MAR outskirts.
Vali yawned lazily, looking at the eerily calm MAR ahead.
"This is boring. You guys don't usually carry out missions like this, do you?"
Toichiro, who was responsible for infusing energy and maintaining the barrier alongside Vali, replied, "No, this is a special situation. Normally, we carry out missions abroad, and the leader rarely appears."
"In fact, there have only been two large-scale encirclement and suppression operations led by the leader in total. This is the second time."
Vali asked, "The first time was when he beat you up?"
"...Mm, the leader wasn't that strong back then. I could still exchange a couple of moves with him."
A look of emotion appeared on Toichiro's face.
Thinking back carefully, it had only been less than twenty days since he first clashed with Tatsuma until now. Although the time was very short, he felt like a long time had passed.
Tatsuma's growth speed was simply too abnormal.
From their first clash, to the second and third clashes after he woke up feeling unconvinced.
With every clash, Toichiro could genuinely feel Tatsuma's progress.
"I heard you are the strongest White Dragon Emperor in history. Your luck is really terrible."
"If you were born in a different era, your name should have been left in history."
Vali, however, held a different view on this. "Whether my name is left behind or not doesn't matter at all. As long as I can fight, that's enough."
He wasn't someone who cared about empty fame. The only thing truly worth his attention was always the enemy.
For Vali, having a fated rival who was stronger than himself and whose progress speed surpassed his own could be said to be the best news. At least at this moment, one of his only two goals was to become stronger and then defeat Tatsuma head-on.
"You're still thinking about fighting at a time like this. You didn't happen to forget about us, did you?"
Just then, a voice suddenly rang out.
Vali and Toichiro stopped their conversation and turned to look at the figures walking towards them not far away.
"Bikou? Why are you here?" A flicker of doubt flashed in Vali's eyes.
"Of course, we came to save you."
Bikou, carrying a staff on his shoulder, couldn't help but complain, "You're quite free and easy. After being defeated by the Red Dragon Emperor, you even came to work for him."
"You have time to stand around chatting, but no time to contact us and report your situation?"
"If Arthur hadn't received intel, we would have thought you were sitting in some prison waiting to die."
"Uh... sorry." Vali became a little awkward.
To be fair, he had indeed forgotten about his teammates. If Bikou and the others hadn't taken the initiative to find him, he would have at least had to wait until the encirclement operation was over to remember this matter.
Seeing the topic completely veer off, Arthur reminded him, "Vali, don't waste time. After Kuroka's investigation, Tatsuma's aura has disappeared from MAR."
"Although we don't know where he went, we must complete our withdrawal before he returns."
Vali shook his head. "Withdraw? No, that would be against the rules. I promised Azazel to join Akatsuki, I can't just defect."
Kuroka frowned, her expression becoming displeased. "Huh? What nonsense are you talking about?"
Not only her, Bikou was also a little stunned. "Vali, are you serious?"
"You gathered us together and talked about a bunch of future plans, and now you're taking the lead in quitting?"
Vali said, "Sorry, this is indeed my problem. However, I have already betrayed Azazel once because of the Khaos Brigade. If I betray him again... In short, I cannot leave Akatsuki."
"Then what should we do?"
"How about joining Akatsuki together?"
Bikou retorted irritably, "Join my ass! I ran away from home not to work for someone else!"
However, after his words fell, he suddenly found that the surroundings had become completely silent.
Including Vali, everyone's expressions had become very subtle.
"What's wrong with you?"
Noticing that Vali and the others were all looking behind him, Bikou realized something was wrong belatedly and turned his head to look.
The next second, a familiar yet unfamiliar figure came into view, making him shiver.
"I think joining Akatsuki is fine, nya." Kuroka's voice suddenly rang out.
After stating her position, she silently retreated two steps and stood at attention beside Vali.
"My thoughts are similar to Kuroka's."
"I... I'm the same as my brother."
Arthur and Le Fay echoed, learning from Kuroka and steeping behind Bikou.
"Good, I like people who are sensible."
Tatsuma nodded in satisfaction, his gaze turning towards Bikou. "Do you have any last words you want to say?"
"Uh, this... that..."
Bikou's lips twitched, revealing an expression that looked like he was about to cry without tears.
When did Tatsuma come back?
Why did he come back, and no one reminded him?
"It seems there's nothing you want to say."
Tatsuma took a step forward, came in front of Bikou, and swung his fist down.
Seeing this, Bikou had no choice but to take out his Ruyi Jingu Bang to meet the attack.
Fist and staff met in mid-air, and a mighty force came down head-on.
"So heavy!"
With a bang, Bikou's feet sank into the ground, and a surprised expression appeared on his face.
"He didn't even use Balance Breaker, why is his strength still so great?"
"Because I'm stronger, that's all."
Tatsuma's voice sounded behind Bikou.
Bikou's pupils flickered wildly, and he reacted immediately, dodging to the side. But before that, a mass of black liquid metal broke through the ground and tied his feet, fixing him in place.
At the same time, Tatsuma's iron fist fell again.
Bang!
Bikou let out a scream and was smashed into the ground, losing consciousness.
[Congratulations on successfully defeating Bikou, you have obtained the purple trait: Staff Master.]
[Staff Master (Purple): Staff talent +400%, combat power slightly increased when using a staff.]
A combat-oriented purple trait, so-so.
Throwing [Staff Master] into the inventory, Tatsuma turned to look at Vali not far away. "How do you think we should handle this guy?"
Vali thought for a moment and replied, "I can persuade him to join Akatsuki. Bikou is very strong, and he has room for growth."
"More importantly, like Kuroka, he is good at Senjutsu and can quickly locate enemy positions."
"Keeping Bikou can help you catch more Cursed Spirits and evil spirits. This should be in your interest, right?"
Tatsuma nodded slightly, not refuting this. "Not bad, it seems you've done your homework."
Unlike other enemies, Bikou had no conflict of interest with him, nor had he caused any trouble. If the other party hadn't just spoken rudely, he wouldn't even have bothered to teach him a lesson.
Letting Bikou off the hook, Tatsuma took out a crystal ball from his storage space.
"Vali, have you heard of the Death Metropolis?"
Vali replied after a moment of thought, "Death Metropolis? I've heard of it."
After coming to this world a thousand years ago and starting a war with the Bible faction, Deva angered the legendary God of the Bible for unknown reasons, and more than half of their members were annihilated.
After that battle, Deva was severely weakened. In order to recover their strength, they fled to the dimensional gap between the Human World and the Underworld, opened up a different dimension, and established a city.
And that city is the so-called Death Metropolis.
Vali said, "According to rumors, Deva applied special technology, allowing the Death Metropolis to exist in both the Human World and the Underworld at the same time."
"To enter the Death Metropolis, unless the Deva members inside actively open the door, you can only find the anchors located in the Human World and the Underworld and pry them open simultaneously."
"Tatsuma, do you want to make a move on the Death Metropolis?"
"Yes."
"Because Shahryar offended you?"
"That's just one reason. Besides that, I also learned an interesting piece of information."
Tatsuma snapped his fingers, projecting a huge mechanical battleship cruising in the sea of stars into the air.
"Do you know what this is?"
"It looks like an interstellar battleship that would only appear in science fiction movies."
Tatsuma said, "You can remove the premise of 'science fiction movie'. This thing is indeed an interstellar battleship, and it is also a dimensional battleship that can travel through different dimensions for long-distance movement."
"Huh? Really? Does Deva secretly have such black technology?"
Hearing this, Kuroka, who had been listening in, was a little surprised.
"Deva are beings from another world. It's not strange for them to have this level of technology."
Arthur, on the other hand, could accept this, a thoughtful expression appearing on his face.
"So you're preparing to make a move on the Death Metropolis to obtain this kind of interstellar battleship?"
"That's right."
Tatsuma nodded and admitted.
With his growth speed, reaching the peak of the world is only a matter of time. The future is too long, and Tatsuma wasn't going to waste his eternal lifespan on just one planet.