Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 501

Chapter 499: Erso’s Death, Recovering the Territory

The battle between Martins and Erso lasted the longest of the 68 total engagements.

The two giants, clad in different Terminator power armor, engaged in a fierce battle with masterful swordsmanship.

As time went on, Martins gradually discovered the key to defeating Erso.

Don’t even think about a swordfight; there’s a gap, and he must face it. He must capitalize on his equipment advantage.

And he did so effectively.

He repeatedly employed “cheating” tactics. When his swordsmanship was at a disadvantage, he would often abandon defense and launch a ferocious counterattack. It was obvious that you might strike my cavalry with a single blow, injuring me, but with my unyielding defensive power, you’ll surely inflict more damage.

Erso would certainly not engage in such an exchange, and would resort to defensive action.

But sometimes he couldn’t resist

, perhaps thinking he could profit from the exchange.

In reality, in each of these exchanges, both men essentially took advantage. You cut my abdomen, I’ll give you a sharp blow on your arm.

Often, Martins, thanks to the thickness of his armor, suffered less damage; however, due to the difference in their swordsmanship, he always took more blows than Erso.

By this point, both men were battered and bruised, and it was hard to say who was in worse condition.

But the accumulating fatigue and injuries had made both men no longer as impenetrable and foolproof as they had been at the beginning of the battle. Inevitably, they began to make mistakes, which further increased their vulnerability to blows during the confrontation.

The warriors from both armies, watching from both sides, grew increasingly nervous. They could see that the duel was nearing its end, the moment of victory or defeat was about to be decided. With both sides making more mistakes, the chances of the next strike determining the outcome were growing ever greater.

And that moment had finally arrived.

Erso, once again, using his exquisite swordsmanship, found an opportunity. And this one was better than any before. With his maneuver, Martins’s defenses were wide open, and his sword struck directly at Martins’s head.

He had struck Martins’s head before. However, the strike was deflected, and Martins’s reaction was too quick to end the fight, leaving only a crack in Martins’s cavalry helmet.

Now, he had the opportunity to follow that crack and strike again. He was certain that this strike would kill Martins.

Martins was no longer able to block Erso’s blow, so he adopted a similar strategy as before, abandoning defense and thrusting his power sword forward. He chose the spot where Erso’s breastplate met his abdomen, where he had also struck before.

This time, Erso chose not to defend himself.

He chose to take the blow himself, rather than decapitate Martins.

Even if Martins’s blow could have penetrated his heart, he was willing to take it.

Space Marines have two hearts; destroying one is a serious injury, but not an immediate death, as it can be recovered later.

The two attacks struck almost simultaneously.

Erso’s sword struck Martins’ head with absolute certainty, landing precisely on the pre-existing crack.

Under his heavy blow, the crack widened dramatically. He felt a slight delay, but he continued to press forward with his sword until a sharp pain shot through his abdomen.

His power armor had been pierced.

And, as he had predicted, Martins’s attack was as diagonal and upward, piercing his heart.

To achieve this, Martins leaned forward, his head against Erso’s blade, allowing him to thrust diagonally upward.

This certainly facilitated Erso’s strike, but he found it frightening that he didn’t seem to have completely penetrated the helmet; his power sword seemed to be stuck.

The helmet was strong enough, and perhaps Martins’ skull was as well.

He continued to push hard, attempting to break through it completely. Even though his body was pierced, even his heart, it didn’t affect his power output.

Of course, it was painful, and a serious injury. However, as genetically engineered super warriors, Space Marines were inherently formidable war machines. Especially for a top-tier warrior like Erso, their combat effectiveness was virtually unaffected, barring complete death or a limb loss, a formidable objective injury.

Even if one heart was lost, the other would beat even more vigorously, giving him power comparable to his peak.

This, of course, couldn’t last long, and was a tremendous burden, hindering future recovery. But in a life-or-death situation, there was no need to worry; his body reacted automatically and instinctively.

However, before he could completely sever Martins’s helmet, a terrifying electrical current suddenly surged through his body, piercing his secondary heart.

At the same time, Erso’s sword finally penetrated the helmet completely.

The two bodies froze in place.

…

“Who won?” Carduso couldn’t help but ask Pastor Rizzo beside him.

At that moment, one power sword lodged itself halfway into Martins’s head; the other pierced most of Erso’s abdomen.

After being linked together by their power swords, the two Chapter Masters lay motionless, like wax figures.

Even with his keen eyesight, Carduso couldn’t discern the final outcome.

Partly because they were too far away, but more importantly, the fierce battle between the two men was so intense. The difference in that final moment was so subtle that victory or defeat, life or death, was entirely possible.

There was even a strong chance that both would perish in this duel.

Even Reverend Rizzo frowned. What Carduso couldn’t see, he couldn’t see either.

Despite his strong conviction, he remained silent. Like everyone else, he stared intently at the events unfolding in the arena.

The moment of waiting seemed eternity.

The two men, motionless, finally moved.

Martins slowly withdrew the power sword he had pierced into Erso’s body.

Erso’s body lost its support and fell backwards, the heavy Terminator power armor sending up a cloud of dust.

Martins stumbled back a few steps, the power sword still embedded in his helmet. He let go of his own sword, then grabbed Erso’s sword, pulled it out, and then took off his helmet.

A hideous bloody streak ran down his face, cutting through his left brow, blasting out one of his eyes, and tearing the entire left side of his face open…

Erso had nearly sliced Martins’s head open.

But in the end, Martins was the one who survived.

Silence followed, and then the jubilant shouts of the Phoenixes.

In stark contrast, the raging flames on the other side were as still as a library.

Amidst the cheers of his battle brothers, Martins raised his tattered helmet, unconcerned with the blood on his face, and roared!

…

This duel between Martins and Erso was also the final duel of the entire chapter.

They hadn’t even fought a hundred battles, let alone won a hundred.

So far, they’d only won eleven.

For these eleven victories, the Raging Flames had sacrificed their Chapter Master, First Captain, Second Captain, three Chapter Champions, a host of Company Champions, and veteran NCOs.

The eleven captives they’d recovered fell to their knees. They themselves didn’t believe their lives were worth so much.

And the remaining eighty-nine, under the care of the Phoenixes, had no desire to continue the fight.

They couldn’t go on.

The surviving leaders of the Raging Flames—the Third Captain and the Chief Chaplain—stood.

No matter how bitter they felt, they could only negotiate with the Phoenixes while they dragged Casimir Erso’s body back:

“This is it. The duel is over.”

“Do you want to admit defeat?” It was Carduso who spoke for the Phoenixes, with Chaplain Rizzo standing beside him.

Martins was also seriously injured. After returning to the train, he fell unconscious and was left to recover after being treated by a pharmacist.

Facing Carduso’s scornful questioning, Adler Paulitos, the Third Captain representing the Fury, bowed his head and said, “Yes, we admit defeat. You won.”

“But there are still 89 prisoners. According to regulations, they will not be released.”

Abandoning his comrades.

Even if Paulitos had admitted defeat, having considered and accepted all the consequences, the moment he actually said it, he still felt a sharp pain.

He even wondered why he hadn’t been the one to end the duel earlier.

He would rather die in the duel than endure such humiliation.

However, the humiliation had already arrived.

With only 11 wins out of 68, the Chapter Captain dead, and the threat that even if all 800 men died, they would still fail to reach 100 victories, the Fury’s honor had been completely shattered.

Humiliation was certain to fall upon the Fury, and this duel would be known throughout the universe.

Paulitus truly would have preferred death.

But he couldn’t.

The Chapter must survive, and living required greater courage than dying.

He could only take a deep breath and say, “I leave it to you.”

With that, he left without a backward glance.

Before boarding the ship that would take them off the surface, they heard gunfire.

As if deliberately, the distant shots rang out one after another.

No one cared to count, but every Fury Space Marine clearly heard the distant, no fewer, no fewer, eighty-nine shots.

Just before boarding the ship, Paulitus, the last man aboard, couldn’t help but glance back.

It was too far away, even with a Space Marine’s superhuman vision, it was hard to see clearly.

But the scene where the blood of sixty-eight Chapter Cores had been shed, the scene where eighty-nine Fury prisoners had been executed, seemed to unfold before his eyes and etched itself deeply into his heart.

…

The backbone of the Fury was broken.

Perhaps, with the fortitude of the Space Marines, they could recover from this blow in the future.

But not now.

Like stray dogs, they hastily fled the Dragonhawk Segmentum, not lingering for long.

The effects of shattered morale were unavoidable even for the Space Marines.

They attempted to seize all the naval vessels under their control, but morale wasn’t the only thing that crumbled.

The outcome of the duel spread quickly, and many commanders who had previously followed the Fury began to wonder: Was following the Fury truly a good idea? The

Fury’s own fleet, their own Chapter fleet, didn’t face this problem. While morale was low, they were still their own people, and the Fury could still take them out.

However, within the Dragonhawk Segmentum, many of the ships that had originally stood with them were not their own. Over half of the ships were from the Imperial Navy.

The Yunluo Fleet was the main force, along with several support vessels mobilized from various regions by the Eastern Space Government during the previous Iron Teeth War. These vessels were essentially all placed under the command of the Fury Flame Regiment.

They had no obligation to follow the Fury Flame when it was about to retreat. After this duel, they were even less willing to leave.

Many ships were left behind during the retreat. This was especially true at certain Astral Tunnel jump points. Some ships appeared to have their jump engines activated, but after the jump, a few or even a dozen remained stationary, as if their engines had malfunctioned.

The Alliance Navy Command Center, accompanying them from afar, effortlessly “incorporated” these ships.

It wasn’t a complete incorporation, as that would be against the rules. These ships all had their own fleet orders.

However, Ye Lishia, acting as Admiral of the Imperial Navy—as she now was—ordered these ships to temporarily follow her command, which was not a problem.

By the time the Fury of Flame left the Dragonhawk Sector, all they had left was the fleet they had brought with them.

Even fewer than before, after all, many had been lost in the battle.

As for the evacuation plan drawn up by the Fury of Flame command before the duel, it couldn’t keep up with the changes and was abandoned.

They simply didn’t have the time or the inclination to plunder planets.

Even if they forced their way through the evacuation plan, it wouldn’t be practical.

The Alliance’s main fleet, along with the ferocious Phoenixes, were trailing behind them.

They’d considered this scenario before. If the Alliance dared to do so, they could just turn around and fight the Alliance, a localized conflict—who would be afraid?

But now, they’d already accepted defeat, so what was the point of fighting?

Could they win?

The Brokenback Hound had no desire to fight, only to leave this nightmarish starfield as quickly as possible.

And with that, the Alliance had reclaimed the entire Dragonhawk Sector.

(End of Chapter)