The Desolate Era

Book 44, Dusk War, Chapter 1 – Grand Army, Mobilize!

A peaceful, beautiful, and vast world where Hegemons and Emperors resided.

“Come, try this new dish I came up with.” Three Hegemons and five weaker Emperors were seated next to each other. A curly red-haired man walked out from a nearby hall, a smile on his face as he called out to them. He then waved his hand, causing the platters before him to fly towards his eight friends. Each platter was filled with red strips of meat covered by some sort of sauce.

“We absolutely must try brother Bluefive’s delicacies.”

“Whoah, not bad. It’s quite crispy. The flavor goes all the way down to my toes! I feel absolutely wonderful. Unnngh… in fact, I almost feel a bit tipsy…”

“It’s delicious, absolutely delicious.”

“Bluefive, bring out some more. We’re almost finished!”

The Hegemons all praised the food and asked for more.

“Calm down! This is something I just finished concocting. If you like it, I’ll make some more in a bit,” the red-haired man chortled. He felt quite delighted and proud that his friends loved his food.

Right at this moment…

“All Sithe warriors, prepare to receive the orders of almighty Iyerre!” a voice suddenly thundered. The words echoed throughout the world, reverberating throughout every inch of it.

All nine of the Hegemons and Emperors who had been eating and chatting, including Bluefive, instantly turned pale.

Rumble… a vast, blurry pillar of light suddenly appeared at the highest point in the very center of this world. A humanoid figure slowly began to take form within the pillar of light. It was the balding, barefoot, gray-robed Iyerre. The tall and muscular Iyerre stared downwards upon everyone in the world. This was just a projection, but it was enough to cause all the Hegemons and Emperors to quiver with fear.

All the Hegemons and Emperors, be it the ones who were training in their estates or the ones who were partying with friends, all came out to bow with incomparable reverence, demonstrating their respect and submission towards this man.

“Warriors of the Sithe.” Iyerre stared downwards at them, a smile on his face: “You have all come from our homeland to this foreign Chaosverse… and for what?”

“To fight! To fight a war that will change all of our destinies, both yours and mine! We have to win this war! If we win, all of you will gain absolute freedom for yourselves… and I, Iyerre, shall forever remember you and treat you kindly,” Iyerre said. “Our last war was nothing more than a trial run. This one, however, shall be the final war! There is no way out for any of us. Once we lose this battle, we’ll have no chance of winning in the future.”

All the Hegemons and Emperors felt their hearts clench. No way out? They had a way out last time; when they saw that things were turning against them, they retreated to this place.

“An Eternal Omega Dao has arisen within this Chaosverse! If we don’t attack now, the natives of this Chaosverse shall quickly become so powerful that we’ll have no chance of defeating them at all.

“Thus… this time, we have to win no matter the cost! Those who perform well shall all be rewarded. Even if you die in battle, I’ll reverse spacetime to bring you back. Those cowards who elect to flee, however… even if they manage to survive, I’ll put them all to death!

“Now, everyone shall mobilize! Follow the plan we prepared long ago and advance to the various realmverses of the native cultivators!”

The vast airborne image of Iyerre slowly began to dissipate. A sense of pressure quickly began to press down upon all the Hegemons and Emperors within this great world.

“So the final war is finally beginning.” Hegemon Bluefive, standing amongst his eight friends, murmured softly: “I was lucky enough to survive the last war, then were given so many years of blissful peace in this world. This was more than we had any right to expect!”

“Some of us came later on, after the first war had already come to an end. But… Bluefive, we already know everything there is to know about these cultivators. We’re going to win this war.”

“Right. We’ll definitely win.”

“There’s no way out. Only victory will grant us release.”

“Fight.”

“Fight.”

“Fight!” The Hegemons and Emperors exchanged glances with each other. They could sense the firm resolve and combative auras emanating from their peers. Their destinies had been set down in stone long ago; they had to obey Iyerre’s orders, and Iyerre had ordered them to this Chaosverse. Here, they had quietly waited for the war to begin. Their only hope lay in victory.

They had all come here for the sake of gaining victory in the final war.

“Follow the plan which was set down long ago. Board the warships and prepare to mobilize!” a loud voice boomed out, echoing throughout the world.

“Prepare to mobilize!”

“Board the warships!”

“Move faster!” Voices rang out from throughout the world.

“Let’s get ready to go.” Bluefive and his eight friends transformed into streaks of light that shot off into the distance.

In just the time needed to boil a kettle of tea, a series of enormous warships began to soar into the skies. Each warship held a total of roughly twenty Hegemons and many more Emperors, as well as many golems and mighty treasures.

“Activate!”

Rumble… space began to tremble as the power which had lain dormant for so many years in this mysterious dimension was finally activated. It was like an enormous flower had begun to bloom.

This particular dimension had been hidden within a part of the Great Dark of the local Chaosverse. It had been buried here for countless years, and the cultivators had never discovered its existence.

A veritable throng of warships simultaneously flew out in every direction.

“Good luck.”

“Take care, elder brother Svastika.”

“Best of luck.” Many friends bade each other farewell.

“Let’s go!”

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Countless dimensional tunnels appeared around them. Each warship flew into a dimensional tunnel, warping away at high speed. They were able to warp through spacetime much more quickly than realmships could; each of them was comparable to the Blacksun in this regard! These ancient warships had been created for the express purpose of battle and transportation, and they were incredible in both aspects.

On this day, a total of eighteen different hidden dimensions located in different regions simultaneously released countless warships unto an unsuspecting Chaosverse. The Sithe had spent countless aeons filling these hidden dimensions with many mighty experts! Many of them had been sent over from the Sithe Chaosverse after they had lost the first war.

The native cultivators had produced many new experts over the aeons, but the Sithe Chaosverse had produced even more. Many of them had been sent over to this Chaosverse, where they had hidden themselves and awaited Iyerre’s orders. Now that the orders had arrived, they all mobilized and began to spread throughout the Chaosverse.

……

The Flamedragon Realmverse. The Three Realms.

Ji Ning was in secluded meditation on Brightheart Island. He was under the effects of 100x temporal acceleration and was diligently focusing on the mysteries behind the sphere of annihilation at all times. He had the feeling that if he used it as a guidepost to create a matching Sword Dao, that Sword Dao would possess absolutely incredible power.

“Eh?” Ning suddenly opened his eyes, breaking his meditations. This was the exact moment those eighteen hidden dimensions had suddenly revealed themselves, blooming into existence and releasing an enormous number of warships which had quickly spread themselves throughout the Chaosverse.

In that instant, Ning could sense a deep, forboding aura of danger come crashing down upon him. It was as though dark stormclouds had suddenly blotted out the sun above him. This invisible pressure made it impossible for Ning to remain calm and collected! Not even the appearance of the Annihilation Hive had generated a sense of danger as great as the one Ning felt right now. The premonition of danger was so great that Ning could feel his heart shuddering.

“What’s going on? What the hell just happened?” Ning had an inkling, but he wasn’t certain of it. He didn’t dare believe it.

Last time, Ning could distinctly sense where the sense of danger was originating from. This time was different! The danger was completely omnipresent, as though every single part of the Chaosverse was in grave danger. There was no way to find the ‘source’ of it, and as a result Ning didn’t know what to do.

“Mogg. Titanos. What’s going on? Do you know what just happened?” Ning immediately sent a message through the Autarch message-talisman.

……

Within the ancient temple that levitated in the skies above that island in the outer perimeter of the Sithelands. Autarch Mogg and the others were all gathered here.

“What the hell? What the hell just happened? I-I…” Autarch Ekong had a frantic, fearful look on his face. This sense of danger caused him to feel extremely uneasy. It was as though the entire Chaosverse had just been plunged into darkness.

However, Autarch Mogg, Autarch Skyfeeder, Autarch Stonerule, and Autarch Titanos were all quite calm. They simply exchanged a glance.

“It has finally begun,” Autarch Titanos said softly.

“This nightmarish feeling of doom… I never wanted to feel it again, but here it is.” Autarch Skyfeeder shook her head. She would never be able to forget what a calamitous war the Dawn War had been. Far, far too many of their Hegemons and Emperors had died in that war.

“Our greatest fear has been realized.” Autarch Mogg shook his head. “Our seals really were useless against them.”

Autarch Mogg could sense that Ning had just sent them a message. He took out his message-talisman, then sent a single message out:

“Darknorth, the war has begun!”