Counterfeit Hero

But it was these ants that stirred up a fierce storm!

From the intersection to where the Tai Sect Branch was located, it was only a two-kilometer distance. This short distance, under the feet of the mechas, was just a matter of moments.

The mechas from both sides surged towards the center like tidal waves.

Closer and closer, until finally, the two waves clashed violently together.

”Clang clang clang,” in just a moment, the ambushing Tai Sect mechas had already exchanged dozens of punches and kicks with the three Guard Mechas from the Absolute Kill Stream. All the onlookers could hear was a series of deafening clashes of metal. The tremendous noise echoed between the tall buildings. Although the three Guard Mechas, respectively piloted by Mechanical Commanders of the Absolute Kill Stream, were in a disadvantaged position under the assault of over twenty Tai Sect mechas, they managed to buy enough time for Hariman to escape.

The reinforcements from the Absolute Kill Stream joined the battle a few seconds later. The sound waves from the mecha collisions spread out like explosive shockwaves. The solid pavement of First Avenue cracked inch by inch under the iron palms of the mechas. The whirling mechanical arms stirred up whistling winds, lifting sand and stones. The decorative glass of the buildings on both sides cracked continuously amidst the violent tremors, shattering with a crisp sound and falling to the ground like hailstones, scattering into shards.

The bystanders fled in terror. Only a few desperate photojournalists, still carrying their cameras, risked their lives to film amidst the screeching cries and the ferocious collisions of the steel mechas.

”Kill!”

The mechas from both sides shouted simultaneously. Amidst the clanging of metal, several knocked-over mechas rolled and flung outwards, smashing the entrances and display windows of nearby buildings, flattening the Flying Cars by the roadside, leaving a scene of utter devastation.

With faces torn, surface pretenses no longer mattered!

Gunpowder had been ignited; now the only thing needed was to blast the enemy to smithereens!

Kubo and Nakagawa Daiki had completely lost their ability to think.

Just a few seconds ago, they had been contemplating how to use others to kill, how to pin the blame on the Mountain Breaker Sect.

But now, someone had beaten them to it, dousing all the blame onto the Tai Sect! Timing had been seized perfectly, just as the Tai Sect was about to make a move but hadn’t yet.

Kubo could hardly believe his eyes. Just a few more minutes, and his plan would have been executed. But now, everything had changed! With no evidence to prove whose mechas had suddenly appeared, the dirty blame placed in plain sight could only fall on the Tai Sect.

Those who plotted against others ultimately got plotted against themselves. This sudden twist of events drove Kubo mad with frustration!

He had enough of this frustration.

”Attack! Attack at once!” Kubo’s facial muscles twitched rapidly as he yelled neurotically.

”Attack?” Nakagawa Daiki stared at Kubo in shock. ”Now?”

”Someone has already struck before us,” Kubo’s eyes glowed red with hatred. ”It must be that Fatty! This dirty blame, the Tai Sect is destined to bear it. Now, all we can do is fight back in kind and pour the blame onto the Absolute Kill Stream. As long as we kill that Fatty, I don’t believe the Fei Alliance and the Absolute Kill Stream won’t turn on each other!”

Nakagawa Daiki hesitated slightly as he opened the communicator on his wrist, then, thinking of his nephew cruelly slain by Fatty, he discarded all hesitation and commanded fiercely, ”Everyone, attack at once!”

*********************************

Fatty stared blankly out the window at the howling metal storm on First Avenue, his eyes slightly glazed.

Damn it, what’s going on?

Long before coming to Free Port, Fatty had been determined to stir up this storm. So, he seized on Kubo’s weaknesses, infiltrated the Tai Sect, swiftly eliminated Monroe and others, cleansed the Puluo Branch, and even before Kubo could react, intensified the sects’ conflicts with his shocking feat of challenging the Nine Halls consecutively.

All of this happened within just forty-eight hours. For the Tai Sect, as well as for the entire Free World, it was like a thunderbolt that hit without warning. Whether Kubo and the other sects realized the hidden agenda behind this, or suspected it was a conspiracy, the escalation of conflicts was already an established fact.

No matter what, creating a fait accompli was Fatty’s principle for coming here. To save Leray, to gain sufficient power, it was necessary for these entrenched sects to exhaust their strengths in internal conflicts. Only when the defeated factions were desperate would the bandit army have a chance to seize the opportunity amidst the chaos.

Currently, besides a few modified ships, the bandit army’s ground forces were merely an empty shell. They only had over twenty Space Mecha Warriors on the Blue Rose and about a hundred Mech Knights in the Pirate Group. Among these, most were ordinary warriors, with very few reaching higher ranks. By military standards, the highest was just a Sixth-level Mecha Warrior.

After weeks of training at the pirate base, the control skills of these mecha warriors had greatly improved. Fatty believed if it came to life-and-death combat on the battlefield, these 126 mecha warriors could absolutely crush the high-level civilian mechs of Free Port several times over.

Because they had mastered close combat kill techniques refined by Fatty himself and tactics combining long-range heavy firepower Energy Cannons – techniques that could not be found in the civilian mecha sects.