Some say that justice is never absent; it is merely delayed.
Others say that delayed justice is not justice at all, but merely revenge.
But... if justice has already arrived late, then what harm is there in revenge?
In the face of pain and despair...
Revenge, an eye for an eye and blood for blood, is a fine remedy in its own right!
*BANG!!*
A sonic boom erupted. The metal architectural structures suddenly twisted into countless sharp, triangular spikes that surged forward. The abnormal lifeform—the "Hataan Prince who had obtained unknown power"—was instantly impaled through its flesh. It let out a shrill scream as black-red blood splattered everywhere.
The metallic matter vibrated; the fragile flesh collapsed upon contact. Four servants perished instantly. The Prince was pinned in place by hundreds of metal spikes. A moment later, the metal fused and grew together; the creature struggling upon it looked like a gory post-modern statue, or perhaps a piece of performance art interpreting life and death.
"Who! What!" It shrieked in heart-wrenching agony, dark mist billowing from its body. Surprisingly, it did not die immediately from these fatal wounds, even with its head pierced. "Save..."
The two warriors in the room were stunned for a split second, but they reacted instantly to what was happening. Ferocious, excited grins appeared on their faces. They kicked the short blades up from the floor, caught them, and lunged forward!
*Snap!*
The superpower limiters around their necks shattered in mid-air. The alloy structures were pulled backward, falling into Lei Ting’s hand as he stepped through the wall.
He glanced at them, memorized their internal structure, and tossed the about-to-explode neck rings aside.
In this room—spacious for a Hataan but far too cramped for an Orion—the two brave warriors threw themselves at the target of their blood feud.
*BOOM!!!*
Amidst the fire of the explosions, Lei Ting gripped his sword with both hands from behind his back and launched himself forward. From the doorway thirty meters away, he executed a savage jumping slash at the target.
His terrifying strength allowed his initial speed to break the sound barrier. A thunderous roar and a concussive wave echoed through the room, and all lighting shattered into darkness in an instant. But atop that blade, a violent flame of blue-purple tinged with red illuminated the entire room. A tide of power tore through the darkness, carving a shining aurora into the narrow night!
With two sharp *cracks*, the two warriors accurately drove their knives into the Prince’s neck from the left and right. Then, one warrior—his muscles bulging and crawling with cracks of lava-like light—and the other—whose hands glowed with similar cracks—each grabbed the head and the sharp horns, pulling and snapping backward with all their might!
*CRACK!!*
The bone-chilling sound of skeletal fracturing rang out. What hung upon the bright metal framework now could no longer be called an "enemy"; it was merely a slurry of broken flesh and bone. Had it been any normal creature, it would have been dead several times over by now.
But terrifyingly, in Lei Ting’s perception, this heap of matter... was still alive.
Moreover, it was thriving.
Black mist hissed and rolled, biting toward the two superpowered warriors with horrifying strength and speed. More importantly, it carried a bizarre, confusing logic that caused the warriors' eyes to suddenly lose focus.
But in the next second, a streak of metal glowing with golden light shot forward, wrapping around them and pulling them back, before unceremoniously sending them far away.
The golden light fell upon them, ruthlessly dispelling the muddled, strange dream. The two snapped awake to find their teammates had also been sent over. Before the defensive layer closed, they caught a glimpse of a flash of light like a sunset in the darkness, trailing a long afterglow.
*—BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*
A blinding light soared into the sky. The power of the 'New Sun' was unleashed. At this moment, the vast majority of people on this planet could see a magnificent sphere of light, blue verging on purple, rising from the ground. Terrifying power and sun-like heat expanded wantonly. All normal matter at the point of explosion was annihilated, and as the shockwave spread, it reduced everything in all directions to charred ruins.
The two superpowered warriors and their comrades were carried far away by his metal sphere. They felt the terrifying power washing past the golden glow in shock, not daring to move much for fear of dragging down the god-like combatant outside wielding the greatsword.
Everyone knew this was a disaster on the level of a superpowered nuclear blast—the lion used its full strength even when hunting a rabbit. Lei Ting had no intention of holding back; he simply wanted this bastard dead!
As the brilliant light shot upward, the entire planetary weapon was alerted. Shrill alarms blared in unison as combat units scrambled in a chaotic emergency response.
The five teams located in different positions were stunned: the one pulling batteries from Hataan mechs, the one swiping Hataan server motherboards, the one swimming through a warehouse of rare Hataan materials, the one finely mincing a sector's power source, and the one picking off the immobilized attendees of a small staff meeting... After using various means to see the distant scene, they were all dumbfounded.
"...No, who did that?"
"Look at that golden domain..."
"...Holy shit."
The twenty-five "hidden dragons and young phoenixes" fell silent before the "warmth" the most ferocious among them had gifted the Hataan—a warmth that had practically evaporated an entire area.
A moment later, Lei Ting, clad in full-body combat armor, slowly stood up. He used his mental strength to precisely adjust the parameters of his light individual mech while lifting the greatsword that had nearly created a blue sun on the ground. He thrust it down beside him, planting it in the center of a small basin of molten metal that had sunk over ten meters deep, nearly exposing the outer shell of the planetary engine's defensive layer.
His expression was somewhat strange.
In the past, he had never let this sword exert its full power, so this time, it had truly startled even him. Even through the superpowered armor, which had reached a 32% synchronization rate, he could clearly feel a terrifying heat. It made his armor scalding to the touch...
...Because when it erupted, he had been standing at the very center of the explosion.
No wonder Valianna hadn't thought of passing this thing on to an adjutant even after she stopped using it. How could an ordinary person withstand this style of fighting?
Those with high energy resistance were usually energy-types who lacked physical strength; those who could wield this heavy greatsword were usually reinforcement-types with insufficient energy resistance... Only a powerhouse like Valianna, whose ability could coat her in "thorns" and shields while possessing immense physical strength, or someone like Lei Ting, who could make himself momentarily unshakable by "energy" or "impact," could casually take this out to slaughter two regiments and then detonate two nuclear bombs.
Lei Ting slowly turned his head, glancing at the terrifying crater over two hundred meters in diameter: "..."
Though he had known its power was fearsome, he was still... speechless.
Great. A nuclear bomb.
The kind where the range isn't even one percent of the blast radius.
—What kind of genius design is this?!
Lei Ting silently looked at the spot where the completely vaporized enemy had been. He was certain the opponent was dead. Firstly, because although the evaporation was fast, it was clear enough to him that he could have summarized it into a detailed step-by-step file. Secondly, because...
On the other side of the planet, a shrill, agonizing howl shook this entire small world.
Although the raw materials chosen for planetary weapons usually weren't massive, when that tragic wail tore through the sky, it announced to everyone on the planet that the being making the sound was no ordinary person.
The opponent was clearly more than just a little bit stronger than the target that had just died, but it couldn't rush over immediately.
Without a word, Lei Ting turned and took the four people he had rescued, crashing into a nearby undamaged metal structure.
When the energy flow of the 'New Sun' surged upward, it had torn an open-air chasm into this planetary weapon... If he didn't leave now, under the orders of that unknown enemy who sounded like they were going insane, he might have to face a targeted strike descending from the heavens!
And speaking of which...
Lei Ting immediately activated the emergency communication channel. In this channel, he couldn't edit any message content himself; he could only trigger preset commands.
[Solar Star]: [DANGER]
[Solar Star]: [STAY AWAY]
[Solar Star]: [STAY AWAY]
[Solar Star]: [STAY AWAY]
[Solar Star]: [SAFETY FIRST]
[Solar Star]: [CONSIDER TACTICAL RETREAT]
He sent several commands in a row, then found a place to release the four people he had saved. Using local materials, he forged full sets of armor and weapons for the two superpowered warriors out of metal. Then, he quickly dismantled Hataan equipment from a nearby armory to add life-support and propulsion systems to the armor. He adjusted the weapons to fit common Hataan ammunition calibers and shoved the magazines and weapons—which flew to him automatically—into the two men's arms.
The two said nothing, quickly adapting to the armor that lacked preset systems and control panels while equipping the weapons. During their initial calibration, they saw him use an extremely professional procedure to lay their two teammates flat on their backs. He steadily guided two metal spheres from their straightened esophagi into their stomachs, and when he pulled them out, he sent them to shrink and muffle a small explosion nearby.
"It's done." Lei Ting breathed a sigh of relief, then handed the two unconscious hostages to their teammates.
The two superpowered warriors took them... and without a word, placed them over their knees to induce vomiting. Once the two had finished vomiting and slowly woke up, the warriors delivered a few sharp slaps to their faces, successfully performing a physical wake-up operation.
Lei Ting, watching from the side: "..."
As expected of veterans; their speed in playing dirty was as fast as their mental adjustment.
By the time the two who hadn't been stripped of their uniforms jumped up in a rage, the two superpowered warriors who had nearly been forced into a duel finally breathed a small sigh of relief. They turned to Lei Ting. "Thanks, brother." "I'll buy you a drink when we get back."
"..." Lei Ting paused. "Sorry, I don't drink."
"Ah, right..." One of the warriors slapped his forehead. "Wodu did say you never drink, and you don't join in when they gather to watch 'the good stuff'..."
"Wodu? Wodu Sto? You know him?" Lei Ting tilted his head. "Are you from the First Legion? I haven't seen you before."
"I'm from the Third Legion. I was temporarily teamed up with Wodu this time... but he's dead. He was thrown into the sub-power furnace by these sheep-spawn." The man spoke with a cold, calm face. "We promised to have a drink together when we got back, at the bar in 'Mistletoe'..."
This time, Lei Ting didn't say "Federation regulations forbid soldiers from drinking while on duty," nor did he mention that Wodu's great-grandfather was looking for him, and he certainly didn't mention that the man—who hadn't had much of a presence—was the only relative another person had. Such information was useless to the battle.
He simply remained silent for a moment before saying in a low voice, "What do you plan to do next?"
***
**Glossary**
Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation
--- | --- | ---
哈塔恩亲王 | Hataan Prince | An abnormal, powerful Hataan individual encountered by Lei Ting.
新太阳 | New Sun | The name of the heavy greatsword Lei Ting uses, formerly belonging to Valianna.
阳星 | Solar Star | Lei Ting's codename (Yang Xing).
沃度·斯托 | Wodu Sto | A soldier from the First Legion mentioned in previous context, now confirmed dead.
槲寄生 | Mistletoe | Likely the name of a location or a specific bar used by soldiers.
猎户人联 | Orion Union | The "Orion Union of Humans," the interstellar government/military the protagonists belong to.
