After arriving on the Star Luo Continent and getting through the welcome ceremony, the Star Luo delegation went their separate ways. Arthur's group was ready to start their tour.
Their luxury soul-guided train sped across the land of the Star Luo Continent.
Outside the windows, the scenery looked nothing like the Douluo Continent.
Forest and lakes took turns passing by. The air was fresh, and the cities in the distance were smaller and clearly less modern.
The train had prepared a rich meal for the delegation members. Na'er ate while stuffing food into Arthur's mouth. She had gotten fond of this feeding game.
Members of the Star Luo Royal Academy team were riding in the same car. The girls among them kept sneaking glances at Arthur.
They had wanted to get close to him, but during the two months on the ship, aside from the first few days, they could hardly find him at all.
And the girls around Arthur watched him closely.
"Eat up. If you don't eat now, you might not get another chance," Arthur said casually.
"Huh?" Tang Wulin blinked, suddenly concerned. "Why not?"
"Because." Arthur looked out the window. "They're here."
Far outside the window, a patch of black dots moved fast across the sky. It was a group of mecha.
Unlike the humanoid mecha common on the Douluo Continent, these came in all shapes, most of them beast shaped. These were Star Luo style mecha.
"Move!" Wu Changkong appeared in an instant, clad in three-word battle armor. He took the students, everyone except Arthur, and left the car.
He did not take the Star Luo team with him either.
The moment they left the car, soul-guided shells rained down.
Over a hundred mecha flew in from afar. At their head was a red hawk shaped mecha, shockingly fast. Almost at the same instant the explosions started, it was already hovering above the train.
"Hold." Arthur raised a hand and pointed. The Holy Lance appeared in the empty air above the train.
Every attack froze in place.
It felt as if time had been paused. The shells in midair, even the shockwaves from the explosions, hardened into a still picture under the light of the Holy Lance.
"I choose you! Red Dragon, go!" Arthur decided to slack off. Better not to look too impressive yet. He would stay low key for now and see if there were any evil soul masters hiding in the dark.
Those evil soul master bastards loved to hide more than anything.
Zhuo Shi's face darkened. What had this brat just called him?
Then he thought about it and felt helpless. Whether by strength or status, Arthur had earned the right to address him so directly, with no honorific needed.
Annoyed as he was, Zhuo Shi shifted his stance. Red gold dragon light covered his whole body, and a massive dragon form coiled out of the car and shot straight into the sky.
"Roar!"
The dragon cry shook heaven and earth. The red dragon shape stretched out in midair and swept one claw.
The frozen shells shattered like glass into countless points of light and scattered into the air.
The red hawk mecha tried to attack, but the dragon shape pinned it in midair with one claw.
The two tangled in the sky.
Arthur and Zhuo Shi had bought enough time. The Star Luo Empire escort mecha unit finally reacted and hurriedly summoned their mecha.
Soul-guided light in every color flared. Mecha after mecha rushed out of the soul-guided train to meet the enemy.
Every attacking mecha bore a skull mark on its chest, with a green flame burning in the eye sockets. It looked deeply wrong.
What had been a relaxed sightseeing train ride turned into a mecha war in an instant.
"Are you okay?" Inside the train, someone from the Star Luo team ran over. A girl grabbed Arthur. "Run!"
Her voice shook with panic, though her eyes lingered on Arthur's face for a beat longer than necessary.
She was thinking with the wrong head.
She had no idea how strong Arthur was, and she was already fantasizing that if she survived this, she could use it to win him over and have him all to herself.
They ran out of the train. Every direction was battlefield.
In the air, Zhuo Shi was tied up by a god-level mecha. Red gold dragon flame and green fire tangled together, and every clash set off a violent explosion.
The Star Luo escort mecha fought the skeleton mecha at close quarters. Gunfire tore through the air, and mecha wreckage fell from the sky like severed limbs.
This special train carried quite a few delegation members from the Douluo Continent.
After entering the Star Luo Continent, the group had split up in the coastal city, but at least half of those headed for Star Luo City were all on this soul-guided train.
Arthur frowned. Why had the powerhouses following in secret still not moved?
Mu Ye had left on his own as soon as they reached the Star Luo Continent. He had his own business here.
But Shrek surely had at least one elder following in secret. The Federation must have sent someone too.
After a moment of silence, Arthur understood.
"Right. In the eyes of powerhouses, something this small is not worth exposing themselves over."
That was the style of a world where the strong ruled. This era looked like his past life on the surface, but at its core it was fundamentally different.
"Looks like I have to act."
No more searching. It no longer mattered whether evil soul masters were hiding in the dark. If he waited any longer, people would start dying, and that was something Arthur would never allow.
As long as he had the strength, no evil soul master would kill anyone right under his nose.
The girl beside him was still holding on to him.
"Stay close to me. Get to my teacher and you will be safe." The Star Luo girl gritted her teeth and pulled Arthur's arm, trying to find a safer spot in the chaos.
Then she found it strange. "Wait, why didn't your teacher take you just now. Huh?"
The feeling in her hand had changed. The girl turned in confusion, and saw that Arthur was already wearing two-word battle armor.
Brilliant armor unfolded and locked into place.
Blue gold light flowed across Arthur's body as the two-word battle armor finished covering him. Its smooth lines gleamed cold in the sunlight, a sharp contrast to his usual casual air.
This was Holy Judgment, the two-word battle armor Gu Yue had worked herself dizzy designing.
"You?!" The girl's pupils shrank, and she stepped back half a pace without thinking.
"Two-word battle armor. And at this level." Since she had made it into the Star Luo team, she knew what she was looking at.
What shocked her most was that Arthur was a first year. Shrek first years were no older than fifteen.
A two-word battle armor master at that age?
No wonder the idea of competing with him now seemed laughable.
"Shh." Arthur held a finger to his lips. His battle armor helmet closed with a click, leaving only a pair of holy blue eyes visible.
"Can you keep this secret for me?" As the last piece over his eyes locked in, Arthur and his armor blurred into a hazy shape of light, hard for anyone to identify.
The Star Luo Continent still did not know his true strength, and he was saving it for a grand reveal later.
The girl stared, then nodded without thinking.
The next second, Arthur shot into the sky.
The blur of light drew a brilliant arc through the sunlight, trailing afterimages behind it, and came to a stop high above.