While the Gods bled in the sky, the mortal-level war on the ground was even more apocalyptic. The Castle Faction had mobilized with a speed that baffled the Holy Lord, Asher. In just two hours, the "War Machine" had moved 13 trillion troops to encircle the Dark Empire's 6 trillion.
High in the sky, the air was a chaotic tapestry of fire and steel. The Great Aetherium's Astral Cities, including a brand-new fourth city completed only that morning, loomed like floating islands of doom. Their magic cannons fired in blinding rhythmic pulses, weaving a web of white-hot destruction that vaporized Dark Empire's airships and flying cavalry by the thousands.
Dragons, phoenixes, and gargoyles clashed in a dance of death so dense that the falling corpses resembled a rain of black soot.
On the ground, the Dark Empire unleashed its 'Undead Natural Disaster'. A black tide of ghouls, headless knights, and rotting abominations surged forward. Against a normal army, this would have been an unstoppable force of nature.
But the Castle Faction was backed by two million Demigod Tier Angels. The constant 'Purification' spells cast by them acted as a spiritual poison, stripping the undead of 30% of their effectiveness before they even reached the front lines.
…
At the rear of the battlefield, thousands of Castle Lords were huddled together in a dense cluster, surrounded by a literal forest of Demigod Tier bodyguards. These elite units were kept out of the fight purely to ensure the "Lords" didn't take a single scratch.
The Dark Empire attempted the "Capture the King" strategy, sending waves of assassins to infiltrate the rear. It was a massacre. The assassins, elite as they were, found themselves slamming into a wall of bored, high-level guards who were waiting for something to kill.
"Another team of assassins wiped out." One Castle Lord remarked casually, checking his system panel, "They just don't learn."
"I've hit the peak of the Demigod Tier!" Another one cheered, his eyes glowing with the raw power flowing into him, "A few more hours of this and I'll condense my Godhead. I'm actually about to become a God!"
The sentiment rippled through the backlines. To them, the Dark Empire's tragedy was merely a ladder. As the night wore on and the Dark Empire's commanders fell, their millions of puppets and undead servants became "headless flies." losing their tactical cohesion and being picked off by the disciplined Castle Faction armies. The glory of the Dark Empire wasn't just being defeated; it was being consumed.
…
The Blood Moon hung heavy in the sky like a swollen eye, watching as the core of the Light Empire was ground into a million-mile graveyard. Divine blood fell in a rhythmic, torrential rain, staining the earth a deep, bruised crimson. Across this ruined landscape, the thirteen trillion troops of the Castle Faction clashed with the six trillion defenders of the Dark Empire in a war that had long ago abandoned any pretense of restraint.
Millions of kilometers away, in the heart of the Light Empire's Capital, The 'Holy Lord' Asher sat upon his high throne, his eyes fixed on the shimmering displays of mirror magic. Beside him, his core ministers watched the destruction of their own cities with a mixture of agony and cold calculation.
"Let them burn." One minister whispered, his voice trembling, "Every city they smash is a city the Abyss won't get to harvest. If the Dark Empire can just break the Great Aetherium's momentum, it is a price we will gladly pay."
Asher remained silent, his gaze piercing the magical veil. He saw the truth that his advisors tried to ignore: the Dark Empire wasn't just losing; they were being erased. Within the pocket dimension, the tally of fallen Dark Gods had already reached seventy thousand, a full third of their divine strength. More than half of their alchemy puppets and undead servants lay in heaps of smoldering scrap.
By contrast, the Great Aetherium's losses were an optical illusion. Whenever a God of the Great Aetherium or a high-ranking Castle Lord fell, the silver wings of Guardian Angels would unfurl. With a surge of resurrection magic, the fallen were pulled back from the void before their souls could even properly leave their bodies. It was a war where one side fought with finite lives while the other treated death as a temporary inconvenience.
------------------
Become A Member At My Patreon For Access To Bonus Chapters Or Even Multiple Chapters A Day!
» Patreon.com/LordArchduke