The air shrieked a complaint as the massive blade in the right hand of Cleansing Light was forced in a nearly supersonic arc, bisecting a Ripper and taking the arm off of a second, who had only just barely dodged back fast enough to avoid the same fate.

Max didn't hesitate and followed up with an upward strike and a rapid shift of his feet to give Cleansing Light the mobility to bring the blade back down on the head of a Ripper attempting to bypass him.

The lasers cleared the smaller attackers from his vicinity as the mighty blade cut through the Rippers, keeping their brutally serrated claws away from his light Mecha units.

For the sake of simplicity, Max had chosen the First Battalion to attach himself to, and they were already beginning to spread out to increase the size of their defensive line.

With the initial surge of Warriors mostly cleared, the rest had to run the gauntlet of Thunder Gun fire to get close to the unit, and the First Company was a reinforced unit, with nine Super Heavy Mecha instead of the usual five.

Nico's unit had the same, and he could hear them fighting on the other side of the encampment, but there wasn't much time to spare for that, as the next group of Rippers was already on their way, and Max's target detection had spotted the Behemoth that they were trying to hide within their ranks.

He fired his Disruptor into their ranks and watched in horror as nothing happened. The Disruptor hit a wave of plasma ejected from the Behemoth and dissipated without harming anything.

It was crude but effective, and it stopped him from simply eliminating the escort Klem at a distance while the Behemoth advanced.

[All units, be advised that the Klem has developed countermeasures that are effective against Disruptors.] Max advised the landing force on the surface.

Of the one hundred Battalions aboard Absolution, sixty were on the surface, with forty held in reserve should a particular area need reinforcements or if the ship itself should come under attack.

If the Disruptors could be blocked, he would simply do this the old-fashioned way.

[Fusion Flamers, clear the lines and spread out as much as possible. Minimizing civilian casualties is a Priority two mission parameter.] Max instructed his android companions, bringing instant compliance.

He could get used to that. There was no hesitation or second-guessing, only instant movement, and with his whole unit gaining the benefit of his targeting Functions, very few shots missed their mark, leaving an impressive number of bodies scattered through the shrubs and broken trees of the battlefield.

Max waited until the Rippers and their Behemoth caretaker were close to his position, then activated his thrusters and charged them, sweeping through the air with his blade and firing all six Disruptors once he was in melee range.

It limited their effectiveness, but the beams tore through the Rippers in an instant, turning the bodies to ash so that his blade could have a clear path to the Behemoth.

With a clang that echoed through the colony, alloy met chitin, and the Behemoth raised up to face Max in combat. Its thick front leg, pointed on its end to pierce through even the hardest of targets, was deeply wounded but holding solid as it flashed forward against Max's shield, causing the energy shielding to flare to life while Max spun the enormous Mecha to the side and brought his blade down again, aiming for a joint in the chitin at the shoulder of the front leg.

The Behemoth twisted to avoid the blade but only managed to cause the blow to land on its upper leg, severing the limb above the thick armour of the weaponized lower limb.

Its howl of rage drove the Klem into a frenzy, and Max could see that they were no longer trying to avoid the bombardment and had begun simply rushing the Mecha line, reinforced by tens of thousands of new warriors coming up from holes in the ground.

That was not good. If they had underground means of travel, it would be much harder to track them with drones and satellites, but the data was already fed into the Mecha network, and Max could see the data updates as the Androids and the Pilots advising them worked to adjust to the situation.

Even in his own force, the Fast Attack Crusaders had taken the initiative to leap over most of the battlefield and fill the tunnels with Fusion Flames, halting the wave of attackers for a moment, then leaping back behind the lines before they could be overrun.

The Klem wouldn't allow them to do that very many times, but the first time had given the lines enough of a clearing that they had nearly doubled their coverage area.

Max followed up the attack on the Behemoth's limb with a forward strike, aiming for the wounded area, free of defensive armour, but was forced to use his thrusters to leap free when the Behemoth fired a corrosive liquid at him.

[Incoming drone bombers] The battle radio advised, giving Max ten seconds' warning before they pelted the battlefield around him.

There was no need for him to move, though. Cleansing Light could take a hit or two if needed, but the drones were supremely accurate and would skip a drop that would land too close to him as long as he wasn't moving too far.

As the bombs rained down around them, Max and the Behemoth traded blows, and Max managed to hit it twice more with the Disruptors, tearing large chunks of its belly armour away and leaving it bleeding heavily on the ground when it retreated to make its next attacks.

Klem didn't seem to feel pain, and they would fight to the very end, but that should be close for this Behemoth.

Max pressed his advantage and removed its other front leg at the shoulder, leaving it without its primary melee weapons. The Behemoth didn't care and simply charged with the intent to grab Cleansing Light in its crushing mandibles before the Mecha could get away again.

That put it in just the right position for Max's next strike, and his blade split the creature's head wide open, followed by a blast of the Disruptor that vaporized the creature from the inside, leaving Max standing in a whirlwind of ash.

He took a half second to regroup and double check his target options as the flames of the bombs cleared, only to see two more identical forms rushing at him. The Behemoth had Sisters, and they were not happy.