Knowing this truth, the rank of Duke was divided into three subcategories, each more prestigious than the last. First tier Dukes, those who only became a Duke after entering the celestial realm. Second tier Dukes, those who became Dukes as a saint. And third tier Dukes, those who became Dukes as saints, but had now broken into the celestial realm.
The gate the intruder shattered led him directly into the territory of the first tier Dukes…
At that moment, the bells sounded throughout Planet Templar, alerting all Dukes of an invasion. Mere seconds passed before this invasion warning was sent throughout Universe Templar, altering all 37 inhabited planets.
Those who were visiting the 74th quadrant, whether it be for pleasure or business, looked up in confusion. Did they accidentally stumble upon a war?
Some were caught between running away and staying. If they ran now, they could still make it to the gate before the Grand Templar Sect shut down teleportation in order to trap their enemies. They'd also be safe from whatever destruction might occur. But, at the same time, wouldn't it be a shame to miss out on such a show? Such large scale battles outside of the gates were rare.
Plus, such a large event would definitely fetch them a hefty sum from the Sapientia News Network. They could be missing out on a massive pay day.
Thinking to this, most decided to stay, eager to see if they could capture the action. The Grand Templar Sect rarely let anyone into their central region, this could be a good chance to catch a glimpse of what they were hiding. It could give them an edge in the coming ranking tournament too.
At that moment, the 74th quadrant was sent into an uproar. Yet, the two clans who one might assume would gain the most from this remained absolutely silent. The Camelot and Montfort Emperor God Clans, two staunch rivals of the Grand Templar Sect fell into an eerie calm as though none of this had anything to do with them at all.
Thirty-three armies were being mobilized in the territory of the first tier Dukes, each headed by the Duke of their fief. No one understood how large the threat was since the Sentries were taken out before they could give any details. So, they decided to take the approach of using all out force.
Still, the central region was incredibly large. Although the distance was nothing to celestials, and only a slight inconvenience to saints, much of the armies were comprised of essence gathering experts. This limited their speed severely, meaning that much of the defense of the gate, at least in the early phase, would be left to the three first tier Dukes closest to their sect's entrance.
When the curious crowd made their way to the entrance of the Grand Templar Sect, they found a massive moat, filled by a raging river.
Various aquatic beasts exuding the aura of essence gatherers and saints littered its ranks, making it a daunting task for anyone below the saint ranks to cross. This was especially so because the width of the river was at least a hundred kilometers, a distance that tested the limits of weaker essence gatherers to fly across.
The high, medieval walls of the central region of the Grand Templar Sect loomed in the distance, reaching more than a kilometer into the skies. Although the stones that built its exterior seemed average, any expert weapon's smith could tell you that it was created with the ore of master level minerals… The cost must have been astronomical!
The gates of the sect were once just as magnificent, exuding an oppressive paladin aura, dripping with purity and righteousness. Yet, that very gate that once stood tall, being almost three hundred meters in width and over a kilometer in height, not to mention dozens of meters thick… Was shattered into oblivion!
However, this wasn't what shocked those spectators the most. There were two things even more mind numbing…
The first was that with the gate shattered, one could very clearly see that the entrance of the Grand Templar Sect was actually another world entirely! How could such a low-ranking quadrant possibly have such a grand mystical world! It's no wonder they never let anyone enter it!
The second was something that sent shivers down their spine.
The raging river, once filled with high level beasts exuding an aura that kept the weak away, had been dyed almost completely red!
Upon closer inspection, they noticed that the strong bestial auras they had been feeling were slowly dissipating as hundreds of corpses floated upward, filling the air with a thick scent of death.
Yet, the blood river was nowhere near as fear inducing as the black flames that danced across its surface, turning the beast corpses to ash the moment they came into even slight contact…
"What fearsome flames…" A loose cultivator commented under his breath. "Just what has the Grand Templar Sect provoked?"
**
Within the Grand Templar Mystical World, the three closest first tier Dukes moved quickly. It wasn't that they were so fiercely loyal to their sect, but rather that they wanted to capitalize on the situation to gain merit points. Even though their rank as first tier Dukes were set unless they could inconceivably become Kings, gaining merits could still give them more land and raise their place on the nobility rankings. Which of them wasn't willing to fight for such a thing?
"Sir Merek, it seems that you're quite eager! I haven't seen you move this fast in centuries!"
An army slowly approached from the east. From what one could see, there were about ten thousand in their ranks, about a tenth of whom were saints, with the remaining portion being essence gatherers.
In the sky above flew the symbol of the Grand Templar Sect and a gift given to those who entered the ranks of Duke: The Dragon Tailed Lion.
The fierce beast exuded the aura of a peak saint and was of the high earth grade. It was without a doubt a national treasure of the Grand Templar Sect and one of the main reasons they only allowed a rare few to enter their Mystical World.
Its silver mane trembled under its hot breath as its silver scaled tail whipped through the skies. Just its presence made the Red Devil Horses the warriors of the Grand Templar Sect rode tremble in fear. If it wasn't for the fact that they were so fiercely trained, those mere common grade beasts would have long since collapsed under the aura of the lion.
It was clear that something about this Mystical World was conducive to raising high leveled beasts…
Still, the focus of the three approaching armies weren't the dragon tailed lions they each had, but rather their fellow noblemen. After all, they were all rivals.
Each of them stood on the head of the thirty-meter-long silver maned lion beasts with two celestial realm Marquis attendants behind them, eyeing their competition as their armies marched toward the gates.
The man who spoke wore dazzling silver armor, fashioned to the style of a medieval knight. His two-handed sword hung from his hip, but he also held a cone shaped silver lance in his right hand that gave him a valiant aura.
"Sir Ulric, I'm looking forward to seeing the improvement your mighty lance has made in the decades since I've seen you. Don't disappoint me."
A sly, scholarly man responded. He wore long golden robes that contained 8 black bordered golden stripes on his sleeves, indicating that he was an 8th stage Magic Grandmaster.
The third man chuckled lightly at the interaction between these two. He too wore knight's armor, but in addition to his armor being black, his back held a long-handled mace, the head of which was actually five times the size of his head! Considering that this man was almost three meters tall… The size of this mace spoke for itself.
This was none other than Sir Tybalt, first tier Duke of the Grand Templar Sect.
All three of these men were legends in their own right, and each one marched toward a common goal. However, when they saw what slowly walked toward them, their eyes widened in shock.
A young man walked forward slowly, a jet-black sword trailing along the ground his in right hand.
