The Final Odyssey, the fantastical journey of a cat boy

"It's over." After stepping on Fish, Ange slowly drew her "Moonshadow" beam saber from her waist and pointed the tip at Fish's face—just moments before, as Fish was about to attack, Ange had suddenly turned around with lightning speed and kicked him in the stomach. The force was so great that he almost vomited his internal organs out of his throat.

"Gurgle... Ouch..." Fish cried out in pain, tears streaming down his face. Fortunately, Phoenix Flame immediately injected a large amount of potent analgesic into his subcutaneous capillaries, temporarily relieving his pain.

"Admit defeat now."

"I'm very sorry," Huang Yan said in Fish's mind, "it seems I slightly underestimated this young lady's intelligence. She predicted my prediction."

"Mr. Fish, although your method of interfering with my acoustic detection is very clever, your strategy is too simple, so much so that I can easily guess what you're planning to do." Ange, of course, did not hear what Huang Yan "said" to Fish, but that did not stop her from proudly announcing her victory.

"Okay, I admit I'm at a disadvantage for now." Fish shrugged.

"At a disadvantage? No, Mr. Fish, you have already lost," Ange said smugly. "You have no chance of turning the tables right now—but I don't intend to harm you. So if you just admit defeat and swear to become my vassal, dedicating your loyalty to me forever and without reservation, I guarantee that I will reserve a sufficiently glorious position for you by my side, above all other vassals."

"What if I say no?" Fish asked. "After all, we probably have different standards for judging whether something is a failure."

"You've already lost!"

"I don't!"

"Hmm..." Ange, who had just looked relaxed, showed a troubled expression. According to the prevailing custom throughout the Pan-Pacific Empire, duels formally initiated by nobles would only end in three ways: either one side would admit defeat after being forced into a corner, one side would be killed by the other, or both sides would be severely injured and lose their fighting ability, or even perish together.

In most cases, this habit wouldn't cause any trouble. But the problem was that those who participated in the duels in the past were all nobles, especially those from the Duchy of Fayun, and nobles generally had a problem with being "too concerned with their reputation." Therefore, they almost never considered this issue.

What if someone is neither killed nor in a mutually destructive situation, but stubbornly refuses to admit defeat like a rogue like Niu Er?

At least, those nobles who value honor above all else never even considered this issue! That's why the competition rules don't even include the "being knocked off the stage counts as a loss" rule like in the World's Greatest Martial Arts Tournament!

For this reason, Ange was at a loss for what to do for a moment. After thinking for a while, she began to increase the pressure of her feet, stomping on Fish with even greater force.

With the powerful output of the "Golden Soup" intelligent combat armor, the force of this impact was enough to flatten the turret of a Pan-Pacific Empire Army "Salmon Crocodile" amphibious tank. Fortunately, Ange knew that under immense pressure, the intelligent combat armor would automatically harden and form a high-strength support structure similar to the elytra and exoskeleton of a demon beetle in nature, effectively resisting most of the pressure. Therefore, such a stomp should only cause Fish pain, but not endanger his life.

"Damn, you're so heavy. Hey, Miss Ange, what do you usually eat?" Fish didn't admit defeat; instead, he said sarcastically.

"Whoa! You...you dare say I'm heavy?! I've always been careful about controlling my diet, and you...you...dare...say...I'm...fat?!"

Upon hearing Fish's words, Ange erupted in fury, like a dragon whose scales had been touched. Without realizing it, she increased the pressure on her feet. Then, she heard a series of cracking sounds, followed by Fish's painful groans.

"Gurgle... Meow... I... I can't breathe, meow... Waaaaaah... I'm going to die, meowaaaah..."

If this were a fan of "Cat TV" from a thousand years ago, they might have listened to this wailing with an appreciative expression, but Ange panicked instantly—her goal was merely to force Fish to admit defeat, not to truly take his life. In fact, under the current circumstances, she desperately needed Fish's powerful fighting ability!

If something were to happen to Fish, that would be terrible!

"Are you... alright?" After Fish began to convulse in pain, Ange quickly released her foot and crouched down to check on him. But the next second, Fish suddenly raised his right arm armor and fired an ion gun directly at her face!

Of course, while Phoenix Flame's ion gun could theoretically penetrate "Golden Soup's" mask at near-zero distance using its overload mode, Fish would never do such a thing to the important personnel he was protecting.

Therefore, this shot was deliberately adjusted to a shotgun mode that was completely ineffective against armored targets and could only kill soft targets: dozens of smaller plasma bursts were ejected simultaneously, slamming into Ange's face like a fist.

"Whoa!"

Completely unprepared for Fish's ruthless attack, Ange was knocked backward and fell to the ground, seeing a bunch of cute little stars before her eyes and tasting a strong metallic tang of blood. Taking advantage of the moment, Fish snatched the beam saber "Moonshadow" from her hand and pointed the blade at Ange…

...But that young lady is no longer there.

"Watch out, it's an anti-gravity flying wing device!" Huang Yan warned. "Hmm... these things are really rare these days."

"Huh?" Fish looked up in surprise and saw Ange hovering nearly a hundred meters above the ground. At that moment, a pair of huge, blood-red wings had emerged from the multi-functional mini-arsenal "Pandora's Box" on her back, making her look exactly like a vampire progenitor in a cliché horror story, revealing its true form under the moonlight.

Of course, these wings are not some supernatural entity, but rather the most famous technological achievement of the old civilization era: a small anti-gravity device. Even among the numerous relics of the old civilization era excavated from the ruins, anti-gravity devices are rare—not because they were manufactured in extremely small quantities, but because such devices are difficult to maintain, and after thousands of years, the vast majority are no longer usable.

Back when Fish was still living in Oasis City, he had overheard merchants talking about how even the smallest anti-gravity material, capable of only levying objects the size of marbles, could fetch tens of thousands of Imperial dinars if it functioned properly—almost a year's living expenses for an average family. And these enormous anti-gravity wings were practically floating mountains of gold!

"Hey, you despicable bastard! I'm really angry now!" After gaining a superior position, Anjie shouted through the loudspeaker of "Golden Soup," "You dared to slander me first, and then use such shameless means to sneak up on me! This time I'm going to beat you to a pulp!"

"Oh no, she's really angry this time!" Fish, whose sneak attack had failed, shuddered. "Um... what should we do?"

"Don't worry, the database of this intelligent combat armor contains all publicly published works on military science and tactics from ancient times to the present. It can analyze any situation and formulate corresponding countermeasures," Huang Yan replied. "Based on the current situation, I believe that we can use the essence of ancient Eastern military wisdom to deal with it."

For example…

"Of course, the best of the thirty-six stratagems is to flee! Run!"

As soon as Huang Yan revealed her amazing plan, An Jie in the air went into overdrive like a flying volcano: the electromagnetic machine gun and plasma shoulder cannon began to roar wildly, and what was even more deadly was that more than a dozen miniature loitering missiles flew out from the "Pandora's Box" on her back. After opening their wings, they flew off in different directions like a swarm of ferocious bumblebees.

"Wa ...

Under the literal barrage of bullets, Fish was like a stray cat being chased by a mastiff, powerless to even defend himself, let alone attempt to fight back.

Since the black aerosols released earlier had become much less dense due to the sea breeze and natural settling, and could no longer provide cover, he could only desperately dash left and right and run east and west on the open rooftop, trying to escape the terrifying firepower.

However, in addition to machine gun shells and plasma missiles, he now faces new troubles: mini loitering munitions with wingspans similar to an adult's hand, carrying high-explosive warheads and guidance systems.

To some extent, the combat intelligence of these mini loitering munitions launched from "Pandora's Box" is even higher than that of Ange, who is furious and only knows how to chase and attack her opponents. They can cooperate with each other, make subtle feints, and even find Fish's blind spots and then crash into them.

Fortunately, Phoenix Flame quickly generated multiple temporary clusters of photosensitive cells in different parts of the combat armor, providing Fish with timely warnings by observing changes in light and dark, allowing him to shoot down several of these dangerous little gadgets using the shotgun mode of his ion gun. But in the end, one mini loitering munition still broke through the interception and struck Fish hard in the waist.

"Meow!"

Although the destructive power of the mere dozen grams of high explosive warhead was not strong, and it was completely unable to penetrate Huang Yan's defenses, it was still like a heavy punch to the waist for Fish, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground. Then, two plasma shoulder cannons fired at his feet landed, and the resulting explosions threw him away again, like an egg being flipped in a frying pan.

"Now let's see where you can run to?!" In mid-air, Ange used the aiming ring on her helmet display to target the immobilized Fish, preparing to deliver a powerful blow to him with her electromagnetic cannon.

However, just as she was about to fire, a small figure with green hair and flapping translucent fairy wings suddenly flew past her side.

Then, a strong feeling of weightlessness suddenly gripped Anjie without warning.

"What's going on—whoa!"

When Ange realized that the anti-gravity wing device behind her had suddenly malfunctioned, it was too late: gravity mercilessly seized her, leaving her flailing wildly as she crashed into the roof below. The added weight of the heavy weaponry caused her to slam into the center of the court, creating a large, human-shaped crater, her entire body aching as if she'd been hit with a rolling pin.

Fortunately, thanks to the protection provided by the intelligent combat armor, even after such a spectacular "great collision" ended, she was not seriously injured except for not being able to get up.

"This is...cheating..." Ange, who was lying in the pit and unable to move, whispered after watching the green-haired "little fairy" fly away from her. "Terrible."

"That's not right... You can't call someone 'bad' when things are going against you," Fish, who was barely holding on thanks to the painkillers and stimulants injected by Phoenix Flame, limped over to Ange's side. "I just had Phoenix Flame's remote control manually shut down your anti-gravity wings."

"Isn't this cheating?!"

"Of course not," this time, Huang Yan chose to defend herself. Her fairy-type terminal flew in front of An Jie, arms crossed with a proud expression. "Although my terminal is somewhat special, it is theoretically part of combat armor, and there is no fundamental difference between it and those loitering munitions you just fired."

"Eh?"

"So, since you were able to use that attack method just now, it's not unreasonable for us to retaliate with equal means—of course, this intelligent combat armor is the highest-end product among similar armors, possessing true intelligence, but that's not important."

"I...I..."

Although Ange tried again to get up, she failed. After glaring at Fish in frustration, her eyes suddenly rolled back, and she lost consciousness.

"Phew... I guess I won this time?" Fish muttered in confusion. But then, he suddenly realized that Ange's three maids, who had been watching coldly from the side, had somehow appeared beside him! Two of the ordinary maids removed the heavy equipment from the unconscious Ange one by one and helped her to the side, while the green-haired, fox-eared maid, who was also an armored warrior and wore dark green intelligent combat armor, walked up to Fish.

Oops!

Although Fish didn't speak, he felt a chill run down his spine—what if Ange's subordinates didn't intend to admit the result and were planning to eliminate him directly to cover up their young lady's defeat? The situation would be troublesome! Even with Xiaoxing here, Fish still couldn't guarantee that he, exhausted, was a match for this seemingly shrewd and capable maid…

Then, the green-haired, fox-eared maid knelt down before Fish.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"I am Mint, and I pay my respects to the new head of the family," the maid said. "My loyalty now belongs to you."