After Zachery had finished the ceremony, he placed his palm on top of Song Zhong"s head. Using his own body as a medium, he started to heal the latter"s wounds.
First, Song Zhong felt an excruciating pain as if his body was going to be torn apart. Later, he realized that the pain was from the ma.s.sive surge of his power. In a blink, his soul energy had reached the legendary level.
When Song Zhong recovered from the pain and fullness in his body, the G.o.d of war was already gone, leaving only a golden blade on the ground.
He had officially become the second knight of the G.o.d of the War, the Knight of Onslaught.
What humans needed the most right now was not compa.s.sion or sympathy: they required the will to kill.
Song Zhong slowly lifted the blade above his head, and everyone cheered his new t.i.tle.
"Knight of the onslaught!"
The humans never lacked heroes, for when the end of the world finally fell upon them, someone would always stand up and avert the crisis. It had been the Blade Warrior three hundred years ago, and now it was the G.o.d of War.
The invincible War G.o.d!
People finally heard the calling of the G.o.d, and never again would they lose the will to fight. The G.o.d had told them that they needed to be more vicious than the Zergs on the battlefield.
When the humans had nothing to lose, they no longer feared the Zergs. The appearance of the War G.o.d had inspired the humans to rise up against the Zerg hara.s.sment at other parts of the Mars as well.
Although the golden dark ones were powerful foes, they were not invincible. As long as the humans used their intelligence, they would find a way to overcome them.
The Zergs were not immortals; if they bled, they could be killed.
The lower tire primitive Zergs severely lacked intelligence, and were no different from a piece of machine. However, the dark ones were a very different breed. As they evolved more like a human, they had developed a full array of emotions and feelings. And one of those feelings was fear.
The G.o.d of War tried to install this powerful primordial emotion into the dark ones, letting them have a taste of fear.
Although Zachery didn"t like the name "G.o.d of War" nearly as much as Pirate King, he thought that the name was very fitting considering the current situation.
Both w.a.n.g Tong and Zachery knew that the problem with the martians" overall state of mind was that they lacked the will to fight back.
The human population on Mars had not wakened up to the fact that this war with Zerg was not the same as the infighting among humans. If they lost this war, the human race would be erased from the universe for good. That included their history, culture, friends.h.i.+p, and love.
Therefore, in this war, humans had to put aside their fear and act more aggressively than the Zergs.
KILL, KILL, KILL THEM ALL!
Zachery knew that such a belief needed to be reinforced in everyone"s heart, and he would be more than happy to be the harbinger of the faith.
With every knight he anointed, he had kindled a fire of hope that people could huddle around for warmth and comfort.
…
Meanwhile, on the moon, the humans did not give up their fight despite the increasing pressure. Although the planet was on the verge of a complete subjugation, it was packed with elites. Former students such as Li s.h.i.+ming, Li Ruoer, Ma Xiaoru, Zhang Jing, w.a.n.g Ben, and Hu Yangxuan had all grown up to be seasoned veterans. So far, none of them had given up their fight yet.
In the s.p.a.ce, Samantha, Karl, Cao Yi, Lumi, and Flash led the humans last fleet and fought against the Zergs. Despite the lack of resources, they clung onto their unswerving faith in their eventual victory.
The Earth United Front was led by House Li, and the Lunar United Front was led by Zhang Jing. When Patroclus came to the moon, he was greeted by an empty planet, since almost all of the inhabitants had evacuated to Earth. The move had preserved lives of many elite Ivantians soldiers, so that they could continue their fight on Earth.
Ma Xiaoru led her personal units of House Ma and other forces that she had accepted into her ranks over the time. She was the third most potent resistance faction leader on the planet, right after the Earth and Lunar United Fronts. Not only were w.a.n.g Ben and Hu Yangxuan elite soldiers under Ma Xiaoru"s command, but she also had the unequivocal support from the Templar"s court.
Although House Ma"s units lacked numbers, they excelled in quality.
"General, general! I have great news! CONFIRMED great news! "Hu Yangxuan beamed from side to side; his face was awash with joy. Although the confederation was a thing of the past, the humans still adopted its military ranking. Ma Xiaoru was one of the generals on Earth.
"Captain Hu Yangxuan, please gather yourself. Otherwise, I will not have faith in your judgment." Ma Xiaoru jested.
"Hu Yangxuan, you are not a kid any longer, so don"t act like one." w.a.n.g Ben put it.
"Buzz off, you two. Let me tell you the news, and then let"s see if you will still be so "hoity-toity"!" Hu Yangxuan pretested.
"Fine, fine! What is it?" Ma Xiaoru said with a smile.
"Ok, listen up everybody. I am now going to announce the message that we have received this morning. By order of General Samantha, she wishes to congratulate everyone for your brilliant performance during the last battle. She hereby awards General Ma Xiaoru a tier two, Grand Bauhinia Medal." Hu Yangxuan announced solemnly. The military uniform he was wearing and the stubble on his chin and cheek had made him look much manlier than that clean-shaven man-diva he used to be.
"Just get to the point! We knew that already!" Zheng Zhong piped up impatiently.
"The second new was from Mars…" Hu Yangxuan paused for a second and let the suspense hang in the air.
"Hurry the f*ck up! I am going to beat you up if you don"t!" w.a.n.g Ben"s patience was being stretched to its limits as he shouted.
"Alright, alright! The news from Mars says that our friend w.a.n.g Tong is very much well and alive. He has already organized a sizable army and is going to deliver a killing blow to the Zergs. " Hu Yangxuan said with animated voice and gesture.
However, no one spoke a word even after he was done announcing the news. Hu Yangxuan was not surprised by this moment of silence; they were simply too excited. Everyone"s bond with w.a.n.g Tong could not be so easily broken over time. If w.a.n.g Tong didn"t risk his life to save the soldiers on the Arc, all of them would have been dead in the dark, cold s.p.a.ce.
"Congratulations, general." Hu Yangxuan saluted to Ma Xiaoru. In the five years, Ma Xiaoru carried the heaviest burden one could imagine. w.a.n.g Tong"s disappearance had toughened her up because she knew that the latter would want her to be strong. A crybaby princess from a Great House was not what w.a.n.g Tong wanted. Therefore, she carried his banner on her shoulder and continued her fiancé"s crusade, a fiancé whom she only met in dreams.
Ma Xiaoru rose from her seat slowly and said with as much calm as she could gather, "Everyone, out! I need to be alone for a moment."
People filed out of the room without asking a question. They had witnessed their love bloom, and also her suffering and transformation. She had been a beautiful princess raised in comfort and wealth; but now, she was a battle-hardened commander.
When the last person left the room and shut the door solidly, tears finally slid down Ma Xiaoru"s face.
"You are still alive... w.a.n.g Tong…"
The tears of joy and sorrow mixed together, pouring out of her eyes and into her mouth. They tasted bitter, but were still sweeter than the cold night she had spent by herself, wis.h.i.+ng for w.a.n.g Tong"s warmth.
Outside Ma Xiaoru"s office, people had already started celebrating.
"I knew it! Boss is a G.o.d! How could he be dead? Haha!" That was Karl.
"He will make Patroclus pay for what he had done!"
"Patroclus is nothing! He was defeated by Boss once, and the boss will do it again!"
"Yea!"
"b.a.l.l.s! Why didn"t he come back to us?"
"You think? Mars is the only place that allows the boss to carry out his operations. Thank G.o.d he is there now. Otherwise, we would have been waiting forever for Michaux and Lie Jian to save us." Hu Yangxuan remarked.
"Is that what it said on the report from Principle Samantha?" Ma Xiaoru opened her office door and asked, her eyes red.
"Um.... yes? I skimmed through the report."
"Yea, I knew it. You are too stupid to talk that smart! " Karl said.
"w.a.n.g Tong"s reemergence means that we should start preparing for the final counterattack. However, I feel that our priority should not be joining w.a.n.g Tong"s call for the war, but to preserve our strength." Apache said from a corner.
Everyone was disheveled by Apache"s out of character comment. He always had been the firm believer that offense was the best defense. His conservative comment went against the grains of what he had adamantly insisted on.
"Apache is right. Let"s say w.a.n.g Tong was able to push the Zergs out of Mars. What would Patroclus do then?" Ma Xiaoru"s face was lit up with hope. If Patroclus divided his forces to fight at two fronts, the human resistance on the Earth would finally have a chance to eliminate the weakened enemies.
"I agree! That"s what the princ.i.p.al wanted too."
"Have you sent out the news?" Ma Xiaoru asked.
"Yes. Both House Li and House Zhang should have learned about it by now." Hu Yangxuan nodded.
In the past five years, they had never been so happy.
"I think we need to go for a drink tonight! "
"I agree! General, let"s celebrate tonight!"
Ma Xiaoru smiled and then nodded. "Tonight only."