From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars.

Chapter 814 Final Return

The ground of the Royal Court Avenue cracked inch by inch in the violent tremors. Under the stimulation of Prince Valerius's spiritual power, a torrent of smoke, dust and rubble obscured the sky and swept madly towards where Amber was.

However, facing the most powerful psychic she had ever encountered alone, Amber did not feel the slightest fear.

Because in a duel between high-level psychics, the state of mind is often more critical than strength itself, and the slightest hesitation may lead to defeat.

A legendary figure once said, “The heart that believes is the magic.”

And self-confidence is a psychic's sharpest weapon.

So what really made Amber frown at this moment was not the devastating attack in front of her, but the identity of the attacker.

Prince Valerius.

The name finally became clear as the memories of his past life deep in his mind were frantically mobilized.

The younger brother of the Phoenix King, one of the most noble royal family members in the Thousand Star Empire
In the previous game, when players opened the map of the Thousand Star Empire and entered the main quest chain about the elves, this handsome elf who looked like Orlando Bloom was also the main quest issuer in the whole process.

The attractive appearance for both men and women, powerful strength, noble status, outstanding performance in the plot, and of course generous mission rewards.

These factors combined have made Prince Valerius a popular NPC in the game, and he has been ranked in the top three in the "Vanilla List" of "Starry Sky OL" for many years.
So when Saleh risked her life to send back a warning mentioning the existence of a traitor in the Thousand Star Empire, and even when the Queen and those assassins suddenly attacked the Phoenix King, Amber never thought that the Phoenix King's own brother would be involved.

Because this means that it is no longer a simple infiltration, but a big problem in the entire empire. Otherwise, how could the Phoenix King's most trusted loved ones and blood relatives raise their butcher knives against him?

These thoughts flashed through Amber's mind like lightning, but in the outside world, it was just a moment.

In the sight of Natalia, Agnes and others, Prince Valerius in the air simply raised his hand contemptuously, and the entire Royal Court Avenue that carried the glory of the elves for tens of thousands of years turned into his weapon.

Countless boulders, statue debris, and stone tiles were torn and twisted by an invisible force, gathering into tornadoes of death that screamed through the air and completely engulfed Amber.

boom--!
The deafening roar almost tore everyone's eardrums apart. The violent shock wave blew away everything around. Even the heavy power armor of the company of imperial guards that formed the shield wall was pushed back several meters, plowing deep grooves on the ground.

The smoke and dust filled the air, covering everything.

Prince Valerius was still suspended above the archway, his dark golden armor emitting a cold psychic glow, like a god judging the world.

He seemed very satisfied with his masterpiece, and the cruel smile at the corner of his mouth became more and more obvious.

And Amber didn't fight back.

In that devastating attack, no one saw any flashes of blue lightning, nor did they feel any energy fluctuations to resist.

Agnes' heart seemed to be gripped by an icy hand. She took a step forward subconsciously, her lips trembling slightly.

She didn't dare to think about the worst outcome. Could it be that Amber, whom she had always regarded as her best partner and partner, was so helpless?
Isabel beside her was looking calmly at the smoke ahead.

After spending a long time together and the last battle with the Star Dragon, she had an almost pathological confidence in Amber. She believed that even this terrible enemy in front of her could not defeat Amber.

What's more, Amber had told her a 'law' many times.

That is, there is smoke but no harm.

The next second, a sharp sonic boom tore through the noise of the battlefield!
Without waiting for anyone to react, a blurry black shadow, like a cannonball, broke through the air from the core of the billowing smoke and dust!

The black shadow rushed straight towards Prince Valerius on the archway at a speed that was almost instantaneous, in the blink of an eye!
This sudden change instantly froze the arrogance on Prince Valerius' face. He instinctively formed a psychic barrier in front of him, but the speed of the black shadow was too fast, so fast that it exceeded the limit of his reaction.

boom! ! !
With a dull sound like a battering ram hitting a city gate, the black shadow accurately hit Prince Valerius in the chest.

The psychic barrier shattered like glass in the violent impact, the dark golden psychic armor dented, and countless fine cracks spread like a spider web.

Prince Valerius uttered a muffled groan, and flew backwards like a kite with a broken string, crashing into a tall spire behind him.

As the smoke and dust dissipated, Amber's figure appeared. He was floating in the air, surrounded by wisps of blue psychic lightning.

He seized the moment when the opponent underestimated him and compressed the pure psychic energy into one point. In the simplest and most brutal physical way, he broke the elves' "stereotype" that high-level psychics should fight each other elegantly.

The "Prince's Tactics" can only be used to suppress opponents who are far inferior to you in strength. When your enemy is similar in strength to you, the most efficient means of attack is to concentrate your strength on one point for a close-range attack.

Prince Valerius struggled to get up from the ruins, and for the first time, an expression of mixed pain and rage appeared on his handsome face, but before he could regroup, Amber's figure had disappeared again.

The rhythm of the battle was forced into a bloody close combat at this moment.

The battle between the two high-level psychics broke out completely. They turned into two entangled streams of light and shuttled frantically throughout the entire royal court complex.

Whether it was the visual vision of Agnes and others, or the sensors of the Imperial Guards and HCP, it was difficult to capture the figures of the two people. All everyone could hear were bursts of sonic booms coming from the building complex from time to time.

This was the first time Amber had used the full power of a level 7 psyker in close combat.

His attacks were wide and wide, and every punch and kick contained a terrifying force that could crack mountains and rivers. The blue psychic lightning was output violently and directly, and was interspersed with psychic lightning strikes from time to time.

Prince Valerius quickly adjusted after being caught off guard at first. He quickly caught up with Amber's attack rhythm and constantly made predictions to counter her moves.

But it was obvious that he was still completely suppressed by Amber in the short term, and his repeated attempts to distance himself from her failed. He was forced to fight her in Amber's 'comfort zone'.

The battle between the two of them was like a moving disaster to the people around them.

Exquisite palaces built of psychic crystals and moonstones collapsed in their collision, and sky gardens that cultivated rare plants were instantly vaporized by the dissipated energy shock waves.

Those buildings that symbolized the glorious history and artistic achievements of the elves were reduced to burning ruins in just a few minutes. To the onlookers, this was no longer a battle, but the wrath of the gods in mythology, setting everything mundane on fire.

"An organized unit of unknown affiliation has been spotted! Three o'clock! Three o'clock!"

Just when Natalia and the others were distracted by the fierce battle in the air, a warning from a guard soldier brought them back to reality.

At the corners of several streets in the distance, a large number of elven armed forces appeared again.

They were wearing the standard armor of the royal garrison, but they began to charge their psychic weapons without hesitation. Agnes, who had keen perception, could even easily detect the cold murderous intent in the other party.

Obviously, this is not the long-awaited elf reinforcements, but a new enemy.
Realizing this, Agnes nodded to Natalia, whose order immediately sounded clearly on the communication channel.

"First Company, provide shield wall cover! Second Company, fire freely and suppress them! 'Sealing Wax' Squadron, prioritize eliminating the enemy's heavy firepower units! The air fleet awaits instructions and prepares to provide ground fire support!"

The soldiers of the Imperial Guards acted quickly, and the heavy composite shields once again formed an iron line of defense. The roar of electromagnetic rifles and the roar of heavy particle cannons instantly resounded throughout the battlefield, and a dense firepower network poured towards the oncoming enemies.

This unreasonable covering attack immediately halted the attack momentum of the elf army in the distance.

The surviving captain of the Elf Royal Court Guard roared in grief and indignation, and led dozens of remaining guards under his command to rush to the flank of the Imperial Guard's defense line. Using their familiarity with the terrain and the elven combat style, they began to attack the rebels who tried to outflank them.

The flames of war once again broke out on the ground.

At the same time, outside the emerald green sky of Eldaram, in the cold and silent cosmic orbit, the atmosphere was also extremely solemn.

The huge Crown Fortress was floating quietly. Besides the Star Dragon Empire's escort fleet, there was also the federal fleet brought by Franklin who had rushed to join the fortress, as well as the reassembled Elf Capital garrison fleet.

The three forces formed a temporary alliance and watched silently as the planet fell into civil strife.

However, this brief peace was soon broken.

The space was like a torn curtain, with jump exits opening one after another in the distance. Elf warships painted with different emblems sailed out and gathered into large-scale fleets - they came from the powerful families of the Thousand Star Empire.

He came to "support the king" after receiving the news.

However, after these fleets arrived, except for the Yuge family to which Alanita belonged, and several other families that were close to the Phoenix King, the rest of the fleets did not contact the garrison fleet or express any position.

They simply dispersed quietly and occupied different orbital positions, like a school of sharks smelling blood, surrounding the entire capital starry sky area.

The arrival of these family fleets made the already complicated situation become even more turbulent in an instant.

In the core command room of the Crown Fortress, Lilith looked at the increasing number of unknown identification signals on the tactical star map. The blue light in the bionic man's eyes, representing calmness, also began to flash at an unprecedented frequency.

She knew that the situation was sliding into an abyss of being completely out of control.
-
In an unknown star region countless light years away from Eldaram, a deep blue light tore through the darkness.

The flagship of the Atlas Exploration Fleet, the 'Eternity', still had multiple charred wounds on its side, a rare severe blow suffered by an 'Infinity-class' super flagship in battle.

And just now, the entire exploration fleet broke through the blockade of the elven fleet and entered the jump at the cost of six destroyers, frigates, and four cruisers being sunk, and several battleships including the "Eternity" being severely damaged.

The exploration fleet did not have the "equality of all beings" firepower support of the artificial celestial fortress, and only the "Eternity" had time to replace the latest psychic shield before sailing, so when facing the similar number of elven warships, the exploration fleet was actually in a very unfavorable situation.

Especially the "Super Heavy Purification Beam Generator" equipped by the "Eternal", which was relied on in previous battles, lost its firepower advantage when facing the elven warship equipped with psychic shields.
So although the fleet commander tried to keep his distance during the battle and adopted the "drag-the-knife tactic" to try to kite the elven fleet, as the enemy fleet continued to approach at combat speed, the exploration fleet began to suffer losses and soon fell into an absolute disadvantage.

If the Eternity had not finally overloaded its psychic shield and led the exploration fleet out of the encirclement at the cost of shattering its psychic crystal and destroying its entire psychic processing cabin, we might all be dead here today.

So when the jump channel was formed, the violent battlefield outside the window was instantly stretched into a quiet and colorful tunnel. On the bridge of the "Eternity", the surviving crew members burst into suppressed cheers.

However, Saleh, the fleet commander, seemed not to have heard any of this.

She stood straight in front of the main console, her slightly pale face beneath the special helmet showing no joy at all, her eyes fixed on the large amount of data and information displayed in the helmet - that was important information brought out from the lonely Forerunner monitoring station at the cost of heavy damage to the exploration fleet.

Soon, Saleh handed over full responsibility for fleet affairs to the fleet commander, then left the bridge and went to her own cabin.

The door to the personal lounge closed silently behind him, isolating him from all the noise from the outside world.

This is Salih's temple on the Eternity. She took off her helmet and sat on a peculiarly shaped chair in the room. While lying down, she also placed her soft foot-like tentacles into the special connection grooves.

In an instant, countless waterfalls composed of light rushed down in front of her eyes. Those were all the data copied from the Forerunner monitoring station, vast as a sea of ​​smoke and chaotic as a storm.

Countless meaningless symbols, broken energy spectra, and fragmented log records interweave into a chaotic picture that mortals cannot understand.

Saleh's consciousness sank into it, diving into this unfathomable ocean of information. Her brain, assisted by soft tentacles with distributed thinking capabilities, operated at high speed, screening, reorganizing, and splicing these seemingly unrelated fragments.

As time passed, the initial analysis results confirmed her worst suspicions.

There is indeed a huge shadowy force within the Thousand Star Empire. They are not just speculators, but a secret society that has lasted for tens of thousands of years.

In an almost parasitic way, they infiltrated every aspect of the elven community, secretly studying, misappropriating, and even attempting to control the forbidden heritage left by the forerunners.

This force can be called the biggest "inside ghost" in this universe.
However, as the analysis deepened, Saleh's expression became more serious.

She discovered that among this massive amount of information, there was a noun that had appeared many times from tens of thousands of years ago to the present.

And this term also made her feel an inexplicable palpitation.

“Finally home.”

(End of this chapter)