Chapter 464 - 463: An Open and Fair Encirclement Attack
The words of Firefly made the Blood Scythe Douluo and the others shake their heads repeatedly, their smiles twisted into grimaces even uglier than crying.
Fight with you? That must be a joke.
They remembered the silver-white mech that had burned with emerald-green flames just moments ago—a pressure as overwhelming as a natural disaster forced terror deep into their hearts.
After Firefly transformed, the sense of oppression grew even heavier. Although Title Douluo possessed formidable strength, none had the power to resist from the shadows, and even fewer dared challenge such an enemy.
They knew well that it was not their strength, but their remaining usefulness, that allowed them to survive.
Once, a single act of resistance had made an example of the fate of Centipede Douluo and others that day.
The newly appointed, terrifyingly young leader Huo Yuhao had never intended to spare the direct evil soul masters of the Holy Spirit Church from the very start.
This was a purge.
A purge of the uncontrollable forces lurking within the Holy Spirit Church.
And the reason these so-called "Worships" were spared was simply because they were not pure, hopelessly evil soul masters.
Like Zhang Peng, whose cultivation was twisted but relied mostly on animal and soul beast blood—he did not butcher humans.
Many of these "Worships" were strong individuals wandering the gray boundary between right and wrong, recruited by the Holy Spirit Church to expand their power. Their hands were stained with blood, but at least some trace of humanity remained. They did not, like truly evil soul masters, completely twist their human nature for power or find pleasure in torturing people and devouring souls.
Compared to the truly unfit madmen, they were, indeed, slightly better.
It was this faint goodness that earned them the qualification to be recruited.
The Holy Spirit Church... is finished.
Blood Scythe Douluo understood this in his heart.
From today on, nothing would be offered to the Holy Spirit any longer.
Their fate would be left to the Wuchang Division.
From now on, they would become hidden knives in Lu Jingming's hands, dealing with problems he could not handle himself.
This was a trade: in exchange for their freedom and lifelong loyalty, they would survive.
They had no choice.
…
Without the Holy Spirit Church's harassment, assassinations, and interference—the most adept at sowing chaos—the Star Luo Empire's armies surged forth like a flood breaking through a dam.
Led by Ye Wulu, three hundred thousand strong advanced straight on the city, encountering almost no resistance.
The defenders of the Sun-Moon Empire, equipped with latest technology, faced a Star Luo army that even included some Molten Knights, and were on the verge of collapse.
Their defensive lines, their soul guidance positions, all were as fragile as paper before these unprecedentedly advanced weapons.
It took only three days.
The vanguard of Star Luo Empire had already reached the streets of Xinming City.
Close behind was the true ace unit from Haiyuan City.
Draped in silver-white mechs and burning crimson flames, the Molten Knights looked like a divine army descending from the sky, dominating the eastern horizon.
The dangerous aura of the Legion of Fools quietly sealed off the western passage.
The Night Return Army was stationed in the south.
Four armies, each of a different style and radiating powerful presence, surrounded Xinming City—the capital of the Sun-Moon Empire—from all sides.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the continent—
Ju Zi, the supreme commander of the Sun-Moon's three armies, had brought another war to a stunningly swift end.
Under her lead, the Sun-Moon Empire's main force demonstrated the meaning of devastation in the Dou Ling Empire's lands.
Faced with the armed Terror Soul Engineer Legion and the inhuman Antimatter Corps, the already weakened Dou Ling Empire's forces could barely muster any effective resistance.
Their strongest, Tianyang Douluo, who had just broken through to the ninety-eighth rank and was known as the empire's guardian saint, personally took action, cooperating in the mech encirclement. But he lasted less than thirty minutes—his body collapsed, his soul scattered.
With the fall of Tianyang Douluo, Dou Ling's will to resist completely dissolved.
The Sun-Moon Empire's forces advanced linearly, broke through Dou Ling City, and annihilated the Dou Ling royal line that had lasted ten thousand years.
Among the original three Douluo nations, the Dou Ling Empire had never held much presence, being the weakest.
If not for special geography preventing a direct border with the Sun-Moon Empire, with the powerful Star Luo and Heavenly Soul Empires in the way, it would likely have been the first to fall.
But history's wheel kept turning; in the end, it could not escape its fate of being crushed.
On the day Dou Ling City fell, Ju Zi received an order from Xu Tiannan: abandon the battlefield results at once and lead the main force back to Xinming City immediately.
Yet Ju Zi simply gazed calmly at the curtain of light projected by the soul guide, reaching out her slender fingers to gently stroke the left side.
The light curtain vanished.
There was no expression on her face—as if the emperor's urgent order was just some trivial spam.
She turned lightly and commanded her adjutant:
"Order the entire army to rest on the spot, count the spoils, and suppress all military fortresses of Dou Ling Empire. No one is to act without my new orders."
There was no need to act anymore.
Her betrayal was now exposed.
And the confidence with which she dared do this came not just from the military might she commanded.
She also knew she was not alone.
Almost simultaneously, as she ignored her orders, those not under her direct command but loyal to the Lord Ravager, along with the elite Beast King-level Soul Master Regiment and the terrifying Antimatter Corps, all chose to stand still.
They received the same order and made the same choice—to ignore it.
Of course, Celenova also abandoned Xu Tiannan.
When this news reached Xinming City through various secret channels, Emperor Xu Tiannan found himself utterly isolated and betrayed.
,,,
Sun-Moon Empire, Xinming City.
The siege that would decide the mainland's future began.
Like the previous Mingdu Capital, this newly built and even more magnificent super-metropolis had no city walls in the traditional sense.
Its defenses relied entirely on soul guidance technology.
Layer upon layer of energy shields, all interconnected by countless ninth-level soul guidance generators, wrapped the entire city like a massive, inverted, multicolored bowl.
Beneath the main shield, dozens of secondary shields added diverse functions—repelling physical attacks, absorbing energy impacts, deflecting spiritual interference.
Hundreds of thousands of fully automated soul guide batteries were tied into the city's defense system.
In theory, there was not a single blind spot, neither in the sky nor on the ground.
This defense system was called "Aegis"—the masterpiece of Kong Deming, and the very symbol of absolute defense in every soul master's heart within the Sun-Moon Empire.
They believed it could withstand even days of bombardment from Ultimate Douluo.
But today, their enemy was not an Ultimate Douluo.
At the very front of the allied army, outside the city, Lu Jingming's figure suddenly appeared.
He gave no pre-battle speech, nor complicated orders.
He simply raised his hand and snapped his fingers gently toward the empty sky.
Snap.
That crisp sound was lost in the noisy battlefield.
But the instant he snapped, the space overhead began to twist violently and silently, as if disturbed water.
A dark, jagged rift tore open at the center of the distortion.
Beyond the rift was a deep, heart-pounding universe, glittering with starlight.
The next moment, a gigantic foot made of strange emerald-green metal slowly emerged from the broken void.
Then came another leg, then the torso, then the other leg...
A colossal humanoid mech, tens of meters tall, its body entirely emerald-green and exuding the feel of futuristic and unknown technology, stepped out from the starry void.
Unlike the Molten Knights with their burning flames or the heaviness of traditional mechs, its lines were smooth, elegant, and alive with agility.
On its back floated twelve swords, fanned out like wings and shaped in strange patterns.
…
"What... what is that?!"
Xinming City, Defense System Command Center.
The ninth-level soul master in command stared in shock and confusion at the image returned by the main screen.
But shock was shock—his professional training quickly steadied him.
"Full system alert! Detect ultra-high energy reaction! Increase the energy output of the main defense shield in zones A-3 through A-7 to 120%! Lock all turrets on target and open fire at will!"
He issued his orders methodically, filled with absolute faith in Kong Deming's masterpiece.
No matter what kind of monster you are, before the Aegis system, you'll be smashed to pieces.
…
Outside the city, Lu Jingming gazed at the mech that had materialized from nothing, a faint smile on his lips.
This was Lone Planetfarer, borrowed from Vita.
He raised his hand and gave the Lone Planetfarer its only order:
"Fire."
The Lone Planetfarer's cold, jewel-like electronic eyes flickered.
An emotionless, standard synthesized female mechanical voice rang out both inside the mech and in Lu Jingming's mind:
["Order received. Limiters... lifted."]
The next moment, the world went silent.
The twelve floating swords behind the Lone Planetfarer, their intricate emerald-green patterns lighting up in an instant, shone with a dazzling radiance.
In the center of the mech's chest, a round energy core began to shift from dark green to blinding pure white at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Emerald-green arcs of electricity, as if summoned by a dragon, gathered from every direction, wrapping around the core.
Buzz—!!!
A shockwave of visible energy spread out in rings from the Lone Planetfarer.
Sand and dust on the ground vaporized instantly.
Then, light exploded.
A pillar of emerald-green light, more than ten meters in diameter—pure, ultimate energy—erupted from the Lone Planetfarer's chest.
Simultaneously, all twelve floating swords adjusted their angles, each firing equally powerful, though slightly thinner, beams.
The twelve rays swirled around the central main cannon, forming a torrent of combined energy strong enough to shatter stars.
In this instant, it seemed as though only one thing remained between heaven and earth: the emerald-green light signifying absolute destruction.
In the Xinming City command center, all soul masters stood dumbfounded.
The Administrator's pupils shrank to needlepoints.
He stared at the emerald-green pillar on the main screen, saw it grow and fill his view in a flash—his mind went blank.
The Aegis system he had been so proud of, the one that could withstand Ultimate Douluo's indiscriminate bombardment, now looked so small before that pillar of light... ridiculous.
"No... impossible…"
His lips moved unconsciously, but no sound came out.
It felt as though time itself had frozen.
He watched as the emerald-green torrent finally struck Xinming City's vibrant, massive energy shield.
The moment it touched, all sound vanished from the world.
In its place came an ear-splitting, high-pitched screech, like diamonds grinding desperately against glass.
At the point where the shield met the beam, a pure white light erupted, a hundred times brighter than the sun.
The light was so blinding that everyone in and outside the city, regardless of soul power, was instantly stabbed in the eyes, tears flowing, temporarily blinded.
The shield's surface began to shake violently.
Visible ripples of energy, like water waves, spread out from the impact point.
The entire energy shield, massive as it was, trembled like jelly struck by a hammer.
"Alert! Alert! Main shield energy threshold exceeded—300, 500, 1000!"
"Energy core overloaded, backup energy pool instantly depleted!"
"System crash countdown... three... two..."
Inside the command center, sharp sirens and mechanical countdowns tolled like death's knell in every soul master's heart.
The Administrator felt a chill, staring at the blood-red warnings flashing across the screen, signaling the system's collapse. His legs gave out and he fell to the ground.
Crack...
A brittleness like a shattered mirror transmitted through soul power and into everyone's ears.
In just three seconds, the "invincible" Aegis shield finally reached its limit under the pillar of destruction.
At the center of the impact, a faint, web-like emerald crack appeared.
Then a second, third, and soon countless more...