Explosions and fierce gunfire erupted from the edge of the city wall, sound rolling across Hassenstadt like thunder. The battle had begun in earnest.
High above, invisible to eyes below, the Valkyrie passed through the central district of Hassenstadt City in an ultra-low-altitude gliding posture. The transport's engines hummed at minimum output, stealth systems bending light and sound around its hull.
Then the cargo bay doors opened.
In an instant, Nolan and the Stormtroopers wearing black power armor fell from the sky like metal statues cast down by angry gods. Six armored figures plummeting. Six warriors committed to violence.
Twelve magnetic boots struck the street ground below simultaneously. The impact was tremendous. Pavement shattered, craters forming where ceramite met stone. Cracks radiated outward like spiderwebs.
At the moment everyone landed, before defenders could process the threat that had materialized from nowhere, the terrifying roar of grenade launchers resounded all around.
The weapons spoke with mechanical fury. Shells arced outward in lethal trajectories.
Within a hundred meters, teams of Hassenstadt soldiers had been running along the street toward the city wall, responding to the breach Doom had created. Supporting their comrades. Defending their city.
In the blink of an eye, they were torn into bloody fragments scattered across the ground. Grenades detonated among packed formations. Bodies exploded. Limbs separated. Blood painted stone in abstract patterns.
The screaming stopped quickly. Death was efficient.
Nolan, wearing his metal helmet, turned his sight across the carnage. His gaze passed over ordinary civilians squatting on the street with their heads in their hands, trying to make themselves small, invisible, safe.
Non-combatants. He ignored them.
Through his eyepiece, he located the Hassenstadt Palace dozens of meters away. The ancient structure loomed, baroque architecture incongruous with the violence erupting around it.
He suddenly raised the Frost Fang in his palm, the weapon catching light as it rose. Then swung it forward, the gesture command and declaration both!
"Assault formation! Attack!"
The Stormtroopers who heard the order reacted instantly. They quickly clenched grenade launchers in their palms, weapons rising to ready positions.
They ran toward the entrance of Hassenstadt Palace without hesitation. Boots pounding. Armor clanking. A wall of ceramite and fury advancing with terrible purpose.
At this moment, before they could reach the doors, something emerged to meet them.
The sharp sound of metal twisting rang out, followed by wood splintering. A huge figure wearing dark red alien armor materialized, wrapped in low and sinister laughter that echoed from inhuman structures.
He broke through the heavy palace gate, tearing it from its hinges. The doors flew aside like kindling. He rushed out of the dimly lit interior space with shocking speed.
Cancer. Uvalov. The madman in his prison of living armor.
In an instant, the Stormtroopers responded. Explosive firepower quickly covered the alien armor, shells detonating against dark red plating.
The bombardment prevented him from advancing immediately while creating countless explosions. Flames splashed across his form. Smoke billowed. But still he laughed, the sound carrying deranged glee.
The next second, the Bane brothers in the team coordinated without words. Their hands moved in perfect synchronization, reaching back to pull roaring chainsword from power backpacks.
The weapons activated, teeth spinning to lethal speeds. The brothers charged like crazed bulls, attacking from opposite angles!
Just when Nolan, holding the Frost Fang, prepared to rush forward and join the assault, the situation shifted.
Ding ding ding!
Narrow ice cones emitting cold breath were fired quickly from unexpected direction. They came from the hands of a woman civilian squatting on the street.
Not a civilian. Another Zodiac member. Aries.
The projectiles bombarded Nolan's power armor continuously, striking ceramite with sharp impacts. Frost spread from impact points, trying to find purchase.
Nolan reacted with combat-honed reflexes. He quickly turned and waved the Frost Fang in his palm, the wide axe blade intercepting incoming attacks.
He relied on the ceramite steel shell of his power armor and the broad face of his weapon to resist the narrow ice cones that kept coming. Each deflection created small explosions of frost. His armor accumulated ice that cracked and fell with each movement.
Nolan immediately adjusted positioning. His feet pivoted, magnetic boots finding new purchase.
He drove his power armor to charge toward the attacker at terrifying speed, closing distance with mechanical acceleration that human muscles could never match!
At the same time, the grenade launcher in his other hand pulled the trigger in succession, firing at the disguised woman without hesitation!
Shells streaked forward. But the middle-aged woman-like ice manipulator quickly condensed an extremely thick ice wall before her, barrier materializing from moisture in the air.
She tried to use it to block the explosive bombardment. The ice was dense, reinforced, several feet thick.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
At this moment, a buzzing sound suddenly cut through the air, coming from above.
A young woman with a slender figure stepped off a nearby building's roof and jumped into the air with agility that defied physics. Her movements were graceful, practiced, enhanced beyond human norm.
Then, a yellow whip made entirely of energy extended from her palm. The construct crackled with power, semi-solid light shaped by will.
Like lightning, it lashed out, wrapping quickly around Nolan's sturdy arm that was pulling the grenade launcher's trigger!
Nolan, who had been charging and shooting, reacted with enhanced speed. He immediately stopped firing and raised his hand to dodge, trying to slip the binding.
However, the attacker's goal seemed very clear..
She wanted to limit Nolan's long-range attack capability. Remove his advantage.
The yellow energy whip suddenly changed direction mid-strike. The extremely flexible tip snapped around the metal body of the grenade launcher itself.
Then yanked with tremendous force!
The weapon tore free from Nolan's grip, flying into the air and clattering across pavement meters away.
Nolan, who snorted coldly from inside his helmet, abandoned the launcher without hesitation. Weapons were tools. Replaceable. Tactics mattered more than specific implements.
His now-empty hand dropped to his waist and pulled a freezing grenade, the ordinance cold against ceramite fingers.
His thick thumb flipped the ring free with practiced motion.
Then Nolan threw the grenade at the young woman who was still in mid-air, her jump arc leaving her exposed!
He didn't even look up to track the throw. Muscle memory and enhanced proprioception guided his arm. The grenade sailed perfectly.
The ordinance exploded in air directly beside her. In the blink of an eye, a large number of crystal clear sharp icicles splashed into the surrounding space, expanding outward in deadly bloom.
The young woman, who had no time to dodge while airborne, was pierced by countless sharp spikes instantly. They punched through flesh and bone. A large amount of blood sprayed from multiple wounds.
The rapidly spreading frost breath also completely froze her, flash-freezing tissue and blood. She became a completely stiff corpse mid-flight, expression locked in surprise.
Falling heavily to the ground, she shattered on impact. Ice and flesh fragmenting together.
At the same time, Nolan had quickly arrived before the middle-aged woman hiding behind her ice wall.
He raised the Frost Fang in his palm without hesitation, weapon rising high.
Then brought it down with all his enhanced strength against the thick ice wall covered with craters from grenade impacts!
The sound of breaking was very crisp. Almost musical. The sharp axe blade of the Frost Fang cleaved through ice reinforced by supernatural cold, splitting it like normal glass.
The thick barrier fell to the ground in two neat halves.
The middle-aged woman with ice powers was completely exposed in the range of Nolan's eyepiece. No protection. No distance. No time.
Just as the panicked Aries wanted to release more slender ice cones to block Nolan's advance, just as she tried to retreat backward and create separation, Nolan moved.
He reacted with speed that seemed impossible for power armor. His other sturdy arm suddenly stretched out, reaching past her half-formed defensive spell.
His metal palm with five fingers spread wide forcibly gripped her round head, ceramite fingers closing around skull!
Nolan didn't give the woman a chance to beg for mercy. Didn't allow time for teleportation rings to activate. No escape. No mercy.
He just clenched his metal palm closed.
The sound of bone breaking was crisp, wet, final.
Her entire head shattered like an overripe watermelon! Skull fragmenting. Brain matter erupting. Blood fountaining upward before gravity reclaimed it.
Nolan threw the headless limp body away, discarding it without thought. One threat eliminated. Move to the next.
He quickly turned his metal helmet, scanning. His gaze glanced at the ordinary civilians who had survived the exchange, confirming they weren't additional threats.
Then his sight turned to the humanoid crab that was repeatedly entangled with the Stormtroopers, the real challenge.
At this moment, five roaring chainswords kept cutting at the dark red alien armor. The Stormtroopers pressed their assault with professional coordination.
One by one, the extremely sharp monomolecular saw teeth splashed large numbers of sparks against Cancer's plating. The sound was terrible, metal shrieking against alien alloys.
But they could not truly embed into the armor's body and cause necessary damage. The alien technology was simply too advanced. Too durable. Imperial weapons, formidable against human targets, found their match.
Instead, the opponent's two huge metal crab claws that were constantly waving had caused considerable damage to the Stormtroopers' power armor.
Each strike hit with terrible force. Ceramite cracked. Seals ruptured. Even the black ceramite steel shells were covered with terrifying traces of battle damage.
Cancer was winning. Slowly. But winning.
"David! Warscythe!"
Nolan, wearing his metal helmet, instantly issued an order through the communication channel. He needed the weapon designed for this exact scenario.
He casually mag-locked the Frost Fang to his hip, freeing his hands.
Then took a step and charged toward the humanoid crab, power armor accelerating to combat speed!
At the same time, high above, the Valkyrie that had been hovering invisibly over Hassenstadt quickly changed its flight direction. David's piloting was flawless, responding to Nolan's need before the request fully formed.
Once again, it swooped down at low altitude toward the city where Nolan and the others fought!
The subtle sound of the cargo bay door reopening cut through the battle noise.
An automatic servo-skull holding the Blood Scythe in a mechanical clamp suddenly rushed out of the Valkyrie's hold. The weapon gleamed with green malevolence, eager for blood.
Flying quickly toward Nolan below, the skull's anti-grav systems screaming!
Boom, boom, boom!
Two heavy magnetic boots repeatedly crushed the ground of the street. Each impact created small craters, pavement fragmenting under Nolan's charging weight.
He drove his power armor toward the humanoid crab like streaking black lightning, armor at maximum output!
At this moment, Cancer, who was dealing with five Stormtroopers simultaneously, had no attention to spare for new threats. His focus was divided. Fatal mistake.
The slightly raised back of his alien armor was struck by Nolan's heavy shoulder armor in a perfectly executed charge!
The impact was cataclysmic. Kinetic energy transferred instantly. In that instant, Cancer's entire huge body flew horizontally forward, launched like a missile!
He struck the ground ahead hard, alien armor gouging furrows in stone as he tumbled.
Swish, swish, swish!
The next second, the Blood Scythe transported by the automatic servo-skull spun and fell from the air, descending like judgment.
Nolan grabbed it in his palm with quick hands and enhanced reflexes, fingers closing around the familiar grip!
The weapon sang to him. Hungry. Ready. The green light along its edge pulsed with anticipation.
In a flash, Nolan raised the Blood Scythe high. The sharp blade surrounded by eerie luminescence gleamed with terrible promise.
Then brought it down heavily on Cancer who had just struck the ground and was struggling to rise!
The scythe descended. Time seemed to slow. The blade fell like an executioner's axe.
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