Chapter 1034 - Duel (1/2)
At this point, these organizations knew full well that the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy would have nothing more to do with them.
They were somewhat disappointed but not surprised. A few days back, when they realized that the dynasty and church had interfered in this, they knew that their chances were negligible.
However, being able to confirm that the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy had appeared in the Emerald Star Cluster, as well as having the opportunity to watch a battle between many Beyond Grade As, most of them felt it was worth the trip.
Although the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy was taken away by Black Star, they did not disperse immediately but took out their snacks to watch the wrestling between Black Star and Secret Master.
Only a few organizations who had yet to give up wanted to chase after the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy, but they were stopped by the mechanical army. Looking at the dense psionic barrels, these people could only remain there with resignation.
While the Lord’s Avatar led the mechanical army to fight Secret Master, the dynasty’s fleet responded as well and immediately reported Black Star’s interference in this battle. This got to the man in charge of this operation, an upper echelon of the dynasty’s hawk faction, Bekorodi.
“Black Star is there too? And he got it‽”
Far away in the remote command center inside the dynasty’s territory, Bekorodi’s eyes opened so wide that they almost popped out. He was shocked and enraged.
“His Excellency Ravenlaude is already chasing after it. He will probably have a direct conflict with Black Star. What should we do?” the fleet’s commander asked cautiously.
Hearing this, Bekorodi frowned heavily. He was filled with hesitation.
He felt that this matter was very difficult to deal with. Black Star was an important ally to the dynasty. Usually, the two sides should avoid conflict as much as possible.
However, before this, the dynasty did not know that Black Star would interfere with this, which made Bekorodi rather worried.
With the dynasty’s control of the Flickering World, somehow, they did not notice that Black Star had sent a team out to that place. This showed that the Black Star Army had secretly built quite a number of things in the Flickering World by making use of the dynasty’s support.
Bekorodi felt that in situations like this, Black Star should be the one to take a step back first. However, Black Star clearly saw that the dynasty was involved, yet he still took part in the battle. To Bekorodi, this was Black Star not giving the dynasty’s face, which made a hawk faction upper echelon like him rather unhappy.
Undoubtedly, he felt that the situation was all Black Star’s fault, so he was in a dilemma.
Should he continue the operation while taking the risk of offending Black Star or back off and give up the plan?
“Sir, should we contact the Ruler?”
While pondering, his subordinate’s voice pulled Bekorodi out of his train of thought. He paused then said with a deep voice, “Don’t notify the Ruler yet. Contact Black Star first. I’ll talk to him.”
He knew that Urranrell liked Black Star, so he did not want to notify her. He could only control the mission if he dealt with it himself.
The command center called up Black Star’s number. It rang three times before it was picked up. Han Xiao’s face appeared on the screen with a meaningful smile.
“Not bad, not bad, you contacted me earlier than I expected.”
Bekorodi’s eyes twitched. He suppressed his anger, forced out a smile, and said, “Black Star, remember me? I’m Bekorodi.”
“Hello, we meet again. Have you eaten?”
“Just had dinner.”
“You look quite well. Have you been sleeping well recently? You’re not young anymore, so don’t work so hard. Rest more.”
“I’m used to working hard, just can’t seem to be too free. After so many years, I’ve gotten used to working every day long ago, but I have indeed been getting rather good sleep recently. I…”
Halfway through speaking, Bekorodi suddenly stopped.
He only just noticed that without knowing, he had followed Han Xiao’s lead and actually subconsciously started chattering, almost forgetting what he wanted to say in this call.
Plus, we’re not even close! Black Star, are you trying to play for time?
Bekorodi coughed heavily, trying to cover up the awkwardness. He then quickly gained back control and questioned, “You know why I’ve called you, don’t you? It’s a surprise you’ve had your eyes on the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy too. This information came from EsGod’s heritage. You should have notified the dynasty or at least reported your actions. If you’d done that, the accidents today would have been totally avoided. Why didn’t you?”
Han Xiao’s expression looked strange, as if he was saying, What kind of question is that?
“Doesn’t not notifying you guys mean that I want it for myself? Plus, I don’t seem to recall that I’m obligated to give all the intelligence I have to the dynasty or report my personal activities. We’re allies, not employer and employee.”
Bekorodi made a serious expression and said, “Anyway, there’s no need for discussion on this matter. Listen to me. The dynasty doesn’t want the outside world to see us fight with our allies. This needs a solution.”
“It’s simple then—give up. Give the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy to me, and it’s done.” Han Xiao smiled.
“Impossible,” Bekorodi said subconsciously, but he then realized that his tone was not very appropriate, so he calmed down. “The dynasty needs the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy too. We won’t let it go so easily.”
“What do you need the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy for?” Han Xiao was curious.
Bekorodi shut up immediately.
It was not like he could tell Black Star the truth and say that it was to replicate the Evolution Cube’s abilities.
They wanted the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy to make Gaud grow quicker and step into the Beyond Grade A territory sooner. The goal of that was to analyze the Evolution Cube. Gaud would only be able to analyze the Evolution Energy with his Esper Ability if he was Beyond Grade A.
After quite some time, Bekorodi finally forced the words “It’s confidential…” out of his mouth.
“Never mind then.” Han Xiao shook his head. “Anyway, I won’t just back off like this. It’s true that we’re allies, but I can’t possibly give everything to you once you just tell me to do so. Even those Ultimate Knowledges required me to make contributions to gain access to them. You can’t just ask me to give selflessly, can you?”
Bekorodi nodded. “Okay, then let’s make a deal. We’re willing to exchange for the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy. What do you want? Intelligence? Knowledge? Resources? A Universal Treasure? I’m guessing you want the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy probably because you want to turn it into a Universal Treasure, so you might as well exchange it with us. You can choose from the list we gave you last time. I can approve this deal personally.”
The dynasty had to give Ravenlaude a Universal Treasure to hire him to start with, so since the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy was now in Black Star’s hands, Bekorodi just made the same deal with Black Star.
The deal with Ravenlaude, of course, would no longer be valid. He would at most receive some resources as compensation…
Ravenlaude, who was still chasing the mechanical army, did not yet know that his employer had already given up hope on him and that the Universal Treasure he had been thinking of was basically out of his reach.
Han Xiao raised his brows. “And what if you go back on your word?”
“If you agree, I’ll make Ravenlaude retreat first, and you can keep the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy for the time being. Then, you will make a public announcement to eliminate the rumors caused by this conflict. Following that, you can exchange it for a Universal Treasure with us. Therefore, you don’t have to worry that we won’t keep up our side of the deal.”
Bekorodi did not plan to play any tricks at all. He at least had this much pride as a superior in the dynasty.
However, Han Xiao did not plan to agree immediately…
If my teammate runs away, who do I beat up?
“We’ll talk about this next time. I have yet to decide if I want to give you guys or not. I need to think about it. Therefore, for now, let’s just compete fairly… Since you don’t want the outside world to know, we’ll fight in a place where there’s no one else.” Han Xiao’s tone was calm, and he did not completely reject the deal.
Bekorodi’s face stiffened. He was very annoyed.
He did not want to waste any more time and gave a simple “okay”. He then ended the call. He told his subordinate to notify Ravenlaude that he had to obtain the Primal Chaos Mysterious Energy.