Chapter 88: Angels Are the Most Beautiful, Stop Praising

Chapter Eighty-Eight: Angels Are the Most Beautiful, Enough with the Praise

Yet the ferocity in his eyes only sharpened. He gripped the alloy greatsword even tighter, every muscle in his body tense as he pressed onward.

Sparks leaped across the Gundam-like frame, black smoke rising in thin wisps, but it still advanced resolutely by virtue of the thrusters on its back.

The pilot in its cockpit, however, was in a very different state. The squad leader serving as pilot, whose eyes had once burned with killing intent, had now grown dim.

Thus the unwavering machine, carrying a pilot whose faith had already died, charged straight toward the alien creature gliding slowly ahead.

Just as the alloy greatsword was about to touch the tetrahedral body, the space before it rippled. In the next instant, the tetrahedron vanished.

The Gundam-like frame lost all momentum. Its power source was damaged, the thrusters ran out of energy, and the thrust disappeared. Like a winged angel, it plunged into the abyss.

In a certain underground base in the Island Nation, inside the command room—

This was the command center for the Gundam unit. A commander brandishing a chrysanthemum-patterned tachi roared in a fury.

"Bastard! Idiot! What is he doing? He has ruined the painstaking work of the Great Island Nation. He is a criminal, a criminal!"

With that, he drew the chrysanthemum-patterned blade from his waist, shoved aside the operator in front of him, and hacked viciously at the computer before him.

Seeing such a furious commander, one who was also a member of the royal family, everyone, though they admired the pilot who had gone to his death with such generosity, still lowered their heads tremblingly and did their best to make themselves invisible, fearing the wrath would spread to them.

At that moment, a delicately pretty female secretary rested a hand on the commander’s shoulder and cooed in a sweet, fawning voice.

"My lord, there is no need to burn with anger over a criminal. We can simply cultivate another one."

The soothing response she had imagined never came. Instead, a slap in a white glove enlarged in her eyes.

Then it came down hard across her face. The force sent the secretary crashing to the floor, and her delicate features instantly swelled red and purple.

After that single blow, the commander still did not feel satisfied. He leveled the tachi at the woman, murder in his eyes.

The commander in this state froze the secretary with terror. This old man, who had always answered every plea beneath her skirts, now looked as if life itself no longer belonged to her.

He stared at her for several seconds, then sheathed the blade, kicked her two meters away, and shouted, "Bastard! What do you know? Get lost!"

Meanwhile, the alien beings that were bringing ruin to the Island Nation’s destiny continued their unwavering flight toward the island.

Though swift, each time they vanished, they reappeared more than a hundred kilometers away.

After three flashes, they reached the coastline of the Island Nation, where hastily dispatched troops were already scrambling to organize a defense.

Spurred on by comic-book victories and blind confidence in the Gundam units, those forces were not nearly as tense as they should have been.

And the result of that blind confidence was now a chaotic line of positions, with soldiers flustered and panicked.

Because the command system was in disarray, the details of the tetrahedron’s abilities had not been relayed to the front line.

Thus, when the front-line commander directly ordered the artillery positions to fire, that single command led to the deaths of more than twenty thousand frontline combat personnel.

If the people of the Celestial Empire knew such a thing had happened, they would probably laugh themselves awake in their dreams.

After this barrage, the frontline positions were blasted into ruin, and the commander began to lose his composure.

Though he knew he could not blame the artillery, he still could not resist summoning the artillery commander and giving him a brutal dressing-down.

Meanwhile, after the shelling, the front-line soldiers were all shaken with fear for a time.

But seeing the alien creature continuing to advance, the surviving men still forced down their terror.

They raised their rifles, crouched behind hastily erected defenses, and aimed their muzzles at that immense silhouette, godlike and demonic all at once.

The tetrahedron drew closer and closer to the position. Though it still had not reached the effective range of firearms, one frightened soldier from the Island Nation could no longer help himself and pulled the trigger.

On the silent battlefield, the staccato crack of gunfire suddenly burst forth, as if snapping some unseen string.

All across the position, gunfire erupted like beans popping in a hot pan, crackling and scattering in disorder, though they all showed restraint and did not use tanks or rocket launchers.

After all, the earlier bombardment had left them with lingering dread.

Soon, the tetrahedron reached within five hundred meters of the position, and the Island Nation soldiers grew even more terrified. Their attacks seemed utterly useless.

Just as the tank let out its first roar, the floating tetrahedron in the sky also released a unified hum.

In an instant, the soldiers across the entire position, like the heroic Gundam pilot before them, all became still.

The battlefield, noisy only moments before, fell once again into the same silence it had known before the battle.

Yet on that soundless field, bodies shattered by shellfire lay in fragments everywhere.

And what chilled the blood most was that many people bore no visible wounds at all, yet they had already lost the breath of life.

Their faces were calm, blood streaming from their seven openings, a sight grim enough to make anyone recoil.

After sweeping the battlefield clean in one strike, the tetrahedron did not linger. It continued onward toward the cities of the Island Nation.

From time to time it would emit that humming sound again, causing mass casualties, though it paid no heed to the deaths of these mortal beings.

It merely wanted to see whether this nation of the Human Federation still concealed any hidden power. After all, those who had come to stop it were all ordinary people.

There were no super soldiers, no gods.

The battle in the Island Nation was also captured by the Celestial Empire’s celestial-level supercomputer, Core Intelligence, and the ensuing developments were transmitted in real time.

Upon seeing this, Ge Xiaolun could not help but sigh, "That’s great... cough, I mean, that’s tragic."

Inside he thought he had almost slipped and said too much. That was not right, not right at all. After all, the Island Nation was part of Earth too.

Qixin and Lena glanced at him in surprise, and Lena, blunt as ever, spoke up.

"Why does that sound so insincere when you say it?"

"Does it? It’s not that obvious, is it?" Ge Xiaolun asked awkwardly, scratching his head as he also glanced at Qixin, who was studying the tetrahedron data in the image.

Feeling his gaze, Qixin looked up as well and gave him a puzzled look.

Ge Xiaolun immediately lost the desire to speak further and turned his attention back to the image being transmitted.

In just those few words, the tetrahedrons had already made a circuit around the Island Nation, leaving its people in misery and lamentation. Then, with a flash, they returned above the sea and sank once more into the depths.

At that point, Qixin began operating Core Intelligence, the indicator lights flashing furiously.

Not long after, through Core Intelligence’s calculations, she reached a conclusion: the tetrahedrons’ next target was the Celestial Empire.

Upon hearing Qixin’s conclusion, Ge Xiaolun’s expression immediately turned grim, and he quickly notified the command center.

After several minutes of discussion, the command center reached a final conclusion: these three tetrahedrons could only be dealt with by the Hero Unit and the angels.

After all, they had also watched the footage. Missiles and the like were completely useless; using them would be no different from striking themselves.

Today, in the council hall of Heaven Blade Seven, the members of the Hero Unit were assembled once more, and even Yunyang, who had been playing games, had been called over.

Seeing Yunyang, who had arrived last despite being closest, finally taking his seat, Lianfeng stood up with a helpless shake of her head and said, "According to the information provided by Qixin, we can infer that the tetrahedrons evolved through the control of native Earth lifeforms. That explains why our outer-space monitoring data showed no abnormalities, yet they still came to Earth."

Lianfeng paused, looked at Qixin, and said, "I’m not entirely clear on the specific details of the tetrahedrons, so I’ll ask Qixin to explain."

Qixin nodded and stood up.

"Based on Core Intelligence’s data analysis, there is a very high probability that the Celestial Empire will be the tetrahedrons’ next target."

"Then... we should notify neighboring countries and patrol together around the East Sea. Besides, there’s no time to waste; an attack may come at any moment." Elder Huang’s steady voice came through, directly deciding the next course of action.

The Island Nation soon responded as well, dispatching fighter jets to cooperate with the Celestial Empire.

After a day and a night of waiting, the flight group finally sent news that the target had been located. The members of the Hero Unit had also returned to position, awaiting orders and ready to launch at any time.

Watching a friendly aircraft being shot down on the screen, Liu Chuang hammered his thigh hard, no longer able to look at the virtual display.

At that moment, the pilot’s voice came through, tightly restrained with anger: "Three friendly aircraft have crashed. Request permission to fire."

Lianfeng immediately replied, "The data shows ordinary missiles are ineffective. Withdraw to five thousand meters and maintain patrol."

Though unwilling, the pilot, being a soldier, still knew obedience was his duty.

After retreating five thousand meters, he asked in a voice heavy with indignation and confusion, "I don’t understand. The earlier devourers had energy shields protecting them, but now that they don’t, our Earth firepower is still ineffective."

"No amount of anxiety will help. Execute the order." To keep them from acting on impulse, Lianfeng could only bring out the authority of command and speak firmly.

Then her tone softened slightly.

"Also, the Hero Unit is to remain on standby. In the absence of certainty that the godslaying rounds will work, Qilin is not to join the battle. Keep a close watch on their movements."

Upon hearing this assignment, Qilin also nodded and said, "Yes."

Then Lianfeng looked across at Qixin and asked, "What do you think?"

Qixin did not hesitate.

"All of my five hundred years of knowledge and experience tell me that angels are superior to them, and more..."

"Wait, wait. Angels are the most beautiful, so enough with praising yourselves. What I want to ask is, are we supposed to kill them or what?" Yunyang interrupted as he sensed she was about to launch into a long speech.

At his words, Qixin grew a little embarrassed and did not continue.

"The invaders should be dealt the strongest possible blow," Elder Huang said quietly.