499 Exusiai 1 (1/2)
”Now you are at the highest rank among us,” Quentin said, standing beside Vasco with a tower shield on his back. ”Make a decision, Aquilifer! To break through or to defend?”
”How many people do we have?” Vasco asked wearily.
”Thirty-one,” Quentin replied. ”Six of them are seriously injured. We have only seventeen blade dancers, two shooters, four armored knights, and one scout. The rest are unarmored retainers...”
”Is there any news?” Vasco raised his voice and shouted huskily.
The retainer standing beside the aether communication box looked up with a gloomy face and said, ”Three minutes ago, the headquarters of the Praetorian Cohort announced through global broadcast that the Sacred City had been isolated. So there is no news outside the city. Now, we are probably the only squad of Knights Templar in the Sacred City. ”
”Oh sh*t.” Vasco said.
Boom!
The walls thundered and cracked. Through the cracks, dozens of fuzzy things could be seen crashing into the church.
The Knights of Death.
They were the abyss demons most rarely mass-produced. Cultivated as a heavy weapon of destruction, each of them was strong enough to compete with an armored knight.
Now, the heartrending flute reverberated, stinging people's eardrums and urging the Knights of Death to attack the last church.
”Is there any good news for me before I give the order?” Vasco looked at his quartermaster. ”Really, anything.”
After a moment of silence, Quentin leaned to one side and said, ”When our squad broke through, we brought this thing out of the weapon and equipment database... I thought it might come in handy for someone.”
Behind him, several machinist retainers put down the giant bags from their back. The giant bags hit the ground, echoing dully like iron stones.
One of the bags tore and a heavy helmet covered with scratches rolled out, revealing a cold and vicious lion visor.
”Gospel armor?”
Vasco was shocked for a long while and smiled sturdily. ”What a coincidence! The size suits me well.”
He bowed his head, bent down, and took off his belt. The steel armor attached to his body was removed automatically and his upper body was exposed. Surgical stitches still could be seen on his upper body. The unhealed wounds, after a long time of sultriness and friction, had become red and inflamed, twisted with raised stitches.
However, his spine and arms showed several metal joints that were embedded in the flesh. The thumb-size joints had not been yet truly integrated with him, being covered with dried blood.
”Put the armor on me.”
He nodded to the machinists and smiled with self-mockery. ”Am I the first one who put on the gospel armor just after the implantation surgery?”
Quentin hesitated for a moment, gritted his teeth, and nodded.
Then the machinists quickly went into action, lifting the armor that was too heavy and large for a human and placing it on Vasco.
Although there were no dressing racks specifically designed for assembly, their actions were as fast as ever. Vasco was soon covered with the steel armor as if he had walked into his coffin ahead of time.
Under the visor, only the heavy wheezing reverberated.
”This is the medium-sized armor of the exusiai level, equipped with the Halberd of Turbulence and Thermal Epee. Its performance is 40 times better that of Eagle the Shepherd, and so is the pressure.”
Quentin quickly warned, ”There is no support from the enchantment of the Sacred City. Without army musicians, the power in the Aether Furnace is only enough for you to act minimally for ten minutes. Remember, don't launch the Core of Glory! Your surgery has just been done, and you will be burnt into ashes with no buffer plug implanted.”
”I know.” Vasco nodded under the visor and said with a muffled voice, ”The armored knights will follow me when we break through. The blade dancers are responsible for protecting the machinists... Don't drop your teammates, Quentin, don't drop any of them.”
He paused and whispered, ”Otherwise my sacrifice has no value.”
”I swear.” Quentin nodded.
”Then what are you waiting for?”
”I'm sorry, only number eight.”
Quentin took the syringe from the adjutant, injected it slowly into a blood vessel, and said, ”In addition to the painkillers, three times more epinephrine is added. Rest assured, you will not suffer.”
”Well done.” Vasco laughed. ”Launch it!”
Several machinists glanced at each other and pulled out the brake valves on the armor at the same time.
In the explosion, hot steam sprayed out from the joints of the valves, making their welding masks red and hot.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The bolts on the gospel armor's back were torqued in order. The fine nerve probes popped out of the armor bones and pierced into Vasco's spinal column.
Almost immediately, the hubs rotated, and the last six control valves were screwed into the joints on his hands and back.
Iron and human were integrated into one.
”Ahhhhhhhhhhh...!”
In silence, a terrible roar burst out of the armor, and the air shuddered like a monster swallowing and spitting sulfur and flames. In the flying dust, the huge gospel armor took a step forward, and the earth roared.
Vasco was screaming.
The voice was no longer human, like steel rubbing, with a trembling reverberation.
Just like the start of an oven, the heat spread. The heat flow, which was enough to burn people to ashes, centered on the Aether Furnace on the back of the gospel armor, ran above the armor, and finally flew into Vasco's body.
If he couldn't bear this inhuman power, then he would be completely turned to ashes.
If he couldn't resist such suffering, he would be driven mad by this maniacal force. He wouldn't be able to tell the enemy and himself apart, so everything, including himself, would be completely reduced to ashes.
In the silence, there was only the hissing in Vasco's throat, like the terrible high-pitched screaming of an iron eagle.
With the iron and steel rubbing against each other, the steel giant stepped forward and pulled the three meter high steel flag from the ground. Above the scorched flag stood the Bronze Eagle spreading its wings.
Vasco pushed it into the sky, as if it were about to fly.
”...The eagle flag is here!” the steel giant cried. ”Everyone prepare—”
The voice was thunderous and reverberated in the gloomy and shattered church.
”—to break through with me!”
Then, the sound of drawing swords rang endlessly.