Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 1556 The Lunar War (Sixty-Eight)

Commander Malcolm's orders were perfectly correct, and the Emperor did not question them.

This was originally a campaign combining counterinsurgency and annihilation warfare. Due to the unique environment of Starfortress and the strategic requirements of the command, air support lost most of its combat function, and even long-range artillery support could not play its full role. Only close-range artillery could achieve results. With artillery support, this army slowly compressed the enemy's area of ​​operation while advancing slowly under the cover of fire. Although it was the most clumsy tactic, it was also the most reliable.

NATO infantry tactics provided valuable experience, with each collapsed building rubble taking at least one thermobaric bomb. Every building destroyed by assault tank artillery, main battle tank guns, and armored personnel carrier cannons was immediately surrounded by mines, barbed wire, and machine gun turrets. Shield-wielding breaching squads provided cover as Immortal City technicians firmly nailed prefabricated bunkers into the ground, enduring occasional artillery barrages from the mutant army.

Battle reports from the front lines were continuously fed back to the command headquarters.

Facing the holographic projection of the command chain, Mage Hamil clicked on the number of a breakthrough soldier on the chain. The holographic command table immediately displayed the war environment, organization number, team number, physical condition, ammunition reserves, timeline movement trajectory, and combat video recorded by the helmet's electronic eye. Mage Hamil "personally" watched as the soldier was hit in the helmet's electronic eye by a precise electromagnetic gun shot, and then, enduring pain enough to make an ordinary human faint, maintained a steady advance until the sniper's range of movement was forced into the rubble, before blasting him into pieces with a bomb gun.

The perseverance and professionalism displayed by this genetically modified soldier are admirable.

Although the mage Hamil hadn't participated in the unification wars of Latvia and the Yugoslav Federation, and due to his long-term presence at Kamar-Taj, his contact with genetically modified warriors was limited to the Royal Guard, he knew that the Emperor had relied on this terrifying army of only a few thousand to complete his conquests and lay the foundation for his future endeavors. He even saw that the friend-or-foe identification system in the powered armor had reached a remarkably advanced level, with algorithms calculating weaknesses by visually observing enemy appearances—software of this caliber could be considered artificial intelligence on Earth. However, the Emperor had a different interpretation of artificial intelligence; even Jarvis and Friday of Stark Industries didn't qualify as artificial intelligence, only Ultron could be considered a rudimentary form.

"captive?"

"There are no prisoners, at least not now, because they're still armed," Constantine said. "Only a few surrendered mutants can be screened. However, we currently have a severe shortage of anti-psy devices, so the number of prisoners is limited, and we can only select valuable prisoners to keep."

How to choose?

"Professional knowledge, Mage Hamil," Constantine said calmly. "The most important technologies of Attilan Fortress are sub-light-speed engines, faster-than-light engines, and genetic engineering. Those with relevant knowledge can become prisoners without genetic testing after passing a simple exam." The Commander of the Guard pointed to the Martian and Immortal City technicians squatting behind the fortifications, communicating in complex numerical language in front of a group of Attilan mutants with slightly lower levels of genetic mutation. "Although humans and Attilans don't speak the same language, mathematics is the universal language of this universe."

The commander of the Imperial Guard pointed to an armored vehicle not far away.

"You should board the vehicle now, Mage Hamil. Please put on your spacesuit as instructed. Your work location is outside Attilan Fortress. External artillery fire has ceased, and most of the self-propelled artillery units are withdrawing as required. There is no need to worry about artillery fire from the rear."

Constantine produced a psionic beacon made of brass and iron. Although it was called a beacon, due to the limitations of its manufacturing process and the technology used, it looked no different from an ordinary globe, except that it was small enough to be held in one hand—it was a Kamar-Taj artifact, thousands of years old, and said to have been made by the earliest disciples of Agamotto—although it could only be used to transmit information, on the scale of the observable universe, even just transmitting information was beyond the power of a single human being.

"This is the authority the Sorcerer Supreme has granted to my Lord, and I trust you will use this beacon to summon them. Before summoning the dimensional veterans, please remember to instruct them to prepare protective environmental spells," Constantine said. "I do not wish for those dimensional veterans to die from the lack of oxygen in the lunar environment."

Maximus continued his trek in the darkness. The foul-smelling sludge that should have gone into the sewers flowed onto the slum streets due to years of neglect and war damage. Behind him, more than one figure loomed in the dim light, silently traversing with him through a low, narrow tunnel, barely wide enough for one person and barely tall enough to pass through, filled with mud and building debris. The group behind him was much larger than it had been half an hour ago, for he had found a refuge built by several deserters based on their memories. The first group of deserters he had encountered had gathered around him after passing through the tunnel, forming a protective formation, their unusually burly leader using his body to shield him from any attempt to attack Maximus head-on.

He has distorted the perceptions of these deserters.

In the minds of those armed civilians, protecting him was more important than protecting the shelter, and the hearts of all the civilians under his control were filled with courage. This courage would not be diminished by anything; neither pain, disease, nor hunger could shake their firmly locked will. They were unaware of their current situation, nor would they voice any objection, not even a single thought of questioning it.

This is one of the reasons why many members of the Attilan royal family opposed Maximus's ascension to the throne.

His mind manipulation abilities were so powerful that even members of the royal family with other powerful psychic abilities would be affected unless they received professional mental protection training. Therefore, some suspect that the Kree scout ship was actually influenced by Maximus, who wanted to use the Kree to kill Black Bolt. Maximus did not lack royal supporters, but those people immediately claimed to have been mind-manipulated after he lost power. Although there was a lack of convict evidence, these former supporters deliberately expressed their desire to kill him on several occasions afterward, and repeatedly demanded his execution during the subsequent trial.

Every time, Maximus could recall the sinister looks in those people's eyes.

But when he looked at those people, the eyes of those once arrogant royals were filled with terror, and they retaliated even more fiercely. Maximus knew that those people were afraid of his revenge after he was freed, which was why they were trying to kill him. Now that he was out of prison, the security forces would surely send all their resources to hunt him down, and even with war imminent, those short-sighted people knew nothing but how to run away.

Maximus has made his decision.

He will take revenge on all the traitors, he will lead the Attilans against the invaders, and he will replace his weak brother as the right choice for the Attilan Inhumans.

(End of this chapter)