[Late Night, Mt. Tsuki City]
"Are you the one who sent the request for aid to headquarters?"
Tendo's voice rang in Mitchell's ears. Not far from them, the monster-transformed Vice-Captain was being pinned to the ground by an invisible force controlled by Tendo. No matter how much he struggled, he could not rise. This was the result of Tendo using his vector field to precisely lock the creature's joints, preventing even a sliver of excess Star Energy from leaking out.
Gazing at Tendo, who had neutralized the Vice-Captain in a single encounter, Mitchell froze for half a second before snapping back to reality. He hurriedly adjusted the glasses that had slipped to the tip of his nose, his voice trembling slightly with excitement.
"Y-yes! Are you the support Star Envoy sent by headquarters?"
His gaze darted across the General Association badge on Tendo's chest before falling back onto the suppressed Vice-Captain, his heart pounding. Just a moment ago, this monster had been hunting him until he had nowhere to run; now, it was pinned down like a dying dog. The sudden reversal of fortune made it impossible for him to remain calm.
Tendo did not respond to Mitchell's question, nor did he spare him a glance. His pale blue eyes were locked onto the man standing a short distance away: Elijah, the former Third Squad Captain of Mt. Tsuki. Tendo's expression was like a frozen lake, devoid of any emotional ripple.
Under the moonlight, the Third Squad Captain's skin was erupting in fine green scales. Claws half an inch long grew from his fingertips, and his aura was as murky as boiling black water, tainting the surrounding air with a foul, rotten stench.
Tendo tilted his head slightly. His silver bangs swayed with the movement, and even the breeze he stirred carried a hint of chill.
"The moment I stepped through the Boundary Gate, I smelled a nauseating scent. It seems the situation here is quite a bit more complicated than what I saw in the reports."
Hearing Tendo's words, Elijah's pupils constricted sharply. It was true that both he and Tendo were Third-Grade Star Envoys; he had even used the power of "Symbiosis" to gain recovery and explosive power comparable to a Star Beast. Yet, facing this unfamiliar silver-haired man, he felt like prey being stared down by a natural predator. Every hair on his back stood on end.
He knew his advantages well. The hardening ability of his Star Source, "Mad Bone," combined with the hyper-regeneration of his parasitic Star Beast, meant that ordinary Third-Grade Envoys were no match for him. But the aura radiating from Tendo was far too strange. It was a sense of pressure that appeared calm on the surface but could swallow everything in an instant.
This Envoy from headquarters was definitely not simple. If possible, Elijah did not want to fight him. But if Tendo was allowed to transmit news of this place back to the Association, then the Master's plan...
Ignoring Elijah's shifting expressions, Tendo took a step forward. The stone tiles beneath him did not crack, yet a circle of invisible vector ripples expanded outward from his foot. Wherever the ripples touched, the cracks in the ground were forcibly smoothed over. Though this step released no world-shaking Star Energy, Elijah's breathing suddenly hitched as if a massive boulder had been placed on his chest. Even his heart seemed to stop for a fleeting second.
Amidst Elijah's grim expression, Tendo's gaze fell upon the man's claws as if looking at an insignificant decoration.
"What an ugly appearance..."
The moment those words were spoken, Elijah's face twisted into a snarl.
"You genius from a greenhouse, what do you know of power!" Elijah roared, his scale-covered cheeks warping. As he spoke, the "saliva" dripping from his mouth hit the ground, instantly corroding a small pit that hissed with white smoke.
In the next second, he snapped his jaws open, spitting a glob of dark green acid toward Tendo.
Seeing this, Mitchell cried out in alarm, instinctively wanting to warn Tendo to dodge. But before he could speak, the words caught in his throat. Tendo simply raised his right hand, pressing his index and middle fingers together. The glob of dark green acid, which was emitting an ear-piercing sizzle, was suddenly frozen mid-air. Even the trajectories of the splashing droplets became clearly visible.
"Noisy."
Tendo flicked his hand casually. The acid, twisted into a single mass by an invisible force, was slapped against a nearby wall with a "splat." The wall was instantly dissolved into a large hole, and rubble crumbled down.
As if he had done something trivial, Tendo spoke to Mitchell without turning his head. "Step back. I cannot guarantee you won't be affected by the coming battle."
Even though Tendo's voice carried no explicit command and his tone was flat, Mitchell found himself snapping to attention.
"U-understood. Please be careful."
Without hesitation, Mitchell turned and ran into the distance. He knew that regardless of how much he worried about Tendo, his strength as a mere First-Grade Envoy meant that staying behind would offer zero help; it would only be a liability. Leaving was the greatest assistance he could provide. Besides, he wasn't the only one in Mt. Tsuki who had noticed the branch's abnormality; he had allies. His power alone might not help Tendo, but if he could bring more people...
He ran a few steps but couldn't help stealing one last look back. Under the moonlight, Tendo's silver hair shimmered with a pale golden luster. Meanwhile, Elijah had fully erupted; green scales covered his entire body, bat-like wings had sprouted from his back, and his claws flashed with the cold light of Star Energy. Mitchell gritted his teeth, chose to believe in Tendo, and sprinted off to fetch reinforcements.
Once the dead weight that was Mitchell had left, Tendo looked back at Elijah and said calmly, "Symbiosis? Interesting."
In the scene, Tendo's Stellar Eclipse Eyes glowed faintly, and intricate golden patterns surfaced within his pale blue irises. With these eyes, Tendo clearly "saw" the energy flow within Elijah. He saw the hardening energy of the Star Source, "Mad Bone," and the regeneration factors of the parasitic Star Beast being activated together. While these two powers appeared fused, there was actually a subtle repulsion between them.
This was the fundamental difference between Elijah and a "Child of the Stars." Tendo's dual abilities were the perfect synchronization of Star Core and Star Source; Elijah was merely a tethering of a "host" and a "parasite." As long as the energy connection between the two was severed, Elijah's so-called dual abilities were nothing more than a clumsy imitation of a Child of the Stars—fragile and easily broken.
"Roar!"
Choosing not to waste more words, Elijah flapped the membranes of his wings violently. His body lunged forward like an arrow from a bow, his shimmering claws aiming straight for Tendo's throat. His speed was fast enough to leave afterimages, and his claws whistled through the air with massive momentum.
Against this ferocious assault, Tendo simply tilted his body with effortless grace.
Shrip!
Elijah's claws grazed past Tendo's tactical suit, failing to touch even a single strand of his silver hair. Having dodged the strike, Tendo pressed his hand against Elijah's chest and said flatly, "Vector... Inversion."
"Pffft!"
Elijah felt the energy within his body suddenly surge backward like a tide. The hardening energy that should have flowed to his claws instantly backfired upon himself. He spat out a mouthful of blood and was sent flying like a kite with a broken string, slamming heavily into a utility pole behind him. The pole buckled inward with a screech of twisting metal.
On the other side, Tendo's feet touched the ground softly. The dust beneath him was automatically repelled by the vector field surrounding him, leaving even the soles of his tactical boots pristine. He watched the fallen Elijah and did not rush to follow up. He spoke calmly: "As my first opponent after such a long period of seclusion, you shall serve as the touchstone for this excursion."
As Tendo spoke, he reached up to tug at the cuff of his tactical suit. On his exposed wrist, a flash of pale golden patterns flickered. The surrounding air, previously tainted by acid, was swept clean under the influence of his invisible vector field, returning to normal in the blink of an eye. It was as if this entire area had completely become Tendo's personal "stage."
"Roar—"
Elijah let out another roar, the massive sound waves causing nearby windows to rattle. He struggled to his feet; in such a short time, the piercing wound on his chest had mostly healed, leaving only a faint red scar. He looked at Tendo and suddenly beat his chest violently.
In the next second, the muscles beneath his green scales began to bulge frantically as his Star Source, Mad Bone, was fully activated. Numerous bone spikes erupted from his shoulder plates, elbows, and knees. The longest spike on his spine was half a meter long, its tip glinting with a morbid white light. Simultaneously, the power of the Star Beast within him was activated to its limit, causing his size to balloon to five meters. His wings became covered in patterns resembling a Star Beast.
"Mad Bone: Earth Splitter!"
Elijah kicked off the ground, leaving two deep craters behind. His body shot toward Tendo like a cannonball. His claws whistled as they tore through the air, even creating slight distortions in their wake. This was his finishing move—combining Star Source hardening with Star Beast explosiveness—an attack that had once killed a powerful Third-Grade Envoy in a single strike.
Yet, Tendo didn't move for the longest time. Within his pale blue eyes, Elijah's movements were slowed to the absolute limit by the Stellar Eclipse Eyes. The flow of Star Energy on the claws, the flapping frequency of the wings, and even the contraction paths of the opponent's muscles were clearly presented before him.
"Too slow."
Tendo spoke softly. Using his palm as a blade, he struck precisely at Elijah's wrist joint. With a crisp crack, Elijah's claw instantly lost its strength and went limp. The force of Tendo's palm strike didn't just break the joint; it injected a vector field into his body, temporarily locking his Star Energy circulation.
But Elijah was prepared. The spikes on his spine suddenly shot out like javelins toward Tendo's back. Simultaneously, his wings flapped violently, sending a cloud of dark green powder laced with paralytic toxins toward Tendo's face.
In response, invisible vector ripples surfaced beneath Tendo's feet. His body, as if pulled by an invisible wire, drifted three meters to the side, narrowly avoiding the bone spikes and toxic powder. The projectiles nailed themselves into the wall behind him, cracking the entire surface. The toxic powder hit the ground, instantly staining the stone tiles with black corrosive marks.
Before Tendo could fully land, Elijah lunged again. This time, he stopped chasing speed and instead used his spike-covered body for a crushing, steamroller attack. He swung an arm laden with bone spikes in a wide sweep, carving deep furrows into the ground and sending debris flying. The strong winds generated by his wings whipped up nearby trash cans and bicycles, hurling them at Tendo to restrict his evasion space.
Tendo dodged while critiquing the fight: "Combining Star Beast abilities with Star Source power can indeed allow one to fight above their rank. But unfortunately..."
In the scene, Tendo moved effortlessly through the clutter. A bicycle grazed his shoulder and crumpled against a wall. Shrapnel from a trash can was repelled by the vector field around him, failing to touch even his hem.
"...Your fusion is far too crude."
Hearing this, Elijah slammed both hands into the ground. Star Source energy surged into the earth through his palms, and countless bone spikes erupted from beneath Tendo's feet, instantly forming a closed bone cage to trap him completely. The tips of the spikes secreted dark green acid, and the inner walls of the cage began to contract at a visible rate, attempting to crush and dissolve Tendo.
Tendo simply raised a hand and pressed it against the bone spikes in front of him. Immediately, the invisible vector field expanded. The contraction of the cage walls halted abruptly and began to expand outward.
Bang!
The bone cage shattered completely under the force of Tendo's vector field, sending countless bone fragments flying in all directions. Tendo stepped onto a flying shard of bone and teleported directly in front of Elijah.
This time, Tendo took the initiative to attack.
Elijah, who had been slashed in several places by his own shattered bone spikes, was about to retreat when he felt a sudden numbness at the back of his neck. Tendo's speed far exceeded his reactions; Tendo was already behind him, his finger pointing precisely at the connection point between Elijah's Star Source and the parasitic Star Beast's core.
"It's over."
A black light flickered at Tendo's fingertip. The vector field surged into Elijah's body like a sharp scalpel, instantly severing the energy flow between the Star Source and the parasitic Star Beast.
"AAAAAAAHHHH!"
Elijah let out a shrill scream. The bone armor covering his body began to shatter from the joints, fragments flying everywhere. The green scales receded at a visible rate, revealing skin riddled with bulging veins. His five-meter frame shrank rapidly, and his wings slumped like tattered rags. He fell to the ground, twitching as the Star Beast's energy lost control and rampaged through his body. Blood vessels beneath his skin bulged like earthworms and burst, and dark green blood seeped from his pores.
"No... Master will kill me..." Elijah's consciousness began to blur, yet he was still muttering. He tried to activate his Star Source again, but it felt frozen; he couldn't summon even a spark of Star Energy.
Tendo landed on the ground and brushed the dust from his hands. He looked at the twitching Elijah with no emotion in his eyes. From the moment Elijah unleashed his ultimate move to the moment he was completely suppressed by Tendo, barely a dozen seconds had passed. The seemingly invincible bone armor and the lightning-fast Earth Splitter claws were like children's toys before Tendo, easily dismantled.
It was clear that this battle had been unfair from the very beginning. Even though they were both Third-Grade, Tendo's strength was far beyond the other's.
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