A Rule-Breaking "Bullet"

Faced with the powerful Coral Knight, Caroline, who had been hiding her strength all along, finally erupted with her true power.

Seeing this, even Tiandao, who believed he knew Caroline inside and out, was somewhat shaken.

Because in this arc of the original story, Caroline had not only noticed the Coral Knight's abnormality early on.

She had also guessed that the strange mist pervading the entire parking lot was the work of their instructor, Yun Meng.

Thus, although she had still displayed considerable combat prowess in the original plot.

It had been nowhere near as exaggerated as it was now.

It could be said that if Tiandao had not chosen to "fake his death," causing Caroline to completely lose her mind.

Then the calm and clever Caroline would surely have quickly sorted out everything happening here and once again chosen to preserve herself wisely.

Thinking of this, Tiandao suddenly grew curious.

Curious as to just how high Caroline's true strength had risen.

After all, judging solely from the current situation.

This nominal Starborn No. 4 was somewhat stronger than Chen Xing, Starborn No. 2.

At the same time, after sensing Caroline and Chen Xing's beyond-spec strength, the Coral Knight gradually began to get serious as well.

And as the Coral Knight became fully serious.

Caroline and Chen Xing, who had barely been able to contend with him before, soon fell into a complete disadvantage.

Because whether it was Caroline's "Overload" or Chen Xing's "Karma Fire."

They were limited by their relatively low "Star Energy Value."

As a result, although the power of their attacks had already far surpassed the average for their rank, they still found it difficult to shake the Coral Knight, a Rank 2 Star Envoy.

Especially after the Coral Knight had suffered a loss at Tiandao's hands, this became all the more apparent.

Because the current Coral Knight would not underestimate any "Rank 1 Star Envoy."

Or rather, he would no longer treat any "Starborn" as an ordinary "Rank 1 Star Envoy."

And once caution became the Coral Knight's main theme.

Then with his Star Energy Value, combat experience, and Star Source development all utterly crushing Chen Xing and Caroline's, there was naturally no possibility of him losing.

Unless another variable appeared.

For instance, some overlooked sixth man lurking in the shadows.

The real world, Station 13.

Watching Caroline and Chen Xing fight with everything they had, only to still be utterly crushed by the Coral Knight.

The viewers instantly understood not only just how vast the gap between them and the Coral Knight was.

But also how vast the gap between them and Tiandao was.

After all, the Coral Knight they could barely defeat even together had previously been thoroughly defeated by Tiandao in an almost one-sided fashion!

'Encountered a Rank 2 Star Envoy by chance, fought with everything they had, and still couldn't win.'

'Tiandao: Strange, was this guy really that hard to fight? Felt like I kicked him to death in one blow.'

'Caroline: Damn, this is a high-level match!'

Just as Caroline and Chen Xing were clearly about to lose.

The anime's camera suddenly switched to Chen Kong.

Faced with this abrupt shift in perspective, the viewers knew it was time to create a shining moment for the protagonist, Chen Kong.

They all sat up straight, eagerly anticipating Chen Kong's performance.

At that moment, Chen Kong was quietly hiding behind an abandoned car at the edge, carefully observing the battle not far away.

And because he had already activated his "First Star Core: Mark of the Void."

The Coral Knight, caught up in the battle, had not noticed his presence at all and had completely overlooked him.

"Once. I only have one chance."

Looking at the Coral Knight, whose entire body was covered in Coral Armor, with a Fist Gauntlet on his left hand and a Spear Gauntlet on his right.

Chen Kong was so tense that sweat poured from his forehead, while even his right hand trembled without stop.

The Dimensional Audience was not overly demanding about this reaction of his.

After all, they knew Chen Kong's strength well.

As a Natural Strongman, Tiandao not only had to win, but had to win beautifully and spectacularly, only then could he meet the audience's expectations.

Likewise, as a natural weakling, the audience had very low expectations for Chen Kong.

He did not need to win. They only hoped he would not lose too badly.

Because weakness had never been wrong; willingly sinking into depravity was.

Thus, regardless of whether Chen Kong succeeded later.

The fact that he had this thought now and was willing to act on it already made him worthy of the title "anime protagonist" in the viewers' hearts.

After all, not everyone was Tiandao Siming, and not everyone had the courage to rise to the challenge.

Inside the parking lot, Caroline was sent flying by a punch from the Coral Knight and fell to the ground, her fate unknown.

Chen Xing was bound by the Coral Knight's soft spear blade, the Demonic Blade falling from her hand as she completely lost the ability to fight.

Chen Kong, who had been hiding nearby all along, knew he could not wait any longer.

Success or failure rested on this one move!

"Cough, cough cough."

Chen Xing's body was wrapped by the Coral Knight's three-meter-long Coral Spear Blade.

As she coughed violently, she gripped the end of the spear blade around her neck with both hands, trying to let herself breathe normally.

But before the absolute difference in strength, Chen Xing simply could not break free from the spear blade's restraints.

All she could do was gradually feel her thoughts grow muddled and her body slowly lose all sensation.

Powerless, and unable to change anything.

Watching Chen Xing, who was about to faint and lose consciousness.

A flicker of hesitation passed through the Coral Knight's eyes beneath his mask.

Because according to his own nature, this so-called test had more or less reached its end.

But according to Tiandao and Yun Meng, it would be better if he made Chen Xing completely pass out.

Because only then could she truly feel just how "weak" she was before him.

Yet for some reason, the Coral Knight always felt as though he had forgotten something.

But he could not recall what exactly he had overlooked, as if some invisible force were suppressing his thoughts and senses.

And this strange sensation inexplicably made the Coral Knight somewhat irritable.

But at that moment, the Coral Knight suddenly sensed an odd movement behind him.

He whirled around and saw that Chen Kong had somehow appeared three meters behind him, aiming the special black firearm in his hand at him.

Seeing Chen Kong appear so suddenly, the Coral Knight's pupils contracted.

When?

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Without giving him time to think, three sharp gunshots rang out.

The black firearm in Chen Kong's hands fired three specially made bullets.

Carrying spiraling currents of air, the three bullets flew at astonishing speed toward the Coral Knight's face.

Driven by the terrifying combat instincts cultivated over many years, the Coral Knight immediately raised his right hand on reflex.

The Fist Gauntlet on that hand reconfigured itself into a small shield in an instant, attempting to block Chen Kong's sneak attack head-on.

Crack!

What the Coral Knight had not expected was that his shield, capable of withstanding the attacks of ordinary Rank 2 Star Envoys, failed to fully block Chen Kong's three bullets.

The first special bullet Chen Kong fired at his shield immediately threw the Star Energy within it into disorder.

Cracks instantly spread across the shield.

Then, the second bullet struck the exact spot where the previous bullet had hit.

After completely penetrating the shield, it touched the helmet over the Coral Knight's face.

It not only left a bullet mark of moderate size on the helmet.

It also caused the Coral Knight's helmet to crack in a strange manner.

Finally, the remaining third bullet followed the trajectory of the first two bullets.

It shot with perfect accuracy toward the Coral Knight's face.

Although the three bullets arrived almost one after another.

The Coral Knight had still turned his head the instant he sensed the first bullet's abnormality.

As a result, the final bullet ultimately failed to seriously injure him.

It merely tore through the helmet over his face, leaving a gash on his cheek and drawing dark-red blood.

Three bullets, one wound.

Chen Kong stared in stunned disbelief at the Coral Knight, who was only bleeding lightly from his cheek. He clearly had not expected the ambush he had prepared for so long to yield such a result.

He looked at the two-meter-tall Coral Knight before him, whose body was covered in savage coral venom spikes.

His expression turned ashen, and his eyes filled with despair.

Because he understood that he had completely run out of chances.

Tap, tap, tap—

The Coral Knight released the unconscious Chen Xing and walked toward Chen Kong in heavy, slow steps. Without saying a word, he stopped before him, looked down at him from above, and slowly raised his hand.

Seeing the calm eyes beneath the Coral Knight's helmet, along with the blood slowly flowing down his cheek.

Chen Kong shuddered from head to toe, his mind went blank, and he closed his eyes in despair.

Yet strangely, after waiting with his eyes closed for a moment.

The agonizing pain he had imagined never came.

Instead, the Coral Knight lightly patted his shoulder, neither too hard nor too softly, and spoke in a strange tone full of approval.

"Not bad. I didn't expect you to actually manage to hurt me. You Starborn really aren't simple, not a single one of you."

"Oh, right. I can tell those three bullets you fired just now were not ordinary bullets. They seemed to contain some special Star Source property."

"Otherwise, I don't think ordinary bullets could have so easily pierced my 'Coral Armor' and successfully injured me."

"Can you tell me where those bullets came from? I'm quite curious."

Chen Kong opened his eyes and stared blankly at the Coral Knight before him, who wore a smile and had a gentle attitude.

Only after a long while did Chen Kong finally force out a single word.

"Huh?"