Chapter 688: Chapter 601: He Refuses Judgment!

The crimson beam suddenly pierced through the night sky, the highly compressed energy flashed and vanished, then lifted a shockwave; from left to right, skyscrapers exploded one after another, rubble and dust enveloped everything, the entire block was shrouded by the sweeping haze.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

A heavy engine roar like thunder resounded; amid the panic, light poured out, the centaur’s silhouette like a god of light and heat, standing still atop the dazzling-white ruins.

The engine grew louder and higher-pitched; with a shrill neigh, the centaur raised its Lance high, blazing red lightning dropped from the heavens; in an instant, violent winds surged, the sky and the ground split into two worlds of flickering red and white, the currents coiling around the lance tip sank rapidly, flowing across the mechanical horse’s body.

"Gernika?"

"Affiliation: New Federation?"

"Faction: Absolutely Hostile"

"Life Value: 100%"

"Nightmare Level Instance BOSS!

"Warning! Warning! Warning!"

"Anti-war propaganda mecha manufactured to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Federation’s founding. Note: This type of NPC far exceeds the average Attributes of players in this instance, the danger level is extremely high, set as a story BOSS, it is not recommended for players to engage in direct conflict at this time!"

Bai Youyou looked from afar at that Battle Armor; that Battle Armor likewise cast its gaze toward her, forehooves rearing high, swinging the Lance in its hand with a shrill cry. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

This was the mecha that had shot down their Hovercar earlier. It was hard to imagine how the other party, from the ground, had used a single Lance to hit a high-speed Hovercar in the air; if it wished, it could probably throw that Lance straight into space.

Bai Youyou had investigated this mecha’s background. When the New Federation commemorated its 400th anniversary, it had produced five units of "Gernika," deploying them to the three largest battlefields at the time in the name of defending peace. After the Federation’s civil war between North and South ended, four of them became commemorative pieces in the Picasso State Museum, while the remaining one vanished without a trace—rumored to have circulated on the black market.

She hadn’t expected the Revolutionary Army to have bought that Gernika. Earlier, they had coated it with stone paint and placed it right in the center of the New Federation Forest Park—she’d thought it was just a statue.

If Titan-class units were war weapons, then Gernika was the Titan among Titans, the war weapon among war weapons.

Near-top-tier craftsmanship ensured that while its frame remained agile, its defenses far surpassed conventional Titan units; the gravity field surrounding its body, when fully activated, could even crush alloys cast from Dragon Steel Copper into flat iron cakes.

If it had a flaw, it was that its bionic design made the pilot’s Sea of Consciousness prone to instability during link-upload.

The current state of this Gernika was clearly abnormal; every movement radiated a mad aura. No matter how you looked at it, it didn’t resemble an anti-war Battle Armor at all. Bai Youyou had, however, heard scandalous rumors of Gernika pilots falling into insanity because they failed to anchor their sense of self.

The more animal-like the features, the greater the sensory impact on the pilot during linkage, and cognition would naturally be skewed as well. Bai Youyou was beginning to suspect the true purpose behind the New Federation designing an anti-war mecha as a bionic type.

The instant it locked onto her, Gernika roared and charged forward.

She saw the centaur leap between high-rises; in the blink of an eye it rushed to Bai Youyou’s face, Lance raised high and thrust downward.

Bai Youyou directly released the Severing Holy Armor, and Osiris Gathered in her palm.

The Heavy Hammer collided with the Lance, energy swelling outward, a gale howling violently.

Bai Youyou was taken aback by the Power transmitted along the Lance.

She was very confident in this strike. In pure frontal confrontation, few on Oasis were her match; during sparring, Angelina would often choose to attack her flanks instead.

Gernika likewise hesitated, unable to understand how such Power could be contained within the body of the girl in front of him, who didn’t even appear particularly tall—her figure could at best be called well-proportioned.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Holding nothing back, Bai Youyou swung the Heavy Hammer repeatedly, and Gernika did the same. Hammer and Lance kept clashing, each impact heavy and forceful, all technique cast aside—this was pure Power against Power.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Their exchange grew ever faster, until even afterimages were impossible for ordinary eyes to see. Cracks appeared in the space around where Hammer and Lance collided in rapid succession; rubble was flung up, then shattered to dust by the raging shockwinds they stirred.

Energy roared and vented, light and shadow flickering unpredictably, until in a certain instant, an intense radiance suddenly burst from Gernika’s body.

Bai Youyou immediately withdrew, seeing golden radiation currents spew from within Gernika. The arcing radiation net swiftly expanded and detonated, annihilating everything within a fifteen-meter radius!

When the dust dispersed, Gernika’s figure emerged again; the earlier head-on clash had only left faint black marks on the surface of its frame, failing to inflict any real damage.

Currents coursed over the centaur’s body; Gernika looked even more manic now. He suddenly clutched his head in pain, his figure swaying and retreating, his hoarse roars alternating with the engine’s thunder.

He seemed to be struggling against something, swinging the Lance in his hand wildly; the mad aura soared higher and higher, light spouting from the seams of the knight’s helmet!

"Opina... where are you, answer me!"

"Opina!!"

The golden currents flickered on and off, then in the briefest instant erupted again, shooting straight into the sky.

Bai Youyou decisively raised her hand; a pale golden clock-ring spread out in circles from beneath Gernika’s hooves, Roman pillars rose one after another, the phantom of a court taking shape, the judge seated high on the bench, looking down on the frenzied figure below.

Countless binding chains flew from the void, shackling Gernika’s body and forcing him to kneel at the dock. At the same time, chains on both sides hoisted a Clock Sword into the air, pointing straight at Gernika.

Judgment Sword Mechanism Court!

Gernika roared and struggled violently; the raised arms snapped chain after chain, only for more chains to shoot out and drag his hands back down, forcibly yanking them toward the ground. The clock of judgment began to move toward XII.

Holy light spiraled above; as the hand reached XII, the bell of judgment tolled, and the suspended Bell Sword descended like a mountain from the sky, crashing straight onto Gernika!

The instant it made contact with the Bell Sword, Gernika’s entire body sparked with overstressed currents, his form driven deep into the ground. Just as Bai Youyou thought this blow would be enough to finish him, a sudden turn of events made her eyes widen.

"Gernika refuses judgment!"

Gernika let out a furious roar, suddenly raised both hands, and grabbed the descending Bell Sword with a violent wrench. The horse hooves that had been kneeling on the ground trembled as he forced himself upright, faintly showing signs of resistance. As he stood taller and taller, the Bell Sword’s Power kept diminishing, its rate of descent visibly slowing.

"Roar!!"

Gernika let out another exalted battle cry, his fists pounding like machine guns, hammering the Bell Sword again and again, actually leaving countless dents upon it. As the number of dents skyrocketed, the Bell Sword was slowly beaten into collapse and fragmentation, folding segment by segment, finally folded into an iron cake—which Gernika tore into two halves!