(Degulish's POV)
Degulish watched the Godorian ships with irritation, the leader was busy at the moment, so he came alone. This was because the Mutation Source was the basis for Dark Star's grand plan, and they couldn't lose it.
He didn't know if the Godorian fleet had seized the black orb, but he had to try, so he was prepared to completely destroy that fleet!
At the very least, he could never let Godora get her hands on the Mutation Source!
The advantage of the Mutation Source is that it can hide very well and cause enough chaos that Godora will divide its forces to deal with it, but the leaders of Dark Star have no doubt that the Godorians will eventually resolve this.
The main objective is precisely to buy time and divide Godora's forces. If they ignore the target planets, they will be criticized and their reputation will be tarnished. If Godora splits up to solve the problem, Dark Star can act to attack these divisions. In the end, Dark Star wins either way.
It was an open-ended plan that wouldn't be easily resolved, but if Godora obtains a Mutation Source, they can not only create a way to locate the other Mutation Sources, but also find a way to destroy it.
That's why Han Xiao chose to deliver the Mutation Source he obtained only when Godora needed it most, greatly increasing its value. If he had delivered it earlier, the mutation disaster would have been easily resolved.
Many people died because of this, but Han Xiao wasn't a saint, so he chose the most lucrative way, and Ringo didn't mind, he would have made the same choice.
After all, he had obtained a Mutation Source and had no plans to hand it over anytime soon, nor did he know if he would need to hand it over unless Han Xiao ended up not being able to get one.
Perhaps he would even sell his to Han Xiao after researching it, Han Xiao could benefit much more from it than he could from his missions.
-Sir, the main cannons are ready.- A Godorian with feline eyes said beside him.
Degulish didn't even look at him, with clenched fists, he spoke. -Full attack! Concentrate on the enemy flagship!
This time it wasn't a simple escort vessel, but a large, medium-grade cruiser in command, the power of its main cannons could tear a planet to pieces!
Degulish didn't actually want to destroy the ship, but with that shot, the ship would completely lose its shields, which would be enough for a direct approach.
But when the cannons began emitting a concentrated bluish-white energy, a figure emerged from the Godorian ship at high speed.
Black Spider had appeared.
(Black Spider's POV)
Inside, he was constantly cursing Degulish while concentrating power into his arrow to the point where he could hear the cracks in his bow expanding. He had no choice, he needed to take down that cannon before it launched its attack!
Black Spider's eyes were filled with fury as his energy merged with demonic black flames, further intensifying the fire on his arrow. Even nearby spaceships began to lose energy in their shields from the concentrated heat of the arrow.
Black Spider knew this would be his last arrow, he had completely overloaded the bow, and after this, it would be destroyed.
The Thousand Stars bow might not have been with him for very long, and it wasn't the best Grade A weapon either, in fact, it was just above average, but it was his bow, his first truly usable and memorable piece of equipment.
Therefore, Ringo was seething with rage, and it wasn't just the Black Spider clone.
-Goodbye, old friend... thank you.- He murmured, the sound not traveling through the vacuum of space, but he spoke nonetheless. -This is the last... Caladbolg!
The arrow was pure white, almost like a real star, as hot as the core of a young star. Ringo aim directly at the main cannon, the arrow made no sound, simply passing through space like a beam of light, too fast for anyone present to follow.
The next moment, a massive explosion rang out as the Dark Star fleet's flagship trembled fiercely. Both sides were shocked when the enormous cannon was reduced to rubble. The arrow pierced the fragile energy shield, with most of the energy concentrated in the cannons, so there was no defense, it was just a piece of paper against a sniper rifle.
The Dark Star's ship wasn't destroyed, but where the cannon had been, a large hole appeared, with several members of the Dark Star crew being sucked into the vacuum of space along with the debris before emergency devices sealed off nearby passages.
Black Spider didn't look at the destroyed Dark Star cannon, nor at the "delicious" souls of the Dark Star members, instead, he looked at the broken bow, or rather, the fragments of the bow floating around him.
The flaming lava color slowly faded, transforming into a hard, stone-like shell, like cold lava. Black Spider merely observed the bow and for a moment felt he had done something wrong, he could have simply used Umbra Alba, he didn't need to have broken the bow.
It was his choice.
He broke it.
Black Spider felt a deep sadness at the event, he didn't cry, but simply continued to look at the fragments. Soon he sighed, pulling each of the nearby fragments and putting them away. He would see what Bradd could do, he hoped that even if it couldn't be rebuilt, its materials could be reused in the new bow.
Shaking his head, he finally turned his gaze to the Dark Star, from there, a man had emerged with futuristic mechanical equipment, the lower part of his face hidden by a breathing device.
The man's eyes stared into Black Spider's, filled with fury, but Black Spider's sadness quickly gave way to contained rage, his expression becoming completely cold.
Pugilistic flames grew around Degulish, and Black Spider was not far behind. Ringo's energy was emitted as Black Spider's body rapidly changed. Genes from all sorts of galactic beasts were quickly incorporated into Black Spider's genome through Ringo, its temporary evolution acting with full force.
Black Spider's body slowly began to change. Ringo had already thought about what he would do if Black Spider ever fought hand-to-hand. At this point, he wanted to live up to the name. To the shocked eyes of the audience, Black Spider's body grew to over 3 meters tall, its smooth, metallic black skin. Eight smooth, sharp spider legs, like metallic blades, emerged from his back, pointing directly at Degulish, and his eyes multiplied, going from two to four and from four to eight, becoming a deep purple.
Black Spider opened its mouth and let out a silent roar, its teeth transformed into serrated fangs.
The energy consumed for this was so great that the clones in Kandor and Xenomorph 1 merged with the Black Spider clone.
At that moment, Ringo showed a completely new form, using the best genes to create something that wouldn't last long, but... it was enough!
The current Black Spider had genes from beasts that could even live in space, which meant that... he could move in a vacuum and he wasn't slow at all!
With a surge of momentum, Ringo appeared directly in front of Degulish, his fist lunging straight for his face. Degulish, like a pugilist, managed to defend himself with one arm, but... Ringo now had 10 arms.
With his current genes, his thought process could already be divided into thousands of strands, even more so with 3 clones inside him, so each member could act on its own. Degulish, initially surprised, could keep up with his 10 appendages, he moved like a hurricane, defending himself with everything he had. But Ringo noticed this and created even more appendages. In the end, he had dozens of spider legs so sharp they could cut diamond like butter, and Degulish became increasingly surprised and shocked. He had the advantage in speed and attack, but... he couldn't attack at all!
Even when he wanted to exchange blows, a single punch from him barely left a mark on Black Spider's hard "carapace" while dozens of sharp blades pierced his skin—not enough to hit an internal organ, but enough to make him bleed profusely!
He healed quickly, but the number of injuries only grew, there was no time to think, to breathe, or to use any charging abilities.
Black Spider wasn't having any fun either, several of Degulish's minor abilities affected him, weakness, bleeding, pain, dizziness...it got to the point where he needed to leave a clone in charge to help him adapt to these negative conditions.
The fight between the two held the attention of both fleets for a few minutes, but soon the Dark Star seemed to awaken and began firing at Godora again, thus the war split into two fronts, on one side, a space battle with dozens of ships trying to destroy each other, on the other, Degulish and Black Spider in a fierce fight of the kind that would make a scythe fight look pretty.
It was an incredible mess, even attracting the attention of nearby civilizations, but upon seeing who was fighting, the civilizations quickly pretended not to see anything. Godora and Dark Star were two sides of the same coin, both local tyrants, but one just and the other evil.
Helping any of them would be a problem, so they just watched from afar, hoping it wouldn't affect them.