Sovereign of the Ashes-Chapter 1359: Titanfangs

After hearing his subordinates’ report, Harius leaned his plump body back against the chair with a trace of regret, then waved his hand, signaling for them to leave.

The Mayhach-F Logistics Base had never been a major military facility, so it naturally lacked the high-tech elite robots that could be shipped out in large quantities.

Even when the base did occasionally receive higher-end models, the numbers were always limited.

If the order had been smaller, Harius might have managed to secure a few units, maybe even a dozen, but the other side was clearly looking to place a large purchase, and neither he nor his team could meet that demand.

Once the lieutenant colonel had left, Harius sighed again.

He found himself thinking back to a gathering of old comrades last year, where a young officer named Beckett had also been present.

Beckett had once served under Harius for a short time, though it was so long ago that Harius barely remembered him. It was Beckett who brought it up, mentioning he had been a second lieutenant in Harius’ unit.

Now, that former second lieutenant had climbed the ranks to become a colonel, one Harius had to take seriously.

Though still one level below Harius in the military ranking, Beckett was a rising star with a bright future. Harius, on the other hand, had already passed his prime.

“The Mobile Suit Legion... sounds like one of those special operations units that recently emerged from the federal military. If it weren’t, I would’ve heard about it sooner,” Harius murmured.

“It supposedly takes two elite federal soldiers linking their brainwaves just to pilot one of those giant suits. And to even qualify as a pilot, one needs to be at least a genetically enhanced second lieutenant.”

He let out a long breath, brushed down his uniform, and muttered, “Those young people have so much drive and energy. How could I give up so easily?”

He then stood and walked out.

Beckett was indeed the commander of a mobile suit legion. As a colonel, he commanded over a dozen giant mobile suits with varying combat power.

That detail had slipped out during the same gathering, when Beckett had one drink too many and said more than he meant to.

Of course, it might not have been entirely unintentional.

Either way, after that night, Beckett’s standing rose significantly within the circle Harius was in.

Some of the older officers could not help but draw connections between these mobile suits and those once used by the Rosen Dynasty that the Gallant Federation had conquered and wiped out long ago.

After all, the Rosen Dynasty military had long taken pride in two things: its mobile suit and psychic legions.

Many federal officers of general rank or higher had personally taken part in that Clash of Civilizations back then.

However, unlike the Rosen Dynasty Civilization, whose mobile suits required only one pilot, the Gallant Federation’s suits required two elite soldiers to operate. This was likely due to fundamental differences in their evolutionary systems and civilizational foundations.

In addition, the federation never fully adopted the Rosen Dynasty’s technological advancements.

The Rosen Dynasty military had relied heavily on Rank One and Rank Two mobile suits as its core combat force, balancing cost and efficiency at their level of technological development.

But the Gallant Federation had other options. With access to cheaper mass-produced robots, drones, and a wide range of individual self-defense weapons, it had no need for basic mobile suits of only Rank One or Two by the Astral Realm’s power scale.

Instead, the federation’s mobile suit legions typically operated at Rank Three or above in combat capability!

Their units were also larger, standing around seventy meters tall.

A closer look at the mobile suits from both civilizations would reveal just how far apart their technologies truly were.

The Gallant Federation had merely borrowed the core framework of the Rosen Dynasty’s mobile suits, then integrated its own innovations.

And at equivalent levels, there was no doubt that the federation’s mobile suits were far more powerful.

***

Inside a luxurious spaceship, Jeremy turned to his friend and said, “Prisenne, I feel like the Mayhach-F Logistics Base isn’t as promising as the suicide drone factory on Featheris II. What do you think?”

Since their arrival at the logistics base, Jeremy had noticed his friend seemed quieter than usual.

“Hmm... I see... I agree,” Prisenne replied, slowly and stiffly.

If one looked closely, they might notice that the skin beneath the patch of feathers on Prisenne’s elbow had taken on a subtle gray tint.

“Where’s our next stop again? Is it Jason Tower Industries on Punkra? Hopefully it’ll bring us something more exciting,” Jeremy went on, unaware of the small changes in his companion.

After a long silence, Prisenne only hummed in response.

***

Outside the Mayhach-F Logistics Base, the spacecraft left behind twin blue-purple trails of flame that stretched far into the distance before finally fading into the starry sky.

Sein turned as well and began walking back toward the base.

To deal with the sudden sense of looming danger, Sein had no choice but to keep changing his plans.

At this moment, the Prisenne who had left with Jeremy was a walking corpse controlled by Sein through soul magic.

Fortunately, during his time under the Spider Queen, Sein had gained a deeper understanding of necromancy and blended it with his own knowledge of undead chimera synthesis to create it. Without that foundation, getting out of this situation would have been much harder.

However, Sein had no idea how long “Prisenne” could hold out before blowing his cover.

The sense of crisis in his heart only grew stronger, but he hoped the zombie would last just a little longer, long enough to send the federation’s investigators further off course.

Given Sein’s usual caution and how many locations he had passed through, he should have bought himself a little time.

After carefully confirming there was nothing else he had forgotten to do, Sein finally exhaled in relief.

***

On the eastern side of the base, Sein used the concealment function of the Faceless Mask to suppress his elemental energy and aura.

Slipping past more than a dozen outer surveillance systems, he reached a structure that resembled a warehouse.

The Mayhach-F Logistics Base was built on the surface of a massive asteroid, nearly a quarter the size of an average demiplane.

Countless warehouses, both above and below ground, were scattered across the base.

The one Sein approached was unremarkable, just one among many on the asteroid’s surface, and it was outside the core zone.

Once inside, Sein flew straight toward the back of the building.

The warehouse looked like it had been abandoned for some time. A thin layer of dust coated much of the space.

Roughly two hundred gray, metallic robots, each around two meters tall, stood in a neat line.

Sein flew to the row before the last and pulled out a crystal ball. He studied it for a long while before stopping in front of one ordinary-looking robot.

“I’m Sein, a Rank Four mage of the Magus Civilization. I was sent by the Magus Alliance to contact the leader of Nexon’s Titanfangs,” he said solemnly, standing before the machine.

There were ten robots in this row, and the one in front of him looked the least special.

Its only distinguishing feature was a small bullet-sized dent on its shoulder, making it a defective unit.

All the robots in the warehouse were currently inactive.

Talking to an unpowered robot felt strange, but the awkwardness did not last. A moment later, the machine suddenly came to life, its mechanical eyes glowing red.

“Esteemed mage from the Magus Civilization, Sein, the leader of Titanfangs, has been expecting you,” said a calm, mechanical voice.

Surprisingly, it spoke in the common tongue of Magus World.