"Clang~!"
The divine bird's cry was clear and lofty, penetrating through the clouds.
As a high-level interstellar civilization capable of navigating the star ocean, how could they only use swords and blades to fight enemies on a real battlefield?
Only a small number of Pathstriders, powerful to a certain degree, can influence the course of a normal war with their personal strength.
The Master Artisan who designed the Fire-Controlling Bifang holds the position of Master Artisan within the Xianzhou Artisanship Commission. In the culture of other civilizations in the universe, they would be called a scientist.
Scientists do not possess power as mighty as Pathstriders, so they can only design little toys to assist combat personnel, referencing a certain toy wholesaler from the Land of Light.
As for the so-called Bifang, the Classic of Mountains and Seas · West Mountain Classic records: There is a bird, shaped like a crane, with one leg, red markings on a green body, and a white beak. Its name is Bifang. Its cry calls its own name, and where it appears, there will be strange fires.
The instant its red copper wings unfolded, three thousand six hundred fire beads poured out from the revolving cannon ports in the Fire-Controlling Bifang's throat. In an instant, it was as if they covered the entire firmament, dyeing the whole airspace into an orange-red hue.
"Holy shit! Who designed this thing?"
Staring at the blazing rain of fire pouring down from the sky, looking like the opening of a certain bullet hell game in her subconscious, even Stelle, who had received praise for high morals, couldn't help but curse.
"This is a bit too damn ridiculous, meow!"
"What?"
Caelus, watching the excitement from below, also opened his mouth: "Why did the art style suddenly become so 'Touhou'?"
The designer of the Ingenium Bifang must be a qualified Touhou spell card designer.
"Benefactor? What is Touhou?"
The delicate and frail Foxian girl hid behind Caelus and asked.
"Nothing, just an outdated game."
Caelus pointed at the turret Ingenium that possessed extreme battlefield suppression capabilities and looked at Tingyun: "What exactly is going on with that thing?"
"That is a major project of the Artisanship Commission's Master Artisan. If not for the special circumstances, how could a little Amicassador like this little woman know such military secrets?"
Phantylia raised her white wrist, her folding fan half-covering her pretty face, her tone faint: "When this little woman asked that Master Artisan, he only said one sentence."
"What?" Caelus tilted his head.
"Bifang descends with flames so long, red feathers fluttering reflecting the dawn's light. Flapping wings three thousand six hundred turns, its cry sounds like chanting to ferry the abominations."
Caelus twitched the corner of his mouth, silent for two seconds before raising his eyebrow: "...Ferry the abominations?"
"Yes. That Master Artisan once said that the Fire-Controlling Bifang was designed with the Denizens of Abundance army as the hypothetical enemy."
Phantylia gave a brief explanation.
As everyone knows, Denizens of Abundance possess powerful recovery abilities. Therefore, adopt wide-area coverage, saturation attacks to scrub the ground!
Different from the one-time damage of bullets and missiles, fire causes continuous damage. Flapping wings three thousand six hundred turns, burning all the Denizens of Abundance to ash!
Ordinary Denizens of Abundance, even with strong self-healing abilities, would be burned to death alive in agony if they lacked special powers.
"Shouldn't the development and testing of this kind of war weapon be placed in a separate Grotto-Heaven? Why put it inside the Artisanship Commission? Aren't they afraid of some accident?" Caelus roasted.
"Large-scale production is indeed in a closed military Grotto-Heaven. The one inside the Artisanship Commission is just an experimental prototype."
Phantylia added: "That Master Artisan also said the formal model is benchmarked against the Antimatter Legion's Doomsday Beast."
As she said this, Phantylia felt disdain in her heart. As a Lord Ravager, she naturally looked down on war machines of this level.
"An Ingenium creation benchmarked against the Doomsday Beast?"
Caelus rested his chin on his hand, deep in thought.
On Earth, nations often bring out newly developed fighter models for a spin. Is it reasonable for the Xianzhou, a Hunt faction of the same scale as the Antimatter Legion, to build some war machines of the same type?
This is extremely reasonable!
"That Master Artisan must suffer from Insufficient Firepower Phobia."
Looking at the fire scorching the sky, Caelus tsked in approval.
"Insufficient Firepower Phobia... Benefactor's phrasing is quite interesting."
Tingyun narrowed her eyes, watching the battle in the firmament.
Although the Doomsday Beast couldn't be counted as the Legion's strongest war weapon, it was still one of the superior weapons.
Compared to the Doomsday Beast, this Ingenium War-Beast—even if it was a prototype and not yet perfect—barely counted as passable.
But that strange mecha seemed to be even a cut above... Why had she never heard of similar things before?
Phantylia pondered this suspiciously in her heart.
Above the sky.
"Now is Super Little March Mode—Agile Movement!"
The energetic girl pushed the control stick. The auxiliary thrusters on Torijinmaru's legs suddenly burst with azure-white tail flames, transforming it into a swift and agile flying bird, weaving through the sky full of fireballs.
Stelle, who was originally standing handsomely on Torijinmaru, was pressed onto the bird's head by the sudden acceleration. The wild wind blew her voice into intermittent fragments:
"You call this... agile movement... it's basically... a washing... machine... Whoa!"
Five tracking fireballs turned to attack. March 7th fiercely pulled the control stick sideways, and the mecha rolled on its side to dodge.
"Ah Qi! My breakfast is going to be puked onto Torijinmaru's head!"
"Ah? Don't!"
Imagine your newly acquired waifu figurine getting puked all over by a motion-sick friend; March 7th's mood at this moment was roughly similar. she immediately panicked, even more panicked than facing the sky full of fireballs.
"Can't you fly now?"
Letting go of her hand, Stelle was thrown out into mid-air like a kite by the centrifugal force. Sister Wind held her from behind.
"Right, I can fly now!" Stelle knocked on her head.
Why did she recklessly stand on Torijinmaru's head?
Because it was handsome!
"Phew~!"
Seeing Stelle safe and sound, March 7th patted her perky chest, feeling relieved. She turned her head to look at the red bird opposite her.
"Wind Wave!"
Torijinmaru flapped its wings. Ripples of wind spread out, and the sky full of fireballs had their trajectories deviated by the wind ripples, colliding with each other and exploding into a rain of fire.
"Clang~!"
The scale-like armor plates on the Fire-Controlling Bifang's neck flipped up, revealing a second set of honeycomb launch hives. This time, what sprayed out was not spherical flames, but a continuous plasma jet stream.
"Hey~ Hiya!"
She pushed the control stick to the limit. Torijinmaru spiraled upward at a 70-degree angle, carving a spiral trail through the clouds.
"Not bad."
Caelus nodded upon seeing that March 7th could still dodge.
The requirement for air combat pilots regarding high-quality attributes is eyesight; people with defective vision cannot become pilots.
Little March has the best eyesight in the Express crew. With the driving experience inherent in the one-time item, excellent dynamic vision, and the fact that Torijinmaru is a speed-type, March 7th could dodge the Bifang's attacks with ease.
"Now, it's this young lady's turn to attack!"
Climbing vertically to a height of several thousand meters, March 7th pushed the control stick, diving down fiercely.
"Wind Wave · Billow!"
The wind ripples converged into an energy ball with chaotic internal air currents. Twelve spheres of wind light shot out in a fan shape, each over a meter in diameter, colliding with the blazing red plasma stream.
Wind and fire met, and the diffusing elemental reaction raised the nearby temperature by several degrees.
"Take this, you big stupid bird————Wind Wave · Mist!"
The wind ripples converged further, forming a divine storm beam in Torijinmaru's mouth.
The Fire-Controlling Bifang raised its head, issuing a cry that shattered the cloud layer. The molten crystal chains of its tail feathers rotated at high speed, flinging out a ring-shaped wall of fire forty meters in diameter.
The driving experience inherent in the one-time item allowed March 7th to adjust her bearing in time, and Torijinmaru's dive trajectory cut into the blind spot of the fire wall.
The azure-gold divine storm beam poured out, accurately hitting the heat dissipation fins at the root of the Ingenium Divine Bird's right wing. A few crumbling fragments of red copper smashed toward the ground.
"Jii!"
The Bifang let out an injured cry. Electric currents danced on the damaged part of its right wing, and its body flying in the air briefly lost balance.
"The timing is right. Do it, Ah Qi!"
Caelus timely reminded her that she should unleash her Ultimate.
March 7th gripped the control stick tightly, her eyes radiating with spirit: "Torijinmaru, transform!"
Following the girl's shout, the speeding azure-gold divine bird underwent a mechanical transformation that combined sci-fi and magical feelings, turning into its Battle Mode. The original divine bird wings unfolded behind it.
Torijinmaru brought its hands together. Pale azure energy emerged between its hands, converging into an energy ball.
While March 7th was gathering her Ultimate Skill, the Bifang flapped its wings unsteadily, retreating backward.
"It actually knows to run away?"
Caelus looked at the Bifang curiously: "Did the Stellaron erosion give them intelligence? Or is it the original combat AI?"
Under normal circumstances, the injured Bifang shouldn't be able to escape the range of the Ultimate Skill, but...
In the distance, a violent tremor rang out. From a certain direction inside the Artisanship Commission, a mixed architectural complex of azure jade cornices and steel skeletons collapsed amidst a roar.
Another colossal figure revealed itself.
"Is that the third one?"
Caelus looked at the head protruding from the dust and smoke. Without turning back, he asked Tingyun behind him while sizing up the appearance of the Ingenium War-Beast.
That Ingenium War-Beast was over ten meters tall and nearly fifty meters long, shaped like a turtle.
Its beast head, however, was not that of a turtle, but had some resemblance to a dragon beast. On its back, it carried a large stele inlaid with countless talismans and possessing a crystalline texture.
"Its name is Nine Depths Ingenium: Tablet-Carrying Bixi."
With very obvious physical characteristics, Tingyun quickly matched it with the clues the Master Artisan had mentioned earlier and spoke to explain.
"This Ingenium War-Beast possesses amphibious combat capabilities for both sea and land. The crystal stele it carries has a built-in large Jade Abacus, capable of real-time calculation and analysis, using force fields to neutralize all incoming attacks."
"Its exterior is of a special metal texture that is extremely hard, possessing very powerful defensive capabilities. At the same time, the crystal stele has self-healing abilities."
The Tablet-Carrying Bixi did not issue a roar or cry. It simply moved its heavy steps, its giant mysterious-iron feet crushing the tiled roofs and grinding over the load-bearing pillars of the Astrometry Pavilion, walking toward the direction where everyone was.
"It's clearly a turtle, so why is its movement speed so fast?"
Stelle, floating in mid-air, didn't understand.
The giant turtle looked extremely clumsy, yet its speed was not slow—at least it didn't match its body type.
"Idiot, it's called Bixi."
Caelus rubbed his shoulder. In myths and legends, it is the sixth of the Dragon's nine sons, an auspicious beast of Shenzhou.
"Seele, do you want to pilot a mecha? If you want, I can give you one, though there aren't any that are too suitable."
Caelus asked the dark-blue-haired girl softly.
He couldn't treat one better than the other. Silver Wing was for himself, so it didn't matter. Seele had always been running on auto-battle, with 'White' Seele controlling the body, so he couldn't ignore her.
"Seele doesn't need it, thank you Brother Caelus." 'White' Seele shook her head gently.
She really had no interest in mechas. Moreover, using the withering power of Black Abyss White Flower was more effective for dealing with the Abundance creates inside the Artisanship Commission.
"Okay."
Caelus rubbed Seele's small head. As his hand fell, he tapped on the void.
A suit of red and blue battle armor subsequently appeared on Caelus's body. The chest area of the battle armor was inlaid with a magatama-shaped red crystal, and on his back hung a divine sword with a dragon-head hilt.
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