Truly Unlucky

"It worked!"

Ye Buyu stared at the Wind-Thunder Cantor amid the raging winds, excitement rising in her eyes. She licked her lips and adjusted the cannon's aim again.

"I can see the true nature of calamities, so I can see where that Gundam is. I'll aim the cannon, and you fire."

Gundam?

Kou Ying glanced at the howling storm. Apart from lightning tearing through the heavens and tornadoes blotting out the sky, he couldn't see a thing.

He rubbed his eyes until his sockets ached, but still couldn't see this supposed Gundam. Not so much as a hair.

"Right here. Hit him."

Ye Buyu's gaze was unwavering. Her red eyes locked onto a particular spot, reflecting a sight ordinary people couldn't see.

Though Kou Ying had his doubts, he decided to trust Ye Buyu and pressed the button with an expressionless face.

With a boom, merciless cannon fire tore through the raging winds and slammed into the Wind-Thunder Cantor, knocking him back several miles.

It was practically a blatant slap across the Wind-Thunder Cantor's face.

The blow left him dumbfounded, and he visibly froze for a second.

Ye Buyu grinned smugly. "Stunned, huh? There are consequences for driving illegally."

But as she watched the Wind-Thunder Cantor come charging back, her smile gradually faded. She turned toward Kou Ying with a worried frown.

"There's only one shell left. Is that really enough?"

Was it enough? Kou Ying was wondering the same thing.

The footsteps behind them were still coming thick and fast. An endless stream of students was evacuating at full speed, but they clearly needed more time.

He walked over to the rapidly growing pile and bent down to gather the materials the examinees had left behind. "We've got fuel. Keep firing. Just press this button. I'll feed these materials into the Energy Reactor. That should give us a few more shots."

With that, he turned away, his arms full, only to step on a piece of material. He staggered several steps and crashed headfirst into the wall.

The materials in his arms clattered across the floor, and he fell flat on his face. It was a complete disaster scene.

Ye Buyu lowered her gaze and opened her mouth. "Are you okay...?"

"I'm fine." Kou Ying calmly stood up as though nothing had happened. If not for the huge lump swelling on his head, she might really have thought he was made of iron.

Kou Ying bent down to retrieve the materials. His expression didn't change even when a sharp piece sliced his finger. He merely sighed helplessly and trudged onward.

"Thud... clang... scrape..."

"Yikes..." Ye Buyu's mouth fell open. She could hardly bear to watch, let alone describe what she was seeing.

He stumbled once every three steps. Over a distance of just a few meters, he crashed into things three times.

No wonder she hadn't seen him move from his spot since she'd arrived. He... was even unluckier than she was.

His bad luck was practically taking physical form.

Ye Buyu shuddered. She began to suspect there was something wrong with those materials.

"I'd better stick to shooting the Gundam."

She turned back to adjust the cannon's aim, only to discover that the Wind-Thunder Cantor had made a new move.

After being hit twice, the Wind-Thunder Cantor realized something was wrong. He frowned at the distant cannon, which adjusted its aim whenever he moved. "Looks like they have a way to locate my true body. No point hiding it, then."

Raging winds gathered and formed wings behind him. The Wind-Thunder Cantor raised both hands and tilted his head back, praying to an unseen being.

"Tempest Fiend, who ravages heaven and earth, bless your believer. Grant me a sliver of your authority to purge the sins within the storm!"

"Rumble-!"

Blazing lightning descended from the sky. Several bolts gathered in the Wind-Thunder Cantor's hands, gradually forming a Lightning Scepter, its leaking electricity scorching the surrounding air.

The shriek of lightning resounded through the heavens, shaking everyone's hearts.

The Wind-Thunder Cantor gazed toward the mountain-sized derelict warship. He raised his scepter and pointed it at the vessel. The raging lightning transformed into a charging giant beast, which roared as it lunged at the warship.

Almost at the exact moment the Wind-Thunder Cantor raised his hand, Ye Buyu slammed the fire button.

A cold Ion Beam burst forth and collided with the roaring beast. The blinding light forced everyone to close their eyes, while immense waves of energy spread beneath their feet, leaving them shaken.

The lights inside the warship flickered, electrical currents crackled with sparks, and the bright Teleportation Channel began to shake.

When his first strike failed, the Wind-Thunder Cantor raised his scepter again and aimed it at the warship. The danger surged sharply.

Mu Bingge and the others, who had just entered the warship, steadied themselves and looked through the flickering light toward Ye Buyu at the weapons controls.

Her red eyes stood out vividly beneath the flickering lights. Fully focused, Ye Buyu slammed one hand down on the button.

She fired again, meeting the Wind-Thunder Cantor's attack head-on.

She knew that if the Wind-Thunder Cantor struck the warship, the Teleportation Channel would definitely become unstable, perhaps even collapse. The examinees who hadn't escaped yet would be doomed. They absolutely couldn't let all their efforts go to waste now.

She asked urgently, "Kou Ying, how many more shots do we have?"

Kou Ying lowered his eyes wearily. "The number doesn't matter anymore. He's not giving us any breathing room. We keep firing until we can't. That's our limit. I don't know how many people will survive."

He had thought they could use this warship to ensure everyone's evacuation. He hadn't expected their pursuer to be so relentless, immediately playing a Blessed One's trump card and using a sliver of the Tempest Fiend's authority to cut off their last escape route.

Wan Lan clicked her tongue. "He's clearly coming for us. And that Void Cultist has disappeared. Who knows what he's plotting?"

Lou Guanshan took the materials from Kou Ying's hands and said bluntly, "I heard you're so unlucky you could get water stuck between your teeth. Leave this to me."

"Uh..." Kou Ying flexed his empty hands and gave an awkward smile. "Thanks."

Lou Guanshan thumped his solid chest. "Leave it to me! A mechanical genius like you should be doing something else."

Mu Bingge and Su Wuwei walked over to Ye Buyu and looked up at the Wind-Thunder Cantor on the screen. Without the unnatural storm concealing him, his true body was now visible.

His body of condensed metal gleamed coldly. The raging winds behind him became engines supplying energy, and he pointed his scepter at them.

Su Wuwei chuckled. "It really is a Gundam."

Ye Buyu gritted her teeth and fired another shell, clashing head-on with the Wind-Thunder Cantor.

It felt rather like Ultraman exchanging beam attacks.

"I really want to yank that scepter out of his hands," Ye Buyu muttered irritably, grinding her back teeth as she repeatedly hammered the weapons firing controls.

With each press, Kou Ying's face grew a shade paler. But if they stopped firing, they would die, and once they ran out of shots, they would still be done for. He couldn't see any future in which everyone survived.

For a dozen or so otherwise near-silent minutes, only Ye Buyu's complaints and the roar of colliding cannon fire stood out amid the hurried footsteps.

After another collision, the entire warship went dark. Only the Teleportation Channel still flickered with a faint light, remaining operational.

When Ye Buyu pressed the button and didn't hear the familiar boom, she knew they had reached the end.

The piercing lightning grew larger and larger in her eyes, but Ye Buyu didn't dodge. She only wondered how many people had managed to evacuate during their long struggle.