Chapter 393: Another Mythic

Using Cloudburst Rush again and again was beginning to strain Lysette’s body. She glanced at Seraphine.

"We’re trying to reduce casualties. This isn’t the time to prove yourself. If you still want a good fight, I can spar with you later."

"No need. No need at all!" Seraphine waved both hands. "I’ll go help the others."

With Cassian’s present standing, even troops such as Nine received the highest courtesy when they visited another Lord’s Domain. Seraphine certainly wasn’t going to argue with one of his Heroes over a stolen kill.

Lysette nodded and shot away.

A heavy impact sounded. Then another.

Each time she struck, a Spiritbound Lord with near-Mythic strength died. Preparation made no difference. The gap between their strength and hers was simply too wide.

Soon, the dozen or so strongest creatures had all fallen, Velric among them. Lysette’s face had turned pale. She drank several bottles of Life Water before color returned to it.

Freed from those powerful opponents, Dain and the Valcrests began crushing the rest. Dain was especially pleased. Against these lesser enemies, almost every swing of his halberd took a life.

The pressure on Divine Nation’s Warbound Lords eased at once.

"Well done."

Cassian clapped, delighted. Lysette’s performance had exceeded even his expectations.

Strength Will accounted for part of it. The rest came from Basic Combat at Transcendence. She controlled her body so precisely that every bit of strength went where she wanted it. Give another fighter the same attributes and Cloudburst Rush, and they would still struggle to match her results.

"Her close combat is exceptional," Aurelia said seriously. "Even against me, the outcome would be about even."

Cassian turned to look at her.

"Was that a compliment to yourself?"

Aurelia’s cheeks reddened. She changed the subject quickly.

"What would you have us do, my lord?"

For all that had happened, little more than a dozen minutes had passed since the armies clashed.

"Rhea. Aurelia. Take the Dawnwings and Eclipse Legionnaires after their War Marshals."

Cassian pointed toward the rear of the enemy army.

"Start with Ronan Vexley. I’m tired of hearing him."

"Yes, my lord!"

Harriet led a thousand four-winged Dawnwings forward. A thousand Epic Eclipse Legionnaires moved beside them, with Rhea, Aurelia, Celia, Liora, and Sylvara at their head.

Nine stayed with Cassian. Eleven other Crystal Maidens in Dragon form and the remaining eight Praetorians formed his guard.

As Divine Nation’s Sovereign, every move he made drew attention. When the watching Lords realized who his army was aiming for, the broadcasts erupted.

"He’s going straight for Vexley?"

"A decapitation strike through that army? Has he lost his mind?"

The Black Banner’s War Marshals had all spoken of mutual destruction. What they meant was spending the new sector’s ten billion troops to cripple their enemy. They themselves remained well behind the fighting.

Ronan was nearly a hundred kilometers away, with a dense army filling the space between him and Cassian.

"Arrogant fool!" he shouted. "I’ll stand right here. Let’s see you reach me!"

Cassian gave a quiet laugh.

"Make sure you stay there."

Liora opened her bound Abyssal Grimoire.

"Demonic Calamity!"

Demons poured out by the hundreds of thousands. Every one was at least Rare. They surged ahead of the two corps and hurled themselves into the enemy ranks.

"Heaven’s Battle Array!"

"Aegis Fold!"

The Dawnwings linked their power beneath Harriet’s command. Beside them, the Eclipse Legionnaires held their positions within their own formation, sharing the force of incoming blows as they advanced.

"Stop them!" Ronan roared.

Tens of millions of flying troops answered. They swarmed toward the two formations, heedless of the deaths waiting ahead.

Thunder Crown blazed around Aurelia. A hundred-meter Lightning Giant rose above the army, and thousands of bolts lashed through the air for a kilometer around her.

Against enemies like these, she needed no clever technique. She simply released her power.

Blackened bodies rained from the sky. Only Legendary fighters could get close.

——

"She looks like an Angel from a technological civilization," the Valcrest founder said, puzzled. "A people that powerful shouldn’t be unknown. Why have I never heard of one that commands lightning like this?"

Edran shook his head.

"The Realm’s battlefields span countless worlds. Perhaps she comes from some secluded civilization. We’ve never seen another force quite like his Praetorians either."

"And I couldn’t identify that white-haired Hero’s origins at all," the founder added. "How does the boy keep recruiting women like these?"

On the display, the storm finally slackened. In little more than a dozen seconds, Aurelia had killed hundreds of thousands of troops. The smell of scorched flesh drifted through the air.

More flyers rushed into the gaps. Soon they surrounded the two corps so completely that, from tens of kilometers away, nothing could be seen but a vast dark cloud.

"Good!" Ronan shouted. "Both of Cassian’s main corps are here! Surround them and kill them, whatever it takes!"

Nearly ten thousand Legendary troops closed in to join the attack.

——

Concern appeared on the faces of Divine Nation’s Lords.

"Behemoths, advance along the ground!" Darian ordered. "Draw their troops away from Cassian’s force!"

"Crownward Knights!" Nessa called.

"Hill Kings, follow them!" Elara added.

More than ten thousand Legendary troops moved forward in organized corps. Most belonged to Cassian’s closest allies in Divine Province.

They did not stop to question how reckless his decision might look. If he was going in, they would follow.

Cassian started to speak, then let them go.

Together, those corps were strong enough to keep themselves safe. They could take their share of kills and Battle Essence while they were there.

Speaking of Battle Essence...

He glanced at the reports racing down his display. His smile broadened.

"Now this is a good harvest."

With enemies hurling themselves forward without pause, his troops were killing thousands every second.

The two main corps divided the work cleanly. Holy Flame burned around Heaven’s Battle Array as it drove through the enemy mass. Every troop below Epic that touched those flames became ash.

Epic enemies died to the Eclipse Legionnaires’ Sword of Space. Celia sent out more than ten streams of Sword Energy each second, and every one could pierce a Legendary fighter.

The allied Legendary corps kept drawing enemies away. Ronan had tens of millions of troops to direct, yet for the moment, he could do nothing to stop the two formations.

Like Nine’s advancement, Harriet’s rise to Mythic had been kept from most outsiders. The enemy Lords who had faced the full power of Heaven’s Battle Array in Pandora had not survived to spread the news. Cassian’s closest allies knew far more than the public did.

Now the truth was impossible to miss.

"Heaven’s Battle Array?"

Piers Haldane watched the broadcast as though it were choking him.

"He has a Throne Angel too? A being like that... Why would she serve him?"

Even Calista, the mother of Mount Celestia’s commander Gideon, was only a Throne.

Concord Province had long worshipped Mount Celestia. Some of its most fervent believers hoped that, after death, their souls would be accepted there and freed from the lowly condition of being Human.

Troop units stood far below Lords in status. Even so, if Concord ever recruited a Throne Angel, it would treat her like an object of worship.

For Cassian, she was simply one of his powerful subordinates.

One of them.

Piers could barely stand the thought.

Other viewers had almost lost the ability to be surprised.

"Another Mythic? This is absurd!"

"When the Golden Behemoths charged, I thought we’d finally seen Divine Nation’s greatest weapon. What a joke."

Gavin Roswell spoke through clenched teeth.

"Don’t celebrate too early. Fivefold Heaven is on its way. All these hidden cards of yours may still be worthless when it arrives!"

Nessa answered at once.

"Are you stupid? If Fivefold Heaven comes, we can just hand over the Temple. Why would we have to fight them?"

Meanwhile, Ronan’s eyes had turned bloodshot.

"Hold them! Using that much power will drain the Angels soon!"

He was right about the cost. The Dawnwings and Eclipse Legionnaires were already drinking Life Water. One bottle for each of two thousand troops meant two thousand bottles gone in a single round.

Fortunately, Cassian had brought enough from his reserves.

Another dozen minutes passed.

The Dawnwings and Eclipse Legionnaires cut a bloody passage through tens of millions of enemies. When the distance between them and Ronan fell to ten kilometers, the War Marshal finally began to panic.

His expression shifted several times. In the end, his own life mattered more than his boast. He rose into the air and fled.

Aurelia gave a cold smile.

"Too late to run now."