Moments later, all the vehicles fleeing toward the city center had been intercepted.
Qingyi and Caesar finally breathed a sigh of relief.
With Bringer's combat forces mostly wiped out and no threat left to the commercial district, their mission here was complete.
Billy had already canceled his transformation, cradling the two transformation belts in his hands like precious treasures.
Truth be told, he didn't want to revert to normal—he would've preferred to stay in his Starlight Knight form forever.
But the devices had energy limits; once drained, they needed sunlight to recharge.
Even though he had two units that could alternate for seamless transformation, his frugal habits—inherited from his days at the Cunning Hares and from Nicole's own stingy influence—wouldn't allow him to waste energy carelessly.
And then, he discovered another advantage of the device.
It actually generated solar power for him. After that high-intensity battle, he wasn't even tired—in fact, he felt rejuvenated, as if he'd just eaten a hearty meal.
Which meant... he'd never need to buy batteries again.
"Sol's the greatest! Absolute legend!"
Overjoyed at his new money-saving trick, Billy couldn't help but shout his admiration.
From now on, he could save his meal budget for better gun maintenance—and still have enough left to buy more Starlight Knight and Monica merch. It was perfect!
Just thinking about it made his heart race with excitement.
"Alright," Qingyi said calmly, taking out her thermos and sipping a mouthful of hot tea, "our part of the plan is complete. Let's move out and support the others."
Everything had gone smoothly, and her mood lifted with the steam of the tea.
"What about the prisoners and the bodies?"
Caesar pointed at the corpses scattered across the ground—and the ten trembling prisoners who remained—and turned to Qingyi for instructions.
All of them were dressed in Public Security uniforms, which, given their sorry state, could easily cause... misunderstandings.
"It's fine. I already called my partner, Seth. He'll bring a team to clean things up."
Qingyi waved dismissively, unconcerned.
Lucy couldn't help but feel that something about that sounded off.
It was way too much like a crime boss calling the cops to tidy up after the mess.
But Caesar didn't think that far—her eyes were bright with excitement.
"Since someone else is handling things here, let's hurry and regroup with Sol and the others!"
She flexed her arm, adjusting the grip on her round shield, feeling the heat of anticipation.
That earlier fight had been a perfect warm-up—and now she was itching for more.
Battle was glory!
"Agreed. Let's move out immediately."
Qingyi capped her thermos and walked toward her Public Security vehicle, making sure to disable its signal transmitter to avoid any data leaks.
Caesar, Piper, Burnice, and Lucy each got into their own vehicles and followed closely behind her.
Billy, naturally, slipped into the back seat of Qingyi's car—still fiddling with his transformation belt like a kid with a new toy.
Watching him through the rearview mirror, Qingyi couldn't resist asking curiously, "Those techniques you used at the end—were they actually from Starlight Knight? I checked the footage database, but I couldn't find any of them."
She was genuinely intrigued. Those special effects had hit her exact aesthetic weak point.
Stylish and powerful—she wanted them.
Especially those skills like [Golden Purge], [Verdant Bind], and [Blazing Earthfire]. The names followed the logic of the Five Elements—so elegant, so ancient in style.
Of course, that wasn't the full picture.
In reality, Sol had been working not only on increasing the [Emperor Armor]'s power level, but also on integrating elemental attribute combinations—dual-element counterbalances, triple-element cycles, and even techniques based on the reversed flow of the Five Elements.
The early prototype skill modules were all implemented into Billy's suit.
The higher-tier triple and reversed-Five-Element skills, however, were beyond his comprehension—they required deep understanding of the theory to wield effectively.
"I have no idea! I don't even know what they mean!"
Billy's face was blank with confusion. "Those moves aren't from Starlight Knight! I guess Sol must've created them himself! But wow—they're so strong! And so cool!"
He kept spinning the dial, triggering one ability after another—all kinds of effects bursting out.
There wasn't a proper Knight Kick among them, but he didn't mind. In fact, he was starting to think these new skills looked even cooler.
"Oh."
Qingyi nodded thoughtfully.
So Sol really did have a solid grasp of elemental theory—and an impeccable sense of style to match.
Yes, she definitely needed to make time to discuss an upgrade with him.
…
Meanwhile, over at the direction where Section 6 had been advancing to surround Qingyi's team—
They encountered several scattered enemy survivors fleeing the scene, and subdued them effortlessly.
In fact, Tsukishiro Yanagi, Asaba Harumasa, and Soukaku didn't even have to move. The only one who acted was Hoshimi Miyabi, who was currently undergoing "Sword Training for Fastest Enemy Neutralization."
Shing!
With a swift, clean motion, Hoshimi Miyabi sheathed her blade. Her crimson eyes, as calm and unshaken as rubies, betrayed no emotion.
Behind her, the dozen surviving soldiers in Public Security uniforms were paralyzed with shock—almost numb.
They were stunned not only by the fact that Void Hunters had been deployed against them, but also by the sheer terror of the Void Hunters' strength—the title was no exaggeration.
Beep, beep.
Hoshimi Miyabi took out her phone, her fox-like ears twitching slightly. Turning to her teammates, she said, "Zhu Yuan just reported in—Bringer's main force headed for the city has been intercepted and crushed. He's retreating toward Port Elpis."
"Then these must be the stragglers who escaped from that direction," Tsukishiro Yanagi said calmly, adjusting his glasses. "At this point, it's certain—Bringer was the mole. These people aren't real Public Security officers."
Hoshimi Miyabi gave a slight nod. "Next, we'll rendezvous with Sol and the others at Port Elpis."
Her gaze flickered, recalling her unfinished agreement with Sol—the training of mental focus and discipline.
She had been too busy recently, suppressing the large Ethereal entity codenamed: Nineveh at the Withering Garden, to meet with him for the training.
Now that the Nineveh situation had stabilized, once the Bringer case was resolved, she'd make sure to find Sol and continue her spiritual training.