From the tip of the rhombic crystal.

A deep red beam suddenly bloomed, shooting straight towards the nearby VF-0!

"Crackle!"

The light exploded against the shield's surface!

The high-energy ray, condensed from Honkai energy, much like the Loli Demon God's previous attacks, was firmly caught by the Quantum Energy shield!

However.

As the surrounding air temperature rose sharply.

The translucent shield, resembling smoke, began to change color drastically under the beam's irradiation after a mere 1.5 seconds!

"Swoosh!"

The Armed Dolls piloting the two VF-0s sensed trouble and immediately executed an evasive maneuver, pulling their airframes out of the beam's attack trajectory in time.

No reaction.

After its attack failed to achieve its effect promptly, this black crystal of unknown origin did not pursue the two VF-0s. Instead, it remained motionless in the air, emitting an astonishing amount of steam as if "overloaded."

"This is..."

"What the hell is this thing?"

Such thoughts arose simultaneously in the minds of the Loli Demon God and the VF-0 pilots.

"Clack—Thump."

The Loli Demon God stabilized her falling body.

As Honkai energy supply resumed, she, having caught her breath, began to rapidly repair her damaged shell. Before encountering the VF-0s' sniper attack in the air, the Loli Demon God had already clashed once with the Armed Dolls' ground team, and her Honkai energy reserves had been depleted to around 30%.

This was the main reason she was disinclined to fight back when pursued.

Expending all her Honkai energy might not be enough to shoot down these two bizarre aircraft, but her teammates would definitely be lost:

Within the six coffins surrounding her were the "friends" she had painstakingly found while roaming the world—a full six [Variant Deadmen].

Regardless.

The Loli Demon God knew very well how troublesome her pursuers were.

That bizarre shield—even if she used [Dark Energy Ray], if she couldn't maintain continuous irradiation for more than 3 seconds, she wouldn't even see a color change.

To completely break the shield.

It would take at least 5 seconds, if not more.

But just now...

Although the Loli Demon God had temporarily lost her mobility, her sensory abilities hadn't vanished. The two crystals, appearing from nowhere, had nearly succeeded in breaking the shield with a beam-type skill in less than two seconds!

In other words.

Their power was two, even three times her own!

Honkai Beasts with such destructive power—their appearance was completely unheralded, but when they released the beam attack, the Loli Demon God still felt a dense Honkai energy aura from the two crystals, thereby basically confirming their identity as Honkai Beasts... at least at the Emperor-class level!

"Emperor-class Honkai Beasts shaped like two crystals?"

The Loli Demon God was wracking her brains, wondering what kind of Emperor-class Honkai Beast could look like this.

The crystals made a new move.

"Clang!" xN!

A series of black flames erupted directly on the side of a VF-0's fuselage!

"Clang!" xN!

Cannons firing at full power!

Although the VF-0 pilots didn't know what these two things were, the enemy's aggressive actions indicated they were foes, not friends.

At such close range, cannons were naturally the most reliable choice.

However...

The warheads produced a melodious sound of metal impacting in mid-air, yet not a single one penetrated the crystals' defense. The two crystals suddenly snapped together like magnets, forming a new shape resembling a "bamboo dragonfly."

The next moment.

The ignited Honkai energy transformed into a shield matrix composed of dozens of hexagons, blocking all the incoming warheads!

Quantum Energy weapons were completely ineffective!

No... Quantum Energy weapons did have an effect; at least the shield's surface flickered with light and shadow from the impacts.

The main reason they failed to breach the defense—

Insufficient energy levels!

The Honkai energy reserves within the two small crystals surpassed the Quantum Energy weapons used by the VF-0s by an unknown multiple!

The one-to-ten attrition ratio was simply no match for the opponent!

"Screee—"

The instant the cannons stopped firing.

The combined crystals transformed again, changing from their previous "bamboo dragonfly" shape to an "umbrella shape" with a slight gap—hmm, to be precise, a conical shape.

Then...

"BOOM!!"

A flash of light!

The cone shot fiercely towards one of the VF-0s!

It completely ignored the "start-up to acceleration" process, and before the pilot could react, it had pierced through both the shield and the airframe!

Black flames billowed into the sky.

Fighter jet debris rained down like a sudden storm.

Before the other VF-0 could take action, a vibrant red glow had already lit up amidst the thick smoke—

"WHOOSH!!"

The crystals changed shape once more!

They combined into a "circular saw" with edges glowing a vivid red, slicing straight towards the second VF-0!

"BOOM!!"

The situation changed with incredible speed.

From the moment the crystals appeared until now, in less than 8 short seconds, the two VF-0s that had just been overwhelming the Loli Demon God were both shot down.

Cutting the weeds and digging up the roots.

The Armed Dolls piloting the fighter jets were plummeting towards the sea.

From such a height, even without parachutes, they could survive after crashing into the sea—if not for the two sharp blades stabbing towards their chests.

"Swoosh!"

The crystals that had downed the VF-0s split back into two, directly transforming into sharp lances and lunging straight at the two Armed Dolls!

"BOOM!!"

Explosions, scattering debris, total annihilation.

The sudden encounter thus hastily drew to a close.

As for the sole survivor on the field...

The Loli Demon God, her heart pounding with lingering fear, stared at the two crystals floating before her—the golden gems embedded in their centers were like two giant eyes, completely suppressing all her thoughts and movements.

She was deeply "moved"—frozen in place.

Fortunately.

This process didn't last too long.

After realizing the Loli Demon God was not an "enemy," the two "eyes" quickly lost interest in her.

The former recalibrated their angle.

Transforming into streaks of light, they instantly vanished towards the southwest of the sea region.

"Phew!"

15 seconds later.

The Loli Demon God let out a deep breath.

Escaping with her life was worth celebrating, but what had just happened was truly too bizarre.

"Southwest..."

"The Australian continent, then."

The strength of these two crystals alone was equivalent to an Emperor-class Honkai Beast.

Whether they were part of some powerful faction, or the external extensions of some powerful individual—the Loli Demon God didn't know why she had this thought that "an Emperor-class was merely an extension," but when she saw the two crystals, she genuinely felt that way.

All this meant.

There was definitely an extremely powerful Honkai-aligned force in Australia. If possible...

"It's been a long time since I went back."