On the walls of one of the Astral Cities, the Great Aetherium's core commanders had gathered.
Lysandra, Yvonne, Eveline, Mary, Seraphina, Ariel. The lowest-ranked among them was a Sixteen-Winged Angel.
Yvonne was watching the distant sky, her expression thoughtful.
"The Light Empire's strategy is strange. The Dark Empire is their ancestral enemy, a feud going back hundreds of thousands of years to the ancient era, and they're just letting them take territory in the east without resistance. All their heavy forces pointed at us and the Castle Lords. They're choosing to fight to the death against us on the Nivara River while leaving their ancient enemy to walk unopposed."
"It doesn't matter what they're planning." Lysandra said, "The final winner of this war is the Great Aetherium. That doesn't change regardless of their strategy."
"Those who stand in the Lord's path will be killed."
Eveline said, without inflection and the others nodded. It was the Lord's oracle to capture the Light Empire. Whatever stood between the Imperial Army and that objective would be removed.
"The Battle of Nivara will turn their hope into despair." Lysandra said, "If those people surrender, they earn the right to live. That's the only path still open to them."
"Believe in the Lord." Yvonne said, "And have eternal life."
"""Believe in the Lord and have eternal life."""
…
The Castle Faction was moving at a scale that hadn't existed two days ago. In the northwest, west, and southwestern regions of the Light Empire, hundreds of large Castle Faction Armies, each numbering in the billions, with the major alliances reaching tens of billions, were driving toward the Nivara River.
The total count across the entire western region had grown to nearly a trillion, and was still rising. Two new rounds of recruitment had added fresh troops. Battlefield captures had swelled the ranks further. And throughout the two days of fighting, Castle Lords had collected large numbers of [Troop Summoning Blueprints] from fallen enemies, expanding their recruitment capacity directly.
The losses had been real, but their armies were larger now than when the war started. This was the Castle Faction's fundamental advantage. Their barracks refreshed daily, and as more Castle Lords hit Level 9, the resupply rate only increased. Unless the enemy could kill every Castle Lord simultaneously, these armies would keep regenerating.
…
By evening, the picture had changed. In under five hours, hundreds of Castle Faction armies had swept through hundreds of large and small cities and a larger number of noble territories. On paper, it looked like a dominant afternoon. In practice, the harvest was less than one-tenth of the morning.
The Light Empire's evacuation order had been thorough. Not just defenders and supernaturals, the Chambers of Commerce, ordinary civilians, war weapons, Power Stones, Magic Crystals, Refined Iron, everything transportable had been moved east via their storage artifacts.
What the Castle Faction found when they reached each city was an empty shell. Even the villages they had never bothered targeting had been cleared out. For thousands of miles in every direction, the land was deserted.
No enemies meant no exp. No supplies meant no upgrade materials. The Castle Lords had been projecting two or three new gods per legion by the time they reached the river, now they'd be lucky to see even a single one.
"This strategy actually worked." One Castle Lord admitted on the chat channel, "They've slowed our growth rate and cut their own losses at the same time."
"It's all temporary." Came the immediate reply, "When a trillion of us join forces at the Nivara River, it's over for them."
The frustration didn't translate into hesitation. If anything, it sharpened the urgency. Every empty city was time the Light Empire was buying, and the Castle Lords understood what it was being bought against. The Demon Monarchs' bodies had already descended to the Blood Moon. The Burning Legion was the next wave.
Whatever strength they were going to have for the upcoming war, they were building it now, and the rich eastern bank of the Nivara was where the real harvest waited. Beyond that, if they could take the Imperial Capital itself, the prize escalated further still: Artifacts, Godheads, the kind of spoils that didn't appear in border cities or noble territories.
The chat channel set a target: join forces at the river before sunrise. Flying units and Gods would carry the mortal-level troops at divine speed, tens of millions of kilometers in ten hours was achievable. Empty cities along the march route were to be bypassed entirely.
'Time is life. Don't waste it on empty shells.'
Every Castle Lord and Ranger was pushing toward the river, including the members of Sisterhood Collective alliance, who were as eager as anyone to reach the eastern bank and everything it promised.
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