Real Mount and Blade Game

A deafening roar of battle echoed through the chaotic cavity at the heart of the abyss. When Shen Mu's ultimate judgment spear—a lance that stood tall and imposing, flowing with pure runes of order and gleaming with light that pierced through eternal darkness—pierced the core of the "Eye of the Abyss," time seemed to stand still.

"Boom!!!"

The terrifying roar, indescribable by any ordinary sound, was a complete collapse of the rules themselves. The "pupil" of the Abyss Eye, composed of pure filth and chaotic will, was like a red-hot iron piercing solidified black oil under the unparalleled sharpness and purifying power of the Order's Lance. A violent surge of pain and rage swept across the entire distorted space with destructive force!
Space itself was wailing and tearing apart. The chaotic matter that made up the core cavity was instantly evaporated or twisted into even more bizarre and grotesque forms by the violent energy. The violent torrent of abyssal energy, mixed with the torn fragments of the filthy origin, sprayed indiscriminately in all directions like the shock wave at the beginning of the universe.

Caranzo, at the forefront, and the remaining elites of the Holy Tree Knights beside him bore the brunt of the attack. The purifying flames already dimmed on their bodies flickered like candles in the wind the moment they came into contact with this destructive wave. Their armor groaned under the strain, and the knights, along with their steeds, were violently thrown back by the irresistible force. Caranzo's banner shattered completely, and he himself was flung backward like a kite with a broken string, blood gushing from his mouth, his pristine armor now covered in spiderweb-like cracks and rapidly spreading corrosive spots. Several other knights beside him, equally wounded, disintegrated in the first wave of impact, turning into shimmering dust, fading into the raging energy turbulence without even a final utterance.

The Swadian heavy infantry phalanx and the "spearblade" formation of Rhodok spearmen that followed were as if they had crashed into an invisible wall of pure destruction. The phantom of the "Wall of Sighs" flickered violently in reality for a moment before shattering. Heavy tower shields twisted and cracked, and steel spears snapped inch by inch. Soldiers fell in droves as if struck by an invisible hammer, the sound of bones shattering clearly audible. Many lost their lives instantly, while others were thrown into the air by the shockwave and crashed heavily onto the ground behind them, either to their comrades or amidst the jagged skeletons, their fate unknown. In an instant, a huge gaping hole was torn in the solid formation.

The Vaegir ice wind archers and Rhodok ballistae in the middle section also suffered heavy losses. Bows and crossbows flew from their hands, many archers were knocked unconscious, bleeding from all seven orifices. The ice arrows and light spears that were being condensed were broken and annihilated. Only a few soldiers with extremely quick reflexes, instinctively curling up behind the relatively sturdy wreckage of ballistae or the corpses of their comrades, managed to escape this catastrophic disaster.

The Khergit horse archers and scouting cavalry on the periphery were less directly impacted, but like leaves in a storm, they were tossed about by the chaotic energy currents, forced to struggle to control their mounts and survive on the edge of the energy storm.

"Pfft!" Shen Mu's body, which was kneeling on one knee, suddenly shuddered, and he spat out another mouthful of blood. His face instantly turned ashen, completely devoid of color. He felt as if his brain was being repeatedly pierced and churned by countless red-hot steel needles. The signals coming from the [Talin] mental network were no longer clear commands and echoes of battle intent, but the agonizing cries of countless dying soldiers, the desperate screams of collapsing wills, and the blasphemous shrieks of the Abyss Eye as it struggled in its death throes, capable of tearing apart the soul! This terrifying mental backlash almost completely crushed his remaining mental strength, dragging him into an eternal abyss of madness.

"Commander!" came the hoarse, urgent cry of the Khergit archer commander through the comms, filled with despair, "The front... the defenses have collapsed! The casualties... are too high! The Abyss... the Abyss is not dead yet!"

"Hold on!" Shen Mu jerked his head up, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the front. His voice, forcefully suppressed through the [Tallinn] network, carried an undeniable, almost life-burning, resolute roar that reverberated like thunder in the ears and souls of every surviving soldier: "The Abyss's Eye has shattered! It's struggling in its death throes! This is its final madness! The light of order has not yet been extinguished! Our will—is the continuation of judgment! For our fallen brothers! For our world! Kill—!!!"

This roar seemed to ignite the last embers of defiance in the hearts of the remaining allied soldiers. Though the lance, shimmering and distorted by the core collision, had not vanished! It remained deeply embedded in the core of the Abyss's Eye! The runes of order flowing along its shaft, though dimmed, stubbornly resisted the erosion of the corrupting essence, relentlessly tearing at the core structure of the Abyss's Will! The white light piercing the wound was the unhealable, fatal wound on the heart of darkness!

"Kill!!!" The response to Shen Mu was an even more tragic, more frenzied, and more reckless roar! It was a cry from the last ounce of strength left in their bodies!

The surviving soldiers ignored their excruciating pain, their near-death weakness, and the hellish scene before them. Trampling over the corpses of their comrades and enemies, their eyes bloodshot, they charged once more into the heart of the abyss with broken spears, dulled swords, and even their bare hands!
The Khergit archers on the outer perimeter steadied themselves, ignoring their nearly empty quivers, and used their last arrows to precisely target the filthy pus and energy tentacles gushing from the wounds of the Abyss Eyes, attempting to contaminate the wounded. Meanwhile, the bandit scouts, like the most agile hounds, darted swiftly along the edge of the battlefield, rapidly slaying and eliminating any lone, weakened blasphemous variants by the white light of the rules, thus securing the flanks of the main charging force.

The surviving Vaegir archers, enduring dizziness and tinnitus, once again drew their longbows, now solidified with ice crystals. Arrows, each carrying a chilling aura, were like the icy kisses of death, precisely aimed at the writhing, proliferating filthy growths along the edge of the Abyss's Eye rift, freezing them and slowing their repair. Meanwhile, the Rhodok crossbowmen worked together to control the last remaining, twisted and deformed heavy Radiant Burst Ballistae, whose core runes still remained, firing their few remaining spears, tinged with faint, white flames of power, fiercely at the most violently surging nodes within the Abyss's Eye rift!
"Holy Tree Knights! Purification Passage! Final Charge!" Kalanzo, helped to his feet by two heavily wounded Holy Tree Knights, had one arm hanging limply, his breastplate deeply dented, and blood constantly spilling from his mouth. Yet, the light in his eyes burned brighter than ever before. The purifying power within him, like a candle about to burn out, burst forth with its most brilliant light. The surviving Holy Tree Knights, regardless of their injuries, followed their leader, rekindling the flames of purification. They no longer sought to inflict casualties, but instead concentrated all their power into a weak yet resilient band of purifying light, barely dispelling the densest, most foul black mist ahead, guiding and clearing a path for the infantry charging behind them!
"Swadia! Rhodok! Crush them! Advance!" The infantry commander, covered in blood and with shattered armor, roared like a beast. The heavy infantry and spearmen who could still stand picked up anything usable on the ground—broken spears, shattered shields, enemy bones, even stones—and formed once more a thin, battered, but unyielding, charge. They trudged through a path of flesh paved with the corpses of their comrades and abominations, braving the surging energy turbulence and newly formed small blasphemous creatures erupting from the wounds of the Abyss's Eye, like a flood bursting its banks, forcefully surging into the massive chasm pierced by the Order's Lance!

Inside the rift lay an even more distorted and chaotic scene. Space was no longer continuous; shattered void fissures spread like a spiderweb, flowing with destructive energy. The filthy essence churned like boiling asphalt, constantly coalescing into twisted limbs, eyeballs, and mouthparts, frantically attacking the intruders. The surviving will of the abyss let out a defiant shriek, attempting to mobilize its last vestiges of filthy energy to repair its core, but the Spear of Order—that enormous phantom of a lance of rule—remained firmly rooted there. The runes of order on the spear, like red-hot irons, continuously burned and purified everything of filthy essence it touched, preventing the wounds from healing and relentlessly tearing at the will of the abyss itself!

The soldiers who rushed into the rift were like those who had fallen into a boiling cauldron of oil. The corrupting energy relentlessly eroded their bodies and wills, and the spatial turbulence threatened to tear them apart at any moment. Every step forward was accompanied by immense sacrifice. Soldiers were constantly being swept away and devoured by the suddenly emerging corrupting tentacles, or turned to ashes in the energy turbulence.

But no one retreated. Everyone's eyes were fixed on the enormous, rule-based lance, radiating a white light of order, and on the core of the Abyss Eye—a core that pulsated, twitched, and flickered with uncertain light—where the lance pierced through! That was their target! That was the source of destruction! That was the darkness they had to end!

"In the name of the Sacred Tree! Purify the Roots!!" Supported by two knights, Kalanzo mustered his last strength, transforming his remaining purifying power into a faint yet pure beam of light, which he shot towards the shaft of the Order Lance. This power acted like a fuse, instantly igniting the dim runes on the surface of the Order Lance! The lance shone brightly!
"Now!!! Shen Mu!!!" Kalanzo roared with all his might.

Shen Mu, who had been kneeling on one knee, enduring the dual pain of mental collapse and physical tearing, suddenly had an unprecedented glint in his eyes! His body trembled violently from exhaustion, and blood began to seep from his seven orifices, but his incomparably strong mental will was like tempered steel at this moment, locking onto the lance of order that he guided and that was formed by the will of the Allied Forces!
He abandoned all defense, abandoned all control over his body, and poured all his remaining spiritual energy, like a candle flickering in the wind, along with the burning, death-defying will of all the surviving soldiers in the [Tallinn] network, into it completely, without reservation, and resolutely!
"With my will! With the blood and spirit of the Allied Forces! With the mighty power of the rules! The end—begins now!!!"

"Judgment—is coming!!!"

With a roar from the depths of Shen Mu's soul, the enormous phantom of the Order Rule lance underwent a qualitative change! It was no longer merely a condensation of energy, but had completely transformed into the Ultimate Judgment Law itself, connecting the rules of this realm and bearing the final determination of the human alliance!
The blinding white light completely engulfed everything! The core of the Eye of the Abyss, along with the filthy essence surging wildly around it, began to melt and disintegrate irreversibly under this pure and supremely orderly light of judgment, like snow exposed to the scorching sun!
The chaotic will that constituted the Eye of the Abyss let out a final, desperate cry before being completely engulfed, purified, and reduced to nothingness by endless white light!
The rhythm at the heart of the abyss—that desperate throbbing like the beating of a rotting heart—came to an abrupt halt!

A blinding white light filled the chaotic cavity at the core of the abyss, dispelling all filth and darkness, like a pure white sun erupting from the deepest part of the abyss. The "Eye of the Abyss," representing endless chaos and depravity, utterly lost its resistance before the ultimate judgment law, the embodiment of the rules of order. Its core structure was disintegrated inch by inch, and the condensed source of filth was purified and annihilated by the white light of the rules into the most primordial energy particles. The abyssal will's blasphemous and malevolent roar, like a beast with its neck snapped, abruptly ceased, leaving only a chilling, utterly desolate silence.

The light lingered for a long time, as if time itself had been purified in that instant. When the blinding white light finally began to slowly recede and dissipate, what appeared before everyone was no longer the twisted, writhing, and malevolent chaotic space, but rather... a deathly silence. The core of the abyss remained enormous and shattered, but the chaotic matter that constituted the space had vanished, leaving only countless enormous, smooth cross-sections, as if cut by invisible blades, shimmering with a dim light, like the oldest and coldest scars in the universe. The filthy black tide, the blasphemous creation, the writhing tentacles... everything had disappeared, as if it had never existed. The air was filled with the acrid smell of burning heat, and a strange, ozone-like freshness, the residue of completely purified energy, yet permeated with a bone-chilling, deathly stillness.

Only the outline of that enormous, illusory lance of order and rules remained, shimmering with a final, faint light, like a vast, dissipating coordinate marking the end. At its core, where it had once pierced through, floated an extremely faint, flickering black ember, like a candle in the wind. It no longer emitted any evil fluctuations, no longer retained any will, remaining only in pure material form—the last remnant left after the abyss's origin had been thoroughly purified, the lifeless ash core left after the decaying remains of Yenogu were burned away by the fire of order, like cosmic dust. Wisps of faint, pure white light of rules coiled around it like chains, continuously and slowly eroding its last remaining material form, ensuring it had no chance of revival. This was the "Primordial Ashes"—the final proof of the abyss's existence here.

"Is...it over?" A Swadian heavy infantryman, whose face was half burned by energy and who could barely stand by leaning on a broken spear, stared blankly at the empty and desolate scene before him, his voice hoarse and almost incoherent.

“The Abyss… the core of the Abyss… has been purified…” A Rhodok spearman who had lost an arm muttered to himself, his empty eyes showing no joy at surviving the ordeal, only disbelief, numbness, and a deep-seated weariness.

A brief, eerie silence fell over the battlefield. There were no cheers of victory, only heavy breathing, suppressed groans, and uncontrollable sobs. The surviving soldiers stared blankly around, at the desolate battlefield that had just swallowed countless lives of their comrades, at the primordial ashes that represented the final victory. The price of victory had been too heavy, so heavy that victory itself seemed so pale and illusory.

"Thump!" "Thump!" A series of thuds echoed as soldiers collapsed to the ground. When their taut nerves suddenly relaxed, when they confirmed the threat of the abyss had indeed ended, their bodies, already pushed to their limits, could no longer hold on. Many soldiers immediately lost consciousness, some even ceasing to breathe while unconscious. Many more, the severely wounded, lay helplessly on the ground, their eyes blankly staring at the empty space above.

“Commander! Lord Kalanzo…” A Holy Tree Knight, his face streaked with tears and blood, staggered to Shen Mu’s side, his voice trembling with sobs.

Shen Mu's body was already on the verge of collapse. The excruciating pain from the severe depletion of his mental energy surged through his consciousness like a tidal wave, and his meridians felt like they were being torn apart. He barely managed to maintain his half-kneeling position, held on by sheer willpower. Hearing the call, he struggled to lift his head and looked in the direction the knight was pointing.

Kalanzo lay quietly on a relatively flat black rock. His Holy Tree Knight armor was tattered, the massive dent in his chest a horrifying sight, the exposed skin covered in black, corrosive lines, his life force barely a whisper. Two surviving Holy Tree Knights knelt beside him, futilely trying to suppress the spreading corrosion with their last vestiges of purifying power, but to little avail. Kalanzo's eyes were somewhat unfocused, but as if sensing Shen Mu's gaze, he managed a barely perceptible, almost imperceptible smile, a smile of relief and contentment, as he slightly tugged at the corners of his mouth.

Shen Mu's heart felt as if it were being clenched by an icy hand. He tried to stand up and walk over, but his body swayed violently, and he coughed up another small mouthful of blood. He could only nod deeply into the distance. Without a word, Kalanzo understood that his sacrifice, the sacrifice of himself and all the fallen warriors, had brought about the final victory. The final blow that purified the Eye of the Abyss was the prelude he had ignited.

“Statistics… Casualties… Treatment… Wounded…” Shen Mu’s voice was hoarse, like sandpaper scraping, each word requiring immense effort to transmit through the [Tallinn] network. This once highly efficient and precise command network, covering the entire battlefield, was now intermittent, the transmitted information filled with noise and painful fluctuations, but the surviving officers and medical personnel immediately began to act. Despite the severe shortage of manpower and medicine, this was the only thing they could do: try their best to save lives that could still be saved and collect the remains of their comrades.

The Khergit's mounted archers and scouts took on the tasks of perimeter surveillance and reconnaissance. Riding equally exhausted warhorses, they cautiously explored the purified, desolate space. The abyss's aura had indeed vanished, but the environment remained extremely harsh. The shattered spatial structure was unstable; occasionally, small, dark void cracks would silently appear and disappear, emanating a chilling suction. The ground bore the marks of vitrification from intense heat and massive energy impact craters. Although the free-floating energy in the air was no longer contaminated by the abyss, its nature was violent and chaotic; prolonged inhalation would still harm ordinary soldiers. Further away, the massive rifts leading to other areas of the Molten Core Domain were temporarily sealed by a thin, membrane-like barrier formed of regular white light, isolating the interaction of internal and external energies.

“Commander,” a Khergit leader rode back, his face filled with deep worry, “the core area is basically stable, but the spatial structure is extremely fragile, especially the edges of those huge cross-sections, which could collapse at any moment. The passage to the outside is sealed by a strange white light, making it safe for the time being, but… our remaining forces are probably insufficient to safely evacuate all the wounded. Moreover, the Molten Core outside…” He paused, his voice low, “the Abyss Core has been destroyed, and the corruption there has lost its source, but this could also trigger a chain reaction of collapses…”

Shen Mu listened in silence. He understood the predicament better than anyone. The core of the abyss had been purified, eliminating the greatest threat. But this Molten Heart Domain was originally a sub-plane formed by the abyss's erosion of the ancient god Yeno's remains. Now that the core had collapsed, the "anchor point" supporting this space had disappeared, leaving the entire plane in an extremely unstable state. They were like standing inside a bomb that could explode at any moment. Not to mention the large number of seriously wounded who couldn't move, and the countless remains of fallen soldiers that needed to be collected and removed.

He gazed at the suspended mass of "Primordial Ashes." The faint, swirling white light was the last vestige of the established order, continuously drawing energy from the remaining energies of this space to sustain itself. Perhaps… this was the only chance?
At this moment, a sudden change occurred!
Om-!
The seemingly dormant core of "Primordial Ashes" suddenly trembled violently again without warning! The chains of white light binding it suddenly became incredibly bright, emitting a piercing buzzing sound!

Immediately afterwards, the huge, smooth sections cut out in the core area, like mirrors struck by an invisible force, were instantly covered with spiderweb-like cracks! Crack—a piercing sound of shattering echoed throughout this deathly silent space!

An aura far colder, more ethereal, and more despairing than the will of the abyss—the aura of the "end law" that signifies the complete annihilation of space itself—rushed towards the survivors in the center from all directions like an invisible tsunami!

"Spatial collapse!" Shen Mu's pupils constricted sharply, instantly realizing that the Kujit leader's worries had become a reality! The Abyss Core had been completely purified, and the Molten Heart Domain, having lost its support, began an irreversible final collapse! They had to leave immediately! Otherwise, they would be completely erased along with this space, returning to ultimate nothingness!

"Everyone! Assemble at the entrance white light barrier immediately! Abandon all unnecessary weight! Seriously wounded first! Hurry!" Shen Mu roared with his last strength, forcibly mobilizing all the remaining mental power in the [Tallinn] network, attempting to communicate with and stabilize the rule-based white light barrier blocking the passage! This was the last thing he could do—to buy a chance for evacuation!
However, his spiritual energy surged forth like a flood, instantly pushing him to the brink of complete unconsciousness. The world before him began to spin and blur. In the last instant before his consciousness sank into the abyss of darkness, he saw the surviving soldiers, driven by the roars of their officers, unleashing their final will to survive, supporting each other and dragging their wounded comrades, desperately rushing towards the faintly white light emanating from the passageway; he saw the Khergit riders frantically helping to move the wounded; he saw Kalanzo being lifted by two knights and charging towards the glimmer of hope; he also saw the enormous spatial rifts in the distance, rapidly shattering, disintegrating, and collapsing, revealing the pure, eternal, soul-freezing darkness behind them…

The Abyss is destroyed, but can the wounded warriors of Order escape? What chain reactions will the final collapse of the Molten Core Domain bring? Everything hangs in the balance. Darkness once again engulfs Shen Mu's consciousness. (End of Chapter)