Long Wu was at the forefront of the group as he was walking toward the new destination, the Hive of the Gling.
It was said that the Hive was just like the center of governance for the three races’ civilization. Long Wu believed it as he detected many Glings had gathered around the location of the Hive.
The Hive was on the hollowed-out mountain so the way there was difficult as expected. But the Cerulean Defense Force was ready to tackle this problem.
“There is a strong reaction from the deepest part of the mountain. It’s from the Hive. All units, prepare for battle!” Hecates said this through the walkie-talkie and informed the rest of the transcendent group as well as the Second Division.
The artillery behind them then prepared in their position while the infantry moved forward, trying to form a certain line in front. The armored vehicles became the link that connected the infantry and the artillery behind.
Long Wu perceived the pressure and the presence of the strongest being he had faced so far. He knew the energy he was facing was the same as the Sacred Tree so he was aware of what he was going to face.
Then, the huge numbers of Glings appeared around the mountain as if protecting it. They let out a roar of threat, trying to intimidate anyone close enough.
“There are a huge number of Gling here. Order from Headquarters?” Hecates asked for clarity since their first mission was to gauge the number of enemies.
“There are also Elves here!” one scout suddenly shouted and reminded through the communication channel.
“This is their last stand.” Long Wu said this, fully realizing that fact with clarity. But one thing was not mentioned.
‘Why did they just stand there and do nothing when we are on their doorstep?’ Long Wu thought. This encounter should be the climax of the Star Battle so he expected the all-out attack at once.
But it did not happen. Instead, what he got was this silent treatment.
“Transmitting order from Headquarters…relaying…” The communicator device then transmitted a message from the nearby base to the Second Division and the transcendent group.
“’ This is the last struggle from the enemies. For the strongest transcendent, prepare yourself for the last battle against the strongest enemy you might face. This is the arrangement of those above us!’ That is the message from the Strategic Intelligence Division.”
When everyone heard that, their expression turned serious.
What kind of arrangement caused the three revered figures to leave it to them, specifically to the strongest transcendent, to deliver the victory?
Long Wu’s eyes focused on the Hive inside the mountain. He also felt the presence of the Gling inside.
‘The Sacred Tree and the Queen of the Gling…what combination is this?’ Long Wu thought before he remembered one remark from a scientist regarding the Sacred Tree.
“The Sacred Tree of the Elves is a miraculous existence. In theory, they could assimilate with any living beings since Ether is the drive that the Sacred Tree needed. But this is still hard to prove since we have no case.”
Long Wu thought about it, and perhaps the words of that scientist held true when he witnessed for himself the power that merged between the Sacred Tree and the Queen.
‘Then this arrangement from the higher beings is actually a clash between the strongest from the two sides.’ Long Wu concluded that he understood why the other side did not launch an attack on them immediately.
All the transcendent group’s eyes focused on him since the message specifically called for him.
“Are you ready to face that thing?” Hecates went to Long Wu’s side and asked.
Long Wu turned his head, looked at him and replied.
“I am always ready to face any challenge that comes my way. The problem is, will it be difficult?”
Long Wu knew that since the enemies chose this method to gain an advantage, he should respond in kind. He at least knew why this was arranged.
‘This is by the will of the Father God.’ Long Wu realized that they could just ignore this arrangement and take the Hive. But since the Father God had agreed to this, it meant that this was the last step before they reached victory.
Far up in the sky, five visages appeared.
“So you two have chosen this in the end.” Dian said while his appearance was the same man in his twenties, the usual. But he sighed as he realized that the two entities in front of him wanted to win with everything they had.
Leif was looking at the two with admiration since he did not have that kind of competitive spirit while Ghylea looked below to see the two sides were at the range of attack of each other’s attack range.
Chikara and Frie, on the other hand, were putting on a brave front. Well, they had nothing to lose anyway, so they were more confident.
“Please agree to the Individual Duel.” Frie said this time. Dian was surprised to see that Chikara had allowed this to happen.
He stared at her before shifting his gaze to Chikara. Chikara looked like someone who was clutching at straws to get the victory she wanted.
“Well, why do you think I want to accept this?” Dian threw a question at Frie.
“You wanted to defeat us thoroughly.” Frie began speaking. “You wanted to make sure that we are convinced of our defeat and just perfectly countering my Master style is not convincing enough.”
Dian realized that Frie had known things more than she let on the outside, so he focused his gaze on her. Her appearance resembled the Elves that she was responsible for, green hair with green eyes. Her long hair was braided while her gaze was focused on him too.
“Looks like you observed me enough to gather some information about me.” Dian nodded, happily doing so at that. He needed talents like this to keep increasing his rank as a Planet Master and the Second Rank proved to be the perfect recruitment phase he needed.
Frie’s observant nature meant that she was seriously looking at things and deducing things from there.
“Fine. I agree to this thing.” Dian made a system panel appear in front of him. It was the invitation to let the Individual Duel commence.
Frie did not feel relieved to see this. She looked at Dian and knew that the confidence of this entity did not stem solely from the improvement and trump cards his civilization had. He also believed that the strongest transcendent he had would surely overcome the trial that was given.
And that made her restless. She knew better not to underestimate the race called Humans.
[Both sides agreed to commence ‘Individual Duel’!]
[Planet Master System recalibrate the change in Star Battle]
[The change has occurred…changing the condition for winning the Star Battle due to ‘Individual Duel’]
[Planet Master ‘Chikara’ has announced the win and lose conditions for both sides.]
[If her side wins, the Planet Master System will decide that she is the winner of the Star Battle.]
The moment this announcement appeared, Dian did not even react. He had expected this situation but Leif was concerned when he saw that. He even glanced at Dian and saw that Dian did not even change his expression one bit. Ghylea was chuckling with glee while shaking his head.
[If her side loses, her opponent will win the Star Battle instead.]
[Agreement has been signed.]
[Select your fighter!]
Dian knew that the moment had come. He already knew who to choose so he did it without hesitation. Chikara also chose her fighter without hesitation. Both sides knew that they were sending their strongest to this and no need to question that.
Dian chose his fighter and then a direct connection appeared that caused Dian to use it immediately.
“I trust that you are ready for what’s coming.” He said to his fighter.
Long Wu felt strange that he suddenly heard someone talking to him in his mind. He looked around and noticed that no one had heard what he had heard.
‘Who are you?’ Long Wu asked in his mind.
“I am what you call Father God. Since you are chosen for this occasion, you can hear me directly. This is how your disciple usually communicates with the deceased or with me.” Dian explained briefly.
Long Wu’s eyes widened at the implication.
‘I am sorry for showing such an embarrassing act of mine.’ Long Wu apologized quickly since he asked Dian with doubt.
“No need. I need you to defeat the strongest transcendent from the enemy. I trust that you can handle it, especially since you have improved yourself so much with that Body Refining Technique. I believe that you can open more of the Gate of Opening, unlike before, when you had to open it so small while withstanding the backlash.
“I won’t say much regarding yourself. Your experience is more than enough for me to consider and you should believe in it. But your enemy will be stronger than the fusion of a dozen Mist Gling that you encountered. Will you still be able to defeat her?”
Long Wu heard what Dian had to say and was glad that he could depend on his experience in his entire life. But Dian’s question still left him with some sense of anticipation.
‘I will because I can. I believe I can defeat myself before learning the Body Refining Technique X version 1.0 easily. That is how different in foundation I am.’ Long Wu assured Dian of his victory. This was his objective view, not even exaggerating one bit.
“Good. I can feel your confidence.” Dian agreed with that assessment.
Long Wu was getting stronger every moment and even now, he did not know the current limit of his strength and this arrangement was the perfect opportunity to test it.
On the other hand, Chikara was having a heartfelt conversation with her Queen.
“Are you confident enough to defeat the strongest transcendent from the Human Race?”
‘My God, I am actually not confident. Just like I become stronger, that man will also get stronger over time. But I will try my best to bring you victory.’ The Queen said with a soft tone. She could not say that she still had a chance to be crushed by the enemy, would she?
“But…please take care of yourself. You are my most cherished Queen in the history of the Glings.” Chikara said.
‘I will keep that in mind.’ The Queen replied with a determined gaze.
Chikara had wanted to say more but it felt like she was delivering an unproven promise so she held back. Something within her changed as she was faced with the last chance to turn things around.
Then, both sides were giving out instructions regarding the arrangements, including the Individual Duel basic rules.
[Selection finished.]
[Reminder for both sides regarding the Individual Duel:]
[The fighter can use their will to forfeit. This will be considered the loss of their side if done.]
[A sphere, which is considered to be an arena, will be erected in the designated place near the agreed place.]
[To win, either kill the opponent or make them forfeit.]
[The Universe Council wishes all the participants luck!]
After the series of system panels announced the Individual Duel, a sphere of pure white appeared at the top of the mountain where the Hive was located.
Long Wu, after being informed of the format of the duel, knew that the white sphere was where he should be going. Then from the depths of the Hive, a jade-colored light came out. From the entrance to the Hive, a figure could be seen coming out.
The fusion between the Sacred Tree of the Elves and the Queen of the Gling became the very symbol of strength for the two races.
Long Wu tensed up slightly when he perceived the stored power hidden behind the flashy appearance. He could consider her to be the worthy opponent he had to face.
The Queen, too, managed to locate him and recognized him. She flinched but composed herself for what was about to come. She also went to the top of the mountain, trying to go to the white sphere.
“This is already a done deal.” Ghylea said bluntly. For him, the result of the Individual Duel was inevitable so he felt that there was no need to watch it.
“Until the end, we don’t know what kind of result we will get.” Dian said, reminding Ghylea not to underestimate anyone. He also spoke from experience.
Once the Individual Duel was initiated by the Planet Master System, the Planet Masters from both sides could watch it at quite a close distance.
Frie looked at Chikara and could not understand why she suddenly had a change of heart and that was quite sudden.
Frie would have expected Chikara to express her desire more clearly and more aggressively but it changed into something more delicate. She felt that Chikara was similar to her, only caring about her own race, then she felt a tinge of pain.
She has that side in her? Frie was surprised to see this but her decision was final.
When Long Wu and the Queen touched the white sphere, they were transported to the inside of the sphere.
Both sides saw this and decided to hold their units from acting rashly and trusted their representatives to do the rest. This battle was not for them after all.
[The selected fighter has entered the arena!]
[The barrier that separates the two will be lifted soon!]
The Planet Masters involved decided to watch the Individual Duel with full interest. Dian could feel that the connection with Long Wu was severed and he could finally see the inside of the white sphere and in the middle of the sphere, there was a flat ground and also a black barrier which separated the sphere into two.
Long Wu looked up and saw that there was a number on the screen that was covering the sky. The Queen saw this too and realized what the number on the screen suggested.
“Looks like the number is the countdown for the black barrier to disappear.” Long Wu pointed to the screen and then lowered it to the Queen.
“When the numbers are up, we are going to have fun here. Ironic that the fate of our races is decided through this arrangement instead. It should be civilization against civilization but this duel will save time and resources so I think it will be fine.” Long Wu said loudly.
“If not for your civilization, my race would have won the Star Battle.” The Queen said indignantly.
“There is only reality to look at. What-if is useless since it's just a possibility that won’t come true.” Long Wu replied.
The two were locked in a staring and speaking contest. Despite the black barrier, they could still see each other, and even their voices reached each other. Both of them wondered what kind of material could create the black barrier.
At this moment, all looked at the white sphere that started to turn transparent. This was followed by the lowering of the numbers on the screen. The transcendents, the Elves, the Planet Masters, all of them were watching the ones inside the sphere.
Long Wu was looking at the number that was now in the single digit. He had prepared himself as his core was spinning and his energy pathway was enlarged, sufficient to accommodate the expanding transcendent energy.
The Queen was also checking her condition. The energy pathway within her body allowed her to wield the vast Ether with greater ease. She was basically the strongest unit possible for her race.
She was looking at the screen while thinking about her overall situation.
3
2
1
0
When the countdown reached zero, the black barrier that separated the two suddenly dispersed and then the two lunged at each other.
Long Wu knew that only his dagger could withstand such an influx of energy, even the special rifle would not hold when he was serious so he opted for melee. The Queen was also of similar thought. Her long-range capability was achieved through spreading the roots of the Sacred Tree but it would only help her opponent and was detrimental to her own objective.
Two different transcendent energies clashed and reacted, causing a secondary explosion. But the two were locked in combat, exchanging several moves with their limbs.
The Queen used her back limbs which were shaped like a blade, to assist her in her attack. Long Wu could only hold so much before the number of blade limbs started to overwhelm his right hand, which was holding the dagger.
His left hand held a small shield which was more useful in this situation than a bare hand. He used the shield to bash the blade limbs away before they went out of the melee.
“Not bad. You’ve improved.” Long Wu raised the corner of his lips while feeling the blade limbs of the Queen to be quite annoying but still manageable.
The Queen, however, felt like her effort was down the drain. She could not believe that Long Wu became much stronger during the time she did not meet him for nine months. She knew that he would become stronger but did not know the exact parameter.
‘He is capable of defeating his previous self so many times over. That is how strong he has become.’
But the Queen had the pride she had to hold. She also did not want to disappoint her god, too. She felt like she knew about her god so she knew that the situation was actually not quite good even for her god.
But she did not want that.
“This is not all!” the Queen then let out the transcendent energy, forming what one could say was a small domain filled with patterns on the edge.
Long Wu, who witnessed this, was inspired and also tried to emulate the domain. Surprisingly, it was done with just one try. But the domain felt weaker compared to what the Queen had. But Long Wu just needed to improve his domain and he added what he thought to be his improvisation.