Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 200 - 177: Gentle Stream

Chapter 200: Chapter 177: Gentle Stream

Xu Yang entered the live broadcast of Black Fire Innovation when the grand-scale mothership duel had already been ongoing for 3 hours.

Reality Manipulators are quite rare, and for this battle, Black Fire Innovation had dispatched one aboard the Martinez to ensure victory.

To add more excitement, many cameras in the live broadcast room were focused on this Witch.

She didn’t have a publicly known name, only visible as a woman in a red bodysuit wearing an enclosed helmet, she effortlessly summoned a black rift in mid-air. It was generally rhomboid in shape and possessed a strong gravitational pull; under its interference, it seemed as if even the light bent, and a piercing screech filled the air.

The Chika Island kept firing energy beams and anti-ship missiles at the Martinez, and the Witch from Kyoto Infinity’s side also continually exerted her power to influence the battle, but more than half were devoured by the black rift. The other side seemed to have an endless capacity, instantly absorbing these lethal damages.

With the interference from this Reality Manipulator, the Chika Island progressively fell into a disadvantage.

"Are you familiar with this kind of power?" Xu Yang asked curiously.

"It’s a rare type of magic that communicates with other dimensions," Farosa observed, "creating a portal to an unknown realm."

"That place wouldn’t be inhabited by intelligent life, would it?"

"It does, and they are troublesome," Farosa sneered, "As far as I know, that dimension is a land of chaos. This series of magic power has angered them more than once. The next time she opens this kind of power, I expect a monstrously huge creature will tear open the portal to come out, complaining about you humans constantly throwing inexplicable trash into their world, causing them too much trouble, and for that, they will seek vengeance."

"I was about to say that Black Fire Innovation should consider this, but it’s Blackfire after all... The situation you speak of is indeed likely to happen."

"Unless I become the mistress of all witches and impart my past knowledge to them one by one, such foolish acts of self-destruction will continue to happen," Farosa murmured.

The battle continued for another 30 minutes, drawing near to its end.

The assistance ships of Chika Island had suffered over half losses, and the mothership itself was heavily damaged, tilting and sinking downward, returning to Kyoto Infinity’s corporate territory like an injured floating leviathan, trailing long black smoke.

Kyoto Infinity... defeated in the initial battle.

Farosa stopped eating her food, feeling satiated just by watching the genuine bloodshed. Observing the soldiers, witches, and the war machines bound for destruction floating silently in the sea, she felt a genuine sense of refreshment from within.

"Thanks for the hospitality. Oh, I’d like to participate in such a war personally," Farosa mumbled, "to fully unleash my magic power, watch humans swarm toward me, and then see them shatter to pieces under my magic. I want to slay until those survivors’ knees go weak."

"As long as our enemies are corporatism, we will never lack such major battles to fight. You can save your resentment and release it on the armies of Black Fire Innovation and Lighthouse Core," Xu Yang switched to the strategic map to observe the next moves.

After the victory in the great sea battle of Warmstone Sea, there were no more obstacles ahead of the Martinez, and it would continue northward, advancing towards the core area of Kyoto Infinity.

Along the way, it would pass three small island cities: Bibo City, Shinmaru City, and Hosokawa City were directly in the line of fire, situated on the outskirts, unable to escape their war-torn fates.

Since preparations for defeat were already in place, these cities were currently evacuating urgently. The president of Kyoto Infinity, Takahashi Nozomi, issued "Order No. 6," demanding the immediate dismantlement of factories, laboratories, and military bases, and the removal of all important materials.

Technical experts, management, and witches would depart first on shuttle machines, joining Kyoto Infinity under the pretext of avoiding hostile takeovers, leaving behind company employees and the external population. As per usual, Black Fire Innovation would take them back as plunder, forcing them to sign even more stringent labor contracts and become debt slaves.

"It’s indeed cruel, much like my past experiences," Farosa recalled the villages burned down in border wars, where victorious witches and knights reigned supreme leaving behind countless corpses.

"Indeed," Xu Yang said, "these three cities are the sacrifices of war, first to be co-opted by Kyoto Infinity for their tech talent and facilities, then scraped clean by Black Fire Innovation’s occupying forces. Both corporate giants are exploiting small companies and workers below them. War is an extension of economic expansion, with corporate capital wrestling in the background, and, in the end, it’s the small enterprises and ordinary workers who suffer."

Farosa pondered.

"Let me put it this way, tell me if I’m right," she attempted to analyze the corporate war with the logic of modern people, "Although it’s a struggle of capital groups in the background, Kyoto Infinity is currently passive because they, as representatives of capital, must maintain a ’shiny’ image to attract funds. But falling behind in this critical first battle, they’ll have even fewer resources to dispatch next."

"Right," Xu Yang agreed, "Kyoto Infinity has a total of 3 space motherships. With the Chika Island in such a state, they only have two motherships left. In terms of Reality Manipulators, there’s still the Witch Tenjouin Shino, capable of the ’All Directions Stop,’ and ’Sakura Witch’ Kirino Reisei. Considering the need to preserve their homeland, they can only passively use ballistic missiles and orbital weapons for interception, hoping that the troops from Kyushu High Pavilion and Heavenly Cardinal Manufacturing can achieve a breakthrough."

"With the situation this bad, will the flames of war reach Anjiu City?" Farosa was curious.

"It’s possible," Xu Yang said.

"Could it blow the Archipelago Continent back to the Middle Ages, or even earlier?" Farosa squinted her eyes.

"That won’t happen," Xu Yang judged. "It’s impossible to ignore business to engage in mutual destruction—there’s simply no need for that. Thus, the likelihood of Armageddon Weapons, including nuclear weapons and Armageddon-level Reality Manipulators, being used are extremely slim. As long as this battle remains a corporate conflict, mutual destruction is out of the question."

"—I see, it won’t happen as long as it’s a ’corporate conflict’," Farosa smiled. "But if the rebels and witches fight for world domination, it would be different."

"That’s why we need to be cautious," Xu Yang said, "until we are strong enough to withstand a joint assault from multiple Reality Manipulators as well as survive the nuclear inferno."

"I like it," Farosa used her fingers to pick up a piece of chicken and fed it to Xu Yang, "I like it very much."

They continued to watch the live broadcast from the room. The ocean surface ablaze, auxiliary ships sinking amidst the waves having been shot down, the traditional surface fleets unable to retreat in time were also destroyed by bombings from the space mothership "Martinez," turning the sea into a graveyard of ships.

Many witches from the Kyoto Infinity side were captured, their chests pierced with specially made Restrictors, and stuffed into body bag-like containers. The other survivors wailed on the wreckage of decks, a single wave was enough to sweep them away, and many carbonized bodies slipped from the damaged warships and fell into the water, such a gruesome aftermath of a battle.

Modern warfare was on a grander scale than any battle Farosa had ever seen. Compared to this, the siege of Constantinian in the Middle Ages seemed like children bumping their plastic soldiers together.

Humans could only find harsh, horrifying death, Farosa thought to herself. Small yet arrogant, humans frivolously toyed with powers far beyond their control, which was why everyone was sleeping with one eye open, fearing that their neighbor might go mad one day and come in to chop them up.

Ordinary people without superhuman abilities could either choose to be consumables under corporate protection or face this unprecedentedly chaotic world alone.

After analyzing the chain effects of the war, Xu Yang hastened the cleanup operations in the Katagi District, convinced that the corporations would soon shift their focus to this underground city.

In Xu Yang’s view, Aizu City itself was a product of large-scale development during the prosperous era of corporatism. Now, with the decline of corporatism, many areas had become stagnant or regressed, but the war had elevated Aizu City’s status as an underground metropolis.

After all, the biggest problem with the Northern Archipelago was the lack of depth. Once war approached, the giant companies on land could relocate their industrial capabilities to the interior, whereas the Archipelago had no such hinterland for refuge. Building underground was the only option to avoid damage from the strategic bombings by Black Fire Innovation, making underground cities the new rearguard for the corporations.

Sure enough, over the next three days, many corporations approached Asa Katsuragi with business proposals, looking to set up new military-industrial assembly lines in the Katagi District, as well as relocating industrial equipment and automated manufacturing facilities from the front lines.

They were willing to pay a large sum of funds, hoping for protection from the Katsuragi Gang, as the local gang had already cleared the area, and other security companies were either insufficient in strength or outrageously priced.

"We’ve got quite a few contracts," Asa Katsuragi sought advice from Xu Yang. "Not only from companies relocating from frontline small cities like Bibo City and Shinmaru City but also big corporations like Ultimate Technology and Cutting-edge Technology want to rent land in the Katagi District to set up their unmanned factories. Oh, like Cutting-edge Technology, they’re willing to pay us 40 million funds for our help to secure the largest piece of wasteland in the Katagi District, about 25 hectares, and sign a security contract for at least 10 years, ensuring their automated production lines are undisturbed."

Cutting-edge Technology was an intercontinental military industrial giant with headquarters in the Taixi Continent, not a gigantic corporation, but still very powerful. To break ground in the Archipelago, they also preferred to collaborate with forces that had a local background to save on many troubles.

"Let’s do that," Xu Yang agreed. "You propose to them a buyout approach. Two years, three years, or five years—do not go for monthly payments."

"Monthly payments would bring in a steady flow of money, no?" Asa Katsuragi said. "Wouldn’t we earn more in the long run, looking at terms beyond 20 years?"

"20 years?" Xu Yang shook his head. "Don’t think so far ahead, just make the quick cash now."

Considering the rapidly changing situation, along with Xu Yang and Farosa’s tireless "subversion" efforts, no one knew what the world would be like in 20 years.

Not to mention 20 years, even 10 years from now was bound to see significant changes, everything was unpredictable.

"Then I will sign the contracts with them," Asa Katsuragi said.

"Next, we should advance on Number 26 Highland," Xu Yang said. "Before the ’Bamboo Gang’ there gets a taste of this industrial relocation windfall, we should eradicate them completely, taking their share for ourselves. Given our current strength, I want to skip the probing part and declare victory within 3 hours, in the most efficient way possible."

"Yes," Asa Katsuragi’s heart raced with excitement.

She had been busy holding video conferences with corporate representatives these past few days, now she finally found an opportunity to fight.

The Bamboo Gang must be obliterated.