Chapter 426: Don’t Laugh

Nessa rolled her eyes at Darian.

When he’d had enough fun? Was that really how he described an expedition into the Outer Realms?

Her expression only amused him. He reached over and pinched her cheek.

"Stick with me, Nessa. I’ll keep you safe."

She slapped his hand away.

"Your Golden Behemoth army doubles in size, and suddenly you think you can do anything."

For the past three months, Edran had been buying Golden Behemoth Troop Sigils through every channel he could find. Even the older Sectors had not escaped his attention. Bringing those purchases into Sector 666 through descending Lords cost a fortune, but he paid it.

Cassian had also used his connection with Lucan to buy Sigils at high prices. Edran covered those bills too.

As a result, Darian now commanded more than four hundred Golden Behemoths, every one of them a Legendary Nine-Star troop. With his Fountain of Life and enough Battle Essence in reserve to pay for resurrection, his growing confidence was hardly a mystery.

Nessa had no patience for his smugness. She could only pray in silence.

*Get out safely, Cassian. We’ll be waiting for you back in the Homeworld.*

——

Outside the Twilight Court’s capital Region, a vast army stood ready for battle.

Unlike the Firecloud and Blackcrag Courts, the Divines had not withdrawn behind their entrances. They had built their defensive lines outside the Region itself.

Their pride was plain to see. So was the strength that supported it.

The defensive ring stretched across more than a hundred kilometers. Templar Warriors, Soulhunters, Immortals, Light-and-Dark Templars—hundreds of millions of Divine troops stood in orderly formations, with Legendaries too numerous to count.

Divine Domains could unlock Rare troop buildings from the start. Even their weakest Templar Warriors were Rare. In the Courts Cassian had destroyed before this, more than ninety percent of the armies had been Elite troops.

Above this immense host stood a woman with the youthful face of a Human.

God-Queen Elyndra, ruler of the Twilight Court.

Stars seemed to flicker in her eyes as she looked across the distance. Tens of kilometers away, Cassian felt her gaze meet his.

"I must admit, you are strong. You must be Cassian of the Homeworld."

Her voice carried clearly across the sky.

"You destroyed more than a hundred of my Regions and forced me to gather my armies here to defend the capital. The rumors did not do you justice."

Then her expression hardened.

"But coming for my capital was a mistake. You even sealed the surrounding space and communications yourself. Should I call you arrogant, or simply stupid?"

She raised a hand.

"Even if you run now, you will have to ask my fist for permission."

After a brief pause, Cassian’s answer came back.

"I’m leaving. Come after me if you’ve got the balls!"

He seemed to reconsider.

"Ah, wrong challenge for a woman."

Elyndra froze.

The Human army really was retreating.

"You wretch!" Understanding flashed across her face. "So that was your plan! Seal my capital now and delay my invasion of the Homeworld. Despicable Human!"

"Off we go!" Cassian called. "See you in the Homeworld!"

"You are going nowhere!"

Elyndra’s shout shook the air.

"Divine Form!"

In less than a second, her body expanded into a hundred-meter giant. Gleaming black bone armor covered her from head to foot, and her presence pressed down on the battlefield.

"Ancestral Sacred Fist, Third Form—Undying Nirvana!"

Her cold voice rang out for hundreds of kilometers. A colossal fist took shape in the air, so solid it might have been carved from the sky itself. Its face covered roughly two-thirds of a square kilometer.

It hurtled toward Cassian’s position.

"Templar Legion! First Soulhunter Legion! Pursue with me!"

A Divine Hero several dozen meters tall spoke from behind her.

"Your Majesty, this could be a trap. He is only one Human Lord. Let him run. His life is nothing beside the opening of the Homeworld."

He gestured toward the distant horizon.

"Take a Province like Divine Province, and you will stand proud before the other rulers at the Divine Conclave."

The speaker was a Mythic Twilight Archon, an advanced form of the Light-and-Dark Templars.

His words gave Elyndra pause.

The Divine Conclave brought together the Divine powers of each Sector. The Battlefield of Ten Thousand Races was vast. Every new Sector held countless Divine nations comparable to the Twilight Court, as well as far larger powers in the Outer Realms. The Brahma Realm, Cassian’s bitter enemy, was one such power.

At Domain Rank XXV, the Ascension Platform could establish links with other forces of the same race by spending Aether, allowing them to exchange what they needed.

Elyndra’s Domain had already reached Rank XXIV.

But after a moment, she snorted.

"There are five days until the Homeworld opens. Space is sealed for tens of thousands of kilometers around us. I cannot relocate my Domain. Even if I muster an expedition now, we will arrive too late."

Her voice grew colder.

"The others must have divided the spoils already. How can I swallow this insult while Cassian lives?"

There was another reason she kept to herself.

Of the five great races in the Outer Realms, Cassian had chosen to attack the Divines.

Did that mean he considered them the weakest?

The thought stung more than she cared to admit. Today, she would make that hateful Human kneel at her feet and beg forgiveness.

Her fist reached its target.

More than a thousand Eclipse Exemplars used Aegis Fold together. Layer after layer of spatial barriers formed in the fist’s path.

The first shattered with a deafening crash. The next followed, then another, scattering violent currents of energy across the sky.

Only the final barrier held. Elyndra’s furious strike broke against it and dispersed.

At the front of the formation, a hundred Exemplars turned pale. Their shoulders sagged under the lingering shock.

One punch had almost broken a defense raised by over a thousand Legendary troops.

"Run!" Cassian shouted in apparent panic. "She’s no ordinary Mythic Lord! That’s at least the fighting strength of a Level 125 Mythic Two-Star! Get out of here!"

The sight of his hurried retreat finally eased some of Elyndra’s anger.

"After them! I want Cassian alive!"

The Twilight Archon compared the strength of the two sides. This time, he offered no objection.

——

Several kilometers away, Cassian spoke through his teeth.

"Watch your faces. None of you are allowed to laugh."

Rhea pursed her lips.

"We’re trying, my lord. Looking this badly beaten takes work."

Cassian glanced back at the hundreds of thousands of troops pursuing them.

"Then keep working."

His voice remained low.

"If those Light-and-Dark Templars sit inside their Domains throwing Annihilation Orbs at us, we’ll take heavy losses. We need the Queen and her Templar Legion out where we can kill them. For that, a few pretend injuries are worth it. Even real casualties would be a price worth paying."