Chapter 917: Ch 916: Human Wave Tactics

Ryo smiled at the three of them, adjusted his hat, and stretched out his hand to pull at the empty air.

A muscular man with copper-red skin and a body full of machinery appeared in the void in front of him.

It was Ares, the Machine God.

The moment he appeared, Ares began transforming in midair, layer after layer, until he was a huge, blazing red metal sphere with a pitted surface.

Ryo took a step back and dissolved into the air.

In his place stood a bright young man in a helmet with winged ornaments, his blond hair and blue eyes set against skin with a metallic sheen.

Hermes, the Machine God.

After Ryo's figure had faded, the three beings underground had quickly locked onto Hermes.

In that instant, Hermes smiled at them, reached out, and used Theft on Ares beside him.

This time he stole Ares' Mars symbol.

Then he took off his decorative helmet, tossed it lightly toward the underground labyrinth, and gave the Mars symbol to the helmet.

BOOM!

A crimson meteor three kilometers wide slammed down from the sky, its matter compressed to the density of a white dwarf.

Red flame lit up its surface. The pull of its gravity dragged every bit of soil, brick, and stone upward, and the meteor swelled even larger.

"You're turning the concept of a planet into a weapon? Do you have no regard for life?"

A clear, furious female voice rang out.

Right behind it came the blare of sirens. The city's defense system had detected the incoming impact.

"Hermes" went quiet for a moment, then used Theft on the city.

A second later, the whole city turned hazy and unreal, like a mirage.

The city's very existence had been stolen.

"Huh?!" Jeanne was caught off guard.

At the same moment, a streak of golden light shot out of the underground labyrinth, crossed the distance in a blink, and flew straight for "Hermes'" forehead.

Just as the city was stolen, the light wavered by an inch and missed his forehead by a hair.

"Fast as ever!" a rough voice snorted coldly.

Suddenly a blue bolt of lightning split the sky and struck the giant meteor head on.

A deafening roar rang out, then dropped almost at once beyond the range of mortal hearing.

In near silence, the meteor began to disappear piece by piece, until the helmet at its core was all that remained.

Crack!

Lightning-shaped fissures spread across the helmet's surface, and it crumbled inch by inch into nothing.

Then the golden light and the blue lightning appeared in front of "Hermes."

Jeanne and Brontes stood before him, one in front, one behind.

"..."

The air went dead silent.

The huge fiery-red celestial body kept spinning slowly overhead.

Brontes glanced at the red sphere, then at Hermes in front of him, and suddenly broke into a grin.

"Now that's a fun idea."

"Is that Hephaestus' machinery? Turning the main avatars of Hermes and Ares into something like this. Heh, I'll admit I didn't see that coming."

Ryo, still controlling "Hermes," looked at Brontes and said abruptly, "Zeus?"

Jeanne had been about to speak, but she suddenly put some distance between herself and Brontes and shot him a wary look. Only then did she turn to Ryo.

"Are you Mr. Ryo Yagami of Arcadia?"

"Hermes" kept his eyes on Brontes and said, surprised, "And you are..."

"Jeanne. Jeanne d'Arc." She gave her full name.

"Hermes" turned his head and looked at her. "The Cross' saint has joined Ouroboros? That's quite a surprise."

Jeanne answered with perfect composure. "I'm a spy!"

"..."

"Hermes" went quiet, and his metallic face looked faintly awkward.

Jeanne took a step forward. "If you trust me, hand over the people from the base and the city's existence you stole, and I'll evacuate them. In return, I'll pull out of the fight early and stay out of the siege against you."

"Hermes" gave her an odd look. But considering her reputation, and what he knew of Zeus, he nodded. "Deal."

With that, he made a pushing motion with his palm and sent both stolen concepts over to Jeanne.

At that same moment, Brontes's finger twitched, then stopped short.

"Please don't put her in a difficult spot, Lord Zeus." George smiled behind his helmet.

"Aw, come on. Why are you Cross people all such hypocrites?" Zeus let his hand drop and watched George slowly move his lance away from him.

Meanwhile, Jeanne, having taken the concepts, turned and looked at George.

He gave a wry smile and sighed. "All right, I understand."

He took out a white crystal sphere, its interior divided into overlapping grid-like compartments, cut into many small cells. It was clearly a tool for holding the "supplies" of the Ouroboros base.

Ryo looked at the sphere, but couldn't see inside clearly enough to tell who was in there.

George tossed the sphere to Jeanne. She caught it, glanced at Ryo, then turned into golden light and vanished from in front of him.

Once she was gone, George gave a soft laugh and raised his lance. "Looks like my assistant thinks you're a decent person, since you protected the civilians. That's why she doesn't want to join the siege."

Ryo looked at him. "And you? Not following your assistant's lead?"

"Sorry, but in life I was apparently the kind of officer who only did what his superiors told him."

George held his lance in a seemingly loose grip, its tip pointed at Ryo.

Zeus, still wearing the Brontes disguise, picked up his leather flask, took a swig, and squinted at Hermes and Ares.

"Two against three, huh? Doesn't look great for me."

"They wanted us to win with sheer numbers, and now we are outnumbered instead. Eh, whatever. A small disadvantage like that doesn't matter to me."

Just then, Ryo appeared in the sky in front of the two of them. "Two against three? Doesn't matter?"

He looked up, a faint glow like the sun flickering in his eyes.

Then he reached out and pulled at the empty air once more.

In an instant, a hulking man three meters tall, built like an iron tower, appeared at Ryo's side. Beside him stood a woman who looked like a mermaid fused with a harpy, with a fish's tail and a bird's wings. They took their places on either side of Ryo and, together with the two Machine Gods, surrounded Brontes.

They were Star Beasts, summoned and empowered through the Sun Authorities.

That made it five against two.

Ryo smiled at Brontes and George. "What a coincidence. I know human wave tactics too."

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