The moment the Iron-Blooded Arbiter let out an indescribable, hoarse shriek of pain from its maw—or rather, its complex oral structure—despite being heavily wounded, its mobility instantly shot up to an unbelievable degree.

Fang Senyan had miscalculated this exact variable, leaving a critical opening in the sequence following the deployment of the Corrosion Beast. The Arbiter seized this chance and successfully slipped away.

The oversight lay in the Arbiter’s astonishingly formidable suit of armor. This armor, which provided near-absolute protection at crucial moments and was imbued with several powerful ancillary abilities, carried a staggering weight. Without it, a standard Predator would be utterly incapable of fluid movement.

When Fang Senyan and his allies launched their ferocious counter-assault, they had indeed succeeded in shattering the Arbiter’s powerful armor and external devices. Yet, viewed from another angle, they had inadvertently freed it from an immense physical constraint nearly doubling its body mass.

If the Arbiter had previously resembled a majestic Demon God—commanding reverence and possessing an imposing, straightforward presence—it was now a lean, ferocious leopard, moving with lightning speed and unbelievable ferocity, a killer lurking in the shadows, ready to snatch any life that crossed its path.

Witnessing the Iron-Blooded Arbiter’s escape, Aldaris was powerless. While the Luminant Magistrate was immensely powerful, it had three distinct weaknesses. First, its effective attack range topped out at around twenty meters—a distance barely qualifying as mid-range even for ordinary humans. Second, the Luminant Magistrate was positioned in starship warfare akin to a heavy assault unit like a Tank; its speed, while not slow, certainly wasn't fast. Third, the Magistrate lacked effective crowd-control abilities.

Thus, despite the Magistrate’s raw power, escaping its attack radius was not difficult for the enemy. This was where Bokkan’s unique abilities would have been invaluable; tragically, he had already been killed. This illustrated a clear comparative gap: while Fang Senyan’s offensive output might surpass that of the Awakened MT, in terms of protecting teammates, if Zeus had been present, he could have used gravity suppression to slow the Arbiter and save Bokkan. If it had been Skull, he could have instantly encased Bokkan in a metal shell to mitigate damage... Consequently, as a Colonist, Fang Senyan was notably deficient in such support roles.

It was evident that Aldaris could not sustain the Luminant Magistrate form indefinitely; the transformation clearly incurred a massive cost. He rapidly reverted to his original appearance. The four survivors regrouped, their faces grim, unsure of what to say.

Dardanyan remained silent for a moment before speaking:

“How much longer until the Hornet craft are ready? I mean, now that we’ve found seven, there’s no need to wait. The four of us plus three decoys—that’s a chance worth gambling on.”

As he spoke, profound fear began to seep into Dardanyan’s voice: “The Predators are also a species highly skilled in battlefield triage and healing... If we wait until that thing returns, I doubt a single one of us will survive.”

Fang Senyan, currently tending to his wounds, nodded and addressed Android Unit One: “How long?”

Android Unit One replied curtly: “Ten minutes, minimum.”

It was worth noting that of the Hornet craft found, only Roni and Aldaris possessed their own original ships. The rest were not factory standard and required fingerprint and iris pattern decryption before they could be piloted.

Upon hearing this, Dardanyan’s face went rigid, cold sweat beginning to trace lines down his forehead as he mumbled repeatedly, “Ten minutes… ten minutes…”

Fang Senyan, who had been silently observing, suddenly stated: “We scatter and flee. In ten minutes, the enemy will almost certainly have returned. While I hate to admit it, with that thing’s grotesque speed, we’ll be helpless against it now that Bokkan is dead. If we are still gathered, waiting for decryption, we won't even get a chance to lift off, even if we succeed completely.”

“It takes a full ten seconds for the Hornet craft to ignite engines and achieve even one hundred meters of altitude. Even setting aside its insane speed, the threat posed by its thrown spears is enormous. Ten seconds is enough time for it to destroy ten craft during ascent. If it stays nearby, feigning an attack, who among us would dare launch? Prolonging this stalemate only favors the enemy.”

Taking a deep breath, Fang Senyan continued: “Our only chance now is for each of us to take one Android and flee in a different direction. Once the Hornet craft engage float mode, we can easily tow them with minimal drag on our mobility. The Androids can continue their modifications while we run. Once the upgrades are complete, we lift off simultaneously. This way, even if one of us is caught, the majority will escape.”

“But there are only seven Hornet craft,” Dardanyan countered anxiously. “Your plan requires eight ships.”

Fang Senyan stated calmly: “This entire engagement resulted from a chain of errors caused by my own inadequacy. I only need one craft. The three of you can take the remaining six—two ships each.”

Hearing this, Dardanyan didn't hesitate. He immediately took one Android and two craft, fleeing rapidly towards the west. Roni and Aldaris exchanged complex glances with Fang Senyan before silently splitting up.

In the span of a single minute, only Fang Senyan, Android Unit One, and one Hornet craft remained. Standing alone on the vast plain, Fang Senyan felt a desolate chill echoing the sentiment of ‘the wind whistles, the Yi River is cold.’ He gazed toward the magnificent and grand Eprlos Asteroid Belt on the horizon, his expression complicated, lost in thought.

Several kilometers away, deep within the woods, the battered Iron-Blooded Arbiter walked slowly toward a massive tree. Its injuries were catastrophic. The corrosive power of the Corrosion Beast still churned violently within its body, causing streams of emerald-colored blood to seep continuously from numerous wounds, pooling and finally running down its ankles to the ground.

Because the Arbiter stood motionless, a basin-sized pool of blood soon accumulated beneath its feet, refusing to immediately sink into the earth, presenting a shimmering, strangely beautiful patch of bio-luminescence.

The reason the Arbiter remained still was that it was dragging a storage crate from behind the large tree—a crate it had prepositioned earlier. The crate appeared specially made for the Arbiter, bearing distinct red insignia.

The Iron-Blooded Arbiter pressed its hand, tipped with a Blood Spear, onto the crate. The material seemed pliant, molding to the shape of its palm before beginning to glow. Forcibly opening the crate through any other means would have resulted in an explosion rivaling a Predator self-destruct sequence.

Once identity verification was complete, the crate folded open automatically, forming a wide metallic platform. This platform featured a humanoid indentation where the Blood Spear lay down easily. Immediately, a transparent canopy sealed above it, fitting a face mask over the Arbiter’s head. The platform began to expel gas, neutralizing external odors while mechanical arms meticulously cleaned the surrounding gore.

Six specialized manipulator arms then extended from the medical platform, each addressing a specific area of the Blood Spear’s body. In this brief time, the emerald blood flowing from its wounds filled the indentation and began to drip over the edges. Concurrently, three miniature surveillance drones, resembling insects, were launched hundreds of meters into the sky. Any data signals they gathered from the vicinity were instantly relayed to the Blood Spear inside the medical station via the face mask, allowing immediate situational awareness.

The medical station also activated a powerful light refraction system, effectively rendering it invisible. It was clear the unit was operating with extreme efficiency; the mechanical arms moved in blurs, and the speed of suturing directly correlated with reduced tissue damage. The operating table treated the wounds on the Blood Spear’s massive frame with assembly-line speed. The protocol was simple: slice the wound, excise potentially necrotic muscle tissue, staunch the bleeding, clean the surface, and pour in a viscous medical gel that resembled dissolved sapphires. This nearly omnipotent med-gel drastically accelerated wound closure and could even be used to fuse severed limbs.

However, the primary factor delaying the medical procedure was the tissue and vasculature Fang Senyan had infiltrated using the Corrosion Beast. These affected vessels behaved as if they possessed independent life, gnawing relentlessly within the host, consuming damaged internal energy to fortify their own structures, working in tandem with the A-virus to constantly erode the Arbiter’s immune system.

The surgical unit administered eight different corresponding vaccines, all of which registered as ineffective. The final calculated result was unavoidable: synthesizing the required specialized antidote would take eleven days, sixteen hours, and thirty-eight minutes. Yet, the replication cycle for these invading organisms was only between thirty minutes and two hours; past their division cycle, they would naturally perish.

.RT