Mech: Shattering of the Galaxy Chapter 1501: 17: Nothing But Rations

Those vertical, blood-red pupils radiated a savage mockery.

Having undergone its evolution, the colossal bone insect beast now commanded a rampant power that far surpassed a simple additive increase.

Its strength surged by…

A tenfold margin!

Crunch.

The distinct sound coursed through the arm and reached Mu Fan's consciousness.

Once more, the bone sword descended, and the armor encasing Shura's palm fractured anew!

This time, the bone sword even managed to bisect half of the nanomuscle fibers.

"Worthy of the Totem Clan. Not even requiring the envoy's direct intervention, the evolved bone-faced insect beast alone can push a high-level mechanical knight to its limits,"

Cornelles scoffed inwardly, preparing to divert his attention to the Great Demon God [Catastrophe] on the opposing side.

That particular mecha had been an irksome presence.

However, just as he began to turn, Shura, who had been locked in a tense standoff with the insect beast, suddenly seized the bone sword with both hands.

Allowing the massive bone sword to embed itself further into its palm, Shura's ten fingers firmly gripped the enormous vertebral joints.

A chilling wave of spiritual energy radiated outwards, as the bone-faced insect beast unleashed its predatory killing intent, exerting the pressure of an ultimate apex hunter upon its quarry.

Mu Fan, controlling Shura, raised its head. At that precise moment, within its optical sensors, the crimson hue… resembled boiling water, surging with intensity.

"Merely a horde of… rations!"

With that frigid declaration, Mu Fan's neck muscles strained violently, and the blood vessels within his pupils began to throb with a fierce redness.

Thump-thump…

Thump-thump!

Simultaneously, Mu Fan's heart commenced an intense cycle of contraction and expansion, a rhythm that seemed to directly resonate with Shura's systems.

Across the black mecha's chest, the half-blossomed red lotus began to… quietly unfurl.

"My fighting spirit, ablaze like a raging inferno!"

Hmm?

The colossal bone insect beast tilted its massive head slightly, a flicker of puzzlement crossing its features as it sensed the peculiar energy signature emanating from the black mecha.

"Extremely abnormal!"

"What was that?"

In that fleeting instant, all the shattered fragments composing Shura abruptly reversed their trajectory, hurtling back towards its core as if time itself had rewound.

It was akin to a scene replaying in reverse.

Drifting particulate mist coalesced into fragments, which then reassembled with remarkable precision, achieving a state of perfect restoration.

Subsequently, emanating from its chest, intricate lines of fire spread rapidly to every section of the mecha's chassis.

At that very moment, the Shura Mecha ignited, engulfed in crimson lotus flames from head to toe!

The five digits ensconced within the black gauntlets turned a searing red. Under the extreme thermal onslaught, ten distinct black voids materialized precisely at the points of pressure exerted by its fingers.

Cornelles' rotational movement halted abruptly, and he slowly brought his gaze back.

Before his disbelieving eyes, the bone sword, which had been relentlessly pressing downwards, was now being repelled, inch by agonizing inch.

In an instant, Shura's self-repairing mecha body delivered an unfathomable shock to Cornelles.

Even the icy-eyed Lord of Catastrophe, Archibald, with his fingers flying across his console, now directed his attention towards Mu Fan.

"Instantaneous mecha body self-repair? … This capability surpasses any known Federation technology."

"Truly, this is a turbulent era..."

After murmuring these words, Archibald retracted his frigid gaze, his focus shifting away from the unfolding events.

"Life and death are indeed bound by fate."

As a dedicated soldier of the Federation, he could only momentarily set aside animosity when confronted with matters of greater magnitude.

However, to lend aid to Mu Fan,

His personal stance forbade it, and the prevailing tactical situation also rendered it impossible.

With a sudden, sweeping motion of his hands.

Five massive arrowhead-shaped masses of purple light mist instantly expanded outwards, appearing almost sentient as they detached from the primary formation. They swiftly surged towards a point twenty thousand meters ahead, meticulously arranging themselves and holding their position.

Then, the expanding purple mist slowly contracted, transforming into five quietly rotating vortices.

Concurrently, the five subordinate fleets dispersed, yet none dared to breach the perimeter established by these five vortex defenses.

Thirty bone-faced insect beasts from the Star Body Fortress had already plunged into the void of space. As one of the bone beasts, still bearing remnants of insectoid matter on its white bone mask, approached within ten thousand meters of a vortex…

The leftmost purple vortex suddenly flattened into a corridor of shadow within space, instantly colliding with the body of that bone-faced insect beast.

A single slicing motion, and the purple mist seemed to momentarily split apart, only to swiftly flash through the insect beast's body, cleaving it into two distinct halves, and reappearing behind the now-severed creature.

A purple vortex, spanning thirty meters in diameter, materialized, appearing as an appendage now carried by the dismembered bone-faced insect beast.

But in the following second, as a dense net of crackling lightning struck from within it, any notion of control vanished.

Instantly, the entirety of the bone-faced insect beast's posterior became a mangled ruin.

No matter how it spasmed or writhed, the persistent vortex clung to it like a relentless maggot, continuously searing and corroding the bone-faced insect beast's exoskeleton.

In a flash, half of the bone-faced insect beast's form dissolved, subsequently pulverized by a blast from the Battle Fortress.

Thus, the Great Demon God [Catastrophe]'s signature move, [Doomsday Raid], undeniably showcased its formidable might.

The entire battlefield erupted into a frenzy!

Through pheromonal signals, the bone-faced insect beast registered the demise of its comrade.

Its gaze turned even more ferocious.

Suddenly, the bone wings adorning its back unfurled with a powerful sweep.

Both its hands slammed downwards instantly!

An overwhelming pressure coursed through the colossal bone sword, bearing down upon Shura's frame.

However, this time, an uncontrollable shudder coursed through the massive sword clutched in its grasp.

This was… the vibration emanating from its ten fingers gripping the blade's edge.

The reawakening of Shura's Heart unleashed twenty new mecha combat techniques previously unknown to Mu Fan.

At that critical juncture, Shura's blade armor sprang open entirely, revealing a multitude of intricate gaps.

The crimson flames that enveloped its body seemed to discover an outlet, surging uncontrollably into these newly exposed apertures.

Mu Fan found himself drenched in a searing sweat, the intense heat also transferring to his own body.

He gazed upon the colossal sword's edge looming before him, a smile playing on his lips.

[Shura—Red Lotus Blooms]!

Thud—

Thud thud thud thud!

The frantic pounding of his heart echoed like thunder within the cockpit.

At this precise moment, a radiance akin to the sun blazed forth from Shura's core.

And then—

An immeasurable wave of heat erupted outwards in every direction!

The obscuring crimson flames surged forward with unrestrained fury.

The gargantuan bone insect beast felt the resistance in its grip abruptly vanish.

Just as it began to lose its footing to the force of inertia, countless fiery fragments detached from the surging crimson flames.

Each tiny fragment, no larger than a human head, was flat like a blade, resembling delicate lotus petals.

Wherever these fiery fragments brushed against the beast's carapace, they left behind faint crimson lines.

To the immense bone insect beast, these marks seemed insignificant, but…

The sheer multitude of fragments was overwhelming, leaving the bone-faced insect beast with no means of escape.

In mere seconds, its entire body was crisscrossed with delicate red lines.

A sickly yellow-green ichor began to seep from these fine fissures.

To make matters worse, one of its eyes was directly seared into a ghastly blackness.

Utterly obliterated!

The colossal bone insect beast suddenly gaped its maw, unleashing a torrent of cyan-yellow luminous mist that spread outwards with its silent, enraged roar.

It was consumed by pure fury.

This time, the corrosive poison fog shockwave struck indiscriminately.

Dozens of Corruptors positioned at the periphery and over fifty warships from the Forest Domain were annihilated by this devastating wave.

A vividly blazing silhouette materialized in the distance. As the corrosive poison fog threatened to engulf its path, the mecha's right hand extended forward, palm open.