The Viper jets took an unexpected hit. Gu Xuan pulled up, attempting to use the terrain to his advantage, splitting his formation left and right, giving the appearance of an impending pincer movement.

"My people, follow me to the left," Blade shouted over the comms, leading his squadron of Ghost fighters as they ascended to meet the group of Vipers coming from the left.

"Form up into two-ship formations and follow me to the right," the military Major called out, leading the remaining fighters toward the right flank.

Both groups of Vipers were equal in number, nine each. Blade had twelve Ghost fighters against nine Vipers, while the military had twenty against nine. Both sides held a numerical advantage, with the military’s edge being slightly greater.

However, the moment contact was made, the situations on both sides diverged significantly.

The Ghost fighter’s performance metrics were slightly superior to the Viper’s. Although the Ghosts were specialized for anti-ship operations, this did not diminish their advantage when engaging solar system fighters.

Furthermore, the Ghost pilots were not comparable to ordinary elite flyers; each was born to fly, flawless from innate talent to post-acquisition training.

They showed no weakness against these higher apes, who were stuck at the Apprentice level.

On the military side, several aircraft were shot down by Viper Uranium Cannons before they could even enter missile range.

Both sides climbed while closing the distance. The Ghost fighters ascended faster than the Vipers, quickly securing the high ground, a superior tactical position.

Blade watched the Vipers’ formation tighten slightly. A realization struck him; he hadn't forgotten. He was an Awakened with the strength of a High-Tier Psion, and his offensive capabilities extended beyond the missiles and Uranium Cannons mounted on his aircraft.

There was the Mindstorm!

A restless, surging power washed over the Viper fighters. Electrical charges accumulated rapidly in the void; mere breaths could induce paralysis, a tangible sensation of raw electrical energy!

This feeling lasted less than one-hundredth of a second before the charge peaked. Countless sparks hovered on the verge of ignition.

Zzt! Zzt!

Rumble!

In an instant, the air erupted in blinding flashes, hundreds of lightning bolts arcing simultaneously within a hundred-meter radius. This space was nearly the size of a football field.

Blade had calculated the position perfectly, engulfing all ten Viper fighters.

Thunder is the most violent manifestation of nature, the raw energy of the heavens venting itself. Since antiquity, it has been regarded as divine judgment—that a person utterly wicked would be struck down by the five thunders of heaven!

The Mindstorm was not the natural lightning of the sky, but it was more than enough to deal with these fighters.

Within the space enveloped by the Mindstorm, the temperature instantly rose to the point of melting gold and refining iron. A flash of electricity turned the Viper’s outer shells into molten slag, causing mass short-circuiting and failure among the internal electronics.

However, as the Mindstorm erupted, one of the Viper fighters suddenly accelerated, tearing through the boundary of the Mindstorm in a straight line, climbing faster than the Ghost fighters, heading directly for Blade’s aircraft.

The other Viper fighters immediately followed, breaking out of the storm. Even the one exposed for the longest duration had only endured a fraction of a second of the lightning, yet the damage inflicted on their aircraft was severe.

Blade uttered an "Eh," recognizing it as a special variant fighter, one with superior performance to the standard issue.

Clearly, the pilot of this craft was no mere Higher Ape at the Apprentice level.

Blade roared, "Well met!," yanking the stick hard. The Ghost fighter executed an incredibly sharp turn and dove down, flying directly toward the special Viper.

Both sides launched their lock-on cannons simultaneously!

And simultaneously dodged! Both missed their target’s initial salvo.

Then, they both fired two close-combat missiles at the same instant!

"High-Tier Psion!" Blade suddenly realized the pilot in the opposing Viper was no common character. An Ape—a High-Tier Higher Ape, equal in rank to a previous-generation Psion!

"I never expected to encounter a High-Tier Higher Ape in a mere Narcissus City!" Blade’s fighting fervor ignited. The Zerg genes he possessed made him fearless; instead, he relished the rush of adrenaline in combat.

This heightened combat passion amplified his instincts. A biological carapace gradually spread over Blade’s body, his limbs, chest, and abdomen swelling slightly.

However, his pilot mask and flight suit concealed his transformation, and he kept his most noticeable feature—his bone wings—retracted internally, so no one noticed the change.

Meanwhile, inside the cockpit of the special Viper opposite him, the High-Tier Higher Ape cursed in Ape language. He, too, was shocked to encounter an opponent of a previous-generation Psion level just outside this obscure Narcissus City, having suffered massive damage to himself and his subordinates instantly.

As fury boiled in his mind, Blade’s instincts mapped out the enemy’s movement trajectory, instantly launching two piercing shots.

The High-Tier Higher Ape hastily dodged, but he could not evade the surgical precision of Blade’s attack. He avoided one hammer shot, but his wing was struck by another drilling shot.

Instantly, his fighter lost balance and began to spin. Blade seized the opportunity and fired another Uranium Cannon blast, striking the Viper.

But before the impact, the Ape’s ejection seat fired, deploying a parachute that drifted slowly downward.

In engagements between humans and apes, was there a rule against attacking parachuting personnel?

Blade had never heard of one, but even if he had, he would not let this ape escape. He fired a lock-on burst directly at the parachuting figure.

The ape cursed loudly, flashed out of existence, reappearing a hundred meters away, raising his hand to unleash a red pillar of light aimed at Blade’s cockpit.

The moment the ape raised his hand, Blade felt intense danger and immediately dodged sideways.

This beam, approximately one meter in diameter, was not pure light. It was much slower than light but still traveled at three times the speed of sound—comparable to a sniper bullet, fast enough to kill an ordinary person.

However, while slower than light, this red beam possessed tracking capabilities, like a venomous snake; wherever Blade moved, the beam followed.

Horace had used this type of particle beam weapon before, and in his hands, it possessed the power of a Level Five Uranium Cannon.

Evidently, the High-Tier Higher Ape here could not wield equipment as advanced as Horace’s; this red beam possessed the power of only a Level Two Uranium Cannon.

Blade turned his head to gauge the incoming beam. His combat instinct generated a seemingly outlandish, yet instantly decided, plan.

He made the Ghost fighter execute a sharp, looping maneuver. Just as the red beam was about to strike the fighter,

Hah!

Blade roared. The Ghost fighter flickered, instantly appearing ten meters away, allowing the red beam to pass harmlessly by.

At that moment, the nose of Blade’s fighter was aimed directly at the High-Tier Higher Ape. Blade calmly pressed the firing stud for the Uranium Cannon.

"Shrinking Ground—he's using Shrinking Ground with his fighter!" The High-Tier Higher Ape looked astonished as his red beam missed, but this did not stop him from immediately drawing a lightsaber.

The Ghost fighter emitted a thick, arm-sized beam of energy that cut through space, impacting the Ape’s forward-facing sword, then rebounding into the sky.

Although the Ape blocked the Uranium beam, the sheer kinetic force unbalanced him, sending him plummeting toward the ground.

Blade immediately pursued, firing continuously, preventing the Ape from regaining equilibrium.

Bombarded by Uranium Cannons in mid-air, the Ape was riddled with openings. These flaws did not escape Blade’s notice; his instincts naturally dictated the most appropriate response.

All the techniques, spells, and knowledge he had acquired were instantly dissected, reassembled, integrated, and transmuted in his mind, giving rise to new combat variations and skills.

A combination of several Uranium blasts, timed while the Ape tumbled uncontrollably, accurately shattered the lightsaber’s defense and struck his body, resulting in an explosion of crimson mist.

However, a single Level One Uranium Cannon blast couldn't kill a High-Tier Higher Ape. Their vitality was extraordinarily robust; even with major internal organs destroyed, they could survive for a significant period.

So, Blade fired without hesitation, blasting him with dozens of Uranium shots until the High-Tier Higher Ape was torn into fragments, dissolving into a shower of meat chunks and bloody rain.

Afterward, Blade maneuvered his fighter close to the bloody spray, opened the cockpit canopy, and used his psionic energy to draw one of the arm fragments toward him. The arm bore a crown-like bracelet.

Blade detached the bracelet, discarded the arm, and examined the relic closely, muttering, "It looks like this is the generating device for that particle cannon. I should take it back to Bor to see about replicating a batch."

Blade performed a preliminary scan of the bracelet with his wrist computer and discovered a signal transmission device attached. He removed and discarded the transmitter, then carefully stored the bracelet.

Throughout this process, he maintained partial attention on the wider battlefield.

While he had been fighting the High-Tier Higher Ape, the two aerial battles on the flanks had also been intense.

On the left flank, eleven Ghost fighters held a significant advantage against eight Vipers. Relying on the pilots’ solid flight skills and the Ghost fighter’s marginally superior performance, the Ghosts gave the Vipers no chance to acquire a lock. They could handle a one-on-one engagement easily, let alone hold a three-unit numerical superiority.

When Blade finished his engagement, only three of the eight Vipers remained. The Ghosts suffered only five minor injuries and one heavy casualty—though that heavily damaged Ghost fighter had already executed a successful emergency landing below.

The right flank was the reverse: over twenty military fighters against the remaining nine Vipers. Despite their numerical superiority, they were at a disadvantage and now only fifteen or sixteen aircraft remained, while the Vipers had lost only one, leaving eight.

Several parachutes drifted downward; some had already reached the surface. Clearly, some pilots had managed to escape at the last moment.

Although Blade’s fighter hovered stationary with the cockpit hatch open, no Viper dared approach him. Their commander was dead by Blade’s hand; how could these low-ranking soldiers at the Apprentice level hope to win?