The moon's fall

"Whatever you have in mind, do as you please. I just want to stay alive..." Wang Shui quietly voiced his wishes.

"Huh? I thought you were a death warrior someone had trained." Silvia rallied a little, like a final burst of life before death. "Look after your own life, then. It's perfectly safe here. Oh, do you have anything to eat?"

Wang Shui took out all the high-energy candies he used as meal replacements to spare his stomach. Silvia silently ate a week's worth of his food, then sat upright and stopped talking.

The gel went out. In the darkness, Wang Shui settled down and watched the clock in his vision, counting the seconds. Little by little, the time reached six. It was probably getting dark outside.

Suddenly, Wang Shui felt a slight tremor through the ground.

A faint sound came from beside him, as though Silvia had stood up. Her silver-gray eyes lit up in the darkness, giving off clear, cold fluctuations.

Silvia suddenly leaped up, slamming into the iron door overhead. After a tremendous crash, Wang Shui saw dim ambient light. The Dream Network came back online, and the system's notifications sounded at the same time:

[Warning! D3 War Zone is under enemy attack. Combat is underway at the war zone facility "Rusty Sword Fortress." All Awakened within a hundred kilometers are now subject to compulsory conscription. Proceed to the battlefield immediately! Anyone fleeing the war zone will receive an A-rank penalty!]

[War zone points module activated!]

Wang Shui was automatically entered into the conscription system. Green arrows appeared over the heads of the "allies" in the dungeon, while a dense barrage of explosions sounded outside.

It really did seem safe here, but Wang Shui had no intention of staying.

This was no ordinary siege, but a betrayal coordinated from within and without. His faction's high-end combatants had already fled, high-tier enemies were waiting outside, and their own powerhouse, Silvia, was in poor condition and ready to die.

Wang Shui did not think he could turtle here until victory. Whoever came to clear the place out after the battle would most likely be the enemy. Then he really would have no way to escape.

Item card, powered armor, activate!

Wang Shui equipped the [Daylight · Bharal] tier-two micro powered armor and his greatsword. Activating "super-mobility," he cleared the iron doorway in a single leap and landed in the corridor.

[Armor systems self-check complete. All systems normal.]

[Fracture detected in pilot's left arm. Emergency treatment system activated. Injury sealed. Please exercise caution when using your body.]

The powered armor's [Life Support Module] contained all kinds of medicines. After a cool sensation passed through his arm, Wang Shui could move it freely again, and the pain was temporarily blocked.

Wang Shui did not rush outside. He saw Silvia mixing a pile of bottles and jars on a raised platform in the middle of the corridor, her eyes fixed outside. An enormous azure shield now lit the sky, but many of the explosions were happening inside it.

This was not a good time to slip out. Wang Shui activated his powered armor's silent mode and crouched behind a wall, keeping an eye on the situation outside. Silvia had already started eating the large pile of things she had just concocted.

Suddenly, a white suit of powered armor marked with a green arrow shot into the air. He swung a blade of light at a group of red-marked enemies from a distance, then launched rocket after rocket from his back.

His attacks were devastatingly effective. Sword light cut through great numbers of enemies, and rockets landed among the crowds, blasting flesh and blood everywhere. Heavy rain was falling outside, and rainwater mixed with blood on the ground, instantly forming rivers!

Tier five?!

Wang Shui could not tell, but just as he was rejoicing that their side had a powerhouse, a string of blurred gray afterimages tore through the rain and pinned their powerhouse like a spear!

A black longsword passed through his chest, so silently there was not even a sound of impact.

Wang Shui's heart lurched. He instinctively looked toward Silvia and caught her leaping into the rain. Silver-gray lines converged around her body, rapidly solidifying into a suit of silver-gray powered armor!

The Super-Mobility Module sprayed silver ribbons of energy, and Silvia, who had merely been leaping upward, instantly became a blur,

cutting through the rain to strike back through the enemy in black armor. Boom!-

A deep, tremendous impact rang out between the two longswords. It sounded nothing like the clash of blades, but rather the roar of the god of war's artillery!

The black armor was knocked far back, and the silver-gray Silvia immediately stuck close!

"Silvia! That bastard Mengde lied to me!"

A man's shout erupted over the powered armor's induction-field [Public Communications Channel], followed by a cry of pain as he took a beating.

"The Queen of the Moon! Lady Silvia is still here! Hold on!"

"We'll hold the line! Your Majesty, kill that **!"

"Kill!!!"

Exhilarated fighting spirit filled both the faction and public channels. Wang Shui could not see the whole battlefield. From where he stood, he could only see the silver-gray armor performing maneuver after maneuver, shifting between feints and real attacks as she hacked at the black armor again and again.

It was hard to judge their armor's performance, but in fighting spirit and piloting skill, she utterly dominated him. The energy shield over the black armor was growing brighter and brighter-a warning sign of overload.

While Wang Shui watched Silvia's dazzling armored swordsmanship, the outer brick wall of the governor's castle collapsed with a crash. Two suits of white armor crashed through, locked together, one marked green and the other red.

At such close range, silent mode was no invisibility. Wang Shui instantly appeared on both sides' radar.

"Help!"

The closer someone was, the louder their voice came through the induction-field communications channel. The allied white-armored pilot roared for help.

Even as the man called out, Wang Shui rounded the wall and charged with his sword, activating his [Deadly Flying Blade] secret card. A small opening appeared at his armor's belt, and four Silver Dragon throwing knives flew out of dedicated close-fitting weapon slots.

A sharp crack rang out!

Wang Shui raised his sword and chopped down at the enemy's head. Already on alert as Wang Shui charged, the enemy activated something, unleashing a violent explosion between the two grappling fighters. The shock wave blasted them apart.

His first strike missed, and Wang Shui immediately followed with a rising slash. The enemy activated "super-mobility" too, moving backward through the air while righting himself. By the time Wang Shui's rising slash reached him, he had deftly blocked it with the guard plate on his left arm.

But he seemed not to have noticed the throwing knives spinning rapidly around Wang Shui!

The first knife swung clockwise into the right side of the enemy's head, bursting with brilliant green sparks. An effective shield-breaking hit!

But when the second knife followed, it only cut through the image of his rapidly retreating figure. Wang Shui shifted his hips slightly, ducked low, and quickly drew and fired. Three 10 mm rounds shot from the Worm Pistol. As he holstered it, he immediately used super-mobility to close in.

The three bullets flew toward his opponent's eyes-the location of his [Battlefield Information Collector]. The enemy hesitated briefly, and Wang Shui immediately caught up and slashed his chest.

Wang Shui's finger twitched. A gunshot cracked, and blue lines lit up along the sword in his hand. At a speed far beyond his own capabilities, he delivered two more heavy chops in rapid succession!

[Blade Bullet Enhancement · Double Strike]!

As his opponent was suppressed, the Silver Dragon throwing knives erupted in showers of sparks. Deflected knives swiftly rose and accelerated again within the [Deadly Flying Blade] force field, striking again upon reaching maximum speed. The attacks were efficient and relentless!

Wang Shui held him down for only a few seconds, but [Deadly Flying Blade] had already attacked more than a dozen times. As a burst of bloody mist stretched into a red line inside the force field, the knives stopped being knocked to a halt. More than a dozen bloody holes instantly opened in his opponent's side, and he crumpled to the ground.

Wang Shui quickly opened the item slots at the enemy's waist and tossed everything he could detach into his storage space. He also slid the enemy's sword into the claw-shaped sword mount on his back. Then he looked around and discovered his teammate was still lying on the ground. He had never gotten up after the explosion.

Recalling the knives to his sides, Wang Shui hurried over. His nameless teammate had already disengaged his helmet. Bloody foam filled his mouth, and a huge metal spike resembling an insect's jointed limb protruded from his chest. Judging by its color and the blast marks, it was probably the burst attack used by the enemy he had been grappling with.

Only a professional doctor could attempt to treat such an injury. Wang Shui merely shook his head. His nameless teammate gave a wild grin and shakily raised a hand, offering Wang Shui five tier-three energy coins.

Wang Shui felt no particular sorrow. He simply accepted the man's kindness, then equipped his combat longsword across the back of his waist, stood up, and left.

The battle in the sky grew fiercer. Beneath the illumination of aerial flares, black and silver-gray energy glows lingered without dispersing. The sword light and shells that occasionally rained down sent those on the ground scrambling.

In fact, most powered armor, including ordinary tier-two armor like Wang Shui's, could fight in the air. At the very least, flying a dozen meters up and maintaining a combat charge was no problem. But with two powerhouses fighting overhead, even skilled tier-three fighters did not dare take flight.

The ground battle was utter chaos, with both duels and melees. Energy shields burst and people died every moment.

Compared with his teammates' soaring morale, Wang Shui felt much calmer. He glanced at the number of people in the allied channel: [192]. Then he shook his head. He still remembered Silvia's words: one last dance.

Wang Shui did not know when the powerhouse would take her final bow, but he knew getting to the outskirts early could not hurt.

On the fierce battlefield, Wang Shui maintained super-mobility and kept charging, beginning his breakout along the less crowded edge. The closer to the center, the higher the pilots' tiers. Steel and concrete on the ground constantly heaved and burst apart, while energy blades, flames, and lasers erupted throughout the center.

Relying on speed to evade the enemy's attention, Wang Shui immediately cut into any scattered skirmishes along the way to break the balance. After relieving his teammates, he charged outward again, almost never stopping to resupply from enemy corpses. This half-slacking approach met with remarkably little resistance. He soon charged out of the fortress and reached the even more dilapidated shantytown outside.

Wang Shui had chosen this armor precisely for its ability to charge and escape!

The sight in the shantytown was even more horrifying. It looked as though masses of aerial bombs had plowed through it. Craters and loose heaps of dirt lay everywhere, while rainwater and blood pooled into sprawling ponds. The fighting had first erupted here, but now few people remained-the enemy had left no troops to surround the fortress either. They had hidden deep inside system territory for days and could not possibly have assembled many troops.

But there were even fewer teammates here. Wang Shui spent half an hour trying to break out, exhausting two energy coins without finding a suitable opening. Instead, he attracted the attention of several enemies.

Boom!-

A tremendous explosion rang out. Like most people, Wang Shui instinctively looked toward the battle in the sky. Then they saw a massive machine.

[Medium powered armor]

The snug, comfortable powered armor Wang Shui wore, which enhanced mobility and defense, was classified as micro armor. The huge machine assembled in the sky, over five meters tall, was medium armor.

An enormous cannon muzzle sat on the black medium armor's left arm. The roar just now had been its blast driving back the system side's queen-Silvia, Penumbra of the Moon.

The battlefield fell silent for a moment. Siege-class equipment like this was expensive and placed high demands on its pilot. A small battlefield like this did not deserve to see it at all. But Silvia did.

Silvia was not particularly worse for wear after being blasted back. A little distance had simply opened between them, and her armor had suffered little damage.

"Silvia! Whatever happens, you're going to die here today!" The man's voice came over the public channel again, calm and confident.

"Heh. I've had enough fun too."

A voice as clear and cold as moonlight rang out over the battlefield for the first time. Everyone there felt an inexplicable surge of unease.

The silver-gray armor spread its arms to embrace the rain. Its helmet dissolved into lines of energy, revealing Silvia's face. Silver-gray energy coated the tips of her black hair in silver. Her soaked hair streamed in the wind and rain. Something about the scene was wrong.

Silvia opened her eyes. Everyone in front of her, everyone piloting armor with telescopic vision, saw her clear silver-gray eyes. Time seemed to stand still. The rain was still falling, but the dark clouds abruptly dispersed, revealing an enormous bright moon high overhead.

Over the silent battlefield, moonlight fell!

A gigantic silver-white pillar descended from the sky, slamming ferociously into the hulking medium armor! A black energy shield lit up, barely withstanding the moonlight pouring down.

The moonlight continuously canceled out against the energy shield. The faint sizzling and humming imposed tremendous pressure on everyone present. They all felt as though the shock wave of a shell were constantly pushing them outward!

A duel between experts was not just a beam clash! Having unleashed the moonlight, Silvia drew her longsword while the black armor resisted it, becoming a silver line that flashed through the giant machine's chest!

The original black micro armor instantly ejected, blocking Silvia's surprise attack with its sword. But without its pilot, the massive armor was instantly crushed by the moonlight!

Detecting an extremely subtle lapse in her enemy's focus, Silvia immediately burst into motion and closed in. One slash severed his entire right arm, then a horizontal sweep opened a massive wound across his chest and abdomen.

The high-end armor's Life Support Module immediately brought the black-armored pilot's injuries under control. But it was useless. How could Silvia miss an opportunity like this?

More than a dozen silver-moon slashes flashed across the sky. The black armor was instantly dismembered in midair. Silvia merely sheathed her sword and snapped her fingers. Silver-gray flames erupted over the falling wreckage, reducing the corpse to ash before it reached the ground.

The battlefield remained silent. After all, this was only a rear-line battlefield. Apart from the former Penumbra of Destruction traitors who had fled, most people present were tier-two small fry, along with a few tier-three "mainstays" and useless pretenders like Wang Shui, wearing tier-two armor with poor attributes and few tricks, whose shortcomings would show in any prolonged confrontation.

The explosive tier-five performance stunned everyone present. Silvia surveyed the battlefield from the air, then once again embraced the Gengetsu above.

This time, countless fine threads of moonlight scattered down. Large numbers of high-tier enemies in the center of the battlefield were instantly blasted apart by pillars of light. Cheers erupted in the allied channel, but Wang Shui glanced at the battlefield headcount:

[11]

In the time since Wang Shui had charged out of the fortress, the teammates fighting inside had nearly all been killed.

But however numerous the enemy was, their morale would still collapse when it broke.

Wang Shui could not hear the enemy's radio traffic, but he could see their desperate figures flying low out of the fortress with "super-mobility" running at full power. They scattered, fleeing northeast for their lives.

Silvia's body trembled imperceptibly in the sky. Then she slowly followed the enemy, continually firing from behind like a cat toying with mice, occasionally shooting down one or two.

Was it over...?

Wang Shui still felt shaken. The other ten survivors in the allied channel seemed to be hurrying to loot the battlefield. One guy reminded everyone to pick up more things before the system tallied the results.

None of the few remaining people paid Silvia any attention. After all, a powerhouse never needed their concern.

Only Wang Shui, standing atop the city wall, saw the figure falling from the sky.