The empire's war machine, once again, roared into action with an efficiency that sent shivers down the spines of the entire world.

This time, the pretext for war is even more "grand and respectable" than the last.

The empire's propaganda machine broadcast one touching "family reunion story" after another.

The main characters of the story are all "pure-blooded" citizens of the Empire with North American ancestry from the old era.

Before the camera, they tearfully recounted how their ancestors were separated from their relatives who had been lost on another continent during the "Great Migration."

“My great-great-great-grandfather wrote in his diary that his greatest wish was to see that city, where the torch of freedom stood, one last time…”

"Our roots are there! There lie our compatriots, with whom we share the same blood! They may be living in dire straits, waiting for us to rescue them!"

"His Majesty is merciful! He has heard the call of our blood! He will send an invincible fleet to find our lost loved ones! We are not going to invade, we are going to... reunite!"

Under the banners of "saving our compatriots" and "tracing our bloodline," the entire empire was once again ignited by a fervent warlike sentiment.

Countless soldiers bid farewell to their families and boarded warships and trains for the westward expedition, filled with a sacred sense of mission to "rescue their compatriots."

This time, the empire mobilized a far greater force than when it conquered Dongjin.

Three fully-equipped joint expeditionary fleets, comprising over three hundred warships of various types, blotted out the sky as they traversed that vast inland saltwater sea.

On the ground, a million Imperial Army soldiers, along the "Unification Avenue" laid out by the Engineering Corps using anti-gravity technology in just three months, rolled towards the "Golden Coast" like a black torrent of steel.

...

"Stone City," a city that symbolized prosperity and dreams in the old days, is now in chaos.

On the top floor of the city's tallest building, "Summit of Freedom," a federal emergency meeting is raging with heated debate.

"An Eastern fleet of unknown origin? What are they trying to do? Don't they know who calls the shots on this ocean?" A burly man with a four-star military rank on his shoulder slammed his fist on the conference table. He was General "Battle Axe," the commander-in-chief of the Federal Atlantic Fleet.

“General, calm down.” The Speaker, a refined-looking middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses, was the current president of the Federation. “According to the information we deciphered, they call themselves the ‘Kingdom of Stars’ and have come under the guise of ‘searching for relatives.’ This is clearly just a pretext.”

"An excuse? Then we'll use Tomahawk missiles and F-35s to send their fleet, along with their excuse, to the bottom of the sea!" another hawkish senator roared.

"No!" the president vehemently rejected. "Our 'Keyhole' satellite detected the size of their fleet three days ago. Three hundred warships, of which at least six had energy readings exceeding our highest alert level. Our physicists cannot explain these energy readings, which means that the enemy possesses at least six strategic weapons capable of easily destroying our entire city."

“What’s even more terrifying is their army,” the Defense Secretary said, his face pale. “Our drones spotted their vanguard on the West Coast. It was an endless expanse of black, behemoth-like anti-gravity tanks and powered armor. Our M1A3 main battle tank formations looked like children’s toys in front of them.”

The conference room was deathly silent.

Despair began to spread.

They, the survivors of the "Great Migration," frantically developed technology in preparation for the impending migration. Now, however, they have encountered an even more powerful adversary.

"Immediately, send them a message!" the president declared decisively. "Tell them we are willing to engage in peaceful dialogue! We can open our ports for resource and technology exchange! We must, at all costs, avoid war!"

However, what they received in response was Qin Lan's cold, emotionless ultimatum.

"Immediately disarm all of you, grant access to all your military bases, hand over all your core technological data, and surrender unconditionally to us, accepting the judgment of my lord, the supreme monarch, His Majesty Lin Feng..."

"You have thirty minutes to consider..."

This domineering and unreasonable ultimatum was broadcast throughout the city's public address system, reaching every corner.

The people of "Stone City" were first stunned, then filled with overwhelming anger.

Disarmament? Unconditional surrender?

For the people of the Federation, a nation founded on "freedom" and "resistance against tyranny," this is an insult more unacceptable than death!

"War! War! War!"

The entire city erupted in angry roars.

Inside the "Peak of Freedom," the council also made its final decision.

"They want our freedom?" The president pushed up his glasses, a resolute glint in his eyes. "Then let them step over the corpses of ten million of our citizens first!"

"Order! Atlantic Fleet, 3rd and 7th Air Wings, enter maximum combat readiness!"

"Order! National Guard, all soldiers, distribute weapons and take up designated positions!"

"For the Union! For freedom!"

Thirty minutes later.

The trial begins.

This time, the Star Kingdom's fleet did not conduct long-range artillery barrage.

Because Lin Feng's order was for a "demonstration" victory, a crushing and overwhelming one.

call out!

Accompanied by a sharp tearing sound, tens of thousands of black, metallic raindrops were projected down from above the clouds.

That was the Empire's "Hive" drop pod.

Each drop pod carries an Imperial special forces soldier wearing the latest "Nightmare" powered armor.

"They're going to... airdrop!"

"Phalanx CIWS! Patriot! Fire!"

On the rooftops and in the harbor of "Stone City," anti-aircraft firepower was spitting fire wildly.

However, the "Nightmare" armor is the latest technology developed by the Empire specifically for urban warfare and raids. Its surface is coated with a special optical camouflage that can deflect radar waves and energy beams.

The Federation's most advanced fire control radar is simply unable to lock onto the target effectively.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Thousands upon thousands of airdrop pods, like black meteorites, crashed heavily into the steel jungle of "Giant Stone City".

Yes, some have crashed directly through the roof of skyscrapers.

Yes, it crashed in the center of Times Square.

Some fell into the lake in Central Park.

Without any warning, the war immediately entered its most brutal phase: urban warfare.

A squad of Federal Marines who had just emerged from their bunker ran head-on into a squad of Imperial soldiers.

"Fire!" the Marine captain roared, pulling the trigger first.

Rifles, machine guns, and grenade launchers opened fire simultaneously, and a dense hail of bullets instantly covered the Imperial soldiers.

However, the next second, all the Marines' pupils suddenly contracted.

The Imperial soldiers simply raised their left arms in perfect unison. The armor on their left arms rapidly transformed, unfolding into black, hexagonal energy shields.

All the bullets and shrapnel turned into useless sparks the moment they hit the energy shield.

The red visor beneath the Imperial soldier's helmet flickered, as if he were analyzing the enemy's firepower data.

Then, they raised their oddly shaped electromagnetic rifles, known as "The Ripper," and aimed them at the Marines.

"Standard infantry unit. Threat level: Low. Recommendation: Suppress and eliminate with area fire."

A cold, synthesized voice prompt came from inside the soldier's armor.

"No--!"

The Marine captain sensed a deadly danger and sought cover.

But it was too late.

Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!

There was no earth-shattering noise, only the sharp sound of metal being torn apart at high speed.

The "Ripper" does not spew out gunpowder projectiles, but rather beams of superalloy needles fired at sub-light speed.

The Marines' prized heavy body armor, made of ceramic and Kevlar fiber, was easily pierced like paper. Their bodies, along with the wall behind them, were instantly riddled with bullets.

The Federation's elite Marine Corps was wiped out in a single encounter.

From the start to the end of the battle, it lasted no more than thirty seconds.

This scene was clearly transmitted to the command center at the "Summit of Freedom" through the city's surveillance system.

Everyone felt as if they had fallen into an ice cave.

The sky has become another slaughterhouse.

The Federation Air Force's most elite F-35 "Lightning" and F-22 "Raptor" fighter squadrons swooped down from all directions toward the Imperial fleet hovering over the city.

However, they didn't even get within the missile's effective range.

Hundreds of launch ports were opened on the hull of the Imperial destroyer, and countless laser beams, almost invisible to the naked eye, formed a web of death.

The federal pilots didn't even have time to make any evasive maneuvers before they were instantly vaporized, along with the aircraft, right in the cockpit.

An aerial battle turned into a one-sided, tag-team game.

From the very beginning, this war was a one-sided massacre and hunt.

The resistance of "Stone City" appeared so pale and powerless in the face of the Empire's absolute technological superiority and the soldiers' ruthless combat skills.

In just twelve hours, all external resistance to the city was completely eliminated.

The National Guard was completely wiped out. Regular troops deployed in the surrounding area were also annihilated.

A black flag, embroidered with stars and dragons, was planted at the top of "Summit of Freedom".

What followed was a week-long campaign of clearing and looting.

Imperial soldiers, like the most efficient scavengers, searched house to house.

Anyone who shows any sign of resistance will be killed without mercy.

Any scientists, engineers, or senior technicians identified as valuable were put in electronic shackles and sent to concentration camps.

The city's wealth was looted. The Federal Reserve Bank's vaults, the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collections, the private collections of the wealthy... everything of value was packed up and taken away.

The most brutal of all was the exploitation of women.

"By order of my Lord Lin Feng!"

"To promote the blood ties between 'separated compatriots' and enhance their 'friendship'."

"From this day forward, every family in 'Giant Rock City' must send one woman between the ages of sixteen and thirty as a 'bloodline fusion volunteer' to live in the Kingdom of Stars."

"Those who actively cooperate will receive basic rations of survival supplies."

“Anyone who resists, along with their entire family, will be defined as a ‘traitor to human civilization’ and deprived of all rights to life.”

Scenes of human tragedy, strikingly similar to those in Dongjin, are unfolding in this more prosperous yet more desperate city.

Countless blonde, blue-eyed, or brown-skinned, tall, and curvaceous women were dragged out of their homes, crying and screaming.

They were treated as war trophies, branded, and crammed into transport ships.

Their fathers and brothers, if they dared to resist, would be shot dead on the spot without mercy.

Their cities, their homes, their dignity, were crushed and shattered under the iron hooves of the conquerors.

When the last transport ship, laden with "spoils of war," departed the port of "Stone City," this city, once a symbol of human civilization and hope, had become a lifeless ghost town.

For the Star Kingdom, all of this was merely the beginning of a grand feast.

A fleet laden with wealth, technical data, scientists, and millions of high-quality "white" and "Latino" women returned to the Empire in a grand procession.

A grander, more massive, nationwide carnival than the last one is about to begin.

Every male citizen of the empire will once again enjoy the spoils of war brought to them by their king.

Meanwhile, Lin Feng, in his Nine Heavens Moon-Embracing Palace, was looking with great interest at the research reports and design drawings seized from "Giant Stone City" concerning the Federation's sixth-generation fighter jet, electromagnetic catapults, and artificial intelligence.

His eyes gleamed with a greedier light than ever before.

He knew that a brand new era of technological integration, which would completely solidify the empire's technological hegemony and allow the empire's war machine to be upgraded once again, was about to begin.