A few years later...
After a grueling cleanup that involved killing septillions of living beings, the battle between the Etherium Realm and the Ragnarok Realm in the Void Battlefield finally ended.
"We won..." they muttered numbly, no longer seeing any enemies.
When the people of Blood Ragnarok Realm realized their leaders had fallen, they knew that everything was over.
Without hope, they fell into despair, becoming mad beasts that could be easily defeated.
However, with their sheer numbers, even without a mind of their own, it was still a disaster.
Just the mass killing aura they generated after being killed nearly drove them insane.
With red eyes and a chaotic mind, if not for the calming spell hundreds of billions of Maximus clones madly released, they would already be consumed by such insanity.
Maximus, who was overlooking the battlefield, was no different from the rest.
His eyes and aura exuded a murderous intent that was hard to erase.
Everything Maximus saw seemed red.
If not for his powerful consciousness suppressing it, he would have gone mad, killing everyone in sight.
The magnitude of his killing was hundreds of billions of times more than the rest; not going insane was already a miracle.
Suppressing the murderous intent in his heart, Maximus ordered an orderly retreat.
In such a tragic battle, the Etherium Realm lost sextillions of its people.
Such a number of casualties was inevitable. No amount of preparation could have lowered it further.
The enemy leaders were quickly killed, their morale was down to the bottom, and they were suppressed in skills and preparation.
Everything was in favorable condition; the large casualties were merely caused by such a large and long battle.
As for the outpost they were building, it was only for defense, not for attack.
Determined to wipe out the enemy, they couldn't hide in their turtle shell.
Being only Tier 4 at maximum, the range of their spells could only reach a few kilometers at most.
They could only fight head-on as the battlefield intended.
To fight fist for fist, hand for hand, and tooth for tooth.
The environment, the rules, and their strength determined that a large casualty was inevitable.
As they retreated back to Etherium Outpost, the bloodied land before them suddenly sparkled as it slowly disappeared from their sight.
"What is that? What's happening? Is the Void Battlefield closing?"
"It's the dimensional war rules..."
According to one of the dimensional war rules, once the opposing dimension was defeated, the land they were on would be swallowed by the winning dimension.
Once a dimension swallowed 50 percent of the opposing dimension's land, they could form a Void Gate to directly invade the enemy.
After understanding this, they couldn't help but become more solemn.
The land disappearing could only mean more battles were coming!
Assuming that the land of Etherium Realm and Blood Ragnarok Realm was equal, there was only less than 1 percent of land in the Void Battlefield.
Before they could directly invade the enemy, they needed over 49 percent of the landmass from the blood Ragnarok Realm.
Not wanting to be tortured, they decided to take their own lives.
Such a tragic battlefield couldn't help but make Maximus sigh.
With time fast advancing, the Etherium Outpost continued to be built as they waited for the second stage of war.
If the first stage were among Tier 1 to Tier 4, the second stage of war would be more tragic.
At this stage, the minimum power would be at Tier 5, where Tier 6 and 7 individuals would determine the direction of war.
This battle would be of a different magnitude.
The Void Battlefield would no longer be limited to straightforward battles and would have more changes.
...
A few years later, while they were relentlessly preparing in the Void Battlefield, Etheria finally swallowed the piece of Void Battlefield into the Etherium Realm.
With the addition of such a massive land, the Etherium Realm couldn't help but shake as if it were undergoing a catastrophe.
In the sky, Maximus, Fealan, Alabaster, and Readius watched the phenomenon with glee, marveling at the scene.
"A fifth continent?" they mused.
The land that merged with the Etherium Realm was almost catching up to the Beast Continent in size.
"This should be a blessed land," Fealan muttered.
With the resources absorbed from the Etherium and Blood Ragnarok Realm, multiplied by a hundred times, this land was a veritable treasure land.
From Tier 1 to Tier 10 resources, this treasure land has it all.
While they were chattering, they suddenly felt a massive amount of energy drilling through their bodies.
"Is this the excess energy we couldn't absorb in the Void Battlefield?" they guessed.
After reaching the peak Tier 4 realm, the excess power they gathered would be absorbed by the Void Battlefield.
They thought it would be gone forever; they didn't expect it would be fed back to them in Etherium Realm.
Feeling the power coursing through their bodies, they felt the barrier preventing them from advancing to the Tier 10 realm loosening.
"Is this the power of the dimensional war rules?" they muttered in amazement.
It was like a conceptual power that could enhance their realm regardless of dimensional restriction.
...
Soon, a few years later, after fully absorbing the benefits brought by the Void Battlefield, their realm consecutively advanced to Tier 10.
"Breakthrough!"
Maximus couldn't help but feel envious looking at the three undergoing evolutions.
After all his killing in the Void Battlefield, the energy he had gotten merely pushed him past 1% of Tier 9.
Meanwhile, looking at the three who quickly broke the dimensional rules of the Etherium Realm, Maximus couldn't help but sigh.
"This is their destiny..." Maximus concluded.
Without the barrier preventing them from reaching Tier 10 realm, these three might have even reached Tier 11 realm with some luck.
Fighting those pseudo-Tier 11 Ragnaroks with ultimate physiques without losing much proved their talent and foundation.
Thinking of Malgron, Maximus finally realized he was the only one who still hadn't advanced among them.
"What an embarrassment of a Dimensional Master..." he muttered.