Wow! The item-dropping rate is really high! Chapter 1098 - 743: Demon Awakening! (Part 3)

As if to validate her suspicions, an icy, inhuman echo, seemingly forged from countless data streams and static, suddenly reverberated across all networked New Bauhinia combat units' communication channels and even the public broadcast systems:

[Large-scale hostile activity detected… Threat level: Extinction.]

[Following 'Protocol Three: Guardian' final clauses… top-priority directive activated.]

[Objective: Neutralize all units posing a direct threat to the 'designated cooperation target' (Bai E / New Bauhinia core control zone).]

[All available combat units, reactivating… tactical network reconstructing… global battlefield analysis complete… optimal annihilation plan generating…]

This chilling announcement served to confirm their worst fears!

The "electronic fiend"...

That terrifying entity, responsible for the collapse of the planetary Empire and compelling humanity across the cosmos to develop "human-brain computation" as a replacement for electronic AIs, the architect behind the Intelligent Machinery uprising at the close of the Golden Age—its will had resurfaced, in this exact manner, within the very "ground" where New Bauhinia had extensively deployed Intelligent Mechanical Technology!

It wasn't a complete "rebirth," but akin to a "supreme defense program" or "lingering consciousness" embedded within the fundamental protocols of the Intelligent Machinery, triggered by specific conditions.

Perhaps, within the "pact" Bai E once forged with the first-generation Intelligent Mechanism Overlord, certain ancient safeguards from the era of the "electronic fiend" had been incorporated—elements that even the first-generation Overlord might not have fully grasped.

The subsequent turn of the battle left combatants on both sides utterly bewildered and horrified.

Under the stunned gazes of the New Bauhinia soldiers, those "rogue" allied units—Warships, Mecha, ground emplacements, and even some automated machinery intended for industrial purposes—began to move with an indescribable, chilling "absolute synchronicity," commencing a deadly ballet.

No, it wasn't a ballet. It was a precision killing engine initiating maximum-efficiency startup.

Each maneuver and every barrage from every Warship harmonized flawlessly with the movements of allied ships and Mecha, devoid of any redundancy or conflict, as if a super-consciousness beyond mortal comprehension was orchestrating them as a single entity.

Damaged vessels, without hesitation, surged toward specific vectors, utilizing their wreckage to carve out firing corridors for comrades or to absorb enemy fire; Mecha squadrons executed formations and infiltration tactics that defied logic, slicing, encircling, and decimating foes in numbers far exceeding their own; the timing and trajectory calculations for the ground emplacements' ordnance were obscenely accurate, consistently targeting the most vulnerable points of enemy units or disrupting their critical functions.

More alarmingly, this perfect "coordination" extended beyond New Bauhinia's own forces.

On the battlefield, the derelicts of destroyed United Fleet ships and immobilized enemy Mecha—their internal electronic systems and any functional weaponry—were occasionally "forcibly conscripted," turning their armaments against their former allies or detonating themselves to sow disarray!

Initially, the United Fleet commanders suspected New Bauhinia possessed some clandestine super-AI or advanced electronic warfare asset, but they soon discerned the grim truth.

This level of battlefield dominion, this "indifference" to physical damage and uncanny grasp of opportunity, surpassed the capabilities of any known AI or human strategist.

It felt more like…the battlefield itself had "awakened," turning its predatory gaze upon them.

"Damn it! What in the world is this?!"

"Our systems are compromised! Some turrets are locked!

"That Mecha! We just destroyed half its chassis—how is it still operational?!"

"Disengage! Order all units to withdraw immediately! Create distance! Initiate electronic warfare countermeasures!"

However, it was already far too late.