"So freaking awesome!"
This invincible strength, this unmatched power!
This was the Starlight Knight!
This was the power of his idol!
Billy felt so refreshed it was almost euphoric—even better than the time he managed to snag the limited-edition signed volume from Miss Monica herself.
The elite soldiers, still locked in a brutal battle against the Sons of Calydon and Qingyi's squad, were utterly dumbstruck.
They had already suffered heavy losses under the enemy's fierce assault—from over a hundred men down to barely seventy.
Now, seeing this scene, it was as if the sky itself had fallen.
"What the hell was that?!"
They turned their heads just in time to see that five of their massive autonomous mechs had vanished—reduced to twisted wreckage scattered all over the ground, like a field that had just been bombed.
And that flashy black-and-red Starlight Knight was chasing the remaining five robots, beating the circuits out of them.
"Our rear guard's gone?!"
"This is insane! The Starlight Knight's beating up combat mechs? Did we just wander onto the filming set of a tokusatsu episode?!"
A chorus of curses and disbelief spread among the soldiers. Their voices trembled with shock and fear—it felt absurd, like watching a rooster dribble a basketball.
They couldn't believe what they were seeing. It was unreal, like a fever dream.
Just moments ago, their ten massive robots had given them an overwhelming sense of security.
Now, one robot—that robot—had singlehandedly flipped the situation. How were they supposed to cope with that?
Meanwhile, on the Sons of Calydon's side of the battlefield, morale skyrocketed.
The enemy's strongest weapons had been cut in half by Billy, and the remaining half would soon follow.
It seemed this checkpoint was as good as secured.
"What an incredible Starlight Knight! Whoever designed that thing must be a genius!"
Burnice swung her flamethrower gleefully, shouting, "After this, I have to find Sol and discuss tech with him—I want my flames to burn even hotter!"
"To think it could destroy five high-power combat units in a single strike!"
"That's insane!"
Caesar and Lucy both froze mid-attack, stunned by Billy's display of power.
A man who had been nothing more than a dual-pistol gunner had now, after transforming into the Starlight Knight, become a powerhouse capable of kicking apart ten-meter-tall robots with one blow.
Even those high-energy ether cannons couldn't leave a dent on that armor—the power boost from the transformation was downright absurd.
They'd known Billy for years, and they knew just how much stronger this had made him—it was a complete leap to another level.
"It seems this must be the most advanced single-soldier combat armor in all of New Eridu right now."
Qingyi accessed her internal database, running comparisons as she spoke in awe.
So compact, yet so powerful—she hadn't seen any other powered armor in New Eridu that could compare.
Even if it looked a little silly, modeled after an anime hero, the destructive power was very real.
"Is this something Sol developed himself? Don't tell me the Cunning Hares are hiding a secret research lab under their base... Or maybe Sol's so strong because he upgraded himself?"
As she swung her long staff, sweeping through enemy elites one after another, Qingyi couldn't help letting part of her processor drift off in thought.
She felt that her own Ether automaton equipment was getting a little outdated, lagging behind the times.
Now that she knew Sol possessed such terrifying technological skill, she was seriously considering asking him to check her systems and maybe give her a full hardware upgrade.
That would definitely be a major power boost.
She just didn't know how much it would cost to commission Sol's help—and whether the savings she'd accumulated over the past century would be enough.
…
Meanwhile, inside Justin Bringer's armored vehicle.
He was no longer calm or composed—his face was dark, his expression furious, and he slammed a fist down on the armrest.
Staring at Billy's red-and-black figure tearing through the battlefield, he growled in anger and disbelief, "What the hell is that thing?! The Public Security Bureau never had any intel on this!"
In the blink of an eye, five of his most powerful units had been destroyed. And at the rate things were going, the remaining five wouldn't last long either.
BOOM!
In mere seconds, another ten-meter-tall autonomous robot was shattered into pieces.
That black-and-red Starlight Knight silhouette—in Bringer's eyes—no longer looked like a cheap superhero costume, but a terrifying, highly efficient weapon of war.
Too dangerous.
Where on earth had these people gotten such technology?
Even though he himself oversaw the development of advanced weapons in cooperation with the TOPS Alliance, he'd never heard of anything like this.
It wasn't New Eridu tech. It wasn't even pre-Fall lost technology.
Bringer knew exactly how deadly this thing was—and with the forces he had, there was absolutely no countermeasure.
Now wasn't the time for confusion or curiosity. If he didn't act fast, they'd all be captured before even reaching their objective. The plan had to change.
He grabbed the radio, linking to his hundred elite soldiers, and barked out an order.
"Do not engage any further! Split up and break through! Operate independently!"
Then he switched channels to the autonomous units' control system and issued another command.
"Cease current operations. Split into four groups. Advance toward the residential districts and execute annihilation protocol!"
He silently thanked himself for bringing so many elites—at least he wasn't out of options yet.
If he'd come alone and been trapped by these lunatics, he'd already be finished.
But now, with so many soldiers, they could scatter and draw the enemy's attention away from him.
If these people wanted to keep him from reaching the city center, then he'd just use the civilians' safety as his shield.
"Command received! Executing immediately!"
The seventy-odd elite soldiers obeyed without hesitation.
They hadn't wanted to fight anymore anyway—not after seeing that flashy Starlight Knight kick apart ten-meter mechs, and not with those terrifyingly strong women tearing through their ranks.
Breaking off and retreating was the best order they could've hoped for.
With disciplined coordination, they ramped up suppressive fire, sacrificing a few comrades to buy time for the rest to get back to their vehicles.
Moments later, dozens of armored cars split off into separate routes and sped away.
Among them, Bringer's own reinforced vehicle was the fastest, darting off with sharp precision.
Close behind, Jane Doe—who had been lurking at the battlefield's edge—followed without hesitation, never once losing track of Bringer.
Meanwhile, four of the ten-meter-tall mechs stopped targeting Billy and instead split off toward the north, south, east, and west—their energy weapons charging up ominously.
"Bringer, you bastard!"
Qingyi shouted furiously, eyes blazing.
She hadn't expected Bringer to be so ruthless, abandoning all sense of responsibility as Deputy Chief of Public Security—throwing away his humanity completely.
If those four mechs reached the city, it would be a massacre.
"I'll take care of those four! The Starlight Knight will never let them hurt a single soul!"
Billy became a streak of crimson light, righteous fury radiating from him as he shot into the air.
In mere seconds, he caught up to the first mech.
Twisting the dial on his belt, he activated a skill—just like in the show.
"Knight Kick!"
No, wait—Golden Purge!
He didn't remember the Starlight Knight having that move, but it worked, so who cared?
Blazing golden energy surged forth, washing over the mech and shattering it into fragments.
Billy blinked in confusion, but quickly turned toward the next one.
Again, he twisted the dial, ready to unleash another Knight Kick!
Instead—Verdant Bind!
Thick vines burst from the ground, wrapping around the ten-meter mech and crushing it into a mangled heap of scrap within seconds.
Seeing that, Qingyi finally exhaled and shouted to her team, "Forget the ones taking the side roads! Block the cars heading toward the main avenue—the city center's priority!"
"The other directions are covered by Sol and Section Six! We'll clean up here first, then move to assist!"
She leaped forward, slamming her staff into the ground before a speeding armored car.
BOOM!
The car's front crumpled under the impact, screeching to a violent halt.
"Understood!"
Caesar, Lucy, Piper, and Burnice unleashed their abilities in unison, sealing off the main road leading to the city center.
Meanwhile, the transformed Starlight Knight—Billy—tore through the sky, intercepting and completely annihilating the remaining autonomous mechs in spectacular fashion.
He never did manage to pull off a Knight Kick, though. Instead, a bunch of impressive-looking but incomprehensible high-tier skills kept triggering on their own—but hey, they looked cool, and that was good enough for him.