The Demon Race's Methods, An Unexpected Alliance

"The humans are untouchable, but those two fools from the Demon Beast Alliance are fair game."

The Beast Ancestor spoke slowly, a flash of ruthlessness in his eyes. "Pass down the order: assemble every Universe Master in the alliance. The few thousand light-years we seized last time are far from enough. This time, I intend to tear away another half of the Demon Race's remaining territory."

"Alliance Leader, what about the Zerg..." the Lord of Nightfall reminded him cautiously.

"The Zerg Queen is no fool," the Beast Ancestor sneered. "She is surely planning the same thing. If the Zerg also mobilize, then it will come down to who has the greater skill; whoever grabs it, keeps it. The Demon Race is meat on the chopping block now. The humans have already carved off the largest piece, and as for the rest, we shall split it with the Zerg."

His judgment was so precise it bordered on cold-blooded.

Three days later, two massive armies appeared almost simultaneously on the borders of the Demon Race's remaining territory.

The Zerg Queen sat enthroned in the Queen Palace, with over sixty of her subordinate Universe Masters gathered.

The ten Zerg Mother Queens, all Universe Masters themselves, each brought with them hundreds of millions of Zerg warriors. The number of peak World Lord-level Zerg warriors was countless; the energy fluctuations emitted during their synchronized deployment caused the space for several light-years around to tremble.

The Beast Ancestor stood at the very front of his own army. The cold light of the Ice Wind Domain shrouded a range of several light-years. Behind him, the Lord of Juefeng, the Lord of Nightfall, the Lord of Giant Rock, and seventy-two other Universe Masters divided into three squads, crushing toward the Demon Race territory in an attack formation.

Two great armies, one striking from the west, the other from the north.

Demon Ancestor Secret Realm.

The Dream Demon Ancestor's massive silver serpentine body thrashed wildly through the palace, her tail sweeping dozens of stone pillars into powder.

"The Zerg! The Beast Ancestor! They must have conspired to come together!" Her voice was sharp enough to tear through space. "These bastards, kicking us while we're down! Taking advantage of our weakness to swarm us and tear us apart! Do they have no shred of dignity left as supreme beings?"

The Tremor Demon Ancestor sat silently to the side. No emotion could be read in the eyes beneath his jagged carapace, but the slight trembling of his tail tip betrayed the turmoil within.

"Zhen Jiao!" The Dream Demon Ancestor turned to glare at him, her scarlet snake-eyes bloodshot. "Say something! What do we do now? We finally stabilized our footing, pulled back all our vassal races, and scraped together over fifty Universe Masters. But now both of them are attacking at once—that's over a hundred Universe Masters combined! How are we supposed to block that? By throwing our lives away?"

The Tremor Demon Ancestor slowly raised his head, a strange light flashing in his eyes.

"We use our trump card."

"A trump card?" The Dream Demon Ancestor was stunned. "What trump card could we possibly have left? The Dream Scale Armor is gone, the Gold-Shattering Spear is gone. The only supreme treasures left are the Black Scale Armor you wear and the Domain Shattering Awl. Are these supposed to be our trump cards?"

"Not a treasure," the Tremor Demon Ancestor's voice was low and calm. "An ally."

"An ally?" The Dream Demon Ancestor was even more confused. "The entire Primal Universe is dying to tear a piece of flesh off us right now; who would ever be our ally? The humans are impossible, that Old Beast God wishes us dead, and the True Void Demon God and Shihua Island Master are loners who wouldn't care."

"The Machine Race." The Tremor Demon Ancestor spat out the two words.

The Dream Demon Ancestor opened her mouth, unable to react for a moment.

"The Machine Father God," the Tremor Demon Ancestor repeated, his voice tinged with bitterness, but more so with the resolve of one pushed to the edge of an abyss. "I have already contacted him in secret."

"Have you lost your mind?" The Dream Demon Ancestor's pupils contracted sharply. "The Machine Race is just like the Zerg—our mortal enemy! You want to take him as an ally?"

"Not an ally," the Tremor Demon Ancestor shook his head. "A transaction."

He raised his hand, and a star map manifested in the void. It was a map of the Demon Race's remaining territory, bounded by the Desolate Dark Shattered Star Belt. The west and north were being pushed by the Zerg and the Beast Alliance, the east was the new human territory, and the south was the Demon Race's core lair.

"I promised him that as long as the Machine Race mobilizes to help us block the Zerg and the Beast Alliance, then after the war, one-fourth of the Demon Race's existing territory will belong to the Machine Race."

A deathly silence filled the hall.

The Dream Demon Ancestor looked at the Tremor Demon Ancestor in disbelief, as if seeing this companion who had fought alongside her for countless epochs for the first time. She opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out.

One-fourth of their territory. That was the largest sector of the Demon Race's remaining habitat, containing three resource-rich star belts and a vital wormhole passage. If they ceded it to the Machine Race, the Demon Race's living space would be compressed to the absolute limit.

But if they didn't... the Demon Race might not even be able to keep the remaining three-fourths.

"Zhen Jiao..." the Dream Demon Ancestor's voice suddenly turned hoarse. "When did you contact him?"

"The night the humans forced us to cede half our territory," the Tremor Demon Ancestor said calmly. "At the time, I didn't know if the Zerg and the Beast Alliance would also come to loot the burning house, but I had to prepare for the worst. As it turns out, my judgment was correct."

The Dream Demon Ancestor fell silent. After a long time, she spoke, her voice carrying a sense of powerlessness she had never felt before: "That Machine... did he agree?"

"He agreed," the Tremor Demon Ancestor nodded. "The Machine Father God is a sentient lifeform, but his way of thinking is different from ours. To him, the value of territory does not lie in the propagation of offspring, but in resources and strategic depth. The one-fourth we offered is enough for him to set up hundreds of thousands of war factories. He won't lose on this deal."

"Then is he not afraid of offending the Zerg and the Beast Ancestor?"

"What does he have to fear?" the Tremor Demon Ancestor countered. "The Zerg are naturally countered by the Machine Race. Soul attacks are ineffective against sentient machines. As for the Beast Ancestor... there is no irreconcilable hatred between the Beast Alliance and the Machine Race. Furthermore, in the face of shared interests, there are no eternal friends, and no eternal enemies."

The Dream Demon Ancestor remained silent for a long time. Only her heavy breathing filled the hall, along with the faint, distant sound of battle reports arriving.

The front lines were retreating; the combined assault of the Zerg and the Beast Alliance had already torn through several defensive lines the Demon Race had set up at the border. The Universe Masters of their vassal races were suffering casualties.

"Then..." the Dream Demon Ancestor finally closed her eyes, as if she had exhausted all her strength. "Then let it be so."

The Tremor Demon Ancestor nodded, saying nothing more. He raised his hand, and a divine thought crossed layers of space-time, transmitting toward the direction of the Machine Race's God Kingdom.

"Machine Father God, the Demon Race requests aid. The terms shall be as we agreed."

Deep within the Machine Race's God Kingdom, a gargantuan black sphere emitted a cold luster in a rhythmic cycle of light and shadow.

This was the location of the Machine Father God's true body.

Within his consciousness, billions of data streams were rapidly calculating, gaming, and simulating.

Every possibility was being analyzed, dismantled, and reorganized at a speed trillions of times faster than light.

The Zerg Queen, the Beast Ancestor, the human Giant Axe, the Starry Sky Progenitor... the interests, bottom lines, and potential actions of every faction were all incorporated into the simulation.

"Probability of the Zerg Queen and the Beast Ancestor attacking the Demon Race simultaneously: 99.97%."

"Probability of the Demon Race requesting aid from the Machine Race: 94.21%."

"Probability of the Demon Race being willing to cede one-fourth of their territory in exchange for aid: 87.65%."

While the two ancestors of the Demon Race were still deliberating whether to call for reinforcements, the Machine Father God had already deduced this outcome.

He had even begun mobilizing his robot legions and the production capacity of his war factories in advance, secretly preparing for deployment.

"Conclusion: Intervene in this battle to obtain maximum profit at minimum cost."

"Reinforcement scale: 10,081 war factories, 2 million warship puppets, 15 universe masters of the Machine Race, and 30 universe masters from vassal races."

"Expected profit: One-quarter of the Demon Race territory, including three star belts and one wormhole passage."

"Expected loss: Within acceptable limits."

"Optimal intervention timing: The third hour after the main forces of the Zerg and the Demon Beast Alliance engage the Demon Race head-on."

The calculation core of the Machine Father God hammered out the final decision.

A series of commands crossed the virtual space, transmitting to every corner of the Machine Race territory.

Tens of thousands of war factories began to roar, and massive formations of warship puppets assembled toward the Dark Universe channels. The universe masters of the Machine Race and their vassal races simultaneously received a brief, non-negotiable order:

"Assemble immediately, coordinates 8479-3122-0018. Mission codename: Assist the Demon Race."

In an instant, the entire war machine of the Machine Race began to churn.

Those vassal universe masters who received the order were left in a daze.

Assist the Demon Race?

Weren't the Machine Race and the Demon Race mortal enemies?

Just a short while ago, during the competition for the Sky Screen rewards, the Machine Father God had secretly sent people to negotiate a treasure trade with the Demon Race, only to be flatly rejected by the Dream Demon Ancestor. Why assist them now?

But they had no right to question it.

Meanwhile, the resistance of the Demon Race had entered its most brutal phase.

In the northwestern war zone of the remaining Demon Race territory, the two great armies of the Zerg Queen and the Beast Ancestor were advancing like a hot knife through butter.

The combined strike of over a hundred universe masters, though partially suppressed by the Primal Universe, still possessed a world-destroying might sufficient to chill the heart of any peak race.

"Boom!"

The Zerg Queen unleashed a top-tier level-six soul attack from the Queen Palace, sweeping across a weak point in the Demon Race defensive line.

More than a dozen universe masters from the Demon Race camp screamed and retreated simultaneously, leaving a momentary gap in the defense.

Immediately following, tens of millions of world-lord-level Zerg warriors poured out of the Queen Palace, merging and reorganizing into a sharp, peerless blade of light that tore that gap to shreds.

At the same time, the Ice Wind Domain of the Beast Ancestor shrouded an area of several light-years. Every time the Starfall Blade descended, it sent several universe masters reeling back, and the combined strike of the seventy-two universe masters behind him shattered the makeshift Demon Race defensive line layer by layer like dry wood.

"They can't hold on anymore." A gleam of excitement flashed in the eyes of the Beast Ancestor. He swatted away a universe master from the Demon Race camp who was wreathed in flames and roared, "Press the attack! Don't give them a chance to breathe!"

The Zerg Queen smiled faintly, and a massive wave of Zerg warriors surged from the Queen Palace once more, turning into tens of thousands of streams of light to slaughter the Demon Race camp.

She had originally been somewhat worried that the Demon Beast Alliance might stab her in the back, but from the current situation, the goal of the Beast Ancestor was clear: to seize as much territory as possible at the fastest speed, rather than competing with her for victory.

As long as the Demon Race's defensive line completely collapsed, the remaining territory would be nothing but fat meat waiting to be carved up.

However, just at the critical moment when the Demon Race camp was about to suffer a total rout--

In the south of the battlefield, ripples stirred in space, and fleet after fleet of pure silver ejected from the void.

Dense, countless fleets emerged from the Dark Universe, covering the sky and blotting out the sun.

The flagship was a spherical vessel over ten thousand kilometers in diameter, its entire body shimmering with precise and cold blue light.

That was the signature warship of the Machine Race!

In front of the fleet, five giant war factories simultaneously activated their war state, instantly expanding to the size of small planets.

The exits of the factories suddenly spewed out hundreds of millions of war puppets.

There were low-tier self-destruct drones, high-tier formation puppets, and even dozens of super-giant Titan Mecha capable of confronting universe masters head-on.

"The Machine Race?!"

The pupils of the Beast Ancestor shrank violently.

He instinctively gripped the Starfall Blade and retreated tens of thousands of kilometers along with the universe masters of the Zerg camp. The next instant, the puppet legions of the Machine Race surged into the battlefield like a tide, yet they strangely bypassed the defensive line of the Demon Race, pouring all their firepower onto the vanguard of the Zerg camp.

"Machine Race--have you lost your minds!" The Zerg Queen's pretty face turned cold, and the Eternal Pearl suddenly shone with unprecedented starlight. An invisible soul attack crossed the star sea, striking straight toward the flagship at the center of the Machine Race formation.

The soul attack penetrated the flagship's hull, penetrated the energy shields, and penetrated layers of alloy. Then, nothing happened.

"Her Majesty the Queen, your soul attacks have no meaning against our Machine Race." The cold voice of the Machine Father God echoed in the void, devoid of any emotion. "Our race has no soul and is unaffected by illusions. No matter how powerful your Eternal Pearl is, it is futile against me."

The Zerg Queen's face turned livid.

She certainly knew that the Machine Race was immune to soul attacks, but she had never imagined that the Machine Race would appear here at such a time and stand on the side of the Demon Race!

"Machine Race!" The roar of the Beast Ancestor shook the starry sky. The cold light of the Ice Wind Domain contracted and expanded wildly beneath his feet, as if echoing the fury in his heart. "Are you not enemies with the Demon Race? Why help them!"

"There are no eternal enemies, nor eternal friends." The calm voice of the Machine Father God came from the flagship. 10,081 peak-treasure puppets detached from the war platforms simultaneously, hovering in the starry sky to form an attack array. "The Demon Race is ceding one-quarter of their territory to my Machine Race. I consider this trade well worth it."

"What?!"

The Beast Ancestor and the Zerg Queen changed color simultaneously.

"Zhen Jiao has gone mad!" The Beast Ancestor gritted his teeth, his scarlet eyes filled with unwillingness and resentment. "He would rather give the territory to a pile of scrap metal than leave it for us?"

"Give it to you?" The massive snake body of the Dream Demon Ancestor emerged from behind the battle line. Her silver scales were covered in the marks of battle, but her voice lacked its previous despair, replaced instead by a cold sharpness. "If it were given to you, would you stop attacking us? If it were given to the Zerg, would she stop coming?"

"We owe you nothing." The Tremor Demon Ancestor appeared side-by-side with the Dream Demon Ancestor, his voice low but filled with a sense of desperation born from being backed into a corner. "If you want to fight, then let's fight. Now that it's three against two, I want to see if you can still be as arrogant as before."

The Zerg Queen's pretty face sank completely.