Reincarnation Paradise: The Crucible.

Chapter 424: The Allied Forces Defeat
"It's Magneto again, these damn mutants!"

At the rear of the battlefield, the wide Nile River had already been completely occupied by a large number of huge steel ships. If one wanted to transport the army to Cairo as quickly as possible, water transportation was undoubtedly the fastest way.

It was thanks to the Nile River, which is the largest river in the world, that humans were able to gather a team and launch a general offensive in less than half a day. However, although the war broke out, the development of the battlefield situation was somewhat unsatisfactory.

Apocalypse, the main target, did not even step out of the temple. The mutants under his command alone were able to suppress the main force of their army.

On the battleship deck, the white general who was the commander-in-chief of this battle looked out at the chaotic stalemate in front of him, his face becoming increasingly gloomy. Due to the premature destruction of nuclear weapons and strategic satellites, and Magneto's absolute restraint on all metal products, the power he could mobilize was quite limited.

But even so, the battle situation should not have deteriorated to this extent. After all, there are only five people on the opposite side, while there are tens of thousands of humans on the human side.

"General, the strength of these mutants is not right, especially Magneto. His strength should not be to this extent."

Glancing at the anxiously speaking adjutant beside him, the white general's expression remained unchanged, but his eyes looking up at the sky became increasingly gloomy.

The ground battlefield with the Sentinels as the vanguard is currently doing fine, but the array of fighter planes in the air can only be described as horrific.

From the beginning of the war to now, in just less than ten minutes, the number of fighter planes has dropped by more than 80%, and the damage they ultimately caused is negligible.

All the air-to-ground missiles dropped were completely blocked by the huge metal sky that slowly unfolded in the air. Looking around, apart from causing some sound and light effects, the whole process did not cause any damage to the temple below.

And when the worries were perfectly solved by the sky curtain, the fate of those armed fighter planes in the sky could be imagined.

With his hands free, Magneto faced the armed fighters flying around with an efficiency that was unstoppable. He only needed to move his fingers, and dozens or even hundreds of fighters that were either trying to get away or charging fearlessly were transformed into balls of flaming fire that bloomed all over the sky with a roar.

After all, missiles can be made entirely of non-metallic materials, but it is impossible for a precision-structured armed fighter to completely eliminate metal components. As long as there is even a tiny metal part inside it, it will not escape the tragic fate of being easily destroyed by Magneto.

As a result, the sounds of explosions above the battlefield continued continuously. Even through the thick metal sky, one could vaguely see the scorching suns blooming one after another in the sky.

Brilliant flames shone through the cracks in the sky. Although the sky was still dark, the entire battlefield was illuminated with brightness.

"After all, if you become a knight of God, you will naturally receive the Lord's grace..."

"Huh, God?! Just an old mutant abandoned by the times!"

At the front of the cold deck, the white general's sight passed over the chaotic frenzy of sentinels in front of him, the spreading crimson mist, the criss-crossing sword lights, the raging giants, and finally fell on the magnificent and solemn temple in the distance.

Although his tone was sarcastic, the coldness in his eyes became colder.

"Times have changed. Even if he is truly a god, he will have to bow down before human shells!!"

"All troops are ready to launch a general attack. All naval guns are calibrated to their targets. Let's turn that pyramid into a true mausoleum. Kill the gods today! Kill!"

The hoarse roar quickly spread throughout the army, and the next moment, amid the overwhelming roar of explosions, the entire Cairo battlefield almost turned into a boiling sea of ​​fire.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!..."

…………

The fierce fighting outside was still going on, but the pyramid temple, which was the center of the vortex, appeared strangely calm.

Inside the temple, five majestic statues over a hundred meters tall stand at the edge of the wide hall. They are Apocalypse sitting on the throne at the top of the main seat, and four knights lined up on the left and right sides.

Under the gaze of the five statues, two rectangular stone platforms engraved with countless mysterious inscriptions are placed in the center of the hall. Apart from this, there is no other decoration in the entire temple. Although it looks a bit monotonous, the feeling of simplicity and solemnity is particularly strong.

The statue in the hall is a symbol of status and faith, while the stone platform is the key prop for the seizure ceremony. After a long period of baptism, the material splendor and enjoyment are no longer enough to excite Tianqi. Now, apart from eternal power, the only thing that keeps him pursuing is the power above all living beings and the ultimate desire to control everything.

Of course, since ancient times, people's hearts are fickle, power rises and falls, and it can never last long. But now, he has finally found a throne that can forever stand high above the clouds.

Beside the statue, Tianqi lowered his eyes to look at the bald old man who was sleeping peacefully on the stone platform. There was a hint of heat in his eyes. Even though the roars from the outside world continued to reach his ears and were getting closer and closer, his face remained calm.

Apocalypse actually doesn't care about human resistance. No matter which era, when he is sober, he is an unrivaled god. Even if it is human nuclear weapons, what he hates is only their terrible pollution power, not the opponent's explosive power.

From the beginning to the end, his only weakness is the seizure ritual. During the ritual, he will lose all resistance including consciousness.

He was buried underground for this thousands of years ago, and thousands of years later, he would never make such a mistake again.

Therefore, in order to ensure that everything goes well, this time he will destroy all the forces on the planet that intend to resist in advance, and then calmly begin the seizure ceremony.

“It’s almost there, it’s almost there…”

"Soon even the soul will need to bow down to me!"

...............

The fighting in Cairo lasted from late at night until dawn. Although the individual strength of the humans was relatively weak, they could not withstand the huge numbers.

With a huge number of Sentinels and an almost endless number of people, even those as powerful as Magneto, Scarlet Witch and others inevitably became weaker in the continuous fighting.

When the red sun rose in the sky and then faded, the original ruins of Cairo had become a miserable scene of a thousand miles of barren land. From afar, billowing black smoke penetrated the sky and the earth, and countless corpses were piled up like mountains beneath it. Humans, sentinels, even fighter planes in the air and warships on the river, all became part of this endless corpse.

And among these large numbers of corpses, the fight between the Four Horsemen and the human coalition continued. However, unlike the previous stalemate, the Four Horsemen were now suppressed to a precarious point, and even the battle line was advancing towards the direction of the Pyramid Temple.

Seeing that the opponent's condition was becoming increasingly weak, at the critical moment, the contractors hidden in the human army decisively attacked.

So in a flash, Psylocke and Scarlet Witch were seriously injured, Alfred had his arm broken, and Magneto, who had attracted at least 70% of the damage from the attack, had blood oozing from the corners of his mouth due to excessive consumption.

The next moment, when the four knights were about to suffer casualties, the tightly closed door of the temple suddenly opened, and Apocalypse, the root cause of the war, finally showed up. He raised his hand and the sky was filled with yellow sand, and the fierce wind was howling.

Three minutes later, there was a dead silence between heaven and earth, and the battlefield turned into a sea of ​​sand. Looking around, the bloody battlefield not long ago had long disappeared, and all that could be seen was a vast desert and more than a dozen towering sand dunes rising and falling.

As for the attacking human troops, perhaps a few remaining body parts and pieces of flesh could still be vaguely seen at the bottom of the slightly blood-colored gravel.

…………On the other side of the Nile River, several dark shadows were fleeing frantically in the desert that had not yet been affected by the yellow sand, and they did not even dare to look back to see whether the sandstorm raging behind them had subsided.

"Damn, can this kind of monster really be dealt with by a Level 2? Paradise wants us to die!"

"All the troops were wiped out in three minutes. This is just a fight. Boss, let's give up this mission. It's not even on the same level."

"Give up? That's easy to say. Who can afford the failure penalty of -5 in luck attribute? It's nothing more than dying later."

…………

The sound of hurried footsteps mixed with a few sporadic shouts continued to come from behind. Chisuo, who was at the front of the team, did not stop, but his expression became increasingly gloomy.

Giving up the mission is absolutely impossible. In this cruel reincarnation paradise, there is no such thing as mercy. There is only the cold reality that if you don't move forward, you will die. They cannot afford the cost of failure.

But continuing to fight hard is also not advisable. If it weren't for the wild elephant's ability to burrow underground that allowed them to avoid the invasion of the sandstorm at the critical moment, otherwise, let alone escape, it would be difficult for them to even leave a complete corpse.

During the three-minute-long sandstorm, they witnessed with their own eyes the horrific scene of too many contractors being washed away by countless yellow sands in despair. Even high-quality protective gear and armor equipment could not block the yellow sands at all, and were even annihilated by them.

Faced with this extraordinary force, even if it happens again, they can only flee in panic. Therefore, if they want to deal with Apocalypse, it is definitely impossible to do it with human power alone. They must seek external assistance.

"Boss, do you remember the contractor we met in Cairo before?"

The voice in his ears suddenly interrupted Chisuo's meditation. His running steps suddenly stopped, and the image of a tall giant in scarlet armor slowly emerged from the depths of his memory.

"You mean...fire?"

"Yes, if I remember correctly, he is the only contractor of the X-Men police. It is impossible for the human camp to get rid of Apocalypse alone, so we must rely on the power of mutants."

"On the other hand, based on the bloody massacre that the other party launched in Cairo before, it is very likely that Tianqi was awakened by Xinhuo, and his purpose is definitely not simple..."

Unconsciously, everyone running in the desert slowly stopped and looked at Yun Li who was talking beside them. After Yun Li finished his story, Chi Suo said with some worry:

"Yun Li, how sure are you that the other party is not in the same camp as Tianqi?"

After hearing this, Yun Li's eyebrows slightly curved. When it comes to frontal combat capabilities, she is not even in the top five in the entire adventure group, but in terms of planning and analysis, she is undoubtedly the best.

"Eighty percent likely. The conflict between Apocalypse and Professor X is doomed to be irreconcilable. The fact that neither Jean nor the Firebrand are among the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse is enough to explain the problem. Since the other party chose to keep Jean a secret, the meaning behind it is self-evident."

"Compared to helping Apocalypse clean up the world, he is obviously more interested in the treasure chest that will be revealed after killing Apocalypse."

"And even if the other party is really in the same camp as Apocalypse, so what? If paying some price can help us switch to Apocalypse's camp, it can also perfectly solve our current predicament, right?"

As soon as he finished speaking, all the hesitation in Chisuo's eyes disappeared instantly. To be honest, they didn't have much room for choice in their current situation. Even if there was only a glimmer of hope, they had to hold on to it.

"Retreat, return to the Federation immediately!"

…………

Federation, White House underground base.

When Chisuo and his group were rushing back to the Federation, the news of the defeat of the human coalition had already reached them.

The atmosphere in the underground base at this time was extremely stagnant. The federal president sitting on the throne had a gloomy face and a lingering look of panic between his brows.

The voices below reporting the losses in this battle continued, but were interrupted the next moment by the low shout of the Federal President.

"Hundreds of thousands of fully armed troops, almost all fighter planes and tens of thousands of sentinel robots, only managed to hold out against that 'God' for three minutes!"

"Three minutes! You should all understand what this means!"

"Oh!"

He slammed his palms hard on the wooden table, and with a heart-shaking muffled sound, the federal president suddenly stood up from the table and chair, and his slightly sinister eyes slowly swept over the people in the field. There was a hint of hysterical madness on his old face.

"There are less than ten hours left. Human civilization must not end in our hands. So, immediately organize the second and third human coalitions at all costs. Everyone, we have no choice!"

"A small number of the first batch of nuclear warheads have been transported back to the surface. We will use them directly in the next battle, even if the price is to lose Cairo forever, or even parts of Africa!"

"Also, Dr. Richard, the Federation has invested countless resources in Trask Industries. I hope that your so-called simulated Sentinel can truly play its due role and at least be worthy of the resources we have invested. Do you understand?"

.........

Soon after the meeting ended, the reorganized second wave of human coalition forces once again marched rapidly towards Cairo. This time, in addition to being larger in size, the team also had several special sentinels with high-yield nuclear bombs wrapped in their bodies.

The special structure of the Sentinels can effectively avoid Magneto's keen perception of metal. As long as the conditions are right, they will detonate without hesitation, even if the cost is to destroy all human forces in an instant.

In fact, if the nuclear bombs urgently transported from space were not so scarce in number, those human leaders would even want to use massive amounts of nuclear bombs to wipe out the enemy.

As for the irreversible harm that might be caused by doing so, at this point, they no longer care about the losses.

A few hours later, fierce fighting broke out again in Cairo, which had just been quelled, and the third wave of human coalition forces began to prepare again.

On the other hand, when almost everyone's attention was focused on the ongoing Second Battle of Cairo, an uninvited guest who should not have appeared at this time quietly arrived at the extremely secretive Sentinel Base headquarters of Trask Industries.

Taking advantage of the time when a large number of the latest model sentinels were dispatched, Chisuo, who had reached a secret cooperation with someone, quietly sneaked into the base headquarters with Manxiang.

When no one noticed anything unusual, he hid a small round mirror in an empty room somewhere in the headquarters, and then hurried away.

(End of this chapter)