Chapter 552: Ch the battle -3

Before Cade could even steady himself, several more warning alarms rang out.

"W-What? What the hell?!" he stammered with great difficulty.

But before he could make sense of what had happened, a series of sharp sounds rang out.

CLANG! CLANG! SWISH!

A sword pierced straight through the Bull Axe from behind, slicing through its armor and cutting Cade in half along with it.

Just like that, the leader of the notorious Red Bull Gang was dead.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the battlefield, Lieutenants Baku and Patrick had successfully flanked the Red Bull Gang from the left and right, respectively. Their four mech squads, two on each flank, had taken cover behind the very asteroids the pirate ships were using for protection.

Seizing the opportunity, Lieutenants Baku and Patrick personally led their respective mech squadrons into battle.

Lieutenant Baku was the first to make a move. Launching a surprise attack, he swiftly approached a group of four mechs patrolling the outer perimeter. Acting alongside three other members of his squad, he raised his spear and thrust it straight toward the leading enemy mech.

The other three pilots weren’t far behind. They immediately followed up with their own attacks, swinging their swords and blades at the remaining targets.

SWISH! BANG! PEWWW!

All four attacks struck their targets almost simultaneously, with Baku dropping out of stealth and appearing right in front of a pirate mech. Igniting his mech’s Aether Spear, a flash of cerulean light lit up the spearhead as it pierced through the vacuum.

"Wh-What the—?!"

Before the leading pirate mech pilot could even register Baku’s sudden appearance and react, Baku’s Aether Spear tore through the energy shields of the pirate’s Tier-3 mech and punched clean through its reinforced armor and cockpit. The spearhead pierced straight through the pirate, instantly vaporizing its body into nothingness.

Behind Baku, three of his squadron’s mechs struck with lethal force as well. One lunged at a pirate mech with an Aether Sword, and as the blade cleaved through the vacuum, it tore through the pirate mech’s shields and cleaved it in two, along with its pilot.

The other two allied units unleashed Aether Blade attacks, slicing the remaining two pirate mechs into two pieces as well.

It was silent, but brutal.

"Everyone, follow me! Charge in and take down the mechs guarding the pirates’ fleet perimeter first! Do it quickly!" Lieutenant Baku ordered as he rushed toward another target ahead.

"Second Lieutenant Chase and all units, be ready to engage the pirate ships!"

Meanwhile, on the opposite flank, Lieutenant Patrick was carrying out almost exactly the same strategy , carving trhough his flank with identical precision.

Lieutenant Patrick piloted his mech, a heavy Aether Blade equipped on one hand. Moving through the asteroid belt, he targeted a pair of pirate mechs positioned around a massive asteroid.

The asteroid blocked both their field of view and that of the pirate fleet. Knowing that even if he made a major move, it wouldn’t immediately raise the alarm across the pirate fleet, he took aim with his back-mounted Supercharged Plasma Cannon and fired a highly charged plasma shell.

Crack! Crack! Boom!

The twin highly charged plasma shells struck the two pirate mechs, blasting through their energy shields and vaporizing much of the armor covering their chest sections. The tremendous impact sent both mechs sliding backward uncontrollably.

Before the still-alive but severely injured pirates could even regain control of their machines, Patrick had already arrived. Swinging his heavy Aether Blade in a savage downward arc, he bisected the first mech, cleaving straight through its cockpit.

Following through with the same brutal motion, he struck the second mech and cut it in two as well.

Just like that, several moments passed. By then, more than twenty Red Bull Gang mechs had been eliminated across both flanks. Lieutenant Baku and his squadron had taken down twelve of them, while Patrick and his team had dealt with the rest.

At this point, no matter how carefully they tried to eliminate their targets, it was becoming impossible for Colt not to notice the missing mechs on his side.

"Mech Teams 04, 06, 07, and 12, move to..." Colt began, issuing orders to redirect the mech teams and adjust their search areas.

"Oh, shit!" he suddenly shouted.

The signatures of Teams 04, 06, 07, and 12 had completely disappeared from the radar. They hadn’t merely moved out of position. Their signals had been erased entirely.

Colt knew exactly what that could mean.

"Mech Teams 01, 02, and 03, move to Team 04’s location immediately! Teams 05, 08, and 09, head toward the locations of Teams 06 and 07! The remaining teams, move toward Team 12’s position right freaking now!"

"Why was nothing detected?! Damn it, Colt!" the vice leader roared, his veins bulging across his head and neck. "What the hell are Rork, Stagg, and the others doing, for heaven’s sake?! They haven’t made a single move, nor have they shown any reaction! Fucking fools!!"

"V-Vice Leader, nothing was detected on the active radar! There was no movement at all! I-It’s as if they were taken out all at once by an overwhelming force!" Colt hurriedly explained.

Whatever Colt’s explanation, hearing it only fueled the vice leader’s fury even further.

"Whatever! Destroyers Two and Three, Frigates One and Two, reorient your broadsides toward Sectors Four and Seven! Focus all sensor arrays and weapon systems on those sectors! If your sensors detect even the tiniest fluctuation, fire and take it out! If you can’t see the enemy, then bombard the hell out of those asteroid belts! Destroy them all for me!!"

He paused for a moment before issuing another order.

"The rest of you, pay attention to the main battlefield! If the leader needs support, give it to him immediately!"

Following his orders, the two destroyers and two frigates rumbled as their massive thrusters roared to life. Their enormous hulls gradually turned, bringing their broadsides to bear on the designated sectors.

Rumble! Rumble!

The massive warships vibrated ...