There could never be just one main battleground in a war of this scale.
Of course, if one counted the entire length of Eien as a single war zone, then it could be considered so, but it was much too separated for such a view to be accurate.
The entire ring was being attacked, and each section was isolated from the rest. They each had their own large and small battles ongoing at all times, and the universe's forces were spread relatively thin.
However, over time, it became clear that the Nox were directing their focus toward Soul World.
In the Blood-Drenched Wilderness and the territories nearby it, a large number of enemies had gradually gathered.
It seemed Soul World had been judged an easy point of infiltration despite its special traits.
Why was that so?
Well, strictly physically, Spirits were the weakest race.
Their physical bodies needed to be formed as they grew and weren't provided from birth, therefore, there were times when they were extremely fragile presences in the real world.
Their natural affinity for nature and psychic-type magics gave them protection against their natural weakness, but the Nox must've found a way to overcome that protection.
If not, they would not have been attacking so confidently.
This was the conjecture made by many experts after observing the Nox's patterns for a time. They were a confusing and chaotic race, but they became strangely easy to predict on a larger scale.
Their strategies didn't differ much either, so creating countermeasures was something done with relative ease.
A larger portion of the army was positioned in the sections of Eien near the Soul World and Calypto in order to respond to the enemy's movements, and that area of the ring became the most watched of the battlegrounds.
Days and weeks passed rapidly. Commander Huo's raid on the Blood-Drenched Wilderness began long ago.
Because he wanted to gain an advantage, his priority was speed. Rather than exterminating every Nox they came across, his squads were instead tasked to use strategies similar to the Judgement Order that included assassination and stealth.
The Nox had a solid organizational structure nowadays, but it had a fatal flaw.
They ruled by fear and absolute order, therefore, when the general died, those under his command would become headless chickens that ran around without an idea of what to do.
"Individualism" was a core Nox ideology, but "individualistic thought" was a skill they lacked.
It couldn't be helped.y
They had to get rid of several chains before their thought processes could reach the complexity of humans and other species.
But this was a lucky break for the universe.
Using this quality, Commander Huo guided his troops through the defenses of all four major fortresses at once to catch the enemy off guard.
This happened 4 months ago. It was one of the most successful missions in the war thus far.
The four Supremes who sat at the head of those fortresses were killed before they could understand what was happening, while the remaining forces were cleaned up in the following months.
The only problem was…the completion came too easy.
The Nox were unintelligent, but they were not weak by any means.
It shouldn't have been so easy to take down their entire operation with only a few hundred allied casualties.
Haa…just what could it be…?"
Commander Huo sat at his desk, hunched over a variety of documents and reports.
No matter how he looked at it, there were no problems.
"Are we truly being too wary?"
He couldn't believe it, but that was what his peers believed.
Was it arrogance or reality?
No matter what, Commander Huo didn't think the Nox would direct so many forces towards the Soul World for them to be killed like ants.
"Bad news!"
A call suddenly resounded through the room.
A woman surfaced nearby, blood drenching her body from the countless gashes torn into her skin.
"Hera!" Commander Huo exclaimed, rushing over.
This woman named Hera was a member of Rose's Judgement Order. She was not part of the original group, but a member who joined after the fact.
She was someone who idolized Damien because she was a spatial practitioner just like him.
If it wasn't for him showing everyone the night of space in his performances ever since he became public, she would've remained thinking she was born with a useless affinity for the rest of her life.
However, she found purpose in the Judgement Order and decided to follow in his footsteps to become great.
How did she end up like this?!
"Commander…it's…"
Her words became vague as she tried to force them out with the blood erupting from her mouth.
"Do not waste energy on words! We will get you to the medics as soon as possible!" Commander Huo said, lifting her body and moving.
Yet, she stopped him before he could do anything extraneous.
"Commander…it's…a trap…"
Her bloodied hand gripped his arm, her eyes shining with the last spark of life remaining within her.
"They…are not here…"
"They? The Nox? If not here, then where?" Commander Huo responded in shock.
"…"
"…Giant—"
It was over for her.
The wounds she'd received were too severe, and she only worsened them by traveling through space.
She died right then and there, unable to accomplish her ambitions or meet the man who caused her to change her path.
But she died without regret because she was able to pass on the crucial information she was tasked with before leaving the world.
She made something of herself.
Nothing else mattered.
"DAMMIT!" Commander Huo roared as he felt her body go limp.
Loss was not a new thing in this war, but this was different.
Not only did Hera's state suggest terrible things for the Judgement Order's current situation, but Commander Huo had no time to think about helping them!
"Connect to the Miststrewn Cliffs right now!"
A blue projection screen appeared before him and fizzled out in the same second.
Commander Huo's eyes narrowed.
'Communication has been cut off.'
They put so much attention into the Soul World that it made no sense.
All these billions of Nox…were they just cannon fodder used as distraction?
The commander put Hera's body down gently before making an immediate rush to connect to everyone he could.
He told Luxurion the words delivered to him and squads were dispatched through the array system in seconds to investigate.
And the result…
"We've been breached."
The Miststrewn Cliffs and Venomous Steppes, both areas of Eien bordering the Giant Domain, were filled with fresh red blood.
All of the tens of millions of allied forces in those areas were eradicated in full, with not even corpses left behind to bury.
The Nox were nowhere to be seen.
The two territories were fully searched for clues in the coming weeks, but not a single Nox was found.
The Giant Domain also underwent what was essentially a quarantine, but the enemy was still yet to be found.
The universe was breached by an invisible force.
None could predict what came next.
Except for one group.
Only, in their current situation…
…well, even passing a single sliver of information could only be done by sacrificing one of their own.
It wasn't hard to imagine why their knowledge didn't spread.
