The bomb smoke had yet to clear when the augmented warriors charged out of it, one after another. Their eyes held no emotion, only bloodred color and killing intent.
"Their minds have been wiped!"
"Form up!"
The Guard Corps obeyed the order and rushed forward, forming rectangular formations in teams of five.
As they faced the bloodred eyes brimming with killing intent, the Guard Corps soldiers' hands trembled slightly around their weapons.
It was not fear, but excitement born of being overly serious. Here on this battlefield, they would give everything they had for victory.
The instant the two sides met, blood mist burst into the air, from enemies and allies alike.
Outnumbered, the Guard Corps was soon surrounded. Some of the augmented soldiers stayed behind to keep attacking the Guard Corps' remaining fighting force, while the rest joined the slaughter of the Alliance Army.
The Alliance Army commander watched anxiously as the battle line they had pushed forward was driven back again by the augmented warriors.
The augmented soldiers effectively stopped the Alliance Army's advance and even pushed them back. The Alliance Army soldiers began trading their lives for wounds. In mere moments of fighting the augmented soldiers, their numbers plummeted. Their numerical advantage meant nothing before absolute strength.
"Are we... really going to lose?"
He lowered his head helplessly, as though he could already see his fate. He raised a hand to his helmet, intending to take it off, when a massive Starskiff appeared high overhead.
Under his astonished gaze, the Starskiff projected a beam downward, clearing an area a hundred li across when it struck the ground.
The sudden change on the battlefield caught everyone's attention. Even the augmented soldiers charging into battle froze in place. Despite having had their minds wiped, they actually felt fear at that moment.
A figure stepped out of the beam. Qi Tianque walked slowly forward, looking at the corpses and severed limbs scattered everywhere. Sadness appeared on his face, but when he looked again at the Guard Corps struggling to hold out ahead, his gaze instantly turned cold.
Qi Tianque raised one hand, and a piano appeared before him. He stepped onto the platform beneath it and sat on the bench, placing both hands on the keys. As his hands danced across them, the piano rose into the air, carrying him with it.
The piano music drifted across the battlefield. The soldiers of the Alliance Army and the Guard Corps felt their fatigue vanish in an instant, and those who had been utterly exhausted rose to their feet.
"Lord of Existence, King of All Gods! See through illusion, anchor reality! Repent before the illusion-shattering divine spear of dawn! Judgment!"
A figure shot out of the beam. Xiahou Chan gripped a halberd wreathed in the dense power of the Path of Existence. Cracks appeared in the air wherever it passed, golden-green streamers flowing within them. Xiahou Chan himself charged straight toward the enemy formation like a halberd.
The vast power instantly drained the color from the Garden Army commander's face. He could never mistake that aura.
"E-Emanator level!"
The attack landed, and a massive explosion engulfed the Garden Army troops in front of the Alliance Army. The violent blast even knocked the soldiers at the front of the Alliance Army to the ground. They did not mind, scrambling up as fast as they could and staring without blinking at the site of the explosion.
A moment later, the dust cleared, revealing an enormous crater and a tiny figure within it, radiating a formidable aura.
Xiahou Chan pulled the halberd from the ground and leaped out of the crater, looking toward the augmented soldiers still charging at him.
"Tsk, these things really are monsters. Don't they have minds?"
"General, stop playing around. Tianque and his people will get tired keeping so many people going too. Finish this quickly."
Wanmeng floated in the air, manipulating an astrolabe with one hand and drawing an array diagram with the other. Her long robes flapped sharply, and their flowing tassels added an air of mystery.
"All right, all right, I know. Wanmeng, go rescue those tin cans under siege first. I can handle things here."
Wanmeng rolled her eyes at him, then turned and led fifty thousand Manifest Existence Army soldiers toward the Guard Corps.
"Got it. They're the former Courtyard's Guard Corps, and they're very capable. They're not tin cans."
Wanmeng's words rang in Xiahou Chan's mind. He grinned. "Close enough, close enough."
Seeing the augmented soldiers charging toward him, Xiahou Chan rushed forward without hesitation. In battle, one had to seize the initiative; striking first was the way to boost morale.
Sure enough, after what had just happened, the moment Xiahou Chan charged forward, a dense mass of Alliance Army soldiers surged out alongside him. Among them were Halovians in blue-green robes, using Tuning to support the army. For a time, the entire army's fighting strength increased greatly.
"Array diagram!"
Meanwhile, Wanmeng looked at the surrounded Guard Corps ahead and waved her left hand, causing an array to appear beneath their feet. The Guard Corps, who had been struggling to hold out, immediately felt their stamina steadily recovering. Even their wounds were healing rapidly.
"Starlight!"
Wanmeng cast out the star chart she had drawn. It appeared above the augmented soldiers surrounding the Guard Corps, and before they could react, streams of starlight fell from it into their midst.
The surrounded Guard Corps shouted excitedly at the sight. "Captain! Reinforcements are here!"
Elder Ge smashed the augmented soldier in front of him apart with a slash and turned to look behind him in excitement. The augmented soldiers there were gone, and the ground was carpeted with corpses. Directly behind the guards stood an army in golden-green armor, led by a young woman floating in the air.
Countless bombs, energy projectiles, and rays of light fired from the army, every one of them avoiding all the Guard Corps soldiers.
He recognized the armor. He had seen it on television news reports. And it was not just him; everyone in the Guard Corps was beside themselves with excitement.
"It's the Xianzhou! It's the army of the Xianzhou Daiyu!"
"Brothers! Now that our comrades are here, it's time to pay them back for everything we've suffered these past few days!"
Elder Ge raised his arm and shouted. The blood of every Guard Corps soldier boiled, and they threw down their guns and drew the greatswords from their backs.
"Kill!"
Elder Ge pointed his blade at the augmented soldiers ahead. The Daiyu troops and Wanmeng behind him kept up their fire support, while the Guard Corps fought with bloodshot eyes. Every night, thoughts of the brothers who had died horribly at these monsters' hands had kept them awake for a long time, wishing they could tear the monsters limb from limb.
Now they could take revenge. In particular, after having their minds wiped, these monsters were nothing but weapons that knew only how to kill. The Garden Army and its higher-ups had retreated, leaving only these monsters on the battlefield.
With fire support from the Xianzhou Daiyu, the monsters were soon wiped out. Looking at the bodies of augmented soldiers and members of the Guard Corps covering the ground, some of the younger Guard Corps soldiers could not help crying aloud.
They had never expected to survive and had fought the monsters determined to die. Looking at the bloodied face of a former comrade, his eyes open in anger, one young soldier reached out and closed them.
"Your story will be remembered in the Path of Existence. For the goddess!"