Chapter 1 The Beginning

Su Lun's plan to ambush the demigod of the Celestial God Plane was top secret. Within the United Empire, only Empress Ekaterina knew about it.

Even as the battle near the Taganville Trench began, the imperial capital, Lindon, had fully mobilized, preparing for a decisive battle against the invaders.

Yet, within the Frederick Palace, all was calm.

Sunlight streamed through the glass windows, and Ekaterina, with a jeweled crown atop her head, was perusing a collection of poems.

Her eyes were clear, and she sat quietly alone on the sofa in the study.

The spring sun was warm, and a faint floral fragrance drifted from the royal gardens on the breeze. The golden sunlight shone on her face, making her skin appear fair and radiant.

Ekaterina knew very well that this battle was a gamble on the fate of civilization.

If they could not kill or capture that Octavia J. Fielding, the million-strong magic legion from the Celestial God Plane would inevitably reach the Ruin homeland, and then the decisive battle would begin.

Although the United Empire had prepared many countermeasures, they had a certain chance of winning against the enemy's million-strong legion.

But once the war started on their own territory, even if they won, the casualties would be extremely heavy, and alchemical civilization might decline from then on.

Unconsciously, Ekaterina had been staring at that page of poetry for a long time without turning it.

Her mind was filled with thoughts, and she didn't know what she was thinking. Her slender white right hand touched the rose gold and sapphire necklace on her chest, and her expression became slightly dazed.

It was as if the pause button had been pressed, and the scene froze there.

Suddenly, the black ring on her finger trembled.

This was the Dawn Organization's Daggus Goblin Communicator.

Her eyes flashed, as if she had received some information, and then she couldn't hide the joy on her face: "It actually succeeded?!"

Ekaterina stood up abruptly.

The faint hesitation between her brows had vanished, replaced by a fierce determination.

She walked out of the door, striding quickly, and issued orders in a rapid voice: "Pass down the order, mechanical airship squadron, special operations squadron, the 8th, 9th, and 11th Combined Fleets... execute Plan S001, all-out attack!"

As soon as she finished speaking, someone outside the door immediately responded, "Yes!"

...

The Celestial God Plane's million-strong legion crossed the Imperial Strait and attacked the Ruin homeland. The imperial military had been monitoring the enemy's movements in real time.

In order to intercept this million-strong legion, millions of troops and countless ships had long been stationed on several defense lines in the strait.

However, the Celestial God Plane's tactic of group marching was truly unsolvable, with hundreds of ten-thousand-person groups simultaneously releasing legion magic, sweeping away everything.

For the past half month, the imperial soldiers on the front lines had been retreating steadily, and everyone could only watch helplessly as the enemy approached the Ruin homeland.

But just today, the generals on each defense line suddenly received emergency combat orders.

"All-out attack? But... those magician airships are difficult for the fleet to break through. And the enemy has ninth-tier and demigod experts, who may decapitate our army..."

"What! His Majesty personally issued Order Number One?"

"Yes, we guarantee to complete the mission!"

"..."

After receiving the attack order, almost all the professional soldiers on the front lines couldn't believe it.

They were well aware that although the United Empire's combat power was strong now, it was still not enough against the invincible legion of a million magicians.

If they contracted the defense circle and concentrated their forces for a final decisive battle, they might have a certain chance of winning.

But they never expected that the order from above would be to take the initiative to attack?

Wasn't this suicide?

The imperial soldiers were not afraid of death, but the current sea defense front line concentrated almost half of the alchemical plane's combat power. If they were all wiped out, the enemy's invasion of the Ruin homeland would have no obstacles, and they could even drive straight into the imperial capital, Lindon.

This was what the generals were worried about.

However, as soon as the order was transmitted to the front line, the commanders of the major fleets did not hesitate to carry out the order.

If the order had been issued by someone else, perhaps some people would have questioned it.

But it was Ekaterina the Great who personally issued the order.

Even if they were really required to undertake some sacrificial missions, no one would back down at this moment.

Time had proven everything. This first emperor of the United Empire was the most talented monarch in the alchemical plane for countless years. In every decision concerning the survival of the alchemical plane, she had made the most accurate judgments and the most brilliant decisions, which had led to the glory of the alchemical plane today.

Ekaterina the Great now had absolute authority within the empire and the unshakeable loyalty of billions of soldiers.

In an instant, tens of thousands of legions of steel-armored fleets and steam airship fleets converged towards the target sea area.

However, it wasn't long before the major fleets received good news.

"Marshal, we have just received the latest intelligence from the front line. The million-strong magic legion has stopped marching westward and is instead turning south!"

"The magic legion has been split up. A part of the elite is quickly detaching from the fleet and heading south!"

"..."

Although most people didn't know what had happened that would cause the magicians from the Celestial God Plane to suddenly change their course, the division of the million-strong legion was good news for the United Empire.

Before long, the imperial fleet had arrived in the predetermined sea area.

The sky was densely packed with mechanical airships, and there were countless warships on the sea.

"Coordinates 3351, 9873, cannons aim, fire!"

As the commander issued the coordinates, countless cannons fired simultaneously, and alchemical shells rained down on the sky.

The secret weapons that the imperial military had prepared in recent years were also unveiled one by one.

Cannons had a very obvious advantage over magicians.

That was range.

Even legion magic that could cover a range of several kilometers was considered extremely long-range.

But for the current military-grade ship-borne cannons in the alchemical plane, being able to fire dozens of kilometers was normal.

Moreover, in recent years, the Imperial Mechanical Research Institute had also developed a large number of alchemical shells specifically for the magic legion. Such as the [Element Annihilation Shell], which could interfere with the gathering of elements, the [Magic Breaking Shell], which could break through magic shields, and the [Magic Prohibition Shell], which could cause a large-scale magic prohibition...

After this wave of alchemical shells was launched with covering fire, an area dozens of nautical miles in radius could become a region where the elements were extremely chaotic or sparse.

For the magicians from the Celestial God Plane, before they even saw anyone, their combat power had already weakened by more than half.

However, cannons and mechanical warriors had no dependence on elements. Even if magic was prohibited, they could still fight with all their firepower.

This was a crushing victory in terms of technology.

And the magic airships were originally not slow, but after thousands of them were clustered together, it was very slow to maintain formation.

Under the firepower coverage of tens of thousands of cannons, they could only be sitting ducks.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"..."

In an instant, ten thousand cannons fired, the sound was deafening, and the sea was also shaken by the shock wave of the shells, creating countless ripples.

The original tonnage of ammunition was also an astronomical figure. If it had been the Ruin of the past, even if they had these advanced warships and airships, it would have been impossible to use them so lavishly, after all, the national strength could not support this kind of consumption.

And it was only after Ekaterina ascended the throne in recent years that this changed.

The high-end mechanical technology of Mafa covered the entire area, and Ruin's resource excavation and production capacity had increased dozens of times. In addition, there were various resources that had been continuously migrated from Mafa in recent years, marine resource excavation... Only now did the United Empire have the confidence to use such a firepower coverage tactic.

...

The shelling continued like this.

The imperial military would pour out tens of thousands of tons of ammunition every hour.

The sky dozens of nautical miles away was even blown into a colorful mess, as if countless colors had been splashed on a blue canvas.

The thousand magic airships held up their legion magic shields to resist the shelling.

Although such shelling was not enough to cause too much damage to the million-strong magic legion, the enemy needed to consume energy to support the legion magic shield.

In attack and defense, even the most brilliant magic array had some corresponding and equal consumption on the energy level.

And the materials carried by the enemy were also limited.

A large number of shells were produced on the production lines of the United Empire's war factories every moment, while the magicians' magic power relied entirely on various natural magic cores and magic energy crystals.

Using shells to consume magic crystals, the enemy's momentum would be dozens of times greater than their own.

With such tactics, just firepower coverage alone could collapse the million magicians from the Celestial God Plane sooner or later.

But the fact was not that simple.

Under normal circumstances, the empire had millions of professional soldiers, plus so many warships and equipment. Even if they faced the million-strong magic legion from the Celestial God Plane, it was not necessarily that they had no chance of winning.

But the biggest problem was the top combat power of the enemy that crushed the legion.

For example, the ninth-tier Archmage, and the powerful and unsolvable God of Magic.

This was an existence that could抵得过 an entire fleet.

From the moment they received the official order to launch a general attack, the marshals and generals who rushed to the battlefield had already prepared to be beheaded by the enemy's top combat power.

However, no one expected that this shelling would last for a day and a night.

For some reason, the decapitation tactic they were worried about did not appear, and the demigod experts in the intelligence did not appear either.

Instead, the million-strong magic legion was a little "cautious".

Apart from passively defending and sailing south, they did not organize any decent attacks at all.

As the firepower coverage continued, the enemy's magic airships began to be shot down, and casualties appeared in the magic legions.

This made the members of the United Fleet feel very confused: why was the combat power of the Celestial God Plane suddenly so much weaker?

The soldiers did not yet know that a group of people was helping them contain most of the enemy's top combat power.

...

On the other hand, the southern part of the Imperial Strait.

The weather was clear today, and the scenery on the blue sea was infinitely beautiful.

On a nameless deserted island, the sea water lapped against the white sand beach, the branches of the coconut trees swayed in the sea breeze, and the coconut crabs with their big pincers hid under the trees waiting for the fruit to fall.

On the beach, Su Lun, Mr. Mirror, Qian Tiao, Pandora, and Pestoa, who was teasing the crows, were leisurely basking in the sun.

Unlike the fierce battle scene hundreds of nautical miles away, this place was peaceful.

"Ah... four waves of rescue teams have already come, it seems that those guys won't come anymore."

"Yes. Five ninth-tier archmages have died. If they come again, the million-strong magic legion will collapse. They probably won't come."

"I don't know when that Constantine, the God of Magic, will be able to rush back. As long as we solve that guy, the problem will be easy to solve. But it seems that even if he wants to come, he probably won't fight us to the end. He should think of other ways to rescue her."

"..."

The group chatted idly.

In this day and night, they had killed four waves of enemy reinforcements who wanted to rescue that Great Princess Octavia.

A total of five ninth-tier archmages, and a small elite team of nearly a thousand people.

With the death of this wave of top combat power, the pressure on the fleet of the United Empire was much less.

Moreover, the deterrence effect was even more obvious.

Now that they knew that the peak combat power of the alchemical plane had the ability to capture and kill demigod experts, the magicians from the Celestial God Plane did not dare to carry out any decapitation operations at all.

They were afraid that they would not succeed in the decapitation, but would instead fall into the other party's trap.

Just like the "mummy" that was currently hanging on the coconut tree.

And Su Lun and the others were also grateful that their plan had foresight.

If they had gone to ambush that Constantine, the Evil God of Magic, first, once it was revealed that they had this strength, the enemy would inevitably be on guard. As long as that Great Princess hid in the million-strong legion and did not come out, even if Su Lun and the others could kill demigods now, there was nothing they could do. As long as the million-strong legion continued to attack the Ruin homeland in clusters, no one could stop them.

If Lindon was really breached and the morale of the army collapsed, the plane war might end directly.

But it was precisely because this Great Princess was captured alive that the guys from the Celestial God Plane had to change their plans and put rescuing her first.

However, because of the special identity of the Great Princess Octavia, wave after wave of heads were sent over.

Although the "bait" was good, the number of big fish in the fish pond was limited. After a batch was caught, there were not many left.

Su Lun and the others had been waiting on this deserted island for several hours, and no one had come to them.

On the other hand, good news continued to come from the communicator, and the battle situation on the United Fleet was very smooth.

Even though they were hundreds of nautical miles apart, Su Lun and the others could clearly hear the dense sound of artillery fire.

Looking at the colorful clouds in the sky, everyone was not in a hurry at all.

Now it was the guys from the Celestial God Plane who were anxious.

"But speaking of which, the firepower of the United Fleet is very fierce. The shelling has been going on for a day and a night. With this firepower, the million-strong legion from the Celestial God Plane can't get any advantages."

"Mr. Black and the Dragon Language Group are also over there, so we shouldn't need to go there. If we continue to fight like this, there is a good chance of defeating that million-strong magic legion..."

"Yes. Now we just have to wait for Constantine's movements."

"Strange... What happened in the two years I went to the Yellow Springs Country? How has the empire's military strength become so strong?"

"In the few years that Miss Ekaterina has been in power, alchemical civilization has undergone tremendous changes. She is indeed an emperor with imperial talent..."

"..."

Without a fight, Qian Tiao seemed a little bored.

Mr. Mirror was as calm as ever.

Pandora was always in the state of the Tsukuyomi God, like a god but not a god, like a human but not a human.

Su Lun was not idle, and began to prepare the materials for refining the Heretic God Armor he needed for the eighth tier.

As they chatted, the group talked about Emperor Ekaterina.

Mr. Mirror had also gone to the palace many times in the past two years, and had very good exchanges with Ekaterina. He also had a very high evaluation of this female emperor.

Occasionally, he would make a few jokes about Su Lun, after all, he was nominally "Prince Fick", the legal husband of the current empress.

But as they chatted, suddenly the military's message came from the communicator.

Mr. Mirror's eyes narrowed, and he said sternly, "The message came from the United Fleet. That Constantine, the Evil God of Magic, has appeared!"

Everyone's expression turned stern when they heard this.

They had waited so long, and it had finally come!

Su Lun did not delay at all, he pinched a warlock seal, and a space crack appeared in front of him, and everyone filed in.