"Caelus-cub, it's our turn to board... Give it, give it to me!"
Surrounded by Sister Wind and flying freely in the air, Stelle gazed at the giant Ingenium War-Beast that was reducing everything in its path to ruins.
She was only halfway through her sentence when she noticed the battle armor surfacing on Caelus's body, and her eyes instantly flashed with a golden shine.
It was like an older twin sister discovering her younger brother holding a newly bought toy—and it happened to be her favorite type. What happens in such a situation?
Naturally, she would move directly to snatch it!
The verdant wind arrived in a flash. Stelle landed beside Caelus and unceremoniously began stripping off his clothes, looking for all the world like she intended to peel the battle armor off and wear it herself.
"Hey! Where are you touching? Don't you know that men and women shouldn't touch? Don't touch me!"
Like a young girl being molested by a burly man, Caelus slapped away the wandering little hands at his waist.
"Cut the crap!"
Stelle grunted disdainfully.
Men and women shouldn't touch?
She didn't know which guy it was last night who made her stick ruler-mark stickers on her lower abdomen. Because physical contact allowed for one hundred percent shared sensory perception, Stelle had cooperated very well, even sticking a pink heart-shaped sticker on Bronya's triangular area.
And now he's talking to her about propriety between men and women?
"Believe it or not, I'll find a time when Bronya isn't home to suppress you for a whole night?"
"Anyway, you summoned Granzort last time, so it's my turn to summon this time."
As Stelle spoke, the movements of her hands didn't stop. She hugged Caelus tightly to prevent him from escaping while searching for the armor's interface, only to discover it was a non-detachable structure.
"Cough, cough, now isn't the time to fight over summoning rights. That big turtle is coming right over. How about this: we summon it together."
Logically speaking, since he summoned Granzort last time, it was indeed Hachi-Stelle's turn this time.
But this was a chance to summon Ryujinmaru!
How could he just let her have it like that?
Maintaining a slightly fearful expression on the surface, Phantylia stared unblinkingly at the two gray-hairs wrestling together.
According to the intelligence she had collected from the craftsmen of the Artisanship Commission, among the three Ingenium War-Beasts, the Edge-Holding Yazi and the Fire-Controlling Bifang were prototype models that hadn't been completed by the end of the project. The Tablet-Carrying Bixi, however, was a War-Beast that had been adjusted in all aspects.
It could be said to be the strongest of the three battlefield weapons, possessing both offense and defense. Its only drawback was that it was a bit slow.
Yet, when facing the Nine Depths Ingenium: Tablet-Carrying Bixi, these two gray-hairs weren't nervous at all. They even had the leisure to play around and fight over things?
Phantylia narrowed her eyes slightly, her gaze sizing up Caelus's battle armor from bottom to top, finally fixing on the sword on his back.
Stelle gripped the hilt, trying to pull it out, while Caelus pressed down hard on the pommel, preventing her from drawing it.
Could they possibly summon some other strange mecha?
In the next second, amidst the increasingly intense tremors of the earth, the two gray-hairs looked at each other, nodded in tacit understanding, and gave Phantylia her answer.
Caelus put away his playful smile and turned to face the giant beast that was crushing house walls, causing the nearby ground to tremble with every step.
Stelle's silly and cute expression regained its composure. When she didn't speak, she was like a cool beauty capable of making even women's hearts skip a beat—Galactic Succubus Mode.
It was just that the gray-haired girl's current posture greatly affected her temperament.
Her long, slender legs, bound with blue thigh rings, wrapped tightly around Caelus's waist from behind. With her feet locked together, Stelle was completely clinging to Caelus's body.
Caelus extended his left hand as if opening his embrace, his five fingers clasping the front end of the dragon-scale patterned hilt.
"Then, shout out my name loudly!"
"Okay~!"
Stelle extended her fair, tender little hand to grasp the rear end of the dragon-head hilt. The hilt was just long enough for both of them to hold together. With a tacit understanding like telepathy, the two of them drew the blade completely.
Star and Caelus held the sword together, raising the Dragon Sword high:
"Ryujinmaru——!"
The blade seemed to ripple with golden light patterns in response to their shout. A stream of light surged up along the spine of the sword, condensing into a dazzling sphere of light at the tip.
A golden pillar of light erupted from the sword tip, piercing straight into the firmament, punching a circular hole a hundred meters in diameter through the thick cloud layer.
The massive momentum caused the entire battlefield to fall silent for a moment.
Whether it was Welt piloting Senjinmaru, March 7th riding Torijinmaru through the sky, or Fu Xuan watching the scene inside the Artisanship Commission through the Remote Sky Mirror—everyone stopped.
Even Bronya and Seele, who were fighting small Mara-struck Ingeniums, jumped to high ground after dispatching their enemies to look toward the pair.
Everyone's gaze was cast upon the Star Rail duo.
The moment sunlight poured down from the rift, a golden dragon head poked out from the top of the pillar of light. Its golden scales reflected the heavenly light with a divine texture, and ripples like water appeared in the air wherever its dragon whiskers brushed past.
It was as if a divine, majestic, and ancient existence had descended upon the mortal world!
"What is that!?"
Fu Xuan, deploying Cloud Knights outside the Alchemy Commission, cried out in astonishment.
She stood up from her seat in shock, her eyes wide as she stared at the screen unfolding like a water mirror.
The so-called Remote Sky Mirror was essentially a military-grade surveillance device created by combining divination calculation methods with Jade Abacus technology.
The Express crew were the surprise reinforcements for the Xianzhou. As a high-ranking official of the Xianzhou and the head of the Divination Commission, Fu Xuan naturally had to ensure the safety of her allies.
She had led troops to the Alchemy Commission to arrange formations, but she was also worried about the progress on the Star Rail team's side.
However, both the Alchemy Commission and the Artisanship Commission Grotto-Heavens were in a semi-isolated state due to the revival of the Ambrosial Arbor and the Stellaron erosion; the Stellaron disrupted communication signals.
Fu Xuan had personally taken action to adjust it for a long time before the Remote Sky Mirror successfully captured some internal images.
The situation was just as she and Jing Yuan had predicted: very bad.
Leaving aside the Denizens of Abundance brought by the Ambrosial Arbor's revival, the few new types of Ingeniums deep within the Artisanship Commission Grotto-Heaven were huge trouble!
But what Fu Xuan hadn't expected was that the 'surprise' of this surprise troop exceeded her imagination. Where did the other party summon these mechas from?
March 7th's Torijinmaru and Welt's Senjinmaru were one thing, but the momentum of the Star Rail duo's summons right now was too massive. Wasn't that a dragon?!
Ryujinmaru?
Dragon... is it related to the Vidyadhara?
What on earth is that?
Phantylia, present at the scene, was also slightly stunned.
The divine dragon roared to the sky, its cry resonating across the battlefield.
The mythical golden dragon wound its way down the heaven-piercing golden light pillar, swimming past the Star Rail duo.
A dragon body of a hundred zhang, dragon soul winding around it, spiraling into the sky, then turning its body to charge toward Caelus and Stelle.
Caelus raised his head to gaze at the diving golden dragon. The magatama-shaped crystal on his chest gradually lit up, bursting forth with a golden pillar of light.
The beam illuminated the dragon's head like a golden shuttle in a loom. The hundred-zhang body of the golden dragon disintegrated inch by inch, turning into brilliant particles of light.
Amidst the sky-filling golden stardust, Ryujinmaru's head armor manifested first—a red and gold dragon head—followed by shoulder armor transformed from sharp dragon claws. A Demon God mostly in blue, white, and red manifested.
The lingering afterimages of the golden dragon attached themselves to the mecha's surface, condensing into a dragon shadow mark on the shoulder armor.
"So, so cool!"
March 7th's eyes rippled with shimmering light as she let out a cry of surprise.
Why wasn't it this cool when she summoned Torijinmaru?
"This, this..."
Welt stared until his eyes went straight.
This was the correct way to summon a magical-series mecha!
Countless inspirations as a mecha anime designer instantly exploded in his mind.
The diamond-shaped crystal on the Demon God Mecha's forehead shot out a red glow, shining upon Caelus and Stelle.
The duo, having previous experience piloting Granzort, floated up with practiced ease, flying into it.
"Woohoo~! Such a handsome dragon!"
Stelle cheered and jumped for joy. When she saw the divine golden dragon swimming in the space, little stars flashed in her eyes.
The internal space of Ryujinmaru wasn't much different from Granzort's; both provided a serene, dark summer night feeling. They were works from the same company, after all.
The difference lay in the pilot's seat.
The Star Rail duo landed lightly on the majestic and holy golden dragon head. The two of them each held onto one of the ferocious dragon horns, and Ryujinmaru's eyes suddenly lit up with starlight.
The Demon God stood erect upon the earth, incomparably handsome!
"Tsk, why is it another Groudon?"
After her will obtained control of Ryujinmaru and understood the Demon God's power, Stelle puffed out her cheeks and complained.
"It's just that the initial form can't fly. If you want to fly, just change to other forms."
Caelus waved his hand at Stelle, signaling her to hand over the Crystals.
Ryujinmaru had been farmed from his shop. Torijinmaru and Senjinmaru were in Stelle's shop; the latter two's prices were neither high nor low, falling between the standard and upgraded types of the Granzort series, with combat power matching the price.
But Ryujinmaru was expensive. The full set was much more expensive than Super Granzort, with the Crystals breaking triple digits.
There was more than one type of Ryujinmaru in the shop; there were over twenty versions.
Caelus bought the one from his childhood, Super Mashin Hero Wataru.
Compared to combat power, the Seven Souls Ryujinmaru from Mashin Hero Wataru: Seven Souls of Ryujinmaru was the peak. Caelus reckoned that Ryujinmaru could easily go toe-to-toe with an ordinary Emanator.
The problem was, the price was too high!
"Test the waters first."
Stelle twisted her waist and bumped Caelus aside. Holding the two dragon horns herself, she channeled the energy of the Stellaron and her Path from within her body to buff Ryujinmaru.
"Let me see how hard this big turtle's shell is!"
Ryujinmaru drew the nearly forty-meter-long Dragon Sword from its back. Stelle shouted loudly, maneuvering Ryujinmaru to leap high into the air.
"Eat this, Ultimate—"
"Do you even know how to play? Who uses their Ultimate right at the start?"
In order to get Stelle to fork over Crystals to buy the upgraded models, Caelus didn't fight her for it this time. His Crystals still needed to be used for gacha pulls, so Stelle had to be the one buying things. He definitely had to find a way to make her spend!
"I was just shouting randomly. Do you think I'm Ah Qi?"
"I can hear you, you know!"
March 7th's voice sounded faintly.
"Ah? Oh, oh!" Stelle immediately laughed sheepishly and shut up.
As Ryujinmaru approached the Tablet-Carrying Bixi, bronze chains extended from the edge of the giant mechanical turtle shell.
The chains arrived in an instant like snakes, speeding toward Ryujinmaru. The tips of the chains were sharp, triangular prisms, terrifying as the hood of a cobra.
Ryujinmaru displayed agility unbefitting a mecha, swinging the Dragon Sword to deflection slash the chains.
The human-machine unity control of magical-side mechas was indeed easier to manipulate than scientific-side ones.
Ryujinmaru stomped fiercely on the chain, borrowing the force to leap up, and raised the divine sword in its hand high.
Aiming at the turtle head retracting into the shell, it slashed down with violent force and heavy momentum!
Clang~!
Sparks from the collision between sword and stele scattered in all directions, but the surface of the stele didn't have a single scratch, remaining as new as a mirror.
"It really is hard!"
While Stelle was sighing with emotion, the other two battles had already ended.
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