Skyfire Avenue - Chapter 660

Chapter 660

Chapter 660: Fight, Lyr!

Flashes of purple flickered incessantly on the horizon . Booms and smoke rose as buildings fell . Roars, explosions, collapse… they all clashed together in a cacophony of terror .

Su He stood at the top of the clock tower, staring into the distance . High though he stood, his heart felt like it had sunk into the ground below . As temporary commander of the defenses he was meticulous in preparation, but he knew if the soldiers couldn’t hold the aliens back the students didn’t stand much of a chance .

They’d come too quick, too fierce . The world was swallowed by a toxic purple cloud that came on the heels of the alien warriors .

Su He heaved a sigh, squashing his own anxieties . Memories of a blue mecha darting through the jungle swam up to the front of his mind . Holographic recordings of scores of enemies being felled, and scores of lives being saved flashed behind his eyes .

Lan Jue, everything you did I can do, too . Or maybe I can’t, and this will be my last stand . But if it is, I’ll make sure the aliens pay dearly .

Every moment he watched the purple light crept closer .

“Everyone, prepare for battle . ” Su He calmly gave the order from his vantage .

“Classes one, two and three prepare . We have aliens coming in from one o’clock . Hit them with laser fire . Mechas, ready your weapons . ”

The inevitable clash with the aliens frightened the students . Behind stoic faces and metal breastplates their faces were pale .

Aoooooohh–! A lumbering beast heaved into view . It looks like a tortoise, with a body ten meters long and a thick shell on its back . In contrast to its likeness, though, it moved very fast on legs thick as verti-cars . Its whole body flickered purple as it bore down on them .

“Fire!” Su He shouted .

The students were nervous, but the bearers of the heavy weaponry were the best the school had to offer . They obeyed orders, and knew how to use the guns . A wall of shimmering laser light erupted from the university’s walls and rained destruction on a large swath of land before them . The creature responded by reeling back and deflecting the shots with its shell . However the assault proved to be too much and the creature was blasted away .

They beat it back! A cheer rang out among the students . But it only lasted a moment when suddenly their cries caught in their throats .

Ten more purple figures appeared on the horizon, each one different from the last but all looking like corrupted marine animals . Looking upon them struck fear into the hearts of the human defenders, but most frightening of all was the creature soaring overhead . A great and terrible bird was headed right for the school interior .

“Ignore the sky, fire at will . Don’t give them an inch of ground . ” He gave the order and launched himself into the air .

His mecha picked up speed, the wind whistling around its sleek frame . He blazed as brightly as a star as the distance closed between him and the alien bird . For half a second the sky was dazzlingly bright – in the aftermath tumbled two severed halves of the beast . Blood fell like rain onto the training ground below . Su He’s mecha swung wide and returned to the clock tower .

The students and civilians looked on, witnessing for the first time the death of one of these nightmarish foes . Triumphant cries rose to meet their commander . Meanwhile the defenders along the walls managed to fend off the first wave of attackers .

But the aliens were strong, resilient . The turtle alien joined the others and pressed forward, acting as a shield so they could advance . Each lumbering step brought the hoard closer .

A line of mechas lines the balustrades, close-range fighters adept at tearing through whatever was in front of them . Another line of long-range mecha fighters and laser riflemen were at their backs .

Finally the beasts made their move . A frog-like creature leapt overhead and spat its tongue out . It blasted out with the force of a missile . The students responded with a hail of angry red laser fire .

Phomp! The frog screeched as its tongue was blown apart . The student who landed the shot was seated in a delicate-looking constructed mecha with a laser rifle twice its size . Its muzzle glowed red with heat .

Xiao Han! The Pride of Lyr University!

Xiao Han raced forward even before the chunks of tongue could hit the ground . Nine of his fellow students charged at his side to meet the aliens on the field . Besides Xiao Han, the other mechas were piloted by instructors . They were the only members of the staff with real combat experience . Serving as vanguard, they lead the students in routing the first batch of foes .

Moral soared as student and teacher alike watched the aliens fall before them . Their concerted fire didn’t stop, though, only becoming more ferocious .

The line was holding, but Su He did not look happy . He knew from his scanners that the world around them was a sea of deadly purple . He couldn’t tell what was waiting for them within that caustic mist .

A hard light glinted in his eyes . They would fight to the last man, until blood soaked the earth . It was the only way!

The four transport ships bearing civilians and non-combat faculty lifted into the air, shooting into the distance . They bore the future of Lyr to safety before the aliens could surround them and cut off their retreat . Su He let himself breathe a little easier as he watched them go . At least some would live to see another day .

Now they just had to hold for reinforcements . From the appearance of the aliens to now, over a day had passed . The closest military installation had to be close . Only, Lyr was big, who knew how long it would take the soldiers to get to them . Their focus was the main alien force!

More aliens appeared within sight of the walls . Mechas and defensive gunners alike were immersed in frantic battle . Su He was forced to join the fray himself . Whenever a more powerful alien appeared, he was there to deal with it personally .

The initial fear and shock had begun to wear off, and Lyr’s students fell back on their excellent training . Empowered by their mecha suits the students and teachers met the alien attackers in a dazzling display of color and sound . Instructors lead them valiantly to destroy wave after wave of foes . The normal alien soldiers no longer posed a serious threat .

The fighting continued . Su He commanded three hundred suits in battle, and the rest remained behind to defend the walls . Every now and again students would switch out to charge their suits and rest while others took their place . Only in this way could they keep up the fight, because the aliens weren’t stopping . Luckily LU was well-stocked with power gems which they used to keep the mechas in the fight .

Su He did not expect the students to perform so well . Inwardly he praised them all for their grit and determination . If they lived through this they would come away with more knowledge than six months spent in a classroom . The best way to motivate potential was a real life-or-death struggle .

Lyr city had already been thoroughly destroyed . As Lyr’s biggest city and its capital, it’d been the alien’s first target . The soldiers that had been posted there were all dead . If one could look down from above, all they would see was an expanse of purple .

The first wave of reinforcements had already arrived in planetary orbit three hours ago, but were searching for the progenitor . However, Lyr was so large and finding it proved difficult . At the same time more aliens were arriving from outer space to cut off the approach . Aid was locked out .

Time crawled one, one minute – one second at a time . Scores of aliens continued to barrage the school . Strong though these aberrant creatures were, they couldn’t hold a candle to real alien life forms . However, they were exceptionally sensitive to the presence of vital energy . The moment they sensed the living, they charged in for the kill . The LU was among the last bastions of humanity, making it an enormous target .

These humans were not machines, and even machines needed to be recharged . As the battle stretched on to the two-hour mark, things began to get dangerous . Chief among them was they were running out of energy!

Although the school could boast some Adepts, they were few . Without the help of mechas, how could they stand against the unending alien assault?

“Professor Su He, we’re out of energy . We have an hour at most . ” One of the teachers in charge of support gave Su He the news . His heart sank .

This was bad . Without energy what could they do? The fields outside of the school were teaming with aliens out for blood . If the mechas couldn’t hold them, they would be lost .

“Stop the laser cannons and save the energy for the mecha pilots,” he ordered . The aliens were better at defending against long-ranged attacks than close combat, but it left them open . He had to make the hard decision .