Astaire clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking from the force, his fingernails piercing the skin of his palms, the blood seeping out staining the edge of the control panel.
But he didn't look at Lind, who stood beside him like a stone statue. Instead, he stared intently at the energy readings on the screen, which were constantly flashing red and emitting piercing alarms. His voice was hoarse but as firm as steel:
"Hold on! Activate all backup energy cores! Run at overload! For Blackrock Territory! For our Lord!"
Linde stood atop the tallest observation tower in the center of the base, a structure made of a mixture of black rock and crystalline debris, right in the eye of the storm.
The violent energy turbulence made his black lord's robes flutter wildly, as if countless invisible hands were tearing at them, but his tall and slender figure remained as steady as a rock that had withstood thousands of years of wind and frost, without the slightest sway.
He tilted his head slightly, gazing at the pillar of destruction so close to him, which seemed to be turning the entire world into a dark purple. His deep purple eyes held no human emotions, only an icy coldness and a brain-like speed of calculation and analysis.
[Deconstructing the Halo] operates with unprecedented intensity, like the most precise probe, penetrating the destructive energy torrent, analyzing its internal composition, rule bias, energy flow pattern, and... the countless subtle yet crucial "anchor points" and "veins" closely connected to the vast magic network.
“Not enough… the pressure isn’t enough to make Him reveal a more obvious weakness…” he murmured, his voice fading into the roar of energy.
As if in response to his whisper, the divine punishment pillar in the sky suddenly intensified its power once more! The dark purple light became even deeper and more concentrated, as if it had transformed into liquid destruction! Clearly, Tiolantis had also lost patience and was determined to crush this eyesore of a "bug" with absolute power!
"Crack—! Boom!"
A stabilizing tower located at the edge of the base finally succumbed to the terrifying pressure that exceeded its design limits. The rune array at its top emitted a series of heartbreaking cracking sounds and suddenly exploded into a dazzling yet deadly burst of energy sparks! The entire tower instantly dimmed, like a giant whose spine had been removed, slowly tilting and collapsing, stirring up towering dust and scattering metal fragments everywhere!
The light from the protective dome suddenly dimmed, being suppressed and violently caved inward, its center point becoming almost transparent, as if the destructive beam of light would pierce through the last barrier like a hot knife through butter, reducing everything below to nothingness!
An atmosphere of despair spread through the base like a plague.
At the critical moment!
A sharp glint flashed in Linde's eyes, like a cold lightning bolt streaking across the night. He abruptly raised his right hand, fingers spread, palm facing upward. The warm and vibrant power of order from the Light Vein clashed and compressed with unprecedented ferocity with the cold and deathly power from the Shadow Abyss in his palm. No longer seeking a gentle balance, it formed an extremely unstable sphere of mixed light and darkness, filled with destructive ripples and chaotic lightning, radiating terrifying fluctuations that distorted and trembled the surrounding space.
Instead of hurling the energy ball, which contained terrifying power, at the divine punishment that almost touched his head in the sky, he suddenly turned around and slammed it hard onto the cold ground of the observation tower beneath his feet—slamming it onto the transmission matrix node that connected to the non-magic network energy core, which was rescued from the eternal ice plains deep underground and was not yet fully activated like the heart of a sleeping behemoth!
"In my name, ignite the 'spark'!"
Boom—!!!
A completely different energy fluctuation, carrying a primitive, wild, and unruly aura, suddenly erupted from the depths of the Starfire Base, like a giant dragon that had been sleeping for thousands of years awakening!
It did not draw upon the omnipresent magic network, but rather, in an almost barbaric way, directly shook some ancient power at the foundation of the world (perhaps a faint infiltration point of the Shadow Abyss, or perhaps the forgotten ley lines of the planet itself), forcibly and brutally injecting it into the collapsing defense system!
Buzz—!
Those light vein runes that had dimmed due to overload, like candles flickering in the wind, were injected with molten lava and burst forth with an unprecedented, intense light that almost burned the retina!
Meanwhile, the power of nothingness in the Shadow Abyss became even more active and greedy, like a gaping maw of the abyss that suddenly opened, devouring and tearing at the pure energy of the Divine Punishment Pillar more efficiently!
At the same time, Linde's immense mental power condensed into countless invisible spikes, finer than a hair yet incredibly resilient, and surged upstream along the most minute and crucial "rule veins" connecting the pillar of divine punishment and the vast magical network, which the [Deconstruction Halo] had already calculated, piercing deep into them!
This was not a head-on confrontation of brute force, but an extremely dangerous and exquisitely subtle "rule interference" and "information pollution"! He injected his own light and darkness intertwined, and law-defying characteristics into the magic network system controlled by Tiolantis, like the most deadly virus, in an attempt to create a brief but fatal "logical chaos" and "authority conflict" in the magic network of this area!
The divine punishment beam in the sky suddenly froze! Its stable, flawless structure suddenly became visibly disordered, and the dark purple light flickered violently like a faulty light bulb, as if it had lost its absolutely precise guidance and become wild and restless!
Now!
"Iron Sky!" Lind murmured to himself, as if delivering a final judgment.
The steel firmament, silently suspended in geosynchronous orbit far beyond the atmosphere, has long accumulated enough energy to tear apart mountains with its specially modified "Dawn Judge" main gun, whose huge emblem on the bow is etched with countless rule-disrupting runes!
A massive pillar of light, condensed to its extreme, with a blazing white core and a dark edge, containing the light of order and a faint shadow abyss-devouring properties, shot precisely from beyond the heavens like a divine judgment that transcends spatial boundaries!
Its target was not the raging pillar of divine punishment itself, but the source of its power—the sky itself, which was still twisting and writhing, composed of countless magical runes!
"Sizzle—BOOM!!!"
The foreign power, containing alien rules, clashed violently with the source of the native divine punishment at the rule level!
Although the full force of the Iron Sky still couldn't truly harm Tiolantis's true form in a higher dimension, this sudden, precise strike from "outside the domain," combined with Linde's reverse interference with the local magic network, was like simultaneously throwing sand and inserting a wrench into a finely tuned instrument, completely disrupting the rhythm and structure of divine punishment!
In the sky, the array of magical runes that covered the entire field of vision flickered, distorted, and shattered violently, like a mirror that had been hit by a boulder!
Finally, with a deafening roar that seemed to echo through the entire world, it shattered and vanished!
The terrifying dark purple divine punishment beam, as if its source support had been severed, after suppressing the protective dome to its limit and almost touching the top of the tallest building in the base, flickered violently a few times in resentment, and finally disintegrated into countless lifeless magical light spots scattered in the sky like a rocket that had run out of fuel, slowly dissolving into the gloomy air.
The sky returned to its sickly and oppressive purplish-gray, only more fragmented, as if it had just suffered a devastating blow. The magnificent yet deadly runes were gone, leaving only the lingering, tangible, and soul-piercing aftershocks of violent energy in the air.
Below, the Starfire Base, scarred and ravaged as if ravaged by a giant beast, yet its core structures still standing like an unyielding spine, silently tells the story of a breathtaking and unimaginable battle against the gods that had just taken place.
After a brief, suffocating silence, the wild shouts and cathartic cries of survivors erupted like a long-dormant volcano from every corner and every crack in the base!
The dwarves pounded their breastplates, letting out roars mixed with sobs; the foxes embraced and wept, their tails trembling violently with excitement; the soldiers raised their broken weapons high, shouting almost frantically at the figure atop the observation tower!
They stood in their way! These mortals truly stood in the way of the gods' wrath!
Astaire, feeling completely drained, slumped into the chair in front of the control panel and let out a long sigh. A heavy sense of exhaustion instantly swept over his body, and he realized that his undershirt was completely soaked with cold sweat, clinging tightly to his skin and bringing a cold, sticky feeling.
Naraku's figure emerged from the shadows of the corner like a ghost. He looked at the figure on the observation tower, bathed in the initial lights of the base and the lingering glow of energy, and bowed deeply. His gaunt face and sunken eyes were filled with an almost devout awe.
Linde slowly lowered his slightly trembling right hand, his face pale and his forehead covered in fine beads of sweat.
His act of reversing the magic network and nearly confronting the will of the gods had been an unprecedented and severe test and a huge drain on his mental strength and control over his origins. But he succeeded in the end, seizing that fleeting, one-of-a-kind opportunity.
He raised his head, his gaze piercing through the gradually calming energy haze, looking at the seemingly empty sky that seemed to conceal endless, cold stares. His eyes remained cold and sharp, like unyielding, cold iron.
He knew that this was merely a repulsion, a Pyrrhic victory.
The foundation of Tiolantis' power has not been damaged; His wrath will only burn brighter because of this setback, and His gaze will be even more inescapable.
What will come next may not be a simple and brutal beam of divine punishment, but a more bizarre, complex, and unpredictable attack and erosion of rules.
But the significance of this victory is immeasurable.
It proclaimed a fact to all those in the know, whether allies, enemies, or those high above: Gods are not invincible! Starfire Base, this sharp dagger deeply embedded in the domain of divine authority, has finally... temporarily gained a foothold after paying a heavy price!
"Clean up the battlefield, treat the wounded, repair damage, and upgrade defenses."
Linde's voice, transmitted clearly through the magic network, reached every corner of the base. His calm tone carried an undeniable power, like a war drum beating in everyone's heart: "Our time is running out. The battle has only just begun."
He turned around and walked step by step down the observation tower, which was riddled with cracks and still radiated high temperatures and residual energy.
Against the backdrop of the persistent lights that gradually illuminated various parts of the base and the eternal darkness of the distant howling abyss, his figure appeared exceptionally upright and also exceptionally lonely.
The first round of the war between the gods ended in a pyrrhic victory for mortals who had given their all.
Meanwhile, deeper and more turbulent undercurrents and storms are already frantically accumulating power beneath the temporarily calm sea.
The spark has been ignited, flickering and not yet extinguished, but whether it can withstand the ensuing monstrous waves and ultimately become a prairie fire will be tested not only by strength, but also by wisdom, courage, sacrifice, and... that indomitable will that dares to challenge the supreme rules.
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