Chapter 1 The Bloody Battle

The battlefield was spread out across the Grade A battlespace, filled with bloody slaughter. Both sides' individual powerhouses were falling and sacrificing themselves in succession. At the same time, the fleets of both sides were engaged in a fierce battle. The World Tree army, continuously blessed by the Tree King's aura, advanced relentlessly. Although the three major civilizations were constantly sending reinforcements, the defense line was still collapsing at a slow but steady pace.

As the situation on the fleet battlefield constantly changed, the Grade A battle area also shifted again and again with the movements of their respective fleets.

Ames was maneuvering in space, manipulating force fields to constantly harass the enemy or assist her comrades, her robes stained with blood.

The battle area she was in had more than a dozen Grade As engaged in a team battle. Association members and direct subordinates joined forces against the enemy, gaining a slight advantage.

Force field abilities were versatile, good for both offense and defense. Ames mainly played a controlling role on the field, occasionally condensing force fields or dragging battleships to launch attacks, which were also quite lethal.

Reaching out her palm and releasing Dragon's Gaze at a Holy Tree Apostle from afar, Ames quickly glanced at the battlefield. She discovered that Hyperion and the Root Tree King, as well as Han Xiao and the Mind Tree King, had moved to a very distant place. The layers of battleships in the battlefield almost obscured their figures. Only the energy flashes from that side could be seen occasionally, which were far more intense than this side.

"It seems that he won't be able to kill the Tree King so quickly..."

Ames frowned slightly, retracted her gaze, and dodged a condensed photon beam. She raised her hand and swept out a light green shock wave as a counterattack.

Glancing at the battlefield she was in, seeing that the enemy had revealed a brief opening, Ames was about to call for her teammates to cooperate and create time for her to accumulate power. However, at this moment, the opponent threw a wave of concentrated fire at her. Several association members who were supposed to block in front directly dodged, and she had to interrupt her plan to accumulate power and reluctantly dodge.

"This won't work; I can't hurt the enemy."

Ames glanced at the several association members and shook her head slightly.

Although they had been at an advantage, they had not been able to cause much effective damage to the enemy. Every time they wanted to go further, the World Tree powerhouses became more and more fearless, while the association members on this side shrank back, unwilling to be injured and resisting head-on, causing them to lose opportunities to expand their advantage time and time again.

The temporary loss of the healer had a huge impact on the Grade A battle. Most of the association members no longer had the mentality of risking their lives as they did last time. They were unwilling to be injured, and their combat style suddenly became conservative. The World Tree powerhouses, on the other hand, became more and more ferocious, and the situation was constantly changing.

Ames heard from the channel that many association members were dissatisfied with Han Xiao's plan this time. The initial plan was to quickly kill the Tree King, thereby reducing the disadvantage on the front battlefield. However, now that both sides were in a stalemate, Black Star had failed to achieve his goal, and Aurora had also been temporarily defeated, resulting in the sacrifice of many Grade As. In their eyes, the plan had failed, and it was a sure loss.

Moreover, after fighting for so long, the front battlefield had become even worse. Even if they killed the Tree King now, they might not be able to reverse the defeat. Therefore, in the view of many association members, the sacrifice of this strike plan was meaningless. Instead, it caused many people to lose the chance of a one-time Sanctuary revival, so they were quite resentful.

Grade A Association members had made the worst plans. They still believed that there was only one Sanctuary revival and did not take Han Xiao's claim of "persuading" the Revivors seriously.

Many people had already developed the idea of retreat, but they could not withdraw from the battle for the time being. They could only protect themselves, unwilling to pay the price for killing their opponents. This conservative mentality affected the exertion of their combat power. Ames had no choice but to cooperate with her teammates in advancing and retreating. She had no intention of charging into the enemy's pile alone.

At this moment, a Holy Tree Apostle suddenly paused, as if the damage had reached its limit, and his body became stiff, revealing obvious flaws.

"Opportunity!"

Ames and many of her teammates immediately shifted their targets, and everyone concentrated their fire on this person. All kinds of abilities shattered the defense shields that the opponent had hastily constructed, and they all fell on him, exploding into patches of blood, instantly severely injuring him.

Just as everyone was about to take advantage of the situation to pursue and kill an enemy, several other World Tree powerhouses suddenly erupted with all their strength, bringing up abundant energy and bombarding the front of their heavily injured teammate, trying to force back their pursuit as they had done several times before.

Faced with the powerful offensive, the association members hesitated, pulled back, and did not confront it head-on. It wasn't that they couldn't withstand it and carry out the kill, but they were unwilling to. They would rather give up this opportunity than be injured.

Seeing this, Ames was a little helpless. This situation had happened several times. Due to the retreat of the association members, they had missed many opportunities.

But at this moment, a firm voice suddenly sounded in the channel.

"Cover me!"

A direct subordinate teammate suddenly advanced instead of retreating, meeting this wave of offensive. The scene was like a surfer charging towards a tsunami. The shield on his body was instantly torn apart by the combined attack wave of several Grade As, and wounds exploded on his body with a series of "peng" sounds.

Everyone was shocked and quickly stopped in their tracks, using ranged attacks to cover this teammate, not caring about anything else.

They saw him ignore the damage to his body, forcibly withstand the enormous power and break through the attack wave, launching a resolute and decisive charge towards the heavily injured World Tree powerhouse. His martial arts aura was all concentrated on his fist, completely ignoring the enemy teammates who were rushing to support him.

*Peng!*

The two figures collided violently. Seeing the enemy rushing towards him, the heavily injured World Tree Grade A did not hesitate to activate self-detonation.

Ames and the others only had time to see the figure of this direct subordinate Grade A without any intention of retreating. The next moment, their vision was covered in white.

*Boom!*

A round of strong light burst out, and a huge energy mass rose. Before the light dissipated, the surrounding World Tree powerhouses were still continuously releasing attacks towards the self-detonation area.

Everyone quickly retreated a distance. After the self-detonation energy was released, they fixed their eyes on this area again. Only incomplete corpses were left in the field.

"...He's gone."

Everyone's expression was complicated.

The direct subordinate Grade A who died in battle was not a Revivor. Knowing that there was only one chance for Sanctuary revival, he still gave his life to seize the opportunity, which was something they could never do... These direct subordinates who served the civilization had a purer attitude towards this war, regarding death as going home.

Ames shook her head gently. She asked herself that she was not so great, nor did she want to be great.

...

Time passed quickly in the fierce battle.

In the battlefield filled with countless mechanical fragments, Han Xiao and the Mind Tree King had been fighting for a long time, and both sides had suffered some losses.

In comparison, the Mind Tree King's consumption was greater. This was not only due to Han Xiao's energy level suppression but also due to the targeting of his profession.

After all, mental attacks were ineffective against mechanical soldiers, and Han Xiao's body was not afraid of his mental strikes. Only the psychokinesis with mediocre physical attack power could play a role, which destined the Mind Tree King to be at a disadvantage when facing Han Xiao.

The green light on the Mind Tree King's body had dimmed a lot. Most of the World Tree roots brought about by the transformation had been blown up, and his state was far worse than at the beginning of the fight. There was also a vague lag in his movements.

Using psychokinesis again to block the firepower coverage of a mechanical unit from afar, the Mind Tree King once again sent a mental message to Han Xiao, saying lightly:

"Do you see? Your defeat is set. Even if you kill me, you can't save the situation."

Hearing this, Han Xiao looked at the battle situation and couldn't help but click his tongue.

The World Tree army in this battle area continued to advance, breaking through the defense zone from a local point, breaking through several battle lines, forming an irreversible trend. There was at least an 80-90% chance of breaking through the interception circle, turning this place into a breakthrough point for the overall battle. In a war with hundreds of billions of people, the victory or defeat of high-level combat power could no longer reverse this situation.

"When we arrive in your territory, the Mother Tree will enjoy your world inch by inch. You have no chance. Do you want to reconsider my previous suggestion?" the Mind Tree King continued to bewitch.

Han Xiao did not speak and turned his head to deliver a slash as a response.

The Mind Tree King hurriedly dodged, but was still grazed by the psionic energy. The psychokinesis barrier shattered, and another World Tree root that was overwhelmed broke.

"Hehe, it seems your attitude is very firm..."

The Mind Tree King smiled on the surface, but his heart was filled with awe. He had already developed the intention to retreat.

After this fight, he had already discovered that he really couldn't beat this outsider. Just a large number of apostle weapons with amazing strength was enough for him to drink a pot of it. The injuries in his body were burning with pain.

'If I continue fighting, I'm afraid I'll really fall here. The other Grade As are probably about to free up their hands. It's time to withdraw...'

The Mind Tree King thought to himself.

Many World Tree powerhouses who had set out had already sacrificed themselves. Because there were originally more Grade As on the other side, the Mind Tree King knew that the speed of casualties on his side would only snowball and accelerate continuously. Before long, other Grade As would come to help this outsider deal with him. It would be difficult to leave then.

Although he had prepared to die here when he set out, the exchange tactic had already taken effect and was significant. There was no need to continue fighting here. It would be best to save a life.

With a fixed thought, the Mind Tree King no longer used chat-style bombardment and immediately changed his tactics, trying to break through and retreat, trying to shake off the encirclement and entanglement of Han Xiao's mechanical army and return to the fleet for protection.

Noticing the change in the Mind Tree King's movements, Han Xiao's eyes moved:

"He finally wants to run. It seems he's almost exhausted. We can execute the plan!"

Han Xiao immediately issued direct instructions to the combat AI. The mechanical army immediately surrounded and intercepted, guiding the Mind Tree King's movement by adjusting the weak points of the encirclement.

At the same time, he took the initiative to send a message to the Mind Tree King:

"You will die here today!"

This time, the Mind Tree King turned a deaf ear. He buried his head to dodge the concentrated fire of the mechanical army and quickly found the weak point to break through.

After Han Xiao shouted, he stared closely at the formation change. Seeing that the Mind Tree King was slowly being forced to a suitable position, his body suddenly flashed with mechanical force.

*Buzz!*

A Sovereign clone wrapped in mechanical force suddenly shot out from the Mechanical Deity and flew towards the Mind Tree King, emitting the amazing energy of a top Grade A.

Noticing the sense of crisis coming, the Mind Tree King suddenly turned his head, condensed psychokinesis, and swept it all at this Sovereign clone. If it hit, he would be able to knock it away.

But in this second, a golden energy suddenly burst out from the Sovereign clone's body. The whole person seemed to have turned into an indomitable golden chariot, instantly crushing the psychokinesis without being affected at all. It locked onto the Mind Tree King and charged, and the speed soared as if there was no end.

"Huh?"

The Mind Tree King was a little surprised and controlled the last World Tree root to smash over, intending to stop it. However, the Sovereign clone directly crashed into it and didn't even slow it down.

Seeing this, Han Xiao, who was staying in the Mechanical Deity that had not fallen apart, couldn't help but clench his fists, his palms sweating.

His main body was close at hand, but he used Sovereign's Descent. Naturally, it was to capture the Mind Tree King alive. To this end, he did not hesitate to activate two character cards at once – Silver Shadow's \[Comet Glide] and Oulu's \[Golden Treasure Ship - Ram]!

The former was endless acceleration, and the latter was the state of immunity to any control during the charge!

Success or failure depended on this. Han Xiao was betting that the Mind Tree King would not self-detonate before he got close!

The Mind Tree King's warning signs became more and more obvious. He hurriedly retreated, but the Sovereign clone's charging speed was getting faster and faster. There were also mechanical troops restraining him around him. The distance between the two sides was rapidly shortening, and in the blink of an eye, only the last small section was left.

Watching the Sovereign clone enlarge rapidly in his field of vision, the Mind Tree King flashed one thought after another in his mind, and the idea of self-detonation immediately came to his mind.

But he was thinking about a lot of things, trying to figure out what Han Xiao meant. In a hurry, he didn't immediately make a decision like the simple-minded Town Tree King.

And in just this moment of hesitation, the Sovereign clone wrapped in golden energy crashed into him and plunged into his arms in one fell swoop, and the biochemical muscles swelled in an instant.

The Mind Tree King only felt a great force gripping his body, not only making him unable to move but even suppressing the cells in his body. He was immediately shocked.

This move is... a martial artist's forced control technique?!

"Got him!"

Han Xiao's spirit was lifted, and he clenched his fists excitedly.

In order to cooperate with this move, he had specially debugged a batch of Sovereign bodies specializing in close combat in the past few months, which could withstand his strength and endurance attributes to the greatest extent, allowing \[Azure Dragon Bind] to exert more power!

The Mind Tree King's strength and endurance were far inferior to those of a martial artist, and he would not break free so quickly after the forced control time.

At the same time that the Mind Tree King was hit, the surrounding mechanical troops had been prepared and released a force field to cover him, adding more control methods.

"Hela!"

Han Xiao shouted violently.

At this moment, a light suddenly flashed in the mechanical troops not far from the Mind Tree King. Beside an apostle weapon that had quietly carried the throne, Hela's figure suddenly appeared, and the scarlet Sea of the Dead instantly spread out.

In the next instant, Hela's body sank into the Sea of the Dead and appeared next to the Mind Tree King in the blink of an eye, holding the Time Amber and decisively pressing it towards the Mind Tree King.

The light of the Time Amber flashed, and the frozen time and space quickly enlarged and generated, covering both the Mind Tree King and the Sovereign clone who could not move.

The Mind Tree King's eyes widened, but he couldn't even speak.

His experience was transmitted through the psychic network. The surrounding fleet immediately turned their guns and poured firepower at this side, while the World Tree powerhouses distributed in various places were shocked and retreated at the same time, sprinting towards the Mind Tree King's direction like crazy.

"Crap!"

The Root Tree King's heart skipped a beat. He didn't care about dealing with his enemies and turned his head to support the Mind Tree King. However, Hyperion smashed a large piece of the thrusters on his back with a cold slash.

Han Xiao had been conscious of widening the battlefield distance so that the Mind Tree King was in an isolated situation. There was no World Tree Grade A around who could rush to his aid quickly.

Under the gaze of pairs of shocked, angry, horrified, and unbelievable eyes, a new Time Amber sphere took shape, freezing the Mind Tree King's shocked expression.

Hela stared at the Mind Tree King's shocked face in the amber, her eyes flashing coldly.

"You hurt my sister, so stay here forever!"