In a public region of space, a Gesen Empire mecha squad spoke their words with righteous arrogance, even mockery.
Holy Cas? Who knew what Holy Cas even was? Saying that here meant nothing at all.
Why were you drifters from the Holy Sanctuary still struggling here? Just tuck your tails and slink off; maybe you could still save some face.
And again—“Mining with that kind of device? Is this a place for you? Don’t make me laugh—”
The mecha had already landed beside the little robot and stomped out with its foot.
He had specifically picked the clumsiest looking, least smooth, and most obviously bullied little robot.
Little Chu Zao clutching the control stick: ?
Feeney stepped aside a bit, moving from the doorway.
Even though he was alone with the cub, always on high alert—
These guys were just too weak.
And since they weren’t directly attacking the cub, the guardians didn’t even bother to glance over—if someone was going to break the little cub’s toy, it was better for the cub to handle it himself.
“Don’t go too far! This is a public region, and there aren’t even aberrant beasts around!”
The Sanctuary’s ship cannons were raised, nerves stretched taut. They had already messed up so many times in front of Chu Zao and Feeney; never mind the provocation against the Sanctuary, this now was insult to Holy Cas, to the Crown Clan.
On this point, they would never give way.
Upon hearing from the Sanctuary’s side, the Gesen mecha pilots had their own thoughts.
Wasn’t it just as they suspected—
For some reason, even aberrant beasts avoided this area; it made them too scared to explore it before. Only recently, as Gesen grew more powerful, did they dare to search bit by bit here, never expecting to run into a Sanctuary ship.
How bizarre—why would the Sanctuary show up here?
Gesen was vast, the largest and most prosperous empire of the region, with a decadent, madcap culture. The Sanctuary had long been driven to the edge of the hunting grounds, a remote frontier from Gesen.
Normally, the Sanctuary would never risk Gesen’s wrath.
Especially since the Sanctuary had nearly exhausted itself just developing its mechas; their mechas were nothing special, and their ship guns, facing Gesen’s heavy mechas, might not even dent the armor.
So, the Gesen squad was supremely confident, landing and beginning to drive them off.
No one paid any mind to the ship cannons being raised.
And just as expected, their mecha took the Sanctuary’s fire without incident, confirming their belief that those cannons were just paper tigers. Smoke from the discharge gradually cleared.
In the next instant—the Gesen mecha squad froze.
The mecha about to kick the little robot seemed to have been pierced by a mighty force, energy core sparking and crackling, a massive hole blown clean through.
Perhaps stunned senseless, the pilot made no sound.
The members of the Sanctuary were stunned.
That was—a Gesen heavy mecha!
They turned to look at little Chu Zao, who had just put down the controls.
Soft black hair crested by a flickering golden crown, Chu Zao didn’t even lift his head, right hand gripping a bow. He held it to the side—never even aimed—and fired. The arrow shot through the doorway Feeney had cleared, hitting the mecha.
They’d said it from the start.
For the destructive, legendary, immortal Crown Clan, such mechas were just brittle shells, totally inadequate.
“L-Little Highness?”
Before they could finish, Chu Zao moved so quickly that, in a blur, he was already at the wrecked mecha.
His honey-colored eyes calmly checked on the Sanctuary’s battered little robot.
The person inside the mecha hadn’t fully registered what happened.
Chu Zao’s arrow was already poised at the pilot’s head.
Just on screen—the sense of oppression was overwhelming.
What… what was this?
What had just happened?
Before he could react, his mecha had already lost power, now pinned beneath Chu Zao’s foot.
Chu Zao’s gentle face was devoid of a smile as he spoke—
“Who’s joking with you?”
Who said you could touch these little robots?
A faint light glinted in Chu Zao’s eyes as he stirred the man’s emotions, stoking that terror to the limit.
The man, panicked beyond sense, tried to raise the mecha cannon and fire at Chu Zao.
But a powerless mecha couldn’t match Chu Zao’s speed. Chu Zao drew the bow, the arrow tip igniting with black flame, and released—BOOM!!!
No wonder the Crown Clan were so feared.
Often enough, they showed no mercy.
And Zao Zao, long since returned to the Crown Clan, had been well trained by Hel and Amos—Hel once said Zao Zao was fully capable of leading Holy Cas and taking it even further.
The rest of the Gesen mecha squad, still descending, froze in panic at the scene below.
“What’s going on?”
“That… What’s that? What’s that glowing and burning weapon—”
“No idea. Is that a bow and arrow? How? How could a bow pierce our armor??”
Voices chattered across the channel as Chu Zao, one hand gripping the glowing bow, looked up, wings spread but not yet taking flight, staring at the mechas on the horizon.
On Gesen screens—
Smoke and haze hadn’t fully dissipated, leaving everything in a shroud.
Those honeyed eyes shone through the gloom, sending a chill through all, silencing the comms. Dread sank over the squad; no one thought to report to Gesen.
Just then, Chu Zao raised his bow to the sky, and flames suddenly flared from the gloom.
Panic erupted.
“Aim at him—fire!!”
But this attack—was nothing compared to Third Uncle’s, right?
Chu Zao let go, murmuring.
“Too. Slow.”
Feeney watched from afar, listening to the mecha explosions.
He propped his chin on his hand.
“When he’s not smiling… he really is just like Amos—”
And angrier than Amos, perhaps.
Especially since this little guy was good at reading emotions.
Which meant for these enemies, death came at the height of fear.
If you had to ask, maybe it wasn’t clear exactly who the real tyrant was.
Only then did the Sanctuary’s members start to realize that something was… not right.
They’d held their own private meetings and worried over all sorts of things.
Was their homeland suffering too? Would the arriving fleet bring trouble?
The Sanctuary had spent so long worrying for Cas, never daring to ask too much.
Only now did they understand the natural arrogance of the Crown Clan.
Most beings in this star sector could not match the Crown Clan in power.
Now they finally felt it.
And they had no idea that the Crown Clan’s former hardships were solely because pollution conveniently countered them.
Chu Zao stomped back inside, still fuming.
He turned to them only after entering the ship.
“Got enough? A lot of my little robots seem damaged.”
Chu Zao muttered quietly.
“Why do some people jump to violence?”
This star sector had no concept of the Crown Clan and had no idea what the Sanctuary was about to become. They were used to lording it over others, passing the pressure of the aberrant beasts on down the line.
This was Chu Zao’s first time seeing humans act so rashly.
“N-no, not yet—”
Lai Qing finally stammered.
“We’ll continue collecting at once.”
Chu Zao nodded.
He glanced at the ruined mecha outside.
“Inform that arrogant Gesen Empire not to cross us again. The dignity of Holy Cas will not be slighted. Next time, the retaliation will be far harsher.”
Chu Zao would surely settle accounts with Gesen, but clearly he was more concerned with those arrogant aberrant beasts.
Lai Qing answered quickly: “Yes!”
Still dazed, he turned to his colleagues, exchanging disbelieving looks. They were all stunned.
A sense of helplessness.
Lai Qing had the team continue mining and set to drafting the letter of warning.
Chu Zao looked again at the battered little robots behind him.
Out of sight from others, he puffed out his cheeks in frustration.
Fun toys, ruined.
His wings folded up, white feathers bristling from anger. Realizing this, Chu Zao glanced over his shoulder—and couldn’t believe his eyes—
He looked again, then turned away.
No—his wing feathers were a mess!
He rarely cried or got really upset anymore, so his wings hardly ever looked messy; he could sort them out with a bit of effort.
But when they were ruffled this much, he was hopeless at fixing them.
Baba!!
At this age, to still be so pampered by his parents that he didn’t know how to preen—little Crown Zao Zao silently howled for help.
He gave it a half-hearted try, but couldn’t smooth out the fluff. He hugged his wings in front of him, trying again.
But with little luck, until, in irritation, Chu Zao tried to pull out the stubborn feather that wouldn’t fit anywhere.
He stopped midway.
Doing that, Dad would scold him.
Third Uncle wasn’t great at this either, and would just end up hurting him, not in the same way as plucking himself, but Feeney’s pinch always left a lasting ache. After one experience, Chu Zao never let Third Uncle touch his wings again.
Chu Zao grumpily shook his curls, and his wings too—
Finally, scruffy Zao Zao decided to just quit for now—fold up the wings and out of sight, out of mind.
Chao Huangmu watched, wanting to say something but stopped short.
He really wanted to help, hesitated, but didn’t step forward.
He’d never sorted feathers before.
But he felt he could try—
Before he could offer though, Chu Zao had already folded his ruffled wings away.
Chao Huangmu: …
Too slow!
Chao Huangmu slumped.
The starship soon mined enough ore and began its journey back.
It was already late.
By rights, Chu Zao should have been asleep.
But so much had happened in these days.
There was no time for proper rest.
Until Feeney sent Chu Zao to bed, keeping watch quietly outside.
Only Chao Huangmu and the Sanctuary members were left in the command room.
Chao Huangmu had not stood out much, always following Chu Zao’s lead.
Now, he set a pile of shiny gems or metals on the table, counting them one by one and happily stashing them away in his space button.
He did this nearly every day.
Lai Qing had already sent the warning, and glanced at Chao Huangmu.
“Um—”
Chao Huangmu looked up, always approachable.
“Yeah? What is it?”
“No, it’s nothing…”
Lai Qing hesitated a moment, then finally asked,
“The power of Their Highnesses…”
Chao Huangmu could guess what they meant.
He himself lacked strong feelings, but had always been good at reading emotions, knowing exactly what to show in every situation.
Now he only smiled brightly.
“Don’t worry.”
The sunny youth was still full of a boyish spirit.
“Everyone in Holy Cas knows: as long as His Majesty or the Highnesses are around, nothing will be a problem.”
“There’s no cause… for worry.”
Chao Huangmu said.
“Especially now that Zao Zao is so strong.”
More important was just hoping nothing went wrong on their way home.
Chao Huangmu mused—having experienced it firsthand, even he was speechless at Feeney’s particular brand of luck.
But nothing went wrong on the way back, which made even Feeney, now doubting himself, feel something big must be looming.
After refining, the ore yielded useful medicine in the nick of time.
Though they had more medicine now, the effects were minimal. This star sector focused on mechas, giving little thought to medicine.
So recovery was slow.
Day by day, the official survival match drew closer.
The official event had two stages.
Every nation and region here was caught up in fevered preparations for this deadly game that determined the fate of the coming year.
Over in Gesen, the warning from the Holy Cas Sanctuary had also arrived.
But Lai Qing hadn’t directly blamed the disappearance of the Gesen team on themselves, so the Gesen high command, already guilty from the preliminary round, didn’t even consider it further.
The exploration squads were not elites—just expendables. Sometimes they’d blunder into danger and be eaten by passing aberrant beast commanders. This happened now and then; they were used to it, and easily assumed this squad, which sent no distress signal, had just gotten lost and eaten.
So, Sanctuary’s warning struck them as absurd.
“They know?”
Emperor Yakai of Gesen sat on his throne, listening to his ministers. He said nothing, holding a scepter inset with a red jewel, eyes narrowed as he took in the scene.
“They should know. Wasn’t Ji Yuan taunting them at the end? But the Sanctuary pilots made it back alive, so it’s normal for them to realize we were targeting them.”
“Hm, that makes sense. I was going to ask why Ji Yuan taunted them—no need to expose our hand and bear unnecessary risks. But in retrospect, it’s been obvious we’re targeting the Sanctuary all along.”
“So the warning’s because of that?”
“Don’t make me laugh. What does the Sanctuary think it is, standing equal to our Empire? These guys think way too much of themselves.”
“And look, several days have passed before we even received this. Must have taken them ages to get up the nerve to send it—trembling, I bet. Quite pitiful, nothing to really discuss.”
“Exactly, just toss the letter aside. Even responding would be giving them too much credit.”
“Your Majesty, what is your verdict?”
Emperor Yakai looked away from his ministers, his gaze drifting carelessly outside.
“I wasn’t thinking of their Sanctuary at all.”
“Hahaha, His Majesty’s words as always cut to the chase.”
“He’s right. The Sanctuary is long since irrelevant. Holy Cas? Yes, I vaguely recall, a long time ago they called themselves Holy Cas Sanctuary, but that label hasn’t been used in ages—until today.”
“Just throw it aside—” someone said, discarding the letter, then looked again at the Emperor, asking, “What were you thinking about, Your Majesty?”
“What was I thinking?”
Yakai lowered his head, lazily resting his cheek on his hand. Golden hair fell past his face, a hint of cruelty in his eyes.
“I was thinking which target to pick for next year—settle scores with a new gathering, or send the Eastern Alliance packing.”
“True, the Eastern Alliance may seem weak outwardly, but they secretly ally with the Sanctuary—annoying.”
Meanwhile, the Eastern Alliance was also discussing strategies.
They too were puzzled by Sanctuary’s recent affairs.
But in the end, they contacted the Sanctuary, seeking cooperation, hoping to join forces in the survival match.
Whether for self-preservation or genuine desire to aid the Sanctuary, they reached out.
The Sanctuary responded actively.
Yet the Eastern Alliance noted—
Since the last pollution tide, the Sanctuary’s anxiety had vanished.
It was as if they’d found an anchor, growing stable once more.
This left the Eastern Alliance utterly baffled.
Meanwhile, the Sanctuary pressed forward in their own preparations—
After fiddling with the robots, Chu Zao tried piloting a mecha, wanting to mislead the enemy and observe the aberrant beasts.
But he wasn’t any good at it.
Mechas felt clumsy and awkward to him; Feeney had the same problem.
Chao Huangmu, who could operate basic mechas, took to it quickly.
It made them sigh—Crown Clan really did suit the charge-headlong approach.
Meanwhile.
After days of travel.
In the polluted zone near the barrier.
Countless aberrant beasts fled in panic.
The giant monster with ragged wings, unable to leave the pollution, became increasingly weak as it drifted from the shield, growling angrily from time to time.
Battered starships, tossed about by polluted forces, finally found a patch of thinning pollution.
The markings of the Holy Cas Group Army were battered but visible.
Inside, all systems ran normally.
“Your Majesty, we may have breached the pollution zone and entered a sector with alien civilization. Data is being collected. Young Highness’s position is being further fixed.”
Amos watched the screen, watching the lively little dot representing his cub bouncing around.
“Advance. Ignore the aberrant beasts for now.”
Amos raised a hand, gripping a psionic sword, radiating killing intent.
“Yes!”
Meanwhile, the region’s fierce annual survival match officially began.
Countless live drones launched—fixated as the Gesen Empire, not even pretending anymore and went straight for the Sanctuary.
And on the Sanctuary side—Chu Zao awkwardly piloted a mecha, excitedly speaking to Feeney, who was equally uncomfortable in the cockpit.
“Uncle, this is kind of fun!”
“What’s so fun about it—” Feeney muttered. Vigorous little cubs found everything entertaining, but adults had more to consider—”Don’t go too far, Uncle can’t keep up with you in here—it’s all your fault, Zao Zao—”
He felt the recent calm meant something major was looming.
Then Feeney saw the Sanctuary’s mecha bearing the Holy Cas insignia circle around him and striking a pose—the little mecha looked blocky and glitchy.
When no one was looking, little Chu Zao piped up: “It can even dance.”
Feeney: …
Chao Huangmu [dazed]: …Ah, cute.
Feeney then lowered his head to try it too—spinning in place.
Well, he had to admit, it was kind of fun.