Chapter 694: Battle for the Gate

The scale of a Star Gate far exceeds ordinary imagination—setting aside the unimaginably advanced technology and complex engineering required to keep it running, just in terms of "size," facing such a colossus, even after clearing the defensive forces in the nearby space, taking it is no easy task.

Its daily operation needed thousands of technical experts and tens of thousands more support personnel for maintenance. The critical facilities inside were garrisoned by dedicated defense units in segments. The main ring held hundreds of functional modules, along with an intricate labyrinth of pipes and corridors connecting these modules.

There were even highway and subway systems running through the mega-structure.

Beneath the Star Gate's layered shields and armor belts lay dozens of military barracks and weapons factories, large and small. And on the surface of the giant ring, there were countless radar arrays, anti-air batteries, and drone hangars—a contingent of the most stubborn and elite Guardian Army was stationed on this gate. Some of them had even been born and raised in the ring habitation zones inside the Star Gate, known as "Generation Guardians." For centuries, generation after generation, their lifelong mission was to defend this place.

The Star Gate was everything to these fanatical believers.

Now, these fanatics called "Generation Guardians" were putting up their final and fiercest resistance inside the Star Gate's main ring. The space battle was over—the Church's armed star fortress had disintegrated, the last ship of the Gate Defense Fleet had turned into a brilliant firework in space, its scorched wreckage slowly falling into the hydrogen ocean of the brown dwarf's surface. Yet the collapse of the space defense force seemed not to affect the "morale" of the garrison inside the Star Gate. Or rather, they seemed to have no concept of "morale" at all.

At first, the defenders fought on the Star Gate's surface, trying to use their limited anti-air cannons against the Unified Fleet in space. But soon Yu Sheng's forces spread into several key anti-air command nodes, and the Borderlands' bombing gunships then destroyed the radar arrays on the Gate's surface. The defenders retreated into the interior of the Star Gate's giant ring.

By the time the Borderlands' marines landed on the Gate's main ring via shuttle, the Generation Guardians had already blocked all the passages inside the ring. Some ring sections lost control of their systems, and they used bombs to destroy all elevators and rail transport.

Fierce fighting raged in every module, every factory, every corridor. By now, these fanatics had held out even longer than the space defense force that had been crushed.

A brief flash erupted on an armor belt of the main ring. A silver-white dragon burst out of the flash, sweeping across the sky like a gale. A fading gray-white quality spread and billowed behind her like a cloak.

The dragon lifted her head slightly and looked into the distance. She saw the Star Gate ring reflected in her eyes like a steel plain. The dim corona of the brown dwarf hung upside down like a sky above this steel plain. Landing troops from the Unified Fleet were constantly descending onto the main ring. Occasionally, a surviving anti-air battery would fire briefly, a dazzling flash streaking across the starry sky. The next second, a bombing run from the Unified Fleet would fall on the spot where the flash had appeared, silencing it instantly.

Several more flashes fell from slightly closer. Those were heavy landing pods carrying deep-dive troops—those shell-like pods had thermal fusion fields at the bottom, allowing them to penetrate directly into large enemy structures during landing.

The impact of this landing method was astonishing. Even after being cushioned by internal field stabilizers, it far exceeded the endurance limit of ordinary soldiers. Only those deep-divers, who had undergone surgical modifications and were nearly half "synthetic," could withstand it.

Farther away, several large ships of the Unified Fleet could be seen hovering above the Gate's main ring. Besides the flagship, the "Mass Effect," Bai Liqing also recognized the silhouettes of the heavy carrier "All Things Breeding" and the special operations support mothership "Return to Zero Calculation."

Other warships, large and small, were still rushing over from afar.

The fleet was reforming—a sign that they were preparing for a second jump.

Hong's voice came into her ear: "We've taken the power furnace... The fanatics resisted fiercely. Even when the hatch opened automatically, they still tried to block it with their bodies."

"Fearless of life or death, but it's just loyalty twisted by cult brainwashing," Bai Liqing said flatly. "...Time's almost up."

Her gaze swept across the main ring of the Star Gate, sensing a familiar aura flowing and expanding inside that steel plain.

The Hermit Order's Guardian Army resistance was indeed fierce and stubborn. But no matter how violent, it couldn't stop the overall situation. The Unified Fleet might not be able to bombard this important "strategic facility" with heavy firepower, but another force was more effective than the fleet's heavy fire.

Yu Sheng's "comprehensive takeover" of this Star Gate was accelerating.

Bai Liqing could feel this process—because she had received the blood infusion, and "observation" was her specialty.

At first, Yu Sheng had only taken over a small part of the Gate's functions. To avoid detection by the defenders here, he had simply "opened the door" when the Unified Fleet jumped in. Before that, he had not touched the Gate's main structure.

The real "takeover" only began after the entire Unified Fleet had entered.

Then, the continuously landing Borderlands marines began suppressing the resistance inside the Gate. Bai Liqing personally led the deep-dive squad into the main ring, delivering a large number of prepared diffusion devices in advance, greatly accelerating the process.

By now, Bai Liqing could clearly sense that this Star Gate was now "one of us."

The feeling was wonderful.

Bai Liqing knew that the Star Gate was lifeless—the vast, wide steel structure was as cold as this space. But at this moment, as she spread her wings and swept over this steel plain, she could almost feel this cold metal gradually awakening.

She could even feel the Gate breathing, feel life flowing through its pipes and cables. She even felt that the giant ring was slowly expanding and contracting in space, emitting a heavy, solemn heartbeat.

She even felt that this Star Gate was greeting her.

Bai Liqing lowered her head and saw Yu Sheng's big face floating on the outer armor of the Gate's ring.

Bai Liqing: "..."

The Star Gate is really saying hi.JPG.

A dozen seconds later, the white dragon slammed head-first into an anti-air position.

Hong's startled voice filled the comm channel: "Aqing?! What are you doing? That position has already been taken; you don't need to personally..."

Bai Liqing struggled to crawl out of a pile of twisted steel wreckage: "...Shut up. I need a moment to myself."

...

Blazing thermal rays wove into nets of fire across the plain. Fox-tail missiles streaked across the sky, spitting brilliant flames. Fire rose from the earth, and blood mist rose above the Eden Gate, then fell as rain upon the plain.

But the battle was tipping into disadvantage—the high priests had regained their footing. Once these powerful psions recovered from their panic and began to gather their strength, Erin's Legion's advance was immediately blocked.

Clouds gathered, powerful psionic energy burned in the atmosphere. A blinding lightning bolt fell from the sky, accompanied by a continuous rumble that plowed across the land. Where the thunder struck, many mass-produced puppets' bodies twisted into a rift and vanished from this planet in an instant.

Puppets that couldn't be teleported in time were hit directly by lightning, vaporized in an instant by the powerful psionic energy.

A little blonde dwarf was scurrying everywhere in front of the Eden Gate, squeaking: "The situation is too unfavorable for our warriors! I need to regroup my troops!"

Then a lightning bolt struck out of nowhere, grazing past her head and hitting the ground beside her.

The little thing screamed, flew up, and cursed.

A silver-white form rushed over from nearby, grabbed Erin by the scruff, and flung her onto its back.

"Thank you, silly fox!" the little puppet shouted, grabbing fistfuls of fox fur. "But I don't think we can win! And how are there even more of them?"

"We can't win!" the big fox shouted back, turning her head. "So it's time to scram~"

Erin blinked, then quickly turned to look at the battlefield.

The vision transmitted by thousands of mass-produced puppets let her see every corner of this place clearly.

She saw the high priests who had been fleeing in panic not long ago now occupying several buildings at the foot of the mountain. The strange spired structures were brewing blinding thunder at their tips. Lightning storms pierced the clouds, continuously striking the plain.

Shuttles and transports, large and small, came through the clouds. These reinforcements from various sanctuaries were landing around the Eden Gate. Emerging from the aircraft were not only armored infantry but also Brass Knights surrounded by the glow of force fields, as well as artificial maidens flitting through shadows.

The little puppet suddenly felt something was wrong.

"Wait, where's that smug-looking 'His Holiness'?!"

"He disappeared a while ago! The last time I noticed, he seemed to be heading toward the mountain," Hu Li shouted while running through smoke and fire, twisting her head. "Luna went after him but couldn't catch up!"

"He abandoned his men and ran?" the little puppet's eyes widened. "That doesn't make sense. They were clearly getting the upper hand in the fight... Why the hell is he running?"

"That's why the Benefactor thinks something's off—he suspects that His Holiness is going to do something."

Hu Li released seven or eight tails behind her as she spoke. The fox tails spewed flames into the sky, spraying a volley into the distance. The barrage ignited a huge wall of fire on the plain. Foxfire imbued with spiritual energy blotted out the sky for a moment. Under its cover, she charged toward a gap on the other side of the mountain range.

"And what about this Eden Gate?" the little puppet yelled on Hu Li's back. "We're just leaving it?"

Before she finished speaking, a phantom door suddenly appeared beside Hu Li.

Yu Sheng's figure jumped out of the door. Hu Li, with practiced默契, swept her big tail to toss him onto her back.

Luna also jumped out of the door with Yu Sheng, turning into a phantom shadow following Hu Li.

"Screw the gate!" Yu Sheng shouted. "There are two!"

The little puppet didn't react at first: "Huh? Two what?"

"Eden Gates!" Yu Sheng's eyes were wide, clutching the fur on Hu Li's back. "Two!"

Erin: "Holy shit?!"

(End of Chapter)