The Saiyan squad captain calmly raised his fist.
Boom!
The impact made the ground tremble.
"Hahaha! Foolish alien creature! This is what true power looks like!"
Karisha burst into laughter, convinced that the tiny alien could never withstand a punch from Shalifei's powered armor.
Just as Shalifei grinned triumphantly...
A terrifying sense of danger suddenly surged through his heart.
The armor's AI immediately sounded a frantic alarm.
—Great Ape detected.
The Great Ape was the Saiyans' exclusive racial ability.
After transforming, a Saiyan's combat power increased tenfold.
Ordinary Saiyans normally required the full moon at night to trigger the transformation.
Ironically...
The darkness that the lizardmen considered their greatest advantage...
Was exactly what the Saiyan subordinates needed.
ROAR!
A deafening roar erupted from the squad captain's mouth.
His body rapidly expanded.
Within moments, he had doubled in size...
Until he stood as tall as Shalifei's armored form.
Combat Power: 100 × 10 = 1,000.
Boom!
The transformed Saiyan swung a massive fist.
It slammed directly into Shalifei's armor.
Shalifei felt as though a battleship had crashed into his chest.
The overwhelming pain forced a scream from his throat.
The next instant...
His vision spun violently.
Everything went black.
He never opened his eyes again.
The remaining bandits stared at the destroyed suit of armor in the distance.
Its ruptured energy conduits sparked violently before exploding into flames.
The last trace of fighting spirit in their hearts instantly vanished.
"Run!"
"Run!"
"Those alien creatures are monsters!"
"Monsters!"
"Don't kill me!"
"How can a creature destroy powered armor with its bare hands?!"
"Devils!"
"Run!"
"Help...!"
The Saiyan squad captain, however, had no intention of letting the surviving bandits escape.
The battle quickly became a one-sided massacre.
Outside the Peace Circle...
The Saiyan leader gazed at the towering fortress in the distance.
"Have all the teams reached their designated positions?"
The Saiyan standing beside him bowed respectfully.
"My lord, we've reestablished contact with the lost Third Squad."
"They encountered a minor accident along the way, but they have now arrived at Fortress Seven."
"The operation can begin."
Amosi nodded.
"Then begin."
Planet Zhaka — Peace Circle
First Ring — Karlsturt
Lord's Mansion
A lizard soldier looked at Lord Chris, who sat upon the elevated throne, his face filled with panic as he delivered his report.
"It's only the death of a few bandits."
"Was there really any need to interrupt me over something so trivial?"
Chris's massive reptilian eyes flashed with irritation.
Only moments earlier...
He had been inside the research institute observing Zhaka's latest technological breakthrough—
The Magic Armor.
A revolutionary suit that abandoned conventional energy transmission systems in favor of photonic circuits.
It far surpassed traditional powered armor.
Even the newest ninth-generation battle armor was insignificant compared to the Magic Armor.
He had been on the verge of witnessing a historic breakthrough.
Then...
An emergency report had arrived from Fortress Seven.
The highest-level military alert.
Without hesitation, Chris had abandoned the experiment and rushed back to the Lord's Mansion.
After all...
A highest-level battle report only appeared when a threat capable of endangering the entire planet had emerged.
"My lord..."
"Although Shalifei's gang were merely bandits, they've dominated this region of Planet Zhaka for many years."
"Even government forces have never been able to eliminate them completely."
"The fact that they were wiped out so quickly..."
The soldier hesitated.
Chris's expression gradually became serious.
"A new species?"
"Yes, my lord."
"According to the surviving bandits..."
"Those unfamiliar creatures destroyed Shalifei's powered armor using only their physical strength."
"Furthermore..."
"One of our orbital satellites detected unidentified flying objects entering the planet's atmosphere not long ago."
Alien invaders.
Chris's anger immediately disappeared.
Alien invasions were the greatest threat Planet Zhaka had ever faced.
Damn it...
If only the Magic Armor project had been completed.
Those alien creatures would never have been able to threaten the Peace Circle.
As Chris was deep in thought...
His communicator suddenly rang.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
"My lord."
"All four super fortresses of the Peace Circle have come under simultaneous attack."
The Commander of the Peace Circle Defense Force, Rennes Garr, spoke with a solemn expression.
Chris froze.
"They've already begun?"
He immediately asked,
"How many attackers?"
"Do they possess any heavy siege weapons?"
"Can they breach the walls of the Peace Circle?"
"And what level of technology are they using?"
After all...
Every alien invasion differed greatly.
Some involved armies numbering in the hundreds of thousands.
Others wielded bizarre technologies beyond imagination.
To Chris...
Even what outsiders called "magic" was simply another form of advanced energy technology.
If he understood the enemy's methods...
He could formulate the proper countermeasures.
Rennes Garr answered gravely,
"There are only ten alien lifeforms in total."
"They are carrying no visible weapons."
"They have already launched probing attacks against Fortress One."
"However, they were forced back by the fortress's heavy naval cannons."
"So far..."
"They have displayed no obvious technological equipment."
"The enemy has deployed three attackers at Fortress One..."
"Two at Fortress Three..."
"Two at Fortress Five..."
"And three at Fortress Seven."
As he recited the numbers...
Even Rennes Garr's massive frame trembled slightly.
Whether from disbelief...
Or anger...
Even he couldn't tell.
Chris listened in silence.
His expression gradually darkened.
"So..."
"There are one hundred thousand invaders?"
"They're relying solely on physical attacks?"
"Fortress Seven detected thirty thousand enemies first..."
"That would certainly explain why Shalifei's bandits were annihilated so quickly..."
Piecing together the available intelligence...
Chris muttered to himself.
Shalifei's gang numbered only a few hundred.
Being overwhelmed by tens of thousands of invaders was entirely plausible.
As for the report that someone had destroyed powered armor with bare hands...
That was probably just an exaggeration.
Most likely...
The aliens possessed some form of biological armor that resembled natural flesh.
There was, however, one question that continued to trouble Chris.
If so many invaders had entered Planet Zhaka...
How had they managed to remain hidden until now?
"My lord..."
"It's not one hundred thousand."
"It's..."
"Only ten."
Rennes Garr answered quietly.
Chris's expression froze.
"Commander Rennes Garr."
"You know the punishment for submitting false battlefield intelligence."
His tone became icy.
There was no room for jokes in wartime.
Ten people?
Attacking the entire Peace Circle?
Today wasn't April Fool's Day.