To the surprise of all the Skrulls, the two energy blasts, fired from less than five meters away, were easily dodged by the seemingly slow and clumsy combat robots, simply by tilting their heads.
In London, William laughed heartily as he watched the two stunned Skrull scouts on his screen.
He turned to Sunday and said, "Let's play with these green guys for a bit—give my little spiders some extra time.
Activate the combat mode on the robots. I also want to test how these new battle droids stack up against interstellar species in combat."
"Understood, Sir. Activating combat mode."
The moment Sunday spoke, the Skrull scouts saw the robots' eyes shift from blue to red.
This clear danger signal immediately made the Skrulls uneasy.
"Zzzt! Zzzt!"
The two scouts barely had time to pull their triggers again before the battle droids dodged their attacks once more, closed the distance in a few quick strides, and landed punches squarely on their jaws.
Crack! Crack!
The sickening sound of bones breaking echoed through the cave. The two overconfident scouts, who had removed their helmets, were sent flying by a single blow, slamming into nearby structures and losing all combat capability.
"Open fire! Open fire!"
Even before Talos could issue the command, the other Skrulls in the cave had instinctively begun shooting.
Eight energy beams streaked toward the advancing combat robots.
However, under Sunday's control, the robots dodged the first wave of attacks with swift sidesteps and rolls before drawing their rapid-fire pistols and returning fire.
"Rat-tat-tat! Rat-tat-tat!"
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The sound of bullets striking armor rang through the cave.
Dozens of rounds hit their marks, forcing the Skrulls to flinch, but within seconds, they realized that the bullets couldn't penetrate their protective suits.
Seeing this, William frowned slightly and ordered, "Change targets—aim for their weapons."
"Understood, Sir."
The moment the targeting changed, the effects were immediate. A Skrull holding a charged energy weapon was suddenly hit by several bullets on the barrel, causing the gun to shift slightly.
Zzzap!
To everyone's shock, the deflected blast struck another Skrull square in the chest, instantly killing him.
As soon as the first casualty fell, the Skrulls erupted in rage, while William remained silent for two seconds before calmly saying, "Activate kill mode."
To him, since the first shot had been fired and someone had died, there was no longer any need to consider friendship or diplomacy.
Sunday, however, still attempted to reason with him. "Sir, a reminder: If you truly wish to study Skrull shapeshifting genes, it would be best to capture test subjects of various power levels.
Additionally, to avoid potential interstellar disputes, we should officially charge them with prison break-related offenses before detaining them."
"No. Activate kill mode," William said firmly, dismissing Sunday's concerns.
For a brief moment, he had actually considered subjugating the Skrulls. But then he remembered that he and the English wizards possessed the ability to neutralize the Skrulls' genetic advantages.
With that power in hand, true friendship between the two sides was essentially impossible.
After all, if William knew someone had the ability to strip away his magic or his connection to the Space Stone, he would either flee as far as possible or do everything in his power to eliminate them.
As for surrendering as a slave? Only a fool wouldn't realize that such a thing was merely a temporary measure. The moment an opportunity arose, rebellion was guaranteed.
Besides, even if he wiped out the Skrulls in the cave right now, he would still have the moral high ground.
Having made his decision, Sunday no longer tried to dissuade him. William flicked his hand, opening a portal inside the potato cultivation ship.
Instantly, Sunday's connection to the two battle droids improved to near-zero latency.
If, before, 90% of the combat was controlled by the robots' built-in programming, now Sunday was directly in control.
Within a single second, as they continued dodging and counterattacking, the Skrulls' expressions of fear deepened. The battle droids, which previously only had glowing red eyes, now had entire bodies emitting a red glow.
With Sunday activating 10% of his total computational power for the fight, the battle droids' movements became almost godlike.
Two seconds earlier, they had needed to dodge by jumping and rolling. Now, they could evade energy blasts simply by twisting their bodies or sidestepping without moving their feet.
Their rapid-fire pistols also became far deadlier. Not only could they accurately strike Skrull energy weapons' barrels,
but they also began targeting weak points in the Skrulls' armor. Their bullets hit ankles and heels, tripping up two running Skrulls and sending them crashing into the ground.
Within seconds, they had destroyed three energy weapons, and the distance between the two sides had closed considerably.
Seeing the combat robots extend their retractable blades, Nick Fury quickly pressed a virtual button, and his voice broadcasted across the cave from one of the hovering vehicles:
"Cease fire! Cease fire! Rescue team, drop your weapons and surrender!"
The moment those words left his mouth, two razor-sharp blades pierced through Skrull helmets but stopped just short of their skulls.
Seeing this, the remaining Skrulls in the cave felt a wave of relief. If that command had come even a second later, their two fallen comrades would have been executed,
and the five of them still standing wouldn't have lasted much longer before being cut down.
The combat robots retracted their blades and addressed the Skrulls: "Drop your weapons. Drop your weapons."
Just as the seven Skrulls were hesitating on what to do,
Zzzzt! Zzzzt!
Two energy shots rang out.
One robot's head was instantly destroyed. The other managed to tilt its head just in time under Sunday's control,
but the blast still burned through a quarter of its skull, sparks flying from the damage.
"Oh, my God."
Unlike the Skrulls, who hesitated at first but then erupted in cheers, Nick Fury was now drenched in cold sweat.
A chilling sense of fear gripped him from deep within.
And sure enough, before he could say another word, ten golden portals suddenly materialized inside the cave.
A rhythmic march echoed through the portals.
But what emerged first were not soldiers, but a dozen baseball-sized metallic orbs, which flew directly onto the two Skrull aircraft, attaching themselves with flashing red warning lights.
Then, from each portal, four combat robots stepped out—forty in total, all wielding energy weapons.
At that moment, the Skrulls in the cave made no further moves. They immediately dropped their weapons and raised their hands in surrender.
Even the pilots inside the Skrull aircraft, upon seeing the energy weapons pointed at them, wisely raised their hands as well.
Cautiously, they exited their vehicles and stood alongside their seven surrendered comrades.
As for the two Skrull scouts who had first been knocked unconscious, and later took the cheap shots that destroyed two of the battle droids,
they were picked up by two combat robots and punched hard in the gut before being tossed back to the ground.
A battle droid then pulled out an energy pistol, placing its finger on the trigger and aiming it directly at their heads.