Chapter Four: First Battle at Starsea

This was the fatal strike of the Ring Blade Step. Continuous redirection forced a judgment delay, and the real attack came from the blind side. The shield blade stabbed toward the neural relay at the back of Astra-X's neck. Leon closed his eyes. Astra-X did not need sight. Sound, gravity, heat, thruster wash, metal vibration, all of it merged into a complete battlefield map inside his mind. He could even hear the subtle rhythm of Rafe's control stick returning under his hand. "Now." Astra-X dropped backward. Not a fall. The entire forty-meter frame threw its mass down like a fighter lowering his body. Rafe's shield blade missed. In the next instant, Astra-X's right elbow smashed upward into the Vanguard-S's abdomen. The impact shook the dome.