Gunpowder smoke, blood, scorching heat, and concrete dust.
Together, they formed a nauseating stench in the air.
It blanketed this large parking lot, which had already been rendered unrecognizable.
At this moment, the battlefield was clearly divided into several areas.
On the eastern side, littered with corpses.
The several hundred remaining Samurai of the Kiheitai had long since lost their initial fervor.
Under the efficient, lethal assault of a hundred Marine soldiers, they fell in swathes like harvested wheat.
Their formation had completely collapsed.
Driven only by their instinct to survive and their lingering blind loyalty to Takasugi Shinsuke, they continued their futile resistance.
But their destruction was merely a matter of time.
On the western side.
Five out-of-control "Red Tassels" were like tireless, pain-insensitive killing machines.
They wildly swung their red-glowing Cursed Swords and dense metal tentacles.
Yet Bason, Cas, Daan, Sutton, and the others had precisely confined them within their respective areas.
The remaining "Red Tassel" was kept occupied by three experienced noncommissioned officers serving as squad leaders, who worked together with practiced coordination.
Though they could not completely destroy these monsters for the moment.
They had already brought them under control.
The chaos they caused had been suppressed to a minimum.
But the place that could truly decide the outcome of this battle was not here.
It was that shattered block over a hundred meters across, filled with cracks, craters, and cuts.
Major Debes had already dispelled his fearsome Hybrid Form.
He had returned to his burly human body, nearly two meters tall.
His black suit had been torn in several places.
Revealing the clearly defined muscles beneath.
His once snow-white Coat of Justice was also stained with dust.
Yet his overall bearing remained as steady as a mountain.
He lowered his head and glanced at his