Holding Sparkle, Charge!
Lin Hai held the weakened Sparkle tightly in his arms.
His eyes remained utterly calm as five small spaceships rained down upon him in a deadly net.
The first wave of blazing white energy beams shot out like a sudden rain.
Lin Hai did not confront her head-on. Instead, he put his arm around Sparkle's waist, and his footwork changed erratically. His figure seemed to transform into a twisted stream of light, and he swept through the gap in the beam of light at the last second.
The scorching energy grazed past his clothes, blasting a lava lake behind him into the sky.
Lin Hai and Sparkle were completely unharmed.
Immediately afterwards, several tracking missiles, trailing plumes of flame, hurtled in.
Lin Hai sensed the missile lock-on, but instead of accelerating his escape, he suddenly stopped.
Amidst the gasps of surprise from Sparkle, he spotted the missile's trajectory and, with his extra-long Odachi, precisely struck the flank of the missile that arrived first!
Boom!
The missile was deflected by the immense force and exploded in mid-air. The shockwave from the explosion engulfed several subsequent missiles, triggering a series of secondary explosions.
Deadly fiery flowers bloomed in the sky.
Before the smoke from the explosion had cleared, a dense barrage of electromagnetic cannon projectiles pierced through the curtain of flames.
This type of live-fire weapon is extremely fast and has a very wide coverage area.
Lin Hai finally unleashed his Odachi, creating a dense, impenetrable defensive barrier in front of him.
The projectiles struck the blade barrier, producing a dense, piercing sound, but none could break through the barrier. They were all shattered or bounced off, falling into the lava with a hissing sound.
Throughout the entire process, Lin Hai kept Sparkle sheltered within his own body and the curtain of blades.
Sparkle looked up at Lin Hai's profile, and her previously violently pounding heart gradually calmed down.
She witnessed firsthand how Lin Hai, with his extraordinary reaction and strength, effortlessly neutralized attacks that could have destroyed an army.
This power has surpassed her current level of strength.
An unprecedented and incredibly strong sense of security enveloped her.
This made Sparkle realize that as long as this man was by her side, she had nothing to fear, even if the world turned upside down!
Lin Hai even had some leeway. He looked down at Sparkle, and when he met her shocked and complicated gaze, a reassuring, calm smile appeared on his lips.
Hold on to me.
His deep voice pierced through the roar of the explosion and reached Sparkle's ears.
The next moment, he took the initiative!
Lin Hai held Sparkle tightly with one arm, and with the other hand, he held the terrifying two-meter-long horizontal Odachi upside down. Facing the barrage of artillery fire, he shot it straight at the nearest company spaceship.
In his Super Burst state, his speed had already exceeded the limits of what the naked eye could perceive, leaving only a trail of afterimages gradually fading away above the lava.
The pilots inside the spaceship watched in horror as the red light grew larger and larger on the monitor screen.
The fear grew stronger.
The driver pushed the control stick, trying to create distance, and aimed all the close-in weapon systems at the front, unleashing a barrage of fire.
However, Lin Hai's figure dodged the barrage of comments with the slightest difference in precision, and the scorching energy beams often only grazed past the afterimages he left behind.
In the blink of an eye, he had leaped into the air and was directly above the spaceship.
Without a moment's hesitation, Lin Hai poured all his strength, along with the surging energy of his Path, into his arms.
The Odachi, modified by the Herta, hummed and emitted a dazzling light that was impossible to look at directly, causing the space around the blade to distort.
Lin Hai remained silent.
He remained silent.
He swung his arms in a wide arc and slashed fiercely down at the spaceship's armored hull!
"Boom!!"
There was no piercing sound of metal clashing, only a more terrifying noise, like cloth being forcibly torn apart, followed by a deafening explosion!
With the added strength of Lin Hai, the blade of the Odachi sliced through the spaceship's thick composite armor.
Before the blade's momentum subsided, an incomparably violent energy followed, pouring wildly into the ship's interior through the crack!
The entire spaceship was cleaved in two!
The broken keel could not withstand the weight, and the internal pipes and parts flew everywhere in the flames of the explosion, like a destroyed honeycomb.
Under the influence of inertia, the two halves of the ship twisted and separated outwards, and the burning wreckage turned into huge meteorites, which crashed into the lava lake below, stirring up towering waves.
This earth-shattering strike not only destroyed a spaceship but also completely stunned everyone present.
The firepower of the remaining four spaceships paused briefly, and all the company employees who witnessed this scene were gripped by unparalleled fear.
The heat of the lava and the pungent smell of sulfur pale in comparison to the visual and emotional impact of Lin Hai Yi Dao.
Lin Hai held the Sparkle, hovering in mid-air.
Beneath our feet were the raging flames of the fallen wreckage.
In that instant, he was the god of war, a symbol of destruction!
Lin Hai's gaze swept coldly over the remaining four spaceships, his Odachi slightly raised, the tip pointing outwards.
Without a word, a clear threat has been formed.
Who's next?
The instinct for survival overrides all commands. The surviving spaceships almost simultaneously push their engines to maximum power, frantically change direction, and scramble to escape out of the atmosphere.
They dared not look back even once more at that lava hell that had become their nightmare.
Lin Hai, holding the Sparkle, slowly landed from mid-air.
He ignored the still-burning wreckage of the spaceship around him and walked straight to the relatively intact body of a company employee.
The recorder on the body's helmet emitted a faint red light, indicating it was still functioning.
Lin Hai bent one knee slightly, his gaze like a cold blade, seemingly able to see directly into the controller connected to the broken helmet window.
His voice wasn't loud, but it carried a chilling quality that pierced through the void and reached the very soul as he spoke, word by word:
I don't care who you are or where you come from.
"Listen to me, all of you!"
"Dare to harm Sparkle, and I'll make sure you... die a gruesome death!"
Every word Lin Hai seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth, carrying a bloody murderous aura and an undeniable domineering presence.
He was quite certain that his words would reach the ears of those who needed to hear them through some still-functioning equipment.
That is indeed the case.
Far away in the command center of the geosynchronous orbit warship, Sha Aventurine was staring intently at the main screen, at the face of Lin Hai that filled the entire frame, a face brimming with murderous intent and arrogance.
High-definition cameras could even capture the chilling madness in his eyes.
That declaration, like a heavy hammer, struck the heart of the Aventurine.
Even across the distant starry sky, he felt a strange chill.
Inside the other four spaceships that were fleeing in panic, the surviving crew members also witnessed this chilling scene through public channels and the remaining surveillance footage.
The urge to escape became even more urgent.
Aventurine's face was so gloomy it could drip water, and his knuckles were white from straining.
"A madman... a complete and utter madman!"
Aventurine cursed under his breath; Lin Hai's display of absolute violence had completely disrupted his plans.
A single slash cleaved the spaceship in two—unimaginable power!
We absolutely cannot give up now!
Aventurine connected to the escape fleet's encrypted communications; his voice was cold and urgent.
"Attention all units! Target threat level has been increased!"
"Authorize activation of the Deadlight Protocol!"
"Repeat, authorize the activation of 'Deadlight'!"
"Abandon the order to capture alive, execute the complete elimination! Each ship finds the best attack position, seizes the opportunity to launch a sneak attack, and must kill with one blow!"
The Deadlight is the most powerful single-unit directed energy weapon carried by these reconnaissance ships.
It requires time to charge and precise calibration to start, but its power is enough to instantly vaporize large targets.
Aventurine is going all in, even at a cost, to completely eliminate Lin Hai, this huge variable!
Upon receiving the order, the four spaceships immediately changed their simple escape trajectory. Like wounded vipers, they began to weave through the thick smoke and lava pillars, trying to use the complex environment to hide themselves and find the perfect opportunity and angle to deliver a fatal blow to Lin Hai.