"Watch out! A Kaiju is attacking from three o'clock!"
"Here it comes!"
Beneath the curtain of rain, Crimson Typhoon, its armor painted a fiery red, took the Kaiju's attack head-on. Otachi lunged from beneath the water and seized Crimson Typhoon's body, driving it backward with its momentum.
"Screee!"
Crimson Typhoon had braced in advance and steadied itself after several backward steps. Otachi dug its claws into Crimson Typhoon's outer armor, trying to rip it apart. Its cavernous maw split into three sections, ready to spit corrosive acid at the cockpit atop Crimson Typhoon's head.
Once the cockpit was destroyed, the entire Jaeger would be finished.
But before it could spit its acid, Crimson Typhoon clamped two arms around its mouth, while faint electrical arcs flickered over its remaining arm.
"Come on, you bastard! Let's see which of us dies first!" Tang Wei Hu roared from the cockpit, his eyes wide as he stared down Otachi just inches away.
Otachi's claws pierced the outer armor. To the three pilots, it felt as though their own skin had been torn open and their flesh pierced.
But standing before their homeland, the hot blood coursing through their veins let them ignore the pain. They would defend every inch of their land with their lives!
"Wei Xiang! Plasma Cannon!"
"Already ready!" Tang Wei Xiang shouted.
Three pilots gave the Jaeger nearly twice the maneuverability. The arms controlled by the other two brothers clamped down on Otachi's head, while the arm controlled by Tang Wei Xiang had already charged its I-22 Plasma Cannon. In a flash, he pressed the muzzle against Otachi's body!
"Boom!"
Otachi sensed the danger and tried to break free, but it was a moment too slow. The instant it escaped their grip, blue electricity erupted, and a plasma blast struck it squarely in the abdomen.
"Splash!"
"Screee! Screee!"
The Plasma Cannon blasted a charred gash through Otachi's skin. Its massive body toppled backward into the sea, thrashing beneath the surface and stirring up wave after wave!
At the same time, nearby.
"Hit it!"
"Bang!"
"Hit it hard!"
"Bang, bang, bang!"
The towering Cherno Alpha had been caught up with Leatherback right away, but the married pilots soon seized an opening. One hand gripped Leatherback's thick arm, keeping it at the perfect distance, while the right arm wound up and drove a fist into Leatherback's head.
Then the right arm's spring-loaded mechanism unleashed a flurry of punches, making it spit blue blood.
Brutal and wild, this weapon of war, whose very appearance screamed Russian design, showed its full might as it traded savage blows with Leatherback.
Both Jaegers seemed to have the upper hand in their first clash with the Kaiju.
But.
"Don't forget there's another Kaiju!"
"Cherno Alpha! It's at your six o'clock, coming in fast!"
"Evade!" The command center's warning came through the comms, echoing inside both Jaegers' cockpits.
The two Jaegers were facing three enemies!
"Quick! Move left!"
Cherno Alpha's radar also picked up the incoming attack. It hurriedly pulled the steel anchoring spikes in its feet out of the reef and dodged left.
This Jaeger was an immovable iron tower and a master of close combat, but when it came to speed, it lagged far behind.
Though it dodged in time, the Kaiju's ambush still struck home.
"Roaaar!"
A Kaiju resembling a gigantic crocodile shot from the sea like an arrow. The camouflage around its head opened like flower petals, revealing its true, razor-sharp teeth. In an instant, it bit down on Cherno Alpha's arm from behind and tore it apart!
"Aaargh!"
Inside Cherno Alpha, both pilots felt the pain through their neural connection and screamed.
The strike had originally targeted Cherno Alpha's cockpit. Thanks to their timely dodge, they had only lost an arm.
"Roaaar!"
"Roaaar!"
After its successful ambush, Raijin shook its head and flung away the pieces of Cherno Alpha's arm, letting them fall into the sea with enormous splashes. Then it stood beside Leatherback, roaring with it to proclaim Cherno Alpha's fate!
"Damn it, Cherno Alpha has sustained severe damage! We need support!" Sasha checked the Jaeger's damage. Losing its iron arm had cut Cherno Alpha's combat strength nearly in half, and she shouted urgently into the comms.
Things were nowhere near as promising as they had imagined.
Crimson Typhoon's situation was just as dire.
After taking the hit to its abdomen, Otachi seemed to go berserk. It kept circling Crimson Typhoon underwater, then burst through the surface in a leap, dodging Crimson Typhoon's Plasma Cannon.
"Screee!"
Once clear of the water, Otachi spread its claws and unfurled its enormous wing membranes. With a beat of its wings, it flew straight into the air. Its mouth bulged, apparently preparing to attack Crimson Typhoon from above.
Its trailing tail also aimed at Crimson Typhoon's cockpit like a blade. It would first use concentrated acid to eat through Crimson Typhoon's outer armor and restrict its movements, then finish it with a single strike.
"Tell Cherno Alpha that Crimson Typhoon can't provide support!"
"It's coming! Thundercloud Formation, ready!"
From their first exchange, Crimson Typhoon's pilots had already determined that this Kaiju had been sent specifically to counter them.
This Kaiju was far too effective against Crimson Typhoon. It even knew where Crimson Typhoon's cockpit was.
In the battle ahead, every second would be a gamble with their lives!
"Let's take them on!"
Realizing that Crimson Typhoon's situation was no better, Cherno Alpha clenched its remaining left fist and charged straight at the two Kaiju!
"Screee!"
"Roaaar!"
"Roaaar!"
All three Kaiju bared their fangs and launched lethal assaults on the two Jaegers!
In the pitch-black, rain-soaked night, their hideous faces looked even more terrifying beneath the searchlights!
But just as all five pilots thought they would die on this mission.
The command center's voice sounded over the comms.
"Reinforcements are about to enter the battlefield!"
"Cherno Alpha, Crimson Typhoon, hold on!"
It was good news.
But with the Kaiju already bearing down on them, the two Jaegers could only brace themselves for combat while shouting, "We're out of time! How much longer until reinforcements arrive?!"
"3..."
Three minutes?
By the time three minutes passed, both Jaegers would be torn to pieces!
The pilots knew they could never hold out for three minutes.
But.
"2... 1!"
The command center hadn't meant three minutes. It had meant three seconds!
Just as Otachi sprayed its acid and swooped at Crimson Typhoon like a gigantic bat, a silver-white Jaeger suddenly descended from the sky. The tremendous roar of its passage through the air drew every Kaiju's attention!
"Aaah...!"
"BOOM!!!"
The heavy Jaeger tore through the rain, plunging from a thousand meters above!
An iron fist, backed by the gravitational force of its fall, slammed into Otachi's skull. That tremendous force erupted on contact, denying it even a full scream as its enormous body crashed into the sea, throwing up countless waves!
Its skull was smashed clean apart!
Blood and acid sprayed into the sea, joining the violently displaced water in announcing Otachi's utter demise!
"Whoosh-whoosh-"
Beneath the curtain of rain, in the beams of Crimson Typhoon's searchlights, the silver-white Jaeger stood like a warrior monk, its feet planted on the submerged reef, and slowly straightened. Seawater churned by the devastating impact and rain battered its body, yet neither could move it an inch.
The right fist that had smashed the Kaiju's skull had also shattered under the recoil.
But an invisible force drew the broken pieces back together. In the blink of an eye, they had reassembled into an enormous iron fist.
Inside Crimson Typhoon, the pilots stared at their suddenly arrived reinforcements, too stunned by what they had witnessed to speak.
"Reinforcements have arrived on site."
"Now, who's next?"
Natsuki's voice sounded over the comms. Then he piloted Shaolin Rogue forward through the seawater, advancing toward the two Kaiju that had just knocked Cherno Alpha down.
"Boom!" A thunderous crash and a flash of white light burst across the sky.
At that moment, the thunder in the rainy night also proclaimed the fate of the two Kaiju!
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