Chapter 28 — Night Raid

30mm rounds punched through the dust, dispersing it in a flash. 

From the perspective of the Space Marines, they fired one round at the head or heart of each target before switching to the next with lightning-fast speed. Only one 30mm round was required for each target, and even that was overkill. Within a few seconds, the courtyard had been completely cleared of life. The most intact corpses were headless, and the ones who had been shot in the heart could no longer be pieced together.

Their torches went out as their bodies fell, leaving the courtyard in total darkness. A shivering guard peeked out a window and saw the silent courtyard, covered with bodies, not a living person in sight. All that could be seen of the enemy were pairs of red glowing eyes flaming through the darkness.

The Space Marine squad entered the interior of the castle and rapidly made their way through the hallways. Any soldiers standing in their way were instantly annihilated. Expecting an attack from outside, the Alliance Army had set up camp and defences around the castle. They were unprepared for such an attack.

In the darkness, Space Marines rampaged with minimal resistance. Soldiers were enveloped with terror as they saw their comrades turn into blood mist with muzzle flashes that only briefly illuminated the metal monsters. Countless soldiers poured into the castle, but none of them came out. It was like a castle had become a hungry monster, devouring all that entered. As gunshots became sparse and the castle was enveloped with silence, the morale of the coalition army fell to a freezing point.

A Space Marine silently walked down a dark corridor. A soldier ran around the corner and the Space Marine simply stretched out his hand and grasped the soldier's head, picking him up. He squeezed and the struggling soldier's head burst like a watermelon. His lifeless body dropped to the ground. Suddenly, the wall next to him burst apart as a glowing arrow rapidly approached him.

The Space Marine instantly reacted, stepping out of the way and blasting 30mm rounds at the projectile. However, the arrow changed directions in the air and hit the Space Marine right in the shoulder pauldron. It impacted with tremendous sharpness and kinetic armour. The shoulder pauldron was designed to resist high-caliber rounds, let alone an arrow. The arrow could not penetrate the hard armour and disappeared, leaving a small cut in its place.

The attacker followed up on their attack and swung their sword at the Space Marine. In one swift motion, the Space Marine operated his gun with one hand and the other drew his chainsword. The two swords collided and the Space Marine saw the attacker's face with his night vision.

[Ichigo!]

The two superhumans rapidly traded blows as the Space Marine was unable to use his gun in the close range. Their fighting style was very different. The Space Marine fully attacked with little focus on defence as it knew how strong its armour was. On the other hand, Ichigo couldn't afford to trade damage with the Space Marine as his armour was nowhere as thick and strong. Therefore, the battle fell into the Space Marine attacking and Ichigo fully falling into the defensive. This was the advantage of strong armour; they allowed to user to spend 100% of their energy attacking, rather than 50% attacking and 50% defending.

Ichigo found himself repeatedly being pushed back and taking wounds from the sharp teeth of the chainsword, and while the metal monster was covered with countless cuts, none of them had penetrated through his armour. It could be seen that if they had the same equipment, Ichigo would have already won. However, there were no "ifs" in this world.

However, Ichigo had delayed the Space Marine for long enough for his reinforces to arrive. A group of powerful warriors and adventurers arrived to help Ichigo.

[Don't worry, we are here! We will help you defeat the evil Third Reich!]

In response, the Space Marine held his 30mm gun with one hand and pulled its trigger with the help of his aiming assist hardware. The gigantic shockwaves and deafening sounds disorientated the reinforcers and the hail of 30mm bullets shredded through them. The bullets didn't care how strong their opponent was, how determined they were or how much potential they had; it delivered death all the same. It was the greatest equaliser. In front of bullet, everything is equal.

Ichigo's face was covered with tears as he saw his friends get wiped out with no survivors.

[Everyone stay away! Run away! You can't defeat them!]

Ichigo's reinforcements weren't the only people that came. The rest of the Space Marines had re-grouped and were hiding nearby, not willing to reveal themselves before the encirclement was complete. The plan was a lone Space Marine would bait Ichigo and the rest would encircle him. The encirclement being complete, they revealed themselves and surrounded Ichigo, firing their guns.

At this point, Ichigo's sense of danger went off and he propelled himself backwards. The next moment, countless 30mm rounds from different sources criss-crossed and went through where he was previously standing. The attackers rapidly adjusted and continued their hail of 30mm rounds. The Space Marine Ichigo was fighting with was finally freed from melee combat and blasted rounds at Ichigo as well. The advanced targeting software made it almost impossible to dodge.

[You forced me to do this… You evil Nazis! It's all your fault!]

Activating a secret technique, Ichigo's body became transparent.

[I have found your weakness; you don't have magic powers! Luckily, I found a legendary secret technique from an ancient ruin. You shall pay for your sins!]

Flames came from his body as all the bullets simply passed through his transparent body harmlessly. He shot forward and the Space Marine hurriedly raised his chainsword to block. However, his sword went through his chainsword, passed through his armour, and cut off his head. The power armour collapsed to the ground as the Space Marine inside was decapitated.

It looked like this attack had cost a lot for Ichigo, and his body became more and more transparent as 30mm rounds continuously went through him. His secret technique allowed him to condense his body into a spirit form. In a spirit form, he would be almost completely immune to physical damage. However, almost immune is not completely immune. Even if he only took less than 0.01% of damage, the sheer number of high-powered bullets was still rapidly depleting his soul.

Realising he was surrounded, Ichigo prepared himself to make a final stand. He had always fought for what he believed in. However, in the corner of his eye, Ichigo saw his harem approaching through the rubble. His pupils dilated as panic gripped his heart. As a recipient of 30mm rounds, he knew just how devastating they were.

[Ichigo, we finally found you! Don't worry, we'll save you, just like we always have]

[NO! DON'T COME OVER! YOU CAN'T DEFEAT THEM!]

[LEAVE ME AND RUN AWAY, PLEASE!!]