Almost at the same time.
Fierce battles broke out at all four city gates of Dawn City and at the central military camp.
However, the battle did not unfold in the one-sided manner that Armand and Kael'thas had anticipated.
Those soldiers who should have been knocked down by the "mass sleep spell" and belonged to the "revolutionary faction" actually rushed out of the barracks one by one, full of energy, and fought against the elven mages and private soldiers of the old nobles who had launched the rebellion.
"What's going on?! Why did the magic fail?!" Kael'thas stood atop the mage tower, looking down at the fiery battlefield below, his face turning ashen.
"Your Highness, something terrible has happened!" An elven mage scrambled up to him. "Our...our magic circle has been destroyed! All our mental spells are being disrupted by a strange barrier filled with natural energy!"
"Natural energy?" Kael'thas was taken aback.
Just then, a petite figure, as if from nowhere, appeared silently behind him.
"Playing these underhanded tricks behind the scenes doesn't seem like the demeanor of a noble Sunstrider prince."
A slightly languid, cat-like mocking voice gently sounded in his ear.
Kael'thas's hair stood on end instantly.
He turned around abruptly.
All I could see were a pair of amber eyes that gleamed with a deadly cold light in the darkness.
And a pair of claws that gleamed with a chilling white light...
It's Lina.
...
This civil unrest, later known as the "Night of Dawn," lasted less than two hours before ending in the complete defeat of the rebels.
Duke Armand Bellamy had his limbs severed by Irelia, whose power had fully awakened, and was hung like a dead dog in the central square of Dawn City.
Prince Kael'thas Sunstrider was blinded and disfigured by the elusive claws imbued with the druidic power of Moonfire during his duel with Lina, and was eventually captured alive.
His "Silver Moon Mage Order" and Armand's "Golden Griffin" Knights were also divided and surrounded by the Alliance's main force, which was well-prepared and led by Barton himself, and eventually all surrendered.
It was almost dawn.
When the first true rays of dawn illuminated this ravaged city.
Irelia dragged her weary body step by step up the blood-stained city wall.
Behind her stood Barton, who had only one arm, and Lena, whose face bore several scratches.
Before her stood tens of thousands of Alliance soldiers, survivors of the catastrophe, their expressions complex.
After this night of cleansing, the alliance's strength and numbers have plummeted to an unprecedented and dangerous low.
But everyone's eyes were unanimously focused on the petite girl who, at that moment, shone as brightly as the sun.
From this moment on...
The Revival Alliance has finally encountered its one and only, true and absolute... will.
And on the distant throne in the heavens.
Lin Feng looked at the girl in the light screen who was radiating dazzling holy light.
Looking into her eyes, which had become incredibly firm and pure after experiencing betrayal and cleansing.
He slowly began to clap his hands.
"Slap, slap, slap."
A solitary applause echoed in the deathly silent palace.
"What a wonderful performance."
A cruel, satisfied smile spread across his face.
"Now this container that carries 'hope' has finally been purified to the most perfect, crystal-clear state."
"So……"
He turned around and took a step forward.
His figure vanished from the throne in an instant.
"It's time to crush it with my own hands."
The bloody purge of "Dawn Night" did not give the Alliance a moment's respite. The first rays of dawn had barely pierced the smoke over Lion Harbor when the Empire's retaliation descended with overwhelming force.
This time, Lin Feng didn't even bother with any tricks or novel units. His response to the Alliance was the purest, most primal, and most desperate violence.
Hundreds of orbiting bombardment satellites adjusted their positions, unleashing scorching beams of energy upon every city, farmland, and road under Alliance control. The sky was torn apart by deathly spears of light, and the earth wailed in endless explosions. Lion's Port, once a symbol of victory, was reduced to a burning wasteland in just one hour of saturation bombardment.
Under the personal command of Governor Zhang Huanyu, the Empire's ground forces surged in from all directions like a black tide. They were no longer the low-spirited, ordinary human vassal army of the past, but rather a "punishment legion" transformed through a new round of genetic modification and mechanization. Their flesh and blood were intertwined with cold steel, rendering them insensitive to pain and fear. They obeyed orders as naturally as breathing.
Their mission was singular: to erase all traces of resistance. They burned villages, destroyed factories, and publicly executed all captured Alliance supporters, regardless of age or gender, in the most brutal manner, broadcasting the horrific images across the continent through the Empire's Skynet system.
This was a scorched-earth war aimed at utterly destroying the will to resist.
Lin Feng wanted to use bloody facts to tell all living beings on this planet: any disobedience to the God Emperor would only bring ten times, a hundred times, more pain and destruction. Hope was the most deadly poison in the world.
Faced with the Empire's frenzied and costless suppression, the Restoration Alliance, which had just completed its power consolidation, found itself in an unprecedented predicament. They lost almost all the major cities they had painstakingly recaptured, as well as stable logistical bases and manpower replenishment. The remaining force of less than 100,000 men was forced to break up into smaller units and retreat to the deep mountains, dense forests, and swamps where the Empire could not conduct large-scale encirclements.
The alliance, which was about to conquer the world, turned overnight back into the "rebel army" that was struggling to survive in the shadows.
The shadow of defeat loomed over everyone. Many warriors with wavering resolve chose to desert or even defect under the Empire's terrifying oppression. The Alliance's sphere of influence was reduced to its lowest point in history.
However, to Lin Feng's surprise, the alliance's "will" was not completely destroyed as he had imagined. Instead, under this extreme pressure, it was tempered into something as tough as refined steel.
While the purge during "Dawn Night" inflicted heavy losses on the Alliance, it also completely purged all opportunists and discordant voices from within. Those who remained were the most steadfast warriors with the purest faith. Irelia's iron-fisted approach and her unwavering leadership in the face of Imperial suppression elevated her prestige within the Alliance to godlike heights.
She was no longer the "saint" who needed protection, but had become a true "commander" whom everyone could rely on.
Under her leadership, the Alliance quickly adjusted its strategy. They abandoned any illusions of a direct confrontation with the Empire and instead launched a long and arduous guerrilla war.
Barton Bronzebeard, the dwarven commander who lost his right arm, poured all his grief and wisdom into a new mode of warfare. He led his dwarven engineers, utilizing the complex terrain to establish a network of hidden and fortified strongholds deep within the mountains and underground. These strongholds served not only as armories and refuges but also as excellent springboards for surprise attacks. His "Anvil" Legion no longer sought sturdy shield walls but transformed into elusive "raid" squads, specifically targeting Imperial supply lines and patrols. They used imperialist weapons to fight back against imperialist lackeys.
Lina the Catwoman took her intelligence network to a whole new level. Her "Shadow Scouts" moved like ghosts through every corner of the Imperial-controlled territories. They turned lower-ranking Imperial officials against their cause, organized underground resistance movements in the cities, and gathered every crucial piece of intelligence. More importantly, they became the Alliance's "eyes" and "ears," recording the Empire's inhuman atrocities and sowing the seeds of hatred and resistance in the hearts of the people in the newly liberated areas through the most primitive methods—word of mouth and secret leaflets.
Irelia, along with her Templar Guard, became the soul of this war. After the Dawnblade fully awakened, her power reached a level unattainable by mortals. She was no longer merely a powerful warrior, but a walking miracle. Her holy light could purify the land polluted by the Empire's biological weapons, heal the most fatal wounds, and ignite the courage within every warrior on the most desperate battlefields.
She and her guards were like golden lightning on the battlefield, always appearing at the most crucial moments and in the most critical locations. Whether it was beheading an imperial commander in an ambush, saving hundreds of innocent civilians in a massacre, or destroying an important imperial armory in a night raid.
The name "Irelia, the Dawn of Light" became an inescapable nightmare for Imperial soldiers and the only hope for the oppressed.
And so, under the Empire's relentless and brutal suppression, the Alliance, seemingly about to be uprooted, stubbornly took root in the deepest and darkest soil. Their army grew more elite in each brutal battle, their tactics became more flexible with each defeat and success, and their will became more resolute with each trial.
The situation has reached a stalemate in a strange way.
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