Chapter 118: The Forgotten Super Core and Void Engine

Chapter 118: The Forgotten Void Engine and the雄芯 (Xiongxin)

Since Moi was unwilling to speak, Lian Feng decided not to press the matter. After all, as the commander of the Black Troop, she represented Earth and had no authority to interfere in the internal affairs of the angels; a simple show of concern was enough.

With that thought, Lian Feng refocused her mind on the battlefield, calculating the casualties among the soldiers. Because they were augmented warriors with relatively smaller profiles, they could achieve a trade-off ratio of roughly one to five. Although it was still painful, it was a vast improvement over the dozens-to-one ratio from the start of the conflict. This was all thanks to the Power of the Galaxy; it was he who contributed his genes and he who manually crafted resources. If anyone had been the most exhausted during this period, it was certainly him.

And our Power of the Galaxy, Ge Xiaolun, was currently taking a beating. Due to the heavy losses of the Taotie fleet, Sumnal, as their commander, felt his already angry mood sour even further. Driven by this fury, Sumnal’s attacks became increasingly savage. Relying on superior close-quarters combat techniques, Ge Xiaolun found himself unable to parry. Ever since Ge Xiaolun had managed to break Sumnal’s weapon once, Sumnal had become cautious, and in the ensuing fight, Ge Xiaolun’s King Sword could not land a single blow. Every time, Sumnal would dodge, occasionally allowing a punch or kick to land, but for a third-generation body, such attacks were inconsequential.

Just as Sumnal kicked Ge Xiaolun away and prepared to strike him down with his blade, he was forced back by an axe thrown by Liu Chuang. Sumnal shot a hateful glance at Liu Chuang but ignored him, flapping his wings to continue his assault on Ge Xiaolun. As the two fought at high speeds, Liu Chuang found he couldn't help, so he shouted to Ge Xiaolun, "Xiaolun, if you're going to fight, don't run around! I can't even get an opening to help!"

Hearing this, Ge Xiaolun kicked Sumnal in the waist and flew toward Liu Chuang. Sumnal brushed off the impact on his armor and followed. With Liu Chuang and Ge Xiaolun fighting two-on-one, the pressure immediately eased. However, they were still being suppressed because Liu Chuang’s mobility was poor, forcing Ge Xiaolun to divide his attention to protect him.

A few minutes later, Liu Chuang deflected Sumnal’s sword with his axe and shouted quickly to Ge Xiaolun, "Xiaolun, we can't beat him in melee! Where’s that big sword of yours? Use it!"

"The big sword? It’s with Yang. This one is better than that one," Ge Xiaolun said, waving the King Sword in his hand.

"No, I mean that 'Ultimate Judgment' thing of yours!" Liu Chuang realized the misunderstanding and shouted for clarification.

"Oh, right! This sword is so fun to swing that I completely forgot about my Ultimate Judgment. Chuangzi, block for me!" Ge Xiaolun flew behind Liu Chuang and activated the combat version of the Xiongxin (Void Core). As his consciousness immersed into the dark plane, a mechanical Taiji diagram slowly unfolded, and Angel Yan’s voice echoed in his ear.

*Entering dark plane...*
*Starting Xiongxin combat version...*
*Opening interface...*
*Analyzing target...*
*Target is a Shenhe-type lifeform, possessing third-generation angel genes, equipped with a Styx-version Void Engine, core processing speed 24-frequency, with an attached advanced concept rewriter...*
*Xiongxin engine, core processing speed 48-frequency...*

"Initiate Ultimate Judgment!" Ge Xiaolun knew his Xiongxin’s data; he had no patience to listen to the summary every time and issued the command directly.

Sumnal, who was about to attack, seemed to realize something. A flash of annoyance crossed his eyes as he cursed internally, "I’m still not used to this high-tech stuff; I even forgot about my Void Engine." He immediately activated his own Void Engine to counter Ge Xiaolun. Both figures suddenly froze, falling into an eerie silence.

Liu Chuang felt an urge to jump in, but at that moment, the King Sword in Ge Xiaolun’s hand suddenly levitated. It didn't grow in size, but it hovered above Sumnal’s head as if ready to strike at any moment. Inside the dark plane, Ge Xiaolun and Sumnal engaged in a fierce confrontation. Due to the suppression of computing frequency, Sumnal was defeated shortly after.

The King Sword hovering above him descended rapidly; if nothing went wrong, Sumnal would be impaled. Sumnal clearly realized this, abandoning the struggle with Ge Xiaolun to focus entirely on loading his own defenses. The sword struck, severing one of Sumnal’s arms and severely damaging his Void Engine. Fortunately, he wasn't killed outright. Sumnal felt immense gratitude toward his King, whose programmed protection had saved his life.

Gravely injured, Sumnal quickly sent a distress signal to Hua Ye, while simultaneously ordering the Taotie to deploy their newly charged "Ferocious Tide" launchers. This time, the target wasn't the Heavenly Blade 7, but Earth itself. To avoid interception, he ordered the bat-shaped aircraft to get as close to Earth as possible. Six small craft broke off from the battlefield, heading toward Earth, while the Taotie fleet received orders to retreat. A flagship stayed behind to cover them as the others pulled back in an orderly fashion.

After giving the order, Sumnal scanned the battlefield, saw that only half of his Heavenly Palace warriors remained, and ordered a full retreat to preserve their strength. He then sneered at Ge Xiaolun, "I’ll take this loss for now. We’ll fight again next time, and I’ll take your life!"

Sumnal fled without hesitation. Ge Xiaolun, unwilling to let the wounded enemy escape, left Liu Chuang behind and gave chase. Though Ge Xiaolun was closing the distance, Sumnal wore a smug, confident smile. Just as Ge Xiaolun came within ten meters, a massive skull suddenly appeared, swallowed Sumnal whole, and vanished in an instant.

The sudden disappearance of the skull left Ge Xiaolun stunned. Recalling what Rose had said about the skull head Carl used to ambush Yun Yang, he gritted his teeth and cursed, "Carl again! This is too much!"

With Sumnal’s orders, the remaining Heavenly Scum scattered, their ferocity replaced by a desperate flight. There was no panic, however; they simply picked a direction and fled. The angels, who had been chasing them, were momentarily stunned before realizing the situation and picking off individual targets.

Yun Yang wasn't caught off guard, as he had been chasing his own targets, but the sudden scattering of enemies posed a problem—two of them hadn't been fully analyzed yet. He chose to pursue the one that was nearly finished, leaving the unanalyzed one to escape. He called out to the target in the public channel, "Look." He extended a finger, and the two analyzed Heavenly Scum suddenly suffered internal disintegration. Yun Yang didn't hold back this time; they were reduced to mangled flesh in mid-flight.

Hearing Yun Yang’s voice, the remaining Heavenly Scum looked back and was terrified, increasing his flight speed even further. Realizing he had done something foolish, Yun Yang stopped and called for Qi Lin. Without hesitation, she fired a shot that struck the target in the back. The enemy’s speed plummeted. Yun Yang caught up with him, asked Qi Lin for a pair of handcuffs, and cuffed him.

Qi Lin pursed her lips, "He's an angel. Is that thing even useful?"

"Come back with me. Behave, and you might live. Try anything clever, and that will be your fate," Yun Yang said, gesturing to the two piles of slowly moving flesh.

Seeing the captive nod, Yun Yang turned his gaze to Qi Lin and said with a strange tone, "When you cuffed me, why didn't you worry if I could break free? I'm much stronger than him." Qi Lin felt embarrassed and coughed to cover it, not knowing how to reply.

Afterward, Yun Yang called out on the combat channel, and all the angels returned. Once everyone had regrouped, Yun Yang, Ge Xiaolun, and the angels Zhi and Leng discussed the situation before returning to the Heavenly Blade 7 battlefield. Unfortunately, they were too late. Only one flagship remained, bearing a large hole, guarded by many soldiers.

Seeing this, Yun Yang understood: they were attempting a boarding action in space. Lian Feng’s voice immediately sounded on the channel, "Sniper team, we want this flagship. Hurry and provide support."

Everyone looked at each other and flew toward the flagship. Liu Chuang shouted from Ge Xiaolun’s grasp, "I'm an expert at this! I already dodged one, but I made that one self-destruct!"

To keep the flagship intact, Leina didn't dare use high-power attacks, instead holding a shield in one hand and a sword in the other, standing off against rows of Taotie soldiers. Zhao Xin and Wei Ying, under Leina’s cover, used their dragon spear and god-slaying crossbow respectively to pick off the Taotie one by one. But these Taotie were fearless; despite their clear terror, they never stopped their advance. Every time one fell, another filled the gap.

As a flagship, its vast size and complex structure meant that skirmishes were breaking out in every corridor. The augmented warriors were either killing or being killed. Because the corridors were narrow, the Taotie’s specialized exoskeletons provided them with strength comparable to first-generation super-warriors. Consequently, the casualties in this street-to-street fighting were even higher than in the space battle. After all, the Taotie had shields, and the firepower of their special weapons was similar; a single hit was usually enough to incapacitate anyone. The Taotie shields could block the augmented warriors' bullets, making the fight very difficult for the Earth side.

Overall, however, the progress of the boarding action was encouraging, even if the casualties were high—but acceptable.