Welt was still sitting on the vehicle with everyone when he suddenly opened his eyes, clasped his hands, and vanished from the car, leaving everyone surprised.
[Belobog, frontline ramparts.]
Within 10 minutes of the earthquake, the Silvermane Guard was ready for battle. Geppard stood tall on the city wall, his power armor creaking. His eyes were focused straight ahead.
"Commander, according to the data from the rear department, the energy source of this earthquake comes from Everwinter Hill. It's likely the same enemy we faced seven years ago."
"The same enemy...?" Geppard's eyes grew serious as he remembered Orion's last words to him.
"I'm heading to Everwinter Hill. While I'm gone, I'll leave everything else to you."
Geppard still recalls Orion standing with his hands behind his back, facing the city wall. Now, standing in the same spot, Geppard felt the weight of resistance.
"Stay alert and prepare for maximum combat readiness."
"Yes, sir!"
In the army, following orders is a soldier's duty. Even though no enemies were within sight, years of battles under Orion Astra's leadership taught the Silvermane Guard to always be prepared.
Multi-layered transparent energy shields were set up, and with Geppard overseeing everything, nearly a hundred soldiers were gathered to protect the city. Under his command, they could maximize their defensive capabilities, confident they could repel an attack like they did seven years ago.
As soon as orders were given, the Silvermane Guard quickly arranged defensive facilities, making the already strong city wall even more imposing.
Apart from the cold wind blowing, there were no visible threats within the Silvermane Guard's observation range, but an invisible pressure weighed on the soldiers' hearts.
"It feels like something terrible is coming." This thought crossed every soldier's mind, but they weren't afraid. They trusted their training, their weapons, their commander's leadership, and...
Belobog would never fall.
As time went by, the reconnaissance systems kept scanning, and the soldiers stood ready, but at this tense moment, they saw nothing. Some attacks might not even be visible.
The first thing the soldiers heard was the sound of the protective shield shattering. Belobog had used almost all its energy sources during the war to create seven layers of shields, each stronger than the last, overlapping like layers in a cake above the city wall. In an instant, six layers were shattered, and the seventh, the strongest, began to crack and was about to fail.
The attack was so fast that it couldn't be seen with the naked eye. With a single hit, the stellaron broke through all seven layers of defense in less than a second. If no defensive measures were taken, the Silvermane Guards on the city wall would be wiped out. At this critical moment, one person stepped up.
"Ahhhhh!"
His body moved faster than his mind. In an almost impossible amount of time, Geppard lunged forward to block the attack!
The Silvermane Guards weren't ordinary soldiers, but it was only then that they could clearly see the source of the attack.
It was a massive ball of light, hundreds of feet across, enough to block the view of all the soldiers. The outer ring of the light ball crackled with electric energy.
Just the energy leaking out shattered the bricks and tiles on the city wall. At the center of the light ball, almost black material spun, destroying anything in its path.
Geppard's power armor started to groan under the pressure. It wasn't poorly made—far from it. If not for the most advanced technology in Belobog, no matter how strong Geppard was, he would have been reduced to ashes by this energy, which was powerful enough to burn mountains and boil seas.
"Help Chief Geppard!" A group of Silvermane Guards with the ability to protect destiny quickly stepped up, stood behind Geppard, and channeled their power into him.
Even with the power of nearly 100 Guards, Geppard was still being pushed back. Part of the massive city wall had already been reduced to nothing. If he retreated a few dozen more steps, this terrifying attack would likely penetrate the city.
"We haven't even seen the enemy! We can't lose here!"
"Give it everything you've got and block it!"
He spoke inspiring words, but the defense line, made up of almost a hundred soldiers and Geppard, was faltering.
In front of everyone, Geppard, who was under the most pressure, had blood and tears in his eyes, but he kept going, pushing with all his might. Against all odds, a miracle happened.
Out of nowhere, a phantom-like but very real city wall appeared in the battle line, holding a massive ball of light hundreds of feet away.
"Hold the line, hold the line!"
The soldiers gritted their teeth and stepped forward, trying to stop the attack with their own bodies. The power of unity was incredible. Together, the Silvermane Guard managed to hold the "breath" in place.
But miracles don't last forever.
No matter how strong their will was, the physical world wouldn't bend. Many of the Silvermane Guard's power suits started to melt under the extreme heat.
Geppard, standing at the front, was bleeding from every pore and was only standing through sheer willpower. He had lost consciousness.
The white light of destruction pushed forward again, and until the very end, not a single Silvermane Guard turned to run.
Facing total annihilation, their chances of survival were close to 0%. This was an almost unrepeatable event in military history.
"Orion Astra... Sir, I must go first... to see you..." His hands dropped, unable to hold up anymore, and his blue eyes dimmed. At the last moment, Geppard still tried to fall forward, not backward.
At this critical moment, a familiar figure to Geppard stepped through the crowd and appeared in front of him.
The white light was suddenly covered in black and red, and rubble from the city wall floated upward uncontrollably. Then, like a volcano, it erupted upward into the sky!
The familiar energy made Geppard's dim blue eyes light up slightly, but his vision was too blurred by blood to clearly see who was in front of him.
"Sir Orion Astra... is that you?"
"Sorry, it's not."
Before Geppard could say anything else, the mysterious figure raised a small, unremarkable cane.
The miracle of reversed gravity happened again. Black-red material poured out like a waterfall, engulfing the massive ball of light. In the shocked eyes of the Silvermane Guard, this destructive force, taller than the city wall and hundreds of feet away, was...
Bounced away!
The ball of light shot upward at a speed too fast to see, disappearing into the sky in an instant. The roar of a violent collision reached the ears of the Silvermane Guards. One of them, a composed man with gray eyes behind black-rimmed glasses, managed to catch Geppard just before he fell. The calm in his eyes held a faint trace of worry.
The newcomer was none other than Welt Yang. At this moment, no one else on the planet could cross dozens of miles as quickly as he did. Welt had been keeping a close watch on the energy source and noticed, just over ten seconds ago, that a small amount of energy had broken off from the main body and rushed toward the walls of Belobog.
Concerned about Belobog's defenses, Welt used the fastest method to reach the location in time.
"Gravity Slingshot."
Using himself as a focal point, he felt the gravitational fluctuations caused by the planet's rotation. With precise timing and energy control, Welt pulled off the maneuver. He arrived at the frontline just a few seconds after the destructive white light. Thankfully, those few seconds were enough to prevent several districts near the city wall from being obliterated.
Wiping away nonexistent sweat from his forehead, Welt looked into the distance.
"With just this one casual strike, the stellaron's threat level is likely as strong as that of the Omen Vanguard."