Beastmaster of the Ages

After the Judgment made its move, the ether-class ships of the Lin Clan ganged up on it. The normal gods nearby immediately evacuated! Nobody would be stupid enough to fight Lin Jie. They wouldn’t give him any more chances; far too many people had been disappointed by what he did.

With the Second Exterminatus Army having suffered horrifying losses, many elites of the Lin Clan jumped into action to attack the Judgment. Four ether-class ships attacked at the same moment. Victory was on the horizon and they only needed one final, united push.

”Go!” Seeing Lin Jie surrounded, Shenxi Tianxi no longer hesitated and fled with a few other ether-class divine astralships. Far too many of their sanctuary-class ships had been held back and couldn’t leave if they wanted to! The Ebonfiend Minor and Radiance sped off, leaving behind the rest of the army. The Lin Clan’s assault was insane, and the ships that left only managed to bring some hundred thousand astral gods away.

”Shenxi Tianxi’s at least more capable than his father, who escaped alone and let three million astral gods die!”

The slaughter proceeded at a lunatic pace. The scales of battle had initially been equal, with the Ebonfiend countering the Gladean Ruins. However, none of them had expected that the Swordgod Lin Clan would fight with so much spirit and bravado after being backed into a corner of desperation! The firepower they packed was no joke, either!

”Actually, our clan has always been one of heroes. Everyone just forgot about our glorious history because we’ve been in the Infinitum Bodhimanda for far too long, sigh....”

The battle in the astralscape had developed in a manner similar to that of the Sun. They were cleaning up the remnants of the enemy, their survival now basically guaranteed. As the enemy was mostly focused on fleeing, the scope of the battlefield continued expanding outward. Most of the billion disciples had left the fight, leaving the elites to continue the pursuit. Once the ships were destroyed, the shipwrecked astral gods wouldn’t be able to run. Their objectives were straightforward and clear. The battle had tipped far too quickly thanks to the billion Lin Clan members, so Shenxi Tianxi had no will to fight to the very end at all. That caused his loss to come ever sooner. Had he insisted on continuing the fight, the Lin Clan’s losses would have been even more severe, but he wouldn’t be able to escape at the very end.

With the enemy flagships fleeing and the ancestral world monster failing its objective, the morale of the Lin Clan soared to new heights, further intensifying their counterattack. The spirit of their clan had never been better, honed by their overwhelming victory. Quite a lot of them still couldn’t quite believe that it had really happened. It all felt like a dream to them.

”Die, fiend!” Such cries echoed throughout the astralscape without end. They no longer had to flee as they’d become the hunters this time around. Not only that, after clearing out those foes, they would parade themselves all the way to the Sun, their promised land! Nobody would be able to stop such a dedicated will and their enemies fell like dominoes. In any battle, the time when the loss of life was largest wasn’t at the beginning, but during the rout of the losing side. The Second Exterminatus Army’s forces were completely demolished by the unstoppable Swordgod Lin Clan to the point that not even their bones were left.

Only around a dozen ether-class ships and some twenty-odd sanctuary-class ships managed to escape, carrying around a hundred thousand astral gods with them. Another three-hundred-plus ships had been taken by the Lin Clan and would be operational with some simple repairs.

The enemy lost around three hundred thousand of their number, and that was coupled with the fact that the Lin Clan only had a force of half a million astral gods, being a mid-sized regal clan. Comparatively, the Central Shuntian Clan had sent two hundred thousand astral gods to the Sun and sixty thousand to the Second Exterminatus Army. In total, they lost all two hundred and sixty thousand of them. The scale was unprecedented. For the sake of siding with the ebons, a regal clan that had grown their power from generation to generation lost half of all the top elites in their clan.

The ebons ranked sixth among the thirteen Infinitum Regal Clans. In terms of forces and divine astralships, theirs were almost two-thirds of all the forces of the Infinitum Mundus. The remaining third was mostly possessed by Yi Daiyan’s luxdaemons and the three regal clans that supported her. Two other regal clans had adopted a more neutral stance and maintained decent relations with the Lin Clan. After such immense losses, the power dynamics in the Infinitum Mundus had finally achieved an equilibrium among the three factions, a miracle resulting from Tianming and the Lin Clan’s actions. Word of the Second Exterminatus Army’s defeat hadn’t spread to Ebonia yet, but it would certainly bring much renown to the Lin Clan. The mere mention of them would shake the Infinitum Mundus in the years to come.

”We won!”

”Haha! Hahahaha!”

The Lin Clan realized that they could just fight instead of running and hiding. Once their enemies were dead, they would be able to proudly cruise to the Sun! They would no longer have to flee their enemy and could travel at a leisurely pace!

”What about Lin Jie?” Everyone turned their attention to the Judgment, which had been completely stopped. Countless holes had been poked in the gigantic sword-ship, one among which was exceedingly large. The fact that the ship had stopped in its tracks meant that Lin Jie was being attacked and unable to control it.

”Is somebody having an Infinitum Duel with Lin Jie?”

People began worrying about the possibility. Infinitum Duels could be the last chance that the sinner would be able to get away with it.

”What are you talking about? The Infinitum Bodhimanda is no more! Why would we still honor Infinitum Duels? I heard that seven council members infiltrated that ship, but they aren’t going to fight in single duels. Instead, they’re ganging up on him! The second patriarch, Lin Changkong, Lin Xiong, Lin Chongyao, and even Lin Chongjing joined up!”

The words created a wave of shock.

”Ganging up? Has that ever been the way of our clan?”

”It isn’t, but why should we give our enemies a chance when we have the advantage? Did the ebons bother fighting in duels when they invaded the Sun?”

”Duels are only fought during peacetime to placate the people!”

”We’ll make new rules in our new world!”

The cheers kept ringing out without end.

......

Within the Judgment, Lin Jie knelt on the ground as his gaze darkened, his body pierced full of holes. Lin Xiao, Lin Xiong, Lin Changkong, Dongshen Yue, Lin Chongyao, and the rest were solemnly looking at him.

”Don’t die just yet. Once we reach the Sun and build a new mausoleum for our ancestors, you’ll kneel there to atone for your crimes,” Lin Xiao said as he patted Lin Jie on the shoulder. Lin Jie’s face was completely pale and he didn’t have a single bit of energy left in him. As he sobbed, he slumped toward the ground. His swordbeasts were all dead and his heptastar organs had been sealed with heptastar chains, rendering him completely unable to move. From now on, he was a true prisoner of the Lin Clan.

Lin Xiao, whom Lin Jie had mistreated so badly back then, was heavily protected by the other top elites of the clan. He no longer feared the ancestral world creature, as long as he was careful. He looked at the countless clan members outside the ship and in the direction of the Sun. ”Let’s depart!” Toward the Sun, toward new light, toward our future!