The crimson-cooked pillar of rice carved an exquisite arc, lifting the two Lei Shen transport ships into the air—one struck at the bow, the other at the stern, both enveloped in the smoke and dust of their explosions. The thick miasma obscured any view of what lay within.

“The Spirit-Power Weapon Beam Deflection Cannon, once fired, can alter its trajectory based on thought. Its power rivals a light cruiser-grade Level Four Hammer Shot main cannon, posing an immense threat to transport vessels. It seems this Master-level fighter jet is the main attacker, while the other three are decoys drawing fire.”

Blade instantly unleashed all of his floating turrets, locking onto the Master-level fighter in a synchronized salvo—a dense net woven from concentrated beams. In an instant, the target fighter was engulfed.

However, that Master-level fighter executed several rapid course corrections and finally employed a shunyi (instantaneous movement) to slip free of the beam net’s perimeter.

Aboard the bridge of Ship No. 1.

“Sir, the damage reports for the two injured Lei Shen transport ships have arrived,” a staff officer reported.

“Speak.”

“The damaged vessels are Lei Shen Transport Ships Two and Three. The Lei Shen aboard both ships are unharmed. Ship Two was hit at the bow; the outer armor is damaged, leading to air loss and impairment of the air circulation system. Six personnel killed, twelve injured. Ship Three was hit at the stern; the aft armor is damaged, causing air loss and a twenty-five percent reduction in thruster power. Ten personnel killed, and ten injured.”

“It seems they can continue the mission, but under no circumstances can that Beam Deflection Cannon fire again,” Yang Ying murmured thoughtfully.

“We have to keep hitting it, no stopping!”

Blade launched his floating turrets in waves, ensuring a continuous stream of beams pursued the Master-level fighter from every angle—front, back, left, and right.

Under the relentless beam assault, the Master-level fighter continuously rolled and shifted course, causing the beams to graze agonizingly close to its hull. It looked perilous, like a dancer on a tightrope, yet the fighter traversed the dangerous wire as if it were a smooth highway.

“Precognition is truly a troublesome ability,” Blade sighed softly.

The floating turrets zipped and weaved, firing from every tricky angle toward the Master-level fighter. Yet, all they managed was to force the fighter into various evasive maneuvers. Occasionally, it would counter-attack with several immensely threatening beams, compelling Blade to adjust the rhythm of his assault.

The crimson trident gathered energy once more, its crimson-black lines knitting together the three prongs like thread, converging into a red sphere at the center.

“The Beam Deflection Cannon was designed without regard for the firing angle. No matter how frantically it dodges, even if it faces away from the Lei Shen transport ships, it can still land a hit,” Blade’s expression darkened.

The attack was ineffective. What now?

Just then, on another sector of the battlefield where six Masters were engaged in a duel, a light-yellow Ape-Man Master-level fighter suddenly abandoned its opponent and charged toward Blade.

The tip of that fighter bore a long needle; judging by its form, it was clearly a Uranium Scatter Cannon.

The moment Blade glanced over, an alarm blared in his mind. The fighter roared, unleashing fire—hundreds of uranium scatter beams instantly enveloped Blade from all directions.

Almost simultaneously, Blade’s fighter vanished, reappearing twenty meters away.

“Blade Colonel, this is Garcia. We’re swapping opponents. Leave that Beam Deflection Cannon to me.” Right behind the light-yellow fighter was Master Garcia, transmitting this message into Blade’s mind via telepathy.

“Understood!” Blade immediately replied.

“Be aware, the one using the Uranium Scatter Cannon is Cordemy. He used an invisible fighter before, but for some reason, he switched to the Uranium Scatter Cannon,” Master Garcia continued to warn.

“I see. Cordemy, seeking revenge?” Blade finally understood why the light-yellow fighter abandoned Master Garcia to engage him—it was his old adversary, Cordemy, whom Blade had previously suppressed.

“This time I will certainly kill you and wash away my shame,” Cordemy gritted his teeth inside the light-yellow fighter.

In their previous two encounters, Cordemy’s fighter’s cloaking had been seen through by the Observer, and he had been routed by Blade. After returning, he had finally managed to acquire a new fighter. Now, meeting Blade again on the battlefield, his accumulated grievances flared up, and setting aside Master Garcia, he sought a fight to the death with Blade.

“Take this.” Blade spread his twelve floating turrets over a wider distance, maximizing the angles from which the beams could be fired, creating an overwhelming torrent aimed at the light-yellow fighter.

“Did you think I would be limited to conventional weapons and passively take a beating like the last two times?”

Seeing the familiar attack returning, Cordemy’s anger flared. He operated the Uranium Scatter Cannon at full power. The long needle at the nose scattered a total of one hundred and twenty beams, adjusted their direction within a spherical beam distortion field, and then rained down upon Blade like a shower of light.

“Dodge this!” Blade had encountered similar attacks multiple times on the battlefield; responding now was far more composed than the terrifying scenes of the past.

After this volley, Blade emerged unscathed, and all twelve of his floating turrets remained intact.

The reason for this could be attributed partly to the fact that the floating turrets were widely dispersed, setting the distance between them far apart, making it impossible for Cordemy’s beams to cover them all. Furthermore, Cordemy had not wielded the Uranium Scatter Cannon for long, meaning its threat level was lower than that of Ape-Man Masters who had studied and refined similar scatter cannons for years, or even decades.

Meanwhile, on the bridge of Ship No. 1, Yang Ying stood up. “Howard, take command for me. And relay an order to prepare my Ghost fighter.”

“Yes, Sir.” Howard complied first, then asked, “Are you going to join Colonel Blade’s fight?”

Yang Ying nodded. “Blade alone won’t be enough to handle Cordemy, especially since the opponent is a Master-level expert supported by a Uranium Scatter Cannon. Blade can hold him for a short while, but over time, he will inevitably fall behind. I don’t wish to expose my clones yet, so I must go lend a hand myself. Cordemy doesn’t seem to have pushed the Uranium Scatter Cannon to its absolute limit yet. Blade and I combined should be sufficient.”

There were only just over five hundred experts at or above the Quasi-Master realm globally. The emergence of even one more such individual was a monumental event in the Awakened world.

Yang Ying and Blade’s advancement to Quasi-Master had already caused a massive stir among the Awakened, but because the Jupiter theater prioritized the immediate campaign, the ripples hadn't reached Jupiter yet, only circulating within the Inner Solar System.

Carlyle had mentioned this matter during a recent routine briefing, sounding an alarm bell in Yang Ying’s mind. If one or two more clones appeared, further increasing the number of Quasi-Masters, the resulting commotion would only grow larger. And the Teran Mercenary Group, the source of these newly promoted Quasi-Masters, would be squarely in the storm’s path.

The Teran Mercenary Group had already undertaken too many high-profile actions recently. One must eat one bite at a time; eating too much at once is unhealthy.

Yang Ying proceeded to the hangar, boarded his Ghost fighter, and flew out of Ship No. 1 toward Ganymede.

At this moment, Master Garcia was engaging the Master-level fighter equipped with the Beam Deflection Cannon. Blade was locked in combat with Cordemy. The other two Psionic Masters were tied up with two Ape-Man Masters, allowing the three Lei Shen transport ships to proceed with their landing sequence unhindered.

After all three landed safely, they hovered about twenty stories above the ground. The aft doors opened, and the Lei Shen units were deployed.

Once free of the transports, the Lei Shen immediately activated their built-in stabilization systems. In conjunction with the planet’s low gravity, they descended slowly to the surface.

They stretched their limbs and immediately joined the ground forces, launching their assault against Outpost No. 1 on Ganymede’s surface.

Although the Lei Shen had landed safely, the danger was not yet past. The destructive power of the Master-level fighters remained a fatal threat to the Lei Shen. Consequently, the seven Master-level fighters, plus Blade, continued their fierce aerial struggle.

Only these eight fighters occupied this particular airspace. Both Earth military and Ancient Legion fighters maintained a tacit understanding, vacating this area. Lower-strength fighters would only find death or create unnecessary trouble; their presence would be useless, perhaps even counterproductive—a fact proven through nearly half a century of rivalry between the two races.

Boom!

Another floating turret was struck by a beam. Blade had lost his second turret; he now had ten remaining!

“Your name is Blade, is it? To wield the strength of the Mortal Realm to this degree, you are the first I have ever seen. If you continue to improve, your future will be limitless,” Cordemy shouted through telepathy. “But today! Your future ends here. Your fighter had twelve high-speed mobile weapon platforms; now ten remain, and soon I will destroy them one by one until only you remain, alone, with only your remaining conventional weapons. At that moment, I will make you taste what I felt back then!”

Cordemy’s telepathy seemed laced with mental attack, making it difficult for Blade to concentrate. In this next wave of attack, another floating turret was hit, exploding into scattered fragments.

“Nine left! You only have nine left!”

Cordemy continued his verbal and mental assault to shake Blade’s resolve.

Blade knew how to counter mental attacks. He immediately guarded his inner core, severing Cordemy’s telepathic connection, freeing himself from further influence.

With three floating turrets lost, he could now devote the mental energy previously used to control twelve to controlling nine. His thoughts flowed more smoothly, and he suffered no further losses in the subsequent exchanges.

Yang Ying arrived on the scene just as this was unfolding. Except for Blade, no one noticed his arrival, as his Ghost fighter was already operating in stealth mode.

However, this stealth was integrated with the Liao System, an invisibility that could only be activated through spirit power—it was a piece of psychic equipment, entirely different from the standard stealth system on a Ghost fighter.

Yang Ying looked at the light-yellow fighter before him and thought grimly, “Cordemy, today you will die by the very stealth tactics you were once so proud of. This serves as a return for a return.”