TESO3 might have been the factory that felt the war most intensely. Despite its advanced security systems, unlike Hianyan and the others, it wasn't planning for defense, but for attack. Gordon City was right next door, and Martin was harassing Capazo's northern front with numerous missiles.
But Capazo was thinking less about defending his own factory and more about attacking—specifically, that damned transport vehicle heading toward the vicinity of his city...
Capazo stood within the factory's energy shields, yet outside the main building. He wore an officer's cap on his head and had a coat draped over his shoulders. As he saluted the soldiers before him, he had to catch the coat immediately after the salute to prevent it from slipping off his shoulders.
To clear all the clouds from the sky, Labiba had deployed specific unmanned aerial vehicles. These drones would dive into the clouds, spreading like an invisible web and altering the ion balance of the atmosphere within microseconds. Each could instantaneously calculate humidity, pressure, and electrical charge in the air, pushing the particles forming the clouds toward sparser, more unstable regions. The clouds were dissolving from within, forced to disperse as they lost their density. Labiba's drones, however, were quite slow. Light. Fragile.
The aircraft taking off from Capazo's factory, on the other hand, roamed the sky like predators. Emerging from the darkness, they locked onto the drones and hunted them down one by one. The signals extinguishing one by one appeared on Labiba's screen like silent gravestones. Thus, a magnificent battle raged above the clouds between Labiba's aerial fleet and Capazo's.
But Capazo's real plan wasn't to defend the clouds. Defense would not bring them victory. And the thing that would bring this victory was the very company of Jijigeli citizens before Capazo, encased in mechanical armor.
Each stood over three meters tall, lined up in white armor. The surfaces of the suits were not smooth; on the contrary, they looked as if they had been repaired many times, shaped by impacts. Their white color was not pristine; it was marred by greyish stains, burn marks, and grime embedded into the metal. These suits were not for show; they were designed for survival and killing.
Eyes were not visible behind the visors. But they were there. Cold, calculating gazes, entirely devoid of emotion.
The chest plates of the armor were thick; they were like walking fortresses. The shoulder plates protruded outward at harsh angles that ignored human anatomy. With every step, the hydraulic systems within emitted a deep, heavy hum; the ground groaned slightly under their weight.
Their mechanical arms were much thicker and heavier than a human arm. Even their fingers were armored. The massive cannons they held in those hands were not carried like ordinary weapons; they were like appendages, natural and indispensable. The weapons did not tremble, did not shake, did not hurry. It was as if they weren't waiting to fire, but waiting for the command.
These suits were rigid. Hard. Unforgiving. But the truly terrifying part was that those inside knew it.
Capazo shouted to the army:
"Attention, Soldier!"
"Ready, Capazo!" The voice echoed mechanically in unison.
"For what!"
"For war!" Once more, amidst the thundering sounds of war, dozens of mechanical battle cries echoed.
At that moment, one of the Jijigeli natives ran up and brought a hologram document to Capazo. After giving Capazo a military salute and vanishing within seconds, Capazo began to read the document.
According to the reports entering the documents, Hianyan had been significantly worn down in the conflicts initiated by Labiba's advanced technology. He still had numerical superiority, but his former aggression was gone. The Calosians by his side, however voluntary and loyal, had weak combat skills; rather than posing a real threat on the front, they could only serve as distractions.
Veltin, on the other hand, had no trouble clashing head-to-head with Tallus's armies. However, what he was doing was not an offensive; it was a controlled and deliberate defense. Because Veltin knew that the moment he went on the attack, Martin could leave the Capazo front and deal him an unexpected blow. If this balance were disrupted, the picture could flip instantly with Ormene's entry into the war. If that moment came, Veltin could reach a position to crush both Martin and Tallus simultaneously. But... it was not yet time.
Labiba, meanwhile, had focused all her attention on protecting the transport vehicle moving behind the clouds. This was why her strategies were working. Because she had a single goal and could not afford to lose it.
Every plan established was aimed at preventing enemy units from infiltrating the clouds. Rapid and aggressive maneuvers designed to draw attention elsewhere were being implemented. Distraction was one of the oldest and most effective methods of war. Labiba knew this.
To protect the transport, she was trying to create an artificial front with her robot units. This front resembled the blitzkrieg doctrine used by the Germans in the Second Great War of the old world: fast, overwhelming, and hesitant. The goal was to break through the enemy line with robot units the moment the vehicle emerged from the cloud cover and open an instantaneous corridor for the transport.
Labiba's entire plan relied on this. That's why every robot launched from the sky, every plane appearing in the heavens, was striving for this goal. The first step was simple: to mass an army of robots at the exit point of the clouds...
Capazo, however, could devise a plan to ruin Labiba's game. Why? Because unlike the others, he had an army he could control even inside the clouds.
Behind the clouds, it became difficult to control machines. Behind the clouds, it was perhaps impossible to communicate, rain down orders, and do much else. But if you sent an experienced army that could take initiative inside the clouds... Then you could truly change the direction of the war.
So, how would you get that army to the clouds? Capazo looked at the mechanical-armored human army lined up before him, hidden behind the energy shield. He closed the hologram and put it in his pocket.
The clouds were perhaps kilometers away. It was inevitable that this army would be riddled with holes before reaching them. With such casualties, they couldn't be expected to succeed among the clouds where no information flow existed.
That's why he had to do it once more. First, a few drops fell. Sparse, hesitant... as if the sky were trying to make a decision.
Then the drops increased. The rain hitting the surface of the energy shield began to echo with a metallic clicking. Capazo raised his head. The sound of the drops vibrating and dispersing on the shield mingled with the hum of the factory motors. The sky had finally answered.
This rain was no coincidence.
Capazo used chemical shells to enable the existence of the clouds. These shells, launched into the atmosphere, combined with the already poison-saturated air of END99141 to turn into dense, thick clouds that choked visibility. They were not natural. They were calculated.
These chemicals were not the product of ordinary manufacturing either. Capazo had procured them from a smuggler network operating on the planet CLAUDIS II. The price had not just been money. Powerful names had been involved, debts had been opened, and some doors had been cracked open, never to be closed again.
But none of that mattered now. It was raining. The clouds were in place. And the war had begun to take the shape Capazo wanted.
The clouds were so close to the facility that it was impossible for Labiba or Martin to touch them in any way. Therefore, the soldiers inside the mechanical armor would be safe up to a certain point behind the clouds.
Capazo shouted. "Go, my soldiers! Begin the infiltration mission!"