Screams. Blood. Carnage.
As many things as Leonel had seen in the past year, he still wasn't ready for this. The genocide modern technology wrought was far beyond his imagination.
With his senses, every instance of fear, every tear that was shed, every heart that ceased beating… It was all in his range to feel, see and grasp.
However, the Slayer Legion tanks continued to roll forward, the inner city of the Fort remained unmoved, the Invalids never stopped.
Leonel had already moved before he could even register his own thoughts. He faintly heard the voices of his teammates screaming for him to come back. What could a single man do against such an army? As powerful as he had become, it most definitely wasn't enough to cover the sky with a single hand. What could he possibly hope to accomplish?
But, he moved anyway.
That said… He didn't move alone. The little mink, seemingly sensing his agitation, jumped forward, skipping across the air.
Aina stood, her steps pausing for a moment.
"You all stay here. You're not strong enough."
Her words were simple and plain. Her gaze carried the same look she had when she took Conrad's life. A cold, silent indifference.
Leonel's teammates gripped their fists, but they didn't move in the end. They knew that Aina's words were true. If they moved now, they would only get in the way.
Wielding her great sword, Aina launched herself from the side of the collapsed building.
…
"Fire!" Joseph's cold voice rang in the cockpit, his gaze growing colder and colder.
Every command he barked, every shell that fired, every life his actions reaped seemed to make him more and more detached. Eventually, he felt like a bird observing things from the skies, a passerby in history that didn't have anything to do with what was happening before him.
"Joseph," Damian spoke, huffing and puffing from his previous exertion, "The gap in the wall will only allow two tanks through at once. Should we pause the charge and make a larger passageway?"
Joseph's steely gaze locked onto the path ahead.
The steel alloy walls had collapsed on their destroyed foundations. It splintered down at that point, creating a semi-triangular passageway nearby where the gate had been.
Many Invalids had already recovered and were pouring through that hole. Those that couldn't fit through took advantage of the crumbling imperfections of the wall as grips to climb up and over.
The city was slowly becoming completely overrun.
"Send two vanguard tanks through and execute Plan B2."
Plan B2.
It was too difficult to predict the result of their explosion, there were too many variables despite the fact they had simulated it many times. Plan B2 was to be used when the walls were damaged but the Gates remained functioning.
They would send a unit in to open the Gates from the inside. By now, it should be impossible for The Empire's soldiers to still be manning the Gates. And, even if they were, they should have a lot of their own problems to deal with.
Joseph's orders were relayed quickly.
At the vanguard, a tank with catwoman rolled forward. They trampled over Invalids with impunity. It seemed that any Invalid below the A-grade wasn't even able to dodge their advances while those above that threat level couldn't even hope to damage them. Maybe only an SSS-grade threat would even be able to think about slowing them down.
These tanks were Joseph's trump cards. All the resources he earned over the years were poured into them, forming a squad of 20 he deemed unstoppable.
Catwoman was dressed in her full leather suit as usual. Hearing Joseph's orders, she was already prepared to move out. With her ability and pre-Metamorphosis expertise, she was definitely the most suited to this task.
"No worries Commander, those Gates will be opened within 15 minutes!"
Catwoman didn't care about military law. In her eyes, Joseph deserved to be Commander so she called him as such.
"Forward!"
What none of the Slayer Legion could have imagined was that someone would actually stand forward to stop them at this time. But, what they couldn't understand all the more was that it was just a single young man.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
He stood before a horde of charging Invalids and a fleet of rolling tanks, his expression furious.
Even amidst the billowing smoke, the rising flames and the rushing blood, he stood out like a blinding light in the darkness.
"STOP!"
The roar of a single person shouldn't have been so resounding. Yet, even beyond the sealed defenses of the inner city, it resonated, shaking the earth, the walls and the skies.
Several C and B-grade Invalids collapsed before the young man's rage, their minds shattering beneath his might.
He brandished a black spear, his irises flickering back and forth between a violet-red and a pale green.
Everyone heard that young man's voice. It traveled over several miles, reaching the ears of even those it shouldn't have. Despite being within the cockpit, even Joseph heard the voice laced with rage and indignance.
The young man continued to stand amidst the crack in the wall. Beneath his feet piles of rubble and Invalids corpses lay. Behind him an overrun city trembled. Before him, an army of thousands stood.
Amidst it all, he looked like an ant trying to stop the momentum of a towering mountain. But, he stood their nonetheless, his fury billowing.
The young man brandished his spear, slashing a line before him.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
The Spear Force cut through the Invalid corpses, through the piles of rubble, through the collapsed steel alloys, piercing through the ground and not stopping for tens of meters.
"Cross this line and die."
His words were undeniable. Like a higher judgement passed down from a god on high, it caused the hearts of all those who heard it to tremble.
The flickering of his irises finally settled on a blazing violet-red, his skin suddenly lit with endless bronze runes as a halo appeared above his head.
His bronze hair billowed. It was so long and sturdy that it sounded like cracking whips in the wind, slicing apart anything that even remotely came into contact with it.
When the shock of those who heard the voice calmed, it was only then they recognized who it was had spoken.
"Leonel!" Joseph's gaze reddened, his reason leaving with his humanity.