Planet Master

With the comprehensive information that Long Wu had received, the Cerulean Defense Force managed to subdue more factions of the merfolk.

The ships that had the railgun pointed at the target were moved along with the transcendent strike groups.

That caused the merfolk resistance to fall in line; one by one, they were defeated. Even their artifacts were seized by their enemy, causing their power to drop. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novel•fire.net

But when the wise looked at the grand scale, they realized something horrifying.

It was because the enemy was able to conquer them smoothly. A series of coincidences caused them to be unable to extract the Shield which was also seized by the enemy.

Even the standing faction that was separating from the rule of the late king was defeated.

“Perhaps this is inevitable. The moment we clashed against them, our fortune was seized along with our glory.” One wise merfolk said ruefully.

He had seen numerous reports from his intelligence network and knew that their enemy was not only strong but also skillful, filled with talent as well as more fortunate than the merfolk had been.

It was time for them to realize that they had been defeated the moment their king had been slain.

That was why he surrendered, using the familiar gesture that spared them from being killed. Along with him were the entire settlement, which housed elderly people, women, and children.

The Cerulean Defense Force, on the other hand, received numerous reports about the merfolk surrendering.

“Looks like the Star Battle this time will go more smoothly than before.” General Wazowski commented after hearing the reports and the situation on the frontline.

This made the entire merfolk territory under the humans and dwarves. Finally, they managed to get the entire merfolk territory under them.

Dian, who was sitting on his throne, looked at the system panel as it flickered.

[The Star Battle of the second rank has concluded]

[Congratulations to the Planet Master, winning the Star Battle]

[Settlement is in progress…]

[Settlement complete! The loser will be at the mercy and discretion of the winner.]

[You have obtained 10000 energy points]

[Warning! The winner’s planet is assimilating the loser’s planet. Please utilize your control as a Planet Master so that your planet will not fall into chaos!]

Dian then slowed the process of assimilation since both sides needed to settle things down. He then rose from the throne and walked forward.

Leif, Ghylea, Chikara and Frie followed suit. They all looked at the opposite side where the Planet Master of the merfolk clenched his hand tightly.

His eyes closed but his eyebrows fluttered as a frown formed in his face. He looked similar to his Core Race so it made identification of facial expression easy for Dian and the others.

“What is he doing?” Chikara tilted her head while whispering to Dian.

“He is contemplating. It is something that will decide his fate from this point forward.” Dian said while focusing his attention.

“Hah, fine.”

The Planet Master let out a sigh before he said that. His eyes then focused on Dian since he realized that Dian was the leading figure and probably his opponent.

“Have you come to a decision?” Dian was contemplating whether to let him join his fold or not.

There were various considerations when Dian wanted someone to join him. That was why Dian often looked at his opponent and observed them.

He could find numerous hints and signs about their preference in managing the planet under them.

“Do whatever you want to do. Devour me or just let me join you. I can only accept the result.” The Planet Master threw his hand into the air as he gave up resisting to deny things.

What can I do? My opponent is lucky and powerful at that. How can I suppose to defeat that combination?

The Planet Master thought while starting to close his eyes, accepting whatever Dian wanted to do.

Dian walked forward, getting closer to the defeated Planet Master. Until he was just a step away and stopped.

“I will not devour you.” Dian said with seriousness. He had his own reason for accepting someone and it was because he could see that the Planet Master cared about his planet and his Core Race.

The Planet Master even forged artifacts for his race to use. That usually needed energy points to make and it was quite a fortune. But even with the artifacts, the merfolk could not defeat the humans and dwarves.

“Well, you care about your planet and race. You even created artifacts to strengthen the merfolk. Truthfully, that is not something I would do since I believe that my race can make one without my help with a better result. But you did give your race something so I can say that you care for your race and your planet.” Dian said while emphasizing the two points.

Then Dian asked something important because he wanted to know and was also curious.

“I heard the merfolk called you the Sea God but I have never heard your name.

“If you wanted to say that introducing myself before giving your name, then I can tell you that my name is Dian.” Dian said while his eyes glittered.

The Planet Master looked at Dian carefully. He knew that the human race had someone called Father God but His name was rarely mentioned. Rare did not mean never, so he connected it to the Father God title.

His eyes observed Dian’s expression and then he looked at the others behind Dian.

He could see that Dian had apparently spared other defeated Planet Masters but he could not understand the reason for that.

“I am Arowana. Why are you asking?”

“Well, there is something I need to tell you. I need you to tell your Core Race to migrate to my planet. Can you do it?” Dian asked the most important thing and sidestepped the issue of sparing Arowana.

“I can.” Arowana answered instantly but his eyes and expression still had the trace of confusion.

“Just do it since he spares you.” Chikara was the one who spoke.

Arowana was sure that Dian not only spared the defeated Planet Masters but also their races, coexisting on one planet.

Then he did as he was told.

-

The Cerulean Defense Force had received the news of their victory in this Star Battle.

Year One Hundred Twenty-three of the Father God Calendar.

Now, the ships were scheduled to return to the Rift while guiding the merfolk who had been completely subdued. They also realized that the Sea God they worshipped also ordered them to follow the steelclad ships back.

“That ends well. But this is quite a good challenge for us.” Tatsumi was standing on the deck while the ship he was on headed to the Rift.

He had a meeting with his strike group so others were standing in front of Tatsumi.

Ame was beside him, only looking at the others and then shifted to look at Tatsumi.

Then one of the people in the strike group raised his hand. He was someone Tatsumi had known for a long time.

“Yes. What is it Sora?”

“You said that this is the review meeting for the end of the Star Battle. What are we going to review?”

Tatsumi nodded while smirking before he replied.

“Review of our action, our usage of skills as well as our performance during the Star Battle. As you all realized, we are tasked in the frontline but did not become the spearhead. This is because we are still new to this and unlike veterans, we are a new unit.

“Furthermore, we are still having problems when facing enemies. In summary, we are not fully prepared to be deployed to be the spearhead the Cerulean Defense Force hoped. This is not good.”

Tatsumi said this while looking serious. He himself had no problem handling enemies but the members of the strike group were not.

They went silent since they knew what Tatsumi had said was the truth. They were lacking in experiencing a Star Battle and thus were prone to being killed easily.

Unlike when dealing with wild giant beasts, dealing with sentient beings with intelligence required a more subtle approach than that of beasts.

“But good job on heeding my advice to survive. If you can’t deal with an enemy, run and call for reinforcement. You at least did that so there is nothing to complain about in this part.”

The members of the strike group were actually mostly the students from the Transcendent Academy as well as his friend from the high school that Tatsumi personally invited.

They looked better when Tatsumi said that. To Tatsumi, survival was paramount more than anything. That was why he wanted to ensure that his strike group could survive as long as possible.

Then he explained things that could be improved upon. Everyone then shared what they thought could contribute to the betterment of their action.

Tatsumi nodded while Ame had a slight smile on her face.

On the other side, the news of victory spread to every city and every powerhouse of the continents and celebration was due.

But first, they needed to make a place in the archipelago since the merfolk would inhabit the place.

At this time, numerous ships were anchoring near the shore of the islands, forming a formation to make sure that the entire area was secure.

Then, from the Rift, the first merfolk group came to their side of the world for the second time. The merfolk were undoubtedly surprised by the situation of the sea and also the land.

They had never seen an island much less a continent so seeing that there was actually an island broadened their horizon.

“The Sea God has ordered us to take refuge in this place!” the senior merfolk with white hair, mustache and beard exclaimed to the younger generation, elderly, women and children.

The Cerulean Defense Force’s ships were escorting them alongside the transcendent strike group. Now, they were welcoming another race to their planet.

To the humans and dwarves, welcoming another race almost became a habit when they were victorious in the Star Battle.

One day after another, the number of the merfolk who migrated increased and they even positioned themselves near the shores of the island. Some even went to the deeper places to build their new home there.

As the defeated race, they knew exactly how to behave and the consequences of that. The merfolk could only sigh at their luck and decided to start anew in the new world.

“The merfolk have settled in the waters near the archipelago.” Long Wu said as he perceived underwater and found the merfolk creating their new home and tending to the elderly, women and children.

Long Wu was back on the Cerulean Planet’s side to supervise the merfolk. The migration was so smooth that the Cerulean Defense Force was glad it happened. Long Wu subsequently returned the Trident and the Shield since it was of limited use to Long Wu.

He could only use it like a weapon and not for its true power. Long Wu wanted to at least gain an insight into how the Trident worked but to no avail.

‘It means that only the merfolk can wield the true power of the artifacts.’ Long Wu concluded as he gave them to the merfolk elder.

“Thank you for returning the artifacts.” The elder said profusely, even bowing down.

“No need. I just feel that the artifacts in my hands are limiting their power.” Long Wu said while grabbing the elder and making him straighten up.

“Just make sure that the worthy inheritor gets it.” Long Wu added.

The elder knew that Long Wu used a certain method to understand their language. Fortunately, it was the end of the Star Battle so that knowledge was being used for more good.

But what the elder did not know was that Long Wu used the understanding of language to his own advantage. Although it was a bit fragmented and hard to do, but Long Wu got the gist of it.

Now that the language barrier was down, Long Wu gained a full understanding of the language and applied it right away.

The situation was stable as the migration took place peacefully. Even the most aggressive of the merfolk could not help but accept the fact that they had lost thoroughly.

Thanks to the elder who pacified them, they did not act further. Long Wu even thanked the elder for that. Otherwise, the problem would increase.

‘But this is just a temporary measure.’ Long Wu thought while looking at the waves of the sea.

‘I am not sure whether the resentment will fade but if that is exploited by nefarious people, then it would spell trouble. I need to make sure that will not happen.’

Long Wu decided on that and first contacted everyone he knew. It was to make sure that they safeguarded the merfolk while he searched for the remnant.

All around the archipelago, ships were leaving the Rift and returning to their designated places.

Some transcendents were leaving with the escort ships but some remained in the archipelago. It was because they needed to secure the area from the disturbance either from the Cerulean Defense Force or from the merfolk.

It was needed because the resentment from the Star Battle was still present and if the two grudge bearers met, then something worse was going to happen.

That was why the transcendents became a security.

Long Wu then met with the transcendents that had helped him; it was the transcendent strike group that his disciple led.

“Ah, Sir!” they exclaimed when they saw him approaching.

Currently, they were on an island rich in vegetation and abundant with trees. Ether flowed there as it was actually quite close to a Sacred Tree.

The ground was a mix of soil and sand so it felt quite novel for some people.

“How do you all do?” Long Wu asked.

“Quite well, sir. We may not be able to help eliminate enemies but we preserve our lives by retreating or calling for reinforcement. That was actually what the leader told us often so that we could survive.”

Long Wu looked at the condition of the transcendents and found that they were having a light internal injury which was healing.

“Teacher, why are you here?”

Just as Long Wu wanted to look further into the condition of the body, he could feel the presence and voice of his disciple.

He turned his entire body around since this was his disciple and replied.

“I am actually looking for you.” Long Wu could see that Tatsumi was being followed by someone. But he did not care since that person was familiar.

“Looking for me? What for?” Tatsumi tilted his head, wondering what kind of things Long Wu wanted to do.

“It is time for me to assess your capability.” Long Wu grinned.

Tatsumi’s eyes focused on Long Wu as he grabbed the sheathed blade on his waist, while Long Wu took hold of his dagger.

Of course, when it came to assessing capability, it was referring to the balance of Mind, Body and Technique.

Furthermore, the sparring would not utilize transcendent energy.

With that, the two moved fast enough to cause sand flying and metal clashing could be heard repeatedly.

“You all should watch this. Perhaps you can gain something from this!” Ame relayed using mind power to communicate with the strike group members.

They kept a certain distance from the sparring duo but their eyes never left the site.

Tatsumi swung his sword horizontally followed by a diagonal slash but it was countered by Long Wu’s thrust and parry.

From the observation, the two were equal. Their power was similar since they both had achieved the sixth heavenstage of the Core Formation Realm which caused the core in their body to passively strengthen their body.

Their mind moved the physical body faster and better, so their reactions were so similar.

As for their technique, even though their weapons were different, their technique was at the same stage so determining the winner in the short term was hard.

“Good, you did not slack off even during the Star Battle.” Long Wu gave praise as he used his movement skill and created afterimages.

“Teacher, you are also great for keeping up with me.” Tatsumi followed since he had also learned that movement skill and created afterimages.

Their afterimages clashed along with their true body. The clash caused a small shockwave to be generated and Ame cast a protective dome to prevent it from going further and affecting the watching transcendents.

The sparring became more intense when Long Wu used his dagger to create a multiple strike using it, causing Tatsumi to respond in kind.

Dozens of exchanges happened in the moment one took a breath in and out. But the expression of the teacher and student was happiness because they were equal and could be considered rivals.

Each swing of the blade was filled with purpose but the strength in it was not the full strength. It was because some were reserved for changing in case there was a sudden surprise. Tatsumi had learned this through memory assimilation and practiced it often.

Long Wu was using his honed instinct to deflect and even counterattack whenever Tatsumi showed a slight opening. Tatsumi then tried to feint or to fix the opening and that caused the advantage to be on Long Wu’s side.

But Tatsumi twisted his sword and thrusted it in Long Wu’s direction, causing him to parry it while the two closed the distance and let out a fist which both stopped right in front of their faces. Their weapons were thrown away since the shock of clashing caused their hand to feel numb.

Both the teacher and student smiled and laughed heartily.

“That was a good one.” Long Wu commented.

“Yes. That was pretty good.” Tatsumi nodded and then clenched his hand into a fist and extended it to Long Wu.

Long Wu followed suit and the two fists hit each other. It was a sign of competitive spirit between the two.