Book 21, The Peak – Chapter 36, The Final Battle
Linley swept his gaze past the Chief Sovereign of Destruction and the Chief Sovereign of Fate.
“To surpass them...even if I perfectly merge the four profound mysteries of those four Laws, I will only be on par with them. Unless...I fuse with a final fire-type Lesser Sovereign spark.” Linley sent back.
Beirut and Bluefire both nodded.
“The final battle is tomorrow. Let’s just wait patiently.” Beirut laughed.
Seventy one Sovereigns. They chatted there, casually, at the peak of the mountain. Meanwhile, the high level commanders of the Celestial Realm and Infernal Realm began to make their preparations for the final battle. This battle could be described as the battle with the least numbers of commanders in many trillions of years.
In the past, the focal point for Planar Wars was the various commanders hunting and killing each other prior to the final battle. But this time, virtually none of those long-famous commanders and Paragons had come.
The entire Planar Battlefield had, in total, less than thirty commanders or Emissary-level experts. The vast majority of those individuals who did come were newly promoted Emissaries, such as the six under Linley’s command. There wasn’t a single Paragon present.
Paragons had a great chance for survival, true.
But if a Paragon had to fight alone against a large number of foes who would focus their fire upon him, he would rather not go risk his life, unless there was some treasure in store for him.
The Chief Sovereign of Death and the rest of the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts stood shoulder-to-shoulder at the top of the mountain, staring at the battlefield that was hundreds of thousands of kilometers away.
“Rumble...”
Very suddenly, at the Stellar River, and endless amount of energy began to gather, which then shot out in every direction, disintegrating the military camps on each side of the Stellar River in but an instant. All of the soldiers in each camp were at least at the Highgod level, and so everyone was able to effortless deflect this energy ripple.
“Swish!” “Swish!”
A beautiful, illusory rainbow-colored light rose towards the heavens. Each of the two corridors of the Stellar River were emanating this dazzling, rainbow-colored light.
“Kill!!!”
The warriors, many of whom had been training or resting, didn’t hesitate at all. They acted in accordance with their pre-arranged plans, and a stream of squads wildly charged towards the Stellar Corridors.
“It has begun!”
The seventy one Sovereigns who stood hundreds of thousands of kilometers away couldn’t help but completely focus their attention on watching this battle.
“Orloff, Wodred, which side will win, do you think?” The Chief Sovereign of Death delighted in causing mischief, and so she asked them this question with a smirk.
The icy-faced black-robed Wodred said calmly, “Win? Our Infernal Realm side doesn’t need to ‘win’. We only need to fight to a draw; that is enough of a success. I’m not confident in our chances to achieve victory in both corridors, but to gain victory in a single corridor shouldn’t be too hard.”
“Victory or defeat is up to them.” The Chief Sovereign of Fate, Orloff, still had a smile on his face, looking like an amiable old man. It was as though there was nothing that could surprise him.
“How insane.” Linley, through his divine sense, was able to see the battle go on hundreds of kilometers away, and he couldn’t help but let out a sigh.
“Bang!” “Bang!”
All of the countless warriors who entered the Stellar Corridor instantly began to blaze with the aura of Sovereign’s Might. A Six Star Fiend who used Sovereign’s Might might be able to threaten a commander who wasn’t using Sovereign’s Might. And now, thousands on thousands of experts were using it together?
What sort of a scene was this? It had never been seen before in the past, but it would be today!
“Madness.” Beirut, seeing this sight, couldn’t help but shake his head as well. “No wonder even Paragons and commanders aren’t willing to participate.”
“All this is happening due to the self-interest of the Sovereigns.” Bluefire let out a sigh.
Linley continued to carefully watch the battle proceed. The two corridors atop the Stellar Sea had erupted into battle at virtually the same instant.
“Target, straight ahead. Launch a joint attack against the black-horned man standing at the perimeter.” A hundred warriors, blazing with Sovereign power of various colors, struck out with their weapons or with kicks in the same instant. A hundred material attacks wildly blasted out towards the area in front of them, and everything within ten meters of that muscular, black-horned man was instantly reduced to nothingness.
“Target, twenty meters ahead of us. Joint soul attacks!” A translucent wave of soul attacks blasted forth. Many of the warriors that had been battling up ahead trembled, then fell from the skies as their divine artifacts departed their bodies.
The Celestial Realm and the Infernal Realm’s experts were viciously, mercilessly slaughtering each other. This was especially true since in this battle, extremely few commanders or Emissaries were taking part. Thus, victory in this battle was determined through sheer slaughter.
“The Twelve-Winged Angels have entered the battlefield.” The Chief Sovereign of Death said with a soft laugh.
“The Twelve-Winged Angel Army truly is formidable.” Beirut sighed in amazement, and Linley, by Beirut’s side, couldn’t help but look over with shining eyes.
At virtually the same instant, on the side of the Celestial Realm, Twelve-Winged Angel battle formations appeared at both of the Stellar Corridors. They were covered with a beautiful aura of white light, and had twelve white, fluttering wings on their backs.
“Straight ahead, material attacks!” Six icy-faced Twelve-Winged Angels, covered with white light, formed each Angel Battle Formation. They unleashed rays of thick white light that instantly shot towards their foes up ahead. Wherever this light passed, space splintered and shattered. The soldiers of the Infernal Realm were very densely packed, and upon encountering the rays of light, tens of soldiers of the Infernal Realm would instantly transform into nothingness.
Each squad of Twelve-Winged Angels were formed from six individuals. Every ten squads formed into a platoon, while every ten platoons formed into a company.
“Whooooosh.”
Large numbers of Twelve-Winged Angels were advancing in an extremely orderly fashion. On each side, they were supported by many of the soldiers of the Celestial Realm. The Twelve-Winged Angels were the tip of the blade, while the many ordinary soldiers played a support role; they pressed down upon on the Infernal Realm’s side, constantly grinding them down.
“Bang!”
Every attack of each squad of Twelve-Winged Angels would annihilate a large number of soldiers. These Twelve-Winged Angels were all, after all, no weaker than the Seven Star Fiend level. Most of the warriors of the Infernal Realm were only at the Six Star Fiend level; there was a difference in power to begin with. Given that these Twelve-Winged Angels were also skilled in combination attacks and formations, they naturally were able to constantly advance, as easily as drilling through rotting wood!
“Up ahead, that Angel squad in front of us. Joint material attacks.” More than seven hundred warriors of the Infernal Realm jointly launched material attacks, and the skies were filled with rays of shooting light. The Twelve-Winged Angels weren’t able to dodge in time, and instantly, the squad was reduced into dust. But immediately afterwards...
Two successive rays of white light shot towards the Infernal Realm, instantly slaughtering nearly a hundred warriors and once more throwing the Infernal Realm’s side into chaos.
“They are on completely different levels.” Beirut shook his head with a frown. “A single Twelve-Winged Angel, by himself, is comparable to ten Six Star Fiends. On the side of the Infernal Realm, even if a hundred men in a squad join forces and attack, their attacks are disordered and unable to kill the Twelve-Winged Angels who are in the Angel Battle Formation. The only chance is for hundreds of soldiers to join forces together.”
Linley nodded slightly as well. He could tell that these Twelve-Winged Angels were like extremely sharp tip of a blade. They didn’t fear death, and they were extremely powerful! To kill six Twelve-Winged Angels, the Infernal Realm would have to lose nearly a thousand warriors. And that was just the raw numbers; more important was the question of soldier morale!
With the Twelve-Winged Angels serving as the tip of the blade, the warriors of the Celestial Realm felt their morale surge towards the heavens, and they brimmed with confidence.
As for the soldiers of the Infernal Realm, although they didn’t fear death, given how vast the gap in power was, quite a few soldiers felt their hearts grow cold. If they continued to die like this...how were they supposed to win? Once morale began to drop, they would easily crumble.
“If this continues, in a short period of time, the Celestial Realm’s side will achieve victory in both corridors.” Linley said with a frown.
“The Infernal Realm’s side shouldn’t collapse that quickly.” Beirut shook his head, while Linley nodded as well. “Right. The six Emissaries under my command are currently hidden amongst the soldiers of the Infernal Realm; they haven’t participated and unleashed their power yet. I imagine that the Infernal Realm’s side must have some sort of a plan.”
The two corridors each had nearly six hundred Twelve-Winged Angels. There were a total of 1200 Twelve-Winged Angels, which represented 1200 Seven Star Fiend-level experts, all of whom were fearless and able to coordinate with each other perfectly. They were simply too effective.
One of the two Stellar Corridors saw the Infernal Realm be steadily beat back. In the other, although the Infernal Realm was retreating as well, they were doing so much more slowly, and the number of Twelve-Winged Angels they were killing was slightly greater as well.
In the Stellar Corridor where the Infernal Realm was retreating more quickly.
“Swoosh!” “Swoosh!”
One ray of white light after another. These were the combined attacks of the Twelve-Winged Angels, and many of the soldiers of the Infernal Realm died miserable deaths to them. Although occasionally, they would be able to launch an effective combination attack of their own and kill six of those Twelve-Winged Angels...the losses of the Infernal Realm were simply too great, and too many of them had died.
White light flashed everywhere. It was a slaughter! Countless soldiers of the Infernal Realm were reduced into dust by that light.
“Kill!” The soldiers of the Celestial Realm bellowed with glee as they chased and killed.
The Infernal Realm constantly retreated, until finally, they broke down into a complete rout. Under that sort of wild, pressing assault, they had completely collapsed. And with their collapse, the battle’s outcome was no longer in any doubt. Soon, the Celestial Realm’s side reached the other side of the Stellar Corridor, and the rainbow-colored light disappeared.
The Celestial Realm had gained victory in one of the corridors.
From afar, the many Sovereigns continued to watch.
“Wodred, you’ve lost in one of the corridors.” The Chief Sovereign of Death chortled merrily. “There’s one more left.” Wodred said calmly.
“Oh, so the experts really were all focused on this corridor.” The Chief Sovereign of Fate, Orloff, chortled. Linley and the others had discovered as well that in the other corridor, the Infernal Realm’s side was launching wild attacks now.
“Indeed, the Infernal Realm’s side was able to scrounge up quite a few Seven Star Fiend-level experts. A hundred of them are in each company, and there are three in total.” Linley said with a laugh. The Infernal Realm and the other divine planes still had quite a few Seven Star Fiends present, and many of them were under some sort of domination or control, such as how Purgatory Commander Mosi was able to control quite a few Seven Star Fiends.
Those Seven Star Fiends were under soul domination. Naturally, they were incomparably loyal and fearless. And so, the Infernal Realm, Netherworld, and other divine planes were able to come up with three companies of Seven Star Fiends.
However, although in terms of individual power they were equivalent to the Angels, the Seven Star Fiends of the Infernal Realm were unable to form a marvelous battle formation.
“A wild counterattack.” Beirut began to laugh. “Under the command of these companies of Seven Star Fiends, the Infernal Realm’s soldiers have begun to rise in morale.”
Both the Infernal Realm and the Celestial Realm had gone berserk. Attacks filled the heavens and wildly struck out towards their foes. Many Seven Star Fiends and even many Twelve-Winged Angels began to fall.
Six Twelve-Winged Angels formed each battle formation, and they were unable to resist the combined attacks of so many Seven Star Fiends. But naturally, many Seven Star Fiends of the Infernal Realm died as well.
“Slash!” “Swish!” The strange thing was, one Twelve-Winged Angel after another began to fall as multiple figures stealthily, agilely moved about through the massed soldiers. They were extremely agile, and all of them were astonishingly, terrifyingly strong.
The Chief Sovereign of Fate, Orloff, frowned slightly, and then he turned to look at the Chief Sovereign of Destruction. “Oh? Commander-level experts?”
“I don’t have that many; just those.” The Chief Sovereign of Destruction said calmly.
Those Emissaries who had chosen to come here were mostly very close to the commander level to begin with. Given that they now possessed Sovereign artifacts, it wasn’t too hard for one of them to ambush and kill a Twelve-Winged Angel.
Because in this battle, the various planes had joined forces to defeat Orloff, the many Emissaries present were virtually all on the side of the Infernal Realm. The Celestial Realm had very few. What’s more, every single Emissary was roughly as effective as six of the Twelve-Winged Angels.
“Linley, it seems the Infernal Realm doesn’t have much of an advantage.” Beirut said with a frown. “Those Twelve-Winged Angels are completely fearless. If a few die, the others immediately reform into a new battle formation. Any six of the Twelve-Winged Angels are able to form into the Angel Battle Formation.”
Linley saw this as well. The Twelve-Winged Angels were too berserk; they would rather die than retreat. This made it so that even though the Infernal Realm had sent out three companies of Seven Star Fiends, and even though quite a few Emissaries were launching sneak attacks, there was no way for them to force the Celestial Realm into a retreat.
“What are the six of them planning? Why haven’t they acted yet?” Linley stared forward, puzzled.