Battle!

The two giant Jaegers didn't dare to act rashly, they stared at each other like snakes, trying to find each other's flaws.

However, this situation couldn't last forever. The larger "Shandong" chose to attack first.

The Shatterdome wasn't tall enough for him to swing "Soul Extinguisher" wildly. So, he changed his sweeping attack to a thrust, swinging the giant mace like a sword and stabbing straight forward—though the effect was the same for the Jaeger's head, which lacked much armor protection.

The giant mace slammed into Kunlun's head like a runaway rocket. Its immense kinetic energy, combined with the barbs and hooks on the hammerhead, meant that a mere graze could tear flesh and bone from a Kaiju or sever a Jaeger's head from its body.

Just then—Kunlun moved.

Its massive frame first sank slightly, instantly dodging the mace's thrust!

"Soul Extinguisher" grazed Kunlun's ear and slammed hard into the wall behind Kunlun, blasting a large hole in the wall and filling the area with smoke and dust.

Then, Kunlun braced its left hand against Shandong's chest and its right hand against Shandong's lower abdomen, and activated the rocket propulsion device on its back!

BOOM—

Two pillars of pale blue propulsion flames erupted from Kunlun's back—it actually pushed the 8,000-ton Shandong away!

After flying nearly three hundred meters in the air, the two giants crashed heavily onto the passage from Hangar 6 to the Sea Gate, the ground sinking beneath them. Several forklifts parked nearby were smashed to pieces.

Kunlun's attack was effective. "Soul Extinguisher" was still stuck in the wall of Hangar 6, leaving Shandong disarmed. Furthermore, Kunlun's recovery speed was far greater than Shandong's. The "Achilles" shock absorbers installed in its ankles played a decisive role at this moment.

As Shandong's massive body was just beginning to stand up, Kunlun had already stabilized its position, adopted a stance, and launched a heavy punch!

Kunlun's left fist feinted, successfully drawing Shandong's attention. By the time Lin Yin realized she was being attacked, Kunlun's right fist had already slammed heavily into Shandong's left cheek, sending sparks flying!

***

Feeling the burning pain on its left cheek, Lin Yin was stunned.

Although Kunlun's attack couldn't inflict significant damage on Shandong, it deeply wounded Lin Yin's pride as an 8th Generation Jaeger pilot.

She had defeated countless Kaiju, most of whose attacks were driven by instinct and lacked any discernible pattern. But Kunlun was no Kaiju; it possessed the skill to make Shandong suffer a humiliating defeat.

"Rosen, you've got guts!"

Lin Yin staggered back a few steps, shook her head, and re-adopted her stance. She and Rosen had studied under the same master, and she knew that Rosen, like herself, was well-versed in their master Raleigh's street fighting techniques. She wouldn't let Rosen succeed again. Lin Yin took a deep breath, raised her arms parallel to the ground, and adopted a defensive posture similar to Kunlun's.

But at this moment, Kunlun's movements changed again—it hunched its back, drew its arms to its chest, and used its agility, far superior to Shandong's, to dodge left and right, launching a thunderous barrage of attacks!

"Mike Kane?"

Lin Yin immediately thought of the person who used this attack pattern.

However, Lin Yin didn't have time to think. Kunlun dodged the attack, closed in on Shandong's chest, and drove its left elbow towards Shandong's face. Lin Yin hastily raised her hand to block, but as Shandong's massive steel palm blocked Kunlun's attack, it instantly filled Lin Yin's entire holographic Heads-Up Display—only then did Lin Yin realize the purpose of the move was to blind her.

As expected, in the next second, Lin Yin felt a sharp pain in her lower abdomen. Shandong's abdomen had been struck by Kunlun's right hand, and sparks flew within the cockpit.

If Rosen had activated the Cloud-Mist High-Pressure Magnetic Storm Ring, Shandong might have lost.

Lin Yin couldn't help but think as she leaned back.

***

The series of intense battles unfolding before him was beyond Jiang Tianzheng's expectations. He had initially believed that the 8th Generation Jaeger, Shandong, would easily win due to its vastly superior physical attributes compared to Kunlun. But now, he felt he needed to reconsider his approach.

Even a vintage car from 1960 could wreck a Lamborghini.

Kunlun's relentless assault had put Shandong on the defensive. In just one minute, Shandong's chest armor had been dented in two places, and its facial armor had several breaches. Jiang Tianzheng could almost imagine Lin Yin's flushed and swollen cheeks at that moment.

Jiang Tianzheng looked at the command center's display screen again in disbelief—Kunlun's Sync Rate remained at 50%, a stark contrast to Shandong's 96%.

Kunlun's advantage didn't last long. Shandong seemed to have been enraged and began to counterattack fiercely.

Using its sheer tonnage, Shandong withstood Kunlun's onslaught and pushed it back. Then, it swung its left arm, and a thick chain extended from beneath Shandong's palm, lashing out directly at Kunlun!

Kunlun hastily ducked to evade, but Shandong's left hand simultaneously dropped, altering the chain's trajectory and hooking Kunlun's right arm!

"Now, you can't escape!"

Lin Yin's furious voice boomed through the command center's communicator.

Shandong gripped the chain with both hands and pulled hard—the difference in machine performance was starkly evident. The incredible torque of an 8th Generation Jaeger was beyond anything a 7th Generation Jaeger could match. Kunlun was powerless, its struggles carving two grooves in the ground beneath its feet, but to no avail. Kunlun was finally seized by Shandong's hands, its every movement immobilized.

Kunlun intended to activate its rocket propulsion again, but Shandong wouldn't fall for the same trick twice. It pushed Kunlun forward rapidly, smashing through several hangar doors, and finally pinned Kunlun onto the moving platform at the end of the passage.

"Activate the orbital transporter immediately!"

Lin Yin's anxious voice came through the communicator again. Hearing this, Jiang Tianzheng immediately connected the passage from Hangar 6 to the Pacific. He pressed the activation button, and the moving platform began to operate, speeding along the track towards the Sea Gate. This device, originally used to transport Jaegers into the Pacific, had now become the stage for the battle between the two machines.

Shandong's left hand held Kunlun down firmly, while its right hand was raised. A blindingly bright beam of light emerged from its palm—it was the Convergent Laser Welder, capable of cutting through anything known on Earth with temperatures reaching tens of thousands of degrees.

"Die—!"

Shandong drove the light sword towards Kunlun's head. Kunlun, realizing the terrifying power of the light, instantly activated the Cloud-Mist High-Pressure Magnetic Storm Ring on its right hand, its powerful magnetic field pushing Shandong's body away!

Kunlun then firmly blocked Shandong's right hand. At this moment, the beam of light was less than ten meters from Kunlun's head!

***

At this moment, the scene inside Kunlun's cockpit was far more dire than Lin Yin and Jiang Tianzheng had anticipated.

The soft yellow-white light within the cockpit had vanished entirely, replaced by flashing red warning lights that illuminated Rosen and Mike's faces.

"Torque damage, 23% of the transmission system offline, power is continuously decaying."

Shandong's repeated attacks had inflicted severe damage on Kunlun. Several circuits inside Kunlun's cockpit had shorted out, and most of the indicator lights for the auxiliary systems on the control panel were extinguished.

Rosen gritted his teeth, pushing his hands forward with all his might—he was controlling Kunlun to brace against Shandong's right hand.

Ahead, the view in the Heads-Up Display was rapidly receding. Only in the center of the screen, an aurora emitted a dazzling light—it seemed to be getting closer and closer. When it filled the entire screen, he would be finished.

Rosen thought to himself.