Chapter 676  Battle for Survival

A few hours later.

Located somewhere around the eastern side of the continent-sized battlefield, was a large valley. A plain of reddish fine sand that had long since buried the corpses left behind by what, after over a century, were now considered ancient battles. Clashes that had taken place not long after the initial invasion of Sacrifice's domain and far before the domains of War and Horror had decided to join it, and that were now bound to repeat themselves.

This valley stretched several dozen miles in width and about a hundred miles in length, separating two enormous boulders that protruded from each side before laying one onto the other the same way a man's index finger and thumb would when making an OK sign. This stone archway provided shade for a large portion of the battlefield. Hence why the two armies had unofficially agreed to fight under it, so as to at least avoid the constant beating of the desert sun.

On the eastern entrance of this valley was an army composed of warrior and spiritualists dressed in red robes and armors, monstrous cultivators clad in gray sharp slabs of metal that had been fused through their slimy flesh and welded around their bodies, and regiments composed of warriors of different nature and occupation. Some of them carried swords and shields, while some others carried guns. The bowmen stood behind the spear-men as their long weapons brushed past the maniacal bodies of the members of Horror's domain.

Standing fifty feet beyond the army's front line were three people. A tall man dressed in a loose fitting red robe embroidered with variants of the symbol of Sacrifice's domain. An attire which hid most of his physical features other than his blonde hair, which emerged from the dark part of his hood to rest onto his shoulder blades in thick braids.

Next to him, standing in the middle of the three, was a gargantuan creature. Ten feet in size at the very least, this monster's body was entirely clad in black iron armor, whose surface showed signs of having been clawed and chipped all over. Scars of the many battles he had taken part of in the past few years. The creature's body was, possibly, even more impressive than his own armor, for it bulged through each chink as if he had grown too much into it. Thick rolls of putrid fat stacked under his helmet, through which one could see a pair of dead fish-like eyes and two rows of several inches long pointy teeth. In his hand was an enormous club, made of what one could only assume was the bone of an even larger creature reinforced by patches of bent metal.

As the highest status creature within his army, this gigantic monster acted as its commander, and was in charge of leading the charge. And yet, the eyes of most cultivators behind him were focused on the back of the woman who stood by his left. A beautiful woman with flowing black hair, attentive brown eyes and stunning features. She wore a pearly white, almost glowing full plate armor, and by her shoulder hung a large white cape with a red cross embroidered in the middle of it. She held a helmet under one of her gauntlets on which the symbol of War's domain had been inlaid in ribbons of gold.

As the representative of War's domain, her status was a step below that of the monstrous giant, and yet, her talents had made her the unofficial general of this army. The positioning of her troops, the strategy to be employed in this battle, which path to take, as well as the changes and adjustments required mid-battle all came from her, for she knew the leading warrior of Horror's monstrous horde well as the reason why, one day, she would be given the gift of the aspect of War.

would be too busy rampaging to bother leading the army himself.

Not that she minded, as leading in war was her strongest talent, as well as the reason why, one day, she would be given the gift of the aspect of War.

Eager to begin the woman narrowed her eyes, carefully scouring in the distance, and soon enough she noticed the presence of the enemy.

On the other side of the valley, a second army had appeared on the horizon. First like a black horizontal thread that perfectly split the red sand from the morning lights, then as a horde more peculiar than the one she herself was leading. Among them were not only soldiers of different origin and occupation, but also beasts, and elementals.

Leading this army were the four people the woman had heard much about. The same four who, in the past hundred and eighty years of uninterrupted war, had killed off more than a dozen of her predecessors. This would be her first time facing them.

These four individuals did not stand close to one another, and were instead spread out just a few feet away from their army's front line. From the northern to the southern corner, were the man of metal present at the previous night's meeting, who was now standing naked, glowing under the first lights of dawn, the large horned man, still clothed in a loose-fitting robe he had not bothered to change out of throughout the night, the scarred muscular man who had hosted the meeting, and a ghastly looking man with pale green skin, and emerald eyes.

"They fetched themselves a new general." The horned man said as his large muscular arms slid out of his sleeves, allowing for the upper part of the robe to fall down his waist, revealing a few spare black scales where a human's hair would often be. On his forearms, shoulders, chest and back. "Do you believe you can handle her?" He then asked.

"Don't I always?" Responded the scarred man while fitting his hands into a pair of black reinforced gloves. His tone was calm, but he was not completely sincere. The last general he had fought against had left him with a painful reminder of his skills, the large scar that ran down the side of his face. A powerful warrior who would have probably bested him, had he not received the help of his companions, who had finished their own fights just in time to come to his aid.

"Remain calm." Said a voice that came from his left in a cold and detached tone. The scarred man turned towards the green-skinned man, but before he could say anything, the latter continued. "We aren't dueling here. The moment we finish on our side, if you need it, we will come to help you. Worrying is only going to harm you."

"I know, I know." the scarred man muttered under his breath as his eyes squinted to focus on the enemy that lay in the distance. They were too far for the eyes of a normal mortal to see, but well within the range of a cultivator such as himself, who had reached the late stages of high immortality long ago. "Should I say something?" He then asked the horned man.

The side of the horned man's upper lip rose momentarily into an indifferent grin, followed by a faint shrug of his scaly shoulders. "Nothing you can say now, they don't know already. We are ready to charge at your command."

A piece of the scarred man's soul came out in a large sigh, then came back in as he inhaled, invigorating him. His back straightened as the worry disappeared from his face. His muscles bulged and flexed while he adjusted the black gloves position by squeezing and opening his hands in rapid succession. "Elementals, ready?!" he yelled.

"READY!" Came the blur of emotionless voices from the metallic man as well as the thousands of elementals mixed within the army.

"Beasts, ready?" he continued.

The horned man rose his muscular arm to the sky, provoking a deafening roar made of a mixture of growls and hisses to echo throughout the entire battlefield, alerting their opponent of the imminent charge. "Ready." Said the horned man as more of his skin hardened, turning into tick black scales.

"CHARGE!" Yelled the paladin from the other side of the battlefield, as tens of thousands of cultivators took off, dragging themselves through the sand like bullets and through the sky like arrows. Their war cries evening out the threatening roar that came from the enemy lines.

"Cultivators, ready?"

"Ready! Ready! Ready!" The pale green-skinned man chanted in unison to the humanoid cultivators within the army. As each word was spoken, his green complexion appeared to become darker and darker, until finally, after yelling for a third last time, his body turned to an immaterial dark green.

"Charge!" The scarred man roared before charging ahead, reaching for the patch of ground were his opponents were bound to reach them within the next few moments.

Behind him, the metallic man had turned into an immense metallic wolf, with fur as sharp as steel and fangs capable of slicing through the armor of Horror's warriors like cardboard. Standing at an impressive two hundred feet in height, the elemental's initial charge alone was bound to, as it had always managed to in the previous battles, reap the lives of thousands of his opponents.

As the dark metallic wolf took the ground, the horned man took the air, as the moment the order was given his body exploded into a cloud of green fire and smoke. A deafening screech pierced through the battlefield as leathery wings that spanned for dozens of miles emerged from it, shrouding a large portion of the battlefield in darkness. Before the smoke could dissipate, uncovering the creature's immense figure, a pit of green light appeared. A volcano which soon erupted with large beads of green and purple fire that headed for the opponent army in long arches.

After sending several of these balls of fire, the creature's wings flapped once, creating powerful gales which instantly dissipated the blanket of smoke, uncovering the figure of an immense black dragon as well as a two hundred feet tall jade avatar. A colossus identical in appearance to the green-skinned man that led the humanoid cultivators, if not for the fact that it possessed six hands, each carrying spears, maces or swords just as transparent and immaterial as his enormous body was.

The leaders of the opposing army showed different degrees of surprise to the appearance of the three entities. The tall man in red robes was taken aback, and had temporarily halted his march to give himself more time to reconsider his strategy. After all, while he was a member of Sacrifice's domain, he was not a champion. Dying here in a blind charge would not grant him a place among Sacrifice's champions.

As the red-robed man thought his pans through, the female paladin continued her charge without showing any sign of fear. On the contrary, her spirit seemed to have been set ablaze. She had been briefed about the existence of a king of dragons, an elemental of perfect metal essence, and an oddly powerful mental cultivator among her opponent's ranks, but seeing them in front of her still left her in awe.

Similarly, the monstrous giant barged through the dunes with steady pace. Few could tell whether the appearance of the three creatures were of no concern to him, or whether he possessed the intelligence to process their appearance to begin with, for his full attention seemed to have been dedicated to moving his stout legs and swinging his enormous mace.

The armies approached one another, raising their weapons in the air in preparation for first contact, but then, before the first two could meet, the sky started to change.

What had been the first lights of dawn and now became a blanket of pure golden light, which approached the ground at mind boggling speed. The scarred man and his commanders looked up to the sky, shocked by the odd sight, but as it came in contact with their bodies, it simply passed them by before diving into the ground, leaving the sand undisturbed.

Surprised by the sudden light the female paladin dropped her sword and shield, and immediately inspected her body. As she found no wounds, she turned around to ascertain whether the others were faring worse. It was then that her jaw dropped. Her eyelids locked in place and her legs turned wobbly. She then fell on her knees, horrified by the sight. Her tens of thousand men and monsters strong army, which until the previous second had been charging with cheers of excitement and blood lust, was now reduced to a few hundred people.

To her right were two pools of goo. The largest one made out of pulverized black iron mixed into a large glob of viscid and lucid gray paste, while the other was an oddly more reassuringly regular pool of blood, with a loose red robe floating on top of it.

Of the few who had survived the golden light's passage were a handful of people in red attires, and not a single monstrous cultivator, while the rest were members of War's domain she had brought as her own escort from her world of origin. Regardless of their domain of origin, all these survivors lay horrified onto a lake of blood, shattered metal and ripped clothes.

What the woman found more terrifying, however, was the fact that none of the members of the other army had been harmed by the same light which had annihilated her men. They had simply stopped their charge, and were now collectively looking up to the sky in a daze.

Taken by a sudden curiosity the woman decided to follow their gaze, and there, floating in the sky, she noticed the figures of three individuals.