Watching the enormous metallic three-headed dragon soar through the skies above Cybertron, William felt a flicker of interest—but honestly, he wasn't all that impressed.
Transformers in the movie universe were simply too fragile.
They couldn't even withstand conventional human weapons. Aside from looking cool, they were only useful for scaring the average human.
Besides, it's not like William didn't already have dragon-type subordinates.
The fire dragon Snug, though slightly smaller than the metallic dragon, could cast a wide range of fire-based spells and withstand dozens of blows from William's hammer, sustaining only minor surface damage.
Still, the Guardian Knights had already pledged loyalty and knelt before him. If William rejected them now, his relationship with the Autobots might chill to freezing point.
Forget it. He might as well keep them. He could summon them from Cybertron when needed, and they wouldn't require any energy when idle.
Having accepted their allegiance, William said, "I'm returning to Earth to deal with Nemesis Prime and the invading Decepticons. Your task is to assist Optimus Prime in restoring peace to Cybertron and rebuilding Autobot order. When we need you, we'll call for you."
"No, my lord," the knight leader shook his head. "When we were created, we were given the duty to guard.
At first, we served Quintessa. But when she proved unworthy, we swore to protect the staff of life. When it passed to Merlin, we served him.
Now that we serve you and House Devonshire, we can transform into any form of transportation you require, and protect your family members at all times."
"Not worth protecting, so you betrayed them," William frowned upon hearing that logic.
But after some thought—wasn't that the same as humans?
Fortunately, when it came to guarding the staff and Merlin, the twelve knights had done their job well. So even if he personally didn't need them, they could serve as protectors for his mother, Lena, and Abigail.
With that in mind, William threw sixty energy crystals at them. As the power entered their rust-covered bodies, their metal immediately gleamed like new.
With their armor now glowing with metallic luster, the twelve knights finally looked halfway impressive. William's eyes lit up, and he said to Sunday,
"Test their bullet resistance. If they're tougher than the armored Rolls Phantom my mother uses, we'll replace the old cars."
Then, he opened a portal to the U.S. Yellowstone base. The Guardian Knights nodded to Optimus and walked through without hesitation.
This reassured William. They were willing to leave Cybertron's restoration behind, which showed that in their eyes, Autobot or Decepticon—they were all Transformers.
It was to prevent them from slaughtering each other that the knights betrayed Quintessa and stole her power source—the Staff of Life.
After sending them off, William said to Optimus, "We're not far from Centauri IV. If you don't feel confident, I can bring in a group of Ravagers to help you take Cybertron back."
To his surprise, at the mention of Ravagers, both Optimus and Ironhide's expressions changed dramatically.
"No! No need—we don't want help from the Ravagers!"
So the Autobots had a history with those pirates?
William quickly realized that in the movie universe, the Transformers were only impressive when bullying nearby Earthlings. Out in the wider galaxy, they weren't even on par with interstellar pirates.
He shook his head and instantly left Cybertron—returning to New York.
Standing atop a skyscraper, he deployed swarms of Tri-Wing and Black Bee drones. Before he could even take in the scale of the city's destruction, Sunday reported,
"SIR, you've been gone from Earth for an hour. During that time, over seventy calls have come through. Also, Lady Lena left a message: if it's not absolutely necessary, stay out of alien business."
"Hah," William grinned. His mother truly was a mother. Beyond the British noble system, nothing was more important to her than her son's well-being.
"Where's Hulk and Abomination? I don't see them."
"Hulk is still fighting. Blonsky is currently hiding in a building to recover."
So the copy still wasn't as good as the original. They'd managed to replicate Hulk's strength and toughness, but not his stamina or regeneration.
"Where is he? Show me."
Following Sunday's direction, William teleported across the city in three steps, each leap extending his full psychic range of two kilometers, and landed inside the building where Blonsky was hiding.
The Abomination no longer looked as triumphant as he had hours earlier. Dozens of wounds covered his body, his green blood staining the floor, and several of the bone spikes on his back had been snapped off.
"Got mobbed by dozens of Decepticons, didn't you?"
"Who—!?"
He raised a massive blade, ready to charge toward the voice.
But as soon as he saw it was William, he halted in confusion. "Mr. Devonshire?"
"It's me," William said with a smile, taking a few steps forward. But before he could say anything more, Blonsky blurted out in alarm,
"Damn it—the whole city's lost. You shouldn't have come here now!"
"Hahaha," William genuinely hadn't expected that Blonsky's first words would be concern for him.
So helping him twice hadn't been in vain.
And now that he knew he wasn't invincible, Blonsky's arrogance had deflated significantly.
"Good—very good," William grinned, tossing him a healing charm. "This is a magic healing talisman. Crush it—it should help."
Blonsky stared at the thumb-sized jade charm for a few seconds, then crushed it.
A green glow emerged, then surged into his body.
Within five seconds, his bleeding wounds began to scab over, and his stamina visibly improved.
Seeing its effectiveness, William didn't wait for him to ask and threw two more jade charms, both shattering against his chest.
After two more waves of healing magic, Blonsky—though not quite on Hulk's level—recovered at a rapid rate far beyond that of any normal human.
In just a few breaths, he was back to full strength.
Clenching his fists, feeling his power return, Blonsky calmed down from his excitement and bowed deeply, "That's the third time you've helped me. Thank you, Mr. Devonshire."
"No—it's I who should thank you," William said with a smile that was anything but sincere. "You've bought us and Earth precious time. Now the Decepticons can't receive any more reinforcements.
Cybertron has fallen into internal conflict. Victory will soon be ours."
Almost as if confirming his words, the Decepticon ships and fighters that had been circling the city began retreating toward the space bridge in a wave of chaos.
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