Micteya returned to her throne and rounded on Malakar and Skarion, "You just stood and watched."
"Your brother, I promise to save him." Malakar said, "If his soul is destroyed in this battle, Skarion and I will help reverse the River of Fate and pull the Maddox who existed before the previous Divine Battle into the present, before he ever encountered this empire."
Skarion hadn't agreed to this. He gave Malakar a sideways look, then thought about the coming battle of planets between the Endless Continent and the Abyss. More importantly the God King's Throne. They could use this opportunity to gain the support of Micteya's pantheon and nodded.
Micteya understood the mechanics. This resurrection meant the converted Maddox standing in the Imperial Army's formation would have to be obliterated first. Two versions of the same person couldn't coexist without catastrophic backlash from the river of fate. She could live with that.
"Why aren't we moving?" She asked.
"We're waiting." Malakar said.
"For Varkath?"
"No."
He was looking at the distant star cluster. Micteya followed his gaze.
Millions of figures assembled there. Beast Gods and Goddesses of Nature. They were the Great Aetherium's allies, arriving in numbers that matched the Evil Pantheon's own.
The expressions on Malakar and Skarion's faces weren't of frustration. They were full of anticipation. She understood then. This had never been just about the Aetherium Empire. Malakar and Skarion had been pushing towards the peak for years, watching Elunara repeatedly threaten to break through ahead of them.
With the Elven Goddess in retreat, the Nature Pantheon's sole Supreme Goddess absent, this was the window. Kill enough Nature Goddesses today, deepen their comprehension of their Laws of Destruction & Slaughter, and it might help them take that final step. They were planning to slaughter everyone in this battlefield.
…
Haru saw the allied forces arrive and felt something loosen in his chest. They'd come anyway, knowing what they were walking into. He respected it, but he also didn't want them here.
Those million Evil Gods were his exp bags. Every kill fed exp to his Imperial Army. Lysandra and Eveline both sat at the peak of High God Tier with peak Supreme God Tier potential.
This battle, fought alone, might be what could push them through. Beyond that: Malakar and Skarion were hunting for weaker Gods. Letting the allied forces into range meant letting them walk into a trap the two Ancient Supreme Gods had built deliberately.
"Yvonne."
She was already looking at him.
"Intercept our allies. Tell them to not join the battlefield."
"As you command, my Lord."
She vanished.
Haru turned his attention to the two thrones, Malakar and Skarion, hundreds of thousands of years of cultivation between them, sitting in this battlefield and counting how many Gods they could slaughter today. These two were his hunting targets.
At the rear of the Imperial Army's formation, something was building, a pressure he recognized, vast and familiar, like a sun about to clear the horizon. Celestia's breakthrough had reached its final moment.
A smile crossed his face.
…
Yvonne's appearance in front of the Great Aetherium's allies sent a ripple through every watching God in the surrounding areas.
"The Aetherium Empire just stopped its own reinforcements."
"Is Lord Haru's Imperial Army going to fight alone? Against five Supreme Gods and a million evil gods?"
The Native Gods were already piecing together what Malakar and Skarion had been planning. Haru had also seen it and instead of warning his allies, he told them to sit this one out?!
"He's protecting them." One God said.
"He's also keeping the kills." Said another.
The Castle Faction had stopped pretending to analyze and were simply vibrating with excitement.
"Five Supreme Gods, nearly a million and a half Evil Gods… Do you understand what kind of exp that is?"
"He's not fighting them. He's farming them."
"I genuinely cannot tell if Haru is the bravest person alive or just the greediest one."
"Both. Definitely both."
…
Malakar and Skarion stared at the allies that were stopped cold at the edge of the battlefield. This was not the plan.
"He's keeping the so-called 'exp' to himself." Skarion said, "That's the only explanation."
Malakar considered it, then moved on, "Let's destroy his Imperial Army first. Once it falls, the Beast Gods and Nature Pantheon will probably charge in to avenge them. They are just those kinds of stubborn fools. We kill them then."
They were still confident. Their intelligence had Celestia as an intermediate-stage Supreme Goddess, which was her level at the previous Divine Battle and Haru as a freshly promoted Supreme God with no combat record at that tier.
Six experienced Ancient Supreme Gods against three noobs, a million Evil Gods against two hundred thousand noobs. This looked more like an upcoming beat down than a war…
Even if they could sense that they couldn't defeat Haru in a one-on-one battle, they didn't know that Celestia had almost ascended to the peak. Even Haru's exact strength, comparable to a peak Supreme God, was something no external scan had detected. Their confidence was real, built on some really outdated intel.
------------------
Become A Member At My Patreon For Access To Bonus Chapters Or Even Multiple Chapters A Day!
» Patreon.com/LordArchduke
Member Shoutouts (Mythril Tier and above):
Shinto (Adamantite)
PetMeSenpai8 (Orichalcum)