After collecting himself, Jamil rubbed his face, smoothing out his slightly uncontrolled expression before settling into a look of deep melancholy.
Against the backdrop of the starry sky, the sadness on his face seemed even heavier.
But he quickly adjusted his mindset, quietly reassuring himself: he was only here to negotiate, not to stir up trouble. Yes—just negotiation.
The Twelve Angels were each forces unto themselves. Even so, compared to the combat style of the monster he had just witnessed… Jamil had no confidence at all.
They could indeed crush a small army, but that didn't mean they could stand their ground against direct hits from large-caliber artillery. Even if they somehow managed it, two shots at most and they'd be finished.
If they were up against something like Apocalypse's fighting style, they'd probably be "sleeping peacefully" before long.
Their combat doctrine relied heavily on Sandevistan, powerful cyberware, and superior firepower to conduct guerrilla-style engagements. When facing enemy attacks, evasion was the priority—though not absolute evasion.
Small-caliber rounds that couldn't break their defenses were simply ignored.
But judging from the footage just now, that monster's speed completely overwhelmed the soldiers' targeting speed. It could have dodged long before they ever fired.
Yet it didn't.
Jamil didn't believe a corporation capable of producing such a bio-weapon would make something stupid. Which meant it clearly hadn't even taken the New United States Army's attacks seriously…
Among the Twelve Angels, Jamil wasn't particularly strong—if anything, he ranked somewhere in the lower middle. But he valued his life more than anyone else.
So when faced with Apocalypse openly displaying its power, he very naturally chose to follow his instincts.
"It's fine. If the talks fall through, they fall through… no matter what, I can't afford to turn hostile…"
Jamil rubbed his face and made up his mind. I'm going to survive this. Heh.
...
The New United States forces still on the battlefield, however, were in no state of mind like Jamil's.
The crushing pressure of a top-tier hunter made their bodies tremble. What had just happened was still vivid in their memories, and the battlefield fell into an eerie silence.
Only Apocalypse remained, casually holding a corpse in its claws as it silently scanned its surroundings.
Anke's eyes were wide, his face deathly pale. He had just claimed that nothing would affect the battle—only for something like this to appear, right in the middle of his own troops. Missile saturation wasn't even an option…
As the New United States hesitated to act, Apocalypse slowly lowered itself to the ground. Its front claws dug into the earth as its center of gravity sank.
"Eliminate all threats… leave none alive!"
Boom!
With a violent explosion, the intact ground beneath Apocalypse collapsed under the immense force.
A ring of compressed air burst outward, and scorched claw marks were left across the ground where Apocalypse surged forward.
By the time the surrounding soldiers reacted and turned their heads, a combat vehicle had already been torn apart by its claws, reduced to several pieces scattered across the ground.
Boom!
"This is going too far! Surround it and kill it! I don't believe its energy supply is infinite!"
Anke's fear was instantly crushed by rage. He slammed the table and issued the order.
"Yes, sir!"
...
With Anke's command, countless armed drones flew in from the distance. Light machine guns immediately locked onto Apocalypse and opened fire. Brass-colored rounds struck its body one after another, yet achieved absolutely nothing.
Seemingly irritated by the attacks, Apocalypse threw its head back and let out a roar. In an instant, sparks erupted everywhere, and the drones lost control, spinning wildly before crashing into the ground.
But soon, even more drones swarmed in. Anke even diverted part of the main battlefield's forces to encircle Apocalypse.
Combat vehicles and tanks converged, and countless New United States soldiers surrounded it—but only temporarily.
After another thunderous roar, Apocalypse's massive body charged toward a single direction. Its terrifying strength flipped a combat vehicle in an instant, using it as a foothold to leap away.
Every landing left a massive crater in a vehicle or tank, a clear sign that its sheer weight was just as horrifying.
Before long, Apocalypse broke free from the New United States battlefield. With a single leap, it plunged straight into a nearby PROJECT armed AV.
All that remained was utter devastation. This single engagement alone inflicted losses on the New United States forces that were almost impossible to quantify.
Anke's expression had never looked worse, but there was nothing he could do about Apocalypse leaving. Missiles? Judging from what he'd just seen, even taking a direct hit probably wouldn't seriously injure it.
Worse still, it would just keep tearing through their forces afterward—at that point, they might actually hand victory to the Free State Alliance.
For now, despite the heavy losses, the situation was barely still under control.
The Free State Alliance, on the other hand, was all smiles—especially Baru. He had initially thought PROJECT was just messing with him. He never imagined they'd unleash something this terrifying.
It tore open the New United States battle line, allowing their troops to push forward and throwing the battlefield back into a stalemate.
If Apocalypse hadn't withdrawn so early, Baru reckoned they might have driven this entire force into retreat.
After all, Apocalypse had drawn in an enormous amount of enemy manpower and delivered a crushing blow to the morale of the New United States troops.
They had never encountered anything this horrifying.
"...Boss, that thing… it won't lose control, will it?"
Vilet had witnessed everything. She turned her head and asked calmly, her expression unchanged—yet Roland could still sense the unease beneath it.
"It won't. Relax. As things stand, anything that could make it lose control is in my hands. I'm not some lunatic—I wouldn't let it run wild."
Roland shook his head as he spoke. Only then did Vilet finally let out a quiet sigh of relief.
If she ever had to fight that thing… she seriously doubted she could last five rounds—maybe not even one…
Back aboard the armed AV, Apocalypse had already disengaged its Carnage Mode and returned to Maine's control.
After shaking his head a few times, Maine finally regained his senses. A flood of memories surged into his mind.
"Just now… that was me?"
Maine asked, stunned and disbelieving.
"To be precise, it was Apocalypse—not you."
Roland's projection appeared in front of Maine and spoke calmly.
"Apocalypse?"
"It's the carnage program inside you. Only by activating it can this body's true power be fully unleashed. Given your current condition, you'll need a long period of specialized training before you can properly control it."
Roland looked Maine over as he spoke.
Maine nodded. He could feel it himself—the awkwardness when controlling this body. His grip over its strength was imperfect, and he couldn't fully utilize its capabilities.
"So, boss, what do you need me to do now?"
Maine looked at Roland, curiosity in his voice.
"Hmm… head back to the original base for now. I'll have Lissandra and Mudor install a limiter on you, just to prevent any issues in daily life."
"Understood."
...
(40 Chapters Ahead)
p@treon com / GhostParser