The power of the "Cataclysmic Warriors" exceeded everyone's imagination. Each of them possessed near-light-speed reaction capabilities, terrifying strength capable of tearing apart tanks, and an energy shield covering their entire bodies capable of withstanding heavy artillery bombardment. Ordinary Alliance warriors were as fragile as paper in their presence.

A dwarf warrior roared and swung his battle axe at a "Cataclysmic Soldier," only to be caught by the opponent with a single hand and torn in two, axe and all.

The enchanted arrows fired by several elven rangers, powerful enough to pierce steel plates, were deflected by an invisible energy shield the instant they struck their bodies. The next second, the "Cataclysmic Soldier" appeared before them like a ghost, slashing his hand and sending several heads flying into the air.

They were ultimate weapons, born purely for slaughter, devoid of emotion or fear; obeying orders was their sole instinct. The assault route the Alliance had painstakingly opened was instantly blocked by blood and corpses the moment they appeared. Irelia was also entangled by the most powerful squad leader, wielding a massive energy scythe, and unable to advance an inch further.

The situation seems to have descended into despair once again. The league's casualty figures are climbing at an alarming rate.

On the city wall, Zhang Huanyu's face revealed a ferocious smile. He seemed to already see the allied forces collapsing completely and being utterly overwhelmed by the imperial army.

However, Lin Feng's brows furrowed almost imperceptibly at this moment.

His gaze didn't linger on Irelia or the Scourge warriors, but rather pierced through the chaotic battlefield, landing on the Empire's rear ranks. There, responsible for guarding the flanks and ready to encircle the allied forces at any moment, were the Empire's Fifth Griffin Legion and Twelfth Storm Legion.

After Yue Zhenshan's "defection," these two legions had repeatedly expressed their doubts about the "purification mission," and the loyalty of their legion commanders had already been marked as dangerous in the Empire's secret assessment.

Lin Feng had been waiting. He was waiting for these two "nails" to jump out on their own.

The situation on the battlefield is pushing them step by step toward the critical point where they "have no choice but to fight back," just as he had planned.

At that moment, General Yue Zhenshan's voice, transmitted through a hacked Imperial military channel, resounded throughout every corner of the battlefield.

"Brothers of the Fifth and Twelfth Legions of the Empire! I am Yue Zhenshan! How long will you continue to aid and abet evil? Look at what's before you! Those compatriots who speak the same language and have the same blood as us are being slaughtered by those mindless monsters! We are soldiers of the Empire, and our duty is to protect our homeland, not to become the butcher's knife in the hands of a tyrant to slaughter his own people!"

"Emperor Lin Feng has gone mad! He wants to destroy not only the alien races, but all of us! On the day 'Breath of Dust' is activated, we genetically modified soldiers will also be wiped out! What he wants is a cold, absolute empire that belongs only to him! Your families, your future, will all be destroyed by him!"

"General Meng Kuo! General Li Ling! You were once my most respected colleagues! Your honor and loyalty should not be tarnished like this! Turn back! For the true future of the empire, for our common people, point your cannons at the real enemy!"

Yue Zhenshan's voice, like a boulder thrown into a calm lake, stirred up violent ripples in the Imperial Army's lines.

A noticeable commotion arose among the soldiers of the Fifth and Twelfth Corps. Many of them had long been weary and fearful of this brutal scorched-earth war. Yue Zhenshan's words ignited a long-buried spark of "wavering" within them.

Li Ling, the commander of the Fifth Legion, a burly man with a full beard, had a painful struggle flash in his eyes. He looked at the Alliance soldiers being slaughtered indiscriminately by the "Cataclysmic Soldiers," many of whom were former citizens of the Empire. His hand gripped the edge of the command platform tightly.

On the other side, Meng Kuo, the commander of the Twelfth Army Corps, a refined-looking middle-aged man, slowly closed his eyes. When he opened them again, only resolute determination remained in his eyes.

He established a secret communication connection with Li Ling.

"Old Li...is what General Yue said true? About the 'Breath of Dust'..."

Li Ling's heavy breathing came from the other end of the communicator: "...It's true. My intelligence officer has confirmed it repeatedly. We...are all just expendable supplies."

A deathly silence followed.

"I, Meng Kuo, have fought my whole life and shed blood for the empire, and I have never regretted it." Meng Kuo's voice was soft, but it carried an undeniable firmness. "But I will never accept that my sword is wielded to slaughter the innocent. I will never accept that my loyalty will ultimately be rewarded with being eliminated like trash."

"...What do you want to do?" Li Ling's voice was a little hoarse.

“Fighting for ‘humanity’,” Meng Kuo said, emphasizing each word.

The next second, he abruptly switched to the entire legion's communication channel and, with all his might, issued the last and greatest order of his military career.

"Twelfth 'Storm' Legion, all units, take note!"

"Turn the guns around! Target—'Cataclysmic Warriors' unit! Fire!"

This order, like a thunderclap from a clear sky, instantly ignited the entire battlefield!

Everyone was stunned by this sudden turn of events. Zhang Huanyu's smile froze instantly, replaced by endless astonishment and rage.

After a brief moment of shock, the soldiers of the Twelfth Army Corps carried out the order without hesitation! Their pent-up anger and humiliation were unleashed in a deadly barrage.

Hundreds of energy beams roared out from the Empire's flank lines, not aimed at the Alliance, but instead slammed into the backs of the "Cataclysmic Warriors" that were slaughtering the Alliance forces!

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Even the mighty "Cataclysmic Warriors," caught completely off guard and attacked by a concentrated barrage from their allied forces, suffered unprecedented devastation. Several "Cataclysmic Warriors'" energy shields instantly overloaded, and they were completely engulfed by the energy barrage. For the first time, their formation crumbled.

"Meng Kuo! You traitor!" Zhang Huanyu roared hysterically.

"And me!" Commander Li Ling's voice rang out immediately after, "Fifth 'Griffin' Legion! Join me in resisting tyranny! Attack!"

Another main force of the Empire has defected! Their artillery fire is now also aimed at the Empire's loyal troops.

The situation on the battlefield took a dramatic and disruptive turn in that instant.

The Imperial Army's command structure descended into unprecedented chaos. Loyal and defector troops began attacking each other, and the entire Imperial front began to crumble from within.

Irelia and the others seized this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

"Counterattack!"

With the pressure suddenly relieved, Irelia unleashed a burst of brilliant holy light, cleaving away the Scourge captain who had been entangled with her with a single sword strike. Barton's Anvil Legion charged towards the disorganized Retribution Legion like tigers descending from the mountain. Lina's scouts seized the opportunity to cut off the Imperial Army's communication lines, further exacerbating their chaos.

This was an unprecedented battlefield uprising. More and more Imperial Legions, witnessing the actions of the Fifth and Twelfth Legions, also chose to defect. They had long harbored resentment towards Lin Feng's tyranny, and Yue Zhenshan's words, along with the actions of Meng Kuo and Li Ling, became the final straw that broke the camel's back.

The imperial army suffered a crushing defeat.

The troops loyal to Lin Feng were quickly divided, surrounded, and annihilated under the dual attack of the alliance and the rebels. Even the powerful "Cataclysmic Divine Soldiers," having lost command and coordination and becoming the target of everyone's attacks, were destroyed one by one.

Zhang Huanyu's face was ashen; he knew he had lost the battle. He used his last strength to gather his remaining personal guards and retreated in disarray back to Chengtian Capital, tightly closing the city gates.

Outside the city, deafening cheers erupted.

After an initial period of wariness, the Alliance warriors and the newly revolted Imperial soldiers awkwardly but sincerely embraced each other. They couldn't believe that this seemingly hopeless siege had turned into a victory in such a way.

They breached the empire's field defenses, severely damaged Lin Feng's elite troops, and now they are at the city gates.

The next step is to storm into the city, destroy the energy core of "Breath of Dust," and completely end Lin Feng's reign of terror! The dawn of victory is so real, so within reach.

However, amidst this sea of ​​jubilation, only a few people, such as Irelia and Yue Zhenshan, had furrowed brows, their unease reaching its peak.

Everything... went too smoothly.

It went so smoothly, as if someone had orchestrated it all behind the scenes.

...

The walls of Chengtian Capital were littered with corpses. But the highest point remained spotless.

Lin Feng stood there quietly, as if he hadn't moved an inch from beginning to end. He calmly watched the battle below, which had turned around, and the jubilant "victors," his cold smile unchanged.

"Your Majesty... I..." The defeated Zhang Huanyu knelt at his feet, his body trembling like a leaf, unable to utter a complete sentence. He knew that, according to the laws of the empire, such a crushing defeat should warrant the most cruel and extreme punishment.

“You did a great job, Zhang Huanyu.”

Lin Feng's voice was unexpectedly calm, even carrying a hint of...appreciation.

Zhang Huanyu suddenly raised his head, his eyes filled with disbelief.

Lin Feng slowly turned around and looked down at him. His eyes, which seemed to contain the birth and death of stars, flashed with a cold and all-knowing rationality.

"Isn't it a wonderful drama? Betrayal, rebellion, the weak overcoming the strong, the flame of hope ignited in despair... What a moving script."

He stretched out a hand and pointed to the Allied forces outside the city who were celebrating their victory.

"You think I lost?"

Lin Feng's laughter echoed on the empty city wall, filled with endless mockery and coldness.

“I knew they would betray us long ago. Yue Zhenshan, Meng Kuo, Li Ling… I know the names and positions of every officer with ulterior motives and every unit with wavering resolve within the empire better than you do.”

"The reason I let Yue Zhenshan 'escape,' the reason I deliberately created 'loopholes' in the defense line, and the reason I gave them the illusion that things had gone smoothly for the past few months, was all for today."

“I need a stage, a stage big enough. I need a fuse, a fuse big enough to draw out all the rats hiding in the dark corners. And Yue Zhenshan is the best fuse I have chosen.”

Zhang Huanyu's mind went blank. He was shocked by the terrifying truth contained in Lin Feng's words and could hardly think.

"These soldiers were sent there on purpose," Lin Feng's voice was as cold as the depths of hell. "The 'conscience' virus within them is terminal and incurable. Keeping them around will only continue to erode the foundation of my empire. Rather than cleaning them up and screening them one by one, which would be a waste of time and cause unnecessary panic, it's better to... let them come out on their own and gather together."

“Look,” Lin Feng said, opening his arms as if to embrace the hundreds of thousands of troops outside the city, “how wonderful it is now. All the rebels, all the foreign tribes, all the noise, all the unstable factors, have all gathered neatly before me.”

"They thought they had won the war. They thought they were about to usher in a new era."

"How foolish, how ridiculous."

There was no longer any mockery in Lin Feng's eyes, only the final, indifferent judgment of a god upon a mortal.

"They did not win the war."

"They simply walked into the graves I had prepared for them."

He ignored the completely stunned Zhang Huanyu, turned around, and slowly walked towards the depths of the city wall, towards the teleportation center of the Heavenly Throne.

His shadow, stretched long in the afterglow of the setting sun, appeared lonely and... absolutely.

"Zhang Huanyu".

He didn't turn around, but left behind a final command.

“Activate the second form of ‘Breath of Dust’.”

"...The purification process has begun."