280: Chapter 280 The Twelve Titans Set Out to War, The Archangel Descends on Jiangcheng

Nineteen minutes after the purge in the capital ended.

Twelve nodes in the Jiang-Zhe-Hu Region lost contact simultaneously.

The armory at Jiangcheng University caught fire.

The newly rebuilt energy station in Shanghai was broken into.

The guards at the communication tower in Zhe City had just cut into the channel when gunfire drowned out their report.

Liu Qing projected the feeds from the twelve locations onto the main screen of the command room.

The Espers who had infiltrated the guards tore off their uniforms, revealing silver crosses on their chests.

The laborers on the perimeter charged toward the energy pipelines carrying explosive packs, repeating the same sentence over and over.

"The Holy Light will lead us away."

Su Xiaonuan held her tablet, dragging the twelve red dots into the combat zone list.

"Personnel planted by the Covenant Renewal Society."

"The capital has lost contact; they've acted ahead of schedule."

A communications officer stood up.

"Shanghai is requesting reinforcements!"

"Zhe City Node No. 2 has fallen!"

Lin Yuan looked at the B2 monitor.

The twelve titan mechs were still parked in the testing ground.

"Combat test."

"Starting now."

Su Xiaonuan pressed the wartime dispatch button.

[Titan Legion, all units deploy.]

Twelve mechs stepped out of the gates.

Transport planes, heavy trucks, and underground rails were activated simultaneously.

Tank piloted titan no. 1 to Shanghai.

Iron Arm King took shadow protector no. 2 into the underground pipelines of Jiangcheng.

Jiang Yun pushed feilong no. 3, heading straight for the main node in Jiangcheng.

The remaining nine units headed to Zhe City, Shanghai, and the outer perimeter of Jiangcheng.

Before the mechs could arrive, white light lit up at all twelve nodes simultaneously.

Silver crosses were buried beneath walls, pipelines, and roadbeds.

The light intersected along the city streets, forming a force field covering all three locations.

On the outskirts of Jiangcheng, the Zombie Horde stopped in the middle of the road.

A few zombies turned and bit their own kind.

More Mutants slammed into buildings; the commands Lin Motong had left in their minds were cut into disjointed fragments.

Lin Motong sat in the command seat, pressing her teddy bear against her knees.

She divided the million-strong Zombie Horde into three hundred and sixty control zones.

If one zone went out of control, she abandoned it immediately.

The next zone filled the gap.

The Zombie Horde that had stalled at the street corner began to move again, but could only maintain their original front lines.

The clouds were torn open by white light.

Long spears and war swords descended from the sky.

A long spear pierced through a Shanghai artillery position, pinning wheels, steel plates, and the ground together.

A second war sword cleaved the Zhe City communication tower, with half of the tower structure crashing into a residential area.

Casualty numbers climbed on the main screen.

Jiangcheng University.

Chu Feng stood at the entrance of the teaching building, flames advancing outward along the corridor.

The believers who rushed in fell into the fire, the crosses on their bodies still glowing.

A roar echoed over the perimeter wall.

Titan No. 7 smashed through the truck blocking the school gate.

The mech's back was hung with spare joints, drive shafts, circuit boards, and armor plates.

Compared to the high-end mechs in the capital, it lacked heavy weapon compartments, but it could carry vulnerable parts on the vehicle, ready to be swapped out upon disassembly.

The twelve combat zones engaged the enemy one after another.

Tank positioned titan no. 1 in front of the Shanghai artillery formation.

A Holy Light spear descended, piercing the outer armor of the left shoulder.

The mech retreated three steps, its feet sinking into the ground.

"Artillery!"

"Reload!"

He tore off the spear shaft stuck in his shoulder, grabbed a broken artillery mount with his mechanical hand, and blocked the second wave of attacks.

In the underground pipelines, shadow protector no. 2 had its back armor sliced open by a war sword.

Iron Arm King discarded the flight module, making the mech lighter, and rammed into the isolation door along the maintenance tunnel.

"Brother Shadow, stay close to me."

Shadow hugged the wall and entered the breach.

"Get to work first."

The impact hammer of shadow protector no. 2 descended.

The alloy door and the cables behind it were severed simultaneously.

Jiangcheng main node.

Green Lotus Fire spread across the diversion grooves of feilong no. 3.

Spiritual contamination crashed into the wall of fire, only to be swept by Jiang Yun into the power spine, becoming energy to drive the mechanical arms.

Holy Court knights began to besiege the mech's joints.

Titan No. 7's left leg was pierced by a long spear.

The core of unit no. 9 overheated.

The backup battery of shadow protector no. 2 lost power.

Gu Beichen stared at the data.

"Three units will be out of combat within five minutes."

Tang Qiqi bit down on a wrench and dragged open the general core dispatch map.

Energy reserves.

Distance.

Load.

Pilot status.

She rearranged the twelve curves.

"If a mech in the capital breaks a piece, it has to be sent back to the factory to be pampered."

"My mechs? If something breaks, I tear it out."

She seized remote access.

Unit no. 7's left leg lost power, and the remaining energy was diverted to the right leg and mechanical arm.

Unit no. 9 opened its energy compartment.

Frontline soldiers pulled out the core from no. 7 and installed it into unit no. 9.

The injured pilot ejected from the cockpit, and a reserve veteran stepped onto the pedals and fastened the seatbelt.

[General core connected.]

[Titan No. 9, rebooting.]

An A-rank Holy Court knight charged with a sword.

The Holy Light longsword severed the left arm of unit no. 9.

The veteran did not retreat.

He discarded the severed arm, and the right impact hammer finished charging.

A punch.

The light shield in front of the knight shattered into pieces.

The mech raised its knee, pinning the opponent's waist, and pressed the crystal core cannon against the chest armor.

Boom!

The A-rank knight flew out of the node, crashing through two walls.

The guards shouldered ammunition crates and crossed the bunkers.

"Retake the artillery position!"

"The Titans are still standing!"

The live broadcasts in all three locations played this footage simultaneously.

Gu Beichen pressed down on the data sheet for the capital's high-end mechs.

The black gold mechs, weighing several tons, would withdraw from the battlefield if their propulsion modules were damaged.

The Titan in front of him had lost an arm, swapped its core, and changed its pilot, yet it was still advancing.

The twelve units were just the beginning.

Once the production lines were fully operational, dozens or hundreds of mechs would rotate in charges; those few high-end mechs in the capital would be in the way even if they tried to block the path.

Liu Qing pulled up the underground circuits.

"Master, the three main nodes are locked."

The area around the nodes was littered with unconscious people.

Holy Light was drawn from above their heads, passing through relay equipment to construct three channels in the sky.

Iron Arm King smashed the first set of cables.

Tank piloted titan no. 1 to smash through the support pillars in Shanghai.

The three mechs in Zhe City rotated their cores, tearing open the knights' defensive line.

Jiang Yun broke into the Jiangcheng node, Green Lotus Fire engulfing the console.

The three channels lost their peripheral power supply.

However, the Cardinal took a feather from inside his robe.

A Seraph's feather.

The feather burned.

The three channels merged into one above the clouds.

Six wings unfolded.

A platinum figure stepped out of the channel.

A sword, spear, bow, and shield hung behind him.

The Holy Light weapons in all three locations stopped in mid-air.

The global public channel was forcibly taken over.

[Archangel Michael has descended.]

[Judgment upon the blasphemer Lin Yuan.]

[Recovery of the traitorous Saintess Anar.]

Michael did not look at Lin Yuan.

He raised his war sword, pointing it at the second floor of Tiangong No. 1.

"Saintess."

"Return to your place."

Anar's four wings unfolded halfway before stopping behind her back.

The black and red patterns at the roots of her wings were suppressed by the Holy Light.

Her knees hit the floor, but her shoulders and back were still straining upward.

Lin Motong walked up to her.

She placed the teddy bear on the left.

She placed the Barbie doll received at the birthday party on the right.

"Anar."

"Choose for yourself."

Anar looked at the teddy bear's crooked ear.

Her gaze shifted to the doll's new dress.

Finally, it landed outside the window.

Lin Yuan had once stepped on her shoulders and back, descending from above the clouds into Shanghai.

She raised her hand and grabbed the Holy Court mark on her chest.

Skin and flesh were torn open.

The silver emblem left her body and fell onto the floor.

Anar stomped on it.

Crack!

"I will not return."

Her four wings pushed open the protective panel by the window.

Anar ascended into the sky.

The black and red patterns wove through the wing roots, forcing the residual Holy Light deep into the feathers.

Michael took down a war sword from the Heavenly Armory.

His six wings flapped once.

The blade cut through the clouds, striking toward Jiangcheng.

Anar spread her wings horizontally to block the sky above Tiangong No. 1.

The war sword sliced into her wings.

Blood dripped onto the outer wall shield.

Her body sank dozens of meters, but she pushed back up against the blade.

The twelve titan mechs reformed their lines in the three locations.

The guards stepped over the corpses of the rioters, retaking the armories, energy stations, and communication towers.

In the public channel, the order to return was still repeating.

Anar lifted her face.

Her four wings shielded Tiangong No. 1.

"This is my home."

The bow, spear, and shield behind Michael disengaged simultaneously.

Lin Motong looked up at the sky.

In the eyes of the teddy bear she had placed on the table, two points of blood-red light ignited.