"Reporting to Lord Jason — all our forces have arrived. Awaiting further orders." A Sanctuary courier came to Jason's side and spoke quickly.

  Jason said, "Good. Notify the entire army: prepare to unch a counterattack against the Rebels. Deputy Commander Bir, you will lead this operation. The pn is to concentrate our main forces directly in front of the Rebel advance to stop them from pushing forward, while the remaining forces are distributed along both fnks. Then strike with full force."

  A broad-shouldered middle-aged man beside Jason acknowledged the order and went to carry it out. After that, the sounds of artillery to the northwest grew louder and more intense, and bck smoke billowed continuously in that direction — fierce fighting was clearly underway. Though the battle had escated, the sounds of gunfire came no closer to the central square.

  "Looks like the Sanctuary has begun its counterattack," Rulu said, lifting his head to look northwest, his expression thoughtful. "The Rebels have been stopped. They might already be in serious trouble."

  C.C. said, "So the Rebels won't make it here? They can't rescue these people?"

  "It can't be that straightforward," Rulu said. "General Li doesn't strike me as the kind of man who charges in without a pn. He won't be beaten by the Sanctuary this easily — he must have something else up his sleeve."

  "Like what?"

  "We'll know soon enough. All we have to do is keep waiting."

  Rulu and C.C. continued to wait patiently in the truck. Then, suddenly — a tremendous boom rang out from the southern end of the square. Rulu spun around to look. One red humanoid armored soldier and around twenty grey humanoid armored soldiers had appeared from the south, speeding rapidly toward the center of the square. In their wake, at some distance behind, followed roughly five or six hundred ground troops armed with firearms.

  "So the Rebels had a small unit hidden in reserve all along. It looks like they pn to use this unit to carry out the rescue. That's actually a clever move." Rulu watched the Rebel force that had appeared suddenly from the south, a smile spreading across his face.

  Jason spotted the Rebels and immediately dispatched the dozens of humanoid armored soldiers held in reserve at the square, along with nearly a thousand regur soldiers, to intercept them. The two forces made contact at the southern end of the square, and fierce fighting broke out.

  "Whoa — they're actually fighting! This is intense," C.C. said, staring wide-eyed at the battle raging across the southern square.

  "That Rebel unit looks seriously strong," Rulu said, watching through binocurs. "The pilot of that red armored soldier must be Kallen. She's taking on multiple Sanctuary armored soldiers by herself — they're no match for her at all. At this rate, the Sanctuary side is going to colpse fast."

  "Really? Let me see..." C.C. snatched the binocurs from Rulu and trained them on the battlefield. She could see the red armored soldier moving with extraordinary agility, effortlessly evading the attacks of the Sanctuary's humanoid armored soldiers before unching devastating counterstrikes.

  On the red armored soldier's right forearm was a peculiar five-fingered steel cw. Each time the red armored soldier seized a Sanctuary humanoid armored soldier with that cw, the enemy's armor instantly melted away, leaving a gaping hole — and in seconds, the target was destroyed.

  Under the red armored soldier's ferocious assault, in less than ten minutes the Sanctuary had already lost over a dozen humanoid armored soldiers, while the Rebels had lost only two or three.

  "Lord Jason, something's wrong," the Sanctuary's Chief of Staff said anxiously. "In just ten minutes, we've lost nearly a third of our armored soldiers, while the enemy appears to have lost less than a tenth. The situation is badly against us."

  "I can see that." Jason stood on the ptform, eyes fixed on the red armored soldier in the midst of the battle. "That red armored soldier is formidable. Our people are no match for it. If this continues, defeat is certain."

  "Then... what do we do?" the Chief of Staff said, his expression armed. "Should we call in reinforcements from elsewhere? But there's no time for that now."

  "No need. I have a way. Tell our people to fall back entirely."

  "Yes, Lord Jason." The Chief of Staff immediately issued the retreat order through his communicator. Upon receiving it, the Sanctuary's armored soldiers and regur troops withdrew toward the center of the square. The Rebels gave chase relentlessly, pressing their attack with even greater ferocity.

  Then a sharp, piercing shriek cut through the air. A pink blur swept through the sky at incredible speed, flying straight toward the red armored soldier. A flying kick nded squarely on the red armored soldier's face — the red armored soldier was sent toppling backward and crashed to the ground with a thunderous impact.

  "Everyone hold — stop the pursuit!" shouted a curly-haired man in his thirties with a red ribbon tied around his head, speaking into his communicator. The Rebels immediately halted their chase and gathered around the fallen red armored soldier.

  "I'm fine — don't worry." The red armored soldier quickly scrambled back to its feet, and from within the face visor came the bright, clear voice of a young woman.

  "Of course she is. Kallen just tripped, that's all — Captain Guan, you worry too much," said a bald, heavyset man nearby with a scar across his face, chuckling.

  "Exactly! These Sanctuary bastards are no match for us at all — they've already started running. We're about to wipe them out!" A-Bing shouted in a high-pitched voice. The rest of the Rebels cheered in agreement, raising their weapons high and letting out excited battle cries.

  "Hmph. You lowly rabble think you can defeat our Sanctuary? What a delusional, ughable fantasy." A cold, chilling male voice came from somewhere above the assembled Rebels.

  At the sound of it, a jolt of unease ran through every one of them. They looked up simultaneously — and saw a lean, pink-coated middle-aged man floating in midair, seven or eight meters above the ground, gazing down at them from on high.