Chapter 5: Lone Charge into Battle: A Grueling Advance

The "Hegemony" sword in Hefeng's hand was no longer a mere weapon; it was an extension of his will, the very eye of the storm.

Every swing unleashed a cold, ghostly arc—precise, efficient, and lethal. Where the blade passed, there was no parrying, no grappling, only the most concise form of death.

A female angel squad leader, her eyes burning with the fire of vengeance, utilized the cover of her comrades to launch a sudden assault from Hefeng’s blind spot. Her Flame Sword shrieked as it thrust toward his left flank, the tip stopping less than an inch from his Sura-silver armor.

Hefeng did not even turn his head.

His body slid sideways with a subtlety that seemed to anticipate the future. The lethal crimson light grazed the texture of his armor, the intense heat causing the metal to flush a dull, dark red. Simultaneously, his right wrist—holding his own sword—pressed down and flicked upward at an angle that defied the laws of anatomy.

"Squelch!"

The tip of the "Hegemony" sword struck like a viper’s tongue, piercing with surgical precision through the unprotected throat of the squad leader and erupting from the back of her neck.

The fire in her eyes extinguished instantly, leaving behind only frozen shock. Her body, propelled by the immense force of the sword, was flung backward, crashing into two of her comrades and knocking them down in a heap.

Two other angel warriors seized the minute opening left by Hefeng’s strike. From left and right, their Flame Swords slashed simultaneously toward his sword-arm and the knee of his supporting leg. Their coordination was seamless, the timing devious.

Hefeng’s right arm retracted along a path that seemed pre-calculated. He slammed his elbow backward with a thunderous "clang," hitting the spine of the sword attacking from the left. The sheer force shattered the warrior’s grip, sending her weapon flying.

Simultaneously, he lifted his supporting left leg like a bolt of lightning, the hard Sura-silver boot slamming heavily into the abdomen of the angel on his right.

"Urgh!"

The warrior on the left lost her weapon and her balance; the one on the right was sent flying backward, vomiting blood as if struck by a giant hammer.

Hefeng retracted his leg, pivoted, and let the "Hegemony" carve a perfect semicircle.

*Swish! Swish!*

Two heads, filled with lingering resentment and agony, soared into the sky.

Without pause, he shifted like a phantom to evade a sword strike diving from above, then countered with an upward slash that cut the attacker and her blade into two. His movements were fluid, his efficiency in slaughter breath-taking.

New scorch marks appeared on his Sura-silver armor, and a shallow white dot marred one of his pauldrons, but no attack could truly breach his defense. He was like an unceasing, precision killing machine, swimming upstream against the raging tide of angel warriors, carving a path of flesh and blood for the Second Legion.

Wherever he passed, severed limbs mixed with burning white feathers to form a tapestry of hell.

"Keep up with the General! Maintain the arrowhead formation!" Ren, covered in blood and armor scarred by countless Flame Sword strikes, remained anchored to Hefeng’s flank like a jagged reef, roaring until his voice cracked. He parried a blade aimed at Hefeng’s back with his alloy sword and decapitated the attacker in one fluid motion.

The soldiers of the Second Legion witnessed their commander’s near-inhuman combat prowess, and their fear was replaced by a fanatical fervor. They roared, following the invincible silver figure, frantically widening the breach Hefeng had torn open.

The flow of silver Sura-armor and the white tide of angels collided, compressed, and slaughtered one another. Led by Hefeng—the indestructible blade—the tip of the "arrowhead" pierced deep into the meticulously woven defense of the angels, pushing relentlessly toward the *Tianren*.

Every inch of progress was soaked in the blood of both sides.

***

*Tianren* Bridge

Upon the throne, Keisha’s silver-gauntleted fingers dug deep into the hard armrests. Her icy, sapphire eyes were locked onto the heart of the holographic star map—that silver arrowhead frantically tearing through the ambush, especially the glaring red signal point at its tip representing Hefeng.

"Report! The tip of the Second Legion’s arrowhead has breached our inner defense perimeter! Distance to the *Tianren*: 0.5 standard combat units! Its assault speed... shows no significant decay!" The adjutant’s voice held a trace of imperceptible tremor. Hefeng’s personal combat power had exceeded the limit of every pre-battle simulation.

"Casualty ratio!" Keisha’s voice was like clashing ice, devoid of emotion.

"Initial... initial statistics from the contact zone... the casualty ratio is... nearing 1:10!" The communications officer’s voice was strained.

This meant for every one soldier of the Second Legion who fell, ten angel warriors perished. This horrific attrition was caused almost entirely by Hefeng and his elite guard.

A deathly silence filled the bridge. 1:10! This cold number struck the heart of every angel officer like a hammer. They were the ambushers, possessing an absolute numerical advantage and the home-field advantage, yet they were paying such a tragic price before one man and his isolated army.

Keisha’s gaze swept across the map. While the signal cluster of Hefeng’s Second Legion was sharp, the dense, star-like white dots of the angel reinforcements were swarming from all directions toward the "wound." Like white blood cells, they threw themselves wave after wave at the lethal virus.

She saw it. The advancement speed of the silver arrowhead was slowing at a visible rate under the frantic "healing" of the countless white dots.

It was like a charging rhino stuck in a bottomless mire. Every hoofbeat kicked up a spray of blood and mud, but its momentum was inevitably being delayed and consumed.

A cold, extreme arc touched the corner of Keisha’s lips. "Hefeng, you are flesh and blood after all, not an impossible god!"

"No matter how sharp your sword is, can you cut down three million of my sisters?"

"Orders!" Keisha’s voice suddenly rose, filled with unquestionable decisiveness, echoing throughout the bridge. "Third, Fourth, and Seventh formations of the 'Divine Barrier'!"

"Abandon the outer perimeter! Press in with everything! Target—Hefeng! Surround him and kill him! Spare no cost!"

The words "spare no cost" rang out like a funeral knell. It meant using the lives of angel warriors to pile up, to fill the gaps, to exhaust Hefeng and his elite force.

"The forces of the Heavenly King (Liangbing)! Accelerate pressure on Hua Ye’s *Tiangong*! I want to see the *Tiangong*’s shields collapse within ten minutes!"

Keisha’s gaze shifted to the other side of the map, the core area where Hua Ye was located. Resistance there was chaotic, but they were still holding on, relying on their vast numbers and the *Tiangong*’s own defenses.

"Yes!" The order was relayed instantly.

***

Nühai Battlefield, Core Killing Zone

"General! Resistance is doubling!"

"Pressure on the left and right flanks is spiking!"

Ren’s voice echoed in Hefeng’s private channel, accompanied by heavy panting and the clatter of metal. He had just parried three simultaneous thrusts and cleaved one attacker down, only to have a fourth angel’s blade graze his ribs. His Sura-silver armor emitted a screeching sound of friction, leaving a deep, scorched mark with blood seeping from beneath.

Hefeng did not respond.

The "Hegemony" in his hand had just bisected an angel veteran who had strapped herself with anti-matter explosives in a desperate attempt to stall him. The shockwave of the blast made him stagger slightly.

He felt it clearly: the pressure surging from all directions was like a tangible tide, becoming several times heavier in an instant.

*So tired...*

Within his field of vision, the attacks were no longer disorganized. The angels' formation had changed. They were no longer obsessed with hitting the entire arrowhead of the Second Legion; they acted like a well-trained pack of wolves, beginning to isolate and surround them. Hundreds, thousands of angel warriors were forming small, resilient triangular or diamond-shaped assault groups.

They had completely abandoned defense, suicidally throwing themselves at Hefeng and his core guard. The goal was singular: delay him, consume him. Even if it cost ten or twenty lives, they would trade them for a moment’s pause in his advance, for one more scar upon his body.

"For freedom! For our sisters! Kill—!!!"

The deafening shouts were no longer scattered cries, but a war song with a tragic melody. Countless angel warriors, eyes bloodshot like moths to a flame, surged forward to crash into the fiercest fire of destruction—Hefeng.

*Slash!*

A Flame Sword grazed the top of Hefeng’s head; the searing heat instantly curled a lock of his black hair. He backhanded his blade, piercing the attacker’s heart, and pivoted to dodge two intersecting slashes. His movements remained precise, but the space for evasion was being frantically squeezed by countless fearless figures.

*Puff!*

A devious blade thrust from a blind spot below. Though Hefeng lifted his knee to block—sparks flying with a loud "clang"—the massive impact and scorching heat caused his Sura-silver armor at the knee to emit a groan of protest, denting slightly.

A sharp, piercing pain surged through him!

Though his defense held, the force caused his movement to stall for the first time. A 0.1-second opening!

"The chance!!"

At least five angel veterans nearby saw the glint of desperation in their eyes. Like sharks smelling blood, five burning Flame Swords locked down all possible evasion paths from five different angles and thrust forward!

The tips were aimed at joints, the throat, and the seams of his visor!

There was no escape!

"General!!!" Ren’s eyes were bloodshot, and he tried to rush over despite everything, only to be swarmed by more angels.

In Hefeng’s frozen gaze, a hint of gravity flashed for the first time. But he did not panic!

His body exploded with incredible flexibility and power! He leaned back to his limit, his upper body becoming almost parallel to the ground, narrowly allowing three blades aimed at his chest to slide past his nose and chest plate by a hair’s breadth.

At the same time, his left hand shot out like lightning, fingers hooked, and with a shrill whistle that tore the air, he grabbed the blade of a Flame Sword aimed at his throat with absolute precision!

*Sss—!*

The terrifying heat instantly burned through the protective glove on his hand, and the pungent smell of scorched flesh permeated the air.

The pain was agonizing!

But Hefeng’s hand, like an iron vice, held on tight! The angel warrior was terrified, pulling back with all her might, but the blade did not budge.

In that split second, the final Flame Sword, accompanied by the frantic scream of an angel warrior, thrust toward his flank—the area with the weakest armor protection, now exposed by his extreme lean.

"Die!!!"

A sharp glint flashed in Hefeng’s eyes! His left hand, ignoring the searing pain, yanked the gripped sword toward his side!

The angel holding the sword was caught off guard and stumbled forward from the immense force!

*Squelch!*

The Flame Sword aimed at his ribs plunged deep—without resistance—into the back of the angel warrior Hefeng had pulled in to serve as a human shield! It pierced through her body! Hot, steaming blood sprayed across half of Hefeng’s body.

The angel, killed by her own comrade, stared with disbelief and agony before her body went limp.

Using the confusion and the obstruction created by the moment, Hefeng sprang up like a coiled spring!

His right hand, the "Hegemony" blade carrying pent-up fury and cold murderous intent, carved an invisible, dark arc!

*Swish! Swish! Swish!*

Five heads, filled with shock, resentment, and anger, were nearly severed and shattered all at once!

Trading wounds for lives! Using the enemy against the enemy! It was cold, efficient, and cruel enough to chill the soul.