Xyrin Empire
Chapter 499: Legion vs. Legion

Chapter 499: Chapter 499: Legion vs. Legion

The army of Heroic Spirits had finally crossed the distance that had cost them dearly under heavy firepower, and approached us for close-quarters combat. These soldiers, who appeared to hail from Ancient Rome’s legions, valiantly shouted as they brandished their sharp broadswords through the air, slashing with simple but equally lethal Soldier Fighting Skills, unleashing a fearless assault on the formidable true Heroic Spirits whose power far exceeded their own. Each second, severed limbs and broken arms flew, and each second, multiple Heroic Spirit Soldiers disintegrated into ash. But in the face of the unending tide of enemies, such casualties were nothing at all.

Tohsaka and Emiya also joined the fray, despite the fragility of their human lives compared to Heroic Spirits, a mere stroke of a Roman Soldier’s sword could claim their lives. Yet, neither of them was willing to hide behind their friends and accept protection. With people like Saber holding the front line, Tohsaka wielded her Magic Bullets, and Emiya, following my guidance (well, a series of inexplicable Magic Theory lectures from Jaina that were likely half forgotten) and not quite proficient, conjured a bow and arrow through Projection Magic to hinder distant foes. Of course, even Tohsaka’s Magic Bullets weren’t much of a threat to true Heroic Spirits. Nonetheless, those Ancient Roman Soldiers were not genuine Heroic Spirits either, so the pair could handle some of the enemies.

Sasaki, who was also human, had been brought along by Medea. Lacking long-range combat Skills and facing excessive risk in hand-to-hand combat—risks Medea was entirely unwilling to take—Sasaki found himself relegated to the center of the group, guarding Ilya.

"Swallow Return!!"

Sasaki’s voice echoed not far away, and with it, a dozen Roman Infantry who had been cut in half at the waist toppled to the ground. This was a feat Sasaki, typically adept at one-on-one duels, shouldn’t have been able to achieve. Oddly, his power was growing; the Ghost Energy on his bamboo sword had grown strong enough to emit a faint blue glow. With this energy boost, the attack range of his Secret Sword "Swallow Return" had expanded significantly, almost rendering it a mid-range weapon.

Where was his power coming from?

Indeed, the only one among all Heroic Spirits who puzzled even me was Sasaki. Despite now being one of my employees, he remained an enigma. To say nothing else, I couldn’t even locate the source of the Ghost Energy in his sword.

"Soul Burning Strike—Corrosive Soul Infection!"

Sandora’s power permeated the battlefield; her potent Spiritual Attacks left even the spiritually strong Heroic Spirits unable to defend themselves. Each gesture she made caused swathes of enemies to fall, their Souls burnt out. Around us, a Soul-stealing Aura with a radius of half a kilometer formed; enemies who entered this zone gradually lost their sanity amidst the ongoing battle. Their minds were slowly siphoned by Sandora as a source of Energy, and negative emotions like fear, greed, cruelty, and betrayal—if present even as mere seeds—would swell within their hearts to incomparable magnitudes. Hence, it was common to witness Roman Soldiers who had fiercely attacked us one moment turn their swords against their comrades the next, or even end their own lives abruptly in suicide. This strange phenomenon shook the enemy’s morale, its significance perhaps even greater than that of my indiscriminate Heavenly Light and Void Explosions.

But among all attacks, if one were to speak of visual impact, the Pandora Sisters were undoubtedly at the forefront...

Each of the two little ones was wielding twin triple-barreled Photon Cannons, their colossal weapons firing into the air, almost convincing onlookers that it was four cannons floating and discharging volleys on their own. Dozens of metal hatches floated behind the girls, from which missiles showered down like dumplings...

Just the deafening noise alone was enough for Tohsaka and the others to decisively distance themselves by a hundred meters from the two little madwomen.

They had yet to witness the true frenzy of Pandora and Visca. A sweep of a thousand Floating Cannons across the battlefield would truly be a sight to behold!

A sonic boom reached my ears—a blood-misted Vega dashed forward like lightning, turning swathes of enemies to ashes in her wake, then planted her twin blades into the ground to stabilize herself. The alloy shells at the tip of her tail flung open, and the overcharged Photon Cannon unleashed a vast array of Ghost Energy Beams, utilizing this close-ranged clearance shooting to clear a considerable area of enemies around us before approaching me.

"Commander!" Vega, reeking of blood with her armor slightly exposed, had her skin and beautiful face smeared with fresh red blood, making the towering Armored Scorpion seem like a demoness from Hell, frightfully formidable. "I’ve tallied our kill count. Just under your Spatial Cannons and Sandora’s Spiritual Attacks, the number of Infantry Spirits that perished has surpassed four thousand!"

The extermination of four thousand Heroic Spirits within the brief span of a half hour was nearly inconceivable, but if two Leader Level Xyrin Apostles were involved, it could only be considered ordinary. These were just within the "conventional firepower" range for Sandora and me; we wouldn’t deploy those world-annihilating toys here.

Of course, that wasn’t the main point. The focus was...

"Four thousand casualties, but..." I peered into the distance. There, the formations of Roman Infantry remained orderly as ever. Rows of infantry were breaking away from the ranks, gearing up to hurl their javelins at us.

"But it seems as though they haven’t diminished at all."

That’s right, the battle has dragged on, and the enemy has suffered more than half their losses. No matter what, their numbers should have clearly decreased by now, but whether it’s the infantry phalanx currently engaged in close combat with us or the reserve soldiers continuously replenishing from behind, this Roman Legion showed no signs of significant reduction in their ranks. In fact, their reserve phalanx hadn’t even been mobilized yet.

Of course, it’s not that the enemy didn’t suffer any casualties at all—only that the slight decrease in their numbers was too insignificant compared to the battle results we should have achieved.

The enemy still used tactics such as simultaneously throwing javelins and engaging in close combat to launch continuous and relentless "drag-out" attacks against us. Due to the special skills of Heroic Spirit transformation, they managed to employ these otherwise irrational tactics effectively, causing us considerable trouble. Although with my Void Explosion interception and the others’ efficient fighting, these attacks hadn’t yet done substantial damage to us, Saber and the others were visibly showing signs of fatigue.

"Sakura, switch to the Crystal Saint Statue!"

After some thought, I turned to the purple-haired girl on the other side who was engaging in a tentacle offensive using her transformable hair (what a bizarre comparison), and spoke. Although she had joined the battle from the outset, she hadn’t deployed that somewhat over-spec combat stance, as I hadn’t given the command till now.

"Hey! Boss!"

Sakura cheerfully acknowledged with a shout and loudly called out to her Servant, "Rider, protect me. I need ten seconds!"

The white Heavenly Pegasus with wings at its flanks descended from the sky, and Medusa, who had been sniping at enemy Commanders from the periphery, dismounted and stood guard by Sakura’s side. Meanwhile, Sakura herself had already closed her eyes, standing still in silence.

Blue and white Energy Auras appeared on the ground, and the purple-haired girl herself slowly sank into the Aura. Even in the midst of battle, Tohsaka and Emiya had noticed the scene unfolding here. Emiya already had an inkling of what was about to happen and reassured a somewhat worried Tohsaka with a comforting look.

"Crack-crack-crack..."

Simultaneous with a series of crystal-breaking sounds, the blue and white Aura that had just engulfed Sakura suddenly expanded by more than tenfold, transforming into the large Energy Well that had appeared prior to the descent of the Crystal Saint Statue, and then amidst a few cries of astonishment, the floating Crystal Giant slowly manifested before everyone’s eyes.

"From this angle, it’s much more comfortable..."

Sakura lazily propped her body up with her arm, leaning askew on the crystal platform below her lower half, yawning towards the sky. Although the energy consumed to summon the Crystal Saint Statue could be replenished by the Ghost Energy Crystal Cluster beneath the floating platform, a sense of fatigue was still present at the moment of summoning.

"Ah, sister, how is it? I told you, that stingy alien boss gave me a pretty good gift, didn’t I?"

Hey! If you admit it’s a good gift, can you not mention the word ’stingy’, okay? You and Rider both signed a contract! Even though that idiot misspelled her name five times before getting it right...

"Wah... If I hadn’t known in advance, I would have suspected you subjected my sister to some inhumane human modifications," Tohsaka murmured subconsciously, "What is this thing!"

You first explain what "inhumane human modifications" are, okay!?

"Sakura, don’t hold back, release a wide-range Ghost Energy Wave!"

I shouted to Sakura, who had transformed into a Giant, while casually summoning a Super Space-Time Satellite Cannon, and instantly, another dozen Roman Soldiers turned into blue smoke.

This time, I kept my wits about me, and after eliminating a dozen or so Roman infantry, I immediately spread out my spiritual power, carefully sensing the chaotic energy on the battlefield.

The fallen Roman soldiers did not vanish instantly; instead, they transformed into another form of free-floating energy, which then gradually merged with a certain energy that pervaded the entire battlefield.

This newly merged energy seemed to have a certain autonomy, as it gathered towards one direction—where the reserve forces of the Roman Legion were stationed.

New Infantry Spirits were continuously resurrected there!

No wonder the number of enemies never decreased despite the lengthy battle; they were all like the characters of the Chung Ge Sect’s Red Archbishop!

But why didn’t the two hundred defeated Roman Soldier Spirits at Emiya Mansion resurrect last time? Could it be because of the special energy that now pervaded the battlefield?

I grew interested in this omnipresent energy. The Inner World seemed to possess many things absent from the Outer World, and even the World Garden couldn’t analyze it fully—what in the world was going on here?

Feeling the ubiquitous free-floating energy, I found that I couldn’t pinpoint its source at all; it was too homogeneously distributed. The energy was so evenly spread throughout the battlefield that it was nearly impossible to discern its flow pattern. Meanwhile, the dead Roman soldiers were reviving endlessly and strengthening under the influence of this energy—without a doubt, it was the source of their power, and...

Was it also the source of Sasaki’s power?

I could clearly "see" that around Sasaki, this energy was highly active. It gathered around him more vigorously than around the healing Roman soldiers, allowing him to fight without showing any signs of fatigue, becoming stronger as the battle progressed.

In other words, this energy lacked will, so its source was likely—

I lifted my head to gaze at the Red Moon above.

It was the only thing capable of providing energy to the entire battlefield, distributing it evenly, and without distinguishing between foes and friends.

Perhaps, it was the crimson moonlight shining upon the Inner World, charging the Roman infantry with energy—meaning, the moon empowered them. Thinking of over ten thousand robust Roman infantry uncles annihilating us in the name of the moon, my pressure mounted suddenly.

"Crystal Radiation!"

The Giant Crystal Saint Mother slowly rose about ten meters into the air, scattering a vast expanse of blue light screens over the battlefield. Amidst the red moon’s glow, these blue lights seemed fragile, yet their effects were astonishing. A radius of fully half a kilometer, swept by the blue light, was heavily affected by Ghost Energy Radiation, which was devastating to Energy Life Forms. Numerous Roman infantry closest to the source turned into crystal statues by the rows, then fell and shattered to dust. Farther back in the formation, the movements of the soldiers became noticeably slower, allowing Medea to leisurely kill them off one by one with Magic Bullets.

This time, the enemy finally suffered real reductions in numbers: Roman infantry contaminated with Ghost Energy could no longer receive the power of the Red Moon. What was merely a fleeting attempt turned out to be so effective that it delighted me beyond expectations.

"Sandora!"

I called out loudly. The golden-haired girl floating in the air quickly descended, puffing with irritation, "Ah Jun, why can’t these guys just die? Do we need to use the big guns?"

"The Red Moon keeps resurrecting them," I glanced at Sandora, who had already lost some of her temper, "do you plan to knock that moon out of the sky?" We weren’t without the power to eliminate these enemies, but no one dared to guarantee the disastrous consequences that destroying the Red Moon might trigger. Besides, demolishing a planet just to wipe out a Roman Legion seemed like quite a waste.

"Sakura’s power is just right to counter these guys; let’s go over there and have a look."

I directed my gaze towards the vast rear of the Roman Legion, where an energy reaction had been staying in the same spot without moving; if the entire legion had a commanding general, he would undoubtedly be there.

As for this place, I believed that with the two little madmen, Pandora and Visca, and the giant cannon, Sakura, keeping watch, there should be no possibility of a breakthrough.

A few kilometers was virtually nothing in mine and Sandora’s eyes. In an instant, we had crossed the battlefields shrouded in gunsmoke, charging forward with our energy shields, leaving behind a ten-meter-wide no-man’s zone in our wake. Although the heavy infantry had promptly reacted and formed a dense formation, their fragile shields were ultimately no match for the charge of two Leader Level Xyrin Apostles.

"Deploy reserve troops!"

Even under such circumstances, the enemy’s commander was still issuing orders in an orderly fashion. The light infantry, ineffective as they were, neatly retreated, while a mass of heavy infantry, like tin cans, advanced from behind the battle lines to face us.

One could distinctly sense that these soldiers exhibited more vigorous energy fluctuations, even achieving about one-third of a true Heroic Spirit’s power. So, they were elite soldiers?

Sandora and I hovered calmly in mid-air, watching the enemy forces that were gradually drawing closer. As for the commander issuing orders, he had already come into our line of sight.

About a hundred meters away stood a middle-aged man of extraordinary stature, clad in light armor adorned with patterns and draped in a long cape atop a war chariot surrounded by heavy troops. Unlike the regular Roman infantry, this man, who was clearly the legion commander, wasn’t wearing a helmet; his weather-beaten, resolute bronze face was as sharply defined as marble, and his sunken eyes held a piercing gaze fixed in our direction.

"You are not Heroic Spirits. Why involve yourselves in this war?"

The tall middle-aged man spoke in a deep voice, and despite the hundred-meter gap, his booming voice still echoed in our ears, proving that in ancient armies where communication was primarily by shouting, a loud voice was an essential quality for a competent general.

"You should be well aware that we could easily kill you from this distance," I stated calmly, confident that the other side had seen the terrifying attack power of Sandora and me. Could he really think that those heavy infantry around him could defend against the Heavenly Light falling from the sky?

Even if Sandora wished it, those heavy infantry could rebel at the same time and tear him to pieces in a surging mob.

"I admit your strength is beyond my expectations, but I consider it my fortune to have been summoned to partake in such a wholehearted battle. The Red Moon shelters the warriors of the Holy Roman Empire; we won’t fall that easily!"

"You’d better take a look over there."

I shrugged my shoulders and pointed behind us. The gigantic Crystal Saint Statue stood out like a lighthouse in the dark night, with numerous Roman soldiers turning into crystalline figures under her light.

"Indeed, I didn’t expect that you could kill my soldiers under the Red Moon; perhaps today will be my day to die here," the middle-aged Legion Commander said with a resonant voice, showing no fear of death: "But as long as the great Gaius still stands, the warriors of Rome will never perish! More of our brethren await you ahead! Attack!!!"

"Kill!" The Legion Commander’s words became the declaration to commence battle. The Roman heavy infantry that had surrounded Sandora and me roared thunderously and drew their swords, charging at us with heavy steps.

"Brave general, it seems using mind control to destroy your troops would be an insult. Then let’s grant you the death of a soldier!" Sandora merely watched the middle-aged military man who was prepared to meet his end; with a delicate arm, she traced an arc in the air signaling the onset of an attack, "Legion, against legion!" (To be continued... To find out what happens next, please visit www.qidian.com. There are more Chapters available, support the author, support genuine reading!)