"Roger! Armor—LINK!!"
With a roar that shook the heavens, Lawson raised his hand, unleashing the [Divine Aura of the Armor God]. It was a surge of power bordering on the miraculous; golden light seeped into every crevice of the warriors' armor. Instantly, surging power pulsed through their circuits, and fighting spirit ignited in their eyes like wildfire.
Lawson sat at the rear command post with Ester and Luther, overseeing the entire battlefield like a chessboard.
With a muffled boom that resonated through the world, the Fortress Raider halted at the designated coordinates. Suddenly, the earth surged like ocean waves, and four earth-shaking metal pillars erupted from the ground, propping up the massive iron hull. As the smoke cleared, the camouflage of the "Fortress" was violently torn away, revealing a giant Alligator Snapping Turtle capable of blotting out the sun! What it carried was not a natural shell, but a plasma cannon array capable of erasing an entire city—a war monster born of the ultimate distortion of evolution and modern weaponry.
The five elemental cannons on the Raider's back reached their critical energy levels. In an instant, rainbow lights representing the five elements erupted into the night sky like five swords of judgment wielded by a god, screaming through the air toward the base.
"Luther, now!" Lawson commanded deeply.
Luther looked grim, his fingers precisely hitting the firing keys simultaneously. The base's five elemental cannons roared in retaliation. Ten beams of light drew brilliant arcs across the sky before colliding with pinpoint accuracy!
BOOM—!
The core of the energy intersection collapsed into a searing elemental sphere, then suddenly contracted and exploded into a blizzard of light shards! It was a blinding visual feast—multi-colored energy fragments falling from the heavens like crushed stars, dotting the desolate earth.
These flickering orange, blue, brown, green, and yellow energy bodies were both the remnants of destruction and the chips for survival.
"The cores have spawned!" Lawson's eyes burned like torches. "ALL TEAMS, CHARGE!"
At both ends of the battlefield, long-held killing intent ignited instantly. Countless Volt-Sniper turned into streaks of blue lightning, rushing toward the plain, their barrels flickering with greedy light as they attempted to devour the fallen energy fragments.
The battle for the cores had officially begun!
At {Tiger Soul}'s roar, the frontline erupted. With synchronized mechanical clicks, the armor plates on their forearms slid open to reveal embedded mobile terminals.
The design was so seamless that, when closed, no one would ever guess a high-precision storage bay lay beneath the heavy plating. Fingers danced across screens, locking onto the Energy Collection Devices in their inventories, data streams surged from their palms, 3D-projecting into cold, heavy metal.
Dodge led the charge, his steel claws shredding Volt-Sniper as he snatched the first falling energy shard. Behind him, Valerie and Phyllis took the flanks like a pair of dancing reapers.
Valerie sent shockwaves through the air with every punch, while Phyllis intercepted stray shots with the icy precision of a surgeon.
Further back, George gripped his Mana-Storage Halberd-Staff. The air around him thrummed with terrifying pressure as he began chanting an obscure incantation, preparing to drop a hammer of destruction that would shatter the earth.
"Ambush!"
The air distorted. A pack of Volt-Snipers emerged like ghosts, sealing Phyllis's path. During a desperate roll, her energy collector snapped off, consumed by a greedy enemy. High-energy bolts locked onto her frame. This shot was unavoidable.
Phyllis closed her eyes. Is this where I end?
Just as the death-light was about to pierce her, a heavy, warm energy wrapped around her. She became weightless, lifted off the ground in defiance of gravity!
"—EARTH-SHATTERING STAR!"
The ground let out a low growl. Thousands of jagged stone pillars erupted, skewering the Volt-Snipers like insects on a display board. George stepped out, his halberd glowing with white heat. He had used a quick-fire [Anti-Gravity Grip] to snatch her from the grave.
"Are you okay?" George's voice carried a tremor he couldn't hide.
"I... I'm fine." Phyllis avoided his eyes, her fingers nervously scratching her thigh armor—a habit George recognized instantly.
"That look... you're exactly like her. My sister."
"I... I'm not!" Phyllis's heart skipped a beat. Her resentment for the brother who had vanished was as thick as the smoke on the battlefield.
"We'll talk after the mission," George whispered. "For now, stay sharp. The real hell is just beginning."
{Tiger Soul} tore across the battlefield as if navigating an empty plain. Relying on the dual crushing advantages of elemental affinity and level, Dodge reaped the Volt-Snipers like common weeds. A second energy container, now fully charged, was already latched onto his waist.
"Katie! Catch!"
Dodge had barely finished brutally shredding the enemy's defensive line before he nimbly hurled the heavy "package" backward. {Moon Swift} intercepted the container with textbook precision, turning into a blur as she streaked toward the base. Under this seamless cooperation, Emma, following closely behind, looked like she was merely taking a "vacation" stroll through the ruins. To be able to secure post-war dividends without breaking a single drop of sweat—anyone watching would sigh: Emma must have saved a galaxy in her past life to have this kind of luck.
In contrast, the situation on Valerie's flank was far more dire. She had just tossed a charged core to the standby {Shadow Wolf} when the surrounding air began to vibrate violently. Electromagnetic fields expanded like a spider's web, and swarms of Volt-Snipers materialized once more—it was clear these cunning hunters intended to repeat their previous ambush.
"Damn! These guys just don't know when to quit!"
Victor locked the container firmly to his waist, a low growl vibrating in his throat. Instantly, purple jet particles erupted from the soles of his feet. Leveraging his extreme mobility, he wove through the dense curtain of fire, his purple tracers carving layers of afterimages at the edge of the encirclement. As he tore a gap through the perimeter, Victor prepared to disengage, but his peripheral vision caught Valerie pinned deep within the swarm.
Without a moment's hesitation, he crashed into the center of the fray like a purple meteor, landing precisely behind Valerie's back. The moment their eyes met, no words were needed. The power systems of their two armors seemed to achieve a miraculous synchronization. Amidst the scorched ruins and the thin line between life and death, the two performed a breathtaking "Waltz."
Victor ducked into a low slide while Valerie leaped off his momentum, their trajectories mimicking the classic cross-steps of a ballroom dance. With every pirouette, The Wolf Slash Gauntlets of the {Shadow Wolf} and the heavy strikes of Valerie's armor synchronized, drawing perfect arcs that hemmed the enemies in from both sides. With every swap of position, they covered each other's blind spots with surgical precision. Purple particle streams intertwined with the sparks of grinding metal, laying a radiant "dance floor" over the desolation. This was no longer mere slaughter; it was a melody woven from death and functional aesthetics. With one final synchronized spin, the sky-filling thunderclaps served as their closing salute as the encirclement shattered into pieces.
Victor finished with a flourish, glancing back at Valerie. "How was that, my partner? Haven't lost my touch, have I?"
"Look at you, getting all cocky, Victor," Valerie retorted, though a smile played in her voice. "If you didn't have a partner like me to back you up, you'd have been turned into a sieve long ago."
"Haha, fair point. That dance just now... it felt like we were back in the good old days."
"Alright, stop dallying! The enemy's fortress cannons are almost fully charged." Valerie patted his shoulder. "Get that core back to base, now!"
"On it! Almost forgot we were in the middle of a war. Be right back!"
{Shadow Wolf} instantly entered high-mobility mode, hugging the crumbling walls as it vanished past the horizon. Valerie took a deep breath to steady her racing heart and regrouped with Phyllis nearby. After the ambush, the two moved forward in silence, watching each other's backs in the ever-shifting chaos of the battlefield.
High above, the [Artillery Team] was eerily quiet. Luther's eyes were locked onto the enemy turret. A blue Water-attribute beam lanced out from the Fortress Raider!
"Water! Thunder counters Water!" Luther roared in his mind.
But as his gaze shifted to the control panel, he turned to stone.
To his eyes—eyes that could see a fly's wings a kilometer away—the buttons in front of him were a blur of pixelation. He couldn't distinguish the Brown of Earth from the Dark Yellow of Thunder.
"Luther! FIRE!!" Lawson screamed.
"I... I can't see the panel..." Luther's voice was raspy with despair.
Lawson stared at him for a fraction of a second.
"Are you... severely far-sighted?! You're guessing the buttons at your fingertips?!"
"Yes..."
As the beam was about to hit, Lawson abandoned his composure. He didn't just step in; he lunged, unleashing the "Super Hand Speed" of a ten-year veteran gamer.
SNAP—SNAP—SNAP!
Lawson's hands became a blur, his fingers dancing across the terminal with a rhythm that defied human reaction time. He slammed the Thunder switch an instant before impact.
BOOM! The yellow lightning neutralized the water beam into nothingness.
"Brother Lawson! Get back!" Ester cried out from the sidelines.
"You're an Armor Smith! System protocols strictly forbid you from participating in combat tasks! You'll be penalized!"
"Ester! Who cares about protocols?" Lawson's roar challenged the very air. "Protecting the base is Priority One! If this system is too rigid to let me win, then I'll break the system!"
As if responding to his defiance, Ester's tablet emitted a sharp, digital chime.
[ALERT: Extreme Emergency detected.]
[Permission granted to add 'Armor Smith' to combat roster. Temporary execution authority issued!]
"What? The System Master... it actually surrendered?" Ester's jaw dropped.
Lawson's phone flashed as his mission list updated. Looking at the monstrous alligator-turtle fortress, his lips curled into a familiar, arrogant smirk. He wasn't just a survivor anymore; he was a Grandmaster playing a low-level raid.
"Victor! Katie! Get those cores in NOW!"
They arrived like streaks of neon light, skidding to a halt.
"Lawson? You're taking the helm?!"
"Special permission. Now SHUT UP and load!"
Lawson's hands became a symphony of motion. Every time Ester snapped a core into the slot, Lawson absorbed the energy, redirecting it into the base's defense field with micro-second timing.
The progress bar was a race against extinction. 90%... 95%...
On the horizon, the struggle reached its peak.
{Tiger Soul} was a hurricane of steel. Valerie and Phyllis formed an impenetrable defensive circle. George had become a Reaper, his ultimate spell turning the path into scorched earth.
Finally, the chime rang. 100%.
"It's over! Receive your judgment!"
The air around the base seemed to vanish as the muzzle underwent a visual collapse from the sheer energy compression.
A pillar of crimson light lanced through the sky—not a weapon, but a sentence of death. It pierced the Fortress Raider's core with mathematical precision.
BOOM—!!!
A fireball a hundred times brighter than the sun erupted. Secondary explosions tore through the Fortress's spine, dismantling it at an atomic level. Steel melted, and thousands of Volt-Snipers were turned to ash.
[B-Rank Fortress Raider: DEFEATED]
Lawson stood behind the smoking console, his white coat charred and his eyes cold and sharp.
"Just wait and see. I'll lead this group to a Perfect Clear. After all, I'm a world-class Game Finisher—and in this world, I don't just play the game. I rewrite it."