The Holy Sanctuary was always ranked dead last in the entire sector, so they also got the worst position.
There was barely anyone watching their livestream—hardly any streaming devices following them. All people expected was for the Sanctuary to end up being the last group driven into the Aberrant Beast Hunting Zone.
Anyone who did pay attention did so only to mock them.
‘What’s up? The Sanctuary doesn’t have anyone left? Sent new recruits? They can’t even pilot mechas, they’re so clumsy. I could do better myself.’
‘What surprises me most is that no one in the Sanctuary seems frustrated. Have they already given up? Accepted their fate?’
‘Maybe so. They’re not going after points; they’re ignoring those easy-target teams, just racing toward the center. Did something happen to them? Are they after revenge on Gesen Empire?’
‘Revenge on Gesen? With that power? Please, looks to me like they’re just giving up. Anyway, Gesen is clearly hunting them, starting the game searching the edges. Now they’ve already found the Eastern Alliance—bad luck for them…’
‘Why did Sanctuary add Holy Cas to their name? Wasn’t there before, right?’
‘Not in the prelims, but I’ve heard they used to say they were from some Holy something, wanted to go back—what a joke! Only we survive in this sector; nowhere else is anyone still alive. Ridiculous!’
‘Guess they know it’s over, just trying to make us remember their claim to be Holy something? Hahaha, it’s all so surreal—’
Following Chu Zao were Chao Huangmu, Feeney, Yu Ye, and his old squad’s captain and vice captain, making a total of six.
For the entire sector on edge about this survival match, Chu Zao’s group didn’t care at all.
Crown Clan were always rule-setters. Who cared about games devised by others?
But the presence of the Sanctuary, atop the delay of Holy Cas’s fleet, forced Chu Zao’s group to plan for the worst.
After all, this was an unfamiliar star sector—even Feeney, adventurous as he was, felt obliged to be cautious; who knew what threats lurked? They were in the dark; foes were not yet aware of their existence, making this the best time to gather intel.
Not to mention that with just the three of them, and the Sanctuary’s cobbled-together forces, they couldn’t keep everyone safe—acting recklessly would only provoke suspicion and unnecessary trouble.
Surely Amos would arrive within these seven days of the survival match?
The familiar branch-creature they’d encountered had given them some measure—it shouldn’t have been far from the barrier, so Amos ought to be arriving by now.
If not, well, they had fallback plans.
Even if they ended up in the “hunting zone,” so be it—after all, Holy Cas was founded in an aberrant beast hunting ground. It was just a bit more troublesome.
“Your Highness, we’re heading to the central area—we should find the Aberrant Beast Commander in charge of this match there,” Yu Ye reported.
High-level Aberrant Beast Commanders weren’t common; lesser ones were more so.
These high-level Commanders and the Gesen Empire together sustained the survival game—such a system had endured for centuries.
Most info they gathered came from times like this.
Of course, that made it very dangerous.
Chu Zao nodded, switched his mecha to auto-follow, and sat eating candy noisily from a bag in his cockpit.
“Caution first—let’s dig up as much as we can.”
Mainly, neither Chu Zao nor Feeney had a solid grasp. How did the Crown Clan stack up to these high-level Commanders?
Chu Zao crunched away on his candy.
Feeney, done fooling with the mecha, started focusing on real work.
He said nothing as Chu Zao munched candy; in Holy Cas, no one would allow a Crown offspring to stuff themselves continually with candy, but here—
Not only did Feeney feel like there were threats everywhere, even Chu Zao was more anxious than usual.
Sweet candies eased his nerves.
“Let’s check previous reports on high-level Aberrant Beast Commanders—”
Chu Zao scrolled through data, popping more candy.
“Oh, right—the troublemaker empire, did those same mecha pilots join the survival match?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
The Gesen Empire trailed the beasts—they could be put aside for now, but Chu Zao had no thought of letting them off.
“Let’s go, let’s speed up! Head to the center.”
“Uncle, how old are you—quit playing, I’m not even playing anymore—”
Chu Zao said, drawing Feeney’s disgruntled muttering.
The Sanctuary’s mecha squad sped ahead, leaving the other teams startled and confused—
What was that flash just now? They’re not after points, not knocking out other teams—what’s their plan? Just running laps for survival’s sake??
Meanwhile, on the Gesen Empire side, their mecha squad had encountered the Eastern Alliance.
The Gesen team’s captain was again Ji Yuan. From afar, he fired, then dove at the Eastern team, knocking one of their mechas aside.
Landing atop the Eastern team’s mecha, his suit’s visored camera glowed sharply.
“Hey.”
Ji Yuan’s voice was cold.
One-handed, he pinned the mecha down, using technique and force so the Eastern team’s captain could not move.
“You lot have always worked closely with the Sanctuary, haven’t you?”
Rules were tighter for the official match, and the sector’s residents were watching closely. Signals were shielded from the outside, so Ji Yuan’s team couldn’t contact the empire—just some in-match news. They had no clue if the Sanctuary ran out of fear or ran to fight, only that they’d rushed from the starting zone and vanished.
All sub-alliances dominated by Gesen reported losing track of the Sanctuary’s members.
And the Eastern Alliance had always kept close ties with them.
The Eastern captain gritted his teeth but could not break free.
His teammates tried to help but were blocked.
He signaled them to stand down.
The Eastern Alliance didn’t want direct conflict with Gesen Empire, nor expected to run into them here—their main worry had been the aberrant beasts.
Seeing that Ji Yuan didn’t immediately try to eliminate them, the Eastern captain softened his tone.
“That was a high-level decision; we weren’t involved. We don’t really know, either.”
“Don’t play dumb.”
Ji Yuan sneered, lifting his mecha’s arm—the barrel pointed at the Eastern captain’s mecha-head, then slowly lowered it, aiming at the cockpit.
“I don’t care if it’s your leaders or grunts. But you can definitely contact the Sanctuary, right? Call them here—now.”
The arrogance and hubris were blatant.
With the resources of Gesen, they produced some of the best mecha pilots in the sector—Ji Yuan as prime example.
For the Eastern Alliance, standing against them was hopeless.
“Try again.”
Ji Yuan’s gun didn’t move, still aimed at the kill spot.
“Better do as I say.”
He smiled, “Really, I just don’t get you Easterners—so wishy-washy. Why not just be a good little dog for the Empire? Why chase after the Sanctuary? Didn’t you see what happened to them in the prelims? That’s your warning right there.”
“You…”
The Eastern captain hissed, but swallowed his words.
He couldn’t be eliminated now—
He had to hold out, buy time for the Alliance, then, if need be, go down swinging!
“Not feeling cooperative? Oh, right.”
Ji Yuan’s gun abruptly flashed—the threat clear.
“If you’re in charge, that’s trouble. Who knows if you’re plotting with the Alliance to stab the Empire in the back. To prove your sincerity, I’ll make sure your death is meaningful. The Empire guarantees your Alliance won’t be knocked out so soon—you won’t be sent to the hunting zone this year.”
His words conveyed a message: just one life for such a promise—be grateful.
At that, the Eastern team, already restrained, immediately erupted with fury, leaping forward to help.
“Who needs your charity?!”
“Captain!”
In a flash, the mecha pilots clashed—quickly, decisively.
Unable to escape, the Eastern captain jettisoned his escape pod, stumbling a few paces before being blasted aside by the force of Ji Yuan’s cannon.
“Looks like you want to join the Sanctuary in the hunting zone—”
On the stream, Gesen Empire’s match had endless viewers.
With the largest numbers, talk of eliminating the Easterners scrolled non-stop—everyone had bet on Gesen winning. The odds weren’t great, but winnings could pay for the next time the Empire tried to send one of them to the beasts—buy another’s slot instead.
It was madness.
The Eastern residents watching the battle were furious, but powerless.
Their nation was too weak—they were at others’ mercy, their heads forced lower and lower, yet it still wasn’t enough for the powerful.
The Eastern captain drew his sidearm in pitiful resistance.
Just then, a squad hurried past them—
Yu Ye paused, startled.
“Your Highness, that’s the Eastern Alliance—and that’s Gesen’s mecha squad—”
The imperial insignia flashed on Ji Yuan’s team.
The Sanctuary’s party stopped.
Chu Zao looked over.
“That’s the Eastern Alliance? Are they friends?”
Yu Ye only hesitated a moment, “Of the sector, the Easterners aren’t hopeless. They’re friends.”
“Brother Mu.”
Chu Zao’s mecha pivoted awkwardly as he called out.
Ji Yuan caught the movement—Yu Ye’s mecha was vaguely familiar. He was just thinking how conveniently they’d come to him.
After finishing off that guy, he’d take care of these Sanctuary fools.
Then—
In his peripheral vision, a streak of light flashed by.
With a clang, his mecha’s cannon was wrenched skyward, firing into the air. Ji Yuan’s hand was nearly twisted off by the controls, grimacing at the force.
A strange mecha, bearing unknown insignia, was suddenly in front of him.
Chao Huangmu’s eyes glowed—he smiled, letting his psionic power surge, all his pent-up anger clamoring to destroy everything.
But Chao Huangmu kept his thoughts on Zao Zao—
Zao Zao is so cute, so powerful—look at the gem Zao Zao gave me, today’s my lucky stone, doesn’t matter what fortune-telling says—
Zao Zao… Zao Zao…
He seemed to catch Ji Yuan’s pained grunt.
He chuckled.
“Ha—”
His handsome face shone, but hid in shadow as he lightly asked, despite everything—
“Wouldn’t it be nice if the things that upset Zao Zao were never even born into this world?”
Chao Huangmu’s mecha’s cannon was aimed at Ji Yuan.
Cold sweat ran down spines.
What was this power?
Though Soul Clan psionics differed from Crown Clan’s, both were mythical immortals of the sector—the sense of oppression was the same, and Chao Huangmu had rarely used his Soul Clan gifts, mostly relying on mental weapons.
In this, he excelled—Yun Songquan and Peng Liang used to say: who could outdo this beast on this front?
The show of power drew the attention of the aberrant beast commanders.
Plenty of senior aberrant beast commanders were now at the survival match’s center, watching.
“What’s that…?”
“Is that the unpleasant psionic power from the Sanctuary?”
Soft whispers echoed.
One high-level commander, Stormdrain, who had previously kept tabs on the Sanctuary’s affairs, was growing uneasy.
His long instinct for danger alarmed him.
He stood up.
“I need to leave for a bit.”
He just felt he could not stay—not with whatever was about to happen.
“Leaving already?”
The other commanders laughed and made snide remarks at Stormdrain’s exit, then glanced at Flashfire.
Flashfire had tangled with the Sanctuary before.
Now, he sat watching the screen above, biting his lip as countless reflections darted across his compound eyes.
He looked stunned.
“Flashfire, what’s going on? You’ve been to the Sanctuary, right? And the center’s being guarded by one of your insect commanders, isn’t it? Any new findings?”
“Flashfire, what’s wrong? Don’t tell me you’re scared!”
A beast snickered.
They mocked Flashfire’s unease.
Aberrant beasts, long at the top of the food chain, had gotten used to being the hunters; humans behaved and most obeyed the order of things.
Under such dominance, odd feelings of unease like these were dismissed as illusions.
“How could I be.”
Flashfire sneered.
Suddenly realizing, he’d been thinking about what he saw while leaving the Sanctuary—something… that chilled him.
But how could that be?
Beasts were the strongest of this sector.
It was undisputed.
It had to be an illusion.
Flashfire stood up, grim, inner lights flickering in his eyes. He resolved to see for himself—
“Let me check out these creatures—”
What kind of terrifying psionic power could humans really have? He didn’t believe it.
He smirked. “After all, we set the rules.”
In the Gesen Empire, Emperor Yakai and his ministers watched the live feed.
During the survival match, imperial patrols watched the perimeter.
They watched, tense.
“What’s that mecha made of? What materials and energy? How does it have that power? Is the Sanctuary secretly harvesting special resources?”
“Your Majesty—”
Yakai’s eyes remained still: “Don’t panic.”
“Yes, yes—don’t panic—”
Just then—
A patrolling mecha squad reported in—
“Your Majesty, at coordinates (xxx, xxx, xxx), we’ve found an unidentified fleet, heavily damaged. The insignias are unfamiliar—possibly a minor state. Shall we drive them off?”
Who had time for some battered old ships now?
Yakai didn’t hesitate: “Expel them. The survival match is already begun—latecomers go straight to the hunting zone!”
Aboard the Holy Cas starship.
“Report, Your Majesty, unidentified fliers ahead—looks like some type of mecha. Suspected local residents, gathering energies for analysis—very near the young Highness’s position.”
“Is it the local powers?”
Feiman leaned at the door, her frosty face dark. Her crown flickered above her head, her psionics weapon radiating cold light.
“Second Brother, you go get Zao Zao, leave them to me. I’ll give it everything—we’ll never be arrogant or careless.”
Crown Clan are proud, not foolish.
Amos replied, “You’re right—”
He raised his hand, gripping his psionic sword. Behind him, wings spread—his gaze fixed on the blinking beacon of his little cub.
He spoke steadily, calm but with force. Above his head, a silver-black crown slowly materialized; the temperature dropped unmistakably.
The first wave of Holy Cas officers and soldiers to enter this area looked at Amos.
“Unknown star sector, prepare for everything.”
Anyone able to reach equilibrium with the aberrant beasts—was a real threat.
Amos, at this moment, even esteemed them, devising several contingency plans.
The Black Tyrant of Holy Cas, cold and formidable, spoke again: “Bring Zao Zao home.”
“Yes! Bring the young Highness home!”