without any obstruction, as if cutting him in two, but Viru didn't feel like he had hit anything solid, causing his expression to suddenly change.

The "Han Xiao" figure that was split in half suddenly disappeared, his real body a dozen meters away, his position shifted.

Just now, Han Xiao used some kind of illusion field generator to mislead the Martial Artist's senses. It was very difficult to deceive a Super-A Grade Martial Artist who could lock onto targets with their aura. This special illusion generator was one of the high-level machines Han Xiao had built, able to be used in Super-A Grade level battles, creating an illusion that perfectly simulated even his own energy fluctuations, but it had a long cooldown time.

Missing his slash, Viru didn't stop moving, hastily switching his hand and slashing again, the blade light extending, even faster and swifter, slashing toward Han Xiao's chest, like a swinging whip.

Star Shattering Style Martial Art—Whiplash Slash!

Originally, this slash was aimed at Han Xiao's chest, but Viru shifted the direction slightly, slashing toward Han Xiao's head.

However, Han Xiao's response stunned him, actually neither dodging nor evading, directly meeting the attack head-on.

The blade light harshly cut open the mecha's outer shell, slashed across Han Xiao's forehead bone, drawing blood.

Viru was shocked, but before he could retract his blade, he saw Han Xiao, not caring about the wound at all, grab his arm and deliver a punch at close range to his chest, genuinely striking with a [Tiger's Roar] from the War Tiger mecha.

Dong!

The force of the vibration echoed in Viru's body, destroying a large number of cells, which were then rapidly regenerated under the nourishment of Viru's aura, cycling back and forth, causing bursts of intense pain in his body.

The stat bonuses brought by [Mechanical Apostle Transformation] and [Mechanical Force·Kingship] greatly increased Han Xiao's individual combat power, and the power of this strike was also increased.

Immediately afterward, Han Xiao's bloody wound healed right before Viru's eyes, and the mecha's nanoparticles also repaired the gap in the armor.

"This recovery…" Viru's eyes suddenly narrowed.

Just then, the mechanical legions behind Viru turned their guns and fired at the two of them.

Viru's expression congealed, and just as he was about to retreat, two enhanced modified Oathkeepers suddenly unfolded around Han Xiao, charging up to engage in close combat.

A slash was delivered, cutting into the Oathkeeper's body, but encountering great resistance, unable to split it in two with a single slash, blue-golden mechanical force flickering in the wounds of the two Oathkeepers.

These two were super elite soldiers that had received the [Emperor's Gift] buff, not even a Super-A Grade could take them out with a single strike.

Unable to shatter the two Oathkeepers with a single slash, Viru reacted quickly, hurriedly shaking his force to send the two mechanical soldiers flying, but also suffered the Oathkeepers' counterattack, being bombarded in the chest by a chain of palm U-energy cannons, his movements stalling again.

The U-energy cannon focused fire from behind also came over, a series of cannon fire bombarding his back. Hastily, Viru was unwilling to give up the opportunity for close combat, his blade light turning, slashing backward to create a defensive light shield, barely blocking the focused fire for a moment, then slashing repeatedly, launching a fierce attack on Han Xiao.

The blade light wrapped around the two, leaving their original position, turning into a shooting star and fleeing far away.

The two engaged in close combat, the blade light grazing Han Xiao's body time and time again, gouging away pieces of mecha fragments and flesh, but his recovery speed was visible to the naked eye, the wounds healing as good as new in the time it took to breathe.

The more Viru fought, the more shocked he became. He had heard of Han Xiao's "Undying Body" nickname, but seeing it with his own eyes, he didn't expect it to be so terrifying.

Krotia, who was watching the battle from afar, had put away his nonchalant attitude at some point, his face becoming solemn as he watched the two's battle intently.

Han Xiao's recovery power also made him feel suspicious and uncertain.

In his memory, no Mechanic had ever possessed such a strong physique, not even weaker than a Martial Artist.

"This level of combat power isn't something a newbie who's just advanced should have, right?" One person opened his mouth in surprise, expressing the thoughts of everyone else.

[Anti-Shock·Thorns] and [Void Dimension Leap] were used in turn to defuse the opponent's moves. The two chased after each other, briefly engaging in close combat. The layers upon layers of mechanical legions finally managed to restrain Viru again, allowing Han Xiao to escape from close combat.

Bearing Viru's series of fierce attacks, Han Xiao was almost unscathed, at least everyone couldn't see what damage he had suffered from the surface.

Han Xiao patted his chest, opening his arms to Viru.

Before Viru could react, the mechanical legion's offensive instantly intensified, suppressing him in conjunction with various traps, and Viru fell into a brief passive state.

Just then, several huge heavy mechanical cannon barrels unfolded behind Han Xiao, and U-energy began to condense, emitting intense energy fluctuations.

"Planet Annihilation Cannon!" Viru's expression changed, actually taking out this kind of strategic heavy weapon. This had already exceeded the scope of a spar!

Suddenly, in the formation of the surrounding mechanical legions, hundreds of electromagnetic chains shot out, wrapping around Viru's hands, feet, and torso from all directions, tying him up securely.

Viru tried to break free, but was shocked to find that he couldn't tear open this control method all at once, as if they were elastic tentacles, actually knowing how to unload force on their own.

[Extreme Electromagnetic Positioning Capture Device·Activated Type], a single-target control type mechanical trap. This was a mechanical device that Han Xiao had modified with the cutting-edge knowledge of [Activation Theory], able to exert a brief control effect on Super-A Grades. It was a high-level machine, mixed in with the mechanical legions, launching unexpectedly and catching Viru off guard.

The next moment, teams of mechanical soldiers fired at Viru in succession, U-energy cannons pouring down like a torrential rain!

The light reflected Viru's drastically changing face. He suddenly detonated the aura in his entire body, turning it into petals of aura blades, rapidly rotating around his body, forming a protective defensive mechanism like a shield.

Blade Control·Aura Barrier!

The explosive light clusters in the distance expanded, and Han Xiao controlled the charged Sub-Skybase Planet Annihilation Cannon to fire. Several thick U-energy blue light pillars gushed out, heading straight for Viru, who was enduring the focused fire.

Just as the Planet Annihilation Cannon was only halfway there, a group of dark energy light clusters suddenly appeared out of thin air in front of it, blocking the firing path, colliding with the U-energy light pillars and exploding into chain reaction explosive light clusters, constantly expanding in the universe.

On the other side, dark energy barriers blocked the legion's focused fire, allowing Viru to catch his breath.

He hurriedly broke free from the trap control, activating some kind of movement skill, turning into a blue light and leaving the battlefield, floating to one side, looking disheveled and quite embarrassed, his face pale, seemingly having suffered no small injuries.

If it had been Herber, this little bit of attack would only have been a tickle, but Viru was not Herber. His health had been reduced a lot by the True Damage.

Han Xiao narrowed his eyes, signaling the mechanical legions to stop, and turned to look at the spaceship.

He saw Krotia standing behind the porthole, having raised one hand at some point. The dark energy just now was what he had controlled, intervening in the two's battle.

"The spar is over." Krotia slowly opened his mouth in the communication channel, "This match… will be considered a draw."

A draw?

Everyone's expressions varied.

They were all discerning people and knew that this was just a way to save Viru's face. Judging by the situation just now, Han Xiao had undoubtedly won, and had also displayed his combat style.

Powerful recovery ability and a huge mechanical legion, coupled with strange attack power, this type of Mechanic had almost no weaknesses. Everyone couldn't help but be surprised, and put away their slight contempt for Han Xiao's newbie status and origins from the Shattered Star Ring.

Han Xiao's strength had already earned their respect.

Viru's face was ugly. As the challenged party, he had originally been full of confidence, but now he had ended up in a mess, being used as a stepping stone by a newbie. He felt very embarrassed and unhappy.

However, his opponent had fairly and squarely gained the upper hand, so he had nothing to say, and could only be secretly annoyed.

Hearing Krotia's words, Han Xiao remained noncommittal and retracted the mechanical legions.

The outcome didn't matter. As long as the goal of demonstrating his strength had been achieved, that was enough for him.

Moreover, if Viru disregarded casualties and fully released his lethality, his burst power would be higher than Herber's. Even if his recovery power was strong, he would be unable to withstand it.

He had gained the upper hand in the spar, partly because of the ability to counter each other, and partly because of the nature of the battle. It looked like a complete suppression, but if they really fought all-out, Viru might not repeat the same mistake, and his chances of winning were not stable.

"I still need to improve my strength," Han Xiao thought to himself.

Among the Super-A Grades, his battle of attrition was very strong, but he couldn't achieve suppression with raw strength.

He had accumulated a large amount of experience, and when the experience penalty period passed, he would be able to usher in a new round of leveling up.

By then, he estimated that he would be able to rise another level in the Super-A Grade group.

Returning to the spaceship, walking into the cabin, everyone came up to him.

Han Xiao noticed that everyone's gazes were no longer full of scrutiny, but carried a certain amount of respect, and couldn't help but nod inwardly.

After this spar, his strength had been recognized by everyone, and he could be considered to have been officially accepted into this circle.

Viru followed behind Han Xiao, walking in with a stinky face and sulking. He turned his head and said in a deep voice, "If there's a chance in the future, we'll spar again."

"Then I guess there won't be any chance." Han Xiao raised his eyebrows, joking. Without any benefits, why would he bother fighting you? He wasn't a battle maniac.

But speaking of which, most Martial Artists seemed to be battle maniacs… Han Xiao couldn't help but think of Herber's musclehead domain.