Great, we're doomed now!

Ye Shou turned around and saw Masaki Keigo walking quickly from the control panel, his face not looking too good.

“We have to go back.” Masaki lowered his voice. “Headquarters will definitely call up the Victory Team. This level of threat is not something that regular troops can handle… But I think that to minimize the damage, we only need one of us to go back.”

The implication is that someone should be sent directly to space, which is much faster than going through headquarters!

Ye Shou nodded, and just as he was about to speak, a commotion suddenly broke out beside him—

"They've come, just as expected!"

Eight-tailed Akihana had returned to the base at some point. The old scientist was flushed and unusually out of control, clenching his fists and making a loud noise that could be heard throughout the entire workshop.

"I knew it! I knew it would turn out like this!"

He strode up to Ye Shou, his eyes wide with shock: "Did you hear that? The space station was attacked—isn't that aimed at us? Just like what happened on Mechanical Island!"

"Professor Yatori, please calm down—"

“I can’t calm down,” Eight-Tailed Fox said, a mixture of grievance and anger. “When Magus Power was successfully developed, it attracted a space civilization. Now that the Redstone Base has just been charged, another one has appeared! These guys are just trying to get in the way of my dream… Every time we take a step forward, they want to break our legs!”

His voice echoed through the workshop, and the researchers around him stopped what they were doing and turned to look at him.

Yao took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down, but his tone remained firm: "Captain Kuze, I have always maintained that Magus Power is not intended for purely military purposes."

But the situation is special now—I can make an exception and provide the inverse equation, fully opening up the output limits of the Magus engine.

"That's a huge sacrifice." Ye Shou raised an eyebrow, quite surprised.

"I'm willing to pay any price—because they're the ones who are getting in my way of building this giant spaceship!"

Hey, don't bring personal grudges into this!

Ye Shou smiled helplessly, while Masaki Keigo stepped forward and pressed down on Yawei's shoulder: "Doctor, I understand your feelings. But right now we don't even know what type of enemy it is, whether it's a monster, an alien, or something else. We have zero information, so we might not even need to use the Magus System."

"Why wouldn't we need it?" Eight-Tails glared at him. "Regardless of the type, if you can't kill it, it's because your firepower isn't strong enough—I'll add a Super Redstone Lens to your team!"

"..."

Wow, that's ruthless... Of course, if you were in Ye Shou's shoes, and his dream was repeatedly thwarted, he would definitely be furious too.

"Let's go back to headquarters first and see how things go." Zhengmu glanced at Ye Shou. "Captain, let's go without further ado."

Carmilla remained leaning against the wall without saying a word until she saw the two were about to leave, at which point she looked up at Ye Shou.

"Do you need my help?"

“Not for now.” Ye Shou paused and added, “You’re not my subordinate, so you can decide how to act as you see fit.”

Carmilla nodded; she was quite pleased with Ye Shou's attitude.

Liking someone is one thing, but status is another. Carmilla may be accommodating to Ye Shou in matters of the heart, but she will never accept others telling her what to do!

Zhengmu and Ye Shou left the hidden base and were about to head towards the helipad when Ye Shou suddenly stopped and looked up at the sky.

"what happened?"

"Nothing much... 'Sphia's' relatives? There are still remnants."

Masaki followed his gaze—

In the night sky, a bright streak of light was rapidly approaching, incredibly fast. In the blink of an eye, it burst into the atmosphere from outer space, drawing a straight line that cleaved the sky before disappearing below the distant horizon.

boom!

A loud bang came from deep in the mountains and forests, the ground shook violently, and a large flock of birds took flight.

A wisp of smoke rose from above the distant forest, mixed with splashing dirt and gravel, forming a hazy gray fog.

"You mean Sphia?" Masaki frowned. "Weren't they all killed by us?"

“It might be a subspecies.” Ye Shou stared at the direction from which the smoke and dust rose. “But today’s is indeed a bit strange.”

-

The crater was extremely deep, and the surrounding trees were uprooted by the shockwave and lay scattered on the ground.

In the center of the pit, a figure is slowly rising:

Its entire body was covered in silver armor, made of some unknown alloy, which gleamed with a cold, hard luster under the moonlight. Its size was moderate, not particularly tall, at about fifty-eight meters, but its imposing presence was in no way diminished.

What's most striking is its head—no, it can't be called a head, it's more like a raised lump of metal.

In the very center was a huge single eye, its red pupil emitting an evil and chilling light in the darkness, as crimson as a dying ember, or flickering like a volcano about to erupt.

Its single eye slowly turned, scanning the surrounding woods, seemingly gathering information about its environment.

Its limbs were initially disproportionate, with long arms and sharp claws that looked like they could both tear and climb. Its torso was bulky, as if it were stuffed with a lot of things. It also had a pair of folded metal wings on its back, which were not yet unfolded.

But as it began to emerge from the crater, its shape was continuously "optimized" amidst a series of knocking sounds, gradually becoming more refined and rational. Not only did its forelimbs become as sharp as blades, but its full-body armor also became more compact, resembling an upright steel dragon.

Its height reached seventy meters.

—The Composite Monster, Ligadron!

Overall, this thing doesn't look like a living organism; it's more like a manufactured machine.

"What the hell is this thing? It gives off a really bad feeling."

Masaki had already arrived at the scene, and upon seeing the bizarrely shaped giant beast, he couldn't help but show a look of disgust.

Because even without Ye Shou's reminder, he could tell that this was indeed a subspecies of "Sphia". He had dealt with similar beings before... though the experience wasn't very good.

Even though the original "Grand Sphia" is dead, these subspecies still have such strong vitality. This is really troublesome... He immediately wanted to transform into Ultraman Lucifer and give this dead survivor a good beating.

Unexpectedly, Ye Shou raised his hand to stop him—

"Wait a moment."

"what?"

Masaki was puzzled and looked at Ye Shou with a question in his mind. Although he respected his captain very much, he also needed a reason.

“Listen carefully… those who were merged with it are not dead yet.”

"!"

Masaki's expression changed, and he immediately listened intently—his telepathy was working at this moment, allowing him to receive a lot of "noise" one after another, and his face gradually turned ashen.

"Damn it... but we can't just let it go like this! If we don't eliminate it in time, the losses will only get bigger and bigger."

"Of course we'll fight, but not now... wait a moment."

Ye Shou's gaze fell on Ligadron, his expression extremely profound: "The people inside haven't given up yet."

“Since you said it.” Masaki hesitated for a moment before withdrawing his hand from the transformation device.

He didn't really think those people could be saved, but Ye Shou must have his reasons for saying that, so he was willing to take the risk.

"Ugh~~~"

The colossal steel beast emerged from the pit, each step causing the ground to tremble. It straightened itself, its single eye scanning its surroundings before finally fixing on one direction—

"Oh no!" Masaki's expression changed. "It's heading straight for the base station! Professor Agasa and the others are still inside."

"After all, it stores a massive amount of light energy, and the Sphia chimera is an 'omnivore' that can devour anything, regardless of its nature."

Ye Shou narrowed his eyes, still not in a hurry to make a move, as if waiting for something, a rare look of struggle appearing on his face—

He wasn't entirely confident about the matter either.

Intuitively, he felt things would most likely go as he predicted, but...

It all depends on whether Kazuma Asuka can persevere to the end!

-

In a daze, Asuka Kazuma regained consciousness.

His first sensation was that he couldn't move; his hands and feet felt like they were bound by something, and he couldn't even lift his fingers. Then he tried to open his eyes, but his vision was a blur; he couldn't distinguish up from down, left from right, or any familiar scenery.

The only thing that's certain is that this isn't the Hyakushiki's cockpit!

He tried to recall what had just happened—he rushed into the warp rift, the ball of light followed him in, the shields collided, creating turbulent energy flows, and then everything went dark.

"I'm alive?"

No one answered him, but the sensation in his "body" told him that he was indeed still alive.

My heartbeat and breathing were normal, but I felt like I was soaking in some kind of viscous liquid, and every movement required a hundred times more effort than usual.

He looked down and saw that he was enveloped in a thick white light, which gave him an indescribable sense of security.

"This is... the Bayeri Shield?"

wrong!

He quickly dismissed the idea.

The shield should be on the Hyakushiki machine, not covering him, and the texture of the light is different; it's purer than the one simulated by Magus particles... giving him a familiar feeling.

Huh? Could it be the "mysterious light" we encountered during our first faster-than-light experiment?

At that time, "Bayeli" rescued him and healed his physical injuries, but the energy body was still hiding in his body... During this time, Asuka also practiced and trained, trying to communicate with this energy body and even hoping to master its power.

But this guy is very aloof and has never paid any attention to Asuka!

What's wrong with me today? I'm actually taking the initiative to protect you...

'Because I'm going to die?'

—A strange thought flashed through Fei Niao's mind, but he was inexplicably certain that this was the truth.

The most important thing for "white light" is to live forever, as life should continue its existence... But if the bird dies, where will it find a new host with a high compatibility?

"Well……"

He tried moving his fingers, and the white light flickered slightly with his movement, as if it were alive.

After a while, the view gradually became clearer.

He found himself suspended in a strange space, surrounded by boundless darkness, with occasional blurry streaks of light flashing by in the distance, like lightning or ripples, disappearing in an instant.

This is neither the real world nor the subspace; it's more like a cage fabricated by some kind of force!

"Well……"

Suddenly a low groan reached his ears, and Asuka Kazuma turned his head sharply to see a figure.

It was a man in a spacesuit, his face obscured, curled up in a ball, drifting aimlessly in the darkness. Wisps of dark red flames swirled around his body, constantly burning him, each breath accompanied by a trembling pain.