The Azure Princess once again erupted in an uproar. The high-ranking officials and nobles witnessed a scene that surpassed their common sense, a truly magnificent spectacle.
On the rear side of the Hong Fang (Red Team)'s ship, a small hatch opened, and a figure clad in full assault power armor, complete with space-use attachments, climbed out and stood firm on the exterior of the ship. He held a nearly two-meter-long alloy greatsword in his hand, and a layer of light shimmered on his metallic outer armor, making him look like a majestic knight statue at first glance.
However, his appearance here felt somewhat comical.
Krel Belmont's eyes widened, his face filled with keen interest.
Duke Fisu's face sank. He seemed to recall a rather unpleasant memory, his lips mumbled for a moment, then he inexplicably sighed.
"What is he doing?" Keith Nishita was completely bewildered. Although he had never led troops or fought in wars, he considered himself to possess some military knowledge, yet he couldn't grasp the intended effect.
"Darling, you'll see if you just watch. This little guy, Yu Lian, is quite resourceful," Lady Melary said with a hand over her mouth, chuckling. "This kind of tactic actually exists. It's just very rare..."
Vice Principal Robnan's emotions were quite complex. He certainly looked forward to seeing Yu Lian fail, but he didn't want him to fail in a clownish manner. After all, he was also a student of Central Defense University!
And sure enough, he could already hear laughter from the crowd.
"Your student is very creative!" a senator nearby chuckled.
"This, this, uh, he's a very imaginative student!" Brigadier General Robnan could only force a smile, his heart still raging with helpless frustration.
Martha Deacon, the person directly involved, was also intentionally confused. She watched the assault team member standing on the ship's armor from afar, feeling for a moment as if she had seen...
...Wait, Meng Jiao reminded me that spiritual energy users might employ tactics beyond common sense in combat. The opposing captain is a hero of the Xiwei Star System campaign and a powerful spiritual energy user.
Although she reminded herself of this, she was still a bit confused.
"So, Captain Yu Lian is actually personally deploying?"
"Captain Wien said not to be led by the enemy. By sticking to our original plan and achieving our predetermined tactical objectives, we will secure an unshakeable advantage!" She calculated for a moment and sent signals to her teammates. Three Ghost Fighters lowered their wings, still maintaining a bombing formation, cutting through the barrage of turbo lasers, preparing to begin their third round of bombing.
No matter what the other side wants to do, won't I be fine if I just don't go looking for trouble?
Even a spiritual energy user can't shoot further than autocannons and missiles, right?
Martha placed her hand on the trigger of the joystick, just about to fire, when she suddenly saw the assault team member standing on the ship raise his greatsword again and strike it forcefully against the ship's armor beneath him.
"Thought Sword! Heartbreak!" The pilot beneath the power armor let out a stern shout from behind the mask.
In the vacuum of space, sound naturally cannot be transmitted. However, Martha still heard the voice and immediately shivered. She vaguely saw an endless light condense into a sword before the opponent, pointing directly at her.
In a daze, she felt as if she had already been cut into eight pieces, and her wrist instinctively went limp, causing her fighter to spiral. Her Ghost Fighter immediately lost control, directly colliding with the unmanned escort drone beside her. The friction of the small shields and armor created a turbulent ripple of light. The fighter's wing was directly deformed, while the drone, only half its size, was shattered to pieces.
This series of "accidents" directly triggered a chain reaction. By the time everyone reacted, the fighter had already lost the power to continue forward.
It's unknown how much time passed before Martha Deacon regained consciousness. She looked blankly at her surroundings, and after a few seconds, realized that the massive artificial structure next to her was unmistakably the Hong Fang (Red Team)'s enemy ship.
She quickly tried to move her joystick but found it completely locked.
"The Director's Office has ruled that the Deacon's aircraft has lost control and crashed! Please stand by in place!" This voice came through her headset.
Damn it! Martha cursed inwardly, slammed the dashboard, took off her helmet, and then observed her surroundings with her naked eyes, only to find the Red Tiger moving forward, leaving her behind. Her wingmen and drones had also disappeared.
However, she was not some super spiritual energy user; how could she see clearly with her naked eyes?
In reality, the remaining two wingmen had no idea what had happened. They only saw their lead aircraft suddenly lose control and then be ruled as crashed. The wingmen pilots looked at the knight armor standing on the ship's hull, seemingly doing nothing, and all shivered for a moment. They couldn't see any giant sword of light, nor could they hear any Heartbreak incantation impact, but precisely because of this, it felt even more like a horror movie!
The pilots immediately lost their composure and quickly evaded and escaped.
This flight formation now consisted of only two Ghost Fighters and five drones, and most tactical maneuvers could no longer be performed. They decided that after communicating with the Blue Monarch, they would simply return to support their mothership.
They didn't know what had happened until they finally fled.
As for Martha Deacon, it wasn't until the rescue engineering ship sucked her and her aircraft into the cabin that she finally realized she must have been hit by some spiritual energy technique.
So, spiritual energy techniques can actually be used like this?
Martha felt she couldn't die in peace.
Similarly unable to die in peace were, of course, Wien and his companions on the Blue Monarch.
They watched this scene, which transcended their common sense, from beginning to end, and immediately fell into a brief silence.
"This, this, this... what kind of spiritual energy can achieve that effect?" Kent asked.
Autumn Mountain Yawata pushed up his glasses, concealing his pride behind the lenses, and was about to answer when he heard the main gunner say in a matter-of-fact tone, "I don't know."
"You don't, don't know?"
"I'm not a martial spiritual energy user; I'm just a technical spiritual energy user!" Simon, wearing a helmet, said helplessly while continuing to operate the main gun. "Besides, I've never actually fought spiritual energy users like the Throne, Asura, or Blood Road. When you encounter them, isn't the first choice to run away?"
So, it's still up to me to answer. Yawata thought, just about to speak, when he heard Wien shout, "Meng Jiao?"
Simon claimed to be a technical spiritual energy user, so Meng Jiao was naturally a martial spiritual energy user. This kind of thing could, of course, be asked of him.
Yawata pushed up his glasses, letting out a silent, mournful sigh.
"That's the Heartbreak Thought Sword, an invisible sword of questioning the heart and breaking the soul, condensed by will!" In the communication channel, Meng Jiao's voice sounded a bit strange, a bit heavy, a bit suppressed, but also seemed to contain a hint of joy, even excitement: "I guessed who it was... Captain, we might have made a very big mistake."
"What mistake?"
"Treating a true lion as a cute little cat," Meng Jiao said.
Wien also fell silent.
"Captain, the enemy should be employing boarding tactics! It's only a matter of time! I hope to gain command authority!"
"You are the assault team leader; you already have command of the Marine Corps!"
"No, I mean command of everyone! Once the enemy starts boarding, I need to take over the defense of the entire ship! Zhengqing and William Banner's combat power is very important, as is Simon on the bridge. I need their strength!"
"I'm a technical spiritual energy user!" Simon protested in a low voice.
However, Wien expressed his agreement without the slightest hesitation: "Understood! If the enemy starts boarding, even me, you can use me as cannon fodder!"
After giving this order, he took off his communicator, turned his head, and said in a very low voice to the sullen Autumn Mountain Yawata, "Yawata, think of something! Quickly formulate a B plan!"
At this moment, the atmosphere on the Red Tiger was naturally quite joyful.
"I didn't expect it to actually be useful! Heartbreak Sword, if it were on the ground, I wouldn't be able to attack that far."
Indeed, the distance just now seemed very close, but it was actually an illusion due to being in the vastness of space. In reality, the moment Gongsun Qing unleashed the Heartbreak Thought Sword, causing the opponent to lose consciousness, the distance between them was at least four to five kilometers. If it were truly on the surface, she would have no way of hitting the opponent.
This is normal. In fact, the surface is where there are the most obstacles. Mountains, rocks, water veins, flora and fauna, buildings and air, even the air exhaled by animals and plants, all affect the extension of supernatural powers.
In reality, space is the cleanest battlefield, where power can be best exerted. Many talented spiritual energy users understood this principle early on.
The damage control team had already started working quickly. Although the eldest young master of the Bai family was a physically weak, usually timid handsome young man, when it came to his "professional field," he performed exceptionally, even ferociously, rushing straight into the damaged cabin.
According to the exercise computer's calculations, this cabin had been hit by two rounds of enemy bombing and should have experienced fire, depressurization, and energy leakage. Therefore, the damage control team members entering the cabin had to endure the high temperature and hypoxia simulated by the sensors to advance and complete emergency repairs.
The eldest young master of the Bai family, in such an anti-human environment, wearing a protective suit heavier than his own weight, rushed into the "burning" cabin and actually managed to rescue the backup energy core that was about to be consumed by the fire.
Although the energy core was so scorched that its casing could fry eggs, it was at least not completely scrapped.
Then, Aisen finally arrived, and after a series of what others would consider metaphysical shenanigans, he managed to restart the energy core.
"The Exercise Director's Office has ruled that the repair team's repair action is effective. The energy core has restarted, with efficiency reduced to 94%," the Director's Office computer continued to announce in a monotone voice.
Aisen wiped his sweat and said helplessly, "Captain, I did my best!"
"You did almost perfectly. I'm proud of you!" Yu Lian replied.
The three armies are available! Yu Lian was proud of his crew.
He didn't notice that Zhi Xia and Liu Li, not far from him, were looking at him with eyes approaching reverence. They truly didn't understand how these crew members, who could almost be called geniuses, had come about.
In short, after a short period of preparation, the Red Tiger's shields finally recovered their responsiveness. Yu Lian looked at the Blue Monarch, which was on fire in the distance, and frowned.
"The Exercise Director has ruled that Hong Fang (Red Team) fighters No. 3 and No. 4 have been destroyed. Lock target, exit exercise!"
Li Baolu's attack went relatively smoothly, at least smoother than his own. At least the Exercise Director's Office ruled that significant damage was indeed inflicted on the Blue Monarch's main propulsion engine. However, their losses were also considerable.
Wien's carefully selected elite military academy students, led by the even more elite William Banner, unleashed a far more precise and dense barrage than the Hong Fang (Red Team)'s side.
Deng Zhengqing, wearing a spacesuit, personally exited the hatch and, with several crew members specializing in piloting, manually activated the Thor robots fixed to the outside of the cabin.
These large war machines, which had lost control due to strong photon interference, finally regained their original power, pouring barrages into the sky, sealing all defensive loopholes of the Censor-class.
The Blue Monarch's main propulsion engine was indeed damaged, with power reduced to 45%, but Li Baolu's squadron lost most of its drones and two wingmen in the dense defensive barrage. Even his own lead aircraft was damaged.
"Sorry, Captain, I didn't complete the mission..." Li Baolu said.
"No, you have reason to be proud! The enemy's remaining fighters have returned; I'll leave them to you. The rest, leave to your comrades."
Sure enough, in the end, the battle still had to be ended in the most primitive way! Yu Lian couldn't help but think.
"Begin acceleration, approach the enemy ship! Maximum tactical speed! Reduce shield power, all energy to the main gun, begin charging now!"