Skyfire Avenue

Kang Hui wasn’t the only one with his mouth open. Lan Qing was just as surprised. Suddenly Poseidon looked like a mecha suit the likes of which the universe had never seen. Even the titanic aliens – which before had been terrifying to look upon – were like worms beside the Group’s flagship. It was easily ten times the size of the largest aliens, enormous even in the backdrop of space!

Especially dazzling was the trident it bore, a sparkling gold weapon that stretched almost its whole length. Soft water bombs could be seen strapped to either side of its chest, and the whole ship radiated with a gentle blue light.

Just being able to change the way it did must have cost Poseidon Group twice what it cost to transform An Lun into a bastion.

Lan Qing, as the highest military commander of the armada, knew that plans for a mecha-style bastion had been proposed before. The benefits of such a creation were obvious, first among them the variable fighting style a human-like body could afford. Deeper study into bionics could improve both its offense and defense.

He knew the mecha proposal had undergone a lot of debate and analysis, but in the end it was deemed impractical. The cost was astronomical, and getting the thing to maintain equilibrium out in space was a significant challenge. A circular construction simply made more sense. Gravity, for example, was easier to manage for a sphere. A planet-like structure was most suitable.

Because it was the path of least resistance, science and technology had kept to those standards. Gravity was far more complicated to control in a human –shaped ship, both technologically and in terms of resources.

In the end nothing concrete came out of the discussions. Even the North, with all their wealth and technology, abandoned the thought. They kept the idea of bionics but went in a different direction.

In this moment, however, Poseidon Group announced to the universe that not only did they complete a transforming bastion, but a mecha-style one. It had the myriad benefits of a traditional spherical bastion, but also a mecha. ‘Shocking’ did not give it justice! Its creation heralded a new era in research and technology.

Now Lan Qing understood why Hua Li had such confidence in the bastion. It was nothing short of extraordinary. He could also appreciate his friend’s secrecy. This was privileged information that gave the Group an upper hand. Mo Xiao wouldn’t have revealed it unless as a last resort.

Poseidon swung its golden trident, sprightly despite its size. A golden light spilled from its tri-pointed head and pierced a group of aliens like a pillar from heaven. With both hands firmly gripping the trident’s shaft it swung the weapon all around whilst its primary and secondary weapons exploded into action. In an instant its offensive capabilities swelled to twice its former levels.

By the time it swung into action, Middle Heaven had also completed its own transformation.

Piercing beams of saffron light spat out in every direction, turning Middle Heaven into blazing hedgehog. Every column of light was like a blade three kilometers long, and they covered the bastion’s surface in a dense and bristling coat. The ship began to rotate.

It started slowly, but before long Middle Heaven was spinning fast as a top. When it seemed like spinning any faster would rip it apart, the warplanet launched into the midst of enemy forces. Aliens began to fall like meat in a grinder as the bastion abandoned the need to maintain distance.

Whether Poseidon or Middle Heaven, both bastions’ fighting styles relied on their overwhelming size. It went without saying that their new tactics drained far more energy than normal. Middle Heaven had the molinite to support it, but only Poseidon’s leaders knew what kept their bastion going. The Group’s history and supremacy were long, their secrets profound. Even now there was much the rest of humanity didn’t know about the secretive organization.

Situations on the battlefield changed as the two bastions tipped their hand. The stalemate that had developed was reversed. Middle Heaven crashed through the alien forces at blinding speed, churning through them like a scythe through dry weeds.

Poseidon crushed its enemies just as easily. The giant copy of Triton pummeled the aliens with its weapon system, but it was the trident that caused the greatest turmoil. Whatever material was used in its construction was a mystery. Though witnesses had seen it’s construction in multiple stages through the transformation, it seemed as sturdy as a single piece. Whatever its golden light passed the aliens were disintegrated. Even the strongest were struck down.

Lan Qing watched his screens as the systems analysis flickered by. All he could learn from the data was that antimatter energy surrounded the transformer-bastion’s weapon. What sort of energy was needed to keep a machine like that operational during a battle?

Changes in the main battle were also influencing matters in another section of space. So far the human Paragons could only describe their situation as hanging on by the skin of their teeth.

Jue Di was actually able to hold his own against three aliens, alternating seamlessly between attack and defense. Although he had lost the upper hand, he was still able to keep his opponents fully engaged. Relying on the versatility and power of his golden staff, he kept the three Infinite-level avatars from harassing the other Paragons.

But circumstances were less favorable for the others.

Lan Jue and Qianlin continued to wage war against three of the aliens. Though they were in a dominating position to start, Lan Jue’s Boundless Starlight Domain was incredibly draining. Even with Qianlin’s help it was exhausting to maintain his Domain at full strength while simultaneously fighting off three Nirvana-level monsters!

As strong as the Harmonious Swords were, their enemies were not run-of-the-mill. Two avatars and a titan, with their Creation-Destruction Domains combined, were the equivalent of a Paragon who’d reached the Infinite. For now both sides refused to give in, but Lan Jue and Qianlin were inferior in cultivation. They were beginning to feel the pressure.

It was a dramatic display. Heterochromatic blasts of lightning filled the blackness of space, glaring off of the Emperor of the North Star’s sow-white robes. The aliens were vortices of purple-black madness that swirled chaotically, eroding the Boundless Starlight Domain. As the Five Lightnings continued to roar and crash, reality collapsed in on itself all around them.

When beings of such total power clashed, technique was less important than force. Besides styles like the Harmonious Swords, which amplified ability, their war was one of direct protogenic superiority.

As exhaustion began to set in, Lan Jue found it increasingly difficult to maintain his dharmic image. Qianlin’s Domain was stretched to its limit, but she had more than just Lan Jue to consider. She was responsible for the breadth of where her power touched and all the Paragons within it. Beneath the mad rage of these monsters, they were only just managing to hold back destruction.

Their one spot of luck was Qianlin’s skills, which allowed Jue Di and Luo Xianni to express the totality of their strength while the aliens had to hold back for fear of universal protogenia. Were it not for the Queen of Heaven, they would have been crushed under the might of the alien avatars and their titans.

Yet the weight on her shoulders was an enormous load to bear, and Qianlin was tiring. Faith from the people she’d saved was how she persevered.

The shifting dynamics of the main battle worried the alien generals. But contrary to Lan Qing’s assumptions they did not move in to support their failing army. On the contrary they fought harder against the Paragons, proving that they saw the Adepts as their greatest threat. Saving their soldiers but leaving the mighty humans alive was pointless.