Boom!
Nephis raised her arm to block, her gauntlet vibrating explosively as the punch fell.
"How can an Arcane User have such strength——"
Nephis’s eyes narrowed as she staggered back a step but quickly steadied herself and threw a punch at Li Aozi’s brow, a feint; her real move was a hand-chop aid downward at his shoulder blade.
Hiss——
The sharp tips of her armored gloves imdiately tore through Li Aozi’s clothes, leaving only a shallow bloody mark.
Crack!
Li Aozi wasted no ti, his fists hamred down on Nephis’s forehead and cheeks, but each ti he struck, scales would spring from the contacted areas, greatly mitigating the impact damage.
The two exchanged blows for the first ti upon eting and promptly distanced themselves, adjusting their stances and warily eyeing each other.
"Tsk, truly worthy of being the final boss; that damage is really high..."
Li Aozi ran his hand over the bloody mark on his chest, clicking his tongue.
Due to the restrictions of flying comrcial, both restrained themselves from going all out.
Even so, as an Ascender of the Destroyer class, Nephis still held a significant advantage in close combat.
At this mont, the suppression from the Bloodline beca imdiately apparent. Were it not for this damage reduction effect, combined with the War Maniac template’s 300% damage increase, Li Aozi reckoned that the hand-chop just now would’ve broken his ribs.
At an equal level, a Destroyer class Fighter like Nephis in a one-on-one duel was virtually invincible.
Nephis’s shoulders drooped, her coat flapping continuously from the resonating Qi Energy, her serrated pupils coldly asuring Li Aozi. She also noticed that she was unable to inflict effective damage on her target.
"Miss Nariya, it seems that Leo has so ans to counteract my abilities," she reported promptly.
"Damage is limited, huh..."
Nariya nodded and asked,
"How do you feel?"
The scales on Nephis’s face slowly receded, and the bruising left by the punches quickly faded. Clenching her fists, she said:
"It’s difficult for to hurt him—but Leo can’t hurt either."
"The pirates I’ve called will soon board the ship. The spaceship is equipped with a jamr, and this Starfield is a secluded undeveloped area. Just bide your ti, and when we overpower them with numbers and take control of the ship as a hostage, Leo won’t be able to escape."
Nariya looked to the side at the Gambler wearing a rounded cap who, instead of responding, was completely engrossed in arranging a set of cards on the table.
As a mysterious ritual ca to an end, a golden light illuminated before the Gambler. He inhaled deeply and said:
"Bone, Ti, Sun."
"How do you interpret it?" Nariya inquired.
The Gambler pondered for a mont and replied:
"’Bone’ suggests we will suffer casualties, ’Ti’ is related to timing—if we don’t handle it well, Leo is likely to escape. As for the ’Sun,’ it indicates we still have the upper hand, even in the worst-case scenario, the outco will be relatively positive."
Hearing this, Nariya made a decisive command and instructed Nephis:
"Nephis, I will have soone release the Dinsional Anchor. Keep him engaged on the aircraft and don’t give him a chance to escape. Just hold on until the pirates board—then everything will be over."
Nephis nodded, her tone devoid of emotion:
"Understood."
The next mont, she unleashed her Zeta Rank aura without reservation!
Primitive, ferocious, brutal, wild!
"It’s Zeta Rank!"
"Run for it!"
"Don’t get close to her, she can kill us in the blink of an eye!"
The surrounding passengers imdiately scread and dispersed, fleeing in all directions, but it was too late. The oppressive aura of slaughter almost ford a visible shockwave, radiating outward in all directions.
Those who couldn’t escape in ti, as soon as their bodies ca into slight contact with the shockwave, seed to instantly faint and collapse. So even had their chests burst open, bleeding, with bones inside cracking and twisting as if smashed by a hamr.
"Might Shockwave, this is the effect of the ’Life-Taking Malice’ Divinity—this woman is ruthless, using herself like a machine of destruction. I wonder if her other chosen Divinity could be ’Bone-Break Bond’?"
Li Aozi identified it and was about to release a Spaceti Ripple to try and stop the spread of the killing aura.
[The space you are in has been fixed by a Dinsional Anchor, all spaceti-related Skills are forbidden.]
"A Dinsional Anchor directly locking the space—sheesh, that’s a high cost to pay."
Li Aozi had to change his strategy, stepping forward and with a flick of his hand using Gravity, he transferred several nearby passengers out of harm’s way. Then, he stepped forward, his right hand’s back flicking up a pale blue Light Blade.
Echo Blade!
A Dinsional Anchor can only seal space, and a Higgs Field can only suppress Arcane Energy.
All this was forcing an Arcane User of the ’Sovereign’ series to step into the disadvantage of close combat.
But Li Aozi was well-prepared for this.
As a Star Realm Echoer, his innate Echo Force could not be interfered with.
Li Aozi kept swinging his blade, engaging in close combat with Nephis. He thrusted it straight out, and Nephis imdiately raised her hand to deflect his wrist while simultaneously twisting her waist rapidly, smashing her shoulder into Li Aozi’s chest like an icebreaker vessel.
Imdiately after, Nephis kicked the back of his hand, and the Echo Blade instantly shattered.
Bang!
Li Aozi staggered backward several steps, leaning against a chair, with the remaining Might Shockwave emanating from his body and transferring to the nearby seats.
Shh shh...
A whole row of alloy seats was instantly shattered by the Might Shockwave, turning into a spray of tiny particles and diffusing outward.
Li Aozi quickly extended a gravitational field to intercept them.
The two of them, Zeta Rank (6) Earthbound Deities, could destroy a mountain peak with the re sparks of their clash.
These were just the debris from the aftershocks of their fight, and the destruction they wrought was no less than that of a 500-kilogram aviation bomb. To a Gamma Rank (3) Mortal, it was fatal.
If they were to truly let loose—the ship would be torn to pieces by them in an instant.
It was during this split-second operation that Li Aozi took another kick, stumbling several more steps backward.
"Nephis’s appearance signifies that Velazquez Corporation has set their sights on —good, after all, it’s a Narrative-level civilization that cares about its image, and at the sa ti, they’re banking on my reluctance to harm or involve Civilians," Li Aozi thought.
After several boosts to his Intelligence, it was now at an interdiate star-level, and at least in this mont, the Intelligence Attribute played its role: swiftly analyzing the situation and making reasoned judgnts.
"A common issue with Echoers, they really aren’t effective in one-on-one combat. In the cosmos, she’s no match for . For Echoers, the more enemies the better. Now with so many Civilians around, I’m restrained, unable to unleash my full potential."
Echoers shine when it cos to wide-range attacks, one against many, particularly effective against large swathes of enemies using swarm tactics.
But once reduced to a one-on-one fight, that’s troubleso.
Normally relying on Spaceti Ripples and spatial jumps for mobility, which were quite effective, then unexpectedly, the opponent just threw a Dinsional Anchor to seal the space.
Li Aozi racked his brain, but he couldn’t figure out why he had been targeted.
If Velazquez wanted retaliation, they would have done it a long ti ago, so why wait until now?
Did he have sothing on hand that Velazquez Corporation desperately wanted? It seed not.
They aid to capture him alive, which would an abducting a President, and that was preditated, making it even more peculiar—such a low-profile man for the past five years, could the company be that infatuated with him?
After going in circles, Li Aozi realized that his grudge with Velazquez Corporation was just that, nowhere near the point where they needed to exert so much effort to capture him alive.
It left him completely baffled.
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