Chapter 431: with translation of chapter title

"It really is… a giant…"

The deputy captain spoke with extremely weak breath, soon unable to bear it, his head tilting back as he completely fainted.

If one looked from the deputy captain's previous viewpoint, one could see six Blood Ravens wearing Thor's Hammer Mark VI armor painted mainly dark red with black and parchment-colored accents, but due to personal preference they chose to wear the Mark II helmet (goofy face).

Its left pauldron bore the insignia of the Thutmose Legion, its right pauldron displayed a black raven with wings spread, it carried the battalion's blood-drop insignia, and it held the Astate's most representative boltgun.

Furthermore, following this Blood Raven squad was a fully armed support troop battle company, with each member averaging about 2.3 to 2.4 meters in height.

The Blood Ravens' support troop power armor, while reminiscent of TPS in appearance, is actually thicker and taller upon closer inspection; it is a power armor developed by Umbrella specifically for support troops, with cost, protection, and function compromised, and can be seen as a 'crude version' of the ceramite armor's Herculian II type power armor.

Since Herculian likewise employs a nanometer‑scale 'flowing metal layer' that changes form under specific signals, much like human muscles contracting and relaxing when stimulated, only support troops who have undergone augmentation surgery, or Astate, can operate the Herculian series power armor.

If an ordinary person dons Herculian, the best outcome is being twisted into a pretzel shape and dying instantly, feeling no pain at all.

Of course, the Herculian series' dimensions do not match an Astate's physique and height; put simply, an Astate simply cannot fit inside.

The support troops' standard weapons are large‑caliber laser systems, but for varied combat situations they may also be equipped with large‑caliber pulse, Gauss, and plasma series.

At this time, the support troops were using pulse rifles capable of firing. 50‑caliber rubber bullets, and together with the Blood Ravens they came to this hall.

"Thud, thud."

"Sniff… sniff…"

Amid the heavy thud of magnetic boots, mixed in were the muffled sounds of civilian staff, terrified and panicked, desperately covering their mouths to avoid attracting the notice of the Blood Ravens and support troops.

However, the Blood Ravens and support troops never considered pulling the trigger on the defenseless civilian staff.

Only see a white‑helmeted Blood Raven squad leader glance over the dead or unconscious Secret Service elites, the trembling civilian staff, and the agent who seemed to have lost his mind, using his unique metallic‑toned voice to warn:

"Everyone, I'll say this only once: stay put, or we will use non‑lethal force."

After saying that, the Blood Ravens and support troops split into three groups, each consisting of two Blood Ravens and twenty‑plus support troops, using the helmet's pulse‑scan function to continuously clear out the Secret Service inside the White House.

As for the Blood Raven captain's so‑called 'non‑lethal means,' for an Astate and the support troops they are not deadly. 75‑caliber and. 50‑caliber rubber bullets.

"Haah…"

After the Blood Ravens and support troops vanished from sight, the surviving civilian staff finally drew a deep breath, able to breathe normally again; compared to the biomechanical exoskeleton‑clad, "misshapen monstrosity" reapers, they felt that the recently vanished "giants" were even more oppressive.

Could it be the Uncanny Valley Effect?

The civilian staff didn't know, but they had no courage to rise up in resistance; merely staying sane was already not bad.

After all, they lacked the authority of the president, defense secretary, and senior officials, and were unaware that the Blood Ravens' headquarters and attached UNSC fleet had already completely surrounded Earth 04; to them, they only knew that a group of giants had descended from the sky, while their own elites had no power to fight back against the giants.

Leaving the hall and looking down from high altitude over the White House, and even the most prosperous districts of Washington D. C., one can see that the entire city is shrouded in white mist, with only a few skyscrapers "surviving".

"Whoosh~ whoosh~!"

At this time, many drop pods still break through the atmosphere, screaming as they slam into Washington D. C. inside and out.

On the ground side, it wasn't that there were no anti‑air defenses; rather, while the Blood Ravens cut off Earth 04's communications system, the flagship Furious Prayer's low‑grade AI, following the orders of Captain Miranda Martha, also invaded the military network, destroying all of Earth 04 humanity's defensive and offensive capabilities……

This includes all of the nuclear bombs, hydrogen bombs, and orbital defense grid.

In other words, the present Earth 04 and its humanity, as the White House civilian staff saw, are completely powerless before the Blood Ravens.

And the lunar base that Earth 04 humanity had heavily developed played no role in this defense operation, mainly because the Blood Ravens possessed fold‑jump, warp, and translocation technology, enabling them to bypass the moon entirely and reach low Earth orbit over Earth 04.

Furthermore, Earth 04 humanity's thinking seems somewhat limited; the investment in the orbital defense grid is far less than one percent of that in the lunar base, treating the moon as an 'absolute' line of defense, just like……

Like the Maginot Line, which appears rather ridiculous in the eyes of the Blood Ravens and their allies.

The main universe has heavily deployed electromagnetic cannons on the moon because Luna Base and colonial cities exist there, and the most important part of defending Earth is always low Earth orbit.

For if orbital control is lost, the planet is essentially conquered, just as in past wars losing air superiority means falling into the situation of being "pounded by others".

Now, having completed the encirclement, the Blood Ravens' headquarters and attached UNSC fleet are indeed grinding Earth 04 humanity into the ground?

Continuing to observe Washington D. C. from above, it is easy to see the thick white mist, which comes from the numerous canister‑shaped "smoke grenades" ejected from the drop pods just before they hit the ground.

Actually, the fog permeating the city inside and out consists of tiny, roughly one‑millimeter‑diameter, single‑use robots, likewise controlled by the Furious Prayer's onboard low‑grade AI, to completely block all radio communications, obstruct visual sight, and, if necessary, can self‑destruct or self‑ignite to carry out an early "small‑scale" cleansing effect.

However, in dealing with Earth 04 and its humanity, the Blood Ravens' headquarters did not intend to go all out against their own kin; otherwise, there would be no need to send ground forces for intimidation—just tossing a Nova IV‑type nuclear bomb would suffice.

Conversely, the Blood Ravens' headquarters uses orbital vessels as communication hubs, employing quantum communication for their exchanges, which is completely unaffected by their own weapons' shielding and has no latency of traditional communications.

Immediately following the drop pods' arrival on the ground came transport formations carrying more support troops, marines, and various types of armor.

By this point in the battle, the Earth 04 humanity defending Washington D. C. has essentially lost its extremely slim, nearly nonexistent chance to turn the tide.

And inside the fortress beneath the White House…

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh!"

"Intercept them! Intercept them!"

"My God! What monsters are they?!"

In the corridor leading to the Command Center, intense gunfire erupted, the situation dire.

Yet this dire situation better describes the Secret Service elites who, with their backs to the safety gate, are comfortably resisting and defending.

No matter how brave, loyal, or admirable they make the enemy feel, they are helpless; still under the step‑by‑step crushing of two Blood Ravens and over twenty support troops, every attack method is ineffective,

What makes the Secret Service elites feel even more desperate is that one of the Blood Ravens, white‑helmeted and with a paper‑back copy of "Human Truth" hanging on his right pauldron, need only raise a hand to release a faint, reddish‑pink glow that can knock out many of their low‑resistance comrades.

This is Spiritual Energy that the elites cannot comprehend.

Furthermore, even if a comrade feigned unconsciousness on the ground, hoping to exploit the Blood Ravens' and support troops' inattention to launch a last‑ditch counter‑strike (ambush), the Blood Raven walking at the front, indistinguishable from a humanoid main battle tank, saw through it directly, and so…

"Pop! Pop!" Several shots, a number of. 75‑caliber rubber bullets ejected from the chamber.

"Pfft! Pfft!"

Struck by the powerful rubber bullet, the feigned‑unconscious elite Secret Service member vomited fresh blood, his body sliding over ten meters down the corridor floor, tripping many comrades before finally coming to a stop, then shifting from pretense to an utterly genuine unconsciousness, unknown whether dead or alive.

Waiting for the Blood Ravens and support troops to leisurely advance to the gate, in the corridor there was no longer a single standing Secret Service elite; either they lay motionless, or they clutched their abdomen, chest, and the spots struck by the rubber bullets, painfully struggling.

The firefight between the two sides couldn't even last fifteen seconds; nearly a hundred twenty Secret Service elites all went down, and if the Blood Ravens weren't trying to hold back as much as possible, showing restraint, the battle could have ended in eight seconds, or even five.

Moreover, throughout the entire engagement not a single elite could get into close quarters with the Blood Ravens or support troops.

But fortunately there was none, for if the Blood Ravens and support troops couldn't control their force, a single punch could crush and kill a mere human elite.

After all, the Blood Ravens and support troops had just finished their secondary and primary augmentation surgeries, and their fine‑tuned control of force was still lacking.

At this moment.

"."

The atmosphere inside the Command Center was tense to the extreme; no one dared speak, a pin could be heard falling, and even the sound of breathing could be heard clearly.

Because the clamor of the fierce battle outside the gate had ceased, it meant that the elite special forces had been completely annihilated.

As for the elite achieving victory? No one even imagined it.

They knew a "giant" was attacking and that the "giant" possessed a personal shield, but because the surveillance camera system had been lost, even phones and cameras were useless, leaving everyone in the Command Center unable to glimpse the giant's full form, forced to try to understand from fragmented remarks.

And the unknown is often the most terrifying existence.

Buzz~! Buzz!! Boom!!

Suddenly, the noise of the gate being rapidly cut by a chain reverberated throughout the Command Center.

!!

The commotion instantly made everyone's heart rise to their throats; the civilian soldiers, unarmed and with almost no combat capability, hurriedly fell back.

"Retreat! Retreat!"

A dozen or so agents in suits, armed with pistols and responsible for close protection of the President, also ordered the civilian soldiers to fall back so as not to block their view.

With a look of resignation, the nearly defeated female President Lanfu De, gazing at the temporarily unmoving gate, asked the Defense Minister standing before her, also brandishing a pistol:

"How long can this gate hold?"

"Our facility is nuclear‑proof, sir; in theory it is impervious to any cutting tool…"

The Defense Minister stared intently at the gate, unwilling to let his guard down as he explained; although his words were affirmative, his tone seemed uncertain.

Mainly because the opponent could dismantle everything with lightning speed, could it not also tear down a mere nuclear‑proof gate?

Buzz~! Zzz! Zzz!!

As soon as the minister finished speaking, the head of the Chain Sword pierced the so‑called nuclear‑proof gate; the rapidly rotating chain violently scraped the gate, emitting dazzling sparks and a sharp, piercing noise that made everyone frown and feel ear discomfort.

Next, the Chain Sword, like a blade cutting through paper, easily swept downward, its trajectory aiming to carve a "mouth" character, an equilateral shape 3.5 meters on each side, in the center of the closed gate.

Witnessing this, everyone fell into complete despair, for if the opponent's chain saw could breach a nuclear‑proof gate, what could they possibly bring to meet it head‑on??

In fact, if Lanfu De and the others learned that the Chain Sword, with its disassembly stance, is standard issue for the legion's reserve Astate, they might collapse outright.

Before long, a "mouth" character appeared before everyone.

Then, with a "Bang!!" sound, a Blood Crow kicked the "mouth" open.

Moreover, as he kicked it open, the Blood Crow and his brother surged into the Command Center first, locking the barrels of their explosive arrows onto the Secret Service agents who had not yet reacted—who seemed slower than slow motion to them—and pulled the triggers without hesitation…

"Bang! Bang!"

"Pop! Pop!"

In an instant, all the armed Secret Service agents were blown away by. 75 cal rubber bullets, and the Defense Minister standing before Lanfu De was treated the same way.

After the brief one‑sided crushing skirmish ended, control of the Command Center fell entirely into the hands of the Blood Crows, and one of the Blood Crows approached the bewildered, fear‑holding, kneeling‑impulse Lanfu De.

He stopped as he approached.

The Blood Crow removed his helmet, revealing his youthful face with short dark‑red hair.

??!!

At the moment they saw the Blood Crow's true appearance, all the survivors, including Lanfu De, were stunned; they had never expected that the "giant" inside the powered armor was actually human.

Sensing the surrounding emotions, the Blood Crow wanted exactly this effect, and, looking down at Lanfu De, said in a deep voice:

"Madam, I represent our Blood Crow battalion; on behalf of you and your country I choose the second option, which means that from this moment you are no longer the so‑called President, and this Earth no longer has any so‑called national divisions."

"By the way, please cooperate with our subsequent actions. If a first warning fails, we will employ non‑lethal force; a second warning will be met with lethal means to ensure deterrence."

Saying that, the Blood Crow scanned the assembled crowd and continued: "Please all remember this."

———————

…

Meanwhile.

In the core world of Never‑Defeated, on the first‑floor lobby of an office building, Sui Bian, dressed in a white short‑sleeve shirt, black trousers and casual shoes, sat on the lobby sofa watching a holographic screen displayed by the White Queen that showed various data, and couldn't help to mutter to himself:

'Oh? It really is Independence Day, hmm… not worth sending the kids there, looks like we'll have to re‑choose.'

(End of Chapter)