He Ao’s mecha slowly approached the others in the sky, and at the same time, he opened the main control panel and saw the routes of other Noan units on the local network.
Noan naturally had more than these five mechas, but these five were the core and fastest weapons capable of supporting Noan’s need for a swift strike on Christos.
His remaining loyal troops took three different paths, one following behind the mecha squad to the Glorious Palace, now trailing quite far behind.
The other two paths diverged from the mecha squad, one heading to the city council, the other to the headquarters of the Dawn City police department.
Without authorization, the Federal Bureau of Investigation would not intervene in internal affairs of the Fortress City, so by focusing forces first on controlling the Glorious Palace, the city council, and the city police department, he could just barely take control of Dawn City.
Of course, the Glorious Palace was the most important; he had to kill Christos first.
Noan had an extreme desire to showcase, he definitely wanted to be at the forefront, to kill Christos with his own hands.
Therefore, among the five-member mecha squad, one mecha was piloted by Noan.
And given Noan’s mentality for playing the public saint, he was likely piloting the leading mecha.
This could be indirectly concluded from the fact that after He Ao destroyed the engine of the leading mecha, the entire squad slowed down.
In such an emergency, speed was crucial, and if the leading mecha’s pilot was just an ordinary team leader, he would have ordered his teammates to abandon him and move forward first.
Noan was most likely here!
This was also why He Ao chose to set a trap to get hold of a mecha.
"Tom, can you hear me?"
At this time, a call came through the communication channel again.
By now, He Ao was very close to them.
But before the sound of the call was complete, another aged voice resounded inside the internal channel, "He’s not Tom, kill him."
Almost at that instant, the other three mechas among the four left immediately raised their arm-mounted laser guns, aiming at He Ao.
A dazzling glow burst from the jet engine behind He Ao’s mecha.
Three flashing lasers outlined a triangle in the sky.
But they hit nothing.
A cry of alarm transmitted from the communicator, but by this time, it was too late.
A huge figure burst through the hazy rain curtain, appearing behind the far-right mecha, and with the flames surging behind it suddenly lit again, a silver sword drew a crescent moon-like brilliance in the light of the fire.
In the instant the three mechas attacked, He Ao had pushed his mecha’s power to the max and then switched off the engine at the moment of full acceleration, using inertia to rush behind the mecha on the far right.
The dark sky and blurred rain curtain were his best cover.
Bad weather could also affect the sensors and radar of a mecha.
This kind of instant on/off engine maneuver was very dangerous; one slip could mean the engine wouldn’t reignite, leading to a crash.
But Vian really liked this trick and had discovered many tips, which He Ao had successfully leveraged.
The silver swordlight passed before him, and the Blazing Angel Mech’s inherent giant sword sliced through the mecha that was under attack, cutting through its steel sinews and ultimately opening a massive energy core.
In that instant, surging energy burst forth, and the intense flames lit up the sky.
The two remaining mechas, out of the initial three that had attacked He Ao, didn’t speak and immediately raised their laser guns, aiming at both sides of the explosion.
At the same time, the ammunition they carried sprayed out like rain, falling in a deluge.
They sealed off all the routes He Ao could take to evade the explosion.
However, in that moment, a huge shadow burst through the flames of the explosion, massive mechanical debris from the blast hitting its body, piercing its armor, and even creating a huge crack in the cockpit.
The other two mechas hadn’t expected He Ao to avoid nothing at all, taking the brunt of the explosion head-on.
"What kind of madman is this."
A gasp of astonishment cut through the communication channel.
However, he no longer had the chance to speak.
The super electromagnetic cannon built into the Seraphim pierced through his cockpit in an instant, and the massive mecha fell from the sky.
Meanwhile, He Ao’s mecha closed in on another mecha.
This time, the super electromagnetic cannon was aimed at He Ao.
A blue electric light flared up on the massive cannon barrel.
In that moment, He Ao didn’t dodge, but instead fiercely grabbed the charging electromagnetic cannon with his hand.
By the time he had lunged out, he had already seized the initiative.
The two people opposite hadn’t anticipated his direct charge, lagging behind him by the time needed for a main cannon to charge.
This brief delay could decide many things.
He Ao pinched the charging main cannon, then swung his sword backhanded, extending a laser cannon from his arm, pressing it face-to-face against the cockpit of the opposing mecha.
A burst of scorching brilliance flashed by.
A powerful explosion also erupted from the opponent’s cannon barrel.
Both barrels spewed brilliance almost at the same time, He Ao piercing through the enemy’s cockpit while the enemy’s electromagnetic cannon pierced through his entire left side of the mecha, even blasting a crack in the cockpit.
If He Ao had put in even slightly less force, allowing the enemy to turn the cannon barrel, if it had been off by one more degree, he himself would have been turned into mincemeat by the electromagnetic cannon.
But He Ao had no time to catch his breath, as the intense sound of steel being pierced by a sword came from behind.
He jerked to the side, pressing against the wall of the cockpit.
A sharp greatsword pierced forward from behind, violently stabbing through the control panel.
"Son, you’ve performed very well," a gentle, nurturing voice transmitted from the central console, "but it’s time to end this."
The greatsword violently shifted, slashing horizontally.
He Ao suddenly called out!
The lights on the smart bracelet connected to the circuits and placed on the desk lit up.
Such smart bracelets come equipped with motion-sensing cameras to capture the user’s movement trajectory, but the precision isn’t very high; they rely on smart algorithms to compensate.
Although the control panel had been destroyed, it didn’t mean that He Ao had no way to control the mecha anymore, for he had other control systems.
The bracelet projected a simple number ’7’.
That was the current network delay, 7 milliseconds.
This delay would have certainly caused problems in the battle just now, but it still could be utilized at this moment.
Eve, located in Kaye City’s supercomputing unit, had already started operating at full speed.
He Ao lifted his hand as if grasping the air, his body leaning back.
Simultaneously, the giant mecha outside suddenly activated. The engines spewed out surging flames, forcefully pushing the mecha back and, following the greatsword that had pierced its body, it retreated onto the mecha behind.
Immediately after, He Ao clenched his fist in mid-air, as if he were grabbing the hilt of a greatsword again, and then thrust upward at an angle toward the area just below his chest.
The giant mecha, raising the greatsword in its hands, fiercely pierced through the lower part of its torso, penetrating its own energy core and the cockpit of the mecha behind.
By that time, He Ao had already seized the smart bracelet on the control panel and burst out, dashing through the cracked opening of the shattered cockpit.
As he leapt from the cockpit, a violent explosion erupted behind him.