There were no warnings before the deployment of those troops. The Hive, the Council, and the Elbas family had simply moved their assets alongside their respective borders with the domain of the Empire, and the latter had answered by showing that it could match all three of them.
It would have been impossible to catch that weakened nation by surprise. The central areas had so many buildings meant to inspect the environment that the Empire had noticed the enemy troops moving before they even exited their respective domains.
There hadn't been any negotiation either. It seemed that the Empire had understood that they had no chances to convince the enemy forces to back down.
That was just the fate that the strongest nation of a world had to face once it lost its advantage over the other forces.
The battlefields on the three borders were similar. All three of them featured four rank 5 cultivators and twenty or so cultivators in the fourth rank on both sides. The only differences were on the ground, where the human cultivators had to fight.
Human cultivators couldn't travel through the wild territories of the new continent due to the suffocating density of "Breath". So, each force had to resort to some method to allow them to travel and fight in those lands.
The Elbas family had its ointment, the Council used a series of floating spheres that absorbed "Breath" and diminished the pressure on its assets, and the city shielded the cultivators of the Empire. The Hive, instead, had peculiarly solved the issue.
Noah suddenly roared, and a series of magical beasts appeared on the ground behind them and charged toward the city of the Empire, only to stop in line with the other troops when he roared again.
Those creatures weren't only magical beasts. There were also perfect hybrids amid that army and Elite beasts that had developed a sea of consciousness.
Most of them were creatures in the third rank that could ignore the suffocating atmosphere due to the inborn advantages of their species. Yet, there were a few hybrids in the fourth rank there that acted as captains.
Noah and Danielle didn't have much time to organize a proper army of hybrids after sealing their pact, but they could exploit the natural fear created by their presence to rule them. However, they still had to put a few creatures in the fourth rank to enforce their orders.
That strategy wasn't casual. Noah had suggested it using the battle strategy of the winged beasts as an example, even if his execution was far cruder.
Since the events in the other Mortal Lands, it was pointless not to use the magical beasts as troops. Noah didn't need to hide that aspect of his cultivation anymore, and the Hive would be able to preserve a large number of human assets by deploying beasts.
Also, the hybrids were simply too powerful not to control their populations. Using them for an entire war as cannon fodder would skim their ranks and reveal those that were worthy of having some sort of control over the organization that would eventually form in the domain of the Hive.
The exchange of stares between the various armies lasted only for a few minutes since a mental message reached the leaders of the invaders at the same time. "Attack!"
The three powerhouses had given the order at the same time, and the leaders of the armies echoed it without any hesitation.
A series of roars and battle cries resounded in the three battlefields as the invaders launched themselves toward the troops of the Empire. The cultivators divided themselves according to their level and set battle formations meant to absorb the first barrage of spells of the defenders.
The fight among the cultivators in the fifth rank though unfolded quite differently from the messy battles below. Each of those assets neared the opponent in front of them slowly and performed greeting gestures.
Noah's opponent was a middle-aged man with short white hair and a pair of blue eyes. He didn't have any beard and appeared quite ordinary, but he had a warm smile on his face that Noah found quite calming.
"The Almighty has given me the name Peaceful Storm." He said, "The Demon Prince of the Hive doesn't need to announce himself."
Peaceful Storm performed a polite greeting after speaking, but Noah limited himself to observe him.
Truth to be told, he had never understood while cultivators liked to speak so much before and during a battle. Words were mostly useless once spells started to fly at you unless some technique needed them. After all, what was the point of speaking when you could focus on killing your opponent?
Yet, the battles had already begun under him, and Peaceful Storm didn't show any kind of battle intent.
Noah tried to inspect his surroundings in search of some sort of trap, but even his instincts sensed nothing. It seemed that the cultivator really wanted to talk while the weaker troops fought.
"Why aren't we trying to kill each other?" Noah asked.
He noticed how the Elders near him had yet to fight too, and Danielle hadn't charged. Noah had become curious at that sight. He felt as if there was something that he was missing.
"Demon Prince, we are elites that have already ventured in our path." Peaceful Storm explained. "Killing one of us is quite difficult. Our accumulation and experience aren't something that you can defeat so easily."
'Is he trying to bait me into charging at him?' Noah thought for a second before denying that idea.
Peaceful Storm appeared really convinced of that idea and even added something in line with it. "We don't even need to fight. Why don't we discuss our individualities and exchange a few attacks after the battle under us is over?"
Noah had to admit that he felt somewhat disappointed to find such an unwilling opponent as his first real cultivator in the fifth rank. Nevertheless, he had come there to fight, and he didn't care if his enemy had spent so much time in seclusion that he had forgotten a battle intent was.
The Demonic Sword came out of his robe, and Noah wielded it only to slash it immediately after. Black smoke in the form of a claw came out of his weapon and flew in a straight line toward Peaceful Storm, but the latter simply sighed, and Noah's attack stopped moving. It was as if it had slammed against an invisible barrier that it wasn't able to pierce.
Of course, Noah had already launched another attack by the time he realized that his casual slash wouldn't be able to cross the barrier.
A barrage of white flames engulfed the dispersing claw and surpassed that invisible blockage to reach for the rank 5 cultivator. Yet Peaceful Storm raised his hand, and the fire converged in his hand to form a bright white sphere.
"See? Really hard to kill." Peaceful Storm said before launching the sphere toward Noah.