This time, it was settled! Silver Fox truly wished he could find a wall to bash his head against; he really had nothing better to do than rush over here after hearing the news.
Of course, it was only human nature; anyone who heard their arch-nemesis was about to be finished would inevitably come for a final look.
Even though Star-Eye and Iron Hawk and Silver Fox had only just fought once, in their eyes, Star-Eye held significant weight. To have such an opponent vanish so vaguely was truly quite lamentable!
But no one expected this fellow not only to be alive and well but also to have found an alarmingly powerful helper. A Life Force Field of 1.2 million was a huge leap beyond the Phoenix Knights. Of course, he also knew clearly that this was far from the full combat capability of the Twin Devils!
In fact, everyone knew one thing: the Twin Devils could multiply their combat power by seven times in an instant!
This meant her true combat strength should be 8.4 million!
“The gap in strength is too vast.” Silver Fox couldn't help but admit, his face thick enough: “So, I’ve decided on a group brawl.” As he spoke, the fellow adopted a fighting stance.
Iron Hawk, Old Ox, and Wei Peng were all on high alert!
“Truly shameless,” Star-Eye scoffed dismissively.
As for that Moon Shadow female warrior, she had already quietly slipped away, retreating far into the distance.
“What shameless or not shameless,” Silver Fox said solemnly, “In war, one resorts to all means possible. Surviving is what makes one strong.”
“Fine,” Star-Eye said. “Then come on. I want to see just how capable you all are.”
“I want to see just how formidable the legendary Twin Devils truly are,” Iron Hawk stated in a deep voice. His Aerial Combat Divine Beast, the colossal black eagle whose whole body was pitch black, let out a sharp, clear cry, appearing full of fighting spirit.
The aura strengths of the two Aerial Combat Divine Beasts were 200 and 230, respectively. Their combat power was quite respectable, and with Iron Hawk and Silver Fox piloting them, their fighting strength still held significant explosive potential!
Naturally, Star-Eye had absolute confidence in winning this time; Moon Shadow’s strength was beyond what ordinary people could imagine!
Indeed, Moon Shadow merely let out a soft snort!
Divine light surged from her body!
That terrifying battle qi energy instantly erupted!
A frightening number flashed through everyone’s minds: “Battle Qi Strength: 8.4 Million!”
“Re-really 8.4 million.” Iron Hawk, Silver Fox, and the others turned pale! Even their simple handgrips began to tremble!
The disparity in combat power was so immense!
How could this battle be fought! It wasn't cowardice; the reality was simply too hard to accept!
Seeing the expressions on Silver Fox and Iron Hawk’s faces, Star-Eye felt one emotion: pure satisfaction!
“I didn’t think you guys would ever be scared,” Star-Eye chuckled lightly.
Of course, caution was Star-Eye’s usual approach, so he wasn't in a hurry to launch an assault. Instead, he and Moon Shadow took up positions, one on the left and one on the right!
“You need to be careful. Don't think 8.4 million Battle Qi Strength is nothing,” Silver Fox’s ashen face instantly turned grave, brimming with killing intent: “Next, we’re going to use our ultimate moves!” Silver Fox slowly raised the Heaven-Splitting Greatsword in his hand over his head.
“You still have ultimate moves?” Star-Eye’s heart sank slightly. This fellow seemed to have some reliance!
Thinking this, Star-Eye also carefully gripped the Dragon Shadow Sword. Although his new set equipped the better Raging Thunder Blade, Star-Eye was still accustomed to using the Dragon Shadow Sword.
As for Moon God, she put away the Heaven-Splitter and switched to that brand-new Raging Thunder Blade. Of course, before this, Moon Shadow hadn’t forgotten to imbue the new weapon with Dragon Shadow essence, so this new Raging Thunder Blade could probably be renamed the Dragon Shadow Raging Thunder!
Iron Hawk, Old Ox, and Wei Peng also looked solemn, waiting for Silver Fox’s attack command!
Swish! Silver Fox’s greatsword chopped down wildly without warning. Swish!
Two streams of sword energy shot straight towards Star-Eye and Moon Shadow’s faces.
Then, a thunderous roar echoed into everyone’s eardrums—“Run!”
“Run!” Star-Eye was almost stunned!
Star-Eye hadn't misheard! Those two words were indeed shouted by Silver Fox, and they were delivered with full force and overwhelming momentum!
He never expected that what awaited him wasn't an attack from Silver Fox, but this powerfully delivered, furious shout.
And just as he instinctively moved to deflect the sword energy rushing at him!
Four afterimages flashed away like lightning, splitting into four different directions!
“Holy crap, no way,” Star-Eye couldn't believe his eyes. “Even escaping can be shouted with such imposing spirit!” But in that moment of stunned disbelief, Silver Fox and Iron Hawk had already zipped over a thousand meters away!
Aerial Combat Divine Beasts were kings of the sky, masters of flight. At full speed now, they instantly reached an astonishing Mach 3!
Old Ox and Wei Peng, though slightly slower, had also bolted out over five hundred meters!
For a moment, Star-Eye didn't know who to chase!
“Damn brats, you were fast enough to run,” Star-Eye cursed under his breath. Although his and Moon Shadow’s speed was fast enough, chasing down the Aerial Combat Divine Beasts was still a bit too much to ask. He could catch Wei Peng and Old Ox, the two Golden Warriors, but in Star-Eye’s eyes right now, these powerhouses were just insignificant small fry, so he couldn't be bothered to pursue them!
Thus, Silver Fox, Iron Hawk, and the other two managed the unbelievable feat of retreating entirely unscathed!
Above the defense perimeter! Star-Eye and Moon Shadow flickered briefly, then shot like lightning towards the distant horizon!
A long while later! Silver Fox finally stopped, his nerves still frayed.
He simultaneously connected to the communication channel shared by Iron Hawk, Old Ox, and Wei Peng: “Are you all okay?”
“We’re fine, we ran fast,” Iron Hawk, Old Ox, and Wei Peng replied breathlessly on the other end, still shaken. “This Twin Devil is even stronger than before.”
“Nonsense, didn't you see she changed her gear to the genuine Golden Raging Thunder, which even we don't have.”
“This is really troublesome now,” Iron Hawk said. “We must notify headquarters about this immediately.”
It was five days later when they finally returned to the Nile Tribe!
And Star-Eye had not only successfully resurrected his Hero but also brought back a strange treasure!
“This is...” Nile couldn't believe his eyes. “These are eggs of the Aerial Combat Divine Beasts.”
“Yes!” Star-Eye smiled and nodded!
“Heavens, I can hardly believe it,” Nile exclaimed excitedly. “With these two eggs, we can have our own Aerial Combat Divine Beasts.” Realizing something, Nile then asked, “How did you manage to get these two eggs?”
“This...” Star-Eye didn't know how to explain, so he simply pulled up the video recording from his mind and connected it to the large screen in the control room: “You watch for yourselves.”
..................................................
Ten minutes later! Everyone stared blankly at Star-Eye and Moon Shadow beside him! All the mysteries were unveiled in that moment!
“So, the Thirtieth Generation Shadow Moon Sir had long made arrangements,” Nile murmured. “This is wonderful. With her help, we are certain to win.”
In the control room, everyone couldn't help but cheer in unison! In ten thousand years, this was undoubtedly the most heartening news!
Star-Eye said, “These are two large-capacity super hard drives. Give the silver one to you, and the gold one must be given to the Chen Xing Tribe.”
Nile excitedly replied, “Since it is the command of the Thirtieth Generation Shadow Moon Sir, we will certainly comply!”
“Then all these treasures are yours,” Star-Eye rejoiced.
“Yes,” Nile boomed. “Everyone, perk up, we have work to do now!”
In the following few days! Nile and the others began working day and night, reading the data left in the boxes!
And Moon Shadow transmitted the data for hatching the two eggs to Nile's bio-engineering researchers! The two eggs were sent to the incubation facility for hatching.
Just as Nile had predicted, hidden within were the most cutting-edge technological civilizations of the Crouching Dragon World, files copied by Shadow Moon from the main computer of the Crouching Dragon World, MARFA’s database!
For tens of thousands of years, the reason the Xiang Tian Tribe possessed technology far surpassing the Shadow Moon and Chen Xing Tribes was that they had occupied the main computer of the Crouching Dragon Manor and utilized its technology!
But now, with this black box, the Nile Tribe's technology would soon be on par with the Xiang Tian Tribe!
And as the decryption deepened, more and more valuable technologies were unearthed!
This shockingly included the manufacturing process for the Raging Thunder Set, which had long troubled the Nile Tribe and others! And the manufacturing of the Aerial Combat Divine Beasts!
As well as the Fire Dragon Lizard and the Fire Dragon Mother-body!
And those individual safes stored biological cells and gene samples preserved through special means for over thirty thousand years! With these, the Nile Tribe would soon be able to manufacture the Fire Dragon Mother-body, Fire Dragon Lizards, and other cutting-edge troops capable of hatching and laying eggs!
This discovery greatly boosted the morale of everyone in the Nile Tribe!
It also brought hope of victory to the whole group!
However, Star-Eye couldn't stand still! Although the Nile Tribe possessed this technology and gene samples, it would take a considerable amount of time for them to fully develop.
And whether the Xiang Tian Tribe would give them this time to develop was still uncertain!
Of course, even if the Xiang Tian Tribe granted them time to develop, Star-Eye couldn't just sit idly by! After all, his goal wasn't to destroy the Xiang Tian Tribe, but to rescue Xing Zhan and Xing Ye! But he also knew that voicing his thoughts now would certainly not gain Nile's understanding or support.
So, upon seeing Nile and the others working day and night on research and development, Star-Eye began plotting his own rescue plan!
Moon Shadow not only resurrected but also possessed formidable power!
This strengthened Star-Eye’s confidence.
The only thing Star-Eye was waiting for now were those two divine eggs still incubating. Once they had the Aerial Combat Divine Beasts, he and Moon Shadow would possess the capital needed to roam the skies freely.
Of course, Star-Eye wouldn't just sit and wait!
These past few days, besides anxiously awaiting the results of Nile's research and manufacturing progress, Star-Eye spent most of his time sparring with Moon Shadow!
Sparring was just a nice way of putting it! In reality, under equal equipment conditions, Star-Eye was basically instantly defeated by Moon Shadow in one move!
She was truly too strong, too powerful! So strong that Star-Eye thought that even without waiting for Nile's research results, he and Moon Shadow could sweep through the Xiang Tian Tribe together.
“You are too naive,” Nia stated. “Undeniably, you and Moon Shadow are strong, but you have already witnessed the incredible speed of the Phoenix Knights’ Aerial Combat Divine Beasts. No matter how strong you are, if you can’t catch them, what good is it? Moreover, they have seven of them. Even if we kill one, a new Phoenix Knight will soon replace the fallen Nico. Once they join forces, you have absolutely no chance of victory.”
“Do we really have no choice but to keep waiting?” Star-Eye heavily punched a sandbag, somewhat dejected.
Perhaps having witnessed the powerful combat ability of Star-Eye and Moon Shadow, Silver Fox and Iron Hawk dared not act rashly against the Nile Tribe again.
However, the battles on other fronts remained fierce. But as time dragged on, Star-Eye gradually grew accustomed to it!
Six months flew by in the blink of an eye!
These six months felt like years to Star-Eye, but the long wait finally yielded results!
The two divine eggs hatched into two oddly shaped little creatures!
Then, they grew at an astonishing rate every day. In just six months, they reached the size of Silver Fox and Iron Hawk’s Aerial Combat Divine Beasts!
What shocked Star-Eye even more was that the two little ones, like him, seemed to possess the MF Antibody trait—meaning they were both Demon Devourers, just like him!
It was clear this was also arranged by Shadow Moon.
However, what puzzled Star-Eye was that the two little ones only grew in size but not in intellect; they seemed to lack any soul or thought!
It wasn't until the sixth month that Moon Shadow uploaded two special programs into their brains that Star-Eye finally understood.
It turned out these two little ones were merely the hardware component. The truly effective part was the two combat programs implanted by Moon Shadow. In other words, only now had these two massive golden eagles truly evolved into genuine Aerial Combat Divine Beasts!
And their combat strength, after six months of evolutionary growth, reached an astonishing 2.3 million each! If they had these two Aerial Combat Divine Beasts assisting them back then, Iron Hawk and Silver Fox would have absolutely no chance of escaping Star-Eye and Moon Shadow’s pursuit!
It could be said that the most crucial condition for launching the counterattack had matured!
Additionally, the two hard drives Star-Eye brought back undeniably changed the technological disparity across the entire Crouching Dragon World! Coupled with the Nile Tribe gaining great strength with Star-Eye’s help!
It also gave Grand Marshal Shadow Moon ample confidence in the internal unification efforts within the Shadow Moon Tribe. She suppressed the dissenting voices within the Shadow Moon Tribe with lightning speed.
Meanwhile, the Chen Xing Tribe finally responded to the Shadow Moon Tribe’s invitation, agreeing to joint operations. After all, the operational plan provided by the golden hard drive Star-Eye brought back was indeed very attractive!
Most importantly, it was precious data left behind by the Thirtieth Generation Shadow Moon Sir from thirty thousand years ago, which made everyone firmly believe that only by executing the plan could defeating the Xiang Tian Tribe become a possibility, not just a dream.
Therefore, the long-separated Chen Xing Tribe and Shadow Moon Tribe sat together for the first time in a long while and convened a joint operational meeting!
Of course, Nile, the person in charge of the Nile Tribe and the crucial core of this operation—the main contributor to forming this alliance—was also invited to the Shadow Moon headquarters to attend this operational meeting!
Star-Eye wasn't very interested in the content of the meeting, but the outcome of the meeting made him overjoyed!
Because the long-repressed Chen Xing and Shadow Moon Tribes finally decided to launch a major counterattack!
And Star-Eye and Moon Shadow, equipped with Aerial Combat Divine Beasts and genuine Raging Thunder Sets, became the strongest vanguards of the Nile Tribe!
According to the plan left by Shadow Moon!
The Shadow Moon Tribe and the Nile Tribe abandoned their long-held reliance on bio-human composition as their main combat troops. Instead, they utilized the gene samples left by Shadow Moon to manufacture bio-beasts identical to those of the Xiang Tian Tribe!
Moreover, the bio-beasts produced by the Shadow Moon Tribe were exclusively Fire Dragon Moths, while the Chen Xing Tribe produced exclusively Fire Dragon Lizards! Six months was enough time for them to complete the preparation of their entire army, from production to deployment!
The combined troop strength of the two tribes reached an astonishing one hundred million, more than double that of the Xiang Tian Tribe!
Although unaware of the full scope of Shadow Moon’s operational plan, Star-Eye knew that the final decisive moment had finally arrived!
In the Nile Tribe control room! Nile began the final tactical briefing before the battle!
This operation combines the military strength of all three tribes!
And since our Nile Tribe's defense zone is closest to the Xiang Tian Tribe, we will serve as the vanguard force for this operation!
Star-Eye, Lan Qinia, the three of you will be the main thrust of this advance force!
Especially you, Lieutenant Colonel Star-Eye, you will be responsible for countering the Phoenix Knights and Golden Warriors that the enemy might deploy. Therefore, you must be mentally prepared!
“Yes,” Star-Eye said solemnly. “Wait, when did I become a Lieutenant Colonel?” Star-Eye suddenly realized.
“All participating combat personnel must have corresponding military ranks and duties. Your current rank is Major, and your position is the Vanguard General of the Nile Tribe’s First Army Corps. Do you have any objections?” Nile asked with a faint smile.
“Reporting to the Commander, I have absolutely no objections,” Star-Eye snapped a bizarre, antiquated military salute, which drew sideways glances from everyone!
“Lan Qinia, your task and yours,” Nile instructed the two, “is to assist Star-Eye in confronting the enemy's elite generals.”
“Yes,” Lan Qinia responded in unison.
“As for the others—Mei Meili, Uncle Jin, and myself—we will be responsible for commanding the four army groups composed of Fire Dragon Moths via remote control!” Nile continued. “Our operational objective is to break through the Aries, Taurus, and Gemini defense zones, and then continue to break through Sky Cities No. 7, No. 6, and No. 5. If the operation is successful, we will attack the headquarters of the Xiang Tian Tribe, the High Tower of the Crouching Dragon Manor, from the due west direction. On the other side, the Shadow Moon Headquarters and the Chen Xing Tribe will break through from the due south and due north directions respectively, closing in on the Xiang Tian Tribe.”
“The three forces will advance together, finally converging on the Crouching Dragon Plain of the Xiang Tian Tribe to launch the final assault!” Nile concluded. “This operation will be extraordinarily arduous, especially for you, Star-Eye. The Xiang Tian Tribe knows you have Moon Shadow’s assistance and will certainly dispatch other Phoenix Knights and Golden Warriors to intercept you together. Therefore, achieving victory in this battle depends on whether you can defeat the enemy’s Phoenix Knights and Golden Warriors.”
“I will certainly win,” Star-Eye declared firmly.
“The operation will commence at 00:00 on February 1st. Everyone now has 16 hours of rest time. Enjoy the remaining leisure time,” Nile said. “Meeting adjourned.”
The massive movements of the Shadow Moon and Chen Xing Tribes could not be hidden from the Xiang Tian Tribe.
Especially the fact that they mobilized an entire beast-form army corps numbering one hundred million was simply shocking.
No one expected that the Shadow Moon and Chen Xing Tribes had mastered the core technology for manufacturing Fire Dragon troops. While the Xiang Tian Tribe was surprised by these, they were not panicked!
In their view, no matter how many beast-form legions the Shadow Moon and Chen Xing Tribes possessed, they could not shake the rule of the Xiang Tian Tribe.
For tens of thousands of years, the Xiang Tian Tribe had been unable to deal with the Shadow Moon and Chen Xing Tribes, who relied on strong underground defense systems, despite having superior military might. Now that they were actively seeking battle, it was exactly what they wished for.
Once they defeated their main forces, they would have the opportunity to storm their underground lairs. Therefore, all the generals of the Xiang Tian Tribe were excited and eager to try their hands at this large-scale decisive battle.
Of course, they did not relax their vigilance because of this.
They paid particularly close attention to the movements of the Nile Tribe, which now included Star-Eye.
After all, Star-Eye had previously defeated the formidable duo of Silver Fox and Iron Hawk twice.
They did not take ordinary generals seriously, but they dared not be careless with this Star-Eye.
“The task of intercepting Star-Eye will be handled by the seven of us Phoenix Knights working together,” Golden Dragon stated solemnly. “I hope everyone does not think that just because we have superior numbers, victory will come easily. The terror of the Twin Devils hardly needs repeating, and Star-Eye, equipped with the full set of Raging Thunder, is definitely not to be underestimated. Therefore, in this battle, the only thing we can do is defeat them at all costs, even if it costs us our lives,” Golden Dragon’s voice was cold and murderous, yet filled with an irrefutable resolve and rousing spirit.
“Yes,” the other six Phoenix Knights responded in unison.
“As for the command of the regular legions, the Twelve Golden Warriors will maneuver flexibly according to their respective defense zones. In any case, we must absolutely not allow the enemy to step a single inch into the defense zone!”
“Yes,” the twelve Golden Warriors on the giant computer screens responded in unison.
“Meeting adjourned.” Golden Dragon waved his hand, and the computer screens displaying the twelve Golden Warriors went dark.
However, the computer screens connected to the other six Phoenix Knights remained open.
"Everyone," Jin Long said, his voice deep and resonant. "I trust you all understand that the battle ahead will not be easy. There is no need for me to elaborate further on this Star or its hero; perhaps only a united front from the Seven Great Phoenix Heavens offers the sole path to victory against them. Therefore, six hours from now, all personnel assemble at the Taurus Defense Zone. I believe the Nile contingent will make that very spot the opening salvo of this war."
"Understood."