Chapter 190: The Mysterious Mecha in the Black Hole!
Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr
"Aoki, notify the special ace operator squad. Let them use all their might to kill the opponent's ace operators!" The general gave a decisive order. Since a stealth attack was already out of the question, then they might as well eliminate a part of the other's ace operators to weaken the enemy's combat power.
"Hai!" Aoki accepted the general's order with a respectful bow, the pride on his face fading. After that, he turned around and passed on the order to the mecha operators currently facing the opponent's ace operators.
Meanwhile, that batch of deployed Soaring Dragon ace mecha had already began clashing with the enemy — the curtains were lifted on a scene of brutal fighting.
While the command centres of both sides patiently watched the progress of the ace operator fight, at the heart of the flames of battle, an invisible energy was forming.
On the Federation's command ship, a soldier monitoring the battlefield suddenly cried out in shock.
The other soldiers beside him were startled and quickly asked, "What happened?"
"Look here, what is that?" The soldier zoomed in on the oddity he had seen. Right at the centre point of the fighting, a black dot had appeared unexpectedly.
The soldier was really bothered by the black dot, finding it rather creepy and frightening. He magnified the image of the dot as far as he could, and finally, they could clearly see that, at the centre of the black dot, there seemed to be some energy swirling backwards. Even stranger was the fact that the black dot was expanding at a rapid pace.
"Could this be ... a black hole!" This bone-chilling reverse airflow phenomenon sparked some memory in the soldier's mind, and he could not help but blurt out his conclusion.
"What happened?" The senior captain in charge of the surveillance room rushed over when he heard the commotion.
"Sir, it's a black hole! A black hole has appeared at the heart of battle. Order the fighters to retreat quickly!" The soldier's face was pale with fright. Black holes were the ender of all things ... once swallowed by a black hole, no one could escape from within it. Therefore, the moment the emergence of a black hole was discovered, even if they were in the middle of a battle, both sides would mutually choose to stop fighting and escape together.
By now, the captain could clearly see the black dot the soldier had enlarged on the screen as well. In just this short period of time since the soldier had first discovered it, the dot had expanded from its initial size of a tiny fingertip to a round hole of about 20 to 30 centimetres in diameter. The black hole was spreading at a rapid pace — it was foreseeable that, in short order, it would become a supersized hole capable of swallowing everything. At that time, no one here would be able to escape from its clutches.
The captain knew the situation was dire. He swiftly leapt at his optical supercomputer, and activated the computer's wartime emergency protocol! Of course, this protocol could not be activated simply. If any abuse of power was discovered, the person in question would definitely be court-martialled.
"Wartime emergency protocol activated successfully. Please choose the required option!" The A.I. inquired coldly.
"Open all military channels. I want to broadcast a wide scale announcement!" Even the short time taken to activate the supercomputer caused the captain's forehead and bridge of his nose to drip with sweat. A black hole was truly too frightening; he was afraid there would not be enough time.
"Connecting to all military channels, successful!" When the A.I. reported this, the captain immediately pressed the voice button for the broadcast. "Emergency notification for all troops. At the centre of the battle, a black hole is forming! All mecha operators are to retreat immediately, all mecha operators are to retreat immediately!"
"I repeat. Emergency notification for all troops. At the centre of the battle, a black hole is forming! All mecha operators are to retreat immediately, all mecha operators are to retreat immediately!"
This abrupt military-wide broadcast caused an uproar among the Federation fighters. At this time, the command centre had already received the images of the black hole transmitted by the surveillance room. Without even having to think about it, the supreme commander immediately ordered all the starship carriers to send out the retreat signal to the mecha troops they housed.
In the meantime, the black hole at the centre of the fighting had already expanded into a dark chasm of 3 to 4 metres wide. The suction of energy was already extremely obvious now, especially for the ace operators closest to the black hole. They quickly halted their fighting and stared fearfully at the black hole as it grew larger and larger, its suction power becoming stronger and stronger.
Everyone knew what a black hole represented. It was the root of calamity, death, and the destruction of all things.
"It's a black hole, retreat quickly!" Such an obvious black hole made the Twilight Empire mecha operators retreat swiftly even before their own starships could send out the signal to retreat.
At this time, all the mecha operators of both nations no longer had any desire to continue fighting. All the mecha flew swiftly back to their own starships, afraid that if they were any slower, they would be consumed by the black hole.
But they were still too slow in the end. The black hole, which had already expanded to about 10 metres wide, suddenly burst open! As if being pried open by some force, the black hole abruptly became a gigantic black hole of over 100 metres wide. The innermost layer of mecha were instantly caught in the suction of the black hole.
"Godd*mmit, increase horsepower, operate engines at 120%!" The innermost layer of mecha could already feel the growing suction. Some of the operators reacted very quickly, decisively powering their engines to the max to try and escape the suction range. Operating the engines at 120% could not be maintained for long — doing this for too long would leave lasting damage to the main engine. Mecha operators who loved their mecha typically would not bear to do so.
This group of quick-thinking mecha operators were considered lucky. Although they had to pay the cost of breaking their engines, they still managed to at least charge out from the suction range of the black hole, salvaging their lives. In contrast, many more mecha operators lost their chance at survival due to their slow reflexes. They were instantly pulled in by the suction ... by the time they thought to push their engines to the max, it was much too late.
Under this fearsome extra-terrestrial force of nature, even the formidable and dominant ace operators were like infants, unable to resist.
Although most of the ace operators had managed to escape from the suction range of the black hole due to their superior reflexes, because the black hole had appeared right in the middle where the ace operators had been fighting, there were still quite a number of ace operators who had been ruthlessly devoured.
Facing this situation, the operators of both nations could only stare helplessly as those mecha were consumed by the black hole. There were also quite a few mecha who, before they could be fully sucked into the black hole, had directly exploded due to the battering of the chaotic turbulence, turning into countless shards of debris ...
"8217, hold on!" One of the ace mecha formations of the Federation was in a similar crisis. The main mecha 8207 had reacted quickly, almost escaping from the danger zone. As long as his mecha did not break down, escaping with his life was no problem.
However, 10 metres behind him, wingman mecha 8217 was not as lucky as 8207. He was still within range of the powerful suction of the black hole, and most critically, one of his two secondary engines had exploded due to overload. This decreased his speed by a good chunk, and his crisis was precisely due to this significant loss of speed.
The suction of the black hole grabbed hold of him — due to its great power, 8217 actually began sliding backwards. This meant that his mecha's engines were already running out of power to fight this powerful suction.
As the main mecha of 8217, the leader of the formation, seeing his own wingman 8217 in such grave danger, did not even stop to think about it. He immediately controlled his mecha to grab hold of the other's right arm.
"Leader!" Seeing his leader reach out to help him at this most perilous moment with no concern for his own well-being, 8217's eyes turned red with emotion. He desperately commanded his A.I. to increase the output of his engines, hoping to borrow his leader's extra pulling force to escape death.
They were frozen like this for 30 seconds. When the wingman saw the other secondary engine of his mecha blow up due to overload as well, he knew that it was hopeless.
"Don't give up!" Even though he knew that the chances of the two of them escaping together were miniscule, 8207 still did not let go.
"Leader, let go of me!" 8217 said through gritted teeth. He could not drag his leader with him into death.
"No, 8227 has already been sacrificed. I will not watch as my final brother dies!" 8207 refused firmly.
It was already the end of the line, but 8207 still would not let go — he only kept repeating, don't give up! 8217's tears began to fall, "Leader, let go quickly ... do you really want to die with me?"
"If all my brothers are dead, then what would be the point of living on my own? We've said before that — if we die together on the battlefields someday, we will be brothers again in the next life. Now, 8227 is already gone. With the two of us too, even if we go to the afterlife, all three of us brothers will be able to be together once again," said 8207 with a smile. Being able to die with one's brothers, was also a type of happiness.
"Leader!" Although tears were still falling from 8217's eyes, 8217 smiled as well. "Thank you for taking care of me all these years. Becoming your number one wingman is my greatest fortune." That said, he reached out his left hand to pull out the beam saber on his back, and then, amidst 8207's shocked cries, he resolutely brought the saber down on his own right arm ...
With a "Swoosh!", the mecha's right arm fell. Suddenly losing the weight in his hands, 8207's over-revved engines instantly pulled him out of the range of the black hole's suction.
"8217!" roared 8207 in grief, tears in his fierce eyes. His final brother, using such an intense method to sacrifice himself, saving him ...
There was a deep pain in 8207's chest — mindlessly, he leapt towards the black hole, but was held back by formation leader 8102 who had arrived in the nick of time. " 207 1 , calm down!"
"They were my brothers!" 8207 finally burst into tears.
"They were my brothers too!" barked 8102 sharply, "You remember this, your life right now is no longer just your own. It is also 217's."
These words caused 8207 to jerk, his initial struggles dying down instantly.
Right at that moment, 8102's wingman 8122 suddenly cried out, "Leader, look, at the heart of the black hole, something is flying out ..."
8102 looked over quickly. Indeed, at the centre of the black hole, something was slowly moving out against the black hole's suction. Although its speed was exceedingly slow, it was still slowly but surely getting away from the heart of the black hole. "How is this possible?
Everyone knew that the suction force was definitely the most terrifying at the heart of a black hole — absolutely nothing could stand against it. What in the world was that thing to be able to fight off this type of suction power to slowly escape from within the black hole?
8102 zoomed in on the image of the thing. Sure enough, at the heart of the black hole, a mysterious mecha was making its difficult way forwards, trying to escape the grip of the overwhelming suction of the black hole. The body of that mysterious mecha was marked with clear signs of damage, even looking somewhat dilapidated. Yet, it was precisely this beat-up mysterious mecha that was currently performing a miracle.