Chapter 12 - Strength of the Rankers Part 2

<ALERT! ALERT! Enemy spotted. All hands to battle stations.>

Just as they were in the middle of their meal, the alarm was raised. The food court, which had been packed with onlookers, immediately became deserted; they were trained men, after all. Mersa started panicking—it was natural, given it was her first time. But Vorst’s reaction was different; he calmly looked toward the adult sitting beside him. Mistglan, seeing the inquiry in his gaze, laughed it off calmly.

[Mistglan: No need to worry, just continue the meal. With three Rankers, we should be safe.]

Vorst nodded and took Mersa's hand. Feeling his warmth, the Wolf Princess instantly calmed down. Mistglan, observing the gesture, was inwardly shocked. Over the past week, he had noticed that the distance between Vorst and Mersa had shortened quickly. Now he understood why… This child... S-so STRONG… Having suffered through bad experiences in the past, Mistglan was not adept at dealing with the opposite sex. He had been surpassed by a child…

With a swipe of his hand, a large holo-monitor appeared in the middle of the now-empty food court. On the screen, various red spots appeared, and as it zoomed in, countless metallic silhouettes emerged.

[Mersa: Mechs…]

A small whisper escaped her lips. Mechanical Bots, commonly abbreviated as Mechs, were mass-produced bot soldiers measuring around 2 meters. Possessing an Energy Crystal as their core, they wielded Photon Guns and were commonly used as fodder in battles. The power of Mechs was comparable to a 10 LST. With high specs and mechanical reaction speeds, they could defeat a 'human' opponent of the same level. That’s why anyone with power lower than HST was considered completely useless in large-scale wars.

Behind the masses of Mechs, a larger being could be seen. Measuring 2.5 meters, they were similar but larger than the bots. Mechanical Armor (M-Armor) could only be piloted by living beings. The amount of nano-photons required to operate them could only be found in HST and higher. As long as one could breach the 10th LST barrier, they would be capable of piloting one of these and could be enlisted in the army, receiving significant benefits. Behind these, even larger machines appeared…

[Mersa: M-Collos!]

The Kollos Alliance was a pioneer in this technology. Several millennia ago, when M-Armors were the peak of power, there was a sudden event. The first-ever being broke through the HST limit and entered the Circle Tier!

That being founded Athena’s Institute, and with a lot of effort, they created a new prototype. A 5-meter-tall human-like machine required so many nano-photons that scientists of that time were completely bewildered… But what shocked them more was that just one being was capable of powering it…

As the machine named Collos entered the fray, it wreaked so much havoc that its name became legend.

The first M-Collos and its pilot, Elf Claire, the Headmistress of Athena’s Institute.

That was common knowledge.

The number of M-Colloses was incredibly small. Around 20% of the populace was capable of reaching the HST level, but only 0.01% could attain the Circle Tier.

Two armies clashed. The sounds of photon bullets filled the air. Compared to blades, photon bullets were incredibly weak. Their main purpose was to weaken the enemy’s Photon Defense. The density of nano-photons in a bullet was too low to be a serious threat; thus, it mostly came down to a melee skirmish.

But it wasn’t that there were no powerful ranged weapons. All of them consumed a very high amount of Photons and required time to charge. That was what several M-Colloses were doing—staying in the back, discharging powerful blasts from their huge rifles.

It was Mersa’s first time seeing the raw picture of what was known as 'War'. She shuddered as she saw many of the M-Armors disappearing one after another. Vorst’s hand grasped hers tighter… With him close to her, the White Wolf Princess felt her resolve reignited. She knew that on the path she had chosen, one day she too would have to take lives, but... For him. For the sake of the boy she was close to, she chose to raise her head and watch the battle. So that she would never, ever have to watch him lying in a hospital room again…

Mistglan, seeing her reaction, was incredibly pleased. The psychological barrier that 'War' imposes on the mind was one of the most difficult things to breach. In his life, he had seen many promising individuals crushed under the weight of the pressure…

An hour passed...

Then things changed. New 'beings' entered the field.

Roughly 100 meters high.

In the shape of men.

A Mechanical God.

That’s what the difference between the mere Circle Tier and the Ranker Tier meant. A God and a mere man. Rankers might be classified into classes from 'F' as lowest to 'S' as highest, but it wasn’t a difference in Power. No. They all had a similar amount of Power. The true difference was in 'ability'. Ability to fight...

Mistglan’s eyes became serious as he saw them. Three. Three Gods descended onto the battlefield, causing the Alliance's forces to retreat. As if to welcome the guests from the giant warship, three other M-Gods came forth… Two sides stared at each other.

[Mistglan: … *after a moment of silence* Mersa… and Vorst.]

[Mersa: ?]

Marc noticed the uneasiness in the former principal’s eyes.

[Mistglan: I need to leave you for a while. But don’t worry; I will protect the ship, so nothing will happen to you.]

The young boy nodded in understanding.

[Vorst: I’ll protect Mer-chan with my life. You don’t have to worry.]

Seeing his resolute claim, Mistglan smiled. Then he stood up, and after a long jump, he summoned his M-Armor and flew in the direction of the hangar...

***

Outside, the two sides suddenly moved. When M-Gods clashed, no other beings dared to interrupt. An enormous shock wave surged through the space. Thousands of Mechs were immediately shattered. Hiding behind them, M-Armors and M-Colloses continued to back off. They all valued their lives.

On the Alliance’s side, Victor released his powers and shot out a powerful bullet of psychic energy. When it collided with the enemy M-God, it immediately pushed him back thousands of meters. Meanwhile, the other two gods, clad in white, focused their attacks on one foe. The White Gods displayed characteristics of the White Wolves. Besides their ears, they possessed powerful claws that they immediately aimed at their opponent. Victor then engaged the other enemy. That was the advantage of the Elves and their incredible psychic powers! 3v3 immediately became 3v2!

But if they thought it would be that easy, they were mistaken.

***

Victor couldn’t understand what was happening in front of him. The opponent that two White Wolves were fighting with suddenly slashed at him. With the incredible friction between nano-photons, he was forced back and crashed into one of the destroyers.

Photon Blasters fired upon the opposing Gods, but they shrugged it off by raising their Photon Barriers. The two White Wolves were in terrible shape. One of them was missing a hand, while the other had a cracked torso armor. Everything happened so fast!

***

Redwan was a powerful Ranker. Back in the days, he served the Elzeath Empire, but after it fell, he escaped to what was then called the Crimson Alliance. Rankers were widely respected, so he was offered a position immediately. In time, the Crimson Alliance changed its policies and became the Crimson Empire, but he didn’t care. As long as he had enough benefits, it could have been called Crimson Dog.

[Redwan: Amateurs.]

The man snickered as he saw two White Wolf M-Gods approaching him at high speed.

Their claws collided with his arm armor, creating incredible friction. Just as he blocked one of the wolves, he suddenly shifted his position, causing it to fly several hundred meters away. To do so, he took quite a bit of damage on his chest armor, but this was the time for his counterattack. With a punch, he sent the second one away, and his hands moved toward the swords on his back. Within seconds, a barrage of sword cuts landed on the enemy. Following this, he kicked the stunned White Wolf away.

With practiced timing, he parried the second Wolf’s attack. Suddenly, a glow appeared on his sword as he made a horizontal cut. With a desperate movement, the opponent’s M-God sacrificed its arm to save the life of its operator and was thrown away by the force of the strike.

With that, he rushed at the last M-God that was fully operational...

His third companion had just returned, and with him beating the Elven M-God was easy. If it had been a 1v1 against the Elf, it might have posed trouble for the man, but as they 3v1'ed him, the result was obvious.

Just as he was about to pierce the opponent’s chest with his sword, another sword suddenly appeared, aiming for his hand. If it had been the other two, they would have certainly lost a limb or even their lives…

With a quick parry, Redwan’s M-God was blown away.

A silver M-God suddenly appeared. With

a lion's mane and tiger’s stripes, it was holding a large white sword. The other two immediately jumped back as they noticed their new adversary… The opponent before them… They had never heard of him!!

No. Actually, there was one person who recognized the M-God before him…

[Redwan: Mistglan…]