The ruling echelon of Pala was shaken by the onslaught of the Jai forces. It was even more confusing since they were the principal target of the attack. The others at the border who were hit were treated as merely additional loot.
As far as they knew, Palarians had no more hostility with the Jai than say the kingdom of Jewel or Arbor, who were also part of the Diamond Triangle.
For the 7th Prince himself to send forces under his name, it was both a prideful and scareful thing to know.
What great feat did they accomplish to piss this man off? They did not know. Not even the brightest among them had any clue to why this happened.
Everything else took a backseat as Palarians sent the best of their forces to the border.
Six months on, no divine rankers were thrown into the war. It's difficult to believe that the prince was following the 3rd clause of the 3247th peace agreement, but here they were.
Without the divine rankers pressing on, the Alliance would only send non-divine rankers as support. Thus, a lot of burden to take care of the border fell on Palarians themselves.
No one knew what the 7th Prince was actually planning. And these six months of low intensity war seemed like a warm up for something much bigger.
In the headquarters of the invading forces, Hector Russ, the supreme commander listened to his generals.
"My Lord, we have finished assessment of all the powerhouses in the kingdom. The spies from Princess Eshala have submitted their report. It's all set."
As suspected by the Palarians, it was no normal war. From the beginning, the intention was complete destruction of Pala.
But they decided to do it in a way that not only humiliates their opponent but also incur the least losses.
It was for that reason that they didn't hesitate to take assistance from the 4th Princess to tap into the spy network.
For these six months, while Pala scrambled to the border, the invading forces slowly upped their offensive power.
They had a slight advantage from the beginning and it didn't change even after Pala drew almost all their trump cards.
Except for a few powerful beings in the Alliance army who might've garnered enough military merits and might come to its aid in the critical moment, there were only a few hidden powerhouses.
And they too wouldn't be able to turn the tide.
"Commence Phase 2. It's time to run over Pala." Hector Russ announced.
In the far distance, at the border of Pala Kingdom, an intense battle was going on.
Across the border length of five duchies, over a hundred rank 9s were engaged in a desperate match.
Two duchies distance away from that side, over a hundred thousand rank 8s were locked in a deadly battle.
Then there was the battlefield for everyone else with Rank 7s leading the charge.
There were billions of rank 6s and the number of officers below rank 6 was much, much bigger.
Even though it was seen as a low intensity battle by everyone, for those involved, it was a carnage fest.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
"Arghh!"
A giant flying bird turned back into a gray skinned humanoid.
The space blurred before it dissected the woman into four.
She's a rank 4 warrior recruited from her Province, a great genius they described as once in a millennia.
And she..
"Raa! Raa! Raa!"
A mindless dog-like creature waved its sagging tongue and wherever its saliva went, the space there cracked.
The unintended attack of a rank 5 beast, a mere pet grown by one of the rank 6s, ended up killing the 'genius'
The beast was soon swarmed by a bunch of rank 4s who used a unifying treasure to concentrate their attacks.
"Woo! Wu! Woop!" The beast barked as it shriveled into a bag of bones trapped in slimy skin.
With a whimper that didn't match its earlier ferocity, it died. And then was quickly shared amongst the 231 'geniuses' of the province, not very different from the one who just died.
They all got a boost from consuming a beast like this one and they quickly set their sights on the next rank 5 to target.
If things go well, they might be able to half the time needed to reach rank 5.
'I survived for 6 months in this hellish place, I need to do well for just one more month and I can retire with the merits and my father's bribe.'
Thought one man with fish-like scales all over his body.
'I don't even want to fight a rank 5 anymore. I am content with other rank 4s.'
He decided to prioritize his life and the swarm of rank 4s began to disperse.
Kaaaaa!
Space torn open like its a paper and everyone in the radius of a million miles, including all the rank 4s were sucked in.
"Arh, fuck, it hurts."
A rank 6 was blasted out of the space crack, a humanoid with four arms, clutching his bleeding chest.
"It should more than hurt."
A five-eyed octopus-like creature emerged from the space and waved its tentacles.
The space around the four-armed man distorted and like someone cut him with hammers, his body was cleaved deep into multiple inches in many places.
"Arghhh!"
Their battle continued for well over an hour and overcoming great odds, the four-armed man finally killed the five-eyed octopus.
"Nooo!"
"Huff! Huff! Haa! I'm tired. I'm done!" He found a quiet corner of the battlefield, far away from the active region and applied healing medicine.
As he closed his eyes, his family far back in his duchy flashed in his eyes. It's the reason why he managed to win the battle that he should've losed by every logical count.
"Don't worry, I will definitely…definitely make it ba—"
A mushroom cloud of energy swallowed everything in the radius of ten light years and it included this region too, including many peripheries of other battlefields.
The four-armed warrior died before he could even notice it. And despite his great conviction which just won him an impossible battle, there was nothing he could do.
War was cruel.
Be it strong or weak.
But if you're weak, you wouldn't know how you died.
If you're strong, then you would know and it'd be painful because you know that your death would be a huge blow to your side. That your single death might trigger a reaction that could be the downfall of the war.
That's why, Archduke Micheal fought fiercely. He forgot all the personal grudges with his fellow dukes and battled together as one unit.
As a result, Archdukes Micheal, Corinthian and Kriad as well as Duchess Seraphina remained the one of the toughest units of the rank 9 battlefield.
The three peak rank 9s of Pala—King Ferdinand, Martial Saint Kong and Dean Ankh were all fighting one man.
Hector Russ.
Even the secret powerhouse of the kingdom, the fourth peak rank 9, the Queen of Miracles, first of the king who's long believed to be dead, was also fighting.
And they were still on the backfoot.
The situation was okay for high rank 9s who were in sort of a stalemate. There were ten more high rank 9s in th kingdom that were fighting others.
So, Archduke Micheal, the most ardent of patriots, took it upon himself to defeat his enemies so that they could eventually change the tide.
"Come on, we can do it! We must win at any costs!"
At his passionate battle cry, the three didn't respond very well.
"Huff!"
"Too injured now."
Corinthian and Kriad were not very injured or tired. They're just reluctant to fight fiercly to the point of risking their lives. They both cherished their lives.
"My old bones are giving out." Duchess Seraphina, the old lady, panted heavily. She looked much more closer to death than just a few months ago, a sense of regret always present in her face.
"I wish…I killed that little devil when I could. I want to see his eyes pop out when he watches me drag the intestines of his wives…alas, such a pity I'm going to die in a pointless war."
Like always, she grumbled his name.
"Varian…Varian…damn you…I wish…to kill you! I wish you appeared in front of me! Appear! Arghh…appear!"
Szzz!
A chill shot down the spines of the four archdukes and a familiar voice sounded behind Duchess Seraphina.
"Wish granted, Old bitch!"
