"Well done, Mr. Cleve! Now we only have one target left!"
At the palace gates, all three groups had regrouped. Xavier looked at Cleve, who arrived battered and bloodied, and a smile spread across his face.
"Mm! Jannar told me everything about the Emperor's arrangements and the backdoor controls for the automatons... before he died..."
There wasn't much of a smile on Cleve's face; instead, there was a hint of... desolation.
"He could have killed me, but he suddenly relented at the end... He was actually a pitiable man..."
"All the blame lies with the Empire, and we're going to set things right!"
Wuyan walked over with Boti, his expression hard with resolve.
"We're running out of time! And the site of the Tree of Life project—it's right there!"
By now, they could see a pillar of pure white light erupting from within the imperial palace, stretching upward to connect with the sky and radiating a soul-shaking brilliance.
"Serpent Fang Fist—Ultimate Serpent Devour!"
Dark energy roared from Xavier's hands, its terrifying destructive power even surpassing that of laser weapons.
The automatons blocking his path were blasted apart, sent flying in pieces and disintegrating in midair.
"That Mr. Lei... he only gave me a few pointers, and it made me this powerful..."
Xavier sprinted along the grand avenue of the imperial palace, striking out from time to time and smashing the mechanical guards that blocked his way into scrap metal.
Only now did he truly grasp the terrifying nature of Raylin's power. The fact that he could walk alongside a being like the Myriad Serpents spoke volumes about who he really was.
"Hsss... Get out of my way!!!"
Though Xavier's strength was already astonishing, he was still far behind Wuyan.
With a low growl, the phantom of a monstrous beast with hundreds of serpent heads materialized before Wuyan, as streams of dark energy converged and solidified the creature into physical form.
Boom! Boom!
The enormous beast charged left and right, crushing waves of mechanical soldiers into fragments, and the corrosive mist spewing from its serpent heads caused vast sections of the palace to crumble.
"Hmm?"
After shattering a magnificent and radiant gate, Xavier stumbled back several steps, clearly shaken by the sight before him.
This was a gilded palace, its massive dining table laden with exquisite dishes.
Several young royals dressed in ceremonial attire lay sprawled across the floor. Dark bluish-green discoloration caused by the X infection was starkly visible across their skin!
A dignified noblewoman clutched her chest, seated upright in her chair, a bitter smile on her lips. An ornate dagger had slowly blossomed into a crimson rose pattern across her garments.
"What... what happened here?"
Xavier muttered in disbelief.
"Just a simple palace coup..." Portia walked in and swept her gaze around the room, a hint of contempt in her eyes.
But when she spotted several young princes and princesses also lying on the ground, her expression finally shifted.
"The X gene! They didn't even spare the royal family? Perhaps... our earlier assumptions were wrong! That entity wasn't backing the royal family — on the contrary, the entire royal family was nothing more than its puppets and playthings!!!"
"What are you standing around for? The whole world is suffering like this right now! Go find the anti-teleportation array and the anti-gravity control room! I'm not going to fight my way through palace after palace!"
Wuyan's roar came from outside, accompanied by fierce energy waves that lifted the entire palace structure and hurled it toward the charging mechanical army.
The massive palace, weighed down by marble and other heavy materials, carved a crushing arc across the ground.
Rows upon rows of mechanical soldiers were knocked down, but unfortunately, even more silvery-white metal figures emerged in dense swarms from every direction, forming a terrifying torrent. The sheer numbers were enough to make one's scalp tingle.
"Damn it! Looks like they were prepared for this..."
Xavier gritted his teeth. His body suddenly began to tremble.
Wisps of dark smoke seeped from his pores, and Portia then realized with dawning horror that she was slowly losing her sense of Xavier, as if he had simply vanished into thin air.
"These machines have very rigid scanning patterns. I'm going to sneak through!"
A look of iron resolve settled on Xavier's face.
Under the blood-qi control of the Serpent Bite Fist, his blood slowly grew cold, even beginning to suppress every fluctuation of energy and magnetic field on his body...
"Jia'er! Wait for me!"
Xavier launched several piercing dashes, charging straight toward the pillar of light.
"Truly an annoying brat!"
Wuyan stood with arms crossed atop the head of a hundred-headed serpentine abomination. "Could it be... I really have to use that move?"
As if sensing his intent, the monster beneath Wuyan let out a piercing shriek. Terrifying waves of energy gathered beneath its gaping maws.
"Target the Life Tree's core! O great Mother Sovereign, grant me your strength!"
Amid Wuyan's chanting, sphere after sphere of terrifying energy coalesced beneath the serpent maws, then rapidly fused together. Shockwaves of horror ripbled outward.
"Haaah... get out of my way!"
A surging torrent of energy spheres formed into a colossal black hole. In its path, mechs, energy shields, and everything else were devoured whole, carving out a massive, gaping corridor.
"The Luminary of Hope! Move out!"
At that very moment, a slender mechanical figure descended from above.
The arcane energy reactor roared. The surrounding mana web froze in an instant, and the same terrifying cannon that had slain the Iron-Back Sperm Whale materialized once more!
Light! Blindingly brilliant white light! It collided head-on with the horrifying black hole!
The clash of light and darkness violently warped everything around it. The annihilation storm it generated obliterated more than half the palace in an instant, inflicting devastating casualties on both the mechanical army and the rebel forces caught in its wake.
A mushroom cloud pierced the sky. After the titanic explosion, the pillar of light formed by the Life Tree still stood proud and unyielding, while a strange mech had positioned itself before Wuyan, forming the final line of defense.
The mech bore sleek, elongated lines. A pair of massive mechanical bone-wings spread from its back like those of an angel, yet the barbed tail it possessed revealed a far more savage aspect.
"Get out of my way, or I'll kill you!"
Savage killing intent surged in Wuyan's eyes. Anyone whose plan was on the verge of success only to be interrupted at the last moment would be consumed by fury.
"Sorry... but that's something I absolutely cannot do!"
A pleasant woman's voice rang out from the Light Mecha.
Inside the control room, Rin's eyes were fixed on the screen. The terrifying man standing atop the Hundred-Serpent Giant Monster had practically seized all of her attention.
"An attack that exceeds the Empire's energy threshold… If we hadn't stripped the final weapons off the Imperial submarine this time, I'm afraid that single strike would have been impossible to block…"
A bitter smile appeared on Rin's face.
"This Light of Hope represents the absolute pinnacle of Imperial technology. It was built entirely to energy-limit standards — our last trump card and final line of defense!"
Rin turned her head to glance in the direction of the Imperial Gardens. "Father Emperor… I can only go this far for you…"
"Attack! Kill them! Destroy the Empire!"
Wuyan showed absolutely no chivalry toward the fact that his opponent was a woman. For the Resistance, such sentiments were an absurd luxury.
Moreover, in this life-or-death crisis, whoever stood in the way would be torn apart without exception!
"For the Empire!"
Rin shouted, and the Light Mecha surged into motion in an instant. A blade of light materialized from its hand, carrying a terrifying power capable of slicing through space itself, and slammed headlong into the Hundred-Serpent Giant Monster.
"Old man! The final moment has arrived…"
In a flicker of shadow, two other decrepit old men materialized as well.
"That's right… Night Demon… It's been a long time since we fought side by side…"
The Wind-Facing Sword Saint wiped at the broken iron sword in his hand and let out a sudden sigh.
"The last radiance of the Empire… let us be the ones to protect it!"
Night Demon let out a thunderous roar, and together with the Wind-Facing Sword Saint, the two streaked forward as twin beams of light, leading the army of mechanical soldiers in a ferocious charge toward the Resistance.
"Kill!"
Porty exchanged a glance with the other high-ranking members, and they likewise chose to meet the battle head-on.
Each of them carried an unshakable belief in what they were defending. With such divergent convictions, neither side had the slightest possibility of retreating even a single step.
Just outside the Imperial Garden, the rebels and the last remnants of the Empire's resistance collided. Scattered energy radiated outward in brilliant flashes, causing terrifying shockwaves.
"Emperor!"
"Rule all!"
"God!"
A feverish light burned in Emperor Aragon's eyes as he strode firmly onto the central metallic platform.
A flash of intricate verification pulsed, and in a burst of light, Emperor Aragon arrived at the summit of the Life Tree metal tower, which resembled a crown.
Atop the platform, all was empty save for a single, solitary metal throne.
"Hundreds of generations of rebellion, ten thousand years of defiance... Ancestors! Bless me!"
A look of steely resolve suddenly appeared on Emperor Aragon's face. From within his robes, he produced a box. Inside lay a pair of withered eyes and several inverted scales from a mermaid.
"Come!"
Madness filled his gaze as he swallowed the items whole!
"I am the world!"
Almost immediately after swallowing them, a terrifying transformation seized his body. Tumors erupted across his skin, vaguely patterned with scales and the faint impressions of human faces.
Struggling, Emperor Aragon threw himself onto the metal throne, forcing out a few guttural syllables.
*Crack! Crack!* Around the metal tower, numerous hatches opened, and from them emerged massive tubes tipped with needles.
These tubes seemed to possess a life of their own, swarming to encircle Emperor Aragon.
Then! *Thud! Thud! Thud!* Hundreds of thousands of tiny needles plunged into Emperor Aragon's body, stimulating every single nerve. The pain was a nerve-searing agony far beyond human limits—enough to kill an ordinary person instantly. Even Emperor Aragon could only let out a roar like a beast!
"Arghhh..."
Amid the terrifying roars, numerous tubes writhed and wriggled in unison, seemingly drawing something from his body, while Aragon's form withered at an even faster pace, rapidly becoming little more than a dried husk.