At this moment, the Shangduohan Palace resembled nothing less than hell itself.
Although a Court Magician's Fire Dragon Technique caused the terrifying "demon" in the sky to stagger, it appeared unharmed.
Most of the Royal Palace had been reduced to ruins by the "demon" in the sky, and it was unknown how many people lay buried under the rubble. The King was disheveled, his face etched with panic.
This was indeed the doomsday of the Shangduohan Kingdom.
The rest of the city fared no better, with war spreading everywhere. The destructive fire fell from the sky, engulfing the entire city. Even this Court Magician was not thinking about saving the Shangduohan King or the state, but about how to preserve himself and surrender to this mysterious attacker.
After all, mages were a privileged group, immune to imprisonment or harm even in defeat.
The Shangduohan Prince, with one arm smeared in blood and hair drenched in bloodstains across his face, suddenly pointed at the "demon" in the sky, excitedly shouting, "It's retreating, it's retreating! It must be afraid of the great Mage, running away with its tail between its legs."
The Court Magician didn't see it that way; he knew he hadn't injured the creature at all.
While he hesitated about whether to separate from the royal family of Shangduohan, suddenly everyone heard a dull explosion!
Everyone felt their bodies shake with the blast, almost fainting; some were even knocked to the ground. This was not a shockwave that only affected the eardrums; they could feel their bodies vibrating with it.
The Court Magician also felt his blood boil with the shaking, to the point where he could not stand steady and fell to the ground.
Then, a ripple-like light shimmered before him, and a figure materialized, grabbing his collar with one hand.
The terrified Court Magician wanted to resist, but the burly man in silver armor plunged a syringe into his body. Before the Court Magician could cast even a defensive spell, his vision blurred, and he lost all consciousness.
The other mages in the group made a valiant effort to resist, casting attack spells like Fireball Technique, Wind Blade Technique, and Water Gun Technique, but these had little effect on the people in silver armor.
"Oh, there's quite a bit of prey, let's take them all!"
The leader was Shi Dingjing, a Marine Corps officer, a formidable man of military stature. Though of nobility, he had been in dangerous planetary battlefields since young, fighting against various enemies. He not only had the excellent physique and strength of an Iridium Star person but had also undergone restricted human modifications and enhancements, making him even more formidable.
Bai Zhongqi built a special forces team to hunt mages, not deploying Orbital Paratroopers but drawing directly from the Marine Corps and Assault Troops.
The tribal Prophet Hasan also joined the Hunting Squad. After pledging allegiance to Iridium Star, he was put into a deep sleep to study. Despite his lack of a scientific and cultural knowledge base, this guy had great determination to learn.
His main training was in using Star Energy, and after undergoing system performance training at the Stellar Transmission Academy of the Empire, he had advanced to a junior Star Warrior.
Equipped with Army-Breaker Type Single Armor, Hasan's combat abilities were not to be underestimated. Keen to participate in the mage hunt in Shangduohan, Hasan was eager for retribution. The people of Shangduohan had brought nightmares to his tribe and homeland, and now he intended to return the nightmare to them.
Those various offensive magic spells were now merely crude tricks in front of Hasan. He had realized that his power did not come from the protection of ancestral spirits, nor from the mysterious elements; it was the power of Star Energy, a magical force that connects directly to the most fundamental laws of the universe.
With a wave of his hand, Hasan easily dispersed the vibrations of Star Energy, nullifying the mages' magic as if he were a legendary Lawbreaker, shattering the magics of the group of mages.
For those mages, this was more terrifying than a sky demon; they had never considered the possibility that their magic could fail.
Hasan had long sensed the mages' capabilities. With a flick of his arm, he used the power of Star Energy to change the direction of the forces acting on them, pulling several mages towards himself as if by telekinesis.
The mages exerted all their strength to resist, but even those among them whose understanding of Star Energy was almost on par with Hasan, or even slightly surpassing that of a mage, had it completely wrong and could not possibly stop Hasan's power.
Other members of the Hunting Squad that appeared drew their tranquilizer darts and put the group of mages to sleep one by one, carrying them on their shoulders and flying into a planetary landing craft waiting in the sky.
Hasan wanted to continue capturing other mages in the city, but Shi Dingjing called out, "Regroup, let's go back."
Hasan didn't understand, "Why, Captain?"
Shi Dingjing, though he appeared rough, was nuanced in his thinking as he said, "The Star Alliance army will still till this place several times with their firepower. Even though they can adjust the attack range, that will still trouble them. After they finish, we'll come back to pick up the pieces."
Hasan understood Shi Dingjing's meaning, nodded, and then asked, "What about that armed vehicle that broke into the Royal Palace's airspace on its own?"
Shi Dingjing replied, "It has an automatic navigation program to bring it back; we don't need to concern ourselves with it."
After speaking, Shi Dingjing glanced at the King of Shangduohan and others who had already collapsed on the ground and casually said, "Send these fellows on their way."
Hasan licked his lips, a fierce light flashing in his eyes, ready to unleash his newly perfected ultimate move. But his comrades were much quicker to act, and with a series of gunshots, the Shangduohan people were shot full of holes.
Hasan slapped his thigh in frustration, "I haven't even tried out my big move yet!"
Shi Dingjing ignored him, activated his flight system, and shot into the sky, boarding the planetary landing craft that carried them. Hasan hesitated no longer. Taking a more direct approach, he manipulated his gravity using the power and flew up into the sky. Although not as fast as the flying individual armors, it was energy-efficient and honed his usage of Star Energy.
The battle continued for another two hours, with Xiao Yu commanding the motorized infantry brigade to bomb the Shangduohan Royal Capital into ruins without care for civilian casualties.
In this catastrophe, over half of the city's population, numbering several hundred thousand, was killed or wounded, and the Shangduohan Royal Army, a primary target, was completely annihilated before the Star Alliance infantry arrived.
When Fang Han's soldiers from Country C arrived and saw the purgatory-like scene, many couldn't take it and started to vomit. Some even questioned why such bloody methods were necessary when they could have caused less damage.
Xiao Yu was dismissive of these soldiers from Country C and didn't care to attend to their issues. Fang Han, however, had to start organizing political officers within the brigade to work with the soldiers who were new to the battlefield. This included emphasizing the beastly acts committed by the Shangduohan Army and highlighting the importance of obedience and discipline in the military.
He knew these aspects were equally essential and something they were expected to re-embrace in this actual war.