Tempest of the Battlefield

Zhoudi knew that Wang Tong was a force to be reckoned with, since even the Dark Lord was not able to overcome him. He was certain that he could not stand a chance while fighting against the latter one on one. However, he also realized that he didn’t have to. He was in space, and space battles rarely involved personal combat.

He lamented on how stubborn the Dark Lord had been to meet the human devil head-on. If Zhoudi were him, he would drag out the war and avoid direct contact with Wang Tong. What use would Wang Tong be if the Zergs slowly killed off the rest of the humans until there were none left?

However, if the former dark lord weren’t that stupid, Zhoudi would never have a chance to sit on his spot. Standing in the observatory, Zhoudi swirled the Merlot in his crystal cup and looked out at his formidable armada, a smile breaking out on his face. He found himself falling even deeper into the obsession with this vista. He no longer missed the damp and clustered hive where he was born; instead, he enjoyed the open space and being surrounded by the marvels of modern technologies.

“Supreme commander, the Divine Lord has sent us a message.”

“Speak,” Zhoudi said annoyingly. Patroclus was getting under his skin lately as he kept on sending condescending messages to him as if he was his superior.

“The honorable Divine Lord, commander of the Immortals, would like to…”

“Get to the point!” Zhoudi said hotly.

“Yes… He said we need to be careful about Wang Tong. He said Wang Tong is not an ordinary human.”

“Not an ordinary human? Haha! Patroclus is afraid because Wang Tong had defeated him once.”

“Patroclus said Wang Tong is as powerful as ten armadas.” The messenger said sheepishly.

Zhoudi snorted. “Ridiculous! Ten armadas? Don’t mind him, he is too scared! Write a reply for me, tell him that his caution was noted.” Zhoudi waved in dismissal.

The dark one was too afraid to say anything else, so he left the room quietly.

As soon as the dark one was out of sight, Zhoudi was seized by an outburst of anger, squeezing the winning cup until it had shattered. Merlot and his blood mixed together, trailing down from his palm. Patroclus’ message and had spoiled his good mood; however, he reckoned the urgency to gain the approval of the queen mother supreme as soon as possible before Patroclus got more involved in his business. In order to do that, he would have to do away with Wang Tong as soon as possible. If he were to gain the mother supreme’s approval, he would have gained enough influence to cast Patroclus out of the Zerg community.

“Bunch of fools! I will find the human fleet even if they are hiding in a black hole.” In a fit of rage, he immediately announced an order to the Zerg scouts: no one was to return to the base before they had found out where the humans were hiding.

The Zerg scouts were great in numbers; however, space was boundless, and their size was like peanuts compared to the space they had to cover. However, just as the Zerg scouts were ready to throw up their hands and give up the search despite the repercussions, a small human fleet surfaced on their radar: a ticket to home!

The scouts raced against each other toward the human fleet, trying to claim the victory first so that they could go home. In a matter of hours, over five thousand ships had surrounded the X-6 fleet, and the battle broke out immediately.

Karl didn’t avoid the battle despite being outnumbered. Not only did he have full confidence in his micro control, but also in his team members. He had made sure of that in the screening process. It was the first time for many of those soldiers to command a ship; therefore, they were all eager to put their skills to the test.

The X-6 fleet adopted a two-prong formation as they charged toward the Zergs, Karl and Flash leading the charge on each side. The battle lasted only ten minutes, and the X-6 had gained a decisive victory.

The battle had filled the space with tattered spaceships, but there was not a single X-6 unit in the graveyard of spaceships. The sight had elated the human soldiers as cheers erupted on all ships. As the battle finally let go of its hold on Karl and Flash, the two commanders realized that they were both drenched in sweat.

Even though they were confident in their abilities, it was the first time they had commanded a fleet by themselves, and they were understandably nervous. Their stress was shared among all the other new captains. Stress was not a bad thing as it made one more alert and quicker to react. As a matter of fact, their victory was, in part, due to their properly tempered and controlled stress.

“Pull back!” Flash announced firmly. His voice was filled with arresting confidence, and no longer did he sound like a nascent fledgling. His feathers were fully grown, and it was time for him to soar. Under his command, the X-6 fleet had zero casualties after such an intense battle. The X-6s cracked up their thrusters and evacuated the battle zone before the Zergs’ main fleet arrived.

“Karl, I had a moment of epiphany during the battle. Maybe we should be more aggressive in order to achieve even greater victories.”

“I told you so! Don’t let those bitter and sour middle-aged men drag you down. They are politicians, and we are the warriors. It’s time to make a change in the world.” Karl spoke candidly. He never put a filter on when he spoke, and neither did he care. He knew that the world did not need politicians; instead, they needed warriors like him.

Both Karl and Flash were formidable warriors, particularly when they were able to focus on their task. Their concentration and devotion were the sources of their power.

As they looked into the boundless space from their cockpit, they felt that the opportunities for them out there were as many as the stars in the universe, so many unknowns waiting to be discovered. Even during its heyday, the Zergs had failed to conquer the universe due to its mind-breaking vastness.

The sky was the limit only if one stayed on a planet; here in the space, imagination was the only real limit.

Zhoudi was riled up when he heard that the human fleet had pulled away as soon as it had defeated his scouts. After he had vented his anger, he reflected on the incidence. That was when he discovered that the human fleet consisted entirely of light fighter jets. These new fighters jets had limited ammunition capacity and were not a threat to larger ships. The could be a nuisance at best, and what a messy nuisance they were! Only Wang Tong was able to pull it off. The unconventional strategy was never seen before in Zhoudi’s many years of fighting against the humans; it had to be Wang Tong, the new variable. How naive was he to think that he could fool him with the same ploy that he used against Moye?

“Immediately order the six fleets to spread out into a hexagonal formation at full speed ahead!”

“Yes, my lord!”

Zhoudi’s patience was wearing thin, the promise of gaining the mother supreme’s trust spurring him forward.

The hexagonal formation spread the Zerg ships out to cover as much space as possible. Although the increased distance between ships meant that ships on each side of the formation would be on their own, it was extremely effective in forming an encirclement once it had spotted a smaller target.

Meanwhile on the confederation ship, Guan Dongyang laughed for the first time in days: he had finally overcome his fear and tapped into the primordial force. He owed his success to the patient guidance of Michaux.

“Define an anchor point…That way, you won’t get lost.”

“Exactly, it’s called a soul anchor! It could be an object, a piece of memory, or a distinct emotion.” Michaux said.

“Well, let me guess, your anchor is the pursuit of the divine path?” Wang Tong asked with a smile.

Michaux shook his head. “Not really. My anchor point was the Sect. That is where I grew up.”

“Mine is my wife, Lie Xuan.” Guan Dongyang put in.

On the other side, the girls blushed, and Wang Tong could tell that their anchor were some secrets. Meanwhile, in a meeting room on Li Hong’s ship, Li Hong and Xiao Se were sharing a drink together.

“What the hell is Wang Tong up to? It has been two weeks, and he has done nothing yet!”

“Who knows! The report said the Martians are building us quite a fleet. Time for us to fight back is near.” The two generals chatted and sipped the drink in their hands. Their priority right then was to preserve strength and take over the Martian fleet when it was finished.

“I have underestimated Karl and Flash. They have already won more battles than their employer.” Li Hong lamented. He was not thrilled to learn the news of Flash’s ‘betrayal’. Li Hong had high hopes for him, but it seemed that Flash still needed a few doses of reality to quell his idealistic mind.

“They are just of average talent, but their performance lately was worthy of note. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have reinforced them with our own units.” Xiao Se smiled. While Karl and Flash were making progress, he had weighed in and sent them 100 X-6 units under his command. He was betting on both sides. If Wang Tong really succeeded, he would have at least some credit due to his assistance.