Chapter Thirty-Four: Death Descends from the Heavens

Mo Wen had anticipated that upon entering the fortress, he would be besieged by a squad of elite psionics backed by the base’s defensive systems, or perhaps targeted under the guise of an inspection, only to be disposed of while he was unable to resist. He never expected, however, to be hunted while still in mid-air.

If the Syndicate had intended to kill him from the start, they shouldn't have offered such an inexplicable opening; they should have branded him a criminal and demanded all other corporations assist in his containment. Now, every corporate satellite would witness the Syndicate’s sudden aggression, shattering the fragile trust between them.

Was this a last-minute change of plans? Did those inside the fortress realize his approach posed some threat, leading them to decide to eliminate him right then and there? Mo Wen was uncertain of his enemies' true motives, but his priority now was survival.

His cybernetics, which should have been offline, were suddenly hacked. Several components were instantly overloaded, and a wave of intense pain, bordering on the limits of his neural tolerance, began to ravage him. It was a level of agony that would have killed an ordinary person on the spot; even a battle-hardened soldier would be rendered helpless by such neural trauma, and even a dead man might have been slowed by the sheer impact of the data surge.

Mo Wen faltered, yet, fueled by his psionic acceleration, he remained the fastest living being on the planet. Before the next wave of impending doom could manifest, he sliced through the bulkhead beside him and leaped out.

Clouds drifted beneath his feet; looking down, he could see them flowing, gathering, and intertwining like a tide across the planet’s surface. Looking ahead, he could see the curve of the Earth and the war satellites in the distance, preparing to strike.

Four war satellites launched their assault.

Light—vast, glorious, scorching light—erupted with a radiance that made Mo Wen feel the sting of death, even from thousands of miles away. The beams were so massive they seemed capable of engulfing entire mountain ranges, leaving deep ravines in the earth with a single sweep. Mo Wen could not begin to fathom the power source or storage capacity required to unleash such an attack.

Worse still, he could no longer fly. The gravity of the planet below, transcending time, anchored his body. He could only descend; he had no way to strike at the war satellites or counterattack the fortress.

But Mo Wen would keep struggling.

He exerted himself to the limit, his vector thrusters emitting shrill, discordant noises. Aided by gravity, his speed pushed toward the absolute limit of what his cybernetic frame could endure. Friction with the atmosphere set him ablaze, allowing him to pass through the gaps between the four pillars of light, narrowly dodging the first wave of the ambush.

The spacecraft was not so lucky. It was grazed by a beam and virtually vanished, leaving behind only scattered debris. His cheap teammates, however, managed to survive through psionic warnings, drifting apart and plummeting toward the ground.

"Ahhh?" Ren Sisi cried out in panic.

"What is happening?" the Dragon Sword Ninja struggled to maintain contact with the corporation.

As for Phantom, he didn't know where he had gone. He hadn't been vaporized in the first wave... presumably?

Mo Wen stopped paying attention to his disposable teammates, focusing instead on what other offensives the enemy might have in store. Four war satellites were clearly not the limit of his enemies' arsenal. Missiles? Their speed might not be enough to catch him. More, smaller light cannons? Very likely.

He needed to return to the ground as quickly as possible and find a way to hide; only then would he have a chance to survive and look for an opportunity to strike back.

Suddenly, Mo Wen saw a massive "city" appear beneath him.

No, it was not a city. It was a fortress. Unlike the orbital research stations mentioned in the records, this was a war fortress born entirely for combat, designed with the sole purpose of total annihilation. As far as his eyes could see, there were only weapons; only by hollowing out entire mountain ranges could such an incredible spectacle be forged.

Tens of thousands of heavy turrets, swarms of drones that swallowed light like black mist, countless missile launchers, and the shimmering shields—all concealed the psionics lurking within.

Appearing here so suddenly, Mo Wen wasn't sure if this was the desperate work of a psionic capable of spatial displacement, or if it involved technology so advanced it defied logic.

*I have to fight this?*

They really did hold him in high regard! When he was just an ordinary man, he fought military-grade cyborgs; now that he was a military-grade cyborg himself, he was being targeted by a war fortress. It was only when he went looking for trouble that he could bully the weak, but when trouble found him, it turned into a desperate, impossible scenario.

But he would survive!

Mo Wen lunged toward the fortress. Relying on his psionic foresight, he could see the misery that awaited him if he tried to run: his speed and psionic abilities would be restricted, followed by a barrage of light cannons, a feast of missiles, and specialized devices that would amplify the enemy’s own psionics to give him a truly unique "surprise."

Only by seeking life within the jaws of death could he find a path forward.

The fortress was not suited for internal defense, and given its immense value, the enemy wouldn't dare unleash satellite strikes until it was damaged beyond a certain point. Mo Wen needed to destroy the potential suppression devices and target the specific psionics on the base to carve out a path.

The first step was to breach the shield.

The shields in this world, beyond the common, tangible repulsion fields seen in various works of fiction, sometimes possessed extreme heat capable of vaporizing incoming objects—exactly like the shield of this war fortress. It was incredibly dangerous, but Mo Wen had never known fear.

[Current Power Level: 4. Current Cybernetic Stability: 98%]

His psionic power was further unleashed. His life began its countdown, but his combat capability surged in tandem.

With heightened perception, he sensed something within the Syndicate’s research fortress that was fundamentally at odds with him. Only his death could ensure the proper birth of that "something." His existence was an interference, a harbinger of destruction; perhaps, in the future, he would be its destroyer.

*Heh, so that’s it.*

Mo Wen stopped dwelling on the source of the conflict and focused entirely on himself.

His already terrifying time acceleration pushed further. His psionics began to materialize, no longer needing a specific form to manifest, but directly and brutally altering the world.

And so, an invisible, intangible shield manifested around Mo Wen, while the magnetic shield formed by his cybernetic currents retreated within.

Impact!

The violent heat was enough to incinerate metal and stone; even if a mountain were thrown against this shield, it would likely be melted and blocked.

But Mo Wen succeeded.

The red-hot monster tore through the shield.

The intensity of that heat was so vivid it seemed as if it would sear the retinas of the psionics who hadn't yet reacted, blinding them. They couldn't understand what was happening; their brains had not yet processed the information, but long before their minds could think, their biological instincts had sensed the danger.

Mo Wen looked down at the fortress blocking his way, taking in every obstacle.

His cybernetic armor was melting in large patches, his cooling systems were constantly throwing error codes, and his weapons were damaged... none of it mattered.

His hands and feet could kill, his will could crush those who stood in his way, and he would take, destroy, and carve out a path to survival with his own strength.

In the end, I will win.