Yet, in the very next second.
"Alice" spoke. In a woman's voice, but with the roaring cadence of a prehistoric behemoth, she shouted at Puta'er, "She is my creation, my subject, do you understand? Whoever tries to kill her dies!"
She spoke in the Great Spike tongue. However, humanity's decryption of the Great Spike language had vastly improved, and they had brought plenty of translation equipment and personnel on this expedition. Even if a few individual words were slightly vague, the overall meaning was clear enough once translated.
So, it was Nikola!
The one taking action was neither the consciousness of Ne nor that of Alice, but Nikola itself.
It had saved Rusty Sister in the nick of time.
And in doing so, it had also kept Wu Xu alive.
At first glance, this turn of events was bewildering and difficult to comprehend. Yet for those who knew some of the inside story—like Wen Jifei, Han Qingyu, and the others—a moment's reflection was all it took to understand.
The "resurrected" Nikola had long ceased to consider itself part of the Great Spike species, nor did it consider itself part of humanity. It believed it was forging an entirely new race—one that would be immortal and eternally powerful—and that it was the creator of this race.
As for Rusty Sister, someone who should have died, she had not only survived thanks to the source energy circulatory system beneath her battered iron armor, but had also metamorphosed and grown, ultimately freeing herself from the armor. She had originally been one of Ne's experimental subjects—the sole success—and was later taken by Nikola as its own creation, the only resurrectable pure source energy being like itself across both worlds.
If Nikola now viewed itself as the Holy Father, then Rusty Sister was the Holy Child... the Holy Maiden in its eyes.
Within her body lay all the secrets for Nikola to expand its glorious race in the future.
How could it possibly let Rusty Sister die?
Realizing this made everything easy to understand. That creature might well have been protecting Rusty Sister all along; after all, ever since Rusty Sister had arrived on the Moon, it had never once intervened—until just now, when it had suddenly attacked Wu Xu.
There was no time to ponder why it had suddenly lashed out at Wu Xu. It was an enemy to begin with, and its mind had never seemed entirely sound. Just because it considered Rusty Sister one of its own didn't mean it harbored any goodwill toward her "lowly" human friends.
"Nidu?" the Great Spike Puta'er suddenly asked in a raspy voice.
Perhaps that was Nikola's original name or title. The other party recognized it, most likely having crossed paths before Nikola, aged and near death, piloted a ship out on its solo exploration.
"Nikola!" Yet Nikola refused to acknowledge that former name or title. It stared at the opponent. "Who are you?"
"Yeke," the Great Spike Puta'er said solemnly. "Hero of our clan's exploration, why do you suddenly fight for these lowly creatures? We came to find the skeletal remains and complete the conquest. You are to join us."
The intent could not have been clearer. The giant Puta'er named Yeke steadied itself, then asked in a low, rumbling roar, "You betray Miwang?"
"Miwang? A pathetic name. A worthless wretch who couldn't even protect his own race and was forced to migrate his entire people," Nikola replied.
"Hahahahaha..." Great Spikes certainly never laughed like that, but Nikola, tainted by human habits, did. Coming from the body of a young woman in a woman's voice, that laughter with the cadence of a prehistoric beast's roar seemed absurdly grotesque.
"I have already told you: Nikola is the Creator—the Creator of a brand-new, glorious race that is immortal, perfect, and transcends all," Nikola continued. "The Blue Star belongs to me, and the skeletal remains belong to me as well. Here, I will establish my divine kingdom, and then I will conquer all."
"Arooo!" *Boom!* The giant Puta'er flew into a fury, its source energy erupting as its aura surged astonishingly. Raising its greatsword high once more, it bellowed, "Traitors die!"
Raising its blade, it charged forward, hacking downward with all its might.
By then, the standoff between Alice and Puta'er had already formed on the battlefield. With that single parry moments ago, Nikola had proved that it now possessed the combat power of a complete-form Puta'er.
Yet the explosive energy swirling around the greatsword—energy capable of easily suppressing and binding humanity's top-tier combatants—seemed entirely nonexistent in front of Nikola.
Nimble and agile, "Alice" easily slipped through the energy clusters and leaped into the air. With the small pillar sword in hand, she tapped repeatedly down the four-edged greatsword from above. At the same time, her whole body surged forward along the angle of the blade, thrusting straight toward Puta'er's wrists, chest, neck, and face...
"They're really fighting!"
"They've clashed."
"Stay away from that area."
A head-on clash between two monsters whose combat power was unquestionably above the Vault tier—perhaps Star tier... The immense fluctuations of source energy and the staggering spectacle seemed to freeze the entire airspace in place.
Warships continued flying, rocking and struggling within the source energy storm, while friend and foe alike seemed momentarily to forget about attacking and killing.
"It looks like neither side will decide victory or death anytime soon."
"In any case, this should be a good thing, at least for now," Wen Jifei said slowly over the channel, then began chanting rather childishly, "Fight, fight, fight..."
Inside the command ship, Wen Jifei clenched his fists tight in excitement. This was without doubt an incomparably pleasant surprise, and the most advantageous situation possible under the circumstances.
Once his excitement cooled, he broadcast simultaneously to the battlefield and the ground Staff Headquarters: "This situation won't last too long. We have to seize the moment. More importantly, don't indulge in wishful thinking. In the end, we will still have to face them—either both of them or whichever one remains, especially once the skeletal remains are found."
This was his reminder to all human soldiers across the lunar battlefield.
Even more so, it was his reminder—even a warning—to the Azure Board of Elders and the Staff Headquarters down on Earth.
He worried greatly that those old bastards, who always thought themselves "composed" and "far-sighted," would come up with some other godforsaken scheme just because the battlefield situation had shifted.
"Rest assured, Chief of Staff Wen." Blue Star's ground communications carried a slight delay, but Speaker Kemore's voice came through earnest over the channel: "We understand what you mean. Nothing will change. The trump card is already prepared and will deploy immediately."
"Then everything will proceed according to the original plan."
After finishing his words, Wen Jifei sat for several dozen seconds.
The entire Blue Star Staff Headquarters had just rejoiced in excitement for several dozen seconds.
"Report!"
A communications orderly, wearing a look of sheer panic as if his very soul had been torn away, rushed in with frantic steps. With eyes filled with terror, fury, and despair, he stumbled before the long conference table.
"The trump card—something happened to the trump card!"
"What? Something happened to Daniele?!" Speaker Kemore leaped to his feet, tense and anxious.
"No," the orderly said, dazed. "Before boarding the ship in Antarctica, he suddenly activated his trait and bonded with the super combatant Azmon."
Chapter 980