"Fight fiercely!" Hammer swung his battle axe, cleaving the ground, "For the Champion of Valor!"
"For the Champion of Valor!" The crowd, inspired by him, echoed his battle cry and surged toward Grey and his companions.
Hammer understood that no one but himself could hope to kill Grey, so he bypassed the others and charged directly at him.
Though one side of his body had just been shattered by the gravity hammer, remarkably, his movements showed no signs of impairment, as if an unseen force had mended him, rendering him even more formidable than before.
As he raced forward, his arm—now fused with the battle axe—swung vigorously, his mouth issuing blasphemous roars: "For the Champion of Valor!"
Yet this was no reckless charge; as he ran, Hammer devised numerous strategies to bring about Grey's demise.
For instance, he could execute a slide tackle and then aim for Grey's thigh with a ferocious swing, striving to shatter his leg armor, thereby incapacitating him, and then, in that moment of opportunity, decapitate him with an axe strike.
Alternatively, he could shoulder-barge Grey and seize the chance to cleave his head when Grey lost his balance.
Ultimately, the target was always the head; no other body part mattered in this confrontation.
As Hammer approached with fierce determination, Grey stood immobile, awaiting the inevitable clash.
It was only when Hammer leaped towards him, swinging his axe with all his might at Grey's head, that Grey activated the gravity shield.
In an instant, Hammer and his battle axe were pulverized by the force of gravity.
"Why couldn't the gravity shield be activated within a second of teleportation?" Grey inquired over the comms. "I could have crushed him the moment I arrived."
"Do you have any idea how much interference occurs during teleportation? And as for the gravity shield, it's a miracle the battle armor didn't malfunction," Qin Mo replied.
"Apologies for my intrusion," Grey said, turning to rejoin the fray with his comrades.
The battle on the other front was similar; as the enemy closed in for close combat, they activated the gravity shields.
Before Hammer was annihilated, several others had already fallen victim to the gravity shields, leaving only a handful of fortunate souls who hadn't rushed to engage the battle armor in time.
Yet these fortunate few numbered barely thirty, and in the face of the elite battle armor, their small numbers proved to be a critical disadvantage.
Rather than cower, these thirty brave souls charged valiantly at Grey and his allies.
Grey and the other three formed a line, raising their arms to calibrate their shoulder-mounted cannons.
The shotgun lasers fired at a rapid rate of fifty rounds per second, while the shoulder cannons shifted to heavy artillery mode, unleashing a barrage of beams.
It wasn't long before the thirty figures vanished, the terrain itself irrevocably altered, marking the completion of the mission.
"You ought to be worshipping the Champion of Fire instead," Grey remarked with a laugh.
"Hahaha."
"Champion of Valor? That deity is quite stingy, refusing to provide even decent weaponry!"
Grey and his companions relished the thrill of battle, sharing lighthearted banter.
They failed to notice, however, that in a nearby building, a middle-aged man trembled, huddled in a corner, cradling a new statue of the Champion of Valor.
"Standard mission protocol," Andrada suddenly informed Grey.
The so-called standard protocol entailed initiating a biological scan following the conclusion of combat. Without prompting, Grey had already begun the scan.
The results indicated no enemies in the vicinity, but one remained hidden in a nearby structure.
Grey's shoulder cannon swiveled toward the building and opened fire, obliterating the figure concealed within along with the statue in his arms.
"Mission accomplished."
…
"Well done," Qin Mo said, his gaze shifting from the slum footage to the image of the church.
While Grey and his team concluded their mission, the successfully teleported Yaoen crouched outside the church, searching for the optimal spot to enter and await the assassination opportunity.
This optimal location needed to be along the wall, ensuring that once Yaoen entered, he could slip directly into the confessional at the back of the church, rather than exposing himself to the congregation listening to David's sermon.
After a prolonged search, Yaoen finally identified a suitable entry point: "I must enter here."
"Good," Qin Mo said, employing the power of distortion he had gifted Yaoen, transforming the wall's physical properties to behave like water.
As Yaoen passed through the wall into the enclosed confessional, the wall behind him reverted to its original state.
Rather than immediately exiting the confessional to assassinate David, Yaoen knelt before the wall, offering a brief prayer to the surface that had just been imbued with the Stellar God's might, before pocketing a shard to craft into a necklace for his wife.
"Wait, do not rush," Qin Mo cautioned Yaoen, observing the church's interior through the drone's surveillance mode.
David was currently addressing the congregation, and this was not the optimal time for assassination.
"The Great God Emperor is the master of humanity!"
"Worshipping the God Emperor is the natural duty of every human being; any who refuse to acknowledge the Emperor as divine must face execution, no matter their location or status!"
The worshippers fervently applauded and echoed his sentiments.
"The God Emperor created his angels; he is not only the master of humanity but also the Lord of Knowledge and Wisdom."
"We are entitled to acquire greater knowledge and to engage in more inventions and creations, for this is the power granted to us by the God Emperor."
"Praise the Lord of Wisdom!"
As David uttered these final words, the attendees suddenly fell silent, sensing that something was amiss.
"This man truly believes in the heresy…" Qin Mo recorded the sermon, preparing to use it as evidence for future needs.
"Please stop, Archbishop." As the murmurs of doubt grew louder, David's captain rushed to his side, escorting him away from the podium.
David appeared disoriented as he walked, murmuring to the captain, "I apologize… I've felt unwell since earlier; some things I said without careful consideration."
"It's nothing serious, but next time, please ensure you're in a proper state before you preach," the captain lowered his voice, cautioning, "We must be careful with our words in Tyrone's Nest; it's not our territory."
"Yes… you are right…" David continued down the corridor at a sluggish pace, but the feeling of unease intensified.
Even the captain began to sense discomfort.
At that moment, a powerful brain cat suddenly dashed from the far end of the hallway, racing into David's arms, trembling uncontrollably and even fluffing up its fur.
David sensed that something was terribly wrong; cradling the brain cat, he sprinted toward the church's exit, but after just two steps, he collapsed to the ground, pinning the brain cat beneath him.
"Archbishop, you…"
"Ah… the Lord of Wisdom… save me…" David writhed, clutching his chest, until his entire body went rigid, his pupils dilated to their maximum.
Even the brain cat screeched and howled, then stiffened and died.
"When do I make my move?" Yaoen, hidden in the confessional, asked.
"No need to act; your mission is complete," Qin Mo replied, smiling as he initiated the teleportation sequence. "It seems David has been sustaining his life with psychic energy, and you are an anti-psychic touch. So…"
"He's dead? Killed by my counter-energy?" Yaoen exclaimed, exhilarated.
"Indeed, teleport back." Qin Mo pressed a button.
The main control intelligence immediately began its calculations, and the protective device on Yaoen detected the dimensional teleportation activating, automatically deploying its barrier. In the next instant, he was teleported from the confessional to stand behind Qin Mo.