668-684

668 [Bonus chapter] My Savior Is Here!

Just after the passage of one hour, that jerk kept sending such messages over to me. Even Fang didn't send but a couple messages so far, went into silence when I reassured him that reinforcements were on their way.

[I told you already, I won't!]

[You said you will send an army! Where the hell is it?!!!]

[Is it that bad on your side?] It was still bad here. Even with my combined technique, the continent was still pressing down over my head.

It was slowly descending indeed. But when the merged technique penetrated through that continent, the descending speed increased for a bit.

But when I experienced the true merge this time, the descending speed decreased to return to the initial point again; an inch per minute, or even slower.

*Bang!* *Boom!* *Crash!*.

All kinds of noises came from the falling rocks over Earth. The final version I reached kept devastating that continent, breaking it apart.

I didn't know if that was a good thing or bad, but at this moment I had no other choice but to do so.

[I'm facing lots of flying monsters and races, tons of ground forces, and mine are getting killed at a fast pace!]

ɴ[0)ᴠᴇʟ [Try to hold out for another hour]

[Another hour? Damn! If I lasted for half then consider me lucky]

I was just about to ask if he was joking or truly speaking the truth here. But an unexpected guest sent me a message out of the blue.

One who always kept hidden and only grew the habit to appear when a calamity befell me.

[Damn! Why each time I decide to take a peek over you I found you facing a great disaster and such rare opportunity?]

It was Sith! The damn god who always appeared when I was out of options!

"Sith! My dear and beloved god! Can you give me a solution here?" Even if I was arrogant, I'd not show any of that in front of him. Especially when I was facing such calamity! "You spoke about rare opportunities, can you tell me what it is?"

I'd never take whatever such a high grade and mighty god said as a joke! He proved in the previous occasions that whatever he said would be true.

Each calamity he said it was an opportunity turned out to become one. He never failed me, not even once! And hopefully he'd continue to act like this.

[This damn continent falling over your head is the opportunity I'm speaking about! Dammit Hye! How did you convince someone to bring forth such a piece from the alien universe?!!]

He was shocked by this, and I was just cursing and complaining till he sent me his messages.

"He just came out of the blue, bringing such a behemoth of dirt over my head to kill me and my forces!"

[You have to tell me your secret, how the hell did you manage to convince those pretty ladies of luck to support you? Huh? Each time? Each time you got such an invaluable opportunity? How come?!!]

"Dear god, dear mighty god, I have no clue about what you are talking about! I just want to survive this sh*t here! I want my forces and my kingdom to survive!"

[Survive? Hye, you have the chance to let your kingdom thrive! This is an opportunity! A very rare opportunity that even the big races all over the universe would fight to get!]

"Then tell… All I can see is a grand piece of dirt and rocks falling over my and my people's heads, wanting to kill all of us and bury all under it!"

[Dummy! You are trying to stop such a disaster using something like a stick in front of it! Damn idiot! You have such a brilliant way to do it, and give your people and kingdom a bright future and you are just closing your eyes off it!]

This god! Sigh! He was reading my mind right now so I couldn't even complain!

"Dear mighty and merciful god, can you please teach your follower, the idiot one, how to deal with this calamity and turn it into a chance?"

I had to act this humble, even if it wasn't my nature!

[I know you are faking it all! But for my future investment and benefits, I'll tell you. Idiot, you don't fight it! Let it fall over your head! Let it fall!]

"But…!!!" This time I was truly shocked by what he said.

[Idiot! You have three kingdom hearts, right? You didn't get them but you can any moment you want. Just get them, use two right now]

"Use my kingdom hearts? Right now? How?!!" If I said I got what the heck he was talking about, then I'd be lying.

I had three kingdom hearts, but I didn't get them alongside the other things I wanted. I decided to wait after the end of this fight. But it seemed this god here had other plans for them.

[Idiot! The kingdom heart marks any piece of land as yours! This piece of land coming from the alien universe is ownerless according to our universe rules! You don't have to kill the lord of this land, or suffer a single force loss to add such a rich piece of land to yours. Besides…]

He paused, making me feel more anxious to hear what he wanted to say next.

[And this is where things will become interesting! Your world, Earth, lacks a lot of things. But when you merge this piece of alien universe with yours, you will gain not only an additional bonus of higher energy to your kingdom, but it will also provide the rare to be found alien energy, the spiritual energy!]

"You mean…!!!"

[Indeed! It's just like you thought of it. It will turn your lands into a heaven for any cultivator! And not only that! It will allow your people to cultivate in rare and unique cultivation bases! It's a blessing! Something only big forces in the universe would have and seek to acquire!]

"That… That's truly big! You are a genius! You are the mightiest god in the entire universe!" this time I said it in honesty and sincerity.

669 The Symbol Of The Kingdom Is...

[Don't celebrate too soon. First get the kingdom hearts and then I'll tell you what to do step by step. But I have to warn you, the process will be hard and risky]

"Anything," I didn't hesitate to shout, shout with my loudest voice, "I'm willing to do anything!"

[That's the spirit! Now go and get your things, human!]

I didn't delay and instantly opened the chat between me and Silverlining.

[I want the kingdom hearts right now!] I didn't even start with greeting him. There was no time to waste!

I thought that by using my merged technique, it would be enough to stop this calamity from falling over here.

But according to Sith's words, this wasn't going to work.

[You want them now?]

[Right away if possible!].

[Give me a minute, I'll get them to you]

This dude was really different from the nymph lady. He didn't ask, didn't try to waste time joking around like she used to do.

He just gave me a time limit, and he didn't betray his words!

[I sent them over to you]

In one minute, he sent them to me. I opened my inventory and found three black and sparkling with silver lustre things.

[Thanks] I said while feeling the urge to get one out and test it!

[Don't!] just before I'd take one of the three out, Sith stopped me with his deep voice ranging in my head, [You need to prepare things first]

"What? Tell me and I'll do it!" I didn't even think about it. If Sith said I shouldn't do it, then I wouldn't!

[It's not that much. You have that technique of yours up there, right? Control it, use these arms of it and do the same thing you did before to make the third technique]

"And?" I got what he wanted me to do. He wanted me to use my blood and my technique's thick arms to write like I did before.

[You want to write, this time you will draw!]

"Draw? Draw what?"

[Draw the symbol of your kingdom. You selected one, right?]

"This…" I paused. It never crossed my mind before. Each kingdom, any power in the world must have a symbol unique only to it.

But I didn't! It never crossed my mind to be honest.

[Just think of something, something unique and draw it. Draw it over that big continent, in the biggest possible way you can. Also draw it over your lands, over that capital of yours. You have a capital, right?]

"You already know the answer for that," I rolled my eyes. If he was aware that I didn't get my kingdom hearts yet, then he must be following my movements from time to time.

So it would be weird not to know about my capital. He also might be aware of my kingdom's lack of a symbol and just acted in such a way!

[Then go there and start working over there, better than here]

ɴ[0)ᴠᴇʟ I turned around. All the fights here lost their importance long before my talk with Sith.

I realised since the moment that deadly piece of dirt appeared on top of my head why so far that bastard only used weak forces.

He didn't want to risk using anything that would hurt him when losing it.

So using these weak and useless forces was his best option to avoid needless losses.

"Yes, I should be at my capital," despite knowing that Sith said it for another purpose, I had my own feelings about this.

It should be at my capital, the final cry of struggle I'd make. Either I'd live together, or die and get buried at my capital.

[As you are going there, make your arms dig the symbol of your kingdom over the back of that continent]

"Hmm… Ok," I first had to select a symbol of my continent. But what would it be?

It should be something unique, a symbol with importance for myself, my race, and my Earth. I felt a little headache while getting many symbols in my mind.

Should I use the old and ancient monuments in the world before the apocalypse? Or should I select something that was unique to humans in the apocalypse? Something out of my experience in this apocalypse and the one before it?

[Please… Stay away from dragons, phoenixes, and such things. Don't think like this. Think of something unique!]

I was just thinking about using one of the mythic creatures in the times before the apocalypse to be used as a symbol for my kingdom.

However it seemed Sith wasn't in favour of such an idea.

"Then what? If you got anything better, then tell me!" I rolled my eyes when I heard what he said.

[Damn fool! I'm your god, the one who is helping your ass every single time you are faced with a deadly encounter. And you never thought about using a symbol related to me!]

"This…" it never crossed my mind at all, and that made me feel a little guilty. "Ok, tell me what symbol do you want me to use?"

[As if you will use it!]

"I will!" I decided, "Consider it my token of appreciation."

It wasn't that big of a deal for me in fact. Or else I'd have thought about it a long time before.

[Of course use a pyramid!]

"A pyramid?"

[Yes, one with shining top, making it look like a sun got shining over it]

"Hmm… Sounds nice," I honestly expressed my opinion, "and this way I can draw it in any size I want, and without the need to do much effort in drawing."

I had to admit that I sucked at drawing. So using such a simple symbol was going to be easier for me to do.

[Now use these arms, and start drawing using your blood. Always think of the symbol in your mind while drawing, don't let yourself get distracted. I'll inform you when you'll arrive at the capital to start drawing there]

670 She Is Mad!

"Thanks," I knew it might take a couple hours at least to reach my capital.

I started to work over drawing using my blood, thinking about nothing else but the pyramid with a shining top.

It was a simple drawing, a triangle with rays coming out from its top. It was an easy symbol when drawn using my blood.

If I had to draw it using colours and on paper, I had to think about the perfect shape and the colours to be used. However I just had to draw a flat triangle and nothing more.

However I got the feeling that the bigger the pyramid was, the better the results would be! The only drawback here was that using my blood was going to make me weak.

So I had to circulate my spiritual energy all the time, to start healing and replenishing my lost blood.

Even if I got weaker from this, I'd use sheer force and will to keep me standing tall till the last moment of this brutal war.

I controlled my technique and released a few arms. If I was going to work, I had to go all out then. Instead of using a single arm to do it, I started up with a dozen!.

I used my glaive to injure myself, before starting to take blood directly off my right arm and used it to draw.

At the same time, many arms were digging, drawing the symbol in a big way.

Doing all this, with the constant replenishing of energy using my bones made me totally focused on this task. I got zero attention left to care about anything else.

I had to do all these tasks and at the same time, do my best to slow down the descending continent.

I needed two hours to reach my capital, and much more to get this drawing done. I didn't know what else I had to do, so I had to buy myself enough time.

So I lost track of what was going on everywhere! I knew that the jumper was facing imminent death right now, but he had to do whatever it took to survive.

I only needed a couple more hours, nothing more! And once there, I'd do something about his predicament.

I lost track of time, only doing my best to control all this.

[You arrived!] just in the middle of all this, I heard the voice of Sith loud in my head like a bomb just exploded.

I got jolted awake, this close from losing control over all this. "Sigh! It would have been nicer to speak in a lower tone."

[You won't have been able to come back to your senses if I did that]

"Ok… Oh, you are here!"

ɴ[0)ᴠᴇʟ Just as I looked around, to check where I was and what was the situation of the war at my capital, I spotted a face looking at me in anger.

It was covered with fine scales, and her eyes were glaring at me.

"You finally noticed me! I've been running and shouting at you for almost an hour or so!"

It was Lily! She was riding over her chariot, coming from far in such great speed. As I looked at her, I recalled what I did before starting all this.

I sent it to her, wanting her to do something for me.

"Great! I want you to do something for me now!" I said, but her face scales didn't show any signs of chilling out. They looked bright red, just like they were on fire or something.

"Aren't you going to apologise? Explain yourself?"

"No time for that!" I got that she was mad, but really this wasn't the time for any of that. "Just go in there, tell Angelica this…"

I started to tell her what I wanted before opening a portal for her to reach my second Earth.

"Got it," she paused for a moment at the edge of the portal, looked around, at this brutal fighting everywhere, and the big and deadly continent falling on top of our heads before sighing.

"I never thought that by joining you I'd come to see such scenes or feel such despair. It's either you are destined for something huge, or you are just unlucky and will die soon with all of us going down with you."

I blinked while watching her vanish through the portal. I didn't close it, left it there and even started opening lots of portals next.

I had to prepare the stage for the arrival of the armies from the other world.

They should come fast, move faster to do the task I handed it over to them. As for the process of drawing the symbol over my capital and finalising the one over that continent, I started doing it.

[Great! You finished that one over the continent. Now focus on finishing the one on the capital] the voice of Sith came thundering in my ears, jolting me awake for the second time.

I didn't know how long I took, but I was sure I spent a lot of time. Once I opened my eyes, all I saw were my portals that I opened before returning to work, and tons of human forces and other races gushing out from these portals.

I didn't see Lily or Angelica, meaning that they both were still on the other side, or they came and then went towards the horizon.

Anyway, the two had a task to do, a very important one. And I had to do mine as well.

I looked down at my capital. Thanks to the shield, not a single rock fell over it. All the rocks were stopped and that protected my capital.

As for the attacks coming from everywhere, they were also stopped by my forces and my capital defences.

My capital stood tall and mighty, just like myself. I didn't even hesitate and continued my drawing over it.

Weirdly enough, the last edits Hilary introduced over the general layout of the capital turned it into a colossal pyramid. All I had to do was to just follow the lines and coast, lining up my capital borders without any need to think much about it.

671 Checking Over The Entire War

It was really a weird coincidence, one that made things here much easier for me.

ɴ[0)ᴠᴇʟ During which, I had lesser tasks to do. I didn't need to dig deeply into Earth. Just moving around my arms to draw was enough to dig deeply as well.

So I got time at last to check over the general situation of the war.

The worst indeed was the two vanguard armies. To be honest, and from what I received from these two, it would be wrong to call them armies anymore.

Both lost, lost it big this time to the degree that they dropped their arrogance and ego, joined hands together to survive.

Despite this was a clear indication on how things were ugly at their end, it didn't prevent me from laughing at them. These two… At last they faced a situation where they'd lower their heads and do the logical thing any normal person would do!

However they managed to buy themselves time until the reinforcements I brought over arrived..

According to what the two showered me with in their messages, and avoiding the curses they used a lot in such a rude way, they seemed to get trapped in between a tight encirclement from all sides.

This came as a result of the mistake they both committed. Once they came on the land, they didn't wait and started to run deeply like happy naïve kids.

When they released the bitter reality they were in, they were already too deep inside the enemy territory.

That caused both to lose too much early on. I understood now why that jerk came running back crying and wailing when just one hour passed!

The one to admit such mistake was none of them of course, but Angelica when she arrived there. The first comment she sent was that these two weren't anywhere close to the shores!

They were tens of miles deep into the enemy lands, surrounded with hundreds of thousands and even millions of enemies from all sides.

I got what happened without the need to ask. As for Angelica, she did brilliantly.

I sent Lily to her with a few instructions and a general touch of the plan they two would execute.

I asked Angelica to gather up any aquatic race. No matter what, anyone who could swim would come. Then they would come here, move directly towards the ocean, and start crossing it.

The plan was simple. We wouldn't repeat the same mistake that jerk did before when he sacrificed half of his forces. I asked Angelica to form a bridge, connecting my kingdom with the Hector's.

Then the forces would cross in one whole bulk. As for defending such an operation, I had to ask the help of Lily.

I didn't ask her because she was Hector. I did it because of an idea I got when I thought about her training method.

I asked her to go, select all the ships she could get, load them with force, and move them to the side of the bridge.

They would get dragged by the aquatic races, while the forces on these ships would work as a deterrent defensive force against any hostile forces.

Like this, I solved most of the problems, only lacking on; the aerial forces.

And that was solved simply by the weapons I bought before. So two thirds of the forces on the ships would be for ground fights, and the remaining third would be holding those short bows.

Angelica didn't just lead her army out, she led mine in addition to all the aquatic races. She also seemed to recruit more races from the other world, as I spotted many different shaped ground races running out from these portals.

She went all out! And that was the last order I gave to Lily.

I told her to ask Angelica to go all out, never stop at anything, and use whatever she could find to secure victory for me.

And the price? I promised her the site of cosmetics she and Hilary fought over before.

I knew I might get myself killed by doing this, but I had no other choice. This fight was one that I had no intention of losing! And above all, I would never lose any of my generals, not the jumper, not fall for this damn bastard's schemes.

Having such a rich reward at the end of this task, she really heard my words and started to go all out.

I even doubted that she moved every single living soul from the second Earth to here! She was crazy about that relic site to do such a thing!

With the messages I read from all of the four at the Hector continent right now, I knew things got stabilised over there.

The grand enemy army was routed back deeply inside the continent with big losses. As for the four generals there, they divided the huge army among themselves, and were now pushing hard against the enemies.

I didn't interfere or give any advice or order to them. I trusted they were capable of expanding the lands without falling into the mistake of thinning their forces to a dangerous degree.

As for the other battlefields, the two frontlines already finished their battles and started to move inwards.

At first, the two girls' messages aren't any different from others. However with the slow descent of such calamity over their heads, they started to feel little hope.

They and others knew that such a thing wouldn't be stopped by anyone except by me. They asked me about what I was doing, before they gave me the news of moving towards the spearhead and Isac's armies.

The battles there were really intense! With the joining of Hectors, things started to look quite ugly for the two generals at the midzone.

However during the past half an hour, they sent me messages alongside the spearhead, expressing their disbelief from what Hectors were doing.

They were running away! Turning around and ran as fast as they could to reach the shores and return home again.

672 Sara Is... Fierce!

Of course these four didn't know what was going on inside the Hector continent.

[Stop them, stop them at any cost!] this was the response they got from me when I read their messages.

[Boss, we already are chasing after them. But are you sure? They are strong and have lots of strong fighters!]

[Just do as I say!] The spearhead was seemingly reassured and much calmer than before. With the joining of the frontline two girls' armies, he must have felt confident once again.

And the two girls must have told him about what they guessed already, making him more reassured about this big continent falling over his head.

Or else, he would keep screaming out in panic the same way he kept doing during the past hours!

The hectors learnt about the grand mistake they made, and were trying to hurry back to help in that battle back at their home.

However, how do I let them have their way? Not like that!.

I knew they wouldn't be able to do much damage to my boys out there, but it would be foolish to let the enemy gain any advantage.

Not when I gained my advantage with my blood and sweat!

As for the most brutal fights on my kingdom lands, the capital battle!

It has been going on for a long time now. With my unexpected actions against the unpleasant present of that bastard, that son of b*tch sent out everything he got at my capital!

The northern gulf was now gushing out aquatic beasts without any pause. They came, joined forces with other troops he sent out from tons of portals all over the place, and started to hammer hard over my capital.

The defences were led before by Lily. however as she went to the Hector continent, her old home, Sara took over.

Sara… Sigh! This girl was just the real embodiment of an attack type beast!

Lily adopted the tactic of standing behind the shield and defences to use them for their advantage. But Sara did the opposite, ordering everyone to move out, and attack!

She kept throwing her boys over the enemies. In fact, against such weak forces, numbers wouldn't fare that much against brute force and bravery.

But that also skyrocketed the losses in my troops.

Despite my disapproval over such tactics, I didn't intervene or say anything.

I knew she acted based on her nature, what she excelled best at. And to be honest, she was doing great so far.

Taking over the battle here all alone was stressful. Leo couldn't resist the urge of love, and moved slowly towards his girl to support her forces.

That created a gap void of any forces of mine but Sara's. During the short passage of Angelica's armies here, they cleared a lot of enemies.

But the enemy was like ocean waves coming non-stop towards my capital. That might have bought time for my forces to breath, yet soon enough things returned back to be bloody.

I looked at her messages and scanned the situation here for a few minutes before turning at last to the all silent dude, standing all this time behind me.

"Lucias… It's your time," I said, and without saying anymore, I summoned all the soulers I had. I also sent a message over for Silverlining to send whatever he got for me of soulers.

"Five million?! And he dares to apologise for his lack of acting properly!! What did that dude expect? Tens of millions perhaps?!!!"

The number I got to pay for was shocking to me. Silverlining apologised for his bad performance this time, making me think he got only a couple of thousands of soulers!

That dude! Sigh! Such a staggering difference between the two impacts made me regret the time lost while dealing with the Bringold impact.

That green nymph would bring me ten thousand common grade soulers each few days, and she made me believe this was a real achievement!

Just come b*tch and see what the real achievement was! Even when bringing such a large army over here, that dude felt bad and even apologised!

Damn!

I signed the contracts in batches while summoning more. The more soulers that arrived made Lucias surprised at first, shocked later on.

"Lord… These…"

"I gave you my word before, right?" I said without even turning to him, "I'll help your race with everything I got. So go down there, and prove your worth to me."

"Sure," he just said this before turning into a thick cloud of orange fog that arched over my chariot and descended to the middle of his forces.

ɴ[0)ᴠᴇʟ It took me roughly half an hour to finish signing the contracts and summoning the soulers. Like this, I got close to four million soulers here.

Monsters? Mercenaries? Hell! Even if there were entire race armies gathered up here, in front of my soulers led by my valiant generals and elites, they wouldn't be a problem at all!

"Boss, thanks for the help! Those black things of yours are really something!"

Even Sara got such a shocking impression from my souler army. I grinned. This was the impression of my general, one on my side. Then one could imagine how my enemies would feel.

Suck it bastard! Suck it as deep as you could!

As I got over all these hanging issues, I started to focus again on my actions here.

Drawing out such a large place with my blood made me a bit dizzy at first. However with the help of my spiritual energy, I felt like I wasn't only getting a hold on myself, I was evolving!

I didn't know what was happening exactly here, but I felt like this was cleansing my body off any impurities. The more blood I gushed out, the much purer one that was generated out of my energy.

At one point, I even started to feel excited about doing this. That might be a reason behind my current calmness and state of peace of mind, allowing me to handle many things at the same time.

673 How Kingdom Hearts Work

But now, I finished all the things I didn't catch up with during the past hours.

Looking at the progress my arms made brought a smile over my face.

"Almost done," the progress here was much smoother than the one I did over that continent hovering over my head.

I estimated it would take another half an hour to get things done. And in less than this period of five minutes, my arms finally drew a deep line, forming a colossal triangle over Earth.

"I'm ready," once I finished, I said to Sith, "what now?"

[Take out one of those hearts, but first let me explain what you are going to do here…]

"Ok."

[First you gotta understand how the kingdom hearts work and why they are special. Controlling a piece of land and declaring it as your kingdom is easy to say and do. However if anyone came and invaded this land, they can easily take it over from you].

"That's true indeed."

[But using a kingdom heart will prevent such a thing from happening. See, it's like a sacred decree from the universe of your right to obtain this land as yours. So no matter who comes to invade it, even if he flattened everything with ground, it still is yours and not his!]

"…!"

[In addition to that, it turned the kingdom into a living beast. Just from its name, heart, it shows this item doesn't only give your supreme authority and sacred ownership, it also will allow your lands to expand and give birth to more lands similar to yours in energy and all features]

"Damn cool!"

[In addition to many bonuses your people will enjoy like defensive, offensive, and even cultivation and health boost, this item is considered the first step in your path in being a hegemony]

I listened to his explanation, kept nodding my head all the time. What he was saying was all new and mind blowing for me.

And it was great news as well.

[Now about what we are going to do here, we are going to declare these two pieces of land as yours using the two hearts. Not only that, we will make them parts of a single kingdom, and that has its perks…]

He paused for a second before adding:

[The two lands won't fall and crash at each other this way. In fact, what will happen will be a merge between your kingdom and this continent, the same way of dropping a single ink drop into a basin of clear water]

"I get it!"

[No you don't! This is something only selected figures in the entire universe experienced! So you'll have to wait and see, to know what I'm talking about]

"O… Ok…" I didn't get what he meant, but he was a mighty god. He had the right to say and interrupt me anytime he felt like.

[The symbol you drew will link the two hearts together. Then when the two lands would merge, the two hearts would merge as well, forming a higher grade one]

"Kingdom hearts have grades as well? Damn!"

[Don't regret not asking for a higher grade kingdom heart, this kind of item is considered priceless and no sane one will sell it to you no matter what!]

I swallowed what I wanted to say alongside my thoughts and regrets. It was like what he said, I regretted not asking for a higher grade kingdom heart in that deal with the three sovereigns.

[The higher grade kingdom hearts can be gained by special and hard to achieve methods just like the one you are having now. If anyone offered you anything back for this newly kingdom heart of yours, will you sell it? Even if you have more kingdom hearts to spare?]

"Not a chance!" I decisively declined and without any speck of hesitation.

[That also applies to others. There are certain things that can't be bought with money, with anything]

"I got your point, what shall I do next?" I felt like he was enjoying lecturing me about this.

[You are going to plant each heart so deep inside the pyramid you drew before. Use your arms to dig deep and then soak it with your blood at the same moment. The two must be planted and soaked at the same moment]

ɴ[0)ᴠᴇʟ "That's easy."

[And you have to safeguard these hearts for almost an entire day]

"What?!!" This wasn't easy! Of course guarding the one inside my capital wasn't an issue.

But the one up there was!

"You know this big behemoth of dirt is leaning its big butt over my head right now! One day! I doubt I can stop it for that time!!"

[Don't think it will be the same once you use your heart. In fact, once you planted the heart and it starts working its magic, you shall let it fall]

"Fall? Are you sure it's safe?"

[Don't doubt my words, kiddo. Just do as I say]

"Alright."

[Also during the one day merge, the lands of yours will be determined by the furthest away forces belonging to you]

"What do you mean?"

[I mean if you keep recalling your forces like this, the final size of your kingdom will be small! Spread your forces around, let them control as much lands as they can during this day]

"This…" I paused, and seriously hesitated about agreeing on such a crazy plan!

Scattering my forces over North America? Forget about other races, doing this would give that damn bastard a chance to hunt down my forces and cause considerable losses for me!

All he needed to do was to summon a few portals and viola… His forces would ambush mine! I knew Sith's words made sense and he was thinking of my benefit, but this was a very dangerous decision to take.

[I know what you are hesitating about. But don't you have sh*t load of races here and in the other world? Summon them here, make them fight for you. Believe me, if you don't reach the furthest point you can this time, you'll deeply regret not doing it!]

674 Making Big Changes To My Armies

This was, as far as I could recall, the first time Sith said such words to me. I'd deeply regret not doing this? Was the effects of the merge and the bonus from the advanced kingdom heart this alluring?

I clenched my right fist while thinking deeply for an entire hour.

"I'll do it your way then," if it was like he said, then it was better having losses for now than living in regret for the rest of my life.

[Good boy! This is how my human race should behave. Godspeed Hye! I'll watch from the side and cheer up for your success]

"Thanks," his words ignited more energy inside my body, heart, and soul, "I promise you won't get disappointed by me."

[No matter what happens, you will never disappoint me, kiddo!]

With such encouraging words, I closed my eyes, took successive deep breaths, before opening many chats at the same time.

[It's time to go all out and act crazy!]

[How boss?]

[Are we going over Hector 's side, boss?].

[I'm ready for anything!]

[The capital isn't safe yet!]

Many responses came. I just sent these to the generals inside my mainland.

As for those fighting at the Hector side, they were already going all out!

[Leave the capital for me to handle] I looked around while thinking about the new arrangement of my armies.

Right now, Isac, Isabella, Hilary, and the spearhead were all together. Alex and Leo were also together. Sara was the only person here leading the battle of the capital.

Out of all of them, Isac's army was considered the largest by far in terms of numbers alone. Considering everything else, Isac's army was the one out of all that didn't take part in any heated up battles yet.

According to Sith, I'd let that continent fall and merge with Earth. That meant I'd be freed from this tedious task of holding this colossal rock back.

Taking charge of the capitol war was necessary. After all I had to make sure the kingdom hearts would be all safe.

Besides, alongside my personal army of soulers and other warriors, what could possibly stand in my way? Not to mention the huge defensive lineup surrounding the capital.

So taking the task of defence here wasn't that hard for me to do.

As for others, I had to think of the best approach suiting their abilities.

[Listen up… Sara will take over Isac's army while Isac will take over Sara's] I started the new formation by shuffling the generals of these two armies.

Isac was best capable as a tactician. She lacked greatly in terms of fighting. It was proven before when I captured her and crushed her army.

So letting her lead her army, the biggest and the most ready army in the entire army I had, would be a mistake.

Shuffling the leadership position like that was the best thing to do right now. Like this, Sara would have a fresh army, grand enough to follow her crazy tactics.

[Isac will take over the task of clearing hostile enemies all over the kingdom lands from now on. The frontline will be formed as follows…]

ɴ[0)ᴠᴇʟ The best role Isac could do was to clear the mess and fight such widespread fights all over the capital.

Give any tactician type general space and time, and he could do miracles!

As for others, I started to consider their roles.

[The frontline will be led by Sara at the centre, Isabella at north, and Hilary at south. The spearhead's army will follow behind, acting as a helper for all the three]

[What's our task, boss?] The spearhead was the one to ask first before everyone asked the same.

[You shall push forward, with everything you have. Don't stop and keep controlling cities and towns. Leave a small patrol behind at each city and town]

[Got it boss!]

[What about the two of us?]

Alex and Leo were a big problem for me. Leo wasn't weak, but his relationship with Alex turned him as such.

[You are to work under Isac from now on] I took such a hard decision, [From now on, your armies belong to her, and you will act as her deputies]

Letting Isac defend the vast lands of my Heaven kingdom alone? It wasn't possible! Especially when she was going to take over Sara's army that was already devastated enough from the capital fight.

Not to mention Sara had to break through the current encirclement. That would add more losses for sure.

So adding these two armies to Sara's current forces would help Isac perform better.

[But… Boss, are you demoting the two of us?]

[Yes Alex, I am!] I didn't feel any embarrassment or hesitation in taking such a harsh decision for the sake of my kingdom.

[I… Understand]

Unlike Leo, she was more accepting of my decision. Leo kept bothering me until I threatened him to demote him further down the ranks.

Then he stopped, accepting such fate. The two knew exactly why such a decision was made. If not for the poor performance of Alex, and the unwise decision of Leo to go and help her, the two wouldn't have gotten demoted like this and at such a critical moment.

[Good luck to all. Don't forget, I want the frontline to press hard and control as much land as possible]

[We will do our best]

[Don't worry boss, they got me!]

[Shut up!] I rolled my eyes when I read the message of the spearhead. That jerk! He was still full of himself even after what he faced so far.

[When shall I move out?]

[Right away!]

Sara had to start moving right now. As for the defences here, I summoned all my warriors and looked at them from the top of my chariot.

Even the fallen gods were there on the ground for the first time ever.

"Spread up, take charge of the defences all over my capital. The fallen gods will lead the battle, the soulers will act as the vanguard, fighting outside as they are doing right now."

675 Using The Kingdom Hearts

I turned to one of the fallen gods before adding, "Go on the back of one of my dragons and find the general of soulers. Search for the orange fog, he will be there. Tell Lucias about this arrangement and let him work together with all of you."

"Yes, lord."

"Go, take over the capital and don't embarrass me."

I watched my smaller sized army of warriors moving out. They might look smaller in number compared to any other force I had, but they are never to be underestimated!

Either my fallen gods, my dragons, or even the newly acquired warriors; they were all beasts!

But letting such a task over to them wasn't enough. I got a list of many warriors I could buy, and I decided to go on a spree once I was done planting the kingdom hearts here.

As they went over, I didn't hurry to start this process until after two more hours. During which, Sara finally managed to break through, and my boys showed how capable they were..

The capital was vast! But with the help of all the defences there, my boys didn't face any trouble.

The fallen gods were the sharpest sword I had. Each one of them was enough to hold a couple of miles on his own.

As for my dragons and flying warriors, they kept harassing the ground forces, helping the soulers in killing enemies in batches!

I was standing high up in the air, overlooking almost all the capital region. I saw Lucias dividing up his big army into six smaller ones, each led by one of his elites, leaving an army for him to lead.

He wasn't acting like a general, fighting from the backlines. He led the forces himself, fighting at the forefront, killing to his heart content.

This fight really suited the soulers! They were like fire spreading all over a dried up forest. No matter how endless the dried up leaves were, they got burnt down fast, and they never posed a threat to any of my forces.

[I'm going to meet Isac now] as I got this message from Sara, I knew it was time for me to start planting my two hearts.

ɴ[0)ᴠᴇʟ According to Sith, I had to dig deep into the continent high above and at my capital down below. Then I'd plant the two hearts at the same time then soak them with my blood.

I looked at the continent lying on my head. It turned the entire world all dark. Only faint rays of light escaped through a few gaps in it, giving it a scary and sacred impression to anyone seeing it.

"I believe it will be better to line the two hearts together," I knew the goal of Sith from doing all that wasn't just to add this piece of dirt to my kingdom, but mainly to form a higher grade heart.

So it would be better to let the two hearts line up with each other. It would be easier this way for the merge, and also easier for me to sync the process.

I first controlled my arms to dig deeply high at the continent above and at the same time at the opposite point at my kingdom.

The point I selected high above matched a point just on the western side of the capital. It lay just behind the walls of my capital, close to the fields filled with crops outside the walls.

I knew there was another series of walls built a few tens of miles away, on the edge of these fields. Also there were many forts defending this region on the other side of the river.

The fights there were really bloody. However not a single force managed to cross the river, not even when aquatic monsters were added to the attacking forces of the enemy.

I started digging, demolishing a few buildings and ruining a couple of streets in the process. I didn't know how big the hole should be, or how deep I should dig.

So I kept working for an entire hour, until I cleared a hole of one hundred metres radius and a couple hundred metres deep.

It looked so damn deep to my eyes, making me sigh and hope it was enough.

"Time to use you," I finally got out one of the kingdom hearts and started examining it.

It wasn't a beating heart as I expected. It was just a piece or semi-transparent ore. It had such a pure white colour that made me feel like it was this close from emitting light on its own.

If such a gem started to shine, it would turn into a star for sure! It was in the size of my closed fist, not too large, at least not as I expected.

"So you are my kingdom's heart?" I said, speaking to it as if I was speaking with a sane person.

It felt a bit warm, as if it was situated close to a fire source or something inside my inventory.

"Take it there," as there was nothing special about this heart, I handed it over to one of my big and thick arms before replenishing the chariot with green bones once again.

I had to be ready for any consumption to maintain my technique. The consumption rate was already off charts!

If Sith's words became true, and that god never lied before to me, then I wouldn't need my technique soon.

After that, I'd really join this war, turning it upside down as I should have done a long time ago.

"Go there," I took the second heart and let it hold it with another arm. One was stopping at the top hole, while the second was just a few metres on top of the hole on Earth.

The one on Earth would only need me to let go of it. As for the one up there, I had to push it all the way deep till the end of that hole.

676 They Are Eating My Arms Up!

"Phew! Let's do it!" I took a deep breath before starting to do this task. I first led the one above into the hole before letting the second heart fall freely into that hole.

In less than a minute, the two hearts were placed at the deepest point of the holes I dug.

"Now my blood," I already prepared lots of arms around me and started to let them take my blood over. I had to wound myself again, as the previous wound had healed a long time ago.

My blood felt a little weird. Previously, it was dark red, seemingly close to purple. But right now it changed to show a faint blue lustre while the redness became fainter.

I knew it was changing as it affected my energy. However, it was becoming closer to my energy colour, not like any colour of human blood at all.

I didn't have time to worry about that. Once I started to gush out my blood, I circulated my spiritual energy to replenish the loss.

As for my arms, they started taking out my blood and delivering it to the holes up and down. I controlled them to act like a basin, having a deep groove at each one of them..

One by one they kept taking my blood and placing it over the basins of other arms. As two arms got filled with blood, they started moving to deliver them to the two hearts.

*Rumble!*

*Rumble!*

In fact, I didn't know how much blood was needed for this process to start and finish. But when my blood touched the hearts, a loud rumbling occurred both up and down below.

It felt like two violent earthquakes happened, with the focus being the hearts.

[It's enough!] just as I was about to collect more blood, the sound of Sith came to save me from such torture, [Now just wait until the two hearts start the connection, then release your technique]

"What connection?" I didn't get what he said, but he never answered. Before long, I realised what he was speaking about.

As I didn't need to deliver anymore blood, I just focused on the changes happening at the two holes.

The rumblings and quakings weren't the only things that happened from the hearts. The two hearts seemed right now more like seeds of great trees, more than just two pieces of beautifully looking ores.

They dealt with my blood as if it was water! Those rumblings and quakes were nothing but an aftermath of the grand roots that started to spread fast from these two.

In a span of a few minutes, the roots grew thick enough to be pillars holding the sky itself! They stretched everywhere, spanning and fanning out, branching in every direction without any sign of pause.

And when that happened, I started to feel something.

There were still few arms there in the two holes. Just as I was inspecting the changes using these arms as sensors and eyes of mine, I felt sudden blackness as if I got blind and cut off all my senses!

"Damn! They ate up my arms!!" I opened my eyes and looked up at the hole above and the one below. Both got my arms nearby, not even stopping at the ones inside the holes.

It felt like they were acting like black holes, sucking up anything near them. But they only sucked my arms, and weirdly enough they didn't destroy or crush them.

They just attracted and pulled the arms towards the holes, making them go towards the hearts directly. Each arm I was using to see what was going on had to sever the connection with me.

In return for that, a new type of connection started to develop. It felt like I had a pet, breathing warmly by my side, closing up his eyes, and leaning his head over my lap.

It was weird! But that connection grew stronger the more arms got sucked into it. In ten minutes, all the arms I had were sucked towards the two holes, before the big black sphere I left inside the upper continent started to slowly come out from its deep place.

It felt like something was pulling it out, slowly yet steadily. I watched in awe my fierce technique coming out before it got slashed by an unseen sword, cutting it into two halves.

One fell slowly down towards the hole at Earth, and the other went up towards the hole of the continent.

I looked using my Hawk Eye skill at the two hemi-spheres moving in such slow motion towards the holes.

They looked all black from the inside, with nothing special about it except for a few dancing arcs of black lightning that appeared every now and then.

"Is this… Normal?!!" I never expected such a thing to happen.

[It's not expected I have to admit, but it's not that bad] even Sith never expected such a thing. But as he said that everything was fine, then there was nothing to worry about.

I thought that I had to cancel my technique once the merge would start. But weirdly enough, these hearts seemed to have an appetite for my technique and arms.

I had to wait until the two hemi-sphere would get to the hearts to see what was going to happen.

That weird connection was another thing I had to think about and explore further. When I looked, I couldn't find anything that caused that connection.

Yet it was growing stronger with each passing minute, as if it was coming up from my soul itself.

This… Was really weird!

[It's normal. The connection is one that comes from your blood. So stop looking for its source, as it's you the one who is forming that connection]

Sith's deep voice came to shed away any fog in front of my mind. I got what was happening right now. And he confirmed my guesses with what he added next.

[That's why having a kingdom heart meant the kingdom won't fall except if its lord is killed… ]

677 The Merge

[… That connection will run through your body like blood running through your veins. When you give birth to kids, the one with the strongest abilities and suited to lead after you will carry the mark of this connection. It will be awakened when you pass away. So don't mind this connection and let it grow stronger, don't fight or resist it]

"I see…" I was indeed trying to resist that link until I understood what it was. So I let it grow and didn't resist anymore.

This helped in making the connection grow stronger faster. But the remarkable change that happened came when the two hemispheres reached the hearts together.

They reached their hearts at the same moment. All I felt was a silent booming that I only felt its aftermath in the form of violent shaking and trembling.

All that started from my heart, spread all over my body, making me feel a moment of real panic before everything calmed down as fast as it appeared.

I felt like my soul was getting squeezed by a formidable energy before it let it go. Then like a dam was broken, the connection felt like the raging water of a flood.

The connection showed a remarkable improvement, one that seemed like it got many folds stronger than before..

It seemed the addition of my halved technique to the hearts added something that link lacked and desperately needed.

*Rumble!*

This didn't come from anywhere but myself! I looked at my body to see it shining in bright blue light, before looking around and saw the same light shining from the two holes as well.

[It's time] Sith said, [The two hearts will start to merge. Under any condition, don't let anyone trespassing towards the hole]

"I got it!" I finally was relieved from being a bystander and was going to act like a real player in this war.

But first I had to see what this blue light was for.

The shining kept for the next half an hour. And during this period, the continent up north started to shine with that light, which spread all over it like it was making a shining blue coat for it.

As for Earth, the entire capital of mine also had the same effect, and it kept spreading all over the world beyond the borders of my capital.

From what I noticed, the intensity of that light was sharper at the area marked by my kingdom symbol. Beyond this, the blue light started to grow fader the further it went.

Then the continent up above started to show something interesting. "It's turning into an illusionary state… Quite interesting!"

The continent high above started to grow illusionary while it kept descending at a fixed pace. It wasn't slow or fast, but it gave me the impression it was getting on top of my head in no time.

As it got in such a state, I lost all fears and worries. It wouldn't cause any damage to me or my forces, and wouldn't touch a single hair of my people.

How amazing this was!

As for the Earth, the capital there didn't show much changes. I didn't hurry to move and waited for the two lands to merge together.

The most exciting part was when that continent passed through me. It felt like I was passing through a cold layer of ocean, without feeling much more than that.

However, just as the continent passed through me in its journey to merge with my capital, I got to know how scary big this continent was.

It was at least ten miles in thickness! Damn! It was indeed the whole continent, not just a shallow piece of it!

That bastard… He brought such a behemoth here, wanting to really smash me and my forces to a meat pie.

The continent finally passed through me, and when it did I saw it merging with my lands. The merge was simple, like adding two drops of water together, mixing them slowly and steadily under the force guiding this process.

The more of that continent entered through Earth, the stronger the connection I felt became.

*Rumble!*

Just as the two lands merged and became one, the illusionary form of the continent started to grow corporeal, and that caused a series of violent shaking all over the world.

I knew the danger was mostly gone. But under such fierce quakes, I was afraid over my capital's building and defensive structures.

Yet after the passage of an hour, nothing happened to my capital even when the trembling grew fiercer and came at a faster pace.

During this time, all I could see of the merge was the change in colour of the ground down below.

Earth was brown in colour in most places. But when that new land merged with it, the colour of my kingdom ground changed to become darker, closer to be black than anything else.

Then it started to show another change in colour at some places. I could see a broad spot of red, green, yellow, and even blue. And these colours didn't stop just at my capital lands, but also spread all over the ground around, until vanishing up in the horizon.

Next thing was the hole. As I planned, the two holes fell over each other, merging together to form a single hole.

The previous holes were one hundred metres radius. But the newly formed one looked much smaller. It looked like the more progress this merge achieved, the thinner this hole became.

Right now it was less than twenty metres in radius, and I got the impression it would end up to be smaller than one metre or something.

Aside from all these, there was nothing much to tell. I couldn't see through the thick layers of dirt and rocks of the ground, making me unable to see through what was going on.

But I was certain of one thing, the merge was processing smoothly at this point. The tremblings weren't just the only thing to tell me about that.

678 Who The Heck Is That?!!!

My connection with the two hearts or the newly formed one was giving me such an impression.

And I also got another feeling, that I didn't need to stand here doing nothing anymore.

"Ok baby, keep growing and merging, and I'll do everything in my power to protect you," I said before starting to lead my chariot around, taking a wide tour over the areas of fight all over the capital.

The fight was really fierce! No matter how much my forces killed, much more would come from many directions, looking like they were respawning endlessly without any limitations.

Yet no matter how hard the enemy tried, they couldn't even reach the shield or break through it.

My forces have been doing a great job so far. But this was simply a passive way of fighting this battle.

I was like Sara, all oriented about all out attack with zero sense or desire for defence.

Yet unlike her, I had the capital and backing to act this aggressively..

"I was away and busy for too long… It's time to replenish the stock of monsters," as I got freed from my technique, the bones all over the chariot were still laying there in wait.

The energy coming from them suddenly paused and the bones returned to their formal state once the connection got severed. I noticed that few of them were gone from time to time, as if something hidden was eating them up.

I didn't think much about it. If the connection needed a few bones to keep running, then it was fine by me.

And now, I started making my technique once more. Without any warning, my threads started to spread from my black circle, taking control over monsters and mercenaries.

I didn't bother signing any contracts with them. I knew most if not all of them would fall here today. So I just focused on taking control over a large number of them, gathering them together in a few groups that kept escalating at such a fast pace.

Then after an entire hour, I had hundreds of thousands under my control.

"Attack!"

Up till now, the only forces of mine that took control of attacking the enemies outside the capital were my soulers.

They were fierce, fighting and killing without any obstacle. Nothing really stood in front of them, not a single enemy managed to even harm them.

But they weren't enough to cover up the entire stretched out battlefield here. With the help of my controlled groups of monsters and mercenaries, things started to look a bit better.

As they attacked, the enemies near the capitol got a sudden and strong blow. Many of them fell, and much more got entangled and infected with my threads, ending up serving me in the span of a few breaths.

That replaced the losses of my controlled monsters and mercenaries, adding even more with the slow passage of time. Gradually, the entire size of my new forces was enough to push the frontline half a mile back.

And with that, the capital finally could be called to usher under a few moments of peace that didn't last for long.

*Rumble!*

From far, a gigantic rumbling came while a big portal opened. I looked up at the distance, knowing that a bastard enemy of mine was doing something.

*Rumble!*

However, just as the first portal was getting in shape, another one appeared near it. It wasn't that big like the first, yet it caused more noise than the bigger one.

And from it, a silhouette appeared coming out, one that I recognised from the first look.

"Are you finally coming to fight me to death?" I said in such icy cold tone, narrowing my eyes and clenching the glaive that I didn't use to shed the blood of enemies with yet.

"I'm not here for you," the same distasteful voice came from that far away direction like its owner was standing right in front of me, "I'll get to you later on. I'm here for another person."

"Another?!" I raised one eyebrow before seeing something that made both eyebrows get raised at the same time.

I felt immense shock while watching another silhouette appearing from another direction. He was cloaked under a dense black fog, covering up his features.

It was him! It was that bastard enemy of mine! And right there, two of them stood in front of each other, looking identical to my eyes.

"What the hell is going on here?!!!" I was greatly shaken! I thought this bastard had an ability like mine, the jumper, and Hilary. I thought he was a time traveller, one who came from the future I created by coming here.

But right now, I saw two versions of him! The two looked identical, without any speck of difference.

"What brought you here?" the old enemy of mine said in the same tone and attitude that made me swear both were twins or something!

"You failed," just as I was shocked, a thing happened that gave me a new meaning of shock.

The newly arrived one through the portal seemed to take a weapon. I couldn't see anything through that dense black energy covering him up. But I could see it strengthening, taking the shape of a really long and broad sword.

It looked quite heavy indeed. But that new dude waved it as if he was holding a feather! The swords hit the other dude, ending up in removing his head, and letting it fly in the air.

*Sizzle!*

Blood didn't splash out from such wounds. Instead, the body of the old dude started to disintegrate on its own, breaking up into wisps of black sparks of fire that started to vanish in no time.

In the span of a few seconds, that troublesome enemy of mine got killed without any struggle or even a fight.

Then as I was totally petrified in shock, the one standing turned his sword towards me as if he was issuing a challenge.

"From now on, it will be me who will be playing with you, damn human race Hye!"

"You…!!!" I was too shocked to speak fast before this bastard went into the portal he came from and vanished.

679 [Bonus chapter] Sith Knows That Bastard!

What the heck just happened right now?! Who was that son of b*tch?! How did it kill that troublesome enemy of mine in such an easy way?!!

There were lots of damn secrets attached to this son of b*tch. The more I dealt with him, the more confused I got.

[Oh, what just happened here? I feel like I missed out something!]

"Didn't you see that?!!!"

It was Sith's voice that jolted me awake from my immense shock to throw me into puzzlement.

[I didn't see anything unusual, but I feel like some sort of a glitch happened. How come I feel like this? Tell me what happened!]

I didn't know if he was joking or telling the truth. But I needed someone to help and explain things out for me as well.

So I started to explain what went on here, how that bastard showed two of them, and one killed the other, before vanishing into the portal again..

[Damn! Are you sure it happened this way?!!]

This time he shouted, as if he heard something unbelievable.

"It happened just as I said," I sighed, "in fact that enemy of mine is hard to understand. I'm fighting him for the third time in a row, and I ended up with literally nothing about him."

[No fool, he is all open for you to read! It isn't that hard to guess his identity, considering that what you just said happened!]

"It does!" Why did he keep doubting my side of the story? It happened just before my two eyes!

[Then… Damn! I never thought such a formidable figure from that cursed bloodline would set his eyes over you. Do you have any idea why?]

Formidable? He was formidable indeed. However from the words of Sith, it seemed he knew what this enemy of mine was!

Did he meet him before? Or was that enemy famous all over the universe?

"He said something related to my future achievements, something weird about having me stop and not continue my fight and road to hegemony."

[Hmm… That means you will grow up to be something important kiddo! Wow! I have great eyes then! I got myself such a gem!]

I wanted to respond in sarcasm but stopped fearing he wouldn't tell me who that person was.

[Don't try, it's too soon for you to know his identity]

"But he is fighting against me and has caused me considerable damage so far!"

[He is doing something double edged, like tossing a dagger in the air and hoping it will land over you and not him. You are doing great surviving his attacks so far, so don't belittle yourself]

"I'm just giving him justice!"

[You should! This dude… He is scary even for a person like me!]

"Then you better tell me who he is so I can prepare for his next attacks and kill him!"

[Kill him? Hahahaha! What a joke! Do you think someone like him can be killed? If so then why would someone like me be threatened by his presence?]

"What do you mean…?!!!"

[This person you are fighting is nothing but a clone! Clones sent from the future, trying to kill you]

"This…!!!"

[Sigh! I said enough! If I continue, perhaps some scary folks will get a wimp of this. Just know this, our universe is nothing but a speck in the multiverse we are in! There are lots of things that you can never imagine to exist, and they are present even around you. Just accept this foe of yours, and deal with him the same way you are doing so far]

"But…"

[Don't ask, as I won't say anymore! Just be careful to not follow him anywhere he goes, got it? Or else, even I wouldn't be able to save you]

"That… I planned to get him using a weapon of mine."

[Forget it! It's too damn risky! You are dealing with something far beyond your understanding, not even your abilities! But kiddo… I'm now raising up my hopes for you. Let's see what you will do in the future]

"Shouldn't you try and support me more? Like giving me quests and things like that?" Despite the fact that I didn't get what he wanted to say here, I would never miss such a chance to ask for more support.

[Ungrateful human kid! Do you think all the help I gave to you so far isn't enough? Humph! I bet no one of my one hundred elite kids got the same support and help in such a short time!]

"It's just…"

[Shush! Just go back and do whatever you were doing. I'll pretend I never heard anything from you]

Damn this god! He was really slippery!

[Don't curse me. I'm in a good mood right now and that means you are lucky. Go, go and continue this war of yours]

"But my enemy…"

[Don't think too much about him. As long as he kept bothering you like this, it means you already won against him. So don't think about it too much and keep doing whatever you are trying to do. This enemy already lost to you, and he is trying to change things to win]

"Hmm…" I got more info about this enemy, making me understand a bit of his logic. So he came from the future, from a future I won over him. And he was such a bitter loser to not let it down.

He decided to send clones back in time, and try to mess with my actions. So the one that came here from the portal was from the future. And that might explain why that mighty god of mine didn't even see what happened.

It seemed only those near that bastard would see what happened. And that also meant this wasn't the first time to happen.

Did he lose a clone and send another each time I won? Damn! That seemed cool!

I thought I was losing big against him. But it seemed he also lost a lot as well.

680 Getting Things Under Control At The Capital

That explained why each time that bastard would appear using a different set of tactics! It looked like I was fighting different people with the same identity.

I was fighting clones! And that was when the bad news lied. I couldn't kill him. Killing a clone wouldn't change anything at all!

That might be why Sith didn't bother telling me anything to help me find him. Killing a clone wouldn't matter. Killing the real body did.

And as the real person was far in the future, it meant I had no way to kill him!

What a troublesome enemy this dude was!

So, each time I'd face a new enemy of different fighting styles. Each time of failure meant he would be killed, and a new one would pop up coming from the future.

It was mutual damage, something that only someone with endless clones and ability to send them through time would take.

I just hoped this dude would pay a hefty price each time he sent someone over. If so, then it would feel better for me knowing he had to suffer just like mine..

But if he grew the habit of killing his clones each time he failed, then who was taking control over my girl?

I thought it was someone related to this bastard. Yet it seemed I guessed it wrong!

Sigh! It looked like I had to wait for the golden quest to start to see who was this damn bastard who took Karoline away!

During this time, my combined forces of controlled monsters and races with my soulers and other warriors were doing great!

They kept pushing the enemies backwards, while more were getting under my control with the need of doing much.

The threads were generated on their own from the already controlled ones. This made the number of my forces greater with each passing minute.

Yet they didn't manage to reach the area of portals. This zone was still filled with tons of enemies, making me inwardly sigh.

I had to protect this place for the entire day! I wasn't bored, I was just restless to go to the Hector continent, and start controlling more Hectors.

I needed to increase the number of those fierce fighters. Besides, more of them would help in letting more of my humans step into cultivation.

Not to mention their hellish way of training, that showed such remarkable effects in such a short time.

But trying to leave the capital before the end of the merge? The risks outweigh the gains to be honest.

So I just focused on controlling more troops, and left the fight at other places to my boys.

They kept updating me with their progress all the time. At first, they moved a bit fast as they cleared lots of areas out of enemies before.

However when the enemy spotted what they were trying to do, they started to face hellish resistance everywhere!

The spearhead kept sending me messages, bragging about how his help saved the day for the other three.

Well, if he was doing great, then he had the right to show off like this. Especially when he acted totally different from what Leo did with Alex.

Two couples, two lovers, and they both acted totally differently thanks to the difference in their personalities and traits.

I could only sigh at the fate each couple ended up in. One was devastating the battlefield, creating names for themselves, and the other was like losers, demoted and were following other leadership.

As for the middle battle zone, it was totally under control. Isac was doing great there, while the other two who got demoted were helping as well.

However they lost their chance, and no matter how Isac tried to put nice words for them, they wouldn't have that chance again this easily.

After all this would be over, I'd start looking for more reinforcements, replacements for these two and adding more generals as well.

Such an epic battle would be the birthplace of many heroes and talents. I just had to ask each general of mine to start looking into their men, select those who performed well, and leave the final selection for me.

The really brutal fight that kept going back and forth was the one at the Hector continent. Just reading the updates and the advance and retreat my forces had all this time proved how fierce and hard facing Hectors was!

The four were fighting against four paragons and lots of archlords and vices in the Hector armies.

It was such a harsh fight indeed, one that couldn't be concluded anytime soon.

Just reading the updates made me grin. I didn't want this battle to end soon. I wanted the Hectors to keep sending and amassing their forces for me to hunt.

As for my side losses, it was big indeed. However the crazy move of Angelica by bringing forth everyone from that world proved its worth at these moments.

No matter how much was killed, much more crossed the bridge over the continent and joined the fight.

Even after all this time, lots of forces came and joined the fight, replenishing most of the losses and adding pressure over the Hectors.

But it seemed both sides reached a middle ground, where they both couldn't advance or retreat. I knew without my intervention, this would become the line separating the two kingdoms from each other.

However who said I'd be content with just this part of such a vast continent? They controlled almost a five hundred miles area from the shore.

It wasn't small, but it wasn't enough. I wanted more, I wanted to control the entire continent if possible.

Time flew fast. During the first hours, the quaking kept rumbling the entire world here. But gradually things started to cool down after the passage of half a day here.

By then, my forces reached the stage of portals, destroying these in batches. The number of destroyed portals increased with each passing hour, and slowly the size of the enemy started to dwindle, giving my side of forces a good time in controlling the entire battlefield.

681 Grave News!

That made the battle of the capital much calmer than ever. I didn't feel any joy in that achievement. After all even if the fight here was over, I'd still remain seated here, guarding this place and merge.

As things started to calm down, time started to pass slowly. I even thought about taking a nap or something, yet to be stopped when I saw a change.

[Lord, there are enemies spotted coming from the north!]

I forgot totally about my scattered teams. Yet one of them spoke about an army approaching.

North? Wasn't it the place protected by that big gulf?

[Where?]

[They are approaching the big gulf at north]

[Who are they?]

[Lord, they are a mix of races, Dragons, Illusionists, Succubi, and even Hectors!]

That dude looked a bit scared, and he should be. Such a coalition army wasn't something new. And I knew how fierce such a union would be..

However, they got to cross that gulf first. Besides, my forces here are really strong right now.

Trying to come here? At this moment? Humph! It seemed their paragons had a death wish for their forces!

Besides… coming from the north meant only one thing.

[How are things at your end?] I didn't hesitate to open a chat with an old friend.

[Boring! They all retreated back to their lands, asked for a treaty of peace]

[Did you sign it?]

[Not yet. My paragon is a bit sceptical about doing that]

[Tell him this… They moved a large number of their forces towards my lands. You know what does this mean, right?]

[Damn! Are you sure? This is big! This is huge! Damn bastards! That's why they ran back to their lands and asked for a peace treaty!]

[They are here, far away from your place. You know what to do]

[Leave it to me, bro! I'll smash their homes over their heads! I give you my word, this war will end today!]

[Good luck then]

It was Wryly, that Berserker who went missing for such a long time already.

He was busy fighting in the epic war in the north. But when I heard the report from my scout, I knew they had to come from there.

And with what Wryly said, it was quite obvious. They moved most of their forces here.

But wait… If they did so, didn't that mean the size and strength of their forces were different from the foes we were fighting so far?

And before I could think of a way to stop the incoming army from getting here, I got two more disturbing messages.

[Damn! This is bad! The fourth quest just started! And we all got punished for not taking part in it!]

[Right now?] it was Fang, and he seemed pissed off.

[It just started a few minutes ago. The messages that I received are all bad! We got debuffs, lowering our stars by half! In the meantime, our enemies will gain double of their stats! Not to mention they will add more stats at this moment, according to the quest rules]

[I get it] I knew this was bad. And weirdly enough, the timing of this came just with the arrival of the new army. [Can your forces hold the line out there?]

[With such debuffs? I doubt it man! We need to retreat, regroup and try to control a small piece of land. It will be better this way]

[No, no retreat, only advance forward]

[But…]

[Just do as I say. I'll find a way to help]

I closed the chat before getting another one. And this came from one of my dragon rider girls monitoring the northern gulf region.

[Lord! Big news! Lots of aquatic monsters appeared out of nowhere and formed a big bridge. A colossal army of many races are about to cross it now!]

"So they prepared this to cross the gulf? As expected," I sighed while trying to sort out my mind.

Lots of enemies were heading towards my capital, and the fourth quest just started.

This quest was all about the struggle and conflict between lords! It was expected to give the enemies a boost, but combining this with our lack of additional stat and that unjust punishment, made it a bit impossible to come out of this with the gains I had so far.

Numbers wouldn't matter anymore! With such punishment, my entire forces would be at a huge disadvantage.

Should I recall them back and let them be together? It was the most logical solution so far.

However it meant my kingdom would lose much of its current expanding territory.

Would I risk doing that?

Just when I hesitated, the old words of Sith rang in my mind again.

[You'll regret that!]

That was what he said, and just recalling this in his voice made me reject such an easy way out.

I wouldn't select such a safe path.

As I decided to keep fighting, I started to reconsider the current situation.

"The West is facing only monsters, little of races so far," I looked at the big map in my chariot and was lost in thoughts for a few minutes.

"The West is the real problem. They are facing Hector, and they were struggling from the beginning. If they continued…"

I paused as I knew the answer. If they stood there without any reinforcements, then they'd end up dead without doubt.

I knew I should send out my forces to help. But if I did, who was going to save my capital?

[Come back right away, the battle at the capital will be left for you to handle]

I didn't hesitate to make the toughest choice. Staying here would mean one end for my eastern forces. I had to move out, and I'd give the task of handling the battle here for Isac and her forces.

The only problem was that her forces were scattered over a wide area. They would take at least three up to six hours to arrive and gather up here.

682 Leaving The Capital To Lucias

The army coming from the north wouldn't wait all that time. They'd arrive in less than three hours.

[Retreat slowly] I sent this before doing anything else to all the four generals at the Hector continent, [Don't rush it. I need you to buy me six hours at least]

[At least!]

[Damn it! I know you are unreliable!]

[Ok, I'll do my best]

[Don't worry, I know how to handle my family]

The four responded, and I totally ignored the two jerks' messages. As for the other two girls, I just sent my request to play it safe as far as possible.

"Hey, go all out, destroy all the portals in ten minutes!".

I held out my horn next, shouted with my loudest voice at all the forces under my leadership in the region.

There were few scattered portals left. Before getting such bad news, I let my boys play while I kept increasing the size of my forces using my technique.

But right now it wasn't the time to do that.

If there was a solution to save the day, then it would be only by moving my forces forward to meet the northern army before coming here.

And that would come at the cost of leaving the capital with little forces. Like this I'd delay the enemy advancing speed, decrease their numbers, and even add more forces to mine.

When Isac and her boys would take over the defences here, I'd move out and help the eastern battle.

As for the debuff effect, I wasn't worried. With the help of my sturdy defences and big shield, nothing bad would happen here.

And if it did, I'd simply jump over here and start rescuing the capital if it got breached.

So during these ten minutes, I started roaming the capital surroundings, saving more bookmarks at different locations.

I made sure to store up enough to guard against any unforeseen circumstances.

My boys had only to press forward to crush the remaining portals. In less than ten minutes, the entire place ushered under such weird silence.

My forces stood in place motionless, as if they were waiting for more enemies to arrive and kill.

The size of the controlled forces in the end reached a staggering ten million mark and even went beyond it.

However, covering up such a massive stretch of land, they seemed to not be even enough to cover the entire place alongside my private army.

"I shouldn't leave the capital with weak forces," I thought while considering whom to leave behind.

They should be led by someone who was capable of stopping any attack. They should be fierce, and have the ability to kill ground, aquatic, and aerial enemies.

The merge was past its half point by five to six hours right now. I needed to wait for less than half a day for it to finish.

The quaking started to come in such long intervals. The colourful batches covering the ground kept shining from time to time, seemingly as if they were responding to some sort of energy pulsations.

The hole in the ground shrank up now and was less than five metres in radius. I previously thought it would reach one metre radius at the end.

But this seemed to be not the case. It looked like this hole was going to vanish before the end.

So I memorised the spot of it, even saved a bookmark of it, before going to look for Lucias.

"You will lead half of your soulers and two million monsters in defending the capital," as he went up to meet me, I started to speak about my plan.

It was a simple plan. I'd leave behind with him enough ground forces to secure the capital against any brutal attack.

Also I decided to leave dozens of fallen gods, a few hundreds of dragons and flying monsters.

"… There is a general of mine coming up with her army. She is called Isac, a Selvator race young man, leading a big army of humans."

"I got it, lord," Lucias didn't comment on my arrangement or taking up half of his forces away, "but are you going to be alright with such force?"

"Do you think I'm this week?" I shortly laughed before adding, "you will be stationed here until that army arrives. Then we will head together towards another continent, where we will have another brutal fight."

"We love brutal fights! It's where we feel like home."

For a moment there, he gave me the impression of Wryly. Both races were warmongers, but I got why he thought like that.

During the past fight, he used his deadly breaths from time to time. It seemed he could use it only once per few hours. Yet each time he did, a million enemies would fall without any resistance.

He was quite fierce indeed! And during this fight, it seemed he ate lots of souls to feel already satisfied.

Even if he needed souls from me, I had tons of them right now. From this war alone, I was this close from reaching the needed quota for my debt.

Killing monsters gives me souls like killing any race. And I killed tons of them! My forces did the same, and were still doing.

So crossing the one hundred million mark was going to be achieved a long time before this war would see its final curtain closed down.

"Go now, scatter your forces around, and use those flying girls on the back of dragons as your eyes to spot any incoming enemies."

"I'll heed by your orders, lord," since he came back from the training session in another world of mine and Lucias seemed more respectful towards me.

Of course after seeing me in action during this war, his respect grew to veneration and bits of caution as well, there might be little fear as well.

As I watched him select his forces, I ordered the rest to move out alongside my selected warriors, fallen gods, dragons, and other monsters.

683 Forming A Hit Force

I left the fallen gods at my chariot, while few were scattered amidst the big army marching forward at a fast pace.

We had to meet up with the enemy as fast as we could. The further away we fought, the better.

I just wanted to simply jump over and start hitting those bastards. But the mix of Hectors and Dragons made me wary of this army.

The two races were quite rich in their items. They spent tons of money acquiring scary things and strong forces.

So it would be a bit risky to go out there all alone. I had to first let my boys here assess and test this army, see how fierce and dangerous it was.

Also it would be much easier for me to handle these enemies from behind the frontline. Using my technique to control them from far behind was the most effective way to handle such dangerous folks.

In addition to all that, this was quite a fierce army of races. They weren't those weak monsters or mercenaries. So it would be a waste to just let them off the hook.

I had to force them to sign loyalty contracts, serving me till the end of their lives. I was sure that each single one of them was a well trained soldier, and might be an elite as well..

As the grand army moved out, I started asking my scout girls and scattered teams about the current situation of this army.

[They are still crossing the gulf]

[They are slowly moving inside our lands, lord]

[They are controlling cities and towns as they march]

[They are bringing more forces using the portals in each city and town]

More info was pouring at me during the next half an hour. It seemed this army wasn't just trying to get to the capital so fast.

It was strengthening its hold over that northern part of my kingdom. Controlling cities and towns while using the portals there to gush lots of forces here? That might seem as if they were preparing for a long attrition defensive battle.

I thought they were coming to hit my capital first. If they acted like this, then it meant only one thing.

"They aren't the main attacking force here… Will it be that son of b*tch? Or they just want to make me busy, to not go and save my boys at the Hector continent?"

I didn't know what they were truly scheming here, but there was some sort of a trick out there.

Going to get entangled in such a battle of attrition? Did they think I left the capital unprotected? Or did they think they could stop me from leaving if I wanted?

Humph! Brute force was the answer to any doubts indeed. I didn't decrease the advancement speed of my forces, and even asked them to push forward much faster.

[Scatter around, see if there is anything happening at the eastern coast] I sent this order to many teams, the ones who weren't contacting me right now.

They were the ones away from the northern regions. At this moment, I wanted eyes all over that damn coast.

If there was a race that could be described as fierce and unpredictable, it would be Hectors without doubt.

Even Dragons had their mindset focused on arrogance and overconfidence.

But Hector… They came here with lots of paragons and shitloads of other lower ranks.

They brought many continents here, making Earth look like their backyard or something.

I had this hunch that the blow this time wouldn't come from the bastard enemy of mine. This enemy was replaced by a new clone. And I didn't know if he'd decide to come and fight in such a losing war or just stay back and watch the show.

If he had the same mindset of the old clones, then he would end up watching from the corner. This war was already lost. If he tried to intervene, he would risk losing his life for another clone.

The only enemy aside from him with abilities to shift the tide of this war would be Hectors.

They had only to cut any path of reinforcements to go to their lands. This way, they'd end up securing their lands again by exterminating my forces out there.

Not to mention this would deal a big blow to me.

So they were the ones to move out. And if I was one of their leaders, I'd place great importance over taking down that bridge linking my kingdom to their continent.

Crushing this down would cut the path over any reinforcements and would also cut the path of retreat to the forces inside their continent.

It was a single move that would bring much results.

That was why I asked many teams to go out there and keep watching the ocean. Once spotted, I'd move out and exterminate any army of them.

I kept moving forward while receiving more updates from the various battlefields.

The enemy kept hitting the frontline of mine fiercely so far. Monsters and mercenaries weren't part of the quest, so they didn't show any remarkable upgrades at all.

Unlike the situation at the Hector continent, the frontline at West was doing much better.

As for East, the four generals of mine kept retreating while suffering big losses. The boost the enemy got forced them on the back foot, letting them all suffer without exception.

However they were following my instructions, trying to retreat slowly while buying as much time as possible.

Isac and her army needed three more hours to arrive. She sent early troops to arrive at the capital from nearby regions. They would arrive first in one hour or less.

The situation at the capital grew eerily calmer, without any enemy spotted anywhere.

[Go and find the general with orange fire and fog] I sent this message to one of the teams patrolling the area around the capital, [Tell him to prepare a small hit force of his elites, ready to move out whenever any enemy is spotted at the eastern bridge]

[Will do it now, lord!]

Even if I planned to go and stop any army hitting that bridge, I had to also prepare a backup plan. Just in case things went wrong at my side, Lucias would be ready to intervene and help.

684 The Northern Gulf Battle

I flew on top of my marching forces for another hour. Just a few minutes ago, I got the reports of the arrival of the early forces of Isac.

They weren't that much, but they started to help Lucia once arrived. As for Lucias, he already prepared a hit force, led by one of his elites and a few of my fallen gods and dragons.

This was enough to stop any assault and buy me time. Something told me the Hectors wouldn't start their attack until I'd get entangled with that northern army.

The northern coalition army was spreading out slowly yet steadily, placing highest priority over taking over cities and towns.

They brought over lots of forces from the portals there. According to the reports I got, each town and city was now surrounded with their own armies.

So the enemy was turning this northern region into a strong foothold of his. Like this, trying to take down such a region would prove to be challenging.

Not to mention there was a punishment over me and my forces. So like this, the best case scenario they thought I'd get would be a stallement after taking over hundreds of miles up north..

Then I'd wait for the fifth quest to arrive, compensate for all the difference in stats and remove this cursing punishment before taking these lands off their hands.

This was the best case scenario indeed, but not for me. It would be for them. Like this, they'd end up securing their continent, safeguard against any attacks of mine for now, and also place a dagger at my back.

I wouldn't risk attacking their lands once again at the upcoming quest. This rare chance I got with their negligence wouldn't be available easily anytime soon.

This was the best case scenario for them. But for me, my best deal would be by crushing the forces here, reclaiming all the lands I lost, and then going towards their continent and expanding my lands there.

This was the thing I'd aim for, and would see it happen no matter what.

"Keep waiting out there, I'm coming for your souls," as I had less than half an hour to reach the first forces of that big army, I started to think about something.

If they were slowly marching up at me, fanning out in such wide fashion, then from which direction should I start attacking?

It would make sense to come directly at them from the direction of my capital. Such a move would aim at stopping them from advancing towards my big city.

But they weren't really advancing at such threatening speed! If I didn't even come, they'd take much more time than what Isac needed to pull all of her forces back to the capital.

So I wasn't forced to start this war from such a direction. Thinking like this made me shift my eyes towards a certain direction.

"Starting from there will be quite risky, but it will place more pressure at them."

I was looking in no other direction but towards the eastern coast.

It would be the least expected place for me to attack at. Besides, it would place me closer to the bridge, making the Hectors more worried about their perfect plan in their eyes.

But that would place me closer to the grand aquatic forces of that race. They would target my army, trying to hit me from the side and back.

I'd get surrounded this way. However, the perks of going there outweighed the risks. Also even if surrounded, I'd just need time to get as many monsters and races under my control before turning the battle tide around.

As I decided, I started to sharply turn the direction of my grand army towards the East. I was almost a hundred mile away from the eastern shores, a distance that would be covered in less than half an hour.

But just after ten minutes of doing so, I spotted a large cloud of dust rising up from the horizon. And it was so broad to fill the entire horizon from east to west!

[Lord! They are moving out! All of the forces in the cities and towns at the forefront are moving with the big army]

[Lord! All the forces I can see are coming towards you!]

"Bingo!" my eyes shone in a fierce way while I knew I just guessed it right.

The enemy's plan was indeed that bridge, not me!

[Send a word to Lucias, let him dispatch the hit force near the bridge. Don't let a single enemy touch it]

[got it, lord!]

If the enemy got such panic when I shifted my forces east, then he would also move out his forces lying in wait around the bridge to hurriedly take it down.

So I had to move Lucais elite forces first to buy me some time.

The enemy tried to strengthen their foothold here, ending up ruining everything by this rash decision of theirs.

But they were drawing faster than I imagined! In the next ten minutes, I could almost see their faces!

They were upon my army, and there were almost forty to fifty miles left from the eastern shores.

"Alright then, I'll let my army move to the east and I'll handle you myself," I had two options here. Either I'd keep flying East and let my army stop theirs, or the opposite.

I selected the other solution of course. I could jump anywhere, fly directly towards the eastern shores without much resistance.

Unlike my ground forces, my ability to break free from any fight was much better. I'd just wait for my army to group at the eastern shores before retreating towards them.

Just as I moved out to meet the incoming swarm of enemies, I started forming my first technique.

"Attack the furthest enemies you can reach," as I finished my technique and lots of black threads gushed out from it, I said to my fallen gods.