Chapter 1839: They came seeking Vengeance: Part-1

"I know."

Young Aether said it coldly as he stared at Emily’s hologram. His expression remained almost unnaturally calm, but his hand was already gripping the Twin Eclipse.

He slowly rose from his position and turned around.

The artificial lights embedded throughout the ceiling flickered several times, their illumination stuttering across the metallic walls before stabilising.

Young Aether’s eyes swept across the room.

Five mech-suits stood before him.

Then his gaze dropped toward his own arm.

The head of another mech-suit was still impaled upon the Twin Eclipse. The weapon had driven straight through its jaws and continued through the back of its head.

Blood streamed from the mechanical shell and dripped onto the floor in slow, heavy drops.

"Hah."

Emily’s hologram laughed softly.

The projection distorted for a brief moment, breaking apart into fragments of blue-white light before vanishing completely.

Young Aether pulled the Twin Eclipse free.

Tang!

The mech-suit collapsed immediately.

Young Aether looked over the remaining mech-suits with a curious expression.

Something about them was different.

One of them had a large number 3 etched into its shoulder plate. Its black armour was crossed by glowing red strips that ran along the shoulders, chest, and limbs, forming the unmistakable markings of Delta Division.

Commander 3.

Young Aether’s eyes narrowed slightly.

The remaining mech-suits, however, were different.

Their armour was black as well, but thin pink energy strips ran through their frames.

Among them, one mech-suit appeared noticeably larger than the others.

Its armour was thicker around the shoulders and chest, with additional energy conduits running beneath its outer plating. Its stance was different too.

Another Commander?

"Beta?" Young Aether murmured, his eyes settling on the pink energy strips.

"That glow belongs to Beta Division."

His gaze shifted toward the red markings of Commander 3.

"If Delta is here, I can understand that. But why is Beta here as well?"

He wasn’t sure what was going on here, but he immediately reported this to his friends.

"I have encountered two Commander-Class and four Unit-Class mech-suits"

But... this time there was no response from them.

"Allen? Jonathan?"

"..."

"Guys?"

"..."

"Allen?"

"..."

His frown deepened as he looked at his enemies.

Can he face them all together?

He could easily deal with the Unit-Class, but for the Commanders... It would be hard, but he would be fine after all; he was also wearing a Commander-Class Mech-suit, right?

"I came here to take my niece... where is she?"

The question had barely left his mouth when one of the Unit-Class mech-suits raised its weapon.

"ATTACK!"

The other C-Class mech-suits immediately responded. Their combat systems activated simultaneously.

Young Aether simply raised one hand.

The device embedded within his palm opened.

BOP!!

A concentrated pulse of energy erupted outward.

The energy diffuser released a violent energy shockwave that distorted the air around him.

Immediately, three mech-suits went completely offline.

Young Aether’s arm snapped forward, and the Twin Eclipse left his hand.

The weapon became a streak of ivory-purple light.

Its trajectory curved unnaturally through the air.

Chkk!

It passed around the first mech-suit and sliced through its neck and flowed towards the second.

The second head separated from its body.

Chkk!

And just about to hit the Unit-Class Mech-suit when,

BOOM!!

A violently red beam erupted from Commander 3’s weapon.

The blast crossed the chamber at terrifying speed; its concentrated energy struck the Twin Eclipse and hurled the weapon away.

Young Aether’s eyes sharpened.

He leapt.

The red beam passed beneath him by inches, illuminating his body in crimson as he twisted through the air. He extended one hand toward the weapon.

His fingers closed around the Twin Eclipse.

The instant he caught it, he redirected his momentum.

Rather than landing, Young Aether used the force of his descent to accelerate himself forward.

He became a blur.

The Unit-Class mech-suit was still system-down. Young Aether drove the Twin Eclipse straight into its chest.

Chucck!!

The weapon punched through the armour.

The Unit-Class mech-suit froze.

Its entire body trembled violently.

System came back online. Red warning symbols flooded across its internal display as hydraulic fluid and dark blood leaked from the massive wound. Its mechanical fingers twitched uselessly around Young Aether’s arm.

Young Aether stared directly into its flickering sensors.

The machine struggled to speak.

"It... should have been you..."

Its voice crackled through the damaged speaker.

"The one who died instead of that innocent P-Pawn Shop owner!"

Young Aether’s expression changed.

"Pawn Shop owner?"

The mech-suit’s sensors flickered one final time.

Then went dark.

Young Aether slowly withdrew the Twin Eclipse as the machine collapsed at his feet.

Four dead mech-suits.

Commander of Beta.

And suddenly, the pieces connected.

Then his vision turned pink.

Thud!

Young Aether immediately pushed himself backwards.

A pink beam tore through the space where he had been standing a fraction of a second earlier.

It struck the corpse of one of the fallen mech-suits.

The result was instantaneous.

The metallic armour began to liquefy.

The hardened plating sagged and collapsed into a glowing, viscous substance that spread across the floor like molten metal.

But the beam did not stop there.

The body inside the armor began dissolving as well.

Flesh broke apart beneath the pink radiance, disappearing into the same liquid mass as the armour. Within seconds, nothing remained except a steaming pool of metallic residue.

Young Aether stared at it.

For the first time since entering the chamber, genuine caution entered his expression.

He slowly turned his head.

The Pink-Striped Black mech-suit stood several meters away.

One arm was raised, its fingers holding a strange circular weapon between them. The device was small enough to resemble a ring, yet its surface contained several rotating concentric mechanisms. Pink energy flowed through microscopic channels across its structure, forming a luminous spiral that continuously rotated around its centre.

"Who are you?"

Young Aether asked coldly as he flexed his fingers around the Twin Eclipse, his gaze fixed on the pink-striped black mech-suit standing across the chamber.

The mech-suit did not answer immediately.

Its circular weapon continued to rotate between its fingers, concentric rings spinning at different speeds while pink energy circulated through microscopic channels beneath its metallic surface. The air around its hand distorted faintly from the intense energy being generated.

"Your death!"

A cold, menacing voice erupted from the mech-suit’s external speakers.

The instant the words ended, the circular weapon discharged.

PU!

A narrow pink beam tore through the chamber.

Young Aether twisted his body aside.

The beam passed within inches of his shoulder and struck the metallic floor behind him. The surface immediately lost its structural integrity, bubbling and collapsing into a glowing liquid.

PU!

Another beam followed.

Young Aether ducked beneath it.

PUF!

A third shot ripped through the air.

He pushed himself backwards as the beam passed directly in front of his face.

Young Aether did not dare block the attacks.

He had already seen what that weapon could do.

The instant its beam touched something, the material simply melted. Metal, armour, flesh... it made no distinction between them.

"AI, can you analyse the weapon’s function? Does it affect my suit as well?"

[Sorry. I cannot analyse Commander-Class weapons.]

"..."

Young Aether clicked his tongue.

He immediately stopped relying on the AI.

If the system could not provide him with an answer, then he would have to find the answer himself.

His fingers tightened around the Twin Eclipse.

Then he threw it.

The weapon spun through the air, its twin blades rotating rapidly as it accelerated toward the pink mech-suit. At the same time, Young Aether activated the thrusters embedded within his suit.

A burst of compressed energy erupted from his back.

WHOOM!

His body launched sideways, using the weapon as a distraction while he attempted to attack from the mech-suit’s blind spot.

But the pink mech-suit did not even glance at the approaching Twin Eclipse.

Its helmet remained perfectly aligned with Young Aether.

It had already chosen its target.

Young Aether’s eyes narrowed.

The Twin Eclipse crossed the final distance.

The blade was less than a meter from the mech-suit’s neck when the machine finally moved.

TANG!!

A massive blade snapped upward.

Crimson plasma ignited along its entire edge, transforming the weapon into a blazing red cutting surface. Electromagnetic coils embedded around the blade activated simultaneously, producing a deep metallic hum as they accelerated the plasma field around the weapon.

The Twin Eclipse struck it.

Instead of cutting through, the massive blade caught the weapon at an angle.

SKRRRNNNG!

Sparks erupted between the two weapons as the Twin Eclipse was violently parried away, spinning through the air.

Young Aether’s expression sharpened.

The Red mech-suit had joined as well.

Young Aether focused entirely on his opponent.

His suit’s thrusters screamed.

WHOOM!

He accelerated forward.

His right arm pulled backward as the suit’s servomotors synchronized with his movement.

Then he drove his fist forward.

BOOM!

The punch detonated through the air, producing a visible pressure ripple that raced across the chamber.

The Pink Commander reacted before the fist could reach its chest, shifting sideways with unnerving precision. Its shoulder rotated, its torso tilted, and the punch passed barely a handspan from its helmet.

Young Aether’s fist cut through empty air.

The Pink Commander immediately raised two fingers.

The circular device mounted between them began rotating furiously. Its concentric rings accelerated before shooting,

PU!

Young Aether twisted his torso while activating the directional thrusters along his waist. His body snapped sideways just as the beam passed across his chest armor.

The edge of the beam grazed him.

The armour immediately began deforming slightly.

Young Aether’s pupils contracted.

The beam continued past him and struck the floor behind his body.

The metallic surface instantly collapsed into a glowing liquid.

Young Aether barely had time to register what had happened before the Pink Commander fired again.

PU!

Young Aether dropped his body.

PU!

He twisted sideways.

PU!

A third shot tore through the space where his torso had been a fraction of a second earlier.

PU!

The fourth beam came immediately after it.

Young Aether’s suit erupted with short bursts of directional thrust as he weaved between the attacks.

Young Aether suddenly reached for the Twin Eclipse.

His fingers closed around the slot ring.

He snapped his arm forward.

The Twin Eclipse left his hand like a released projectile, its jagged, wicked blades spinning furiously as it crossed the chamber.

It was aimed directly at the Pink Commander’s neck.

TANG!

The massive crimson blade intercepted it.

The Red Commander had moved into position without Young Aether noticing.

The two weapons collided with tremendous force, sparks exploding outward as the Red Commander twisted his wrist and redirected the Twin Eclipse away from his body.

Crimson plasma flared violently along the blade’s edge.

Electromagnetic coils surrounding the weapon surged simultaneously, their humming frequency rising as the blade’s plasma field intensified.

The Twin Eclipse ricocheted away.

The Red Commander slowly lowered his weapon.

His visor glowed dangerously as he stared at Young Aether.

Young Aether’s expression hardened.

Both Commanders were fighting him.

He understood Commander 3’s presence, but the Pink Commander was another matter entirely.

"I can understand Commander 3, but..." Young Aether’s gaze shifted toward the Pink Commander.

"Do I know you?"

The Pink Commander remained motionless for a moment.

Then a cold laugh escaped through the mech-suit’s external speakers.

"Haha... Look at you, talking like one of us."

The circular weapon between his fingers began rotating again.

"You filthy monster!"

The instant the final word left his mouth, the Commander’s thrusters ignited.

WHOOM!

The armored figure launched forward with terrifying acceleration, leaving a brief trail of pink energy behind its body.

Its massive plasma blade swung toward Young Aether from one side while the circular weapon simultaneously charged.

PU! PU! PU!

Three pink beams erupted almost simultaneously.

Young Aether’s eyes widened.

Young Aether twisted his body and allowed the beam to pass beneath his arm before his boots slammed against the floor.

At that exact moment, the Red Commander arrived.

"Oh? You can understand me?"

His voice was filled with barely restrained fury.

"Then you know exactly why I came here, motherfucker!"

He drove his crimson blade forward with full force.

SSSNNNG!

Young Aether leaned backwards.

The plasma edge sliced through the air directly in front of his face, close enough that the intense energy caused the sensors on his helmet to flare with warning indicators.

Young Aether immediately countered.

The Twin Eclipse came upward.

TANG!

The weapons collided.

The impact sent sparks across both combatants.

But before Young Aether could exploit the opening, the Pink Commander fired again.

PU!

Young Aether released his pressure against the Red Commander and propelled himself backwards.

The pink beam passed between the two Commanders.

They were already moving again.

The two Commanders attacked simultaneously, their movements frighteningly synchronised.

One advanced.

The other repositioned.

One attacked high.

The other attacked low.

Whenever Young Aether attempted to escape one attack, the second Commander was already waiting for him.

They were not simply fighting together.

They were covering each other’s weaknesses.

Sluckk!

The Red Commander’s blade tore across Young Aether’s armour.

A shallow groove appeared across his chest plate.

PU!

Young Aether twisted violently.

The beam missed his body by centimetres and struck the wall behind him.

Young Aether’s jaw tightened.

"Damn it! WHERE IS LILY, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLES!!"