Chapter 542: Ch The Resolve and the madness-2

Capitalizing instantly on the breach, the vanguard Knight-class mechs crashed into the exposed hulls. Wielding immense destructive power, they sheared effortlessly through the light plating and internal bulkheads before delivering lethal strikes straight into the cockpits.

The crippled gunboats convulsed and shattered, carving open a corridor through the defensive line as the Knight-class mechs plunged directly toward the waiting swarm of Star Empire guard mechs.

When the two forces collided head-on, the cold void ignited under their furious exchange.

The Knight mechs weaved seamlessly through the defensive screen, trading hits against their own energy shields to land devastating, critical strikes. It quickly devolved into a brutal, close-quarters melee.

Back-mounted dual autocannons chewed straight through cockpit viewports the instant a decisive blow shattered an enemy’s shield and thin outer plating.In the same fluid motion, a Knight would engage a second guard mech, its high-frequency blades severing mechanical limbs one by one with lethal precision.

Even when cornered two-to-one, three-to-one, or surrounded four-to-one, the Void pilots fought on equal footing. They parried incoming strikes, absorbed grazing blows, and unleashed vicious counter-cleaves against the encircling hostile mechs, systematically eroding their defenses before finishing them with clean, fatal executions.

Step by step, the Celestial Void vanguard ground down the enemy front line, steadily chewing through the Star Guards’ overwhelming numerical advantage.

Yet even amid the slaughter, a few exceptional pilots stood out within the Star Guard’s ranks, their piloting finesse vastly outstripping that of their peers.

Chief among them was a towering machine—a dual-form transformable mech capable of shifting between a humanoid bipedal configuration and a predatory beast mode. It shifted forms continuously, tearing through the flanks of the Void formations like a spectral assassin.

Though strong and blindingly fast, it couldn’t inflict catastrophic, one-hit kills on the reinforced armor of the elite Void units; nonetheless, this lone Star Guard champion managed to tie down five elite Knight mechs simultaneously.

With sweeping swipes of its beast-form claws and synchronized salvos from its back-mounted armaments, it swatted aside coordinated crossfires with disdainful ease. Whatever vector of attack the Void pilots hurled at it, the transforming mech found an immediate, fluid countermeasure.

Worse still were its retaliations. Striking with terrifying speed, its counterattacks gave the five pilots almost zero time to evasively maneuver or break lock. Hit after hit struck home, steadily depleting their critical shield integrity with every brutal exchange.

It wrought even greater destruction in its humanoid configuration. Brandishing a long energy lance, it unleashed devastating strikes that tore into the Void mechs; every direct impact sent violent shockwaves rattling through their frames, carving out massive chunks of energy shielding in single bursts.

[Shield integrity down by 4%. Current shield integrity: 61%.]

One of the five Knight pilots took the brunt of a thrust. Glancing at the flashing warning prompt on his HUD, he gritted his teeth in frustration.

"Dammit!" the pilot snarled over the squadron comms. "Where the hell did a monster like this crawl out from?!"

At the same time, the Star Guard mech—piloted by none other than the Guard Captain—spotted his chance.

"An opening," he muttered.

With a surge of thrusters, he pushed his machine to break out of the encirclement.

"Dammit all! Don’t let him break through!" shouted the second lieutenant leading the five-man team.

She lunged forward to intercept the escaping guard mech, her shoulder-mounted dual cannons roaring to pin him in place. The suppressive burst bought her just enough time to close the distance, planting her mech squarely in his path before launching a heavy, full-force blow.

The Guard Captain saw the strike coming and raised his energy lance in defense. But the kinetic momentum behind the lieutenant’s attack was overwhelming; the impact shunted the captain’s mech backward, sending it skidding into a temporary free fall.

"An opportunity!"

Seeing the enemy off-balance, one of the Void wingmen immediately broke formation, rushing in recklessly to deliver a finishing strike.

"Not good! Fall back!" the second lieutenant roared over the comms, frantically ordering him to disengage.

Inside his cockpit, the Guard Captain smirked. Arresting his backward momentum in an instant, he snapped his thrusters forward and swung his energy lance in a vicious, sweeping counter-slash.

"Oh, shit—!"

Caught completely off guard, the charging pilot jerked his controls, desperately attempting to evade the ambush.

BANG!

He was a fraction of a second too late. The lance slammed violently into the energy barrier guarding the mech’s left arm. The impact sent a massive concussive ripple across the shield, the sheer kinetic shock throwing the entire machine wildly off balance.

"Aaargh!" the pilot cried out as the violent g-force rattled through his cockpit, accompanied by a blaring warning as over ten percent of his shield integrity evaporated in a single blow.

"Watch out, dammit!"

A sharp shout crackled over the comms, finally snapping the shaken pilot back to his senses. He reversed his thrusters without hesitation, backing off just in time.

At that exact moment, a Void mech hurtling in from behind slammed hard into the Guard Captain’s machine, arresting its pursuit and shoving it backward into the void.

Instead of overcommitting to a follow-up melee strike, the Void pilot kept their distance, unleashing a point-blank salvo from their back-mounted dual plasma cannons that enveloped the guard mech in a blistering storm of fire.

"Back off, Moralis," Captain Miller ordered through the tactical net. "Second Lieutenant, everyone—fall back from your current positions. NOW."

The second lieutenant holding the vanguard hesitated, shouting back over the channel, "Captain, no! Give us just a little more time and we can definitely take this bastard down! If we pull back now, he’s going to blitz straight into our second line and har—"

"Listen to your captain, dammit! You heard the order—now MOVE!" Miller roared back.

Miller didn’t waste another second arguing. His mech’s primary thrusters flared, throwing his machine into reverse to open up several kilometers of clearance between himself and the target.

Stunned by the sudden, forceful command, the rest of the five-man team—including the reluctant second lieutenant—disengaged in unison, peeling away from the engagement zone.