Chapter 614: Battle of Betrayals

It’s all a misunderstanding! Something’s definitely off here!

“Kulman! Let’s hold off on further fighting and talk…”

Boom!!!

Attack!!

Loud explosions and roaring winds soon drowned out Yamamoto’s furious shout.

After unpredictable lightning bolts sliced through the battlefield, Yamamoto’s heart lifted for a moment—only to then plunge into despair.

Out of nowhere, seven or eight Peak Third-Stage fighters burst onto the scene, and in the chaos he couldn’t tell one from another. His head felt like it was about to explode!

Damn it! What’s going on here? Who’s plotting against them—or is it a mutual ambush?!

Good heavens! With two battle zones launching their assault on the Japanese Battle Zone simultaneously, Yamamoto felt the pressure mounting. It wasn’t just about gaining an advantage anymore; their very survival was in doubt.

Suspecting someone was setting him up, he decided to call a halt to the melee!

He believed the other battle zones had noticed the same.

But…

Bang bang bang! Boom!

All sorts of spirit energy skills bombarded the area like a barrage of missiles.

The elusive Agility Type was swamped by dozens of elemental strikes, guided by psychic power—control techniques in shades of black, cyan, and blue interwove chaotically.

Once Yenir took command of the Awakeners across the three battle zones and rejoined the fray, the chaos on the battlefield skyrocketed.

Every side, sensing something was terribly wrong, hesitated to stop.

Yet in such utter chaos, no one dared pause.

Who knew that stopping might mean their own death? Everywhere, frenzied Peak Third-Stage fighters raged on!

Meanwhile, the Indian Battle Flag Awakeners—among the first and most vigilant—stood dumbfounded, secretly relieved as they watched chaos engulf all battle zones.

Skyscrapers crumbled and the earth itself collapsed.

The clamor of hundreds of Third-Stage battles had long drawn the attention of a massive tide of corpses in the city.

Yet in this terrifying fight, where concrete and steel melted into molten metal, even the lowest-level corpse tide was shattered at the battlefield’s edge, collapsing like mashed meat.

“Captain! Who do we attack?!”

“What’s really going on?!”

Everyone huddled behind defensive shields. As was typical of the zone, the Awakeners of the Indian Battle Zone excelled at stacking combat power.

In a space no larger than a car, nearly a hundred Third-Stage fighters pressed together, their shields forming a makeshift turtle shell overhead.

They held back their attacks, and the other battle zones had no time to worry about them.

“Attack? Not a chance!”

“This is clearly fishy! Join in—do you want to die or do I?!”

“Hold on, let’s wait until the battle’s outcome is clear before we swoop in for the kill!”

They were both excited and wary.

Arhan’s expression wavered as he desperately scanned for any suspicious targets.

He’s no fool, and none of them were idiots either.

So many battle zones converging here and suddenly clashing—it was obvious someone was pulling the strings behind the scenes!

Yet he couldn’t fathom which zone had the power to manipulate them so completely!

Neither they nor the Central Asian Battle Zone seemed capable. West Asia might have been better organized, but after a fatal sneak attack by the Japanese Battle Zone, they hardly looked like the puppet masters!

South Korea, Southeast Asia, Huaguo, Vietnam…

These four zones were the strangest—but logically, none of them could be the puppet master!

As for the Japanese Battle Zone…

Arhan, still trembling, glanced at Yamamoto, who was relentlessly pursued by countless foes.

This Peak Third-Stage fighter, known for his speed and assassination skills, was now being bombarded like a rat by waves of Third-Stage attackers.

Through the spray of blood and fading silhouettes, he instantly realized that Yamamoto Ichiro wouldn’t last much longer.

The situation in the entire Japanese Battle Zone was even grimmer.

Perhaps in one-on-one combat the Japanese Battle Zone might hold an advantage, unleashing massive threats with their ultra-fast moves and lethal strikes.

But what do assassins fear most? Being outnumbered!

Under a relentless spirit energy barrage, the area around the Japanese Battle Zone had been blasted into a crater a hundred meters wide.

The rocky terrain had been in a constant state of melting, resembling a nuclear crater.

By now, the Japanese Battle Zone had suffered the most casualties—at least a third of its Peak Third-Stage fighters were gone!

“Who exactly is the puppet master? Or could it all just be a coincidence?!”

Just as Arhan was desperately pondering who could wield such terrifying power, Yamamoto Ichiro—within the nearly collapsing Japanese Battle Zone—shed all pretenses.

In that moment, he completely disregarded national rankings and, with a cry of despair, surrendered to the nearest Central Asian Battle Zone.

“We surrender! We give up!!!”

“Stop this! This is definitely a conspiracy! Someone is deliberately pitting us against one another!”

“If we continue like this, disaster is inevitable!”

Realizing his only options were either to forsake all Third-Stage Advanced fighters in a bid for escape or to surrender immediately, Yamamoto decisively chose to surrender.

He knew that in a national war, surrender offered little hope—but he refused to die in such unbearable misery!

What war traps you like this? Who gets cornered by four or five nations at once?!

Among his attackers, he faced not only Central Asian close-combat specialists and West Asia’s elemental controllers, but also fighters from Vietnam and Southeast Asia!

He immediately recognized the remaining fighter, Park Chan-eun, as Korean!

How can they possibly win?! Any delay by even a few seconds spells death!

Perhaps Yamamoto’s surrender granted everyone a brief moment of calm.

In a national war, they feared that if one side paused, they’d be the ones left vulnerable.

But after Yamamoto gave up and watched helplessly as seven or eight of his own zone’s Awakeners were wiped out in an instant, the captains of the battle zones agreed to a temporary ceasefire.

They clearly understood Yamamoto’s message.

This melee was undeniably fishy!

Sure enough, once everyone halted their attacks, Yamamoto—gasping and nearly hoarse—hurriedly voiced his suspicion.

“Everyone! I’ve been deceived! I never meant to attack you—I was after the Huaguo People!”

“Compare notes! When we do, we’ll figure out who’s been pulling the strings behind this mess!”

As Yamamoto was the first to cast doubt, Awakeners from every battle zone stood stunned, then turned to eye one another in disbelief.

Damn it, it seems they all gathered because of that very message!

Noticing the shocked expressions on every face, Yamamoto suddenly paused, then swept his gaze across the crowd in utter disbelief.

Covering his arm, he blurted out as if possessed by a ghost.

“It was all because of the Huaguo People?!”

“Wait a minute! The Chinese score hasn’t changed at all!!!”

“They aren’t even here!”

As soon as the words fell, the entire scene was struck with horror and stunned silence.

Every fighter, all Third-Stage with lightning-fast reactions, immediately understood what Yamamoto was trying to say.

If all the anomalies point to the most unlikely possibility…

Then that must be the truth!

“Damn it! The Chinese are behind this chaos!!”

“Everyone! Be careful…”

Despite his own disbelief, Yamamoto intended to rally the battle zones into pausing and assessing the situation.

Meanwhile, Yenir—who had been silently calculating the energy of the Evil God Ritual—suddenly broke into a smile.

Alright, I’ve been found out…

Then, so be it.

“That’s right—it was me.”

BOOM!!!

In an instant, amidst the ruins overhead, Yenir—enshrouded in a towering crimson glow—suddenly materialized in midair.

He let out a light laugh as he gazed down at the entire scene with detached indifference.