Leave a comment

The first day of the Southern Plains Crisis was spent mostly in a fit of anger for General Rodenas. Whether it was the first hour of the crisis, or the last for that day, he was constantly in an explosive state. By the end of day one, the command room was almost destroyed…

Naturally, that last part was an exaggeration. But it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that those who were unfortunate enough to be there that day, worked under the bloodshot eyes of a predator, filling them with fear of when this raging bear would suddenly turn his sights on them.

The man wasn’t called the Raging Bear without reason. But there was reason for his madness; Southern Plains was now overrun by ghosts in the dead of night.

Compared to the mindless zombies in the day, these stealthy nightmares were natural-born assassins. With no corporeal form, they could pass through walls, appearing when you’d least expect them. Just that trait alone afforded them a special place amongst the undead.

This immaterial nature was unusual to Gaia, due to the environment actively destroying such entities. Yet through some unknown means, the perpetrator of Southern Plains was able to bring in such otherworldly invaders. Thanks to that, the laws of the world itself were in disarray. Slowly but surely, the spiritual energy particles in the air were starting to mutate due to the clashing of the two worlds.

For the time being however, these ghosts could only act within the confines of Southern Plains. This aberration in the laws of the world was only limited to Southern Plains. And even though the scientists of this world could not make heads or tails of the occult, they quickly realised that the ghosts couldn’t leave Southern Plains.

Thank the stars for that as well. Had this not been the case, General Rodenas would have already ordered the firing of Heavensrail at the city.

But just because they escaped an untimely death by orbital laser, that did not mean the citizens of Southern Plains were in the clear either. All through the night, these ghosts would relentlessly hunt down any living human being, of whom the soldiers and policemen formed no small part. While the two forces might possess the required weapons to harm the ghosts, their ability to pass through walls was difficult to guard against.

Perhaps one might be relieving oneself when a ghostly hand suddenly reached out from the toilet bowl. Or perhaps one might be taking a dump when a pair of hands suddenly passed through the cubicle doors to claw at you. Either way, a decent chunk of people died in ambushes during the night.

Barring the General who was beside himself when he learnt of these ghosts, anyone who even knew a shred of what was happening in Southern Plains wouldn’t be able to sleep well that night.

If there had to be one silver lining amidst the stream of bad news, it would be that girl, who was slowly being known as the Goddess of War…

In the morning of the second day, one of the ace exosuit pilots of the Federation, codenamed Floater, encountered a new titan of a foe: a reanimated, skeletal Coatl!

In life, the Coatl was of the Disaster-class, possessing immeasurable strength. In death, it was now free from the constraints of the flesh, turning it into the perfect weapon of war. During their initial exchanges, Floater found herself at a severe disadvantage.

However, that was mostly due to her being unfamiliar with the tactics of this new opponent. Now that she had figured out its attack patterns, she could employ her signature detachable bits, from which her codename was derived, to turn the tables instantly.

A normal soldier piloting an exosuit was roughly at the level of a Four-star. An elite soldier would reach Five-stars. As for ace pilots… they had their own customised exosuits, so they could even be as powerful as a Six-star!

Unfortunately, all that was predicated on machinery. In a world of science, humans had naturally grown reliant on external tools to fight. Which meant that should an enemy appear that their tools weren’t built to fight, it would be difficult for humans to adapt right away. By that time, they might have already lost, despite the enemy being weaker.

Strictly speaking, the skeletal Coatl was merely a Five-star. However, Floater’s exosuit was more specialised for long-range fire support. Her own piloting skills were tailored to that end, resulting in her melee skills being nearly non-existent.

Thanks to that mismatch in skills, the skeletal Coatl was able to perform much better than it normally would have. Thankfully, every ace pilot had their own killer technique they could rely on in a pinch. Combined with the fact that she was still a whole tier stronger than the Coatl, she managed to scrape a victory in the end.

Had Floater been a melee specialist, the Coatl would have been defeated in seconds.

But that wasn’t the reason why the battle with that Coatl was important. The main reason why the Coatl was even a topic worth mentioning was because it so happened to be fighting where Mo Ke was…

Barely a second after the first Coatl was taken down, a second and third Coatl popped up…

The second Coatl went after Floater, but the third seemed to be eyeing Mo Ke…

———Change of Scene———

Ever since he witnessed the Goddess of War’s fight, Stuart had been looking forward to every crumb of new footage. Even in his dreams, he imagined he was some sort of superhuman, fighting alongside the Goddess in a city of dead.

As the saying went, good things come to those who wait. Barely a minute into noon, a video of the Goddess was uploaded.

Unlike yesterday, the Goddess was a little different, in that she suddenly sprouted a pair of regal purple wings!

If the Goddess of yesterday could still be said to have some semblance to a mortal, then the Goddess of today was just that, a goddess!

Her flowing purple hair danced in the raging winds around her. Her eyes, a cold calmness that tolerated no blasphemy.

From the start of the battle, the Goddess freed herself from her toy of an exosuit. She wielded that same fire and ice weapon as she took to the skies in a flourish.

Her opponent was a horrific bony creature with a body of a serpent that had wings. This monster foolishly tried to attack the Goddess, but her speed was beyond the comprehension of a mere undead monster.

The Goddess accelerated in a flash, dodging its attack before appearing atop the monster. She then raised her sword up high and brought it down in a burst of fire and ice energies, perfectly splitting the creature in half…

The video came to an abrupt end there. But even though he was still yearning for more, Stuart couldn’t help but chant as he knelt reverently before the screen, “Long live the Goddess!”

It was then that Stuart’s mom worked out of the kitchen with a plate of freshly fried vegetables. Just like before, she found her son in an almost comical posture, yelling into the empty air.

She was just about to ask when her son started explaining, “Mom, I know what you’re wondering why I’m kneeling, but do not ask anything, just watch this video with me and I promise you will join me as well…”

The same scene was played out across multiple different households: family members yelling “Long live the Goddess” before pulling the uninitiated amongst them to watch the video as well…

——Change of Scene——

Having turned into a Fallen Angel, Mo Ke slew a skeletal Coatl in one fell strike.

He had now confirmed his newfound strength, and was more than ready to use it. Ignoring the exosuit pilot, he dove straight for the remaining skeletal Coatl, swinging at it with Icy Inferno, splitting its head open before the creature could even react!

Without its soul flame to animate it, the massive skeleton immediately fell apart in mid-air, and what was supposed to be a bitter, drawn-out battle was over in a flash.

Still in the midst of enacting a counterplan, Floater now had the dubious honor of having to cancel her maneuvers, tumbling awkwardly to the side, having done nothing at all.

“Are you alright?” Asked a genuinely concerned Mo Ke as he stood before the white exosuit. That Coatl did not manage to inflict any further damage on the exosuit, but the tumble seemed to have -given how the pilot hadn’t tried to stand up even after a few seconds.

“I’m fine”, was the response he got. Judging by the pilot’s slightly cool voice, she was probably a young lady, most likely in her early twenties.

“You’re the one who helped out with the Scorpids yesterday, weren’t you? You have my thanks for that.”

“Even without me, you would have been fine.”

“At the very least your intervention reduced the number of casualties.”

“And if I had known this was your true strength, I probably wouldn’t have been such a busybody.”

“That’s not true at all, I definitely wasn’t as strong yesterday as I am today.”

“Right.”

“No, really.”

“And I said right…”

“…”

The two continued conversely in such a manner, exchanging one reply for another, all the while maintaining a distinct distance between each other. Mo Ke was hoping to obtain more information from the pilot, while Floater was busy being awed by Mo Ke’s astonishing strength. For a single person to destroy two gigantic monsters like that was simply unprecedented. World changing!

Both of them chatted till Bitong and the girls arrived on scene as well.

“Big brother, that was amazing!!” Qiaoqiao spread her robotic arms wide open as she dove for Mo Ke.

Wingless, Mo Ke easily side-stepped her excited hug. He definitely did not want to experience being hugged by an exosuit….

“Congratulations on Your Highness finally breaking the seal..”

“Lixiang, about that seal you keep talking about…”

“There’s no need to be modest, Your Highness, with your prowess…”

“Ke! Do you know how worried I was?!” Bitong cut off Lixiang before she could continue with her delusional middle schooler act. “You mustn’t do such a dangerous thing in the future!”

“What do you mean dangerous? Did you not see how amazing big brother was? It was that monster who was in danger!”

“His Highness is invincible!”

With Mo Ke’s near-impossible slaying of the two Coatls in seconds, Qiaoqiao and Lixiang had now fully converted into being Mo Ke fangirls.

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE