Chapter 453: Turning the Tide Under Bloodied Skies

The shock was huge, but the battle pressed on. Most of the Doomstar Race had been wiped out, yet over three hundred still remained. Clearing them all out would take a lot more effort.

But Song Chi didn’t dwell on that. He pushed the Heavenly Ruin upward at full speed, heading straight for the thick of the battle high above.

There, the elders from both families weren’t facing ordinary sixth-tier Doomstar creatures but four terrifying half–seventh-tier monsters. Even a single mistake—a self-detonation from one—would spell catastrophe.

Boom!

As the Heavenly Ruin climbed, a thunderous boom shook the skies in the distance. Even separated by billions of kilometers, the ensuing energy storm was visible to the naked eye.

Seeing this, Song Chi’s heart squeezed tighter. No surprise—this must have been the aftershock of a self-detonation by a half–seventh-tier Doomstar beast.

Thankfully, the explosion wasn’t near his own forces or the Morningstar Family. It came from a far-off battlefield.

“I just hope the kingdom fleet over there didn’t suffer too badly…”

He muttered, still guessing at the outcome. His gut told him things probably weren’t looking good.

Even from such a distance, the shockwaves were strong. The kingdom fleets at the epicenter must have suffered unimaginably under that blast.

Shaking his head, Song Chi forced the thought aside and pushed the Heavenly Ruin to go even faster.

Why was he pushing so hard to reach the upper battlefield?

Simple. He was terrified that their own elders might fall victim to a similar disaster.

Along the way, more explosions rang out in every direction. If you looked down from outside the island’s shield, you’d see massive mushroom clouds rising all across the Calamity Star Floating-Land—each one marking where a sixth-tier or half–seventh-tier Doomstar went out in a blaze of self-destruction.

Some Doomstars blew themselves up with their own flesh while others detonated after unleashing the Deathstar Projection. Whatever the method, each blast brought devastating losses.

Outside the floating-land’s shield hovered the Star‑Annihilator-class Ship Fenglang Juxu.

Liu Shu, the Liu Royal Family’s patriarch and a veteran starship captain of tens of thousands of years, looked on with a calm expression.

For someone who had walked through battlefields piled high with corpses, scenes like this barely moved him.

War for new territory always comes with risks—and rewards.

His attention was focused solely on the battlefield closest to the floating-land’s shield.

Two Star‑Annihilator-class ships, two Doomstar rulers, plus a Silver-scaled Chi Dragon—

Just like on the ground below, the battle was anything but in their favor, even with the numbers at three to two.

The firepower of these warships was immense. With the inaugural commanders of Beiqiong and Dongli at the helm, their strength matched the peak of seventh-tier rulers. But the origin core rules of a seventh-tier Floating-land were overwhelming.

A Floating-land is thousands of times larger than any warship or beast. With that kind of scale, trying to overcome the floating-land’s own rules was next to impossible.

That’s why the two Star‑Annihilator-class ships and the Silver-scaled Chi Dragon gained no ground. The only chance was to wait for the Floating-land’s will to crumble. Only then could Fenglang Juxu break free and secure victory.

…

“Xingru, Auntie, Tianhao—get ready to pull back! Both of these monsters look like they’re about to blow!”

High above, Song Dingbang’s urgent warning came through the Song Family’s battleship group chat.

Song Xingru and Song Tianhao didn’t hesitate—they rushed to activate the blink modules aboard their warships. In a crisis like this, there was no time to recall their enslaved beasts, leaving their faces grim.

After all, those sixth-tier beasts weren’t just any creatures—they were rare dragons and cosmic juggernauts. If they died in a self-detonation, it would be a huge loss for their owners.

Just then, the Heavenly Ruin roared up from below.

As soon as it came into comms range, Song Chi’s voice piped up over the group chat.

“No need to retreat! I can stop them—just like last time!”

“Chi, there are two of them this time. Stopping one won’t help—even a single half–seventh-tier’s explosion would wipe us out! Our ships can’t take that kind of hit!”

Song Dingbang shook his head. Song Chi had managed to lock down a sixth-tier Doomstar once, but that was only one at a time. A time-stopping power that fierce couldn’t be unleashed twice in rapid succession.

“Trust me, Grandpa! I wouldn’t joke about the family’s safety. Charge your weapons for maximum output—I can only hold them for a short time. If you can’t finish them before I lose my grip, then we’ll withdraw!”

He glanced up. Both Doomstars above, blazing with the aura of half–seventh-tier power, had nearly maxed out their Deathstar Projections. Without another word, Song Chi sprang into action.

For the first time, he activated the Zen Seal: External Time Stop. A ghostly light burst from the Heavenly Ruin, impossibly fast, piercing into the leftmost Doomstar beast.

Instantly, the creature froze as if bound by some immovable spell. Even the Deathstar Projection above its head stopped, locked in mid-expansion.

But in that same instant, the Doomstar on the right didn’t pause at all—its projection swelled to the brink of explosion.

“Chi, now!”

Tianhao’s shout echoed in the chat—not out of panic but because things were so urgent he couldn’t help himself.

But Song Chi was already moving faster than anyone could call for.

He activated the Pusa Zen Seal again—this time with the Internal Time Acceleration feature. That delayed the cooldown on the External Time Stop just enough for Song Chi to trigger it a second time without hesitation.

A second pulse of light shot out, and the other Doomstar beast froze, just like the first.

“Grandpa, do it now!”

Song Chi’s shout filled the group chat.

Meanwhile, the Heavenly Ruin’s main and secondary guns couldn’t do much—they had already burned through their attack boosts.

But the three elders didn’t disappoint. Knowing how dire the situation was, they attacked without holding back.

Sure, they could’ve used blink modules to escape, then banked on their starship armor to tank the explosion’s shockwave.

But the people below couldn’t.

Don’t forget, this battle had dragged on over forty minutes. With a fleet of over a million, how far could they really retreat in that time?

If even one half–seventh-tier Doomstar managed to blow itself up, it would still deal horrific damage to the clan below.

That was why Xingru and the others pulled out every trump card they had.

Song Dingbang even unleashed the ultimate family artifact left by Song Wujian himself.

Sub-Star Annihilator’s Wrath, Level 60.

Rarity: Silver.

Unique ability: Mimic—Sub-Star Annihilator’s Wrath.

Cost: 500,000 units of ether energy per shot.

Effect: When activated, a designated turret transforms into a Sub‑Star-Annihilator Cannon. The next ten standard blasts will each carry a tenth of the full silver-class Star‑Annihilator Cannon’s might. For those ten volleys, each shot has a 60-second charge and cooldown.

Cooldown: ten years.

…

{Mimic—Sub-Star Annihilator’s Wrath: The next attack after activation will wield a third of the power of a full silver-class Star‑Annihilator Cannon with its attack mode engaged, but the turret will revert to normal form immediately afterward.}

It might seem underwhelming—a silver module with only one function and usable just once per decade—but it had always stood as one of the Song Family’s ultimate secret weapons.

Used at the right time, it unleashed a single strike worth a third of the silver-class Star‑Annihilator Cannon’s true power. Its threat was obvious.

Sure enough, as Song Chi watched in shock, Song Dingbang’s shot obliterated one half–seventh-tier Doomstar beast in a single blast.

“A one-shot kill?”

Song Chi’s eyes narrowed. Even with the Heavenly Ruin vastly outclassing ordinary ships—and after everything he’d seen in decades of frontier war—this attack stunned him.

But there was no time to linger. Yes, they’d killed one—there was still another left.

Luckily, all went as hoped. With Xingru and Tianhao attacking at full force, backed up by three sixth-tier beast slaves, they took down the remaining Doomstar quickly.

“Whew!”

In the group chat, the four exchanged glances and let out a long, relieved breath. Grins spread wide across their faces.

This fight had been deadly, but where there was total trust, there was victory. For them—and for the whole clan—this was a moment worth celebrating.

Working together, they used shrink modules to stow the two sixth-tier Doomstar corpses aboard their ships before turning their gaze to the Morningstar Family’s battlefield, a million miles away.

The Morningstar side had far more battleships—one ultimate battleship, four more in reserve or regular configurations, and a larger stable of sixth-tier slave beasts.

As expected, the two Doomstars that burned their own lives for temporary half–seventh-tier power barely made a ripple against the Morningstar team. Their battle ended even faster than Song Family’s.

But when the Morningstar commanders realized Song Family had also cleared out two Doomstars without injury, the surprise in their eyes was clear.

Once regrouped, there was a brief exchange between the groups, then they swooped down to join the fights still raging below.

With several battleships and sixth-tier slaves joining in, the battle soon turned. Before long, every last Doomstar was taken out.

Only then did the fifth-tier elders of both families hear word of Song Chi’s actions. The news that he’d nearly wiped out most of the fourth- and fifth-tier Doomstars single-handedly left the other ship captains just as astonished.

“No doubt about it, Chi did the most for us in this battle. We’ll report this to the elders—the family won’t hold back on rewards—”

But before Song Dingbang could finish, a familiar mournful wail echoed from the depths of the sky.

Every Torch Captain on the Calamity Star Floating-Land’s surface looked up sharply, faces dark as they stared into the heavens.

“Damn it, that can’t be the Floating-land’s origin will howling again, can it? Wasn’t it supposed to be on its last legs, about to disperse?”

In the Song Family’s high-command chat, Xingru’s fiery voice was first to ring out.

The sudden howl matched the previous one all too closely. No wonder she was furious—the Morningstar side had sworn the floating-land’s will was about to fail. If another surge was coming, it’d clearly break those promises.

Before Xingru could explode again, Song Dingbang quickly shook his head.

“No, this isn’t the origin will! Haven’t you noticed the force pressing on our ships is starting to ease up?”

That caught everyone’s attention. Sure enough, the pressure that had limited their starship maneuvers was steadily fading.

It wasn’t dramatic, but the weakening was constant.

“If I’m right, that was the Floating-land’s origin will fully dispersing just now.”

The Floating-land’s will—completely gone?

At that, cheers broke out in the group chat. One member typed quickly:

“If the Floating-land’s will really is finished, then the shield’s power must also have dropped. Shouldn’t Fenglang Juxu be able to safely enter the Floating-land now?”

“With the rules weakened and a veteran Star-Annihilator-class ship joining in, does that mean the war for Calamity Star Floating-Land is as good as won?”

…

It wasn’t just the Song Family—the entire Torch fleet inside the Floating-land broke into frenzied chatter. And as the news spread, captains all over craned their necks, peering through clouds in hopes of glimpsing the rulers’ battle above.

But those clouds above the Calamity Star Floating-Land were thick—no way anyone would see through them easily.

Just then, Song Chi retracted his almost tangible Dual Pupils’ vision and spoke quickly into the chat.

“Something’s up with my sister—I have to go check on her.”

A ripple of spatial energy flickered across the Heavenly Ruin. By the time the Zhulu captains around him realized, the warship had already vanished.

It hadn’t been gone long before, up in the heights of the sky, sudden upheaval struck. The battle shifted even faster than anyone dared expect.

Woooooooo!

As a hurricane howled, a blood rain poured over the entire Calamity Star Floating-Land. Before most of the Torch Captains could even react, the heavy clouds overhead were ripped apart. Silver-tinged blood came crashing down, along with fist-sized chunks of flesh marked with raw origin runes.

Only then did the crowd finally realize what was happening.

One Torch Captain’s eyes blazed with red as he roared,

“Silver blood—that’s ruler-tier blood! All those chunks of flesh, that means a Doomstar ruler just died!”

His shout woke a greedy fire in the hearts of many—but precious few actually dared to make a move.

Can you blame them? The only contenders for loot like this were ultimate battleship captains. Who’d risk it without the strength to back it up?