Chapter 22: Lightning Storm
On the other side of the land, an army composed of Soul Puppets was advancing in silent march.
This was an army that ordinary people could scarcely imagine.
Every single member was a towering puppet over two meters tall, fully armed. The heavy footsteps of steel were enough to stir up dust on the ground and send plumes of smoke rising into the sky. Over three thousand assault machines, equipped with inert heavy armor and standing like iron towers, served as the vanguard. Their right hands wielded massive scythes, spike hammers, and chain saws that normal humans could hardly use, while their left hands were uniformly fitted with a heavy shield as large as a door panel. The thick alloy, forged using the most advanced techniques, was sufficient to block the vast majority of superhuman and physical attacks.
Behind these assault-type puppets were twice as many suppression-type puppets. Though their armor was relatively lighter, they were equipped with a variety of specialized armaments. They carried all sorts of ray generators, as well as physical javelins and firearms for long-range throwing and shooting, along with targeted 'energy field generators.' If the armaments carried by these puppets were to be unleashed simultaneously, they would be enough to instantly annihilate a large-scale legion from the era of ordinary humans. Not to mention the energy shields formed by the resonance of the field generators, which could withstand the fierce assault of multiple powerful superhumans.
This was the ultimate measure devised by the Soul Puppets against the Siberia resistance forces that had been raiding their territories: the 'Hunter Army.' A group of killing machines armed from head to toe, the vast majority of superhumans could only flee in panic at the sight of them, with no room to even strike back.
But contrary to what War Chariot and the others had imagined, this Hunter army was not the one they had painstakingly lured away. That familiar Hunter army was, as usual, circling the northern part of the continent and wouldn't return for about three months. This one, however, was a completely new force.
The production capacity of the Soul Puppets far exceeded the fleeing superhumans' imagination. They held nearly all the resources of this world. If one army wasn't enough to wipe out their enemies, they would create a second. If the second wasn't enough, they wouldn't mind creating a third, a fourth, or even a fifth.
They didn't care.
"High-intensity superhuman energy field reaction detected. Four fleeing superhumans detected to the left front."
"Dispatching the Third Squad for cleanup operations."
Amidst the silent military formation of the Soul Puppets, incredibly complex electromagnetic signals mixed with soul fluctuations were transmitted back and forth. Centered on several specially shaped 'abnormal' puppets hidden within the army, the Hunter army methodically dispatched a squad, charging towards a nearby plantation that had been judged as 'captured' some time ago.
A few scattered superhumans. The Soul Puppets would neither underestimate them nor be careless. According to the program algorithms in their soul cores, they determined that an elite suppression squad was the reasonable number to suppress those superhumans without weakening the main force. The core puppet at the center of the army, responsible for relaying information and commanding the troops, continued forward with the army, racing towards the predetermined target: the 'main base' of the fleeing superhumans.
But not long after, the core puppet responsible for relaying information paused slightly. Its soul core almost simultaneously received dozens of urgent messages in rapid succession.
"Unit Tbeta-8453, signal lost."
"Unit Tbeta-8457, signal lost."
"Unit Tbeta-8459..."
"Unit..."
"Third Squad completely annihilated. Unit designation canceled. Annihilation time confirmed... confirmed as 1 second. Searching database... Match successful. Enemy is a First Energy Level High-Rank Superhuman!"
A data waterfall, seemingly endless, flowed through the observation window of the core puppet. Light flickered in its eyes as it rapidly processed the information. A few seconds later, the puppet had already made its decision: "Confirmed as First Energy Level High-Rank Ability User. According to the Purge Protocol, the Hunter army's target is being redirected."
"All units, prepare."
On the desolate plain, the vast steel army, which had been charging with earth-shaking momentum, came to an abrupt halt. From extreme motion to extreme stillness, the dense rectangular formation instantly dispersed into a scattered yet orderly fish-scale pattern. The next moment, the entire steel army executed a 180-degree turn and then charged anew towards its target—the enemy worthy of elimination.
Meanwhile, in front of the plantation wall, the stunned War Chariot blinked. His incredulous gaze shifted as he tried to see clearly what had just happened. But all that entered his field of vision were the remnants of the suppression squad, already beginning to scatter in the wind... 'Remnants' was perhaps too generous a term; it was more like dust. A fine silver mist fell to the ground, turning into tiny grains of iron sand.
What had just happened? The old man had barely seen anything. He had only noticed the Hunter army in the distance dispatch a squad to eliminate them. At that moment, War Chariot had almost given up on calling Joshua to escape together and was planning to slip away with Invisible and Explosion... But then, everything that followed completely exceeded his imagination.
The ferocious heavy puppets, equipped with inert metal, advanced with earth-shaking steps. These were troublesome enemies that the old man, even in his full-power form, would find difficult to destroy quickly. And over twenty such enemies had come at once, followed by twice as many long-range attackers. Such numbers were a death sentence for ordinary superhumans. Most superhumans, even if they exhausted their energy, would have absolutely no chance of defeating these highly targeted foes.
But against such a formidable enemy... the towering puppet floating in the sky merely clenched its fist slightly, causing a burst of silver light to erupt from the rotating steel ring behind it, and the incoming enemies were completely annihilated, turned to ashes.
What kind of ability was this? War Chariot had never seen anything like it. He hadn't even had time to see clearly before the enemies had completely disappeared, leaving not a trace of wreckage. He looked up in fear at the figure floating in the sky, but soon noticed that the giant puppet and the black-haired boy on its shoulder were rapidly ascending. They had already reached an altitude of over a kilometer and were still climbing rapidly. The old man was stunned for a moment, then suddenly thought of something and looked down at the ground.
Instantly, War Chariot gasped sharply. He couldn't help but take a few steps back, nearly falling to the ground.
In the distance, the puppets marched. The 'thunder' that shook the earth grew louder and louder. A silver steel storm cloud was charging towards the plantation with an extremely determined and exaggerated speed. A gale howled. A layer of semicircular, cyan energy shields could be seen rising from within the puppet army's formation. They merged and resonated with each other, finally forming a seemingly solid, translucent force field shield.
Watching this scene, War Chariot couldn't help but recall the final decisive battle against the puppet army ten years ago... In a valley basin in the western part of the Siberia continent, over seventy powerful superhumans had led their teams and faced the Hunter army head-on in the complex terrain of the mountainous region. Back then, it seemed the same. A silver storm cloud surged across the ground. Unseen cyan energy shields rose up, withstanding the relentless bombardment of countless superpowers. The heavy puppets, equipped with inert armor and almost ignoring low-level superpowers, broke through the lines amidst everyone's shock, swinging their ferocious weapons and starting a massacre.
Since then, the resistance forces had never again engaged the Hunter army in a direct confrontation.
Is he going to flee... That's fine too. Such a powerful ability user shouldn't die in a situation like this. By now, War Chariot could no longer see Joshua's figure. The murky high altitude was shrouded in dust. Even the most advanced optical instruments couldn't penetrate this density of dust and fog, let alone the naked human eye.
But just as the old man, feeling a mix of relief and disappointment, was being dragged away by Invisible and Explosion, a continuous roll of thunder suddenly came from the murky heights of the sky.
Not only War Chariot, but even the two superhumans who were urgently trying to flee and hide couldn't help but look up, staring at the invisible high altitude.
And not far away, the core puppet, which was advancing rapidly with the main army, also raised its head. Its observation lens focused, and it too stared at the high altitude.
Then, they saw it. From the high sky, which should have been forever obscured by countless dust and sand, a layer upon layer of profound, dark, cold, and damp aura suddenly emerged. The humid air spread rapidly. In an instant, the surrounding world seemed to change its appearance, as if being dragged into another dimension.
"Is this... an illusion?"
Shaking off the arms of the two people beside him who had also stopped, War Chariot looked up. In his eyes, dense black spots suddenly appeared in the sky, covering almost the entire heavens.
Tens of thousands of water vapor clusters appeared out of nowhere in the dry high altitude, then expanded into clouds amidst the roar of thunder.
A violent gale suddenly surged. The gloomy, suffocating black clouds spread across the high altitude like ink dripping into water. In just a few moments, they covered most of the sky. Nearly infinite water vapor rolled and accumulated in the gale. They spread rapidly, covering all the sky within sight, and then swallowed the setting sun that was gradually descending!
The world was plunged into darkness. Then, as the tall figure standing amidst the thunder and dark clouds in the high altitude raised his right hand, a power that words could not describe burst forth from the rotating disc behind the puppet. At this moment, the silver gem dimmed, and the cyan gem lit up. His right hand fell heavily, and then the sky flashed with lightning and roared with thunder, and a torrential downpour poured down!
*Pata.*
A dirty water droplet landed on the glass lens of the core puppet's observation device. The wiper swept across, ensuring the clarity of the observation surface.
But after the first droplet fell, an endless downpour followed, accompanied by lightning and thunder. A gloomy aura spread. Rainwater, mixed with dust from the air, came from nowhere and covered the entire land, washing the heavens and the earth, soaking and enveloping everything within itself. The rainwater turned the ground into mud. Countless surfaces that could have been traversed turned into swamps. The majestic puppet army immediately stalled. The overly heavy assault puppets mostly sank into the mud, barely able to move.
According to the plantation's weather forecast, the next rainfall should have been thirteen days later.
Amidst the chaotic puppet army, a stream of information flashed through the soul core of the core puppet. It had never encountered such a situation. Even the machine felt a sense of confusion: "The weather has changed. Why?"
"It can't be a superpower... How could a superpower change the weather?!"
On the ground, War Chariot, Invisible, and Explosion—the three superhumans of the resistance—were all dumbfounded. If turning the enemy to ashes in an instant was barely within their understanding, then changing the weather of an entire region completely surpassed their imagination!
In the history of the Siberia resistance, there had once been a powerful superhuman who could control sandstorms. He could single-handedly hold back the charge of the Hunter army, giving others ample time to retreat... But how could the ability to raise a small sandstorm compare to creating clouds that blotted out the sky and bringing down an endless downpour? In the entire hundred-year history of the resistance, there had never been a superhuman with such an ability, such an energy level!
*Boom!*
But reality didn't leave anyone time to react. With a roar, over a dozen cyan lightning bolts formed amidst the friction of the clouds, then crashed down to the ground. Explosions occurred within the Hunter army. The lightning evaporated the water vapor, turning the rain into white mist. The highly concentrated, violent electric current, mixed with heat that melted everything, instantly pierced through the energy shields, destroying dozens of puppets.
Rain fell like arrows. Billions upon trillions of water droplets were stretched into lines in the air, turning into sharp spikes. In the sky, the roaring thunder continued unabated. Lightning struck without pause. One cyan lightning bolt after another fell, lashing the atmosphere and the ground like a lightning storm, making the entire world seem to shake violently.
*Whoosh! Whoosh!*
The core puppet, which was helping other puppets escape from the muddy swamp, suddenly perceived an extremely urgent alarm. In its soul radar, it noticed a bright light point in the high altitude, rapidly descending from several kilometers up. Its speed was far faster than any puppet, even faster than some bullets leaving the barrel.
"High-energy reaction detected!"
"High-energy superhuman approaching rapidly! Prepare to attack!"
"Begin attack!" The core puppet decisively gave the order.
Immediately, several oddly shaped Soul Puppets stepped forward from within the puppet army. They were barely humanoid anymore, their entire bodies resembling giant beehives. Now, within the cells of the beehives, streaks of white light lit up. A few seconds later, hundreds of energy orbs the size of a human head burst forth from the beehives simultaneously, turning into a stream of light particles that raced towards the bright, massive light point on the radar!
But it was useless. Just as those self-guided supersonic light particles rapidly approached the light point, a strange fluctuation swept through. All the light particles exploded directly in mid-air. The vast energy dispersed the rain, temporarily creating a blank zone in the atmosphere.
And at that moment, the core puppet noticed that the light point on the soul radar was no longer falling in a straight line... Its trajectory in mid-air tilted slightly. Then, it charged straight towards the main formation of the entire Soul Puppet army!
*Bang! Bang! Bang!* Because of the heavy rain, all ray generators were temporarily unusable. So the suppression-type puppets took out their backup solid-ammunition firearms and began to intercept the high-speed object. The shooting accuracy of these puppets was almost comparable to that of any seasoned soldier. The volley fire from thousands of weapons that could be called anti-aircraft machine guns created layer upon layer of dense, almost flawless fire nets in the sky.
But it was meaningless. The bright light point on the soul radar ignored all interception fire. It broke through the atmosphere, even continuously accelerating, getting closer and closer.
"Distance 2500, distance 1790, distance 430... Prepare for impact!"
The core puppet used electromagnetic soul fluctuations to control the entire puppet army's response, but it was already too late.
*Bang! Boom!*
It was as if a meteorite had crashed into the ground. A violent explosion occurred in the front ranks of the Hunter army. The violent shockwave shook the rain and the atmosphere, causing the air to boil and the wind to rage.
And in the center of the explosion, a massive mechanical entity, never before seen in this world, emerged from the high-temperature steam clouds, appearing before the puppets' eyes.
"So this is the superpower... no, the authority of Steel."
The floating ring rotated slowly behind him. The six gems—silver, cyan, red, black, gold, and white—cycled. Joshua clenched his right fist. At this moment, the silver and cyan fragments had dimmed, while the white Steel Fragment shone brightly.
Before him stood thousands of fully armed, battle-ready Soul Puppets.
"Not bad."