Breaching the Zenith

"What? His battlefield?!" Yang Qingbai's abrupt declaration startled most members of the Azure formation, but they quickly reasoned it out: he likely meant that he would spearhead the next breakthrough attempt. In that case... no problem. "Lend full support to Yang's movements. Stuart, stay close... seize your opening." The current situation was already looking bleak. Though they still had three reserve tactical breakthrough formations ready, since Yang had spoken up... they should at least let him try first. Grant issued the order without hesitation. "Once you get me up there, leave immediately. Don't even think about helping, understood?" Han Qingyu's tone to Yang Qingbai was grave and laden with concern. And this was already the third time he had said it. What could Yang Qingbai possibly help with anyway? Probably ramming his craft forward after ejecting him. "Relax, I'm not that stupid," Yang Qingbai said. "This time I'm only taking you to the zenith... Somewhere down the line, I still plan to pilot you straight past this sky." Without realizing it, he had already drawn seven or eight shuttle craft behind him. Beneath a specialized flight suit heavier even than a spacesuit, the corners of Yang Qingbai's lips curved slightly, concealing all his worry. Then, switching back to English, he spoke into the formation channel: "If any of you are wondering about the voice that just came through... yes, he's exactly who you think he is. We have something to discuss with you... Whose craft is carrying an old man right now?" *An old man? Calling the Huaxia Legion Commander an old man...?* Well, Major The Qing was sitting in his craft. The old man's reputation for unreasonable favoritism had grown largely because of him. "Mine," Stuart replied. "Then it's you, Stuart. Listen to me..." Beside Stuart, Chen Buer was suppressing his energy, making no surges to gather strength as he did everything he could to conceal his presence. He had not been patched into the formation channel. Through the direct comms between the two of them, he could hear the foreign kid beside him gasp in surprise several times, seemingly conferring with someone about something. It did not sound like a trivial matter... but Chen Buer couldn't understand the language. *Perhaps they're discussing how to get me up there?* *I'm making things hard for them,* Chen Buer thought. Through the viewing scope, another Azure craft was cornered, struck, and shattered in midair. In such a brief span, only twenty-seven craft remained in the formation. The old man fell silent, closing his eyes for a moment. "If not for this useless body of mine, would it ever come to this...?" At the same time, the hundreds of thousands of Azure soldiers standing on the ground were being consumed by the same sense of helplessness. There was nothing they could do, except whenever a pilot managed to eject, massive swarms of them would sprint toward the descent point, establishing a four-directional perimeter in the desperate hope that the pilot would land safely. If they could, the soldiers wished every Great Spike craft in the sky would dive straight at them instead. But most of the enemy's attention remained pinned on the aerial battle. Some had already joined the encirclement. Others were adjusting their angles, biding their time. "Please let us go, General." The fighter pilot remained behind Xu Xiaohong, weeping and choking back sobs as he pleaded continuously. They were not source energy aircraft pilots, but they were pilots nonetheless—the finest conventional fighter pilots humanity had to offer. "Maybe we'll never get the chance to fly Azure's source energy craft, but I hope more people will have that chance in the future." "I believe that as long as we buy enough time, humanity's aerial forces will grow stronger, until one day they shatter the dome of the sky." "Let us go, General!" Watching the debris raining down from above, he let out a grief-stricken roar. Xu Xiaohong offered no answer, nor did he turn around. A commander could not afford soft-heartedness, yet his clenched fists trembled against the seams of his trousers... He simply could not make this call. In the sky, Daie remained perched high above, looking down upon the battlefield as if admiring a hunt. At the same time, it cautiously probed again and again, trying to sense that presence standing above all humanity. It wasn't Yanxiu. What it was, Daie did not know either. That was precisely what terrified and unsettled Daie. By contrast, the Yanxiu emerging among the humans hardly concerned it, held back as they were by some fatal flaw. Standing in iron armor amid the wrecked battlefield, Rusty Sister tilted her head back. She still hadn't found Yang Qingbai and Han Qingyu's craft—at least not yet. More or less, every human vessel trailed several Great Spike craft behind it. The enemy was simply too fast, and the human craft in the air were predominantly the smallest, nimblest Needlefish-class vessels. *Still, they must have arrived,* Rusty Sister knew. "Do something!" "Let's do something!" Roaring Azure soldiers sprinted past her, shouting, "Even if it's just making noise to distract them!" "Us, and you all!" they yelled toward the crowd. *Just make noise? Then there's probably no better way than hurling curses.* "Fuck!" As the first ordinary resident found the courage to roar into the sky, spewing an expletive... the entire coastline seemed to catch fire, spreading and boiling over. The clamor of millions finally made Daie tilt its head high above, and prompted a portion of the lower-altitude Great Spike craft to hesitate and look back. They had not all joined the fray, because Daie had yet to give the order. Suddenly—*whoosh!* Along the shore, the waves receded three hundred meters. Following a simultaneous, maximum-limit source energy eruption from tens of thousands of people, *shwip! Shwip-shwip-shwip-shwip!* Hundreds of giant dead iron javelins—each propelled by the combined force of over a hundred soldiers—were hurled skyward... *Boom!* The vast majority missed entirely, but the occasional direct hit rang across the heavens. They couldn't help the high-altitude battle, and the giant javelins couldn't reach that high, but they could harass and ambush the low-altitude Great Spike craft... even if it inflicted minimal casualties. And so, the slaughter and the breakthrough attempts raged above, while giant javelins crisscrossed below... Chaos engulfed the entire sky. "Get ready," Yang Qingbai said in a low voice over the formation channel. *Whew...* Stuart turned his head, glanced at Chen Buer, and spoke: "My apologies, Legion Commander." It was Chinese, so Chen Buer understood him. "What?" "Starting now, we are the second attack echelon," Stuart said. Yang Qingbai had convinced Stuart, Grant, and the entire formation—citing Major Qing's illustrious record, his resolution, Chen Buer's physical condition, and the future of humanity... "What do you mean?" Chen Buer was still somewhat confused. "Major Qing intends to strike that blow in your place," Stuart said bluntly. Chen Buer froze. "He..." *Why him? What right does he have... and why would he?* As for why, an answer faintly stirred within him, leaving the old man's heart steeped in pain and self-reproach. "He's aboard another craft. We're currently coordinating a breakthrough to send them up," Stuart said. "No, abort the plan. Immediately." "...I am sorry, Legion Commander." "...Bastard! You dare disobey military orders?!" Chen Buer reached out, gripping his blade. Stuart gritted his teeth, refusing to look at him. "If Major Qing fails... we will exhaust every last man to send you up there." Having said his piece, Stuart clamped his mouth shut. Facing Chen Buer's fury, he focused entirely on piloting his Swordfish-class craft, suddenly banking hard. The vessel traced a sharp arc, quickly emerging off the primary attack vector into a relatively safe position. Then, across the sky... the human source energy craft that had seemed scattered and fleeing suddenly converged into an arrowhead, charging once more toward the zenith. "They're charging!" on the scene. "Look, they're charging!" before television screens. "..." Hundreds of millions of voices. Once again, the human source energy craft mounted a breakthrough, thrusting suddenly toward the zenith, driving straight toward Daie. People on the ground stood on their feet; people before televisions rose from their seats. *Whoosh! Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh...* Once the arrowhead formation pierced the dense cluster of Great Spike craft, the ten-odd Needlefish-class craft at the vanguard blossomed outward like opening petals, tracing arcs upward and away. Whether successful or not, they peeled off the first wave of intercepting Great Spike craft. Then, unveiling the rear of the formation, a Qing Spear burst forward. *Boom!* Piloted by Lieutenant Colonel Meyer, humanity's largest craft—the hundred-man Qing Spear-class—surged with explosive acceleration, plowing straight upward through three shuttle craft... tearing open a breach. Beneath the gap, *whoosh!* Trailing right behind the Qing Spear, a human Needlefish-class source energy craft shot out like an arrow... wrapped in winds dense as solid matter as it punched through the encirclement. "They broke through!" "They broke through... ah!" "No, there are more coming from the side!" One craft, followed by a whole squadron of Great Spike vessels, was bearing down horizontally. "They won't make it up!" Grant's voice came through. "I can make it... I am Stream Vanguard, Yang Qingbai." Little Red slanted upward. Yang Qingbai pulled up horizontally by less than twenty meters, evading the closest shuttle craft before diving back down, executing three consecutive maneuvers with erratic rhythm into maximum acceleration... *Skrrrt!* The tailfin was grazed, sending the craft into violent turbulence. *Crack, crack, crack!* The dead iron hull began to emit the sound of fracturing. At the same time, *shreddd...* the frail black paint coating the hull peeled away entirely in that single moment. A red moth, darting toward the flame, emerged into hazy view. "What is that?" people on the battlefield asked. "Can't see clearly," someone nearby answered. "A moth? The kind that flies into fire!" someone before a television shouted. "...Qingzi!" Below the battlefield, Rusty Sister tilted her head back and murmured. "They're heading up." Aboard a speeding jeep, Wen Jifei lowered his sniper rifle and spoke to Zhe Qiuhong behind the wheel, his voice devoid of inflection. "Could that be Stream Vanguard?!" "Red... maybe it is!" Pressing his back firmly against the seat, Yang Qingbai coughed up mouthful after mouthful of blood beneath his heavy flight suit. Blood splattered across the visor of his helmet, swiftly sliding down the glass. *Whoosh!* In that instant, the craft finally tore completely free of that plane, leaving behind the hundreds of Great Spike craft scattered near and far across it. The hundred-odd closest Great Spike craft below tilted upward in unison, giving chase. Diagonally above stood Daie; in the middle was Little Red; behind followed the swarm of Great Spike shuttle craft. The image was like a single arrow shot forth... pursued by a hundred arrows converging like a contracting conical hat. Yet a gap remained between them. Close. Close enough. That presence was gone; it had seemed to appear, only to move away again. The blue-lit column sword in Daie's hand leveled, poised to strike at the craft... In that split second: *Make sure you come back.* Yang Qingbai slammed the ejection button.