In the arena, just before the referee’s signal, Captain Kesib, commander of the Machine Gunner squad, delivered a pre-battle mobilization speech through his communicator: “Listen up, brothers. One last reminder: when the fight starts, crank the Gauss gun power to maximum. Yesterday, the brothers who were surrounded only used half power—they did that for us. To lull the enemy, to cover today’s duel, to ensure fewer brothers fall on the battlefield today! For this cause, two brothers have already given their lives, and over a dozen are gravely wounded. We cannot betray their blood, can we?!”

“Yes, sir!” all the Machine Gunners replied in unison, their voices firm.

“Good. Memorize your respective target locations. Once the battle begins, you must eliminate more than half the enemy in the first wave, or their plasma cannons will become a threat to us!”

After Captain Kes finished speaking, he took several deep breaths, pointed the weapon in his hand toward the opposing Devil Squad, and waited.

“Three, two, one!” the referee shrieked hoarsely into the microphone from the stands.

“Adrenaline injection, fire!” Captain Kes burst from cover the moment the referee counted ‘one,’ allowing the stimulant to pierce his body via the needles built into his powered armor. The instant the referee bellowed “Start,” his finger tightened. High-velocity rounds instantly spat from the muzzle.

The other Machine Gunners synchronized their movements with Captain Kes, simultaneously injecting adrenaline and launching their assault.

However, the Devil Squad across from them launched their first wave even earlier.

The Devil Squad’s captain was a notorious scoundrel, carrying a high-level wanted warrant on Earth; he only fled to the asteroid belt to join the pirates after things became untenable there.

He grinned and issued the attack order when the referee counted ‘two,’ firing the first shot, before immediately retreating behind cover precisely when the official start was called. He smugly mused to himself: “What does a foul matter? Winning is everything. The Tran Mercenary Group—hehe. Once we win, it’s best if they protest. Better yet, let’s have another match so I can slaughter them to my heart’s content!”

Seeing this, the stands erupted in an uproar. The pirate faction spectators cheered loudly, idolizing the Devil Squad, while the mercenary faction spectators booed thunderously, scoffing at such a blatant foul.

In a private box, Herman slapped his thigh and roared with laughter, “Well done! Take them out and let them know the consequence of offending Herman!” But his smile froze instantly.

The plasma cannon is a subspecies of the neutral particle cannon, also known as a plasma gun. Plasma is the fourth state of matter, following solid, liquid, and gas, capable of reaching temperatures over a million degrees. Any substance under its attack will instantly vaporize; biological matter will instantly carbonize!

Because plasma is inherently unstable, it must be contained within a baseball-sized shell of blue-green plasma medium. Once fired, it can only travel at the slow speed of one hundred meters per second—this is the plasma cannon’s biggest weakness. It is easily avoided on a large battlefield unless deployed en masse to create a saturation strike; however, doing so introduces the problem of prohibitive cost.

The consequence of this weakness was that the Machine Gunners’ Gauss rounds traversed the four hundred meters between the sides in less than a second. By the time they struck the enemy, the Devil Squad’s plasma cannon projectiles were still mid-flight. The Gauss rounds, with their astonishing penetration power, tore through the cover, sliced through the outer plating of the Devil Type-Three powered armor, and struck the Devil Squad members who were just beginning to smirk inside.

Upon witnessing this, Herman instantly crushed the wine glass in his hand, sprang to his feet, and cursed, “Bastards! These damn fools actually set a trap for me. How can the Gauss gun penetration be this high? It actually pierced the specially customized alloy cover!”

In another box, Commander Xie saw that the cover was entirely constructed of alloy and immediately understood. He gave Nanis a deep look: “Herman and the supervisor of this small arena have a long-standing corrupt relationship; I’ve known that for a while. But Herman managing to acquire a batch of alloy covers overnight to place on the battlefield—that’s beyond my expectation. If the Gauss gun’s penetration power hadn't proven even stronger than previously demonstrated, the Tran Mercenary Group might have suffered a serious blow. What are your thoughts on this, Commander Nanis?”

“What thoughts could I possibly have? Both sides are cunning. What are you implying by asking?” Nanis turned his head to stare intently at Commander Xie, leaning in aggressively, seeking clarification.

“Nothing much, let’s keep watching,” Commander Xie replied casually.

The Machine Gunners possessed advanced auxiliary targeting systems. Once a target was locked, it was extremely difficult to evade; micro-motors within the powered armor provided fine adjustments to the gunner’s movements, ensuring the muzzle was always aimed at the target!

Within that single second of firing, each Machine Gunner fired three shots. It wasn't that they refrained from firing more rounds; it was that the faster the bullets were ejected, the lower the power of each individual round.

After all, the maximum output power was fixed; the total kinetic energy that could be imparted to the bullets within a single unit of time remained constant.

At this moment, the crisis for the Machine Gunners had arrived; the plasma cannon shells were closing in. After firing, every Machine Gunner immediately executed the pre-arranged tactic: launching a high-explosive grenade and instantly initiating evasive maneuvers.

The Machine Gunners were all clones possessing innate combat talent; the battlefield was their stage, and they were the finest actors upon it. Dodging attacks was as easy for them as walking or eating; they could effortlessly identify the most advantageous locations in their surroundings for evasion.

However, the plasma cannon was far more troublesome than the mass driver gun. While the plasma shells moved slowly, they possessed characteristics of spread and splash damage. The first volley struck the cover, instantly spreading outward like ripples—but what was chilling was that the cover within the ripple’s radius turned a sickening blue-green. The effect raced inward, like molten red iron poured onto ice, instantly vaporizing even the alloy cover!

Plasma fluid, the size of ping-pong balls, splashed out. One landed on the leg armor of a nearby Machine Gunner, immediately causing a small area of blue-green ripple that burned through the armor and continued to scorch inward. A hole the size of a teacup appeared on the Machine Gunner’s thigh; that section of muscle instantly turned to ash! The Machine Gunner gritted his teeth, saying nothing, and immediately administered another adrenaline shot to suppress the pain.

Another Machine Gunner not far away watched a splash of plasma fluid hurtle toward his face. Too close to evade, he instinctively raised his arm to shield his head. The plasma landed on his arm armor; the blue-green ripple spread inward. He immediately swung his arm, flinging the remaining fluid onto the ground.

A third Machine Gunner was hit by a large mass of plasma fluid on his back, slightly to the left—the area behind his heart. It was impossible to shake off. A comrade nearby saw it and, without the slightest hesitation, instantly reached out and wiped the plasma off his back. He wiped several times before it cleared, but his hand dissolved into ash within seconds.

The splashing plasma fluid was unpredictable; even with perfect dodging, it was hard to guard against. Fortunately, all the Machine Gunners had taken adrenaline, elevating their reaction speeds. Even when struck, as long as the impact wasn't in a spot that couldn't be flung off, they managed to brush it away before it could burn through the armor. After the first volley, only about a dozen men sustained injuries of varying severity.

Regarding tomorrow morning’s chapter, if I write quickly, it will be posted ahead of schedule at midnight. Book friends are welcome to cast their votes!