The air raid sirens wailed, a mechanical scream that cut through the smog of Sector 01, but the sound was almost drowned out by the thunder rolling down from the clouds. It wasn't natural thunder; it was the beat of thousands of wings. The Sky Rays, bio-engineered horrors of flesh and steel, dove in a chaotic swarm, their riders screaming incantations that wreathed the beasts in protective wind barriers.
Jiang Chen stood on the roof of the Command Bunker, watching the radar feed on his wristpad turn into a solid block of red. The pilots of the P-47s were shouting over the comms, overwhelmed by the sheer density of the enemy formation. The Sky Rays were agile, darting away from machine-gun fire with supernatural reflexes, their riders casting lightning bolts that scarred the aluminum wings of the fighters.
"They are too fast for direct impact!" Han shouted from the flak pit below. "The 88s can't track them!"
"Stop trying to hit them," Jiang Chen ordered, his voice cutting through the panic. "Switch to Variable Time Fuses. Dial the radar sensitivity to ten meters. Fill the sky with iron."
The loaders slammed new shells into the breeches of the Flak 88 cannons. These weren't the standard impact rounds; the nose of each shell contained a tiny, vacuum-tube radio transmitter—a miniature radar set. They didn't need to hit a target. They just needed to get close.
"Fire!"
Twelve cannons erupted in unison. The shells screamed upward, tearing into the center of the diving swarm. To the Cultivators riding the beasts, it looked like a miss. The shells passed between the Sky Rays, missing by yards.
"Pathetic!" a disciple laughed, urging his mount faster. "Their aim is—"
KRACK-THOOM.
The shell detected the reflection of its own radio waves off the disciple's beast. It detonated instantly.
It wasn't a single explosion; it was a chain reaction. Hundreds of shells exploded near the swarm, turning the airspace into a blender of high-velocity shrapnel. The Wind Barriers that could deflect a single bullet shattered under the omnidirectional blast waves.
The sky turned into a slaughterhouse. Delicate wing membranes were shredded. Steel-grafted hides were punctured. Riders were thrown from their mounts, plummeting thousands of feet to the concrete below. The arrogant laughter turned into screams as the "cloud" of beasts rained down as a slurry of blood and metal parts.
But one beast did not fall.
Through the black smoke and falling debris, a massive shape tore through the flak curtain. It was a Leviathan Ray, a monstrosity with a wingspan of fifty meters, its hide glowing with the distinct, terrifying golden aura of a Core Formation master.
Standing on its head, surrounded by a sphere of crackling purple lightning, was Elder Lei. He was a Golden Core expert of the White Cloud Sect, known as the "Storm Caller." He saw the slaughter of his disciples, and his face twisted into a mask of pure hate.
"Your toys break the weak," Lei roared, his voice amplified by thunder. "But they cannot stop the Storm!"
The Leviathan ignored the shrapnel bouncing off its golden shield. It didn't aim for the factories. It aimed for the city center.
"Brace for impact!" Jiang Chen screamed.
The Leviathan pulled its wings in and smashed into Sector 02—the Residential District.
CRASH.
The impact was like a meteor strike. Three housing blocks were obliterated instantly, concrete dust billowing out in a choking grey wave. The beast skidded through the streets, crushing cars and lamp posts, finally coming to a halt in the intersection of Avenue A and B.
The beast's mouth opened, and a ramp of bone extended.
"Kill them all!" Elder Lei commanded. "Take the city from the inside!"
From the belly of the beast, two hundred elite disciples poured out. They weren't riding beasts; they were the Storm Guard, wielding heavy swords and talismans. They charged into the dust-choked streets, expecting to slaughter fleeing civilians.
They found no civilians.
The windows of the surrounding apartment buildings were blown out, but inside, there were no screaming families. There were flashes of black armor.
"Ambush!" a disciple screamed.
From the second-story windows, the Bureau of Order opened fire. They weren't using long-range rifles. In the tight confines of the city streets, they used AA-12 Automatic Shotguns loaded with Dragon's Breath and Buckshot.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM.
The narrow street became a kill zone. The disciples' barriers flared as they were hammered by walls of lead. A barrier could stop one bullet, maybe ten. It could not stop a drum mag of 12-gauge shells delivered at 300 rounds per minute.
"Form up! Push through!" Elder Lei roared, stepping off the beast. He waved his hand, and a chain lightning bolt arched out, turning a squad of soldiers in a storefront into ash. "They are mortals! Cowards hiding in stone boxes!"
He pointed his sword at the Command Bunker in the distance. "To the tower! Burn it down!"
The disciples rallied behind the Elder, using his Golden Core pressure to suppress the soldiers. They charged down Avenue A, cutting through lamp posts and fire hydrants.
Jiang Chen watched the feed from a drone hovering above the street. He grabbed his gear—a heavy, reinforced exosuit gauntlet and a prototype weapon he had been saving.
"Han," Jiang Chen radioed. "They are taking the main road. Activate the Urban Pacification Protocol."
"Sir, that will destroy the street!"
"It's concrete, Han. We can pour more. Do it."
As Elder Lei led his troops past the intersection of the Steel Mill, the streetlights suddenly turned red.
"Trap?" Lei sneered. He sensed for explosives under the road. There were none.
Then, the walls of the buildings on either side of the street hissed.
Hidden panels blew open. Behind them weren't guns. They were Industrial Microwave Emitters—oversized versions of the weapon Jiang Chen had used on the wolf.
"Cooking setting: High," Jiang Chen muttered from the rooftops.
The emitters turned on.
Invisible waves of high-frequency energy flooded the street. The disciples screamed as their blood began to boil instantly. Their water-based protective barriers evaporated. Their eyes popped. It was a microwave oven the size of a city block.
Elder Lei roared in fury, his Golden Core spinning wildly to reject the heat. He was strong enough to resist the microwaves, but his disciples were popping like corn kernels around him.
"You dare fight without showing your face?!" Lei bellowed, raising his sword. He summoned a massive lightning bolt, aiming to strike the buildings housing the emitters.
BANG.
A shot rang out from the roof of the Steel Mill.
It wasn't a bullet. It was a canister. It hit Elder Lei in the chest, shattering against his golden aura.
White smoke exploded outward. White Phosphorus.
"Fire?!" Lei laughed, the lightning crackling around him. "I am the storm! Fire cannot—ARGH!"
The phosphorus particles stuck to his golden shield and burned through it. The chemical reaction fed on oxygen, burning at 2,700 degrees Celsius. It ate through the Qi barrier and latched onto his robes, then his skin.
Elder Lei thrashed, blasting lightning in every direction, blowing apart storefronts and cars. He tried to slap the fire out, but it only spread.
"Face me!" Lei screamed, half his face melting, his Golden Core glowing unstably. "Coward! Face me!"
Jiang Chen stood up on the roof edge, looking down at the burning, thrashing demigod. He held a Milkor MGL Grenade Launcher.
"I am facing you," Jiang Chen said, his voice amplified by the suit. "You're just not looking at the math."
He fired again. Not explosive rounds. Liquid Nitrogen Canisters.
HISSSSSS.
The extreme cold hit the extreme heat of the phosphorus. The thermal shock on Elder Lei's body was catastrophic. His skin, hardened by cultivation, cracked like porcelain.
The Elder froze in mid-scream, a statue of burnt flesh and ice. His Golden Core flickered, dimmed, and finally went dark as his physical vessel failed to sustain the energy.
He toppled over, shattering into pieces on the asphalt.
The remaining disciples, seeing their invincible Elder turned into gravel, dropped their swords. They looked at the soldiers descending from the buildings, weapons raised. They looked at the smoking barrel of Jiang Chen's launcher.
They fell to their knees.
Jiang Chen lowered the launcher. The street was ruined. The Leviathan Ray carcass was blocking traffic. The smell of ozone and cooked meat was overpowering.
"Han," Jiang Chen radioed. "Cleanup on Avenue A. And put the survivor disciples in the mines. We have a lot of concrete to replace."