Chapter 374

Whoosh! The sword blade turned into a lingering afterimage.

Sartu quickly dodged to the left, barely avoiding Abaddon's strike, and in the moment of dodging, Sartu immediately picked up the fallen shield, then sprinted quickly, and also picked up the powered war spear he had thrown away at the start.

Immediately after, Sartu swiftly turned, assuming their legion's unique shield-and-spear stance, both offensive and defensive, his eyes fixed on Abaddon, whose expression revealed undisguised delight and exhilaration.

At this moment, his gaze involuntarily flicked to the brothers lying or prone on the ground; although already dead, their hemostatic function was still "operating," allowing only a trickle of blood to seep into the fine sand.

Abaddon is stronger than them—no doubt about it; otherwise the other three squads wouldn't have been utterly annihilated—but Sartu never expected Abaddon to be stronger by such a margin, a world of difference.

Know that he, together with his thirty fallen brothers, would have a good chance of winning even if they jointly besieged a father's guard; in other words, Abaddon is on par with a guard, or even somewhat stronger than an ordinary guard.

"Brother!" Abaddon exclaimed, slightly frenzied: "You actually managed to withstand four of my moves! That's fantastic! Join us! Join our Black Warband! You will surely be favored by the New Human Emperor! And even more so by the gods!!"

"Gods? Gods don't deserve it!" Sartu angrily replied, then launched a charge at breakneck speed.

Next came another clash of titans, afterimages colliding; the battle was fierce, so much so that the traitor "Astate" in the stands fell silent, watching intently, trying to discern the movements of "their" commander versus the "imposter" (Sartu).

Zizzle!

Finally, a sound rang out—the neck being severed by a high-energy stance—especially loud in the nearly silent arena.

At this moment, in the center of the arena, Abaddon and Sartu stood about ten meters apart, backs to each other, motionless.

But Sartu's neck bore a clear "red line"; soon his head shifted laterally, then completely detached from his body and fell onto the fine sand with a dull "thud."

As for Abaddon, only the outer plating of his right forearm showed noticeable damage, leaving a wound that had already stopped bleeding.

This time Chaos won.

"Hahaha! The imposter is indeed an imposter!"

"Always victorious in a hundred battles!!"

Seeing "their" commander win yet another duel, the traitors could not hold back their cheers; moreover, this life-and-death duel also brought pleasure and satisfaction to "their" minds and bodies, and the Chaos power likewise grew.

Abaddon also timely raised his right-hand sword, matching the cheers of his subordinates, and wore a look of disdain and contempt as he loudly declared: "Brothers! You all saw it! The top strength of those imposters is nothing more than this, not to be feared! Surely their OriginalBody is the same!"

And our father! The great human warlord! The emperor of the New Human Empire will surely behead that false emperor who claims to be the OriginalBody and father of the Astate!

So!

Cheer! Celebrate! The world beneath our feet, named Dianka, will fall under the domain of our New Human Empire!

For the gods! For the warlord!

"For the gods! For the warlord!"

The atmosphere on the spot instantly surged to a peak under Abaddon's superb speech; thereafter, the eager, battle-ready traitors left their seats one after another, preparing to fully arm themselves and board drop pods to Dianka for a massive slaughter, for once Dianka is completely turned into the New Human Empire's territory, they will no longer be able to freely slaughter the empire's citizens.

After all the traitors had left the arena, Abaddon finally lowered his raised right hand, sheathed his long sword at his waist, and slowly walked over to the already separated corpse of Sartu, his eyes hinting at regret as he muttered to himself: "Why bother? Brother, wouldn't it be better to fight side by side? Sigh..."

At that very moment, all the arena gates slowly rose, allowing a group of traitors wearing special ceramic steel armor, with numerous "secondary eye" monitors on their helmets, and arms bearing variously sized "needles" and "injectors," to enter the sand-covered arena to begin processing and collecting the corpses of Sparta and Sartu.

It looks like this group are the traitors' "apothecaries."

Among Umbrella's ten legions, the position of "apothecary" also exists, but their numbers are few; under normal circumstances they are hardly ever seen, because in past wars and campaigns, the Astate suffered heavy casualties only during the devastation of the interspatial storm, while otherwise they swept through unscathed.

Seeing the two apothecaries having finished processing Sartu's head and body, Abaddon suddenly said: "Try to extract their gene-seed while also attempting to clone them."

"Yes." The two apothecaries replied respectfully.

After giving the order, Abaddon satisfiedly nodded, then turned and left the arena for the ship's bridge.

Not long after, he arrived at the equally dimly lit bridge, where many crewmen with twisted faces and severely deformed bodies sat at their stations, and moreover "their" occiput and spine were connected by varying thicknesses of organic link devices resembling blood vessels, which in turn controlled the entire warship.

Looking solely at the bridge's electronic devices, control consoles, fire control, etc., the technology always seems "backward," or gives a feeling of mismatched scale with the warship, yet it operates smoothly nonetheless.

My lord (MyLord)...

Upon noticing Abaddon's arrival at the bridge, all the crewmen belonging to the "mortal" rank spoke in hoarse voices and performed kneeling salutations with utmost reverence.

But Abaddon paid no heed to these crewmen; he simply proceeded straight to the porthole and gazed out at the scenery beyond.

All he saw was Dianka with its azure seas, verdant forests, and golden lands, centered in the porthole's view, and within Dianka's gravitational sphere, a fierce naval battle continued to unfold.

However, Dianka's defending fleet is now down to just twenty-five battleships, destroyers, and escort ships barely holding on.

As for the ground…

Its original breathtaking scenery is also being eroded by war and Chaos power.

At this moment, Abaddon extended his left hand, equipped with a five-blade power claw, toward Dianka, made an awkward fist, his expression once again frenzied, and ordered the crew: "Notify all departments, at any cost, to seize Dianka in the shortest possible time! She must be under our control! Must!"

"Yes… My Lord…"

———————

…

The ground situation on Dianka is no more optimistic than the naval battle.

After all, the total number of Spartans and reserves is only about two thousand, which is more than enough to defend against various alien forces of the main universe, even plunderers and the Arachi insect civilization.

Yet two thousand against nearly thirty thousand Chaos Astate and hundreds of millions of Chaos auxiliary forces shows a clear insufficiency.

However, the metropolitan area and its spaceport remain relatively calm; civilian liners and freighters are orderly ascending to altitudes around three kilometers, first using the latest fold‑escape flight to flee to the system's outskirts, then employing jump travel to the nearest colony star system that possesses a star gate to complete the evacuation.

The reason the metropolitan area is relatively stable is that a figure nearly five hundred meters tall, radiating a dazzling red light like an ancient Greek goddess's spiritual energy colossus, stands in the center of Metropolitan District 01, maintaining a massive defensive barrier.

With the defensive barrier in place, the traitors calling themselves the "Black Warband" who run rampant in the metropolitan area lose air superiority and further support, while Dianka's ground forces can leverage their firepower and equipment advantage to launch a swift sweep.

As for the source of the spiritual energy colossus and the defensive barrier, it is the "woman" who recently helped Mike's family; at present, "she" is located on the main thoroughfare of Metropolitan District 01, inside the makeshift command center set up by the Sparta 16th Battalion.

"Madam." A Spartan with his helmet open, wearing terminator power armor, tried to squeeze a smile onto his weathered face but could barely manage it, so he kept a stern expression and said solemnly:

"I represent the fallen Battalion Commander Dmitrius, and on behalf of all humanity of Dianka, I express my sincere gratitude and respect, thanking you for lending aid in this perilous time."

"Don't say that, child." The woman standing before this Spartan lightly shook her head, then glanced over the entire command center, seeing the soldiers busy to the point of being overwhelmed, racing against time, she lifted her head again to meet his gaze and said somewhat apologetically:

"If I had acted earlier, things would not have come to this pass, and so many children would not have died in vain."

This Spartan, wearing terminator armor but with his helmet unfastened, is the company commander who led the main force of the 16th Battalion in an airdrop onto Dianka, responsible for directing the ground forces against Chaos.

After losing all contact with Battalion Commander Sartu Dmitrius, the company commander, following precedent, judged the battalion commander dead and took over command of both ground and orbital forces.

And the woman standing before the company commander, just as she told Mike's father, is the goddess most skilled in magic among the gods, who once governed marriage and childbirth—the Olympian queen Hera.

Initially, Umbrella covertly mobilized manpower and material resources, even having the red and white queens conduct multiple comprehensive searches, yet found no trace of Hera; now this goddess has actually chosen to reveal herself openly, which truly leaves one somewhat bewildered.

In fact, Hera has already lived in the border fortress star region for over a hundred and forty years, and she has long had the idea of actively revealing herself and exposing her whereabouts, but she has simply not found the right moment.

Now?

Now we have no choice but to take action, and moreover we can save even more humans.

After Hera finished speaking, she again tried to ask the company commander: 'Child, do you know when your reinforcements will arrive? Also, who is leading the reinforcements?'

'This isn't really a secret; the reinforcements have already been arriving one after another at the hub star system only sixteen light-years from us, and they are currently undergoing the final leg of their jump voyage, so they should arrive soon.'

'By then…' the company commander, while helping Hera understand, deliberately raised his voice, opened the all-frequency comm, and loudly rallied: 'Our OriginalBody will lead the main force of the Sparta Corps to destroy, annihilate, and trample all traitors who have willingly fallen, who would rather be bewitched by evil gods and abandon their own honor and faith!!'

Ah—!!

The auxiliary forces inside the Command Center, as well as the ground units on the comms, all used the Sparta Corps' unique battle cry to vent their long-repressed emotions.

The fact that reinforcements are imminent is indeed not much of a secret; moreover, Artemis, Hephestus, Hades, and Persephone from the Greek pantheon are already 'senior staff' of Umbrella, and with Hera's timely assistance in helping them resist the traitors' assault, the company commander and the soldiers thus hold her in high regard.

'The Sparta Corps' OriginalBody…'

However, Hera had no mind to release her Spiritual Perception on the company commander and the soldiers to gauge what they thought of her; instead, she stared blankly, murmuring to herself: 'It is John, wielding the spear of fear, clad in a fiery cape, and equipped with the war god's armor…'

John…

Just as Hera inexplicably fell into a stupor, the sun-facing side of Dianka's gravitational range suddenly unfolded three thousand jump exits of various sizes, and an equal number of warships, matching the jump entrances, began to depart one by one from the Rift Space.

Moreover, among these over three thousand warships, there are Titan-class carriers nearly thirty kilometers large, and as small as one-kilometer Steadfast-class; judging by specifications alone they completely outclass the rebels, but in numbers they are slightly lacking.

However, the moment a 'planet' with a diameter of two hundred and sixty kilometers departed the Rift Space and became the core of the three thousand warships, the situation completely turned into an overwhelming crush of the rebels.

This is the fleet group assembled from the border fortress star region's 'idle' fleets, and that 'planet' is the Sparta Corps' homeworld, the Leodani.

The Sparta Corps fleet, upon leaving the Rift Space, formed a line, with the bows of all frigates, destroyers, cruisers, and battleships flashing the bright blue light of charging electromagnetic cannons.

The Leodani, meanwhile, deployed metal gates at its north and south poles, releasing nearly a hundred silver 'metal pillars' each about a kilometer long, and these pillars, positioned at the Leodani's equator, formed a large pentagonal matrix.

Ree—!!

Whoosh—!!

Electromagnetic cannon shells, plasma cannon batteries, and the administrator civilization's tracking-type 'star' beams instantly covered the rebels' fleet.

Boom—! Boom——! Boom——!

In an instant, the simultaneous volley of gunfire brought a dazzling 'fireworks show' to the Dianka sector.

Next, the Sparta Corps warship fleet continued its advance, especially the Leodani, which inherited administrator technology and was completely an overwhelming presence against the rebels.

Soon, the rebels could not withstand the pressure and ultimately collapsed and fled.

However, the flagship that had Abaddon stationed aboard was, from the outset, targeted by the Sparta Corps fleet and captured by the restraining field released from the Leodani; neither the ship itself nor the rebels aboard could escape, and they were drawn by the field to the Leodani's equator to await 'judgment'.

Because the commander of the 16th Battalion, Sartu, was one of OriginalBody John's beloved aides.

(End of Chapter)