In Hayden's seven years as a lone wolf mercenary, bloodshed and carnage had become commonplace, and few battles could shock him. Yet now, everything he knew was turned upside down.
The Vajrapani gods were all giants standing two and a half meters tall, yet their movements were anything but clumsy; on the contrary, they were terrifyingly agile and swift. The Vajrapani warrior who initiated the close combat exchanged blows with Angela for two seconds, but the scene seemed to stretch on for two minutes. He swung his vajra at Angela, and mortals couldn't even see the hundreds of attacks he unleashed in those two seconds; all they could see was the flying blades, with lightning hidden within, each strike carrying the force to split mountains and cleave seas, spewing out incandescent lightning.
Under the night sky, Mithra's divine power flowed continuously into the bodies of the divine warriors, radiating boundless energy.
However, Angela handled these lightning-fast strikes with the ease of an assembly line worker. The lightning bolts unleashed by the two Vajra Warriors carved furrows in the storm surrounding her, yet failed to pierce through. The aftershocks shattered the steel warehouse floor and smashed through its walls. The other students stared in stunned silence at this god-like battle, their breath caught in their fear and shock.
Hayden, on the other hand, now felt like a mortal watching an alien superhero fight against alien biological weapons.
What can a mortal wizard do when he accidentally stumbles into a battle between gods?
In the third second of the exchange, the battle took a significant turn. Taking advantage of the Vajra Warrior's missed attack, Ange stretched out her arm in a white arc and actually grabbed the Vajra in her opponent's hand!
An incredible sight then appeared. Where Angela's hand had touched the vajra, suddenly bursting into bloom with vibrant flowers! The pink and white blossoms exuded fragrance, filling the entire sewer and instantly masking the original filth and stench.
Even after fighting for over a hundred years, who could have witnessed such a bizarre situation on the battlefield? Vajrapani quickly snatched back his weapon. Angela didn't stop him, letting him take the vajra back.
However, when the god warrior swung the vajra covered in flowers, intending to launch another attack—the vajra exploded! The power of the thunder reversed, and the force of the backlash explosion was even greater than before, shattering the giant's entire right arm. The aftershocks even flattened the walls of the underground warehouse, and the resulting tremors knocked the students, who had just regained their footing, to the ground once again.
Even the most fearless super soldiers were momentarily stunned by this bizarre sight they had never seen before.
However, that was only a momentary moment of surprise.
Even after enduring a blow powerful enough to destroy a mortal, this Vajra warrior's movements didn't slow down in the slightest; he continued fighting with his single arm. They were specifically designed for combat, able to continue fighting as long as they weren't dead, no matter how severe the injury.
The other two Vajra Warriors also switched tactics without hesitation. They stopped trying to draw enemy fire and went straight for Angela, launching a close-quarters attack. Three Vajra Warriors, each two and a half meters tall, were besieging Angela, who was less than one and a half meters tall. The three of them moved as if they were one, like a giant with three heads and six arms (well, now it's five arms).
Even if Angela could gain a slight advantage in dealing with the attack of one Vajra Warrior, how could she possibly withstand the combined attack of three War Gods at the same time? Especially since these three Vajra Gods moved in perfect unison, as if they were one person.
So soon, the second Vajrapani seized an opening in the encirclement. He mustered all his strength, and the power of Mithra burst forth with lightning in his eyes, right arm, and vajra, allowing him to unleash a precise and perfect strike.
Angela finally couldn't dodge this time. Left with no other choice, she clenched her left fist and swung it.
A deafening roar, even louder than thunder, immediately echoed across the battlefield.
Angela's left fist collided with the vajra that the god warrior swung down!
Heavy! Powerful! A devastating collision!
The Vajrapani was blasted away like a cannonball. He crashed into a sewer pillar, the lingering force of his punch shattering the solid steel column, before plunging into the next section of the sewer, finally emerging from the other side of the abandoned industrial area, collapsing completely. His armor was shattered by the force of the punch. Neither Mitra Corporation's most advanced power armor technology nor the sacred biological genes flowing in his blood could save his life.
At the same time, Angela frowned, stepped back to avoid the attacks of the other two Vajra Warriors who were close behind without hesitation.
Because her left arm had already been disintegrated by the lightning of the vajra at the moment of impact.
The nanosuit, the terracotta body, the mithril skeleton, and the white Orichalcos skin coating—all the defensive capabilities Hayden had prepared for her body were no match for the true Protoss combat weapons.
Although she was a mechanical doll, a golem, and indeed made of steel, was steel really strong enough for this situation? Angela's left arm wires snapped, sparks flew, and alchemical circulating fluid gushed out. She didn't actually feel pain, but she couldn't help feeling a little annoyed.
The impact caused the excessive forces to collide, severely damaging her body. A series of malfunction alarms were now ringing in her mind. Her combat capabilities, achievable through this body, were decreasing.
Angela didn't want to complain, nor did she feel she should. But objectively speaking, she had to admit that her doll-like body was indeed not strong enough. Now that her body had been further weakened, she could only jump around and dodge the relentless attacks of the remaining two Thunder Giants.
The circulating fluid and gas dripping from the severed part of her left arm scattered across the broken ground of the warehouse and sewers, causing tender green stems to grow rapidly, vibrant flowers to bloom one after another, velvety emerald green moss to sprout on the rocks, and even the sewage began to clear, and the air to become cleaner. It purified the filth and eliminated toxins.
Hayden witnessed all of this. For a moment, he had a vague idea, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He was unwilling to just watch Angela fall into trouble, so he suddenly recalled the scene three months ago when Angela fought that high-ranking demon.
Back then, Angela would pick up a clod of dirt, blow on it, and it would turn into ten mud dolls that ran to fight for her. Hayden couldn't do the same, but look at the scene around him now—this polluted land, this dying nature, is now being purified and healed by Angela's breath.
Could he do something similar?
Hayden pulled a bright green test tube from his belt, opened it, and poured all the vapor dissolved in the liquid onto the ground.
“accio (I call), accio (I call), aqua (water), ventus (wind), terra (earth),”
While sprinkling liquids and gases onto the ground, Hayden chanted rapidly in an ancient language.
"Acciospiritus (I call upon the spirits of this place)!"
This ancient magic has long since ceased to be effective, and no magician uses it anymore.
Because the great corporations, the gods of the new era, have long since dominated nature with even greater methods and power. On those lands where life has not yet withered, the spirits of nature have been enslaved by capital, creating value for the company on assembly lines. Mortal magic can no longer summon them.
...But this is land that has been polluted, exhausted, dying, and then abandoned by the company.
This is land that the company no longer wastes its resources on controlling.
So Hayden’s call was answered.
Just as one of the Vajra Warriors was about to strike Angela again, something else began to join the fray.
A rough, three-meter-tall figure made of mud and rock, half a meter taller than the Vajra warriors, suddenly rose from behind the divine warrior, unleashing a powerful earth-pounding fist. But the Vajra warriors, being the world's most elite soldiers, reacted instantly, stepping forward to dodge the attack, and then swiftly turning and slashing. The vajra pierced the clay figure's chest, splitting it in two.
But a water elemental immediately appeared before him. This spirit, half wave and half humanoid, was composed of clear water recently purified by Angela, and in turn sprayed the divine warrior's face with sewage from deeper underground. Fortunately, the strongest soldier was not diminished in combat power by this, and immediately unleashed a bolt of lightning, instantly vaporizing it.
But there was also a wind element hovering above their heads.
And Hayden was calling for more. One, two, four? Eight! The power of this spirit summoning spell was even greater than Hayden had originally estimated! This was not only because of Angela's aura, but also because the spiritual veins, the land, and the spirits here all deeply hated the Mitra Group.
Through the connection of sympathetic magic and the link of summoning spells, Hayden could even sense emotions they shouldn't have—the spirits of the natural elements who inhabit and construct the material world, whose intelligence is not actually as developed as that of humans, belonging to simple-minded spiritual beings. Therefore, they are easily bound by magic and further exploited by the company.
However, Hayden could now sense their anger and hatred.
Earth spirits, air spirits, water spirits—those natural spirits that were once polluted but are now being slightly purified, those that were once depleted but are now being gradually healed—all of them are constantly surging out from this angry land, swarming up to interfere and attack.
Well, in reality, they couldn't really harm these warrior gods. They were, after all, beings exploited by the gods. So neither Hayden nor these spirits could inflict any real damage on the Vajrapani God. But at least they gave Angela a sliver of hope.
Moreover, this battle wasn't just between Hayden and Angela.
Thank you, Comrade Hayden, you've covered for long enough.
Before the battle even began, Alastor had remained seated on his strange black lotus throne, as he had always been. But now his movements began to change. His eyes were filled with immense leyline energy as he reached out and raised his hands toward the two Vajrapani deities in the center of the battlefield.
[Heavenly Demon Reversal Cannon, fire!]
053: Justice is on my side
Angela was actually the first to notice the changes in the earth's veins.
As the immense magic began to gather beneath her feet, she was the first to react, leaping lightly and drifting away as nimbly as the wind.
The next instant, Alastor raised his hand and reached out to grab it, then clenched it.
Dark, yet invisible spiritual energy immediately surged from the ground, spreading, churning, and grabbing the two Vajra Warriors, as if a pair of giant hands had seized their legs.
The War Gods showed neither fear nor panic. They immediately began to break free and resist, lightning surging as they channeled the power of their divine speed, ready to shatter the earth's shackles in an instant.
How can the spirits of the earth capture and bind celestial beings?
However, this place has more than just the power of earth spirits.
Just as the Vajrapani were about to break free from the earth's ley lines, they suddenly sensed an energy unlike any they had ever felt before. A cold, ominous power flowed through their lightning, sending a chill down the spines of these fearless super warriors.
What force, so cold yet so hot, gripped their bones so tightly that it refused to let go?
Within a second, both Vajra Warriors reacted:
It was the land's resentment that was pulling them apart.
It is this natural land, exploited and ravaged by the Mithra Group, that, through the sympathetic curse cast by Alastor and this ill-fated relationship with the company, is clinging tightly to the leg of the gods.
Supernatural powers are no match for karma, the law of cause and effect! Alastor's genius is terrifying! Even with their lightning-fast speed, they couldn't escape the pull of the [Heavenly Demon - Reversal Cannon], and were instead sucked together, just like the security guards before them, kneaded into a large ball of flesh and metal!
So the third Protoss warrior raised his vajra high.
One exploded, and the other was knocked away. This was the last Vajra they had left. However, the Protoss warrior forcefully stabbed it into the sewer floor beneath his feet.
What on earth is going on? Has this Protoss warrior lost his mind because of the irresistible and horrific way he is about to die?
Of course not!
The next moment, an explosion resembling a miniature sun sent shockwaves soaring into the sky!
This place is underground, yet even the aftershocks of the explosion caused a sudden, churning mushroom cloud to rise from the ground, driving even toxic pollutant particles in the air far away. The shockwave and divine lightning pierced deep into the earth, severely damaging the very spirit of this land, causing it to emit a mournful wail in the void.
It remained resentful, and even more furious—but it still retreated.
If the spirits of this abandoned industrial zone truly could not bear the resentment of being bullied by the gods, how could they have survived until today? If these spirits were truly oblivious to their own mortality, couldn't the gods of the large corporation completely annihilate them? Couldn't the Mithra Group more thoroughly enslave these natural spirits whose intelligence was barely more than that of wild beasts?
of course not.
Since everything is just a matter of cost and profit, only natural spirits that won't cause trouble for the company's gods or require the company to spend money to deal with can survive.
Stinging from the divine lightning, the natural spirits of the abandoned industrial zone cowered like dogs that had been beaten. Even the earth spirits, air spirits, and water spirits that Hayden had just summoned dared not peek out again.
Now that their resentment and anger were gone, the gravitational pull of the [Heavenly Demon - Reverse Cannon], based on the connection of sympathetic magic, naturally diminished significantly. The two Vajra Warriors used their lightning-fast feet to escape the gravitational pull.
However, they were not entirely unharmed.
A sun-bright explosion shattered the third vajra, melted their power armor, and vaporized the third warrior's right hand. Ironically, the remaining two Vajrapani were now without their vajras, and only had two hands left. Fortunately, their genes and upbringing were specifically designed for combat. Even without weapons, could they not kill like mowing grass with only one arm, their willpower, and the overwhelming power of thunder?
Angela floated lightly to a distance, unaffected by the blast. However, she had already lost her left arm, leaving her with only one hand. Even if she sacrificed her remaining right hand, she could at most kill one more Vajra Warrior. Even if she kicked the last one to death with one leg, the Mitra Group could easily deploy the remaining two reserves along with the lightning.
She thought about the tactics with very simple logic, and couldn't help but frown.
How can this be good?
The same question was also lingering in Hayden's mind.
What to do now?
He glanced back at Alastor and found that the young hacker was in even worse shape than before. The [Heavenly Demon - Retreat Cannon] had missed its target, yielding little result, but Alastor's exhaustion was real. He was already pale and emaciated before the battle even began, and now even his hair was withering and falling out. His once handsome appearance was becoming increasingly gaunt, as if he had aged ten years.
This is definitely not just a normal phenomenon of draining ley line magic, nor can it be achieved by any life-energy-based spell, even if one were to risk everything. If risking everything could accomplish this, the world wouldn't be what it is today.
Alastor used curse magic transmitted through a sympathetic connection. Curses have always been a magical system prone to backlash, a fact Hayden was well aware of. But if curse magic alone could threaten the gods, those large corporations would have been condemned and killed long ago; how could they have survived to this day, let alone control the world?
So Hayden eliminated several incorrect options, thought for a moment, and finally realized: "Pollution?"
The spiritual veins of this abandoned industrial zone are not only filled with the remnants that the Mitra Group doesn't want, but are also so polluted that even large companies find it troublesome to deal with them.
And how could Alastor, who used this ley line energy to plot against the War Gods, not be poisoned in return?
Alastor nodded slowly: "Despite all the scheming, the weight of the scales was still a notch short. I never expected that a single Vajra God could severely injure and frighten away the Earth Spirit with a single blow. I also never expected that they could come up with a way to break free from [Heavenly Demon - Retreat Cannon] in less than a second by severely injuring the Earth Spirit with a self-destructing Vajra Pestle."
It is said that the battle gods, through special genetic modification, can think in battle on a microsecond basis, always maintaining 100% concentration without the slightest hesitation. What might be a mere instant for humans feels like an entire day to the mighty warriors in battle.
Hayden had only heard of such things and didn't know if they were true or false, nor could he verify the specific figures... But now it seems that even if it's not true, it's at least not an exaggeration.
Surprise them and then take advantage of their weakness—that won't work, and we've already lost in terms of combat strength. So how do we fight?
"The [Heavenly Demon - Reverse Cannon] is broken. Even if it can still be used, it won't solve the current problem."
Knowing he was doomed, Alastor remained remarkably calm.
"We're beyond saving. Comrade Hayden, you should retreat immediately!"
Even more tragically, he might actually be right.
Various ideas swirled in Hayden's mind, but he couldn't come up with a good solution. The design of the [Heavenly Demon - Retreat Cannon] was ingenious, and it might have indeed offered a glimmer of hope. However, the spiritual energy of this land was reduced to ashes, and the spirit itself was already severely injured. Even if the same trick were used again, it would be impossible to defeat the [Vajra God].
Then something even worse happened at that time.
Two more bolts of lightning suddenly streaked across the night sky. Finally, the two fully armed Vajra Warriors stepped onto the battlefield amidst the lightning. Thus, the humble sewer was now crammed with four Mithra Group god-like combat units. Although two of them were unarmed and missing an arm, the four warrior gods surrounding the weakened Angela seemed destined for only one outcome.
Hayden should perhaps have given up on destroying those Protoss, and he should perhaps have given up on saving Alastor and the remaining students. To put it bluntly, Alastor was already prepared to self-destruct anyway. Why should Hayden sacrifice the happy life he'd been enjoying lately just to save others?
For what?
He had already given the answer to this question to the students who had successfully escaped.
"Damn it. A man lives for his pride."
So Hayden gritted his teeth.
"It's not over yet... huh?"
The natural spirit of this land has been polluted and severely damaged.
They were even wounded in their hearts, so much so that they would retreat like frightened birds if hurt again.
Without this pollution and damage, if the land's spiritual veins still possessed the abundant energy they had when it was healthy, those two Vajrapani gods would have already been sucked in and crushed to death by the [Heavenly Demon - Retreat Cannon].
In Alastor, and indeed in the entire realm of Mara, no one possesses the power to heal the spiritual veins of this land. Even the great gods of the larger realms could accomplish it, but even they would need to expend considerable resources and effort.
But Hayden had a way.
...At least Hayden has a way to try.
"Alastor, lend a hand."
Explaining it with words would be a waste of time. Hayden reached out and poked Alastor, transmitting his thoughts and plans to him through sympathetic magic.
Alastor's eyes widened when he learned of Hayden's plan. But instead of agreeing, he quickly thought for a moment and said, "No, I will preside over the ceremony."
"Stop fucking messing around! You're about to die!"