Day One of Landing: Lü Bu Crushes the Fatui
Lü Bu landed on Nordkalepaha Island with 170,000 iron cavalry, murderous aura billowing as they charged straight for the Fatui Lunar Gathering Force Experimental Design Bureau.
Fatui Marshal Zakov urgently activated a defense line composed of a thousand heavy-armored soldiers and a hundred magical mechs.
With a single swing of Lü Bu's Sky Piercer Halberd, a violent surge of energy instantly tore through the steel defense; heavy-armored soldiers were sent flying like scraps of paper.
Zakov activated the forbidden Lunar Gathering Force energy core, and the entire island began to tremble and crack apart.
Red Hare leaped into the air; Lü Bu's halberd pierced the energy core, and with a backhand strike, he severed Zakov's head.
The remaining 120,000 Fatui troops were slaughtered to the last man by Lü Bu's enraged cavalry within three days, turning the seawater crimson…
The sea was lead-gray.
On the endless waters, masts stood like a forest, cutting through the dull waves. The silhouettes of massive warships emerged in the thin morning light, like primeval beasts rising from the deep, silently closing in on the winding coastline of Nordkalepaha Island. At the bow of the largest tower ship stood a lone figure, towering and mighty, his scarlet cloak snapping sharply in the salt-tinged sea wind like an ominous battle standard. Behind him, 170,000 Bingzhou Wolf Riders stood in solemn silence, their armor glinting in the daylight. Only the faint clink of weapons brushing against plates, mixed with the monotonous rhythm of waves slapping the hull, pressed oppressively on the heart.
Lü Bu narrowed his eyes slightly, gazing at the island shrouded in a strange pale purple mist. At its center rose a sprawling complex of alien architecture, metal and some kind of crystal structure reflecting cold light—this was the Fatui Lunar Gathering Force Experimental Design Bureau. A cold, mirthless curve tugged at his lips; it was not a smile, but the instinctive reaction of a beast locking onto its prey.
"Land."
The order was brief, with the rasp of metal on metal, instantly torn apart by the wind. Yet an invisible ripple spread outward, and the massive fleet, like a awakened leviathan, began to unleash its fangs upon the shore. Iron hooves struck the sand, crushing shells and coral, the dull thuds converging into a low thunder rolling along the coast. No shouts, no clamor—only the deadly rhythm of steel colliding with earth, crushing inward toward the bureau glowing with sinister light.
Inside the observation tower at the highest point of the bureau, Fatui Marshal Zakov stared through the thick crystal porthole at the moving black tide devouring everything in the distance. His knuckles whitened as he gripped the cold windowsill tightly. Too fast—the enemy's advance exceeded even the worst predictions. The fluttering "Lü" banner was like a death sentence.
"First and Second Heavy Armored Corps, forward and form defenses! All magical mechs, maximum energy output, load destructive energy! Move!" His voice echoed through the vast command center, with a barely perceptible tremor. He tried to maintain his marshal's dignity, but his heart hammered uncontrollably against his ribs.
Outside the bureau, heavy footsteps rang out. A thousand Fatui heavy-armored soldiers rushed to form a dense shield wall, layers upon layers of thick metal shields linking into a steel barrier, long halberds bristling like a forest through the gaps. Then the ground shook as a hundred grotesque magical mechs trundled into position, runes lighting up one by one across their massive frames, eerie blue energy gathering at their cannons with a teeth-gritting hum. The air filled with the smell of ozone and preheated metal. This was the Fatui's proud defense line, one that had crushed countless challengers.
The black tide drew near.
At the very front of the tide, the divine crimson steed suddenly accelerated, breaking away from the main force like a blood-colored arrow loosed straight at the steel wall. On its back, Lü Bu's figure rapidly enlarged in everyone's vision.
"Stop him!" the frontline commander shrieked at the top of his lungs.
A storm of arrows rained down, yet they were repelled by an invisible energy current before reaching man and horse. Energy beams from the mechs tore through the air, searing with destructive heat, but Lü Bu did not even bother to block—he merely shifted Red Hare slightly, and the beams grazed past him, incinerating several Wolf Riders not far behind into charred remains. His target was only the core of that steel barrier.
Fifty paces, thirty, ten!
Lü Bu squeezed his legs sharply. Red Hare neighed, rearing up, its bowl-sized iron hooves slamming into the frontline shields. At the same time, he lifted his massive Sky Piercer Halberd with one arm, no fancy moves—just a simple, brutal forward swing!
BOOM!
Not the clash of steel, but a detonation like a hurricane tearing canvas. The moment the halberd swung, the air ahead compressed violently before exploding. A fan-shaped surge of overwhelming energy rushed forward. The seemingly unbreakable shield wall was struck as if by an invisible giant's hand; frontline soldiers were sent flying with their shields like paper, heavy armor twisting and warping under irresistible force. The formation collapsed instantly, revealing faces of utter terror behind it.
Red Hare landed. Lü Bu swept his halberd wide; wherever the wind of the blade passed, bodies, armor, and weapons turned to dust. He cut through the ranks like a red-hot knife through solidified butter, leaving only a rain of blood and shattered metal in his wake. Magical mechs attempted to close in, massive metal arm blades chopping down. Lü Bu did not even glance; he flicked his halberd upward, and the blade capable of cleaving walls snapped clean. The tip pierced the mech's chest core, a blinding flash of energy overload erupting, followed by a violent explosion that swallowed nearby soldiers.
Slaughter. This was one-sided, despairingly efficient slaughter. The Fatui's defense line was laughably fragile against the pinnacle of individual martial prowess.
Zakov watched clearly from the observation tower, a chill shooting from his soles to the top of his head. His last resort had crumbled before this humanoid monster.
"No… this can't be!" He spun around violently, rushing toward the console protected by multiple energy barriers in the center of the room, his eyes blazing with a mix of madness and despair. "You forced me! We'll perish together!"
He roared, slamming his fist through the crystal shield covering the console with all his strength, pressing his palm hard onto the throbbing dark red button beneath.
"In the name of the Fatui, let the power of the Lunar Gathering be unbound!"
Bzzzt—
A low hum, nearly beyond human hearing, emanated from the deepest part of the bureau. The entire island then shook violently, the earth as if gripped by an invisible hand, rocking and cracking wildly. The towering energy tower at the bureau's center burst with unbearable light from the huge purple crystal embedded at its peak, a thick purple energy pillar shooting into the sky, churning the clouds above into a massive vortex. Violent energy turbulence filled the air, arcs of electricity crackling and leaping. The seawater at the island's edge began to boil, raising waves dozens of meters high.
Beneath the ground, something vast and terrifying had been forcibly awakened, surging along pre-set channels toward the core at the top of the energy tower. The entire Lunar Gathering Force Experimental Design Bureau had become a colossal bomb ready to detonate.
"Madman!" Lü Bu looked up at the earth-piercing purple pillar and the violently trembling, collapsing earth. Red Hare pawed restlessly. Far from retreating, his eyes blazed with even fiercer battle intent. He could feel the core of that power at the pillar's source.
"Hyah!"
Red Hare turned into a red bolt of lightning, ignoring the cracking earth beneath and exploding buildings from energy overload, charging straight through fleeing crowds toward the heart of the eruption—the main tower of the bureau.
Zakov stood on the platform at the top of the main tower, surrounded by swirling energy gales tearing his marshal's uniform to rags. He stared at the godlike figure breaking through all obstacles, treading briefly on air amid the violent currents, closing in, and twisted a grin onto his face.
"Come! Lü Bu! Perish with me, with the power of the Lunar Gathering, into cosmic dust!" He spread his arms as if embracing the destructive energy.
Lü Bu spoke not a word. Red Hare leaped one final time, smashing a falling boulder to launch skyward. The Sky Piercer Halberd hummed eagerly in his grip, its tip condensing his lifelong killing intent and martial prowess into a single sharp star of cold light. Ignoring the raging energy turbulence around it, the halberd struck true, piercing straight into the throbbing, collapsing Lunar Gathering Force energy core!
Time seemed to freeze.
The cataclysmic explosion he expected did not come. At the point of impact, the wild purple energy whimpered in pain like a beast with its throat clamped. Cracks spread instantly across the entire crystal core from the halberd's tip.
Lü Bu's arm muscles bulged as he roared: "Break!"
CRACK—SHATTER!
The crystal core disintegrated completely!
There was no explosion—only an indescribable shockwave of pure energy expanding spherically in all directions. Where it passed, all matter—steel, rock, flesh—vanished instantly into fundamental particles. The upper half of the main tower simply ceased to exist in the silent blast.
Zakov's maniacal grin froze, replaced by utter shock and disbelief. His last gambit to die together had been brutally, directly snuffed out.
The energy turbulence subsided slightly, and Lü Bu's figure emerged from the fading purple light. Red Hare landed on the broken platform, hooves hissing against scorching metal edges. His gaze turned icy, fixing on Zakov, who writhed on the ground, blood spraying from his mouth, wounded by the core's destruction.
The halberd rose again, arcing in a clean slash.
A head flew up, its face frozen in horror and confusion. Fatui Marshal Zakov was dead.
Lü Bu hoisted the head on his halberd, rode to the edge of the ruined tower, and held it aloft. His thunderous voice boomed over the battlefield, drowning out all noise:
"Your marshal is dead! Kneel and surrender, and you live; resist… and you all die!"
Yet the response was an even more frenzied attack from the remaining Fatui forces, driven to madness by despair. The marshal's death did not break them—it ignited a martyr-like fanaticism.
The last flicker of warmth in Lü Bu's eyes vanished, leaving only pure, frigid killing intent.
"Very well." He spoke only one word.
In the next moment, he charged into the fray, his halberd swinging to unleash an even bloodier storm. The 170,000 landed Bingzhou Wolf Riders, spurred by their commander's ferocity, roared to the heavens, descending like true wolves upon their leaderless, desperate prey.
From that moment, the battle held no suspense—only slaughter.
The carnage lasted three full days.
Nordkalepaha Island, once covered in strange architecture and magical constructs, was reduced to scorched earth. The 120,000 remaining Fatui troops were ground to pieces inch by inch by Lü Bu's cavalry. Hiding in collapsed fortifications or fleeing into dark underground passages, they were hunted down and killed without mercy.
Blood soaked every inch of ground, streaming into the surrounding sea, dyeing the near-shore waters an eerie dark red that lingered. A stench of rot filled the air, drawing flocks of seabirds and deeper, bloodthirsty sea creatures.
Three days later, the island fell silent.
Only the black "Lü" battle standard still stood at the island's highest point, fluttering sharply in the wind thick with the stench of blood.