The two sides' ground forces closed to within one kilometer of each other.
No tank crew, whether Mortal gunners or Space Marine gunners, could see through the ash and smoke to spot the enemy.
In such an environment, equipment was far more reliable than human eyes.
At the forefront of the Imperial ground forces, a Knight Mech was the first to detect enemies entering firing range on radar. Its pilot raised the Knight's right arm—a large-caliber cannon.
While the defenders' armored forces were still advancing and preparing to fire, the Brutal Blade ancient tank at the very front of their formation suddenly exploded.
A few seconds later, both sides opened fire at hostile targets shown on their radar.
Only when shells pierced the smoke and struck a tank, releasing flashes of explosion, could the gunners on either side make out the outlines of enemy tanks through their scopes.
The commander of the Manrosan resistance forces at the front realized the threat posed by the Knight Mechs and ordered the Brutal Blades under his command to focus fire on the nearest one.
Their twin main guns fired continuously until their magazines ran dry.
One Knight Mech came under bombardment. The shield-emblem-shaped Ion Shield on its chest blocked two shells, but the following rounds shattered the Ion Shield's Defensive Field and struck its waist or legs, sending the Knight crashing down.
When the ancient tanks had been excavated, most of their functions had already failed or become unusable. Even their loading systems had been modified by the locals into "bipedal loading systems."
For the Brutal Blade that had destroyed the Knight Mech, if it had fired even a little later, it would never have gotten a second chance to fire.
The commander lowered his head and stared at the radar screen.
Their tanks were disappearing one by one, and so were the enemy's, but their own losses were mounting slightly faster.
Tank after tank nearby was hit and reduced to wreckage.
"The Twenty-Third Armored Regiment is taking losses too quickly!"
"Request permission to withdraw!"
The commander heard the cries coming through the communications channel.
"No one is allowed to withdraw!" he roared. "Either drive the enemy off on the plains or become wreckage! Do you want them to reach the hive city or some underground barracks and trade fire with our brothers and sisters and the Space Marines?!"
The commander ordered the tank commander of his vehicle, "Accelerate! We're charging to the front! We'll lead by example!"
The tank commander had wanted to suggest retreating, but after hearing that roar, he nodded and ordered the driver, "Full speed ahead."
A Brutal Blade broke away from the line, crushed a friendly tank that had already become wreckage beneath its treads, and charged to the front.
It was a super-heavy tank, but its nuclear power and engine technology were far superior to modern designs, making it even faster than the few light tanks in the formation.
After charging for a while, the loader refilled the magazine and the gunner fired ahead. Then, a Knight Mech suddenly burst from the smoke not far away.
The gunner could now see the Knight Mech clearly.
Its left arm was a multi-barreled rapid-fire weapon called a Gatling Cannon, while its right arm bore a chainsaw.
The Knight Mech raised its chainsaw as it charged, driving it straight down through the Brutal Blade.
Before dying, the commander said nothing inspiring. He merely broadcast a message to his allies—the enemy Knights were charging.
Command was taken over by someone else.
Under his orders, the line concentrated as much as possible to block the Knight Mechs' assault.
At the same time, every Brutal Blade tank broke away from the line and charged forward as far as possible.
These dozen or so ancient tanks, entrusted with high hopes and even believed capable of deciding the war, gradually suffered devastating losses once the Knight Mechs reached them.
Fortunately, the ancient tanks at least cooperated with the other tanks and slowed the Knight Mechs' charge.
After more commanders died alongside the ancient tanks, the new man who took command ordered the line to disperse, lest the enemy's heavy weapons kill groups of them with a single shot.
When massive armored formations collided, their fighting was brutally straightforward.
For the Manrosans, the war felt like driving a tank forward, then either suddenly exploding or destroying an enemy tank before they did.
On the communications channels reporting kills, tank crews often shouted their victories in celebration—their gunners might have destroyed a tank and the Space Marines inside it with a single shell.
Then their cheers abruptly stopped—they had been blown apart.
Still, this was the result of armored warfare, where the gap between Mortals and Space Marines had been relatively narrowed.
The gunship flew at high speed only two meters above the ground.
That made it difficult for air-defense weapons such as missiles to lock onto it.
The gunship passed along the edge of the battlefield. Even though it was faster than the armored forces, it was not torn apart by stray fire.
The outline of the Command Vehicle ahead grew increasingly clear.
They could see its many anti-aircraft weapons firing skyward, as well as Manrosan fighters flying past to make one-way bombing runs.
The commander directing this war had a reason for insisting on airstrikes. They could indeed achieve results.
The Command Vehicle was enveloped by a Void Shield. Shells fired from afar could not pass through it, but fighters could. They would either be shot down after crossing the shield or crash into the Command Vehicle along with their bombs.
There was a launch platform on the Command Vehicle's back. Fighter after fighter was being brought up to it to intercept incoming enemy aircraft, but with little effect, because Manrosan pilots simply refused to dogfight their opponents.
Under these airstrikes, several holes had already appeared in the Command Vehicle's surface. Yet some form of energy sealed those holes off from the outside environment, preventing the previously deployed virus from entering the vehicle.
"May you be unstoppable, Chapter Master."
Jenos said.
The cabin door opened, and Lu Jin immediately walked over and stood before the gradually opening hatch.
The explosions outside became clearer.
"This is a Fierce Angels gunship, calling the incoming fighter formation. I need your cover," Jenos said from the cockpit, staring at a new wave of fighters approaching on the radar screen.
"This is V22 Squadron. Message received. We'll cooperate as best we can," the other side replied. "For the Lord of Retribution, for our Manros!"
Lu Jin heard something in that response over the communications channel—the Manrosans were uniting through the war.
Our Manros.
As for the Lord of Retribution they spoke of... Lu Jin did not know where that title had come from, but he had never rejected it when he heard it.
Footsteps sounded behind him.
Lu Jin turned and saw Kao and fourteen other veterans walking toward the hatch, so he immediately said, "Does Fierce Angels have a tradition of disobeying orders?"
The veterans naturally circled behind Lu Jin and returned to their places without saying a word.
The gunship began to climb, entered the Void Shield, and immediately turned around after approaching the Command Vehicle.
The fighter formation drew the fire first.
Lu Jin watched as most of the fighters were shot down while approaching the Void Shield. Of the twenty fighters, only the last one successfully broke through it.
"For the Lord of Retribution! For Manros!"
The pilot's cry over the communications channel abruptly ended as the entire fighter slammed into the Command Vehicle, adding another hole to its surface.
Lu Jin took several running steps and leaped out of the cabin.
Before jumping, he did not forget to turn around and kick Kao, who had followed his run-up and tried to jump out, back inside.
The cabin door closed.
After watching the gunship perform several high-G maneuvers in succession to evade missiles, Lu Jin turned in midair and adjusted his posture.
The Command Vehicle's detection systems had already scanned an enemy leaving the gunship. A Mercy Emissaries combat squad, ten men in total, intercepted him at the breach.
After landing, Lu Jin was immediately focused down. By the time the Iron Halo had intercepted every bolt round, he had already risen to his feet.
The ten Mercy Emissaries were killed one after another within two seconds. The fastest and most skilled among them only managed to draw his Chainsword before his head was smashed apart by the Warhammer.
Some Mortals surrounded Lu Jin with Laser Rifles and concentrated their fire on him.
The Iron Halo easily intercepted the lasers.
Lu Jin did not even spare them a glance as he continued forward. The Mortals kept firing while making way for him instead of standing in his path.
The Command Vehicle's interior was remarkably spacious.
When Lu Jin entered a corridor, he saw a Predator Tank parked ahead.
The moment they came face-to-face, it fired.
Lu Jin charged.
The first shell punched through the Iron Halo's defenses.
The second struck the surface of his armor, then ricocheted behind him and exploded.
Just as the third shell was about to fire, Lu Jin had already swung his Chainaxe during his charge, cleaving through the armor and breaking inside.
The Mercy Emissaries Space Marine crew inside watched helplessly as the armor was cut apart by the teeth like tofu. They watched the enemy in a modified Ironclad Terminator crash through the breach without slowing, then watched the Chainaxe and Warhammer swing down together...
The rear of the Predator Tank ruptured. Lu Jin emerged, leaving several corpses sprawled within the tank behind him.
Something new was attached to Lu Jin—a shell chained to his back.
"The nuclear reactor is above."
A voice sounded beside Lu Jin's ear.
It belonged to the Psionic Boy who had previously made the prophecy of a star consumed by flames.
Lu Jin quickly reached the floor above.
The Mortal guards immediately fled, while three combat squads sent to intercept him—a total of thirty men—charged him all at once.
Six of them had their heads sent flying as they charged Lu Jin with Power Hammers. The rest, unable to match Lu Jin's speed even out of armor, were approached, then cut down or smashed to death.
Only the last man remained alive, but he had lost the ability to fight and lay before the blast door leading to the reactor chamber, clutching his severed arm.
"Y-you... who are you..."
The Space Marine asked. Perhaps he wanted to know where Lu Jin came from, how he could be so strong, and why they had never seen him when they had lured Fierce Angels into their trap.
"The Butcher of those who should have died but did not." Lu Jin jogged lightly for two steps.
"Heh heh..." The Space Marine gave a dry laugh. "If we had butchered... your crew too... you wouldn't have escaped... too bad the Inquisitor didn't listen..."
Lu Jin said nothing. As he jogged past, he leaped up and crushed the man's head beneath his foot, then smashed open the blast door as he landed.
The Mortals working in the reactor chamber saw Lu Jin and froze in terror.
Lu Jin ignored them and walked toward the reactor.
As they ran out, Lu Jin ignored them as well. He merely put his two heavy weapons back on his back, then removed the shell he had taken from the Predator Tank.
The shell was nearly a meter long.
Lu Jin easily lifted the explosive shell and drove it upright into the ground.
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