Chapter 277: Six Times the World

Kharrix reared upright, its body stretching tens of meters into the air. Spatial power surged from its shell. The shriek that followed climbed beyond the range of Human hearing.

Hundreds of millions of creatures stirred beneath it. Spine-serpents and armored warriors, fire beetles, winged hunters, Gale Rippers, and Plasma Bugs all answered their commander’s rage.

Among Humans or Elves, choosing a Legion Commander still left a Legion full of people with their own opinions. The Void Insects surrendered that independence. Once a commander was chosen, the other Lords obeyed without hesitation, even when obedience meant death.

Now that obedience turned the entire swarm toward the same anger.

“Humans.”

Kharrix forced the word out in the common tongue. More than a thousand low-grade Troop Sigils spilled from its mouth.

“Feed.”

Tens of thousands of Human troops appeared. They had no time even to acknowledge the Lord that had summoned them. The swarm closed over them and tore them apart.

Void Insects rarely kept troops of another race. Foreign Sigils were goods to sell or food to summon. Even Legendary troops could end up serving the second purpose.

The slaughter eased Kharrix’s fury. It looked once more at its own World Wonder, eighty-two percent complete, and gave a final command.

“Withdraw.”

Light passed over the ground. The Lords, their Domains, and the great joined stretches of living fungal mat vanished together.

——

[1st — First Homeworld Legion | Humans]

[Provincial rewards: Map area +500%; Resource Index +500%; Aether concentration +500%; wild creature resources +500%; chance of wild Buildings appearing +500%.]

[Additional reward: National Fortune +10 for each represented Province.]

At the finished Temple, the First Legion erupted.

Knowing they should win had done nothing to prepare them for seeing it. Lords shouted over one another, laughing and crying as they read the rewards again.

“First. We actually came first!”

“Five hundred percent extra. Six times what we had!”

“And ten National Fortune. Every Province gets ten!”

The Provincial Ranking had not even begun. They already held a prize that could change the future of their nations.

“A hundred points is enough for founding a nation,” someone said, almost breathless. “If we had the Founding Writ and the required Domain Rank, we could do it now!”

Most of the Champions were young, scarcely out of school. Seraphine and Dain counted among their elders. For many, restraint was impossible. They had stood by Cassian when the rest of the Homeworld called them fools. Now their Provinces would have six times the land and six times the resources to grow into.

Nobody cared whether their Temple was a reduced version anymore.

Dragon Tiger’s Governor raised his voice above the celebration.

“Remember who made this possible. Boss Cassian—and Lord Darian!”

Darian was still grinning, but that caught his ear.

“How does he get to be the boss while I’m just another Lord?”

Cassian considered the complaint with a look of helpful concern.

“We could call you second-in-command.”

“Second? Keep it.”

Nessa covered her mouth, failing to hide her laughter.

The Governor’s words spread through the crowd. The Lords knew what they owed. Cassian had paid for the Dragon’s Blessing and carried the fight into enemy territory. Darian had supplied the great defensive formation and an enormous share of the funding. Without them, there would have been no first-place reward to celebrate.

Harrowmere’s Governor spoke without hesitation.

“If Divine Province needs us from this day forward, Harrowmere will answer.”

Seren Fenwick followed him.

“The Fenwicks will stand under Cassian’s command.”

Nessa’s experience had already shown her family the value of trusting him. This result left little room for doubt.

Lana was quiet a moment longer. Then she made her own promise.

“Hidden Dragon will follow Divine Province’s lead. If you found a nation, Cassian, count us in.”

He smiled and stopped them before more pledges could follow.

“Then let’s make sure all thirteen Provinces get to enjoy what we’ve won. There won’t be many people willing to watch us grow this strong. We need to stand together when they come.”

That steadied the crowd.

He was right. Such an advantage would draw enemies. No power on the Homeworld would welcome the prospect of the thirteen Crown Provinces growing beyond its reach. The Jade Court least of all.

A new set of notices interrupted them.

[Phase Two of the Contest of Champions is complete.]

[Participants may leave Fivefold Heaven. Forced departure in five minutes.]

[Human Champion qualification confirmed. Eligible for Phase Three: Race Ascendancy.] ℯ

[You have joined the Human Champions Channel.]

[The opening date of Race Ascendancy will be announced later.]

The final phase lay ahead of the Homeworld’s eight hundred and thirty-seven Human Champions. Past contests suggested a wait of several months, possibly as long as a year.

Cassian glanced at the new Channel. Introductions were already filling it.

[Lucan Merrow: Lucan Merrow of the Ninefold Sanctum. An honor to meet the Champions gathered here.]

[Ilyse Ardent: Ilyse Ardent, Tide Chapter of the Elemental Covenant. I hope we’ll stand together when our race is called to fight.]

[Seth Varr: Shatterstar Reach. Seth Varr.]

He recognized the great powers behind the names. The Homeworld drew from many traditions without excelling in any one of them; these established Human civilizations had never thought much of it.

If Cassian remembered correctly, Race Ascendancy would affect the All-Races Rankings themselves. Those rankings influenced the Fortune of the entire Human race, perhaps even the awakening of its Will.

That would matter later. He had more immediate business to attend to and left the introductions unread.

——

While the Crown Champions celebrated, the other Legions struggled to accept what was written above them.

The Homeworld. Humans. Barely a thousand Lords.

First place.

Surely they had misread it. Surely the announcement had made an error. Those fighters would have needed to be born Mythic to achieve such a result—powerful creatures disguised as Humans.

The Second Legion stared along with the rest. Nearly a minute passed before disbelief began turning into words. By then, much of the First Legion’s celebration had already settled.

[Gideon: Impossible. There has to be a mistake.]

He had said it so often that day that the word was losing its meaning. A Bloodkin victory would have angered him. A Demon victory would have stung. This result overturned what he believed about strength itself.

Humans had beaten him with a fraction of his numbers. And only moments earlier, he had been mocking them in front of everyone.

[Zareth: It isn’t a mistake. That’s the result. I can hardly believe it either.]

Verena could manage only a rueful smile.

[Verena: First in the Individual Contest, and now first in the Legion Contest. I think we know who deserves the credit for this one as well.]

Vespera’s reply came in a fury.

[Vespera: The Mythic reward! It increases loot drops. It must be able to affect an entire group!]

[Vespera: That prize should have been mine, Cassian!]

With such a reward behind her and the River of Blood guarding her Temple, she believed Blood Throne would have taken the Legion Contest just as surely. Losing the Individual Contest had cost her two first-place prizes.

The other Champions saw the same possibility. It explained how the First Legion could have gathered so many materials with so few Lords.

Then someone remembered the message from the Void Insects.

[Didn’t Kharrix just declare war on the Divines for taking first?]

[It chose the wrong enemy.]

[Speaking of the Divines… where are they? When did anyone last hear from Azrak?]

The humor drained from the exchange.

Brahma had not appeared on the list at all. A Divine Legion powerful enough to be everyone’s favorite for first place had lost its Temple.

Cassian chose his moment.

[Cassian Vale: On that subject, I really must thank our Bloodkin friends again. Lady Vespera may not think kindly of me, but I haven’t forgotten their help.]

[Vespera: What?]

[Rowan Ashford: Absolutely. We owe Blood Throne our thanks.]

Rowan left it there. The other races had been provoked enough for one day.

The Second Legion was another matter.

[Rowan Ashford: Lady Vaust, what was that question you asked us? Would you repeat it?]

Darian was happy to help.

[Darian Frost: She wanted to know whether seeing their “excellent ranking” made us regret our choice.]

Inside the Second Legion, the Channel was already in uproar.