Souta and the others arrived at the central region. He already separated from the other groups that would take the other entrances of the Mountain of Demise.
Souta had a calm look on his face as he gazed at the enormous mountain. Although he looked calm, deep inside he wasn't. The situation this time was worse than he imagine but he couldn't let it show on his face or else his subordinates would lose their morale.
It was his responsibility as a leader.
Elder Guan had died along with the other members of the Astros. Yenxa was missing, Yuko was heavily injured, and Kessa was sealed with others. He had to keep calm even though they suffered such devastating loss.
Plus, the entire Hall Plains was covered in that crimson energy net. No one would be able to leave and enter this land anymore. The only way out here was to defeat the enemies.
Souta couldn't help but look at the people standing behind him. He didn't know how many of them would die after this but he needed them to defeat the enemies. Alone, Souta didn't have a chance to stop the plan of the Hall of Power. That's why he had to bring the force of the Astros.
'Also, where are the warriors of Athena? They should be here too.' Souta tightly clenched both of his fists.
"Let's go. Kill everyone who tries to stop us."
Souta said coldly as he stepped forward into the central region.
The central region was in a chaotic state. A bunch of organizations were fighting left and right. Some of them were on the side of the Hall of Power in hopes that the Hall of Power would spare them for the upcoming purge.
Astros wasn't the only one that arrived at the central regions. The organizations from the other regions had arrived too. Some of them wanted to stop the plan of the Hall of Power while the rest sided with the Hall of Power. It became a full-blown war in just a day. Battles and corpses were everywhere.
"Kill them all..."
Souta commanded while staring at the group of people hundreds of meters away from him. The other side approximately has two hundred people and a few of them reach the Realm of Shackles. Judging from the words that they were shouting, he knew that they were on the side of the Hall of Power.
"GO!!!"
The soldiers of Astros roared as they charged with all of their might. The battle started instantly the moment he arrived at the central region.
Souta simply walked nonchalantly in the middle of the battlefield.
Swoosh!
A man armed with a huge axe jumped beside him.
"You're mine!!"
The man roared as he heavily swung the axe in his hand at Souta's neck.
Souta didn't even look at the man. He simply waved his hand before the man exploded. His internal organs were scattered everywhere. The blood flowed in the air and swirled above Souta.
Ohm!
A witch hurriedly ran to Souta's side. He was gasping and said between his breath, "I'm sorry, My Lord. You are forced to move because of our mistake. I will stand by your side so you don't have to deal with everything."
"It's fine. Just kill as much as you can." Souta answered calmly.
He continued to walk as several humanoids emerged from his shadow. The doppelganger quickly darted toward the Shackled Realm experts. As long as he could deal with the Shackled Realm experts, his forces would easily dismantle the enemy's forces.
Clang! Clang!
Sounds of weapons clashing echoed in the area. Every second a shockwave would sweep out in every direction followed by a series of explosions. The Liquefying Realm and Solidifying Realm experts were going all out.
Souta was still unfazed. Soon, he passed through the forces of the enemy. The people who tried to attack him were all dead as their blood flows above him.
He didn't stop and soon the enemy forces were annihilated. He collected all the souls without looking back as the members of the Astros followed him. As a leader, Souta didn't need to move all the time. His people needed experience so that they could help him in his future battles.
If he babysit them, Souta was sure that they wouldn't last long in the Great War. They would just cower in fear and lose sight of the most important thing. The ability to move in the presence of fear and despair.
Even if it's hard, they had to experience this. They need to have a good foundation. Or else... It would be useless.
Well, he was dealing with Shackled Realm experts so that they wouldn't be overpowered. The members of Astros should be able to deal with experts below Shackled Realm.
Souta narrowed his eyes as he tried to calm his wildly beating heart. He took a huge stride as the members of the Astros followed him with burning determination.
'We can win this...'
Souta's eyes suddenly contracted. He turned his head and felt the vibration on the ground as a vast energy erupted in a distance.
"This aura... There's no doubt that someone at Second Shackles is fighting."
It seems that higher level experts were raging war in this land too. He sensed the energy signature and found that he wasn't familiar with it so it was probably an unknown Two Shackles Realm expert.
"Follow me. Don't do anything else aside from following me." Souta said without looking back at his people. His target wasn't the other experts. He doesn't care if they kill each other.
The group rushed ahead and defeated all kinds of enemies in their paths. They didn't show any mercy and slaughtered everything. No one was spared except for those who were identified as allies.
By the time they traveled dozens of kilometers, the whole ground was bathed in red. The space above them was covered in the red sea.
From the beginning up to this, Souta gathered all the blood of the creatures that his group killed. He controlled all the blood to follow him. There's nothing that could stop him anymore.
...
Eztein and Torkez's side.
They arrived at the site with the members of Astros and saw a desolate land. The whole area was filled with intense heat and flames along with strong winds would burst out from the cracks in the ground. There were countless corpses scattered across the land. Some of them were burned while some were sliced apart.
The stench was strong as the members of the Astros with weak stomachs started to puke.
"What is this...?" Eztein frowned.
"Something occurred here..." Torkez muttered as he crouched down and observed the land.
Eztein looked ahead and said, "I can feel a presence in that direction."
He turned to Torkez and asked, "Should we go or not?"
Torkez didn't answer immediately. Instead, he asked, "What do you think is the cause of this? A One Shackle? Or maybe above?"
"Probably One Shackle... If it's Two Shackles expert then the damage to the land would be much worse." Eztein said after pondering.
"Okay, then let's go." Torkez decided. If it's a One Shackle then the group would be able to handle it. If it's above them it would be a problem.
The group advanced cautiously. They traveled several kilometers when an energy flared up in the distance ahead of them.
Eztein and Torkez looked up. They were familiar with this aura. They hurriedly moved with the rest of the Astros.
When they arrived at the site, the scene was strangely quiet. Corpses were scattered everywhere and a person was standing in the center of it. The aura around the person was fluctuating highly, creating a vision of white steam around his body.
"You...!!" Eztein and Torkez widened their eyes.
The person turned his head and looked at the group with a huge grin on his face.
"Oh, you guys are here." He said.
...
Draymond looked up and smiled. He opened his arms widely before a huge pillar of crimson light shot through the sky.
Boom!!
The whole mountain started to vibrate. The energy around it grew stronger and stronger until it tore through the crimson energy net and expanded into outer space. The pillar of crimson light even pierced the dense mana in the atmosphere of Imperium.
"This is it!! All the energy we gathered from our ritual is for this very moment!!"
Draymond laughed madly.
The vibration spread out and shook the entire Hall Plains. It disturbed every living being in the whole region. Even the people who didn't have an idea about the Mountain of Demise could feel that something bad would happen soon.
"The return of our emperor is here!!"
The other members of the Hall of Power knelt down and started to pray. Their voices synchronized as it gives more power to the crimson light, turning it into a more terrifying energy.
They pray to god.
Their hope.
The return of the blessed being.
A being that scared most of the gods and monster lords.
The being who once declared war to the entirety of Imperium.
The No God Emperor, the man who was born free.
