Chapter Seven: Hail! The Emperor

Not all paratroopers had the ability to slay the Demon mech like Lu Yuan. When the first paratrooper mech, forced to the brink, detonated itself, the Marines stationed in the fortress had also exhausted their combat robots. They, too, charged out with shells rigged with delayed fuses in their arms. They knew their fate, knew they would die, but the rocks that block the flood have no concern for being shattered.

Lu Yuan's alloy sword was already dulled, and the thick armor of the Demon mech deflected his blade, sending painful tremors through his arm. He had fended off several enemies attempting to attack the Misaka cannons, but the mech's sustained power overload made its engine increasingly difficult to control. He knew that the next moment could see him explode into fragments, but when that moment came, it would be a brilliant firework.

"Hummm~~~" A blue glow flashed across Lu Yuan's eyes, and the holographic display inside his mech flickered and distorted. Then, a dense, almost tangible blue light extended several dozen meters beyond the city walls. Any Demon mechs touching the blue light instantly vanished, as if swallowed by it. Some, caught at the very edge, fell in two, their cut surfaces unnervingly smooth.

"It's the death ray!" someone shouted. The thin, fragile-looking blue curtain of light seemed to wield boundless power. Both the Demon mechs storming the walls and the paratroopers and Marines struggling to hold the line froze in place.

And then came the cheers!

The death ray shield of the fortress had been activated! Lu Yuan realized it at once. The fleet's spellcasters inside the Star Tablet Fortress had been holding out for this very moment! Even using the antimatter power plant buried deep underground to fuel the death ray required draining all the fortress's energy. These lunatics had really gambled everything!

"Hail!" Lu Yuan shouted, raising his sword. "Brothers! Hail! Follow me and sweep these imperial scum clean!"

"Hail!!!" Just a minute earlier, the Demon mechs had been wreaking havoc, but now they faltered. There weren't many left standing on the walls. The death ray had cut off any reinforcement from outside, and anyone who dared to enter would dissolve. With their morale surging, the paratroopers and Marines, once pressed into a corner, now fought with a burning desire for revenge, driving the Demon mechs into retreat.

The last Demon mech, surrounded and desperate, was dragged out of its armor by the paratroopers and thrown from the walls. Seeing this, Lu Yuan finally sheathed his sword, coughing as he spoke over the comms: "All units, *cough*, clean up the battlefield, restore defenses. Don't forget, there's still the second half of the night!"

Lu Yuan jumped out of his mech, which was so badly damaged it was barely holding together. Coughing painfully, he leaned against the parapet, the eerie glow of the death ray casting shadows all over the city walls.

"Are you hurt, boss?" Lieutenant Yue Dong, one of the nearby paratroopers, noticed something off about Lu Yuan and approached.

Annoyed, Lu Yuan waved him off, saying, "Just caught a cold, mind your own damn business! Go clean up!"

Yue Dong walked away reluctantly, looking back several times. Unable to let it go, he eventually sent someone to watch over Lu Yuan.

"I told you, I'm fine!" Lu Yuan snapped angrily when he sensed someone standing behind him. But the paratrooper behind him seemed frozen, a strange, shy expression on his face. Outside the walls, the death ray shimmered like a tide, and from one point, a burst of brilliance exploded, dazzling like the peak of a supernova.

At the center of that brilliance, a fist suddenly emerged, corroded down to raw steel, wires spilling out, and spewing choking smoke.

A steel fist.

Dripping molten metal, the steel fist punched through the death ray, heading straight for one of the Misaka railguns. The fortifications crumbled like a pile of toy blocks, and explosions, like scattered popcorn, drowned out the dying screams of dozens.

"Hold the line!" Lu Yuan shouted sternly. No one on the wall was left standing. The Titan mech's merciless punch hit harder than any weapon, and those who didn't escape in time were sent flying into the death ray, vaporized instantly. Others were scorched to death before they could even leave the mech's palm.

The death ray halted the Titan's advance, scorching it into a grotesque figure. Black and red poisonous smoke billowed from the body of this brutal tyrant. Every step it took seemed to reshape the night, a monstrous figure trampling over everything. What kind of unshakable heart dared draw a sword in fury against the Ivan the Terrible?

"All units, stop the enemy Titan at all costs!" The voice of the fleet commander in the Star Tablet Fortress rang out for the first time. Behind Lu Yuan, a beam of light, spanning the heavens and the earth, shot from the Star Tablet. This was the final moment!

The Marines picked up the scattered electromagnetic cannons and focused their fire on the Titan. The rounds were absorbed by Ivan's viscous, writhing armor, like bubbles bursting. More streams of molten alloy sprayed out, burning with greater intensity.

The railgun blast tore through Ivan's face, peeling off layers of metal to reveal an even tougher core beneath. The imperial warrior discarded its black cloak—now, its invincible battle armor was exposed.

Powered by a controlled nuclear fusion reactor, Ivan the Terrible was unstoppable. The web-like volleys of fire from the defenders could hardly slow the tyrant's advance. Its steel fists opened wide, palms pressing against the wall, its shoulders heating rapidly—it was going to climb the wall!

If Ivan the Terrible breached the wall, it would spell utter disaster. Without a Titan rider, the fortress was already struggling to deal with the Demon mechs, let alone Ivan the Terrible. Even though the death ray had halted imperial reinforcements, it also cut off the fleet's air force, which was on the verge of being freed up. Communication signals were severely weakened, and they couldn't accurately pinpoint targets!

Dodging the molten debris that sprayed everywhere, Lu Yuan stumbled and rolled to the base of a Misaka cannon, where the gun crew immediately pulled him up and shoved him into the firing controls.

"You're a paratrooper? Yes? Great! My cannon's malfunctioning, I need you to assist me!" The artillery lieutenant didn't even notice the one-star-three-stripe insignia on Lu Yuan's shoulder, handing him a targeting scope. "Aim for that thing's head!"

Lu Yuan raised the scope, locking the laser sight onto the weak spot at Ivan the Terrible's neck. The artillery lieutenant shouted, "Baseline calibration on the railgun!"

"Fire directly! Steady! Railgun power up!" The lieutenant yelled. Lu Yuan, on one knee, steadied his arms like a rock.

"Armor-piercing round! Aim for the neck joint of the mech, ready!" A long armor-piercing round was loaded into the railgun chamber. The lieutenant, with blood streaming from his temple, shouted: "Fire!"

The round was discharged, its immense kinetic energy tearing a blue streak through the air, hitting Ivan the Terrible's neck with precision, making the tyrant stagger. The artillery lieutenant was overjoyed and called for the other units to prepare a salvo to knock off the tyrant's head!

"Prepare! Baseline firing!" The Misaka's heat-resistant energy coils were on the verge of melting, and even standing several meters away, Lu Yuan was sweating profusely. Yet the fearless artillery lieutenant continued to load and aim, working alone—his entire crew was dead.

"Fire!" The cannon blast erupted, a monstrous roar following as Ivan the Terrible howled in pain and collapsed to one side. The small dent on its neck had now become a massive crater, and the tyrant's head drooped limply.

But it was still moving!

"Hold steady, hold steady! Follow my command! Follow my command!" The lieutenant punched the air in triumph. "We hit it! We hit it!"

Ivan the Terrible, having crashed into a protruding section of the wall, paused for a moment before grabbing its head with both hands. With a violent twist, it ripped its own head off and hurled it like a ball!

Lu Yuan's heart jumped into his throat. He threw down the scope and grabbed the artillery lieutenant, yelling: "Run! Run!"

"Get off! I hit it! Ready to—" The artillery lieutenant, now half-mad, pressed his eye to the cannon sight. No amount of shaking or shouting from Lu Yuan could budge him. Lu Yuan had no choice but to roll out of the firing position, and in the next second, Ivan the Terrible's head rolled over it. Lu Yuan stumbled and fell, scrambling backward as his heart pounded wildly.

"Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit…" Lu Yuan muttered. He watched helplessly as Ivan the Terrible destroyed another Misaka cannon. It didn't need a head—it was just a machine, a damned piece of iron!

"Retreat! Retreat!" The Marines, never before tested so severely, began to waver. They lowered their weapons and withdrew into the Star Tablet Fortress. It wasn't death they feared—they had charged at the Demon mechs with shells in their arms. But there are some things in this world that can grip the soul with terror.

Lu Yuan watched as the Marines fled in panic. The cold wind pierced through his sweat- and blood-soaked uniform, ice forming in the creases. His hands and feet freezing, he activated his comms and said with effort,

"Paratroopers, gather at my position."