At that moment, the screen happened to show Misaka Mikoto complaining about the various technologies in Academy City, saying they weren’t worth much.
“If only I could get Index,” Misaka Mikoto sighed on screen. “I wonder how many points those 103,000 grimoires could be converted into.”
“Since she wants knowledge from the magical side, let’s just give her those 103,000 grimoires.”
“Points… another kind of currency system, huh?”
Aleister curled his lips into a faint smile. Let’s see, then—just what kind of changes the Third-Ranked will bring to this world.
“Are you sure handing over the heroine so easily won’t affect your plans?”
A voice echoed through the space, and Aleister replied with calm composure:
“The fate of the Imagine Breaker is already sealed. He will enter the trial, regardless of whether the so-called heroine exists.”
“It’s just a matter of a different approach.”
“Compared to him, the heroine is clearly far more useful to the Third-Ranked.”
——-
Real World.
Pfft!
A suit of silver-black armor stood tall on the battlefield, gripping a massive battle-ax in its hands. Facing it was a beast-type ability user—a formidable opponent.
With sharp fangs, wolf-like ears, and an overwhelming aura radiating from his entire being, there was no doubt he was no pushover.
But at this moment, his face was pale, and his eyes, fixed on the armored figure, were filled with utter disbelief.
“Not bad at all—this is the power of the Snow Mastiff Armor, huh?” Huo Yu crossed her arms, watching the armor at the center of the battle with great interest.
After all, he was a prodigy from their city of Hangzhou. Naturally, she’d recruited him into the Spirit Bureau the very first chance she got.
From what she knew of Bai Xuan, given the changes in his mindset, he had absolutely no interest in the internal squabbles of Earth. His only concern was ensuring that Chinese civilization would eventually stand at the top—whether against mutated beasts or other nations.
No one could stand in the way of China’s rise.
But as for the process itself? He couldn’t care less!
And yet, this time, he actually took the initiative to leave his residence, saved a pair of children, and even handed the Snow Mastiff Summoner to the little boy.
In her eyes, that was practically impossible.
Without a doubt, that little boy’s potential had earned Bai Xuan’s recognition—he had even been chosen by the Snow Mastiff Summoner itself.
Bai Xuan simply couldn’t bear to let him die so young.
And from the looks of it now, that judgment was spot on. Although he was only six, and his talent couldn’t yet be fully realized, his affinity with metal-element energy was exceptionally rich. Sure, he couldn’t compare to them, but he’d have no problem ranking in the second echelon.
Originally, with his six-year-old physique, it should have been impossible for him to summon the Snow Mastiff Armor at all. But hey—this world had supernatural abilities.
She directly arranged for an auxiliary-type ability user who could temporarily boost a person’s physical condition—basically exploiting a loophole to raise his physique to a level stronger than her own. How much stronger depended mostly on her own spirit-energy concentration.
It wasn’t exactly a powerful ability—certainly useless against someone of Huo Yu’s caliber.
But for a boy whose body hadn’t fully developed yet? It was more than enough.
And the strength he displayed pleasantly surprised her. The beast-type ability user from the Spirit Bureau couldn’t even break through his defenses—in fact, he was getting overwhelmed. Once the boy summoned his weapon, the beast user couldn’t even withstand a single blow.
If he grew up to his full potential, even if he couldn’t match Qin Tian, he’d still be an absolutely critical combat force!
Speaking of which—why did Qin Tian get the recognition of the Flame Dragon Armor in the first place?
Just because his ability is literally Dragon?
Huo Yu grumbled inwardly. She honestly felt like she and the Flame Dragon Armor would’ve been a pretty good match, too.
Not that she was unhappy with the Flame-Flame Fruit’s power—it had significantly strengthened her own physique. And since eating it, her fire affinity had grown quite a bit, making her fire-type summoned beasts a lot stronger too.
But still… she’d sparred with Qin Tian later on, and she actually lost!
Even Chen Bing was stronger than her now!
Ugh! Back in the day, they’d all started together—how did she suddenly end up as the last one?
All she could do now was bully Ye Feng, the support-type.
Shaking her head, Huo Yu just grumbled to herself for a moment. She didn’t take it too seriously—at the end of the day, all these powers were meant to protect the people. There wasn’t much point comparing who was stronger or weaker.
“So—the Flame Dragon and Snow Mastiff Summoners have both appeared.”
“But the chosen ones for Wind Eagle, Black Rhino, and Tigger? Still nowhere to be seen. Are they still with Bai Xuan? Or are they lying low?”
“And what about the other armors—Xing Tian, Jin Gang, Fei Ying; Kuuga, Kabuto, OOO? Not even a trace.”
“Not to mention Ultraman and all that.”
“Does my vast Earth, with all its billions of people, really not have anyone worthy of their justice?”
“Or… do they have other requirements?”
Huo Yu glanced at the little boy, who had now released his transformation form and was sitting obediently in a chair for a physical checkup to make sure he hadn’t sustained any injuries.
“His name is Xizhao, and he has a rich metal-element talent…”
“Is the world really that coincidental?”
She shifted her gaze to the little girl standing nervously beside her brother, watching him with obvious concern. Her water-element affinity was no less impressive than her brother’s metal affinity. Though, her nickname was Bingbing, not Binger—if it had been, Huo Yu wondered if she might be able to try summoning the Black Rhino Armor.
The thought made her chuckle to herself. She was probably getting a bit obsessed, even caring about coincidences in names.
So what if her name was Binger? The Binger in Armor Hero never transformed into the Black Rhino Armor anyway.
Time passed quietly, and before anyone knew it, five days had gone by.
Though mutated creatures still appeared occasionally in Hangzhou, each round of extermination reduced their numbers further—and their appearances grew rarer.
What surprised the public a little was that among the Spirit Bureau members deployed in the field, there was now a child only six years old—and behind him, there were always at least two healing-type ability users following closely.
Boom!
A fearsome fist, wrapped in razor-sharp metal-element energy, slammed into a giant mutated rat. With a brilliant burst of sparks, the creature’s body exploded on impact.
“…”
Xizhao glanced at the ability user in charge of the search nearby. Seeing the nod confirming there were no more mutated beasts in the area, he finally dismissed his transformation. The two healing-type users behind him immediately rushed forward to check on his condition.
“If I hadn’t confirmed with Dragon Emperor that killing mutated beasts gives the armor summoner some energy boost and enhances their physique, I would never let you summon the armor this often.”
“You’ve got to at least wait until you’re ten!”
Behind Xizhao, a young man with a gentle face sighed helplessly.
He was the Spirit Bureau’s ability user in charge of boosting his teammates’ physical attributes. Unfortunately, his talent was only average, and his internal spirit-energy reserves weren’t enough to boost too much. If it weren’t for the shortage of auxiliary-type ability users, the Bureau probably wouldn’t even have taken him in.
