The Crushing Cost
"Stop... stop it..." General Maximilian Vels tried to roar, but the words reached his lips only as a weak groan. He watched helplessly as the blue ball of light flared up again, like Death's scythe slashing across the earth.
The mechanical beetle, curled into a ball and wrapped in terrifying energy, carved a pale blue scorch mark across the ground as it weaved around obstacles and charged straight at an AT-AT walker ahead of the Imperial army!
The AT-AT had clearly noticed the threat. Its head immediately turned toward the ball of light and opened fire in rapid succession. Its turbolasers fired crimson beams that blasted fierce fireballs across the ground.
But it was useless. The pale blue ball of light was so dazzling that even on radar, a lightpoint could clearly be seen circling toward them.
The pale blue ball of light struck the AT-AT with perfect accuracy. At the very last moment, it even crawled several meters up one of the walker's long legs before exploding with a deafening boom!
The pale blue mass of energy erupted instantly, its immense force throwing dust dozens of meters into the air.
When the dust settled, all four of the AT-AT's long legs had been destroyed. Its upper body had been blasted into a mangled wreck and collapsed to the ground. Yet that single shot had somehow failed to destroy it completely. The AT-AT's head was still swaying, and it even fired one more shot.
A hatch opened, and an imperial soldier staggered as he tried to crawl out. But he was immediately set ablaze by the aftershock of the explosion. Pale blue flames engulfed his body. After a few screams, he turned to ash and fell to the ground.
General Vels fell silent.
At that moment, the