War descended in a way that no one could have imagined.

As the empire's massive war machine began to crush towards Forbidden Zone 0, the "monsters" emerging from that crimson pillar of light also began to expand outward at a terrifying speed.

They are the "Demons".

The first to rush out of the valley were endless, surging waves of low-level monsters—"Terrorclaw Beasts".

Their appearance resembles that of ancient Velociraptors, but they are larger, with disgusting, rotten-flesh-like dark purple skin covered in throbbing veins. Their claws can easily tear through tank armor, and their blood is highly corrosive.

Hundreds of millions of Deinonychus converged into a purple ocean, emitting piercing screams as they launched a suicidal charge towards the Imperial Army's defenses.

The Sixth Ironblood Legion of the Empire was the first to come into contact with this demonic tide.

Legion Commander Li Mu was a ruthless and battle-hardened general who had experienced hundreds of battles. Standing atop his mobile command fortress, he looked at the dense array of red dots representing the enemy on the radar screen, a cruel smile spreading across his face.

"Pass on my order! All 'Thor' self-propelled howitzer positions, use 'Purgatory' cluster incendiary rounds for three rounds of indiscriminate bombardment! I'm going to roast these lizard-like scum to a crisp!"

The order has been issued.

The thousands of Thor self-propelled howitzers, with their barrels raised high, roared deafeningly.

Fire rained down from the sky.

Thousands upon thousands of incendiary bombs exploded above the Deinonychus's head, turning an area of ​​hundreds of kilometers into a burning inferno. The temperature, exceeding three thousand degrees Celsius, instantly scorched the earth into a molten state.

The purple demonic tide writhed and screamed in agony amidst the sea of ​​fire, burning countless Terrorclaw Beasts to a crisp. The air was thick with a nauseating stench of burning protein.

"Hahaha! Do you see that? This is the power of the Empire!" Li Mu laughed wildly as he looked at the scene before him. "A bunch of brainless beasts! You think you can fight us? Keep bombarding! Don't stop! Use up all the shells!"

However, his laughter quickly froze on his face.

In the sea of ​​fire, those Deinonychus that were not directly burned to ashes began to undergo strange mutations in the flames!

Their bodies, instead of collapsing under the raging flames, became even harder, like tempered steel, and their skin changed from purple to a charred black. Their size expanded at a visible rate, and they even began to spew black flames from their mouths!

"What...what the hell is this?!" The smile on Li Mu's face vanished, replaced by incredulous horror.

"Reporting, Commander! The enemy... the enemy is evolving! They're absorbing the energy from our shells!"

"roar!"

The evolved "Flame Claw Beasts" let out an even more ferocious roar, charging towards the Empire's position at an even faster speed, braving the sea of ​​fire!

"Fire! Fire! All units! Fire at will!" Li Mu roared hoarsely.

On the Imperial Army's positions, a deathly net composed of countless gun muzzle flashes instantly illuminated the battlefield.

Gauss machine guns, plasma cannons, laser arrays... countless deadly energy beams and physical projectiles rained down on the charging Flameclaw Beast.

However, this time, the effect was far less than expected.

Those plasma cannons, powerful enough to vaporize a main battle tank in an instant, only left charred marks on the Flameclaw Beasts. And the bullets from the Gauss rifles couldn't even penetrate their skin!

"boom!"

The first Flameclaw Beast charged onto the Imperial lines. Ignoring the gunfire from the surrounding soldiers, it swung its massive claws, tearing a Ripper infantry fighting vehicle, along with an entire platoon of soldiers inside, in two in an instant!

Once a breach is opened, it can never be closed again.

Tens of thousands of Flameclaw Beasts surged into the Empire's territory like a flood bursting its banks.

A brutal, almost primal hand-to-hand combat began.

Although the soldiers of the empire were fearless, their flesh and blood were so fragile in the face of these invulnerable monsters.

A soldier had just severed the leg of a Flameclaw Beast with his chainsaw sword when, a second later, another Flameclaw Beast bit off half of his body from behind.

A "Radiant Winged Ice Falcon" swooped down from the sky, exhaling an extremely cold breath that froze more than a dozen Flame Claw Beasts into ice sculptures. But before it could rise, dozens of black pillars of fire shot down from the ground, instantly engulfing it and turning it into a burning fireball that plummeted from the sky.

The position is collapsing at an alarming rate.

The screams of soldiers, the roars of monsters, and the booming of explosions blended into a symphony of the apocalypse.

Li Mu's eyes were bloodshot. He drew his sword, a huge battle blade made of a special alloy that shimmered with energy.

"Sixth Legion! Fight to the death! The time has come to serve the Empire! Charge with me!"

He piloted his command fortress and was the first to charge into the demonic tide.

However, at that moment, an even more terrifying aura descended from behind the demonic tide.

In the sky, the crimson pillar of light began to fluctuate violently once again.

Immediately afterwards, countless flying monsters with rotten bat wings and wielding bone spears—"gargoyles"—screamed as they flew out from the pillar of light.

They outnumbered the Deinonychus!

Their target was not the ground positions, but the artillery positions and air bases behind the Imperial Army's lines!

"Damn it! It's the enemy's air force!"

The Empire's air force immediately took off to intercept the enemy.

Thousands of Albatross fighter planes and millions of gargoyles engaged in a fierce battle in the sky.

Lasers and bone spears fly together, missiles and demonic blood dance together.

The sky has become a second meat grinder.

Fighter jets were constantly being destroyed by the gargoyles' relentless suicide attacks, and gargoyles were constantly being torn to pieces by dense anti-aircraft fire.

But the number of gargoyles was simply too great. They seemed endless and fearless.

Soon, gaps were torn open in the empire's air defenses.

Countless gargoyles crossed the defensive line and rushed towards the artillery positions behind them.

Those once-powerful "Thor" self-propelled howitzers became cumbersome targets in the face of these agile flying monsters.

The bone spears hurled by the gargoyles explode violently upon contact with the armor of the artillery vehicle, with a power comparable to that of a heavy aerial bomb.

One "Thor" after another was destroyed, turning into towering fireballs.

Without artillery support, the defeat of the ground forces was inevitable.

Li Mu's Sixth Army Corps collapsed completely in less than an hour. Corps Commander Li Mu was killed in action. Of the 150,000 troops, less than 10% survived.

And this is just the beginning.

The First, Second, and Fourth Legions, as well as the Murong family and Wang Dachui's private army, encountered almost identical scenarios on different fronts.

They faced not only Deinonychus and Gargoyles.

There are also "abyssal behemoths" whose bodies are as large as mountains and whose every step can cause earthquakes.

There are "burrowing worms" that can travel underground and launch surprise attacks from the ground.

There is a "psychic demon" that can unleash a mental shock, driving soldiers mad and causing them to kill each other.

The demon race comes in all sorts of strange and bizarre forms, each with uncanny abilities.

Despite its advanced technology and well-trained troops, the empire's army suffered heavy losses and was repeatedly defeated by this unprecedented and unreasonable enemy.

In just six hours.

The empire launched its first counterattack with an army of 600,000 men, which was completely routed!

Casualties exceeded 70%!

When the news reached Chengtian Capital, the entire imperial leadership fell into a deathly silence.

Everyone's face was filled with shock and confusion.

They couldn't understand why the empire's invincible army, capable of conquering the stars, would be defeated so quickly and so miserably by a group of "beasts."

Only Lin Feng remained calm.

He simply stared silently at the red area on the holographic map, representing the ever-expanding demonic tide, his eyes flashing with a cold light.

"Pass down the order," he said calmly. "All defeated troops, retreat to the second line of defense. Abandon all outlying non-strategic areas."

"Initiate 'Operation Scorched Earth.' Detonate all pre-positioned tactical nuclear weapons along the path of the advancing demonic tide. I will use radiation and death to buy us time."

Lin Feng's orders were ruthless and domineering.

He needed to mobilize the entire empire's military force in the shortest possible time.

His gaze returned to the crimson pillar of light.

He could sense a powerful, malevolent consciousness coldly watching the world from the top of that pillar of light.

They were enjoying the carnage and destruction brought about by their vanguard.

...

For the first time, the advance of the demonic tide was contained under the Empire's "scorched earth plan".

Thousands of tactical nuclear missiles created a death radiation belt tens of thousands of kilometers long and thousands of kilometers wide between the Imperial defenses and the demonic tide.

Neither the Deinonychus nor the Burrowing Bugs were as fragile as paper in the face of the intense heat and devastating shockwave at the epicenter of the nuclear explosion.

Even the monsters that manage to survive will have their lives eroded by the high-intensity radiation within a short period of time, turning into pustules of pus.

For a moment, the entire battlefield fell into an eerie calm.

The remnants of the empire's forces gained a precious respite on the second line of defense. Inside the capital, countless citizens watched the mushroom cloud rise on the holographic screen and cheered in relief.

"Long live the Empire! Long live the Leader!"

"Under nuclear weapons, all beings are equal! Let those monsters taste the strongest weapon humanity has ever produced!"

However, this optimism did not last long.

Just three hours after the nuclear explosion, the crimson pillar of light that pierced the heavens and the earth underwent another strange change.

The color of the beam of light changed from dark red to a deep, pure black, like a black hole.

An evil aura, a hundred times stronger than before, emanated from the pillar of light, creating a suffocating atmosphere.

Immediately afterwards, a figure slowly emerged from the black pillar of light.

That was a "person".

A "person" who was over three meters tall and wore a magnificent yet ferocious full-body black armor that seemed to be made of solidified shadows.

He wasn't wearing a helmet, revealing a pale yet strikingly handsome face that was almost eerily beautiful.

His hair was crimson, like burning flames, and his eyes were pure gold vertical pupils that shone with a destructive light.

He had no wings, yet he hovered quietly ten thousand meters above the ground.

His appearance did not cause any energy fluctuations, as if he had always been one with this space.

But just by standing there, he sent shivers down the spines of every Imperial soldier who saw the scene through satellites.

It was as if ants were looking up at a god.

He slowly raised his hand and gently snapped his fingers at the barren, scorched earth below, shrouded in nuclear radiation.

"Smack."

A soft sound.

Then, something happened that defied the laws of physics and was incomprehensible to everyone.

That vast nuclear radiation zone, which would remain a no-man's land for centuries to come, saw all its radiation, light, heat, and dust being grasped by an invisible hand and beginning to converge toward the man in the sky at a visible speed!

In just over ten seconds.

The entire scorched earth zone, all the nuclear contamination, was absorbed by him... completely!

The earth returned to its original color, though it was still scorched black, but the deadly radiation had disappeared.

In the man's hand, there was a rapidly spinning, fist-sized black energy ball composed of highly concentrated nuclear energy, radiating an aura of destruction.

He played with the energy ball in his hand as if it were an ordinary glass marble.

Then, he turned his gaze to the Imperial Army's second line of defense.

A contemptuous, cruel smile curled at the corners of his mouth.

"Is this... the 'weapon' of this world?"

His voice, though not loud, resonated clearly in the minds of every Imperial soldier through some unknown means.

"How...fragile and...boring."

After saying that, he casually waved his hand.

The black energy ball in his hand transformed into a black streak of light, shooting towards the most fortified part of the Imperial Army's second line of defense, the "Northern Fortress," which was guarded by the "Obsidian" Legion, at a speed exceeding the speed of light.

"Warning! Extremely high-energy attack detected! Energy level... incalculable!"

"Activate the highest-level energy shield of the fortress! 'Aegis' system activated!"

The commander of Zhenbei Fortress, a fierce general from the Murong family, roared at the top of his lungs.

Buzz!

A massive, golden shield, tens of meters thick and made of pure energy, enveloped the entire fortress.

This is the Empire's most advanced defensive technology, theoretically capable of withstanding continuous bombardment from the main guns of capital ships.

However, the moment that black streak of light touched the golden shield—

There was no earth-shattering explosion.

There was no loud noise either.

The black light, like a red-hot needle, pierced a piece of butter.

It pierced through the golden shield silently.

Then, it disappeared into the heart of the fortress.

A moment of deathly silence.

Immediately afterwards, a black sun rose in the center of Zhenbei Fortress.

There was no light, no heat.

Only pure, all-consuming "nothingness".

The black sun expanded rapidly, engulfing the entire fortress and the 100,000 soldiers of the Obsidian Legion within.

Mountains, rivers, steel, flesh and blood... everything was decomposed and annihilated in this black sun, turning into the most primordial nothingness.

When the black sun disappeared, all that remained on the ground was a giant, circular crater, over fifty kilometers in diameter, bottomless, and with smooth, mirror-like edges.

The Zhenbei Fortress, along with everything else, was completely erased from this world.

One strike.

Just one strike.

They destroyed one of the Empire's most fortified fortresses and an elite legion.

At that moment, everyone who witnessed this scene was plunged into utter, silent despair.

They finally realized that what they were facing was not a "beast" at all.

Rather, it is a higher level, a god-like existence that they cannot comprehend.

"I am Uriel, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon King's Army, the one of 'Despair'."

The man who called himself "Uriel" proclaimed his name to the world in an almost chanting, joyful tone.

"Humble mortals, tremble and wail under the glory of our Lord, and then turn to dust."

"This is your only honor."

After he finished speaking, he opened his arms as if embracing the world.

The black pillar of light behind him erupted once more.

This time, what emerged from the pillar of light was no longer low-level monsters.

Instead, they were real demon armies, clad in standard armor, wielding energy weapons, and arranged in neat square formations!

Their appearance is similar to that of humans, but they are generally taller, with skin of various colors and eyes burning with a bloodthirsty red light.

Their numbers are in the tens of millions!

Ahead of them were thousands of heavily armored knights riding ferocious, hell-horse-like monsters.

Above them were tens of thousands of even larger, adult dragons, some of which could even breathe lightning and ice!

This is a true expeditionary force from hell!

Uriel was the supreme commander of this army.

"All troops, advance!"

Uriel gave a simple order.

"Transform this world into a garden where our Lord will descend."

"Yes, Lord Uriel!"

Tens of millions of demon soldiers roared in unison, their voices shaking the heavens.

They marched in orderly steps, crossing the once scorched earth, and crushed their way into the heart of the empire, whose gates were now wide open.

Before them, the remaining defenses of the empire were as flimsy as paper.

A one-sided, bloody massacre began.