As Max had anticipated, the battles began the very next day, with the most zealous of the human forces working out plans to leave their defenses, which had lost all of their spiritual guidance, and head for some other location that they suspected might be in better shape, with a stronger leadership group.

Terminus had all communications locked down on the planet, with only their own secure communications allowed to broadcast. Still, the propaganda feed on the civilian networks was in full swing, playing an assortment of peace messages, as well as fake news updates from around the planet, showing the Grax abandoning the humans the moment that someone showed up to challenge them.

Nico had been careful to make a point of showing that all of the Mecha Pilots in their fleet were human, just like the civilians, and that they were here to liberate them from false prophets, using the disappearance of the Grax overlords who had ruled these peoples lives for centuries as evidence that they were no more than cowardly aliens.

Max was actually quite impressed by the quality of the propaganda, and the subtlety of the subliminal programming that was contained within it, which the local population wouldn’t have the technology to uncover and counter without their leaders and military computers.

That only increased the violence of the rejection by the zealots, though. Their every belief had been challenged, and in the morning, when the entire population typically tuned in for their morning sermon and daily news but only found the new news broadcasts, the Zealots decided that this was their moment to act, to prove to the people with their own eyes that the Grax Administration was still in power and could not be overturned by some puny human ship.

[Commander, we have Super Heavy mecha incoming from zone G6.] Colonel Klinger happily informed Max, knowing that the Commander had been spoiling for a fight after the Hunters insisted that their champion was a female.

[On my way, Colonel. How is the state of your men?] Max responded as he launched Cleansing Light into the air to meet the enemy threat.

[Holding strong. The Company’s technicians managed to repair most of our damages overnight, and we are over 90 percent combat effective.] Colonel Klinger informed him as Max began to see the first signs of renewed battle at the city that they were camped outside.

Colonel Klinger had opted to spread his forces around the city, with His Command Mecha taking the North wall, while the Company Command Mecha took the south, and the First Company of the Fifth Battalion split in half, taking the East and West walls.

The enemy had decided to concentrate their attacks and were all headed for Colonel Klinger’s Thunder Pattern Super Heavy Mecha, Claret River.

The artillery was roaring at maximum output, the Thunder that gave the Mecha its name, while the Ion Bombard Arrays tore apart heavy Mecha, and the defensive Lasers obliterated the Light Mecha that was either brave or foolhardy enough to show their faces.

The Super Heavy Mecha was still hanging back a few kilometers, letting the main force weaken the enemy like most Kepler Commanders would expend lives to save expensive Mecha.

That wouldn’t save him today. Max was headed straight for the Grax Super Heavy, the massive form of Cleansing Light dwarfing the enemy Mecha. Anyone watching from the walls of the city could clearly see the difference between the two Commanders, with the clean lines of Max’s Samurai-themed Mecha contrasted against the arches and spires of the Cathedral atop the Super Heavy of the Grax military.

Max saved multiple images and started a video feed to send to Uncle Lu, who had initially wanted his Mecha to look like that. The old man would appreciate the sense of aesthetics if nothing else.

He wouldn’t simply obliterate it. That wouldn’t give the effect he needed today, so Max raised his physical shield and drew his sword, pointing it at the enemy Mecha.

[Your false Gods have abandoned you. Stand down and rejoin humanity in self-governance. You are no longer a slave.] Max declared over the loudspeaker of Cleansing Light.

[You know nothing of faith. By faith, we are born, and by faith, we will prevail.] The enemy Commander declared, then blasted Max with a Thermal Lance.

The beam crashed against his shield and dispersed without any harm done to the Titan Class Mecha. It hadn’t even depleted the secondary barrier on his physical shield, much less forced Cleansing Light to put power toward the main defenses.

[Then suffer the fate that traitors to their own planet deserve.] Max announced and stepped forward, striking downward with his sword and cleaving a large portion of the cathedral and one of the main weapons off of the enemy Mecha in a tremendous explosion of shattering energy shields and power couplings.

Before it could retaliate, Max brought the blade back on an upward trajectory that would take it through the center of the Mecha, gouging a large hole out of the structure but failing to find the power core hidden among all of the architecture.

The Super Heavy Mecha staggered back, flames licking from all over the unit where the chemical feed for the Thermal Lance had ignited on the surface of the Mecha when the weapon was destroyed, and Max aimed his fist down at the fallen Mecha, targeting with his Disruptors.

The blast vaporized half the Mecha, leaving a crater in the ground where it once stood, and Max turned to face the enemy lines.

The blade that Uncle Lu had designed could send out a Disruptor wave for mowing down infantry and light Mecha, an invisible strike that should be suitably impressive to these superstitious folk.

Max swung his sword, sending the wave of Disruptor energy into the back lines of the Grax army, dropping hundreds of Light Mecha as if the mere wind from his blade was more than they could withstand.

[Surrender and exit your Mecha, or we will be forced to take drastic measures to ensure the safety of the human civilians on this planet from your zealotry.] Max ordered.

That brought a renewed barrage of attacks against Cleansing Light, to which Colonel Klinger and Max responded with a full-force barrage of weapon fire, wiping out the remainder of the force in a single second.

Max looked up and saw a swarm of drone fighters in the air, spreading apart seconds after the battle was decided.

They didn’t intercede, so they must be the ones Nico was using to film propaganda to broadcast to the populace.

[Your Divine Holiness, Cleansing Light, we apologize for our mistaken attack upon your forces. Please, can you release the daily rations?] The city broadcast to them.

[Nico, what are they talking about?] Max asked.

[Give me five seconds. Oh, there it is. The grocery stores and food warehouses are all keyed to the Grax genome. The humans couldn’t get in to get their daily rations, and the Grax didn’t allow them to have more than a day’s worth of food, as they called it, hoarding. I will have them unlocked in 30 seconds. You can announce it whenever you like.

Make it sound good.] Nico replied.