"Hey, Boss," a tall man with a black mohawk shouted as he walked towards Edward. Thankfully, they were all hidden in a building that was a few hundred feet away from the city of Middletown, so his loud voice didn't bring with it the risk of being detected before they launched their attack.
"Yes, Jo?" Edward replied stoically as he kept his eyes peeled on the M1 Abrams that was still slowly making its way out of the city's boundaries.
"Ain't we gonna steal that tank? Seem a waste to me to just let it roll away like that," Jo asked as he licked his lips in a sinister manner.
Unlike Edward who was usually reasonable and extremely frightening when he was serious, this man, Jo, wore his heart on his sleeve. It was obvious for everyone to see that he was chaotic evil.
He was the leader of the raiders and the only person he listened to was Edward, which only served to show how terrifying the traitor of Middletown could be if he was able to rein in such an unruly man.
"No. The people inside it have unconfirmed strength. If Ben gave them a tank, especially one as powerful as the M1 Abrams, then it must mean that he trusts them in some regard, either that or they're too strong for him to refuse a request from them. Regardless, it's not worth the risk. As soon as they're out of sight, we attack," Edward ordered.
Jo laughed and replied, "Sure, sure, Boss. What a pity though. I heard one of the strangers was a tall babe with massive tits, woulda been fun to play around with her a bit."
He then glanced at the petite Harriot and licked his lips. "Though... I could settle for you, sweetheart."
Harriot avoided looking at his disgusting face and hid behind her clipboard. Edward frowned a little and said, "Are we ready to move? They're only a few hundred feet away from being out of visual range."
Jo tore his eyes off of Harriot and shrugged. "Yeah, Boss. We were ready as soon as we got here. Not much ammo in the tanks left, though, mind you, but it should be enough if we destroy the hanger that those pussies are keeping their tanks in fast enough."
With that confirmed, Edward moved and left the building. He waited outside where the three tanks and the rest of his men were.
A few minutes passed, and as soon as they were sure that the two strangers had left with the M1 Abrams completely, they launched their assault on Middletown.
The three M2 Bradley tanks rolled forwards with as many raiders stood or sat atop of them as they could carry while the rest used their system-enhanced bodies to run towards the retractable bridge.
While far weaker and less geared towards fighting than the M1 Abrams was, the M2 Bradley boasted a far faster maximum speed as a light infantry tank, even with the added weight of the raiders holding on to them.
Within less than a minute, the three twenty-seven-ton metal beasts were upon the bridge and they quickly started to cross it. A single M2 Bradley, without any hesitation, fired one of its four remaining anti-tank missiles at the city's checkpoint. One of the raiders used a skill to coat it in wind and mask the sound and explosion as it completely obliterated the small building.
They had to be fast and quiet. The longer they went undetected, the better. Edward, Jo and their men needed to take out the other tanks before they could be used. If they could do that, then it was game over.
Thankfully for Edward, Harriot was the only person amongst Ben's citizens that had advanced her skills enough to be useful for detection. Her weapon, was, of course, her phone. This meant that, so long as no one saw them and that they were swift enough, they would win.
The plan was to fire six anti-tank missiles, two from each M2 Bradley, right at the storage hanger as soon as they reached the city's core, the crater.
So far, everything had gone great. Unexpectedly, Ben and his people weren't prepared for a fight. Without any further issue, Edward and the raiders reached the border of the outer city and the meteor crater.
However, as soon as they arrived, Edward and Harriot were shocked to see two people standing about lazily right in front of them. Only twenty or so feet separated the three tanks and the almost thirty-strong group of raiders from these two strangers.
"Took you long enough. I guess you were being cautious or something?" the man wearing a mask that only covered half of his burnt face said in a bored tone.
The eight-foot-tall woman laughed heartily and looked at the trio of M2 Bradleys with interest on her face. "I wonder if I can take a few hits from those massive machine guns unscathed?"
Edward stepped off of the tank at the front and wore a deeply angered face. "How can you possibly be here? Is the M1 Abrams also here? No, that's impossible. Teleportation?"
"Ah, that'd be a nice ability to have. Shame it costs two-million merit points for a decent version of it," the masked man said as he gazed beyond Edward's group.
He looked down and matched the burly traitor's eyes before he smiled lightly. "Do you want to surrender? I'd rather not kill any of you, to be honest."
"Surrender? Is that a joke? Men, mow them down and destroy the tank hanger!" Edward ordered.
It was too late to consider their power. If these people were here, it meant that Ben and Adam were aware of their invasion and it would only be a matter of time before the six other tanks left the inner city and destroyed him and his raiders.
"Ah, you might wanna look behind you," the masked stranger said as he pointed just past the tanks.
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Edward wasn't stupid enough to fall for such a simple tactic, but regardless of if he did or didn't, the next thing that happened sent chills down his spine.
A loud cannon blast reverberated through the air and the sound of an explosion filled everyone's ears. Edward swivelled his head around only to see one of the M2 Bradleys on fire and a hole had been torn through it as if it was paper. The machine was clearly no longer operating and the men inside were dead.
The tall woman with the sledgehammer slung over her shoulders sighed. "Shame. It doesn't feel good blowing up such awesome things. Oh well, I'll get the one on the left, you get the one on the right, Lord? After all, we shouldn't waste too much more of the tank's ammo if we don't have to, right?"
Daz smirked. "Sure."
Crusher sprinted forwards and the raiders didn't simply let her attack them. The one on the 25mm machine gun instantly aimed at her and began firing. The rounds flew through the air and ripped her flesh apart.
"Hahaha! I wonder, can I regen faster than you can shoot me?!" Crusher roared defiantly.
Much to the shock and dismay of the men on the M2 Bradley, even though the gun was winning in this war of attrition.
Crusher was already too close to the tank, and she had more than enough time to bring her hammer up over her head. "GRAVITAL IMPACT!" she yelled, and like a judge's gavel, her sledgehammer slammed into the front of the tank.
The mere force alone was enough to send the twenty-seven-ton behemoth over her body as if it was doing a front flip.
Two of the six raiders were instantly killed from the impact while four more died as the M2 Bradley fell on top of them. Only one survived the attack and he crawled out from under the crippled wreck. He could feel that his lungs had collapsed, so in a final blaze of glory, the insane man pulled back the pin of a grenade he had been saving and he cackled as it exploded.
Crusher covered her face and crouched down, but she couldn't avoid the damage of an entire tank that had two anti-tank missiles inside of it blowing up practically on top of her. Her entire body disappeared in a brilliant flame of death.
A low rumbling ran through the air and everyone could hear a powerful voice. "Titan's rebirth!"
As if time had rewound itself, Crusher reappeared completely naked save for her gloves and she had a big grin on her face. "What a useful Species. That grenade was unexpected. That scared the crap outta me..."
Indeed, Crusher had used one of her racial skills.
Titan's Rebirth [SS-Rank (Middle Tier)] Description
A skill unique to Titans favoured by the God of Strength, Forza.
It grants the special power of rebirth that Phoenixes are known for, except it has been modified to suit the Species of Titans.
Level 2 Abilities Allows the host to nullify death once per day. Can only be used on the host.
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As Crusher had been dealing with her tank, Daz hadn't been sitting still. Naturally, the M2 Bradley in front of him had also opened fire much like the other did on Crusher. Unlike the Titan, who possessed a hardy body that could regenerate, Daz had to use other means to defend himself.
The young Reaper immediately morphed Hamson into the scoop shovel that he had obtained in Stegrim's dungeon. Either thanks to Reika's influence or Daz's desires, the blade of Hamson in its scoop form was surprisingly big enough to cover his entire chest.
Daz aptly used this make-shift shield to deflect most of the 25mm rounds, however, even with his absurd stats, he couldn't pinpoint the trajectory of all of the bullets. Thankfully, his Travelling Gear of Altros, which maxed his Defense stat passively, was able to absorb most of the damage from the few shots that landed on him.
In fact, Daz didn't even need to defend his astral leg or arm since he could manipulate the death energy to recreate any damages they sustained. He was now right in front of the M2 Bradley and he quickly changed Hamson back into its usual root slayer body before he asked Reika to clad in it her aura.
Daz was fully intent of cutting a door into the tank and killing the operators inside. Unfortunately for him, unlike Crusher, both Jo and Edward were near this vehicle, and they wouldn't just let Daz destroy it.
Edward punched Daz in his rib while he was otherwise occupied with the tank. The man had moved so fast that even with Daz's high agility, he couldn't stop midway. While he wasn't blasted off of his feet like Edward had expected, the masked Daz still slid across the ground for a few feet and his face looked pained.
Taking advantage of that moment, Jo used his weapon which seemed to be a hand-cannon of some sort and fired it right at Daz's head. The giant bullet went straight through Daz's skull and shattered his mask into pieces.
Any other person would have instantly died, but not Daz. As a Reaper, even if he was naturally a bit weak to physical attacks, thankfully, he had obtained resistances to physical, ranged and penetrative attacks. Death energy wrapped around his head and filled in the missing chunks of flesh.
Edward looked disgusted by this. "You... What are you?"
"Me?" Daz growled. "I'm your doom."
The Reaper then did something that he normally wouldn't have. "Reika, you can consume the souls of all the dead guys," he whispered as he gestured towards the M2 Bradleys that had been destroyed by the M1 Abrams and Crusher.
'Really?! We can?! Yay!' Reika happily accepted and within a mere fraction of a second, the numerous souls of the men that had been riding the tanks or were inside of them, floated towards the small red soul.
They struggled and screamed. However, only Reika and Daz could hear them. The Demon Princess offered no mercy and gobbled them all up greedily. A satisfied look spread across her small lips.
Daz could tell that she had grown more powerful, except, her body hadn't lost any of its transparency nor had it gotten larger, which told him that she would probably need an incredible amount of souls to gain a sizable body.
'Okay, use us now! We are very confident that we can help Hamson slice through anything right now!' the excited Reika yelled as she merged back into the shovel.
The thick red aura covered Hamson's blade in its entirety and even extended for a few centimetres. "Won't let me get close? That's fine," Daz cackled.
"Throw and Retrieve!" he yelled as he launched Hamson at full strength right towards the M2 Bradley's mounted turret. It pierced through the gun like it was butter. The gunner manning it was also sliced in two and flopped down into the chamber of the tank.
Daz grinned viciously as Hamson returned to his hand after cutting through the twenty-seven-ton lump of metal and destroying one of the two anti-tank missile launchers on its way back. "Well then, you guys, wanna dance?"
Even the usually unruly Jo found himself losing his breath upon witnessing the insanity and pure power of this physically scarred young man.
Crusher stood off to the side with her arms crossed over her large breasts. "Heh... This is why he's such a good lord. This should be a fun fight to watch."
The Titan had no intentions of interrupting. She sat on the floor and was greatly looking forward to seeing the two powerful survivors challenge her lord. "I feel a tiny bit exposed..." she mumbled. Maybe it would be wise to steal some clothes from one of the dead raiders first?