The main gate of the Great Elevator core.
Beneath the heavy black-steel blast doors, dozens of Sentinel walkers painted with dark-red double-headed aquilas lined up in a row.
Thick rotary cannons gleaming with a cold metallic sheen blocked the passage completely.
Colonel Karl wore a semi-enclosed heavy powered exoskeleton, his combat boots planted firmly on a bloody, mangled lump of flesh.
That was Viper, the black-market leader, writhing like a dying wild dog.
Beside them, seven or eight heavy metal cases packed with high-purity palladium were crudely stacked together.
On the outer perimeter, a large group of Underhive traders and disarmed caravan guards were held at gunpoint by the Sentinels, squatting obediently against the wall.
A suffocating, deadly atmosphere filled every inch of the air.
“BOOM!”
An engine roar loud enough to pierce ear drums erupted violently from the dark depths of the passage.
Before the guarding soldiers could react…
A bullet-riddled Chimera Armored Transport slammed into the steel barricade in the center of the passage without slowing down.
Sparks flew as the heavy barricade was sent flying.
“BANG!”
The driver’s side door was kicked open violently.
Seth Knight stepped down in heavy combat boots.
He was no longer the blonde-haired, blue-eyed, lust-drained Major Steve.
He had black hair, dark eyes, and a sharp, blade-like face.
Draped across his broad shoulders was a sharply tailored black Commodore trench coat, its hem flapping loudly in the air currents.
Karl narrowed his eyes, sizing up this complete stranger.
“Where’d this bastard spawn come from?”
“Where’s that useless Steve who lives off women? Tell him to get his ass out here!”
He pointed at Seth Knight, sneering to his men, “I heard from the Departmento Munitorum that the waste lucked into a Major General commission?”
“What, hiding between some woman’s thighs afraid to show his face, sending a wet-behind-the-ears adjutant to throw his life away?”
Before the words fully left his mouth, Karl raised his mechanical right arm.
Behind him, two heavy Sentinel walkers burst into clanking gear grinding, black rotary cannons locking dead onto Seth Knight’s head.
“Listen up, kid.”
“My Third Armored Regiment doesn’t recognize scammed ranks.”
“Without a hand-signed order from the Minister of Military Affairs, forget a few crates of cargo—even if a fly tries to pass today, I’ll snap its wings off!”
A few ordinary PDF soldiers from neutral defensive sectors had come to hand over duty.
Watching this, they shook their heads in secret.
An old veteran muttered under his breath, “Is that kid crazy?”
“That newly promoted Major General Steve hasn’t even met all his own men, and he sends an unknown adjutant with a single Chimera Armored Transport to take on an armored regiment head-on?”
To everyone present, Seth Knight’s reckless move without any backing was nothing short of suicide.
Facing the thick rotary cannons locked onto his head, Seth Knight didn’t even bat an eye.
“Major General Steve is in seclusion.”
“From now on, every blade of grass and tree in Sector 17 is under my full authority as Commodore Seth Knight.”
Karl froze for a second, then broke into a loud, exaggerated laugh, laughing until tears almost sprang out.
“I don’t give a damn about your acting Major General! You think holding a feather makes an order? I said it: without the Minister’s hand-signed order, you won’t cross this elevator gate even if you die!”
Seth Knight watched his pathetic shouting, a cold, mocking smirk pulling at the corner of his lips.
*Snap.*
Immediately, Yulia slowly walked down the ramp.
Gone was her pathetic state from last night when she knelt begging for mercy before Seth Knight.
Now, she wore a dark-gold tailored high-couture gown.
Below the collar, the highest house emblem of Count Spencer’s family, set with a blood-red ruby, glittered brilliantly under the pale lights of the passage.
The icy majesty belonging to the top nobility of the Spire poured out without restraint from her raised chin and disdainful gaze.
Yulia walked over and stopped half a step behind Seth Knight’s side.
She glanced at Viper beneath Karl’s boot, then fixed her icy gaze on Karl’s face, her voice crisp and bone-chilling.
“Karl. Who gave you the audacity to use the Minister’s name to intercept my Count’s estate supplies here?”
Yulia’s words were like blades, unhidden contempt dripping from her tone.
“Commodore Seth Knight’s will is the absolute will of the Spencer family.”
“Are you overstepping ants looking to take your entire families into the incinerators of the Inquisition?!”
The entire scene fell into a suffocating, dead silence.
Behind Karl’s line, two minor noble representatives in sharp suits who had been enjoying the show felt their eyes nearly pop out the moment they clearly saw the blood-red ruby crest and Yulia’s face.
“Thud! Thud!”
The two scrambled out of formation, knees slamming heavily onto the hard floor, heads pressed tightly to the metal plating, shivering all over.
“Lady Count, spare us your wrath! We are guilty! We had no idea these goods belonged to you…”
The families of these two minor noble representatives couldn’t even compare to dogs in front of the massive estate of Count Spencer.
A single word from Yulia could make them vanish from the Hive.
Karl’s political backing collapsed in an instant from just two sentences.
Seeing the situation turn grim, the soldiers of the armored regiment lowered their leveled lasguns instinctively.
Merchants and neutral soldiers hiding in the back peered out, so shocked they completely lost the ability to think.
Who would have thought the usually haughty Countess would condescend to step up and back an adjutant Commodore herself!
This was called having no backing?
Seeing his soldiers start to shrink back, Colonel Karl’s face turned from white to green, furious red veins bursting in his eyes.
If he bowed his head today and let these supplies go, the Minister of Military Affairs would skin him alive when he returned.
Besides, the Spencer family would definitely settle accounts later.
Either way, it was death!
Karl, like a mad dog backed into a corner, let out a raspy roar.
“Impostor! That woman is an impostor!”
“You’ve all been bewitched by heresy! I am an officer directly under the Military Department, and I have the authority to execute rebels on the spot!”
*Clack!*
Karl pulled down his exoskeleton faceplate.
He pushed the machine armor’s power core straight into the red danger line of supercharged overload without hesitation.
Red warning lights flashed wildly in the armor seams.
Shoving aside the soldiers blocking his path, he personally operated the terrifying rotary cannon on his right arm, leveling the black barrel directly at Seth Knight less than ten meters away.
The heavy multi-barrel cannon began spinning rapidly.
“DIE, ALL OF YOU!!!”
“Sir!” The bald adjutant let out a desperate, harsh scream, instinctively rushing forward to block the fire with his own body.
Yulia screamed in terror at this sudden, desperate move.
Right as the muzzle flashed with fire—
Seth Knight stood in place without backing up even half a step. The source of this chapter is g.com.
His left arm swung up aggressively.
The Vibranium Shield bearing subtle stars-and-stripes patterns was held firmly in front of him.
“CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG—!”
A furious barrage capable of tearing light armored vehicles to shreds turned into a red-hot whip of fire, violently lashing across the surface of the Vibranium Shield.
Dazzling sparks exploded like a close-range pyrotechnic display of death, illuminating the entire tunnel bright as day.
But before everyone’s horror-struck eyes…
Seth Knight stood like an iron tower rooted in raging waves.
Not only did he not retreat half a step, but the arm holding the shield didn’t tremble even a fraction.
The unique absolute kinetic absorption property of Vibranium completely ‘ate’ the explosive impact of hundreds upon hundreds of high-explosive rounds.
“How is this possible?!” Karl screamed in a distorted, unbelievable screech behind his faceplate.
In the fleeting gap as the ammo belt ran dry, Seth Knight turned into a burst of black lightning invisible to the naked eye, charging straight at Karl with overwhelming pressure!
He slammed his shield directly into Karl’s core composite chest armor!
“BANG—!!!”
The heavy exoskeleton chest armor, said to withstand direct hits from anti-tank rockets, shattered across a massive area under the monstrous force.
Shards of sharp metal blasted backward, knocking over two rows of soldiers behind who couldn’t dodge in time.
Karl spewed a large mouthful of blood mixed with internal organ fragments through his ruined armor as his massive suit reeled backward.
Before he could fall, Seth Knight reached out his right hand and hoisted the blood-covered Karl straight out of the armor like a dead chicken.
Grabbing Karl’s arms with both hands, he snapped them backward with brutal force.
“CRACK!”
The sound of breaking bones completely drowned out all surrounding noise.
Seth Knight clapped his hands and spat on Karl.
A few seconds later…
“Clatter! Clatter! Clatter…”
Hundreds of heavy-caliber lasguns dropped to the ground one after another.
The fully armed, heavy troops trembled at the knees, lacking even the courage to run away, kneeling in droves onto the cold metal floor.
“Spare us, Lord Commodore!”
“We were only following orders…”
Seth Knight strode past the crowd, walking straight to the stack of metal crates containing his palladium.
“BOOM.”
His combat boot kicked open the mechanical latch on the top metal crate.
The lid popped open.
Inside were seven high-purity palladium ingots glowing with an eerie blue, pure aura.
Almost at the exact same instant, system notification sounds exploded in Seth Knight’s mind:
[Ding!
High-purity isotope source detected within scan range!] [Ark Battlesuit energy repository matched and docked…
Charging initiated…
100% charge complete!] [All system modules fully activated: Flight Thrusters back online!
Pulse Firepower Grid unlocked!]
Special Warning—
[StarCraft · Terran Command Center STC Template underlying power cycle connected! Ready to request Orbital Airdrop deployment at any time!]