Chapter 402: You Still Held Something Back?

Evander looked sharply toward the warning.

Countless crystal blades were cutting into the barrier. At their center hovered a crystal bat, its body shining with pure white light.

The strength of those attacks made his expression change.

"Far beyond an ordinary Legendary Nine-Star..." He stared at the creature. "A Mythic Crystal Bat? Who would spend that much on a bat?"

A heavy impact interrupted him.

Nearby, a golden crystal bat struck the barrier hard enough to drive it inward by more than ten meters. Before Evander’s eyes, its body softened and flowed. Within a second, the bat had become a humanoid figure made entirely of Golden Radiance Crystal.

A ten-meter warhammer formed in her hands.

Clinging to the shield, she began hammering it. Each blow sent another violent ripple through the earth-yellow surface.

"Crystal Metamorphosis? A Crystal Mother?"

Evander recognized the skill immediately. It was the Crystal Mother’s signature ability.

"But that makes no sense. Crystal Mothers are almost never troops. They’re usually Heroes, if not Lords of Crystal Castles themselves."

More impacts answered him.

Under cover of the Fenwick army, hundreds of crystal bats appeared along the barrier. Some drove into it, making deep dents before changing into human form. Others remained airborne, casting Crystal Storm again and again.

Every one of them struck with enough force to rival an ordinary Mythic.

An Ascendant beside Evander spoke urgently.

"My lord, those aren’t Crystal Mothers. They’re Crystal Maidens. Somehow, they’ve acquired the Mothers’ ability to change form."

"Crystal Maidens? The Epic Extreme troop?"

He looked again. There was no denying it.

"Hundreds of Legendary Nine-Star Extreme troops. Cassian had another army like this?"

The old thirty-two had only been the beginning. Since then, Cassian had paid for more Maiden Embryos and raised them through the same Life Essence route. Troop Souls and Battle Essence had gone into their advancement as well. The enlarged corps had been ready before this battle; he had simply kept its full strength out of sight.

Evander knew nothing of those preparations. But once he recognized the troops, he could account for the power before him.

"Legendary Nine-Star Extreme troops, strengthened by that blessing artifact of his. No wonder they can fight like Mythics!"

A warning flashed in front of him.

[Warning: Five Elements Cycle Array energy below 50%. Rated output affected. Replenish energy immediately.]

Evander’s face tightened.

There was no time to worry about the expense. With a sweep of his hand, he fed more than ten billion mid-grade Aether Crystals into the formation. Energy surged through its linked nodes. At last, the barrier steadied.

He let out a breath.

"A troublesome opponent. If I hadn’t brought enough mid-grade Crystals, he might actually have broken through."

Then he thought about the cost, and his relief soured.

In less than an hour, maintaining this enormous array had consumed more than a trillion Aether. That did not even include the mid-grade Crystals he had just used.

High above the Temple, something else was waiting.

Tens of kilometers above its summit, a golden crystal woman stood in empty air. She was ten meters tall.

Cassian had committed all his remaining available Aether to Dragon’s Blessing, strengthening the Crystalkin corps. Crystal One had already completed her Convergence.

Her Combat Rating had passed a million stars.

At that level, she could overcome the pull of the Realm’s magnetic field and hold herself aloft without wings or another means of flight. Moving that way was slow, but she had no need to travel far under her own power.

All she needed was the order.

It came.

"Yes, my lord."

One released the force holding her in place.

Her enormous body dropped toward the Temple. She fell faster with every passing moment, golden light flashing along her limbs.

She had none of Lysette’s acceleration skills. But with tens of kilometers beneath her, gravity had plenty of room to work.

——

The Homeworld’s Lords were no less stunned than the Covenant.

As reports and observations filled the channel, they quickly identified the new force.

[Crystal Maidens with Crystal Metamorphosis?]

[Hundreds more Legendary Nine-Star troops. And they’re Extreme troops!]

[Whose army is this? Don’t tell me it’s Cassian’s again. Of everyone in Divine Nation, he’s the one who loves keeping something hidden.]

Cassian put their speculation to rest.

[No need to guess. They’re mine.]

The corps had entered the battle. Its ownership would hardly remain a secret now.

Gavin Roswell had been quiet for some time. This was more than he could bear.

[Then you weren’t even using your full strength against the Black Banner?]

His next words sounded almost like a groan.

[It was a national war, damn it. You still held something back?]

Cassian answered with a question of his own.

[Did I need an army this strong to destroy them?]

For a moment, no one replied.

Nerissa and the other Black Banner Lords were shaking with fury. They had lost. Their armies had been crushed. There was little they could say about that.

But to hear that their conqueror had never even needed to show his full strength...

The insult was almost worse than the defeat.

Even the three Crown rulers exchanged speechless looks.

"How many more cards is that brat holding?" the Valcrest founder demanded through his teeth.

Beside Cassian, people were drawing sharp breaths as well.

Darian and Nessa were among the few who had known about his Crystal Maidens. Neither had realized there were so many.

"Where do you get enough Battle Essence to raise all these troops?" Darian asked. "Even with tens of thousands of Eclipse Legionnaires hunting day and night, this is ridiculous!"

An ordinary Lord’s hunting force could support the growth of a few hundred main combat troops, most of them below Epic.

An Eclipse Chapterhouse changed that considerably. Nessa and the others who had one could now maintain main armies of roughly a thousand.

Cassian’s Dawnwing and Eclipse corps alone numbered more than two thousand. The Dawnwing line had reached Legendary Nine-Star, with Harriet standing above them as a Mythic Throne.

That was already enough to make other Lords despair.

Now he had revealed hundreds of Legendary Nine-Star Crystal Maidens. An entire Extreme corps.

And he had kept them hidden until this moment.

Cassian met their stares with an innocent expression.

"Things can go wrong even when you’re winning. I don’t feel comfortable unless I have something in reserve."

He was telling the truth. Then he sighed.

"Though after this, I really won’t have many cards left."

Darian was silent for a moment.

"Not many. So you do still have more."

Cassian nodded toward the Temple.

"Watch. Here comes the main attack."

Darian turned so quickly that his next words nearly caught in his throat.

"You’ve got another surprise?"

Shrill alarms were already sounding aboard the Covenant’s ships.

Cassian smiled.

"There’s a palm strike that falls from the sky—"

A golden streak flashed across their vision before he could finish.

The impact thundered over the sea.

At the very top of the formation, the immense barrier caved inward by hundreds of meters. Directly beneath that plunging hollow lay the Temple’s energy orb—and the five Elemental Root Lords gathered around it.

Mouths fell open across both armies.

"Was that a missile?"