128: Melee

At this critical juncture.

"Alert! High-intensity 'Men of Iron' scan complete! Their fleet is beginning to change formation! Silver-blue energy readings are soaring! Targets... locked onto the Chaos Fleet's flanks and... our 'Purification Dome' network nodes!" The Scouting Units sent back chilling news.

The Men of Iron fleet, which had been scanning like cold bystanders, suddenly moved. Instead of rushing toward the Human Federation's defensive line, they split into several groups with staggering precision and efficiency. A portion of the silver-blue polyhedral ships cut into the flanks of the Chaos tide like scalpels, launching silent and lethal strikes against the disorganized Chaos ships currently engaged with the Human Federation!

The "Conceptual Deconstruction Field" expanded silently. The enveloped Chaos ships, whether desecrated metal or writhing flesh, began to disintegrate and atomize at the most fundamental level of "existential concept." Their efficiency far surpassed the Human Federation's "Concept Disintegration Cannon." Even more shocking was that the Men of Iron seemed to have some kind of "purification" or "recycling" mechanism for Chaos's psionic pollution. In the areas they "deconstructed," even residual traces of Chaos psionic energy dissipated rapidly, as if they had been "formatted."

Another part of the Men of Iron fleet aimed their cannons at several key energy nodes of the Human Federation's "Purification Dome" network! They didn't fire energy beams, but a bizarre silver-blue "Logic Chain" and "Reality Parameter Correction Shell"! These attacks were not intended for direct destruction but were attempts to forcibly analyze, tamper with, or even "overwrite" the underlying operational logic and energy parameters of the "Purification Dome," causing it to fail or create "vulnerabilities" beneficial to the Men of Iron!

"The Men of Iron are attacking both Chaos and us simultaneously! Their goal is to 'cleanse' all 'inefficient existences' that do not conform to their logic and to 'optimize' or 'seize' our order technology!" the Chief Technologist instantly understood the opponent's intent.

The battlefield instantly became even more chaotic and deadly! Chaos attacked from the front, the Men of Iron "cleansed" Chaos from the flanks while trying to "crack" the Human Federation's defenses, and the Human Federation fleet bore pressure from both sides at once!

"The 'Purification Dome' nodes are under logic attack! Stability is dropping! Energy leaks are appearing in some sectors!" the Engineering Officer reported urgently.

"Split the forces! Some 'arbiter-class' and 'Penetrator-II' units, turn to intercept the Men of Iron! Activate 'Anti-Logic Intrusion Protocols'! We cannot let them destroy our defense network!" Alpha-01's veins bulged on his forehead; facing powerful enemies from two directions simultaneously gave him unprecedented pressure.

However, misfortunes never come singly.

At the very moment the Human Federation fleet experienced brief chaos due to splitting its forces, those mysterious purple-black shadows on the battlefield's periphery moved.

There was no large-scale fleet charge. Only several extremely precise and eerie psionic flashes, like the tongues of venomous snakes, suddenly pierced the Human Federation's localized lines, which were slightly weakened from dealing with Chaos and the Men of Iron!

Several "shadow-iv" cruisers on the edge of the formation had their shields instantly overloaded by an incomprehensible psionic frequency interference. Immediately after, the hulls were precisely sliced and disintegrated by invisible Psionic Blades. The crew inside didn't even have time to react before turning to ash in psionic flames! Furthermore, several psionic tractor beams whisked away key wreckage containing "vanguard" weapon components or "psyker" conduits like ghosts, then instantly vanished into Warp ripples.

At the same time, a powerful and eerie psionic wave swept across the battlefield. It wasn't an attack, but a kind of "prophetic interference" and "fate distortion"! The firing trajectories of some Human Federation ships developed subtle, fatal deviations; some critical command transmissions suffered unexplainable delays or errors; several soldiers receiving "psyker" even clutched their heads and screamed, the dark gold light in their eyes becoming chaotic and violent as they began attacking their comrades indiscriminately!

"Eldar! It's the Eldar 'Harlequins' or 'Archons'! They are performing precise decapitations, thefts, and battlefield manipulation!" the Intelligence Officer shouted hoarsely. "They are enjoying this slaughter! They are using our predicament to collect 'dramatic' samples and data!"

As if to add the final stroke to this feast of death, several points in space at the center of the battlefield were violently torn open by an invisible hand, rippling with ominous, ghostly green waves.

The main Necron fleet of the "Szarekh" Dynasty, like messengers of death descending directly from the grave, completed their phase jump and appeared in the core area of the battlefield! They ignored the Chaos, Men of Iron, and Human Federation forces engaged in the melee, and instead, with an absolutely indifferent and horrifyingly efficient posture, began executing their "cleansing program."

Ghostly green "Gauss" flayer beams swept across everything within range like a storm of death, targeting all "life" and "non-Necron constructs" indiscriminately! Whether it was a charging Chaos Daemon Engine, a Men of Iron polyhedral ship trying to "optimize" the battlefield, or a Human Federation "arbiter-class" struggling to hold on, any that entered range suffered a lethal strike. The Necron attacks were simple, direct, and deadly, carrying an arrogance and coldness that disregarded all "lesser existences."

The four most terrifying powers in the galaxy collided, intertwined, and fought together in this star sector lit by "Sky-Pillar"!

The mad desecration of Chaos, the cold logic of the Men of Iron, the treacherous lethality of the Eldar, the silent eradication of the Necrons, and the steel will and forbidden energy of the Human Federation erupting in desperation based on the belief of "Human Supremacy"... This was an ultimate melee with no allies, only enemies. Every side wanted to eliminate all others, every side used the others' attacks to create opportunities, and every side endured lethal strikes from multiple directions.

The void wailed. Energy storms tore apart all conventional physical laws. Ship wreckage, biomass fragments, metal powder, psionic embers, and logic shards... mixed into an indescribable chaotic vortex filled with death and destruction.

The hull of "the arbiter" was covered in scars, its dark gold shields flickering. One side of "the judgement's" main battery array was completely erased by a Necron Gauss volley. One by one, the "fortress-class" platforms fell silent and exploded under the onslaught of Chaos and the logic attacks of the Men of Iron.

Deep within "Keystone-0," the "abyss of order" continued to frantically draw energy, supporting the crumbling defensive line. Under the violent impact of multiple streams of information, the logic core of "custodian-alpha" flickered its dark gold light violently and irregularly, like a heart on the verge of a supernova explosion.

Han Zhe stood in the Command Center, looking at the multicolored spectrum of death representing chaos and destruction on the hologram, and within it, that single point of dark gold light that, like a lonely boat in a raging sea, had never been extinguished.

The corners of his mouth slowly curled into an arc that was both extremely cold and extremely mad.

"Very good... they've all come..."

"Then let this light of 'Sky-Pillar' shine even brighter!"

"Order 'Keystone-0'... activate the 'Final Protocol'..."

"Let the 'abyss of order'... run at overload!!"

"Either we use this light to purify all 'non-human' enemies.

Or, let this light, along with us and all our enemies, return to eternal 'ordered' extinction!!"