"I wish it were just Pajero."

Kaishin’s tone was extremely serious.

"This guy personally killed Pajero over a year ago and took over the entire Pajero Legion. In just a little more than a year, he’s already devastated dozens of life bearing planets beyond recognition. If your opponent is him, you do not have even the slightest chance of winning!"

Knox was stunned.

"Someone that strong really exists?"

"Yes!"

Kaishin emphasized it again.

"And he’s even stronger than you can imagine. Listen to me carefully. Do not even think about fighting him. Hurry and leave this planet bef..."

As he spoke, Kaishin’s voice became more and more distorted until it vanished entirely.

Knox frowned.

"Lord Kai? Lord Kai!"

No matter how many times he called out, the telepathic connection never returned.

His expression grew increasingly grim.

What exactly was going on?

"Ahem."

A cough suddenly sounded nearby.

Knox instantly turned toward the source.

At some point, a short old man had appeared beside them without anyone noticing.

Everyone immediately became alert.

Knox asked directly, "Who are you?"

The old man revealed a harmless looking smile.

"You can call me Kebi. Looks like your planet is about to face a major disaster."

Knox did not respond right away.

Instead, he silently gauged the old man’s aura.

Weak.

That was his first impression.

In Knox’s senses, the old man’s battle power was only around 2,000.

By all logic, someone like this should not pose any threat to them.

And yet...

Derek and Guy both felt chills crawl down their spines.

Even Knox himself could not shake a strange sense of unease.

Something was definitely wrong with this old man.

Before Knox could speak, Kebi continued first.

"Running away won’t help. Unless you abandon the entire Bloodmoon Legion, all the life bearing planets in your territory will eventually be destroyed by the Pajero Legion anyway."

Derek said coldly, "Stop talking in circles. What exactly are you trying to say?"

"Hehehe."

Kebi let out a disturbing laugh.

Only then did he reveal his true purpose.

"I happen to have a way to help you survive this crisis. You’ll just need to pay a tiny little price. So, what do you think?"

"..."

No matter how they looked at it, this old man was suspicious beyond belief.

Everything about him felt wrong.

But what he said was true.

If they kept running forever, the Bloodmoon Legion would eventually be swallowed up sooner or later.

Guy immediately said, "We can’t trust this old man."

Knox nodded in agreement.

"Yeah."

"What a shame."

Kebi sighed.

Then he suddenly moved.

Two glowing spheres shot into Derek and Guy’s bodies.

Knox’s expression changed instantly as he attacked.

"What did you do to them?!"

Kebi casually sidestepped the attack with a single movement.

"You could say this is a little gift from me since our deal failed. After all, I did waste some of your time, and I sincerely apologize for that."

As he spoke, Kebi revealed that unsettling smile again.

He pointed toward the sky.

Then his body vanished into thin air.

Knox could no longer sense his aura at all.

"That old bastard was definitely hiding his strength!"

Knox looked toward the sky where Kebi had pointed.

A massive spaceship had appeared beyond the atmosphere.

Within moments, it arrived outside Redstar.

Terrifying auras radiated from inside the ship.

Even from this distance alone, Knox’s entire body tensed in despair.

"The Pajero Legion!"

He could clearly sense it.

Inside that ship were more than ten auras exceeding 500,000 battle power.

One of them had even reached 800,000.

Only now did Knox truly understand what North Kai had meant earlier.

Against power on that level, he had absolutely no chance whatsoever.

His face turned pale.

"We’re dead this time."

If Kebi had not appeared to waste their time, maybe they could have escaped earlier.

But now it was too late.

The enemy was already at their doorstep.

How were they supposed to run now?

Only then did Knox turn toward Derek and Guy.

"How are you two feeling?"

"Uh..."

Derek looked shocked.

"That old man really did give us a gift."

"What gift?"

Guy exchanged a look with Derek.

Then both of them spoke at the exact same time.

"Fusion Technique!"

Knox frowned.

"Fusion Technique?"

Fusion Technique was an advanced application of ki.

As the name implied, it allowed two ki users to merge into a single warrior far stronger than either individual.

The fusion was temporary and lasted at most one hour.

Using too much energy during that period could cause the fusion to break early.

In exchange for its short duration, the resulting power increase was extraordinary.

The fused warrior inherited both users’ intelligence and strengths.

Their energy multiplied explosively.

The stronger and more talented the two individuals were, the stronger the resulting fusion would become.

At minimum, fusion could amplify battle power dozens of times over.

Sometimes even hundreds.

Everything depended on the users themselves.

Derek stared toward the spaceship in the sky, his face darkening.

"That old man did this on purpose. He wanted us to use this technique against the Pajero Legion."

Guy sighed.

"No matter what his real goal is, fusion is our only option now."

The two people performing Fusion Technique needed to possess similar levels of ki.

Their battle powers could not differ too greatly.

That was why Kebi had chosen Derek and Guy.

Knox was too strong compared to either of them.

Fusion with him was impossible.

Faced with this hopeless situation, he had no other choice.

"All right."

He looked at the two of them.

"I’m counting on you."

Derek and Guy nodded.

"We’ll do our best."

"If I ever see that old man again, I swear I’m gonna kill him."

The Pajero Legion spaceship landed steadily.

Zadamor said, "Leader, we’ve arrived at Redstar."

"Mm."

Caelum stepped out through the hatch.

At that exact moment, a powerful aura erupted in the distance.

An immense surge of energy shot into the sky, blasting apart huge sections of cloud cover.

Within Caelum’s senses, two incredibly weak auras slowly began merging together.

Then they fused completely into a single overwhelming presence.

Two energies that had only possessed 4,000 battle power individually suddenly exploded into a fused power level exceeding 1.6 million.

It was unbelievable.

A full two hundred times amplification.

Caelum’s eyes immediately lit up with interest.

"Looks like this planet has something pretty interesting after all."

Meanwhile...

After performing the Fusion Technique, Derek and Guy successfully became one.

The resulting power was so overwhelming that even they could barely believe it themselves.

It felt unreal.

The fused warrior was both Derek and Guy at the same time.

When he spoke, both voices overlapped together.

"In that case... I’ll call myself Dereguy!"

Clearly, the dominant personality after fusion was Derek’s.