If you took a map of the 2nd martial continent and turned it 90 degrees, you might spot a pair of eyes looking back up at you. That would be "The Eyes of Aankh". Surrounding the two inland islands "Ding" and "Meh", is a very special river called "The Aankh River", though in truth, rather than calling it a river, it would be more apt to call it a chaos plane. The Aankh river constantly cycles back and forth between Ding in the north and Meh to the south, taking on the shape of an 8, or, depending on who you ask, an hourglass, hence why some also refer to it as "Aankh's Hourglass".
While the islands themselves are relatively calm by comparison, the turbulent water currents of the river itself are infested with all manner of aquatic beasts while the skies above are plagued by near constant storms year-round. Though, inconvenient for tourists wanting to visit the islands within, the environmental barrier has proven useful in keeping the ravages of war off their shores.
Because of the environmental factors surrounding the islands, traveling to and from the eyes of Aankh tend to be rather arduous. Its intense monster infested currents make travel by boat dangerous, its turbulent skies making travel by flight exhausting, and basic forms of instantaneous long-range travel runs the risk of malfunctioning due to some minor interference caused by the high energy concentration in the atmosphere. This makes it a rather inconvenient location for waging war. Not only does it make transporting supplies challenging, but unless you already have a foothold on the island prior to the conflict, just setting foot on those shores will be an uphill battle, as invading soldiers will likely be exhausted or possibly even injured from the journey over. That is why, historically, the eyes of Aankh have often served as a neutral ground for nearby nations to send their representatives to negotiate during times of conflict. That said, even these peaceful islands are not completely exempt from the possibility of war.
*Crackle**BOOM*
"Huh. I suppose I was worrying over nothing." Jai muttered to himself after unleashing a lightning bolt to smite a small group of dark empire soldiers.
A few years ago, when Ashi became a vassal state of the Dark Empire, tensions were naturally high as they had been at war with the empire very recently, and not everyone in Ashi had been happy with their homeland having been subordinated to its former enemy. So, when deciding on the borders between the Dark Empire and its vassal states, the south eye "Meh", had been intentionally split between Ashi and the Dark Empire with the intent of using it as a meeting point for discussion as a means to prevent Ashi's dissatisfaction from erupting. Unfortunately, this proved futile in the end as thanks to external pressures adding up, the now former vassal state of Ashi allied itself with its neighbours and declared war anyways, and one of the very first locations they struck was the island of Meh.
While considering where to strike first, Meh, appeared to be one of the more optimal choices, despite the inconvenient environmental factors. Since Ashi already had a claim on a section of the island, they already possessed a foothold for their soldiers to rest up before engaging in combat, and due to a manpower issue, the Dark Empire had already redistributed their forces away from lower-risk areas such as this, hence it was deemed to be an easy win for an initial assault which they could use to raise some much needed morale. Additionally, if they were swift in their annexation of the island before enemy reinforcements arrived, between the sages in the north and its neighbours in the south, without a foothold, the Dark Empire wouldn't be in any condition to retake the lost territory.
*Crackle**Crackle**BOOM*
"That takes care of that." Jai said after using his legendary grade "Lightning Storm Blade" to clear out the last of the enemy soldiers from the eastern half of the island.
Upon arriving on the island, Jai had been terrified of facing the Dark Empire's forces in combat. Even if they had the advantage of numbers, in his head, there was a qualitative difference that could not be overturned through share numbers alone. However, his estimations of the enemy's power were based on two incorrect assumptions.
Firstly, he assumed the average ability of the dark empire soldiers is the same as it once was. Jai had fought in the last conflict between the Dark Empire and his homeland, and back then, the average strength and competence of the individual soldier had left an impression on him. Certainly, if it was the soldiers from back then they were up against, they would put up quite a fight, but not so much so that they could overturn the number advantage. However, the standard of the empire's army has significantly lowered since that time. With the sudden expansion on the 2nd martial continent and the losses taken on the 1st, the Red Palace had to implement an accelerated training course to quickly pump out lower-quality soldiers by the dozens to fill as many empty seats as possible. By comparison to what he was expecting, the opponents he faced so far were a breeze.
And secondly, he assumed Nox had shared her giant stockpile of legendary grade weapons with the Dark Empire's army. A single article of the blades Nox brought back from Spirit Sword Mountain could be a game changer in a battle amongst nascent souls. Even when the bar had been lowered and outnumbered, if every enemy held a legendary weapon on their person, the Dark Empire wouldn't be at a disadvantage, purely due to the quality of their equipment. However, contrary to Jai's expectations the Pink Palace lord had not shared a single one of her weapons with the soldiers down south.
"You! What is your name?" Jai said as he pointed at one of his subordinates.
"A-Aarush, sir!" The young soldier stuttered out, feeling a bit stiff with nerves in front of his superior.
"Well, Aarush, I fear I must offer you my deepest condolences." Jai declared.
"Excuse me?"
"Per protocol, news of this victory has to be delivered in person, so I deeply apologize for wronging you, because while you are trekking back home to deliver the good news, I'm afraid the rest of us will be throwing a victory party without you! Isn't that right!!" Jai said, addressing the rest of his men with good cheer.
*Cheering*
However, Jai's celebrations of victory were premature, for the battle for the eye of Aankh was not quite over yet.
"Ehm, Sir, our communication crystals are receiving an incoming message from our forces on the western side of the island." A soldier said, interrupting Jai just as he was about to take a victory drink as his men started celebrating.
"Hm? Oh, they must have finished up over there too!"
There was a reason why Nox didn't bother sending any legendary weapons down south.
"Eh, Sir, I'm not sure what to make of it, but I don't think that's what it is." The soldier spoke as he held out a crystal ball showing static.
*Incoherent shouting*
It wasn't that she didn't have any to spare for the conflict down south, as after her little trip to spirit sword mountain, she had far more legendary swords than she did soldiers at her command.
"Damn unreliable crystals. Why did we even bring crystals with visual feed instead of just audio. This kind never work right when too close to a chaos plane." Jai complained, as he began smacking the crystal ball as if it was an old tv.
*Static screaming*
Nor was it because of greed or some petty revenge against the red palace who ignored her requests prior to the war.
*Smack*
"Ah, there we go! Now what is this about?" Jai asked the black and white image of a panicked soldier.
It was that it wasn't necessary, because rather than an army's worth of legendary equipment, she had already sent something far worse Ashi's way.
"FOR GOD'S SAKE, HELP US! ITS ALREADY TORN THROUGH HALF MY MEN! *Static Screaming* WE CAN'T HOLD ON FOR MUCH *ROAR* Oh, no! IT'S COMI-!"
*Splatt**Static*
Just before the crystal returned to static, the screen had been splashed with the blood of the soldier on the other end when something had pierced its horn straight through his chest.