Chapter 452: The Uprising of the Calamity Star: Alliance and Annihilation

Time passed—half a year went by.

Now, three battleships, multiple enslaved tier-six creatures, the fully assembled Abyssal Devil under the command of the Heavenly Ruin, and over ten thousand Hellfire Mechs made up the Song Family’s formidable force.

With such power, the Song Family’s military achievements over these past six months had been nothing short of astonishing. No one else in the Joint Fleet came close to them, whether you looked at the territory they’d cleared or the number of Doomstar Race members they’d slain.

In just six months, they had single-handedly cleared out all of East-08 Zone bordering East-07. But such stellar results also triggered backlash—other factions in the Joint Fleet soon started to shun them.

Thanks to the orbital monitoring of the Fenglang Juxu Star-Annihilator-class Ship outside the upper Floating-land shield, no one dared to act recklessly, but it was clear the others had subtly teamed up to isolate the Song Family’s fleet.

Calamity Star Floating-Land, East-08 Zone, Song Family Fleet gathering point.

A high-level group chat opened up:

“Since they’re so intent on leaving us out, why should we bother trying to fit in? Let’s just act on our own!” declared Song Xingru.

“If only things were that simple,” Song Dingbang replied. “We’re operating atop a Seventh‑Tier Floating-land. If we run into a large pack of Doomstar Race, even with our million ships, we wouldn’t stand a chance!”

“Let’s contact the Progenitor. We need to handle this carefully. If anything goes wrong, our family could be wiped out for good!” added Song Tianhao.

…

After some discussion, Song Dingbang finally activated a special communication card left by Song Wujian.

Deep within the sky, the Song Family’s two dreadnoughts continued to battle. Right then, the Calm-Sea Dragon-Xiang suddenly received an encrypted transmission.

After reading the transmission, Song Wujian turned to Song Shiyuan.

“Dingbang and the others have done well. Their record these past months far outshines the rest, but that’s also led to…”

Understanding the situation, Song Shiyuan frowned.

“It really is a headache. Going it alone on the Calamity Star Floating-Land is just too risky!”

He glanced back at Song Wujian.

Compared to him, Song Wujian had a far broader network and was better equipped to come up with options under these circumstances.

But what he heard next left him surprised.

“Let them get in touch with the Morningstar Family. If our two families work together, our odds go up considerably.”

“Morningstar Family?”

Song Shiyuan didn’t hide his confusion.

But Song Wujian didn’t elaborate—he waved it off casually.

“It’s a long story. Best not to go into details now. Just don’t underestimate that old fox Rosetta from Morningstar. If all goes well, our two families might end up with even greater cooperation—maybe this one partnership will set up the Song Family for the next ten thousand years!”

Thoughtful, questions flickering in his mind, Song Shiyuan still didn’t press further. Distraction in the middle of battle was a dangerous thing.

…

“Morningstar Family?”

Back in East-08 Zone, the Song Family elders were just as baffled when the Progenitor’s reply arrived.

“If the Progenitor commands it, we’ll give it a try. He’d never order this out of the blue if things weren’t already arranged.”

Song Dingbang’s words helped everyone in the group calm down. Soon after, an elder who once led the Foreign Affairs Department reached out to the Morningstar Family.

As head of Foreign Affairs, that elder had communication links to several other Zhulu-class Captains from all five major families.

Just as Song Dingbang predicted, it seemed the two Progenitors really had some kind of deal—within minutes, the Morningstar Family agreed to join forces. Everything went smoothly.

A few days later, the Morningstar Family’s fleet left the Joint Fleet and successfully rendezvoused with the Song Family. Together, their battleships numbered over three million—more than enough to defend themselves.

With the Morningstar Family on board, they had no more reservations, and the allied fleets continued clearing the area at full speed.

Another two months flew by.

On this day, an eerie wail suddenly echoed across the Calamity Star Floating-Land from high in the sky.

The terrifying sound rocked the entire Floating-land, instantly alerting every Torch Captain and Doomstar Race member inside.

But the two groups reacted very differently.

The Torch Captains under the Yaohan Kingdom felt only dread and foreboding. Meanwhile, the Doomstar Race members seemed to be triggered en masse—their bodies erupted with steaming blood mist, a clear sign of group frenzy.

Joint Song and Morningstar Family fleet command chat:

“According to our family’s records, that was the howl of the Floating-Land Origin Will,” reported Marlon Morningstar.

The Song Family fleet was perplexed by this unfamiliar term. Still, no one dared dismiss it.

“Floating-Land Origin Will’s howl? What does that mean?” Song Xingru asked.

The Morningstar crew took it in stride.

With only three thousand years of history, the Song Family couldn’t match the Morningstar Family’s seven-thousand-year legacy or their pool of reference materials.

Marlon Morningstar went on:

“This howl, also called the Origin Will’s Final Summons, happens only when the Origin Core of a Seventh-Tier or higher Floating-Land is utterly depleted—just before the Origin Will collapses entirely. It’s the will’s final counterattack.”

“It means the Calamity Star Floating-Land’s rules will soon weaken dramatically, but these last moments are the most dangerous. Those Doomstar Race members, spurred on by the Floating-Land’s will, will stop at nothing to enter a frenzied state—burning up their own lives just to hit us with one last, devastating blow!”

“Then…”

Song Xingru wanted to ask more, but Song Dingbang and a Morningstar extreme battleship captain quickly cut in.

“Large waves of high-tier Doomstar Race are heading our way—at least four tier-six, forty tier-five, and nearly six hundred tier-four!”

Everyone in the group froze at this report.

If even a fraction of these high-tier Doomstar Race got loose inside the fleet, the cost to their kin would be unimaginable.

The top brass could always run—one jump and they’d be gone—but the average clan members couldn’t escape so easily. If casualties ran too high, their families might not survive another generation.

With that in mind, the two leadership teams acted in perfect sync.

“Here’s the plan: our two families will each take on two of the tier-six Doomstar Race. Let the rest of the fleet coordinate to block the tier-five and tier-four—sound good?” said Song Dingbang.

“Agreed!”

…

Song Family senior command channel:

“Order everyone to begin a phased, orderly retreat. Above all—don’t panic!” Song Dingbang instructed.

“As for the two tier-six Doomstar Race, Tianhao, Xingru, and I will hold them off. Chi, your job is to hold back as many tier-five enemies as possible.”

“I can handle one of the tier-six on my own…”

Song Chi didn’t make it far before Song Dingbang cut him off.

“Chi, follow orders. With the three tier-six enslaved creatures backing our three battleships, we can block two tier-six Doomstar Race, but your situation is different. You have a tier-six Abyssal Devil on your side, and you need to command its enslaved legion to intercept as many of those forty-plus tier-five as you can. Only a few Zhulu-class Cruisers in the family can take on these frenzied tier-fives, so you’re carrying a heavy load this time!”

Song Chi nodded in response.

“Understood!”

Under Song Dingbang’s orders, the Song Family’s million ships began to evacuate in coordinated waves. Behind them, thousands of Hellfire Mechs remained on the field—not just from the Song Family, but many from the Morningstar Family as well.

After all, Song Chi wasn’t the only one with full schematics for Hellfire Mechs. Ansevi had also handed them over to the Morningstar Family, who quickly built their own machines.

Though the designs differed a bit, both families’ Hellfire Mechs were roughly equal in performance. All told, the Song Family brought over fourteen thousand mechs to the Calamity Star Floating-Land, Morningstar a bit less—just over eight thousand.

But now, only five thousand Hellfire Mechs remained. Even after saving a thousand for each family’s retreating fleet, that was just seven thousand in total—a third of what they started with.

It was all down to the relentless consumption of war over the past year.

For the Song Family, the results were clear: despite their incredible victories, they’d only lost two Zhulu-class Cruisers since entering the Calamity Star Floating-Land. Why? Because their Hellfire Mechs soaked up the brunt of the fighting.

Impressive as they were at range, the mechs were hopeless in close quarters. Even a few together couldn’t handle a single tier-four Doomstar Race up close, which was why the losses had mounted so high.

Still, while clearing out the Doomstar cities, the family’s regular fleet managed to loot heaps of resources. Losses aside, their overall gains were much greater.

Facing the five thousand Hellfire Mechs holding the line behind them, the two families’ nearly three hundred Zhulu-class Captains felt a little more secure.

The approaching Doomstar Race seemed to be using some kind of spatial oddity, warping whole groups straight to the lines the leadership had set up.

No words were exchanged.

They were mortal enemies. On one side, the invaders had slaughtered their way here; on the other, defenders were burning their very lives to protect their home. Battle erupted at once.

The battleships and four tier-six Doomstar Race shot into the high sky, opening their battlefield tens of thousands of miles above.

More than forty tier-five and nearly six hundred tier-four Doomstar Race clashed with two hundred Zhulu-class Cruisers and hundreds of enslaved beasts. The five thousand Hellfire Mechs hung back, laying down supporting fire whenever they saw the chance.

Clang!

After a piercing collision of metal, the Heavenly Ruin was hurled back hundreds of thousands of meters by a tier-five Doomstar Race’s monstrous strength.

Doomstar bodies were always tough—tempered in the light of the Death Calamity Star, they might not match the Eight-Armed Serpent Demons or Star Beasts, but they weren’t far from it. Now, supercharged by the burning of their lives, their power was even more fearsome.

Even the lv69 Neutron-Star Core Armor on the Heavenly Ruin was starting to show signs of strain.

Beyond the ship’s duel with one tier-five Doomstar, the One-Eyed Troll and Flamewrath Giant were each facing off with five more. The Abyssal Devil’s enslaved army blocked ten tier-fives and dozens of tier-fours.

In other words, Song Chi alone held back more than half of the tier-five and a tenth of the tier-four Doomstar Race.

Even so, things were looking grim for the alliance.

Sure, the five thousand Hellfire Mechs were helping, but the crucial point was that these Doomstar Race fighters were bolstered both by the land’s rules and by the frenzy burning in their veins. With that double boost, each had reached the very limits of their current level.

That meant the alliance now faced close to six hundred ‘half-step’ tier-fives, forty ‘half-step’ tier-sixes, and four ‘half-step’ tier-seven Doomstar Race—all attacking with suicidal fury.

Given that, being on the back foot was perfectly reasonable.

Song Chi’s worry was mounting. Several Zhulu-class Cruisers were heavily damaged now. Any further and the tide would turn against them completely.

Whoosh!

A faint ripple of energy burst out from the Heavenly Ruin, spreading into a gigantic time barrier covering a hundred thousand kilometers.

Inside, nearly everything slowed—time crawled to a tenth of its normal speed. The exception was the Heavenly Ruin itself, its enslaved horde, and about a dozen of the Song Family’s most powerful Zhulu-class Cruisers.

These dozen Cruisers had been synced into the time domain using the Neutron Link feature, effectively marking them as allies.

Watching as all the Doomstar Race around him slowed tenfold, Song Chi quickly spoke in the group chat:

“The domain only lasts half an hour. Elders—give it everything you’ve got!”

Hearing his call, over a dozen elders led by Song Tianshu and Song Tianmang nodded and immediately launched all-out attacks on the slowed Doomstar Race.

Song Chi also quickly activated every attack system on his ship that wasn’t cooling down.

But he didn’t stop there—his eyes flicked to the side, locking onto the Sky-Domain AI system panel.

“Activating full-auto drone AI!”

Without a hint of hesitation, he triggered a feature that had never before been used in actual combat.

Hiss—

The airtight doors on the Heavenly Ruin slid open. With everything around them crawling in slow motion, a stream of mini Hellfire Mechs shot out of the ship’s bay.

The moment they cleared the hull, their ‘miniature’ forms vanished, revealing a thousand Hellfire Mechs, each a hundred meters tall, hovering in perfect formation around the Heavenly Ruin.

Beep!

Even unmanned, the mechs controlled by the Sky-Domain drone AI weren’t affected at all. Remotely operated from the Heavenly Ruin, they immediately loaded their shoulder-mounted gun racks.

Two thousand tier-four cannons plus the mechs’ unique nuclear ray guns—three thousand heavy turrets total—all rotated, aimed, and unleashed a hail of destruction at over twenty tier-five Doomstar Race the moment the AI gave the command.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

In that instant, the entire sky around the Heavenly Ruin was transformed into a sea of energy beams.

But even that didn’t seal the deal. Normal tier-four firepower just wasn’t enough to finish off these fifty-some tier-five Doomstar Race, now powered up to half-step tier-six.

Right at that moment, forty-two ‘Quantum Swordlight Avatars’ materialized at the Heavenly Ruin’s prow, roaring as they shot toward the twenty-odd tier-five enemies.

Song Chi poured all his remaining black hole energy—just under a thousand points—into the Black Hole Evolution Layer. Each Quantum Swordlight Avatar was imbued with 23 points of that energy, which meant anyone struck would face catastrophic spatial collapse.

Quantum swordlights flashed, their edge and killing intent slicing in all directions.

The Doomstar Race howled in pain. In a single salvo, sixteen of the twenty-six assembled tier-five Doomstar Race fell. The last ten didn’t last long, either, with the barrage from a thousand Hellfire Mechs pouring down on them.

With all the tier-five threats eliminated, Song Chi directed the Sky-Domain AI to have the mechs shift fire to the tier-four Doomstar Race.

Relentless assault by the thousand mechs continued for thirty minutes, right up until the Samsara Time Domain finally faded. By then, Song Chi and a dozen clan elders had brought down more than two hundred Doomstar Race.

Nearly thirty among them were tier-fives.

Put simply, Song Chi alone had wiped out more than half the fighting strength of their entire enemy host.

As time snapped back to normal, awestruck looks swept through not just the Song Family elders, but more than a hundred Morningstar Zhulu-class Captains too. All eyes were on the Heavenly Ruin—shock and admiration plain on every face.

Song Chi’s performance had, without exaggeration, turned the tide of the entire battle single-handedly.