Lord of the Truth

Chapter 1033: Another battleground

Robin infused his soul sense into the Sound Ring and spoke in a clear voice, ”Amon, bring your army and come to the City of Hope... Iʼll be waiting for you... But youʼd better set the coordinates a hundred miles away from it; thereʼs a spatial lock here... Alright, Iʼll send you the coordinates.”

”Haha, your demons wonʼt help you! My seventh son is surrounding them as we speak and will annihilate them at any moment. Honestly, Iʼm amazed you managed to heal that person, Sakaar, to this extent after my son severely injured him. But Iʼm also sure heʼll crumble the moment he takes even a single hit!” Pythor laughed proudly, everything was going according to plan.

He had only withdrawn his forces from the north while leaving a complete army in the south to engage the demons. He knew full well that Robinʼs planets required a massive army to stabilize, making it nearly impossible for Robin to withdraw his human forces from them. Perhaps Robin had even sent part of his demon army there as well!

With this strategy, even if he managed to summon just ten ships, Pythor was confident he could still control the situation here- let alone summoning a full army with a hundred Imperial Guards and hundreds of martial emperors from the north!

”The demons have never let me down, and they wonʼt start today,” Robin muttered as he turned his head to look in a particular direction. After a few seconds, a smile spread across his face.

”Hmm?” Pythor followed Robinʼs gaze, but unlike Robin, his expression soured with annoyance. ”How can they be here so quickly?”

Far in the distance, more than a hundred miles away, a blue portal shimmered atop a rocky hill. From within that portal emerged crimson figures, rushing toward them as if hell itself had decreed their demise.

”The demons know well that the southern battles are merely a sideshow. Their primary objective has always been to come here if the situation escalated,” Robin chuckled and shrugged. ”Honestly, I wasnʼt the one who planned the battles happening down south, so Iʼm not sure how many demons I can pull with this call. I guess that depends on your seventh sonʼs capabilities.”

”Then I should feel reassured,” Pyther laughed loudly. When it came to military command and strategic planning, no one among his offspring surpassed his seventh son. Even in the Mid-Planetary Belt, that son was treated with utmost respect!

”Prepare for engagement! Enemies are approaching from the rear!” The infantry and even the newly arrived combat emperors turned their attention toward the portal and the crimson tide pouring from it.

Though they were taken by surprise, the hundred-mile distance gave them ample time to prepare to face the incoming wave.

Whoosh Whoosh

More ships arrived and began unloading their forces, their cannons aimed directly at the crimson tide.

”Fire!!” Barely halfway across the distance, the demons began facing long-range bombardments from multiple warships, each equipped with hundreds of side cannons! Boom! Boom!

”Hah... Hah... Hah...” The demons gasped for air, their breaths harsh and labored as they pushed their battered bodies forward. Some dragged mangled legs, their movements jerky and uneven, while others bore gruesome wounds to their heads, dark blood trickling down their faces and staining their armor. Blue projectiles rained down from the skies in an unending barrage, exploding with deafening roars and scattering chunks of earth and flesh alike. The air was thick with the acrid smell of burning and blood, but even this could not deter them. If anything, the pain and chaos seemed to ignite a feral fire within them, their pace quickening, their resolve hardening with every step closer to their enemy.

”Hold your positions... Hold your positions...!!”

The booming commands echoed across the battlefield, cutting through the cacophony of battle. The soldiers of the Grand Serpent Empire moved with mechanical precision, a testament to centuries of hardened discipline and unyielding resolve. Their defensive array snapped into place like the pieces of a well-oiled machine, forming an impenetrable wall of shields and spears.

”Now!”

At the shouted order, the air above the formation exploded into chaos. The martial emperors from the Great Serpent Empire shot forward like arrows, engaging the demon emperors in fierce aerial battles. Blades clashed and sparks flew, the sky lit by flashes of power as the combatants tore into each other with ferocious intensity. Below, the infantry braced behind their shields, thrusting their spears forward in unison like a tide of death.

Slash! Slash! Boom!

The clash was brutal, the collision of two unstoppable forces. Blood sprayed and bodies fell, but the outcome was clear from the first impact. The empireʼs disciplined soldiers stood firm, their superior equipment and numbers giving them the edge. Though a few soldiers in the front ranks fell, their loss was overshadowed by the dozens of demons who perished in return, their savage charge cut short by cold steel.

”Khakhakh...!!”

But the demons were not deterred. They pressed on with a ferocity that defied reason, hurling themselves against the imperial lines with reckless abandon. Claws and teeth tore through armor and flesh, dragging unfortunate soldiers into the maelstrom, where they were ripped apart with sickening savagery.

”Damn it!!”

Cries of rage and pain echoed through the formation as the empireʼs soldiers fought to hold their ground. For every soldier dragged down, more demons fell, their bodies piling up in grotesque heaps.

The General overseeing the formation stood on a small rise, his sharp eyes scanning the distant horizon. There, beyond the immediate carnage, he saw the source of this relentless onslaught. The spatial portal stood like a glowing wound in reality, a pulsating blue ring guarded by hulking demon emperors. From its depths, an unending tide of crimson demons poured forth, their numbers stretching as far as the eye could see.

The battlefield stretched over a hundred miles, the ground painted red with blood and littered with the broken remnants of both sides. The Generalʼs gaze hardened. By his estimation, at least 15,000 demons had already entered the fray, with more spilling out by the second. They charged with wild abandon, their lack of organization replaced by a sheer, primal hunger for destruction.

To any onlooker, the sight would have been overwhelming, a nightmare given form. But to the Grand Serpent Empire, it was merely another challenge to overcome.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The sound of engines roared through the air as several more imperial ships descended from the sky, their hulls gleaming under the dim light of the battlefield. This time, the ships disgorged squads of imperial guards, their imposing figures clad in battle-scarred armor. Despite their injuries-deep gashes, shattered armor plates, and scorched weapons-the guards moved with unshakable confidence. Their faces were etched with fury, their eyes burning with a fiery determination.

”Every lowly creature dares to stand in our way these days,” one of the guards growled, his voice a deep rumble that carried over the battlefield. He raised his weapon high, its blade catching the light as he roared, ”Die, all of you!!”

The few imperial guards charged forward, their battle cries mixing with the clash of steel and

the screams of the dying. Behind them, the empireʼs cannons roared to life once more, their blue projectiles carving through the advancing demons in an unrelenting storm of

destruction.