The torrents of source energy surged unceasingly, blanketing the entire battlefield from ground to sky.
And so, every sound that ought to have been faint and muffled rang out with sharp clarity: the roaring overload of devices, the whistling shrieks of warblades cutting through the air, the thundering tread of charging formations, cries, shouts of slaughter, metal crashing upon metal...
Charge! They had driven right in!
With mortal flesh and blood, without a shred of hesitation, they plunged directly into that hell ruled by a formidable alien race, raising their warblades against an invincible demon god.
In this battle, eighty thousand Azure veterans clashed against roughly ten thousand Great Spikes—including one Puta'er. Over six thousand traditional Azure strike squads launched a battlefield-wide assault, plunging the fight into a chaotic melee in an instant.
Over the past several decades, these old-timers had charged Great Spikes countless times just like this—for missions, for kills, for victory. Yet this time, they could not win.
It was an utter impossibility.
The final stand of the Mars Expeditionary Force was doomed to be an unwinnable fight. In the end, perhaps not a single soul would survive. They knew this better than anyone, yet their resolve remained unshakable as they resolutely chose to ride into battle... no, into death.
They had come to break the encirclement; they had come to tear the battlefield into complete disarray; they had come so that this killing field would have one more, and yet another, human fighting to the bitter end.
They had even come to offer themselves up as targets for Puta'er to strike down.
Through the periscopic viewers of the mothership Doomsday Great Wall, Wen Jifei's eyes were bloodshot as he watched in silence, letting every piercing sound crash into his mind.
The veterans had made their choice, explained it to him, and carried it out without looking back. Wen Jifei had to admit that they were "right"—this was the only possible solution to the stalemate before them.
Right now, humanity still held a massive numerical advantage. As long as absolute pandemonium was unleashed and tens of thousands of indistinguishable humans scattered before Puta'er, the odds of Qingzi and the others "finding life amid chaos" would reappear—and that chance was not small.
"Don't hesitate."
"Go. Bring back mankind's hope."
"It's up to you." Over the communicators, amid the gruesome din of slaughter, the veterans' voices came through.
In truth, today, just moments ago, humanity had almost lost all hope for the future and victory.
Had it not been for that piece of news.
Judging from the crushing combat power displayed by this complete Puta'er, as well as the outcome of Major Qing and Pegmont going all out, the power humanity currently possessed made it virtually impossible to defeat. It was utterly despair-inducing. And within the Great Spike civilization, Puta'er-class entities were very likely not limited to the two humanity had encountered—to say nothing of the even more unimaginable God of War-tier Lord of the Great Spikes, Miwang, looming behind them.
Fortunately, just a few days ago, the Mars Expeditionary Force had secured for humanity the location where the remnant bone lay buried.
This was the final glimmer of hope and opportunity humanity had left—the last chance to turn the tables and defeat Puta'er, defeat Miwang and its ultimate fleet.
The veterans possessed no Yanxiu. The remnant bone was useless to them, but it was useful to Major Qing, useful to Pegmont, useful to Wu Xu, He Tangtang... It was of monumental significance to all the human Super-tier combatants on this battlefield. Once acquired, it could bring about a total metamorphosis and an elevation beyond current imagination.
It could bring brand-new hope for mankind's ultimate victory and survival.
And so, they said:
"Withdraw, Super-tiers."
"Get the hell out of here, you little brats."
"Don't get in the way of my performance."
The sounds of battle drowned out the final curses, admonitions, and urgings.
"But..." There was one final lingering doubt in Wen Jifei's heart, something he could not voice to them: given the current battlefield situation, Wu Xu's trio might not be able to rely solely on the chaos on the ground to shake off the aerial surveillance and tracking. And even if they could pull it off, even if Han Qingyu and the Super-tiers managed to pull out, the airship they boarded would most likely be rammed out of the sky by the Great Spike airship fleet. In the end, they still wouldn't be able to escape.
The airspace over this battlefield belonged to the Great Spikes. Even if the veterans gave their all, they could not help with that.
"Wuuuum..." The drone of airships above the battlefield hummed continuously. Within less than a second after having that thought, Wen Jifei suddenly realized the existence of the solution in the air.
They were already there.
The thirty-odd source energy airships that had taken off in succession from the human positions earlier—they weren't preparing to evacuate. Just as when they had arrived, they had never planned on returning.
Apart from the pilots, those airships most likely carried no one else.
Evidently, the veterans marching to battle and the airship pilots had already discussed the solution to this battlefield impasse beforehand and drawn up a comprehensive plan of action.
At this moment, taking advantage of Puta'er's distraction and confusion, the thirty-odd human source energy airships formed a stepped echelon in midair, their hulls vibrating violently amidst the surging source energy.
They were revving their engines to the absolute limit, letting the energy in the source energy power chambers continuously accumulate, surge, and collide, held under pressure until near bursting, gathering immense momentum poised to strike.
"The seniors have already charged, so here we go too," the young pilots said over the fleet communication channel, trying their best to sound relaxed.
Unlike the veterans, because humanity had only acquired source energy airships in recent years, the expeditionary force's airship pilots were almost all very young.
They weren't like those old bastards, cussing up a storm at the drop of a hat... They were far more polite.
"The seniors aren't going back. Not that many people will be returning, so we won't need that many ships."
"Yeah. When we came, every ship was packed full of people. We drank and sang the whole way, joking and horsing around, listening to so many stories and secrets about all those seniors..."
"Anyway, I'm sure as hell not flying back alone in an empty ship!" a somewhat youthful voice suddenly piped up.
"That's right, everyone. None of us can bring ourselves to fly an empty ship home."
As they spoke—
*Whoosh!*
Amid a sudden, explosive roar, the first human airship launched into attack, darting like an arrow straight toward the Great Spike airship fleet above the battlefield.
Then came a chorus of sonic booms: *Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!*
"Major Qing is in your hands, Major General Yang Qingbai! It has been an honor to share a voyage and a battlefield alongside you!"
During their sprint, a great many airships sequentially executed the same signature tactical shudder. It was both a maneuver to confuse the Great Spike airships and a collective salute and farewell to Yang Qingbai.
For this tactical maneuver was called the "Yang Qingbai Shake."
It had been created by Yang Qingbai. As the sole idol-tier, or rather sovereign-tier, figure in the field of human source energy aviation, Yang Qingbai had invented nearly eighty percent of all advanced source energy aerial combat maneuvers, and had personally instructed almost every young pilot in piloting techniques and maneuvers.
"May the Twin Wings of the Dragon endure forever!"
"May CA117 soar above humanity's vault of heaven for all eternity!"
"Farewell, Instructor."
Before the voices could fade—*Boom!* In the midst of the charge, the first human airship collided with the Great Spike fleet above the battlefield.
Thanks to a tactical maneuver named the "Dragon's Turn" and precise angle calculations, with both bow and stern he took down one and damaged another Great Spike airship in a single stroke.
"Humanity shall prevail!" *Boom!*
"Safe journey home!" *Boom!*
"We will return another day!" *Boom!*
"V-shaped wave—did I do great this time, Instructor?" *Boom!*
"May this planet bind our souls, so that my airship and I can stand guard together, waiting for the day mankind marches on Mars once more, when the Twin Wings of the Dragon lead a mighty armada across this sky again—I will surely return..." *Boom!*
"We will surely return, to escort you and Major Qing!" *Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom...*
Chapter 946