About 30 minutes ago...
General Thalan and the other two had finally finished setting up the teleportation formations. These formations were a two-way traveling tool, designed to make travel between worlds easier. Vaerion had planned to set up a base here, slowly tightening his grip on this world and its war. However, their arrival had gone unopposed, with no resistance.
At first, General Thalan hadn't been concerned, but now, unease settled heavily over him and the others.
"Keep your guard up! Something's wrong," Thalan ordered, his voice sharp. His eyes flicked to Captain Coldfire. "Coldfire, report back to the Emperor and Empress. Begin preparing the reinforcements and let them know we've completed our task."
Coldfire nodded and stepped onto the teleportation formation, disappearing in an instant.
The moment he left, everything changed.
From the skies and shadows, devils began to emerge.
RUMBLEEEEE
Their appearance twisted the very fabric of space. Thalan and Silverleaf froze, their spines tingling with dread as they gazed upon the overwhelming number of devils.
"I-it's a trap..." Silverleaf whispered, gripping his sword, his voice low but resolute.
He met Thalan's gaze—his commander already poised in battle stance.
"EVERYONE, WE JUST NEED TO HOLD ON LONG ENOUGH FOR THE REINFORCEMENTS!" Thalan roared, launching himself into the fray.
His sword cleaved through the first devil in his path, but before he could even gauge the result, a massive devil stepped from the void behind him. The devil towered over the others, his four horns and blood-red eyes burning with a malevolent fire.
Drax, the Void Herald—one of the eight elite devils who served directly under Lord Varn.
"Return to the void..." Drax's voice was cold, hollow, as his massive hand seized Thalan by the back of the head. Before Thalan could react, his body began to disintegrate into nothingness—dust scattered into the void.
Silverleaf's eyes widened in shock. But before he could even draw a breath, another figure struck. A woman—slender and beautiful, her skin a glistening charcoal black—emerged from the shadows. Her eyes glowed with an eerie, purple light, her power unmistakable.
Veris—another of the eight elites.
"You should have focused a little more~" Veris purred, her smile dangerous as she activated her innate ability.
|Rose of Corruption|
In an instant, a pitch-black rose shimmered into existence above her head, exuding a faint purple aura. With a delicate motion, she wiped Silverleaf's blood from her hand and tossed it into the rose.
The flower glowed with a malevolent energy. In mere moments, Silverleaf's body began to rot, his flesh decaying before his very eyes. In just a few minutes, he was nothing but a withered husk, falling from the skies.
The remaining troops—frozen in horror—watched in disbelief as the two elites made short work of their commanders.
"Go and finish these ants. After this, we begin our invasion," Veris ordered, her voice like silk as she turned toward the massive horde of over 200,000 devils—150,000 Spiritual Foundation cultivators and 65,000 Domain Cultivators.
Now, caught off guard, the world of Neyru was plunged into chaos. The devils wasted no time asserting their dominance. With their arrival came the spread of their corruption aura—an aura unique to their kind. It could corrupt entire worlds, twisting them into hellish landscapes, and now it began to spread, seeping into the very heart of Neyru.
In the capital, Vaerion and Selyra stood side by side, watching as the situation spiraled out of control.
"Impossible..." Selyra muttered, her eyes wide as she took in the sheer number of devils.
"DAMN IT!" Vaerion cursed, his fists clenched. "I should've seen this coming."
Without wasting another moment, he pulled out a communication token.
"Ary, you and the others come back now. The devils have breached the barrier." He crushed the token in his hand.
Looking at Selyra, he spoke again, his voice tight with urgency. "The other clans are already in motion. They'll fight back. We won't have to move until the one behind this reveals himself."
Selyra nodded grimly. "And Ash?"
Vaerion's gaze didn't budge. "We can only focus on the task at hand."
The three princesses were the first to return after receiving the urgent message. High above the capital, they hovered, the tension in the air thick and palpable. Their armies continued to battle outside the barrier, but it was clear the war was escalating far faster than they could have anticipated.
"Holy fuck..." Nyssari muttered, her eyes wide as she surveyed the unfolding chaos.
"Father could have provided better information..." Ary said under her breath, gripping her sword tightly, her resolve hardening.
"Right. Anyway, let's do our best," Selvira said, her voice calm but unwavering as she moved first.
With a flare of power, she activated her domain. The sheer force of her will crushed the devils around her, weakening them, making them easy targets for her swift, relentless strikes.
Ary and Nyssari followed closely behind, their domains flaring to life as they too cut through the ranks of the devils. Together, the three princesses stood as a formidable force, carving a path through the thousands of enemies that surrounded them.
But their efforts were only a small part of the greater war that was now sweeping across the world. All over Neyru, the human clans had joined the battle, facing off against the dark tide of the devils.
It was no longer a skirmish. It was a full-scale war.