The Almighty Ring

Armed and ready, the enemies crashed Winter Islands. Everyone living on the island was completely taken by surprise. No one had ever thought of preparing themselves for an intruder, much less a large scale attack from a fleet of Androids.

Fortunately, the island had its own means of defense. Han Tianyu had an army of tens of thousands of robots. Structurally, they were as strong as a hollowed, withered tree, but they were armed with energy cannons. Compared to the invaders, Han Tianyu had the strength in numbers.

One minute earlier, before the attack started, the skies were clear. Cheering cries of playing children, birds chirping in the air, waves crashing on the beach. All sorts of peaceful sounds were what filled the air. The enemies came without any warning and in no time at all, nothing but explosions could be heard. The skies darkened as debris and dust blanketed the morning sun.

Without delay, Han Tianyu ordered the robot army to defend the island from the Unknowns, to protect the islanders and all that lived. The next thing he did was head toward Jiang Fei’s house to make sure all of Jiang Fei’s family members were safe.

“No time to explain. Come with me!” Han Tianyu roared. Shang Guanqi and Si Tuying were tasked to protect Jiang Fei’s parents since they were stronger than Han Tianyu.

The attack came from one side of the island but escaping from the island was improbable. Jiang Fei did not have any teleportation device set up on the island and even if he did, Han Tianyu and his parents could never survive going through the rift of time and space.

The safest place to be at was Winter Islands itself. To be specific, the back of the house where Isabella was being treated. Even though hiding behind the main target of their attack did not seem like a smart idea, there were three Level 5 Metahumans defending that spot. It would be safer than hiding somewhere else unprotected.

“Sisters, I leave the rest to you!” Nina cried. Right then, she had just taken over the role to provide energy to the medical pod. She had to let Ariel and Sylphy attack.

“O husband, please come back sooner!” Sylphy howled before she bolted. She was the strongest fighter in the island now since Nina could not participate in the defense of the island.

Ariel might actually be the strongest fighter on the island since her power was the ultimate weakness of Android bodies. Unfortunately, she was freshly relieved from the duty of pouring energy into the medical pod. The energy that was left in her was just enough to keep her walking and nothing more.

There were other humans on the island but most of them were ultimately only humans. The current strongest fighter was Sylphy and she could only muster less than half of her true strength. Feeding energy into stabilizing Isabella had taken a great toll on all three girls. Fortunately, Sylphy had only been pouring the minimal amount of energy, just enough to keep Isabella from relapsing. If she had no qualms with Isabella, like Nina and Ariel, she would not have been able to muster even a quarter of her strength.

“O darling, please come back! Argh… It’s best if you just don’t come back at all…” Ariel sulked. She was completely overwhelmed by fatigue. Truthfully speaking, the only person that could fight the enemies was Sylphy. If Jiang Fei returned, he would only be a liability, or worse…

Sounds of explosions coming from the cannons were quickly replaced with sounds of crushing and destruction. All the robot soldiers that Han Tianyu had deployed were being crushed by the Unknowns. They might have the advantage in numbers but numbers did not mean anything if their attacks could not even penetrate the enemy’s Level 5 shields. A single Unknown had the power to destroy multiple robot soldiers with ease.

The other clear disadvantage the robot soldiers had was the lack of any strong artificial intelligence. They did not know the concept of evasion or even formation. All they were programmed to do was shoot at a given target until there was no longer any hostile presence.

“I wasn’t expect us to be fighting this hard as soon as we were brought to this world!” Sylphy muttered to herself as she was flying in the air. She took to the air as it was easier to get a better vantage point to spot incoming enemies. Jiang Fei’s parents were still running away and if she, being the only Level 5 fighter then, abandoned her post, no one would survive!

…

“Why is gathering the Energy Crystal taking so long?” Jiang Fei asked furiously. Winter Islands was under attack and Jiang Fei, being completely oblivious to that fact, was still waiting in the oval hall, with Z0-11 delaying him from leaving the moon base.

Something was wrong and Jiang Fei could somehow feel it. The last time Z0-11 prepared 200 million Energy Crystals, it hadn’t taken that long!

“This is different from the previous time. That time, we had taken all the Energy Crystals from the storage unit. Right now, we are running low on them. Your sudden request for Energy Crystals requires us to transport Energy Crystals that were already installed in the ship. Bennette Straz is current uninstalling them from the ship to be gathered,” said Z0-11. Naturally, they were lies.

“Thanks,” said Jiang Fe gratefully, as he believed the lie and even trusted Z0-11 further.

After wasting some more time, Straz returned.

“Are they ready?” Z0-11 asked before Straz could even open his mouth.

“Yes, leader. They are ready.”

“Where are they?! I need to get back,” said Jiang Fei. There was a sense of urgency that leaked through his bark.

“Please hold,” said Straz as he exchanged a subtle look with Z0-11. He turned around and a large carrier came in hovering from the other side of the oval hall. They were carrying the Energy Crystals that Jiang Fei had requested.

“Sorry. I’m running a little late here, so…”

Jiang Fei could not wait for the carrier to slowly hover from across the hall. He leaped forward and zoomed toward the carrier instead. Once Jiang Fei placed the ring on the carrier, all five million Energy Crystals were absorbed into the ring in less than a second.

Once he was done, he turned to Z0-11 and said, “I have something to tend to at home. Please send me back now.”

Without Ariel, Jiang Fei could not teleport himself back. He needed Z0-11 to send him back.

“Going back so soon? Since you are already here, perhaps you should inspect the ship’s construction,” said Z0-11. Right now, if Jiang Fei were to return to Winter Islands, he would surely be killed by the other Unknowns. There was no need for all the trouble if Z0-11 wanted him dead.

“I’m sorry. I’m really rushing here. Please send me back home now,” said Jiang Fei. He was in a rush because of Isabella and not because of the attack on Winter Islands.

“It’ll only take a while,” said Z0-11, still attempting to have Jiang Fei remain on the moon base.

“I–”

Just as Jiang Fei opened his mouth, he felt a shift in the temporal space around him.

“What’s going on?!” Z0-11 asked when it also felt the disturbance.

“Warning! Abnormality in spacetime detected!” The alarm inside the oval hall started blaring. At that moment, the shift that he felt earlier became stronger. A rift opened up violently and a person dropped out of it.

“Ariel!? What are you doing?!” Jiang Fei shouted nervously when he saw Ariel coming out of the rift with blood covering her face and clothes.

“Dar…ling… please… save us…”

Those were the only words she could utter before losing consciousness. She was already running low on energy and even so, she had forced herself to teleport to the moon to deliver the message. That was the last ounce of energy she could muster as she persisted on until she saw Jiang Fei.

“TAKE ME BACK NOW!” Jiang Fei roared with so much power that the oval hall reverberated and shook a little.

Ariel was the only person capable of teleporting and if she was already covered in blood, it went without saying that something terrible had happened back home. If his parents or anyone close to him were harmed, Jiang Fei would snap.