The Almighty Ring

“0543, charge it up!” Jiang Fei roared, pressing the ring on his finger on the medical pod. A powerful surge of energy flowed from the ring and into the medical pod, powering the entire contraption and revitalizing Isabella. Nina immediately stepped back and fell to the ground, overwhelmed by fatigue. Unlike Ariel, she was not drained to the brim. It was very fortunate that Jiang Fei had made it in time. If he had been a few minutes late, Nina would not have been able to make it.

Fueled with pure energy, the medical pod whirred and buzzed with power. Dimming lights were suddenly brightened up and Isabella’s condition was immediately restored to normal. One of the measurement tools that read “brain wave activity” spiked up, indicating a conscious mind. She was about to wake up.

“Finally…” Jiang Fei sighed with relief when he saw Isabella starting to show signs of recovery.

“Fei! We are not going to last! Do something!” Bennette Straz roared. Z0-11’s men were only there to help Jiang Fei to fight the enemy. Straz was extremely pissed with he saw Jiang Fei hiding behind the shield and not doing anything.

The casualty on this side was not severe but it would soon be. More and more of Z0-11’s men were being shot down one by one. Some of them were fortunate as their internal memory chips were still intact after they had taken a blow to the head. Some of them weren’t as lucky as they had taken a direct blow to the chest, where normal humans hearts would be. That was where the memory chips were installed. Once they had their chips destroyed, there was no coming back from it; like death to humans.

“My dear, please take care of sister Bella. I’ll go fight in your stead!” said Nina after taking two long breaths. She did not even wait for Jiang Fei to respond as she shot out of the room and into the battlefield.

“Nina… I’m… sorry…” Jiang Fei mumbled to himself. He wanted to do something but he knew better than to just charge into the battlefield with nothing but his wits and bravery.

Z0-11’s men were completely overwhelmed. To be fair, they were merely the reinforcements. If the main attacker remained passive, what could they do? By hook or by crook, Jiang Fei himself would have to think of a way to participate in the fight. How else would his allies reason into fighting this war? No one would want to sacrifice their own lives for a war when the general himself would not fight. Should Z0-11 finally decide to withdraw, Jiang Fei, Isabella, and the others would surely perish.

The shield was not going to last much longer as the enemies attack were not letting up. Without Z0-11’s men taking the hits, the entire base would not last for another 20 minutes.

Ariel was out cold, Sylphy was running on fumes, and Nina herself, figuratively, could only lift a stick to fight an enemy of metal. She had taken over the role as the strongest fighter on Winter Islands even though she could only muster less than 50% of her true strength.

“Ding.”

The ring made a light beep when all five million Energy Crystals worth of energy was poured into the medical pod. The only thing left to do was to wait for Isabella herself to wake up. Now that it was over, Jiang Fei’s hands were finally freed. It was time for him to fight.

“I’m coming!” Jiang Fei shouted to Straz. He did not have much time to think of an attack plan as the enemy had the advantage in numbers. The only plan that he could think of was to attack at random. He was hoping that he could destroy enough enemies to have them retreat. Jiang Fei was heading into the battle with nothing but his wits and bravery. He did not even have the confidence that he could defeat the enemy!

Just when Jiang Fei zoomed past the shield and was out, he saw Si Tuying and Shang Guanqi trying to wrestle their way through Sylphy to join him. Sylphy might be running on fumes but she was still a Level 5 Metahuman. Her latent strength was so superior that both Si Tuying and Shang Guanqi finally gave up trying to follow Jiang Fei. Sylphy reasoned with them trying to further persuade the two girls from entering the battlefield. They were only Level 4 fighters, albeit similar to Jiang Fei, they do not possess a unique Domain ability. Jiang Fei even have the ring to protect him. Even if he was fighting a Level 5 Metahuman, he could still fight with them toe to toe without being wiped out from the face of the Earth. The girls were just too weak; so weak that if they insisted on fighting, they would only be deadweight to Jiang Fei.

Jiang Fei heart tightened when he saw the pain in their eyes, for not being able to participate in the fight, to fight alongside a fellow family member. Even so, he was extremely relieved when the two had finally decided to stay inside the shield.

With full-focused attention, Jiang Fei dodged all the incoming particle beams. The beams of light were extremely fine yet bright. It was obvious that those thin beams of light were packed with intense destructive power. Jiang Fei would not dare to even try to take one to the chest.

“I need a plan! I can’t just drag this on!” Jiang Fei thought. He was not infallible. He was still human after all. There was a saying, a man staying by the beach would surely have grains of sand on his bed. Even if Jiang Fei dodged a million rounds of fire, he would still perish if he took just one shot.

“ARGHHH!”

Jiang Fei roared from the top of his lungs and released his fury. Waves of energy was released, with him at the center of it. The wave did not stop spreading until it covered the entirety of Winter Islands.

At that moment, nothing happened. The enemies were completely unfazed at Jiang Fei’s roar. His unique Domain ability did not affect them!

“What the hell?” Jiang Fei gasped in horror.

“Captain, your Domain ability is ineffective against non-biological being,” said 0543.

“What do you mean?”

Jiang Fei was desperate. He was only a Level 4 fighter and the only skill he could use against Level 5 opponents was the Domain. If failed, he would be just the same as Si Tuying and Shang Guanqi.

“Captain, your Domain ability works by targeting the enemy’s psychic capacity, disturbing them and forcing them to degrade from Level 5. These Androids are not Level 5 by nature. Their powers are only similar to Level 5 Metahumans as their energy reading and weapon lethality were artificially powered to that extent. Moreover, they are machines that work through processing and interpreting data through computing. Psychic attacks would not work on them. Suggestion. You should let Ariel join the fight…”

“F*ck! I’m freaking useless then!” Jiang Fei snapped. Right now, his only enemies were the Unknowns. Every single one of them were Androids! Unless he could figure out a way to miraculously extend his ability to affect machines, he would be useless in the fight.

“Yes, captain. All analysis leads to that conclusion,” said 0543 without thinking it through.

Jiang Fei rolled his eyes. If 0543 was not using a female’s voice to communicate with him, Jiang Fei would have lashed out at it.

“Shit! Now I understand! I’ve always wondered why no side effect had been exhibited after fusing with the Core of Will! So this is it! This is the f*cking side effect!” Jiang Fei thought.

According to 0541’s initial plan for Jiang Fei, Jiang Fei’s original Domain ability was supposed to enhance himself. The original effect was supposed to grant Jiang Fei unlimited strength. No matter what enemy he faced in the future, the Domain would work since it affected Jiang Fei. Now, after fusing with the Core of Will, his Domain ability was inverted; to affect his enemies and weakening them. Unfortunately, when dealing with special enemies, like the Androids for example, the weakening effect did not work.