The torrential rain poured down, yet it could not wash away the blood staining the streets of Future City.
Thunder rumbled in the distance, rolling closer with each passing moment.
With every flash of lightning, the battlefield was illuminated in stark detail—the brutal conflict frozen in an instant, revealing the carnage unfolding within Future City.
Feng Qi, his body soaked in blood, charged forward with unstoppable momentum.
With a deafening crash, several figures were sent flying as he tore through the human barricade before him, leaving a gaping hole in their defensive line.
A flurry of cold steel flashed toward him, but he made no effort to evade.
As he twisted his body, deep green flames erupted around him, his gathered fist intent coalescing into a tangible force. The moment his right fist struck, a powerful shockwave burst outward, sending defenders hurtling through the air.
At this moment, Feng Qi was like a beast finally freed from its cage—unrelenting, unstoppable.
The years of honing his fist intent had only made it more refined in battle.
The core of his fist intent had always been unyielding momentum, perfectly aligning with his current mindset. His mastery over it had reached a seamless level of control, the oppressive force of his strikes now forming a barely perceptible field around him, radiating outward.
That sheer pressure alone made the incoming Future City soldiers feel a momentary suffocation.
But they did not retreat.
Even as their weapons failed to pierce Feng Qi's hardened defenses, they threw themselves into the fight without hesitation.
As more and more soldiers closed in from all directions, Feng Qi stomped the ground fiercely and leapt high into the air.
Mid-jump, his body abruptly sank, his descent accelerating at an unnatural speed.
Boom!
The moment he landed, the marble ground beneath him shattered and caved inward.
A violent wave of blood energy exploded outward like a hurricane, sending numerous enemies sprawling.
Right then, the warriors of the Dawn Army surged through the breach Feng Qi had carved into the enemy lines.
As his soldiers began pouring in, Feng Qi turned his gaze toward the distant silhouette of the Future City Research Institute.
Clenching his fists, he charged forward once more.
He was the spearhead of the Dawn Army, carving a bloody path for his warriors to follow.
A new wave of bloodshed erupted.
The battlefield was a cacophony of shouts, war cries, and screams of pain.
Soldiers from both sides collapsed into pools of crimson, their last breaths stolen by the relentless clash of steel and spirit-powered weaponry.
Neither the Dawn Army nor Future City's defenders showed any intention of backing down.
Both had their own unshakable convictions—both had reasons why they could not retreat.
Though they were all human, this battle would leave only one side standing.
As the fight raged on, the Dawn Army warriors gradually adapted to the combat rhythm, unleashing astonishing strength.
Their years of simulated combat training had instilled in them an extraordinary sense of coordination.
Even amidst the chaos of battle and the torrential downpour, they swiftly analyzed their surroundings, pinpointed their allies' positions, and adjusted their formations accordingly.
For many, this was their first real battle—yet their combat prowess was anything but amateurish.
Their battle techniques were precise and practiced, making them indistinguishable from seasoned veterans.
Small squads began forming instinctively, warriors banding together to push forward as a unit.
Years of rigorous training in the Super Virtual Simulation had ingrained battlefield awareness into their very instincts.
Once they had accepted that death was inevitable, all fear vanished.
Even as first-time combatants, they fought like experienced soldiers.
Day after day of relentless training now bore fruit, their skills displayed in perfect execution.
For the Dawn Army, the Super Virtual Simulation had always been more than just a game.
It was their training ground.
It was their proving ground.
And today, it was their battlefield.
But Future City had its own trump cards.
The spirit-powered technological weaponry developed in secret under Black Shadow's directive—an arsenal that had never been revealed to the public—was now being unleashed upon the battlefield.
The fusion of technology and spirit energy created weapons of unparalleled lethality.
Both ranged and melee weapons alike could easily tear through the armor worn by the Dawn Army soldiers.
Particularly their melee weapons—
With significantly larger surfaces to inscribe spirit energy patterns, they generated far greater destructive power than traditional firearms.
In the midst of close-quarters combat, they inflicted devastating casualties.
Encircled on all sides, Feng Qi endured a relentless onslaught.
His near-impenetrable defense absorbed the brunt of the blows, his fists sweeping aside enemy combatants like ragdolls.
As he prepared to advance once more—
A series of heavy tremors rippled through the ground.
His gaze sharpened, locking onto the source of the disturbance.
From the distance, an enormous mechanical behemoth loomed into view—standing tens of meters tall, its massive steel frame exuding an aura of raw destruction.
Feng Qi's eyes turned cold.
He had heard about these monstrous machines during his time infiltrating the Research Institute.
But he had never seen one in action before.
The core research team within the Institute's inner sanctum had named them:
War Machines.
They had not been designed to defend Future City.
They had been built for one purpose only—war.
Each of them was outfitted with highly advanced spirit-powered technology, boasting devastating firepower.
Perhaps influenced by pre-cataclysm books, films, and anime, the original designers had first envisioned them as humanoid mechs.
Feng Qi narrowed his eyes as he charged toward the massive War Machine advancing through the battlefield.
Its sheer size alone made it a devastating force. Without dedicated travel routes in Future City, it crushed countless buildings underfoot, sending debris flying with every step. The ground beneath it cracked and buckled, leaving deep fissures in its wake.
As it came to a sudden halt, rows of blue lights along its chest lit up sequentially, its weapon compartments unfolding one after another. Beneath its armored exterior, a cold metallic arsenal was revealed.
From the platforms mounted on its back, weapon bays extended outward. Thick steel pillars jutted from its sides, anchoring into the ground like stabilizers.
Then—
The blue lights shifted to red.
Inside the War Machine, energy surged, the very air around it distorting from the immense power it exuded.
The massive mechanical beast sank slightly, as if coiling up for an attack.
In the next instant—
Fire erupted from every inch of its body.
The sky above the battlefield was suddenly illuminated, as if daylight had descended upon Future City.
A barrage of missiles tore through the rain, streaking past both Dawn Army warriors and City Defense Corps soldiers alike.
The impact zones lay directly behind the western gate—where waves of Dawn Army reinforcements had just entered.
Explosions erupted in rapid succession, flames engulfing entire squads of soldiers, their bodies thrown into the air like ragdolls.
Smoke and fire filled the air, but the War Machine did not stop.
On its back-mounted weapons platform, its arsenal rotated, switching to the next attack sequence.
A wave of laser artillery was unleashed in the next breath.
Its attack sequence was structured in six phases.
Each phase utilized a different energy-based weapon. Before its internal reserves were depleted, it could cycle through its arsenal endlessly, never ceasing its assault.
This was the true horror of the War Machine.
A weapon designed purely for war—it embodied Black Shadow's ambition.
It had never cared about humanity's survival.
It had never been interested in governing Future City.
Its goals had always been expansion and conquest.
Feng Qi had speculated before that Black Shadow intended to use the War Machines for future invasions, deploying them against Domain Fields to plunder resources from other species.
Unlike conventional technological weapons, which were often rendered ineffective inside Domain Fields due to the laws of those dimensions, spirit-powered weaponry remained fully functional.
If dozens of War Machines were transported near a Domain Field's borders, they could level entire fortresses without ever stepping foot inside.
What they were facing now was only a prototype.
Through his time infiltrating the Research Institute, Feng Qi had learned of Black Shadow's long-term vision.
Future iterations of the War Machine were meant to function as mobile fortresses—
Able to combine into a city-sized combat base once deployed, creating an instant stronghold on any battlefield.
But right now—
None of that mattered.
Because at this moment, the War Machine was slaughtering his soldiers.
Every second it remained active, more of his men perished.
This battle could not be drawn out.
It had to be destroyed—now.
Just as Feng Qi neared the War Machine, preparing for his assault—
The sky erupted in radiant white.
Countless beams of light shot upward from the Dawn Army's rear lines, converging high above before streaking toward the War Machine.
A colossal white crane, formed entirely of condensed energy, soared at breakneck speed—
And collided with the War Machine head-on.
Boom!
The impact sent a shockwave rolling outward, scattering rubble and shattered concrete across the battlefield.
Nearby buildings trembled under the force, their structures shaking violently.
Feng Qi turned his gaze toward the source of the attack.
Hovering in midair was a group of unfamiliar warriors—clad in military uniforms.
Their formation formed a circle, each soldier channeling pure energy toward the center, molding it into the shape of the crane.
They were Star City's military forces.
And their coordinated strike had torn through the War Machine's first layer of armor, leaving its outer plating shattered. Beneath it, the inner white metal plating was now exposed.
But despite the damage, the War Machine did not falter.
Its assault did not cease.
Its back-mounted arsenal continued its relentless barrage, switching between ranged energy cannons, missiles, and laser turrets.
Whenever one weapon finished firing and entered cooldown, another took its place, ensuring a constant, uninterrupted barrage of destruction.
By this point, Feng Qi had reached the War Machine.
He knew that despite its immense firepower, the War Machine had one fatal flaw—
It was too massive.
Its size rendered it slow and cumbersome, making it unable to react swiftly once engaged in close combat.
If he could breach its interior, he could tear it apart from within.
And Feng Qi knew—
Black Shadow was fully aware of this weakness.
As the War Machine's scanning beams swept toward Feng Qi, a series of two-meter-wide metallic spheres detached from its underside and dropped to the ground.
The moment they landed, they shifted form, transforming into mechanical hounds—War Guardians, part of the War Machine's defensive system.
The moment its scanners identified an unauthorized presence, the defense mechanism activated, deploying War Guardians to eliminate intruders.
Feng Qi's approach had triggered its full defense mode.
Along with the War Guardians, a row of gun turrets extended from the underside of the War Machine, each one locking onto him with precise targeting systems.
A storm of spirit energy bullets rained down in an instant.
But Feng Qi didn't even bother dodging.
His Blood Source Form granted him exceptional physical resilience and regeneration. While the spirit-powered bullets were formidable, they failed to penetrate his outer defenses.
As he closed in, the War Guardians launched their assault.
Feng Qi met them head-on.
Boom!
The first mechanical hound lunged, but Feng Qi's fist crashed into it mid-air, sending it flying backward. Its body snapped apart before it even hit the ground—metal fragments scattering everywhere.
Dark green flames clung to its shattered frame, corroding its metallic exterior as it collapsed lifelessly, its blue eyes flickering out.
Without breaking stride, Feng Qi continued forward, each punch disabling another War Guardian.
Their special alloy bodies proved useless against his raw strength, and their built-in weapons barely scratched him.
But there were too many of them.
Still, Feng Qi had no intention of engaging in a prolonged fight.
The War Machine was still firing relentlessly, killing more Dawn Army warriors with every passing second.
He had to take it down—fast.
With a ferocious charge, he crashed through a line of War Guardians, clearing a path straight to the War Machine's base.
Then, he leapt high, his left hand latching onto one of the machine's stabilizing metal arms, scaling its towering frame with agility unnatural for his size.
The turrets repositioned, their firepower shifting focus entirely onto him.
The intensity of the barrage increased, spirit energy rounds turning into a blazing hailstorm.
Feng Qi's heartbeat accelerated, and with it, his speed surged.
Using the stabilizing arm as a foothold, he propelled himself upward, reaching the weapon platform in seconds.
The roar of artillery fire was deafening, flames erupting in every direction, painting the battlefield in blinding light.
But Feng Qi had arrived.
And now, he started tearing the War Machine apart.
With each punch, a spirit energy turret was reduced to scrap.
Moving with overwhelming brutality, he ripped through the platform, crushing and destroying every mounted weapon system in his path.
In less than five minutes, the entire weapon platform was disabled.
Although the outer turrets on the War Machine's frame continued firing, its primary artillery system was crippled, unable to rain destruction upon the battlefield anymore.
Standing at the platform's center, Feng Qi inhaled deeply—
Then slammed both fists downward.
Boom!
A deep dent caved into the platform beneath him.
Without pause, he kept striking, each blow sending shockwaves rippling through the structure.
Finally—
With a thunderous crack, the entire platform collapsed, chunks of metallic wreckage falling into the War Machine's inner framework.
And Feng Qi dropped down with them, diving straight into its core.
Inside, a chaotic maze of energy conduits and circuits stretched in all directions. Colored lights blinked, and the low hum of the machine's power core echoed.
Feng Qi did not hesitate.
He lunged forward, smashing into a wall of power cables, sending a shower of sparks in every direction.
The energy grid fractured, and in an instant, the War Machine lurched violently, one side tilting downward.
With a single powerful yank, he ripped apart a cluster of cables, and suddenly—
The external War Guardians froze in place, their control signals severed, leaving them as motionless husks.
Still charging forward, Feng Qi punched through steel barriers, finally reaching the War Machine's core energy chamber.
Inside, rows of massive blue energy cores stood, embedded in reinforced metal casings, feeding power to the entire machine.
He reached out—
The moment his fingers touched the first core, dark green flames ignited, spreading instantly.
As the corrosive fire consumed the energy cells, they began flickering erratically, becoming unstable, teetering on the brink of explosive overload.
With the core engulfed in flames, Feng Qi smashed through the final hatch, leaping free of the War Machine's interior.
As he turned—
The War Machine detonated behind him, an explosion ripping through its massive frame, sending metal shards flying in all directions.
Debris rained down, some slamming into him, but he barely flinched.
Feng Qi wiped his face, smirked, and muttered—
"Tch. That's it?"