"Let me see how many evil soul masters there are." Arthur wore a murderous look. His Excalibur hummed as he started counting heads like a judge calling names from a ledger.
"Boom!"
A huge blast of light fell and reduced a mecha marked with the green skull to scrap in an instant.
"One."
Arthur showed no mercy and swung again.
The holy sword drew a brilliant arc through midair. Golden sword energy bloomed like a small sun and swallowed a second mecha marked with the green skull.
"Boom!"
A violent explosion burst open in midair. The wreckage vaporized in the heat, leaving not even a fragment behind.
"Two."
His voice was cold and calm.
A third skeleton mecha tried to dodge, only to find its movements turned strangely sluggish under an invisible force.
"You cannot run."
The holy sword flicked lightly.
A thin but razor sharp beam of sword light tore through the air and pierced straight through the cockpit.
"Boom!"
The green flame went out in an instant. The mecha lost control and dropped from the sky.
"Three."
He did not pause at all. The holy sword in his hands kept swinging, golden blasts and sword energy falling in turn, with no gap between shots.
Every strike destroyed another mecha.
"Four. Five. Six."
Black mecha, purple mecha, whatever they were, all turned to ash under the blasts.
Under his slaughter, the battlefield quickly went quiet. The Star Luo escort pilots stared blankly at the blur of light in the sky.
After getting the students somewhere safe, Wu Changkong came to Arthur's side. "Come on. Let's go help your grand-teacher."
Arthur glanced down at the routed skeleton mecha force and nodded. "Okay."
The blur of light shot upward, and he flew with Wu Changkong toward the high altitude battlefield.
High above, Zhuo Shi was locked in combat with the god-level mecha. Red gold dragon flame and green fire tangled in the air, and every collision burst into blinding light.
In a head on clash Zhuo Shi had nothing to fear, but the other side was extremely fast, so he had been held back.
With Arthur and Wu Changkong joining, the situation turned at once. Neither of them even needed to attack. Just by taking positions, they squeezed the god-level mecha's room to dodge and limited its speed.
That god-level mecha had relied on extreme speed and mobility to tie Zhuo Shi down.
Now the three of them had it locked in a triangle. Every turn it tried was cut off by Arthur and Wu Changkong, forcing it to slow down and adjust again and again.
"Roar!"
Zhuo Shi seized the opening. His dragon claw shot out, red gold flame condensing solid around it, and slammed into the god-level mecha.
"Hold." Arthur called out in his mind. Space tightened around them, freezing the god-level mecha for a split second.
That split second was plenty for fighters at their level.
Zhuo Shi's dragon claw punched through the mecha and ended the fight.
"This god-level mecha is built from lousy materials." Arthur shook his head as he watched. Compared to Mu Ye's Little Red, it was heaven and earth.
Zhuo Shi pulled back his claw and said flatly, "What do you mean lousy materials? How about giving me some credit?"
Wu Changkong tore him down from the side. "This mecha really is lousy."
He gave his sharp verdict. "It must be a cobbled together piece of junk from the evil soul masters. Stolen core tech, and the alloys are cut with plenty of trash."
Arthur nodded. "Typical rats. They can only live off scraps."
Zhuo Shi looked at the two of them singing in harmony, his face darkened, and he turned and left. If that mecha was that worthless, what did that make him for getting tied down by it?
Thanks to Arthur, the soul-guided train was completely unharmed.
But the nearby tracks were badly damaged. They clearly could not be used again.
The Star Luo Empire sent luxury soul-guided buses to pick them up, along with several hundred mecha as escorts.
The attack had come suddenly. Luckily there were injuries but no deaths, and the blur of light had not been recognized as Arthur. Everyone assumed it was a teacher secretly following Shrek Academy.
Still, with both continents involved, this was a serious diplomatic incident.
On the bus, Xu Xiaoyan patted her chest. "That was close. I never thought the Star Luo Continent would have this many evil soul masters too."
Xie Xie answered, "They are not evil soul masters, according to the latest news."
"The ones who attacked us are a group called Green Skull. They are a rebel force inside the Star Luo Empire, very strong, holding two provinces with defensible terrain."
Arthur sneered. "So they are evil soul masters."
Xie Xie went quiet. He used to dare to bicker with Arthur, but if he bickered with Arthur now, Na'er would punch him to death.
Gu Yue said calmly, "This attack was clearly meant to stir up conflict between the Federation and the Star Luo Empire, to buy more room for them to grow."
"Okay, okay, thinking about this gives me a headache." Xu Xiaoyan shook her head, her twin tails swinging. "Let the higher ups worry about that stuff."
"Higher ups?"
That reminded Arthur. He was a higher up.
His eyes lit up. Once they reached the Star Luo capital, he would have to squeeze them hard for compensation.
Escorted by the mecha unit, the rest of the trip went smoothly and quietly.
Two days later, they reached the capital of the Star Luo Empire, Star Luo City.
Star Luo City looked more like a city from ancient times as a whole.
It kept its walls, and the walls were thick with soul-guided weapon defenses.
Once inside, the style changed completely.
A modern city hit them in the face. People crowded the streets, and aside from the building styles and clothing being a little different from the Douluo Continent, there was no great difference overall.
The Star Luo Hotel used gold and white as its main colors, glittering and luxurious at every turn.
Arthur lay on the bed, thinking about how to wipe out Green Skull.
The bed suddenly dipped. When he came back to himself, Gu Yue was already sitting on his waist.
This familiar scene.
Arthur tried to sit up on instinct, but Gu Yue pushed his shoulder back down.
"Do not move."
Her voice was low, lazy and dangerous. "Move again, and I, your queen, will take your head."
Arthur said, "Gu Yue?"
He could not help wondering if Gu Yue really had two personalities.
Gu Yue leaned down. Her silver eyes looked strange and bewitching up close as they roamed over Arthur's face, like she was admiring a trophy.
"Did you forget what happened last night?" she said lightly. "Call me My Queen."
Last night?
What did that mean?
"My Queen." Arthur gave a dry laugh. "Was that not two months ago?"
Gu Yue narrowed her eyes, cold light flashing in her silver pupils. "Are you questioning me?"
Her finger tapped lightly on Arthur's chest. The Gold Dragon King pendant that had just started glowing went dim again.
At the same time, Arthur found he could not move at all.
"You deserve punishment."
Gu Yue lowered her head.
Arthur was out of options.
This woman was completely addicted.