Ch. 871..880
Chapter 871 871 Force
After Shang left the Isolation Barrier, he noticed that Linay had left.
That made Shang realize that the time for which he had booked her had passed.
Shang was now alone again.
As Shang looked at the surrounding Eternal Ocean, he felt that he wasn't safe enough.
Sure, he had an Isolation Barrier made by a Mage King, two powerful Isolation Chambers, a direct line to every member of the Lightning Manor, and a pin with which he could contact the Lightning Emperor, but there was still something that could happen to him.
If Shang decided to leave the Isolation Barrier, like now, a powerful Mage Lord could theoretically stand at the ready to ambush him.
Shang would only feel safe when all of this was covered.
Eventually, Shang called Linay again.
"Hello, Shang," she answered.
"Are you still responsible for managing my exchanges with the Lightning Manor?" he asked.
"Yes, I'm still responsible for that," she answered.
"Good. I need either you or a Thunder that keeps watch over my Isolation Barrier while I train."
Linay took a deep breath.
Literally nothing had happened in the 800 years she had watched over Shang.
She had literally done nothing during that time.
Shang was the safest person in the world with all the safeguards around him.
Who could possibly kill him?
"Shang, I think that's a waste of resources. I watched over you for 800 years, and nothing happened," Linay said.
"Whenever I leave the Isolation Barrier to check on any updates on my Transmission Medal, I am open to an attack," Shang said. "If there were a Peak Mage Lord with a fourfold Spirit Sense waiting for me, I would die before I could contact anyone."
Linay sighed.
In her mind, Shang was paranoid to an insane degree.
"Let me see what I can do. I will call you later. Please don't enter the Isolation Barrier for now so that I can reach you," she said.
"No," Shang said. "I will go back in, but I will come back out in a week."
Linay groaned. "Fine."
Then, she cut the connection.
Shang entered the Isolation Barrier again and reviewed everything he had learned over the last century for the next week.
A week later, he left the Isolation Barrier again and contacted Linay again.
"Okay, listen, we got a solution without having to dedicate a Thunder to you," Linay said quickly.
"Yes?" Shang asked.
"The Dawnlight King can still be contacted via the Transmission Medal from inside the Isolation Barrier, and he offered to be your contact person. If you want to leave, just call him, and he will send someone to inspect the surroundings. Then, you can come out and check any messages you received," Linay explained.
"That works," Shang said.
"Good," Linay answered. "Is there anything else you need?"
"No," Shang said before cutting the connection.
Shang went back into the Isolation Barrier and trained for another century.
His progress was insanely slow, and Shang had no idea how much progress he had actually made.
After leaving the Isolation Chambers, Shang contacted the Dawnlight King.
"Ah, hello, Shang. Nice of you to call," Amarius, the Dawnlight King, said.
"Hi, I need someone to watch over my Isolation Barrier while I leave to check for any messages," Shang said.
"Oh, you don't need that," Amarius said. "Clouds and weaker are no longer allowed to contact you, and any Bolt or Thunder has to go through any of us Kings to contact you. I told the others that they should tell me if anyone wants to contact you. I guess you can view me as some sort of an assistant. Doesn't that make you feel grand and important? Having a Mage King as your assistant sure is something worthy to brag about."
Amarius laughed loudly.
"That works," Shang said.
"Hey, listen, since we are already talking, there's something I'd like to talk about," Amarius said.
"Is this about the war again?" Shang asked in a neutral tone.
"Yes, partially. Listen, I get that you have been-"
"I want them dead," Shang said, interrupting Amarius.
Amarius laughed bitterly. "I know, I know, but things aren't that simple. We can't just-"
"I want them dead," Shang repeated.
Amarius sighed. "Shang, it's been 900 years. Can't you just let this go?"
"I want them dead."
Amarius took a deep breath.
"Shang," he said, his voice serious but still friendly. "The Lightning Manor is actually having significant issues in the southeastern Zone. The Judgment Palace has already taken 60%
of the Zone, and they are putting heavy pressure on the borders. We are currently holding them back by paying significant costs."
"Frankly, you are our only option in this case. You have to realize that we can't just go against our very philosophy of honesty and fairness. This has been the Lightning Manor's philosophy for 300,000 years. The responsible Thunder has already been punished far beyond of what is actually fair. Just to appease you."
"You are free to refuse to fight, but you have to realize that the Lightning Manor might actually be destroyed. That is a very real problem."
"At that point, you will die as well, and all your Contribution Points will not matter at all."
"Are you willing to risk your future and survival just for a bit of revenge?" Amarius asked.
"Are you?" Shang asked back.
Silence.
"You are really not budging on this issue?" Amarius asked.
"I want them dead," Shang said coldly.
Silence.
"Why?" Amarius asked. "Why is this so important to you? What happened that this is somehow so important to you?"
"They made me angry," Shang said.
Silence.
"Is that it?" Amarius asked.
"Yes," Shang answered.
"And your anger is so important? You are willing to risk the Lightning Manor just because you got angry? You are willing to risk the people that have supported you just because you were angry?"
"Don't act like I'm the sole reason for the current situation," Shang said. "If you had just accepted my request, you wouldn't be in so much trouble."
"Shang, that's not a request," Amarius said. '"There are many words to describe what you are doing. Blackmail, ultimatum, demand, order."
"That is not a request."
"I. Want. Them. Dead," Shang said very slowly.
Amarius took a deep breath.
"Shang, you are very important but not important enough for the entire Lightning Manor to bend over backwards for you."
"Am I not?" Shang asked.
"Kill me and watch the Lightning Manor die with me."
"Force me to fight and watch me refuse to continue training."
"And even if you survive the immediate future, what about 48,000 years from now? Are you ready for King Sanctified Death to kill every living being in the world?"
"I am the only person that can save the Lightning Manor, and I am the only person that can save the entire world."
"Are you willing to doom everything you know and love just so you can keep up your little ideology of fairness and honesty?"
"Two Mage Lords or the world."
"You decide what survives."
Silence.
No one said anything for half a minute.
"I'll have to talk with the other Mage Kings about this," Amarius said in a neutral but professional voice. "I'm going to call you back in one week. Will you be available then?"
"Yes," Shang answered with an even voice.
"Good. See you then," Amarius said before cutting the connection.
Chapter 872 872 Young Master Shang
Shang spent the next week watching more Abominations, but he didn't fully let himself go since he knew that he would most likely not have any time for the foreseeable future.
Eventually, Shang left the two Isolation Chambers.
Shang very quickly noticed that he wasn't alone.
Amarius was standing on the little island in front of the Isolation Chambers.
SHING!
The next moment, two heads appeared between them.
One of the heads was of the Mage Lord, who had tried to take Shang away, and the other was unfamiliar. After all, Shang had never seen the actual Thunder before.
"We have fulfilled your request," Amarius said with a professional and friendly voice. It was almost like he wasn't holding two heads right now.
Shang nodded. "I can rest assured that these two heads are real?"
"Yes," Amarius said. "After a long discussion, which even involved the Ancestor, it has been decided that we will fulfill your request. However, I have to inform you that we have considered this as part of your exchange of Contribution Points."
"As of this moment, you do not own a single Contribution Point anymore."
"The Lightning Manor will not budge on this ruling, even if we all die."
Shang looked at the two heads for some seconds.
"Fine," Shang said.
He didn't have many problems with that since he basically had nothing to spend his Contribution Points on anyway. Additionally, he could easily earn more.
Amarius smiled warmly. "We are glad to hear this," he said as the heads in front of him turned into dust.
"Now, we need to change a couple of things," Amarius said as he summoned a Transmission Medal and a pin.
"To ensure that something like this won't happen again, we have granted you the unique status of Young Master. This status puts you on the same level as a Thunder. You are allowed to order Bolts around, but you are not allowed to order Thunders around."
"Anyone below the rank of Thunder is not allowed to start a conversation with you or interact with you unless you initiate the contact. If anyone breaks these rules, you may call me, and I will deal with the issue."
"Please wear the pin at all times so that others know who you are. As part of your new status, we are also granting you a new Transmission Medal that makes it impossible for Bolts and weaker to contact you."
"Thunder Linay has also been permanently assigned to you. If there is anything you need from the Lightning Manor, you may contact her, and she will contact us. Please keep in mind that almost everything you ask will require Contribution Points from now on."
"Do you have any questions?" Amarius asked with a friendly and warm smile.
Shang took the pin and the Transmission Medal.
For a while, he remained silent.
"Fine," Shang said, handing over his old Transmission Medal and putting his new pin on his robes.
"We are glad to hear that, Young Master Shang," Amarius said with a bright smile.
Shang just nodded.
"Young Master Shang, will you now consider helping the frontlines?" Amarius asked with an endearing smile.
Shang nodded. "Can you open a portal to the frontlines?" he asked.
"Of course!" Amarius said as he summoned several portals in a row.
"I will follow the Starlight Queen's orders. She is still responsible for the southeastern front, right?" Shang asked.
Amarius nodded.
Shane nodded back and stenned throneh the nortal.
Amarius nodded.
Shang nodded back and stepped through the portal.
A moment later, the portals closed.
Naturally, Shang knew what was going on.
The title Young Master was mostly given to the progeny of a powerful person with a lot of servants and guards.
A Young Master is a young person that isn't powerful enough to fully assume command or travel alone through the world.
Naturally, none of these things were accurate for Shang.
Shang was extremely powerful.
Shang realized that the Lightning Manor most likely gave him that title to humiliate him.
They wanted to show what they thought of Shang and, by extension, what other people should think of Shang.
They essentially gave Shang the public label of entitled, unreasonable, and not fit to command others.
The restrictions of contact also isolated Shang further from the Lightning Manor, turning him into an outsider.
Obviously, the Lightning Manor was very unhappy with him.
In fact, if Shang only had a fivefold Spirit Sense, they might have even killed him or refused to help him due to his unreasonable demands.
So, what did Shang think about all of this?
He didn't care.
What other people thought of him had never been important to him.
The only important thing was how others treated him.
Even if the entire Lightning Manor believed Shang to be entitled, emotional, weak, or whatever, it didn't change reality.
And the reality was that Shang had the most powerful Battle-Strength out of every single being in the world, except for maybe King Sanctified Death.
But there was also something else.
The Lightning Manor had given in to Shang's unreasonable demand, and Shang had known from the very beginning that it was an unreasonable demand.
Shang wasn't stupid, and he knew that his demand couldn't possibly be logically defended in a discussion or argument.
But that didn't matter.
Because Shang was powerful.
It didn't matter if what he wanted was reasonable or not.
He was strong.
He was the one in control.
Weak people had no power to refuse.
If he wanted to kill someone that wasn't a Mage King, they would die.
If he wanted the Lightning Manor to do something, they would do it.
The new dynamic between the Lightning Manor and Shang had become apparent after they had given in to his demand.
They might be able to humiliate him with his new title and feel good about themselves, but it didn't change reality.
Shang was no longer inferior to the Lightning Manor.
In power, he was still inferior, but in importance and future power, he was their equal.
This entire war had been set up for Shang.
The Lightning Manor had gone all in on Shang.
If Shang failed, the Lightning Manor would cease to exist.
However, if the Lightning Manor ceased to exist, Shang would follow.
This made them intrinsically connected.
Their survival depended on each other.
This made them equals.
If Shang wanted, he could refuse the status of Young Master and refuse to fight. Sure, the Lightning Manor would become angry again, but they would quickly fulfill that request as well.
Shang wasn't important enough for the Lightning Manor to bend over backwards for him?
Wrong.
He was exactly that important!
Why?
Because he was so powerful that there was no other person in the world that could take his place.
Chapter 873 873 Fivefold
The portal closed behind Shang, and he found himself on top of a hill.
There weren't many people visible in Shang's Spirit Sense, but the few that he could see were not even powerful enough to know about the Lightning Manor.
It seemed like Amarius had sent Shang to a rather isolated area.
"Young Master Shang," the distant Starlight Queen transmitted to Shang. He didn't know where she was. "Are you willing to follow my orders for the next battles?"
The Starlight Queen's voice was very professional and friendly, but exactly that showed how she felt towards Shang.
She had completely distanced herself from him, treating him as a complete stranger one would meet on the street.
However, Shang preferred it that way. Like this, he wouldn't need to listen to another sermon about respect from her.
In a strange way, she reminded Shang a bit of Mervin.
"Yes," Shang answered.
"That's good to hear, Young Master Shang," she said.
The next moment, she explained what she had planned.
When Shang heard her plan, he didn't show any reaction. However, based on what Shang had been hearing, the Judgment Palace was overextending by a lot.
They were constantly using Ancestral Mages with fourfold Spirit Senses, and they weren't afraid that their Mages might die.
On top of that, they were using their remaining Defender Flags recklessly.
It was almost like they had completely forgotten Shang.
But would they have truly forgotten him?
"I anticipate that the five-star flag is a trap for Young Master Shang," the Starlight Queen said. "They are acting like they have forgotten Young Master Shang, but I am sure that this is all an act to get you to attack the five-star flag."
"According to our sources, there shouldn't be a Peak Ancestral Mage with a fivefold Spirit Sense in the Judgment Palace, but I still believe that they have one. I simply refuse to believe that they are so stupid that they would risk their five-star flag without someone with such power."
"Naturally, I have trust in Young Master Shang's ability," she said politely.
Shang just nodded.
He had never killed someone with a fivefold Spirit Sense before.
However, Shang wasn't nervous.
Not even in the slightest.
Since the last time Shang had fought, he had comprehended many things, and he had overhauled his entire fighting style.
"Are you ready, Young Master Shang?" the Starlight Queen asked.
Shang summoned his Addum and nodded wordlessly.
He wouldn't need his Subsis for this fight.
The Starlight Queen nodded.
Then, Shang crouched in preparation for a sprint.
Silence.
WHOOOM!
A portal appeared in front of Shang.
BANG!
Shang exploded forward with all of his speed.
The portal directly led to a transparent barrier.
No one could react fast enough to the sudden appearance of the portal and Shang shooting into the barrier.
A second later, the barrier of the five-star Defender Flag of the Judgment Palace turned cloudy, and no one could see what was going on inside.
"They fell for it!" a Mage King from the Judgment Palace said to the others. He was the new Mage King responsible for the war since the old one had been sent to do other things.
Two Mage Kings from the Twilight Dusk Family and the Land and Sky Empire immediately locked onto the five-star Defender Flag.
Naturally, all three Empires were still allies, and they knew who was in that barrier.
Finally, they got rid of this menace!
"You're confident?" one of them asked the Mage King of the Judgment Palace, just to be sure.
"I am," the Mage King answered. "She's a fivefold Ancestral Mage, and she already knows four level four Concepts. Killing this menace is her last job before she enters seclusion to comprehend a level five Concept."
"Even more, she has a Death Affinity."
This was the first time the other two Mage Kings had heard of that.
A Peak Ancestral Mage with a fivefold Spirit Sense and a Death Affinity.
As long as this Mage managed to comprehend a level five Concept before becoming a Mage Lord, there would be a 99% chance that she would become a Mage King.
The other Empires wouldn't even fight in the tournament she would take part in.
They would just forfeit after seeing her.
That settled it.
They would finally be rid of that menace.
Meanwhile, inside the barrier, a beautiful woman with black hair and black robes noticed that the barrier had transformed cloudy.
She slowly opened her black eyes, which resembled the eyes of a dead person.
She seemed emotionless, like a robot.
Slowly, she stood up and summoned her black Focus.
In the distance, Shang stopped moving after entering the barrier.
He wanted to make it seem like the fight would be difficult, which was why he waited a bit.
Some seconds later, Shang began moving forward.
After flying for a bit, he finally saw his opponent with his Spirit Sense.
When he saw his opponent, Shang immediately realized that his opponent had a Death Affinity.
In comparison to Shang, a lot of Death Mana was hovering around Shang's opponent, contradicting the things Queen Primordium had taught him about the Death Affinity.
According to Queen Primordium, Death Mana couldn't easily be controlled externally, and it needed to be inside someone's body or mind to be used.
But that wasn't the case for Shang's opponent.
However, it wasn't actually too shocking. After all, the Judgment Palace was the home of the Empress of Death.
Such a powerful and talented Mage had probably learned a couple of things from the Empress of Death personally.
A moment later, Shang used every ability he had to hide his presence and disguise himself.
After that, he slowly flew forward.
A couple seconds later, when Shang was only 2,500 kilometers away from his opponent, his bandages told him that someone was looking at him.
However, Shang's opponent hadn't moved yet.
This was why Shang had done his best to disguise himself.
It gave his opponent an opening to place a trap.
Naturally, Shang knew that he couldn't hide from such a powerful Mage with the couple of abilities he had, but his opponent didn't know that he knew.
So, his opponent would act like she didn't see him, allowing Shang to do two things.
First, he confirmed that this Mage actually had a fivefold Spirit Sense. If Shang had attacked from a distance, he wouldn't have been able to confirm that.
Second, it gave Shang time to prepare for his assault.
A Peak Ancestral Mage with a fivefold Spirit Sense and a Death Affinity.
But that didn't matter to Shang.
Onefold or fivefold.
Both of them would die just as quickly.
Chapter 874 874 Fate
Shang slowly lifted his Addum and held it in both of his hands.
Then, he gathered all his focus and concentration.
In the distance, Shang's opponent was acting like she hadn't noticed anything, but she had also already readied a couple of her own Spells.
She was just waiting for Shang to get closer.
A bit later, Shang had gathered all of his focus.
And then...
WHOOOOM! SHING! SHING! SHING! SHING! SHING!
Shang used Void Break and five Mana Steps in quick succession!
In an instant, Shang had emptied his mind of all Mana.
But in exchange, he arrived just a couple of kilometers away from his opponent.
Shang's opponent was slightly surprised that Shang was willing to sacrifice all of his Mana just to get close to her, but her experience and cold mindset immediately made her react appropriately.
A sphere of condensed Death Mana shot out of her hand directly toward Shang.
Meanwhile, Shang's Addum burst into black flames.
And then, Shang swung his Addum downward.
A slice burning with black flames cut through space.
BOOOOOOOOOM!
Shang's Addum stopped, and in the distance, the slice also stopped.
It was like time had stopped.
The ball of concentrated Death Mana still shot at Shang.
In the distance, all of the Death Mana in the Mage's surroundings vanished, and her eyes very slowly opened wide in shock.
She had gathered a lot of Death Mana to protect herself from any surprise attacks, but this single attack had actually gotten rid of all of this, including 10% of her Mana!
One had to realize that the shield of Death Mana she had created around herself was ridiculously powerful.
After a quick calculation, she realized that Shang had gotten rid of 2,500% of her maximum Mana!
With one strike!
But she had survived!
When Shang noticed that his opponent was still alive, he had no emotional reaction.
He had expected that.
But it didn't matter.
The second half of his attack would kill her.
The black flames around Shang's Addum vanished, revealing a newly created Subsis beneath them.
Usually, Shang's Subsis used ice or darkness as a blade, but this time, Shang's Subsis was just in its normal state.
However, it seemed blacker than usual.
At this moment, Shang's attack was half-finished, and it looked like his sword was stuck in something.
And then, Shang moved his shoulders down like he was trying to break through whatever was beneath his sword with his body weight.
SHING!
Shang's Subsis finished the slash.
In the distance, an extremely thin slice cut through the world, and Shang's opponent was in its path.
The Mana Shield had already vanished.
And Shang's opponent?
She appeared normal.
She just looked forward with her usual dead eyes.
But this time, her eyes were actually dead.
The level four Concept of Death, Death.
Yes, the level four Concept of Death was just the state of Death.
The level four Concept of Death transformed the properties of the other three Concepts of Death to an extreme.
People could recover from weakness.
People could recover from sickness.
People could come back from purgatory.
But when the level four Concept of Death was added, this was no longer possible.
Over his many years of training, Shang had come up with a very terrifying attack that used the level four Concept of Death.
After a lot of training, Shang managed to give his Death Mana transformative and reactive properties.
When Shang's Addum had burned down into a Subsis, Shang had slashed forward with Death Mana that was using the level two and level four Concepts of Death, Weakness and Death.
This increased the destructive power of his sword severalfold, which was enough to completely destroy his opponent's Mana Shield.
In fact, it would have been enough to destroy another 1,400% of his opponent's Mana on top of that.
And when the remaining Death Mana had come into contact with the Mage's head, it also came into contact with her soul.
As soon as it felt a soul, the properties immediately changed to the Concepts Purgatory and Death.
So, instead of becoming a birdwatcher, Shang's opponent became a vegetable.
Her soul was like a mirror that had been hit with a sledgehammer.
This attack that used a combination of Void Break, Entropy, and all the Concepts of Death was Shang's strongest attack now.
It was so powerful that it could delete around 3,500% of a Peak Ancestral Mage's Mana.
This single attack could essentially kill a Peak Ancestral Mage about 35 times.
This attack was so powerful that it could also kill an Early Mage Lord in one strike and was powerful enough to delete 90% of a Mid Mage Lord's Mana.
As for beasts...
There was probably not even a single Beast Lord in the world that could kill Shang.
Shang also gave his attack a fitting name.
Fate.
Because the fate of every living being was to die one day.
Naturally, Shang had a couple more new techniques, but he didn't need to use any of them in this fight.
But that would become relevant some other time.
For now, Shang had to deal with something else.
The concentrated ball of Death Mana was still shooting at Shang.
Shang lifted his left arm and snapped his fingers.
BOOOOOM!
The Mage's body exploded. Shang didn't want anyone to see how he had killed his opponent.
And as for the concentrated ball of death.
Ssssshhh!
The ball hit Shang in the chest and encompassed his entire body.
The Death Mana was entering Shang's body, consuming him and turning him into a starving old man.
It also entered Shang's mind, but Shang put a stop to that after he had refilled his Death Mana storage.
With the Mage dead, the will on the Death Mana had vanished, turning it into normal Death Mana.
Sure, it was still very deadly, but Shang could control how much of it entered his body as long as he also had access to normal Mana around him.
If the Mage were still alive, Shang would have died in an instant, but since she wasn't, he could deal with the Death Mana.
A moment later, Shang fell over and broke several of his bones.
He was like an old man that was about to die.
And then, the barrier turned transparent, and everyone could see that Shang was still alive, albeit barely.
Chapter 875 875 Rules
As soon as the cloudy barrier turned transparent again, the world seemed to freeze.
The Mage Kings looked with shock at Shang.
Shang was nearly dead, but the important word was nearly.
He was still alive.
So, this meant that Shang had won?
The Mage Kings couldn't comprehend this new reality.
A Mage with a fivefold Spirit Sense and a Death Affinity...
Had died to a warrior?
To a warrior?
A warrior?
To these Mage Kings, warriors hadn't even existed until recently.
To them, it was like warriors had only appeared about two years ago.
And yet, a warrior had managed to actually reach a level where he could even win against a Mage with a fivefold Spirit Sense?
While being at the same level?
The emotions of the Mage Kings went haywire.
Shock, fear, confusion, rage.
The Judgment Palace realized that they had lost a future Mage King, which meant that they would have one less Mage King in the future.
This menace had cost them ANOTHER Mage King!
The reality of Shang's existence was very difficult to accept.
How could a mere warrior in the Sixth Realm possibly cost an Empire this much?!
It was ridiculous!
"Immediately prepare to attack!" the leading Mage King of the Judgment Palace shouted. "He can't move right now, and he can't stay in our territory for much longer without placing an Attack Flag!"
Naturally, Mages were allowed to enter the enemy territory up to a certain distance to plant their Attack Flags, but they were not allowed to stay there for more than a minute without planting one.
Otherwise, the entire enemy Empire could just station their army in their opposing Empire.
Shang had to place an Attack Flag very quickly. Otherwise, anyone inside the Judgment Palace was free to attack him without breaking any rules, which meant that Shang would die to a Mage King.
Everyone could see that Shang was nearly dead, and it was impossible for him to recover within a minute.
Even more, he couldn't even move or fight right now!
The Mage King immediately gathered his most powerful Peak Ancestral Mages and prepared them for an assault.
Shang just continued lying on the ground, fighting against death.
The next moment, they saw a Peak Ancestral Mage from the Lightning Manor charge toward Shang.
They wanted to retrieve Shang's body!
The Mage King reacted immediately and moved a Peak Ancestral Mage of his own, past the enemy Ancestral Mage, into the Lightning Manor's territory.
BANG!
The Ancestral Mage from the Judgment Palace placed down an Attack Flag.
BANG!
The Ancestral Mage from the Lightning Manor was suddenly flung into the distance, back to the Lightning Manor's territories.
Since the territory behind the Ancestral Mage was now contested, he wasn't allowed to go this far into the enemy territory.
Under normal circumstances, this would result in the Ancestral Mage dying, but this specific case had already been ironed out by the Mage Emperors when they had created the contract. Otherwise, any Empire could kill any invading Mage with his method, making individual power irrelevant since it would 99% rely on strategy.
In such a case, the Mage would be flung back to their Empire by the barrier that had been created behind them.
However, this didn't count for Shang.
Shang had just destroyed a Defender Flag, which was an exception to the previous exception.
Destroying a Defender Flag was an impressive achievement, and the Mage Emperors decided that someone that managed to do that deserved to also plant their own Attack Flag.
Naturally, no Mage Emperor had argued against that when someone had brought it up. There was only a limited number of Defender Flags, and this case was so rare that it literally didn't matter what happened after that.
It could only happen so many times.
And yet, this very unimportant exception of an exception to a rule could change the fate of the entire war at this moment.
Instead of being flung back, Shang was now isolated in the Judgment Palace's territory.
This rule was supposed to help him, but it resulted in the opposite.
This rule would kill Shang.
At least, that was what the Mage Kings thought.
Naturally, Shang was truly almost dead, but this was not an uncommon state for him to be in.
In truth, Shang was in no danger, and he could almost immediately return to his peak condition.
Several seconds passed in which Shang just lay on the ground.
About 55 seconds after the Defender Flag had been destroyed, Shang weakly summoned an Attack Flag and barely managed to plant it in the ground.
As soon as the barrier appeared, the Mage King immediately sent in one of his most powerful Peak Ancestral Mages with a fourfold Spirit Sense.
When the barrier turned cloudy, all the Mage Kings looked with intense expressions at the barrier.
Meanwhile, inside the barrier, Shang's body recovered in about one second, and he shot into the distance.
He wanted to buy some time to make it seem like the battle was difficult.
Shang quickly found his approaching opponent and simply moved so that he wouldn't enter his opponent's Spirit Sense.
The Mage was surprised that he couldn't find Shang.
Wasn't he supposed to be lying at this spot?
Meanwhile, Shang had already repaired his Addum and readied it.
Shang used Void Break and slashed.
BANG!
A burst of light exploded out of the Mage's Mana Shield, blocking a majority of the attack.
Immediately, the Mage's eyes widened in horror.
He couldn't even see his opponent, but he had already lost so much of his Mana!
Where had this attack even come from?!
Naturally, Shang's attack was far weaker than any of his powerful attacks, but the range was still amazing.
Shang could attack his opponent from 3,000 kilometers away.
The range of Shang's attacks was even higher than any Ancestral Mage's range.
Shang wasn't surprised that this attack hadn't killed his opponent.
He knew that the Judgment Palace had most likely sent in one of their strongest Mages to finish the job.
Shang just calmly lifted his Addum again and released another strike.
BANG!
The Mana Shield was broken, and the Mage died.
BOOOM!
The next moment, Shang detonated the Mage's body from a distance to hide the way in which he had died.
In an instant, Shang's body turned old and sickly again.
BOOOOM!
And then, Shang detonated some Fire Mana on his chest.
His blood scattered across many kilometers, revealing his burned flesh and broken bones.
He was severely injured!
Shang hit the ground and barely held himself upright by leaning on his Addum.
He was nearly dead.
And then, the cloudy barrier turned transparent again.
Chapter 876 876 Madness
When the Mage King saw that Shang was still alive, he nearly tore his hair out.
The mix of frustration, rage, anxiety, and fear was almost too much for him to bear.
He saw that Shang was still severely injured, and he knew that Shang had nearly died!
Immediately, he sent in another Mage to attack. Since an Attack Flag had to be defended for a whole hour, the Mage King wasn't worried about time.
Another Peak Ancestral Mage entered the barrier, and it turned cloudy.
The Mage Kings looked with unreal anxiety at the barrier.
They were so close!
He was nearly dead!
They could kill him!
They had to kill him!
He was an incredible danger!
Some seconds later, the barrier turned transparent again.
"AAAAAAARRRRRRGGHHHH!"
The Mage King shouted out his frustration in unending rage, shaking the entire world as he tore off huge portions of his scalp while looking at Shang with bloody eyes.
Shang had lost nearly half his body, and his body was regrowing only very slowly!
He immediately sent in the next Ancestral Mage with a fourfold Spirit Sense.
The barrier turned cloudy again, and the world waited.
Meanwhile, a different Mage King was looking at what was happening with narrowed eyes hiding a glimmer.
This was the Mage King of the Judgment Palace that had been responsible for the attack previously, and she felt like this situation was very, very familiar.
Wasn't this exactly how it had been for her?
'He's baiting again,' she thought. 'He's probably confident in being able to win, even while being this injured.'
She glanced over at the Mage King that had replaced her.
And then, she snorted with a smirk.
'Shouldn't have tried to replace me, asshole,' she thought in disdain while remaining silent.
She wouldn't warn her colleague.
That's what he got for being a rat!
A bit later, the barrier turned transparent again, and the Mage King felt like he had nearly died.
Shang had recovered his missing limbs, but his Aura was extremely unstable.
It was like Shang had burned parts of his soul to create a temporary boost in power!
And now, he was paying for his actions!
Shang seemed healthier than before, but this was obviously only a front!
He was actually even closer to death than before since he had just now used his last trump card!
This trump card was probably also what he had used to kill the Mage with the fivefold Spirit Sense!
The Mage King saw that he was so close to killing this menace once and for all and sent in another Peak Ancestral Mage.
He was so close!
He could already see Shang's corpse before his eyes!
He would finally kill him!
The barrier turned cloudy again, and some seconds later, it became transparent again.
The Mage King ground his teeth into dust.
Shang's Aura had stabilized somewhat, and he had recovered from some of his injuries!
Naturally, Shang knew that he couldn't act weak for too long, or it would become suspicious.
"You! Enter!" the Mage King shouted at another Peak Ancestral Mage.
The Peak Ancestral Mage looked at the Mage King with fear.
He didn't want to die!
"Immediately!" the Mage King shouted as he forcefully threw the Ancestral Mage into the barrier.
The other Ancestral Mages watched with horror, and a second later, they immediately fled.
They all ran from the frontlines toward the center of the Judgment Palace.
This was not what they had signed up for!
They were the chosen ones!
They had fourfold Spirit Senses!
They were only here because they had been assured that they could choose their opponent!
But now, one of the Mage Kings had forcefully thrown one of them toward the enemy!
The Ancestral Mages immediately started to contact their teachers, and some of them even managed to contact other Mage Kings due to their connections.
Meanwhile, the Mage King responsible for the assault looked with blood-filled eyes at the cloudy barrier.
He had to do it!
For the good of the Empire, he had to do it!
Seconds passed.
The barrier remained cloudy.
When a minute passed, nearly every remaining person near the frontlines realized what had happened.
Shang had recovered to the degree that he could buy time.
They knew that the fight would take a bit more than an hour since that was the time the Attack Flag needed to resolve.
It was over.
They had missed their best chance at killing this calamity once and for all.
And yet, the Mage King continued looking at the cloudy barrier with unmatched intensity.
He was nearly there!
His Mage would win very soon!
In just a couple of seconds, this barrier would turn transparent again and show the living Mage of the Judgment Palace.
Any second now.
Just a bit more.
Almost there.
"Ahahaha!"
The Mage King's mind nearly shattered as he heard the disgusting laughter of one of his colleagues.
The Mage King that had previously been responsible for the war was laughing at him with disdain!
At this moment, the Mage King's mind was going wild.
He was feeling so many emotions at once with such intensity that he almost stopped being a human being.
It was like he was transforming into a bundle of volatile emotions!
Reality and his entire life were crashing down around him.
She!
Him!
How could!
Fuck!
Die!
Hate!
Hate!
Die!
FUCKING DIE!
All the Mana around the Mage King gathered as he lost all rationality.
He would Kill her!
She deserved to die!
It was her fault!
DIE!
DIE DIE DIE DIE!
SHE WOULD DIE!
DIIIIIEEEE!
And then, he froze.
His unstable and volatile mind completely froze, and he completely stopped moving.
The other Mage King continued to laugh in schadenfreude, but the Mage King couldn't hear her anymore.
His mind was fully occupied by something else.
Very slowly, the Mage King summoned his Communication Crystal and looked at it.
He recognized that Aura.
Every Mage King recognized that Aura.
In the distance, the other Mage King stopped laughing and just smirked in disdain.
And then, the Mage King very slowly accepted the call from his Communication Crystal.
"How can I help you. sir?" he asked with a quiet voice.
Chapter 877 877 King Sanctified Death
The Mage King quietly waited for an answer.
Luckily, he didn't need to wait for long.
"Hey, Samuel. Nice to talk to you! How are you?" said a friendly voice coming from the Communication Crystal.
The Mage King gulped once. '"Not very well, sir."
"Oh? Are you having trouble? Do you need some help?" the friendly voice asked.
Samuel laughed bitterly. "Sir, I don't feel very well because I think I know why you are calling."
"We can talk about that after this. So, there are no problems at home or with your meditation? Everything outside of work is okay?" the person asked with a concerned voice.
"Everything's alright, sir," Samuel said.
"Good, good," the voice said. "Hey, listen, I've been hearing a couple of things, and I want to hear your side of the events. Could you tell me, from your point of view, what happened within the last hour?"
Samuel gulped another time. "Of course, sir."
Then, Samuel recited everything he had experienced.
"Good, good," the friendly voice said. "Now, I don't need to tell you that what you've delivered wasn't the greatest performance of your career, right?"
"No, sir," Samuel said quietly.
"You should know that, as the Judgment Palace, we represent a certain prestige. I know that this entire war business is quite complicated and that the Lightning Manor is delivering quite a formidable performance, but we can't have one of our Mage Kings be fooled by some warrior in the Sixth Realm. Do you get what I mean?" the voice asked.
Samuel wanted to protest and say that the opponent couldn't possibly have been fooling them. After all, the warrior had fought against someone with a fivefold Spirit Sense and a Death Affinity. It was already surprising enough that he had won. Samuel couldn't believe that all of this had been an act.
And yet, he couldn't protest.
Even though the voice seemed quite friendly and professional, all the Mage Kings knew the truth.
The person behind that voice didn't even know the concept of true empathy and respect.
He was simply talking in such a polite and friendly manner because this was the best way to get others to follow his orders.
He had no problem handing out compliments and having a bit of small talk if it helped him in keeping everything under his control.
Under this person, one would find oneself drawn to them.
The person was so charismatic, funny, friendly, and respectful.
The person would even listen to their trouble, give them emotional support, and give them a shoulder to cry on.
Yet, the people that truly knew this person could see the truth.
There was nothing.
There was no concern, disregard, love, hate, admiration, disdain, or care inside that person.
They were empty.
There was just nothing.
The person simply acted respectfully and nicely without meaning any of it and without caring whether the other person was happy or sad.
No one had ever seen this person be unfriendly and disrespectful.
No one knew how they were when they were mad.
Because no one that made them mad was still alive.
No one had ever seen them fight or kill anyone, but everyone knew whom they had killed.
They had killed many people, but no one had ever seen them do the deed.
Even more, no one had ever seen them sad, angry, or annoyed.
They were always nice.
There was always either a smile or a concerned expression on their face.
And yet...
This person killed people without any warning.
One moment, everything still seemed fine, and that person still appeared happy.
And the next, that person had killed the other person.
For seemingly no reason.
It didn't matter who it was.
They had even killed Mage Kings before.
And yet, there was nothing anyone could do.
After all, this was King Sanctified Death, the strongest Mage King.
The only people that could punish or suppress him were Mage Emperors, and they didn't get involved.
In the end, Samuel didn't protest.
"Yes, I know my mistake, sir," he said.
"That's good to hear," King Sanctified Death's friendly voice came from the Communication Crystal. "I know that you've done a lot for the Judgment Palace, which is also why I trusted you with leading the assault. I know that you are not someone that easily cracks under pressure, and I know that you are not being lazy."
"But the recent couple of minutes have been troublesome, Samuel. You know that, right?" King Sanctified Death asked.
"Yes, I understand, sir," Samuel said.
"Hey, listen, I really don't like this any more than you, but I think it would be better for everyone involved that you leave the frontline to one of our colleagues, okay?"
Samuel's heart rate increased.
Many people didn't know why King Sanctified Death had killed them, but all the Mage Kings knew.
King Sanctified Death killed people that he had once led, invested in, or something similar before they had become useless.
King Sanctified Death was like a ruthless and efficient businessman. As long as something kept paying dividends, he was happy and treated it well. But as soon as there appeared a significant loss, King Sanctified Death would rather get rid of it since he viewed this as a sign of things to come.
Every person in the world was just an object to King Sanctified Death, and if they didn't help him become richer or more powerful, there was no reason for these objects to exist anymore.
He didn't hate them or despise them.
It just wasn't the best idea to keep them around anymore, which was why he got rid of them.
It was a necessary evil.
So, when Samuel heard that King Sanctified Death pulled him away from the frontlines, the fear and anxiety in his heart shot through the roof.
"I understand, sir," Samuel said. "I've committed a grave mistake today, and I am deeply sorry. I will do my best to repay everything as quickly as possible. There are still other areas in which I can be useful to the Judgment Palace. Is there anything where you want me to help out specifically, sir?"
"You know," King Sanctified Death said with his friendly voice, "I think you've been a bit overworked recently. You had this entire investigation thing going on, and I essentially pulled you out of that and pushed you to the front lines. I think you're a bit too stressed and need some time to relax."
"So, why don't you take a century off?"
A dark feeling of doom appeared in Samuel's heart.
"Sir! I can assure you that I do not need a break," Samuel shouted with an urgent and almost pleading voice. "I can go back to my investigations! I can also just create Rank Eight Mana Crystals! Please, there must be something that I can do to rectify my mistake!"
"Hey, Samuel, I know that you feel guilty about this entire thing, but this was your only mistake. Humans make mistakes. It happens."
The dread in Samuel's heart intensified.
King Sanctified Death hadn't said "first" mistake.
He had said "only" mistake.
"I know that you're all stressed out now because of your little accident, but it's fine," King Sanctified Death said. "Just take a century off, and you will see that your concentration and efficiency will return to heights you wouldn't have believed. Just relax, okay?"
Samuel's breathing intensified.
"Sir, I'm scared," he said.
"What? Why?" King Sanctified Death asked with concern. "Is everything alright?"
"Sir, I fear that I might not see tomorrow," the Mage King said.
"Why would you not see tomorrow? Is there something you didn't tell me, Samuel?" King Sanctified Death asked in concern.
Samuel remained silent for a second.
"I fear that I have become disposable," he said.
"What? No! Of course not, Samuel!" King Sanctified Death said. "You're one of our Mage Kings! We can't just get rid of one. That would weaken the entire Empire."
"I think you're just a bit too stressed. Just ignore this entire war for the next century and relax. I will deal with everything, and as soon as you feel good again, you can come back and help. If you want, you can also return a couple of decades early. I wouldn't decline a couple of helping hands."
"Just leave the frontline and relax, okay? Just do it for me," King Sanctified Death said.
"Yes, sir," Samuel said quietly.
"Great! Then, have a nice vacation, Samuel! I'm looking forward to your return!" King Sanctified Death said.
"Thank you, sir. I'll relax and come back in a century. Then, I will rectify all of the mistakes I've committed."
"Glad to hear! Have a nice day!"
"You too, sir."
And then, the connection was cut.
But Samuel didn't feel calm.
At this moment, his fear and terror reached new heights.
Nothing King Sanctified Death said could be believed.
He lied without any sign, reason, or indication.
Everything he had said could be a lie just to stop Samuel from fleeing to the Lightning Manor in a panic.
It was very possible that King Sanctified Death would kill Samuel as soon as he came anywhere near the Judgment Palace.
Samuel didn't know what would wait for him.
Would he survive?
Would he die?
He had no idea.
Eventually, Samuel slowly took to the sky and flew back to the Judgment Palace.
At the side, the other Mage King just watched Samuel with a disdainful smirk.
This was what this rat got for trying to take her job!
She hoped that King Sanctified Death would kill him.
Chapter 878 878 Menace
A couple of minutes later, a different Mage King arrived.
It was a woman with sensual long green hair and a beautiful smile.
At the side, the other Mage King snorted in annoyance.
"Charming as always, Stacy," the woman with the green hair said to the other Mage King.
"I take it you're now responsible for the war, Birell?" Stacy asked.
"Yes, sir has just informed me," Birell said. "Also, if I do a good job, I can nominate one of my Judges as the next Mage King!"
When Stacy heard that, she chuckled. "Next Mage King, huh? I guess you didn't meet Samuel on your way here?"
"No," Birell said. "I was supposed to meet him, but he 'vanished' on his way to the Judgment Palace."
"He deserved it," Stacy said with another chuckle.
"Deserved it? Come on, you're acting like he died," Birell said.
Stacy just looked at Birell with a raised brow.
"Stacy," Birell said with a slightly strict voice. "We can't assume things or suspect people without knowing the entire context. Samuel vanished, and an Inheritor Sphere with a Mage King's worth of Mana appeared in the Judgment Palace. These two incidents might not be correlated or connected, okay?"
Stacy snorted. "Sure," she said, not even trying to seem convinced.
"Good," Birell said. "Now, what's the problem with this entire war? Why can't we proceed, and why was Samuel dismissed from this position?"
Stacy just pointed at the cloudy barrier with her thumb. "The guy inside."
"The menace, right?" she asked.
Stacy nodded.
"Could you please tell me what happened in the last hour?" Birell asked.
Stacy quickly and curtly recited what had happened within the last hour. She skipped a lot of details, but Birell didn't expect Stacy to be cooperative in the first place.
Stacy was a loner that seemed to think she was too good for everyone else, treating everyone with disdain and annoyance.
Naturally, there were only two people she had to show respect to.
King Sanctified Death and the Empress of Death.
However, Stacy actually had the power to back up her arrogance.
She was one of the very few Mage Kings that could use Domain.
Not a domain but the Domain.
That was also why Stacy hadn't been afraid of King Sanctified Death killing her back when she had made so many mistakes.
Stacy was within the top ten of all Mage Kings, which showed how powerful and valuable she was.
That was also the reason why she had originally been responsible for the war.
Sadly, her conduct and lack of connection with humans made it a bit difficult to see what was going on in someone else's head.
Meanwhile, Birell was an average Mage King with a Life Affinity. Her Battle-Strength was quite weak, but she had created many ways to increase the powers of the Judgment Palace's Mages.
In a way, one could say that Birell was the Judgment Palace's equivalent of the Myriad King. She was essentially the biggest researcher in the Judgment Palace.
But compared to the old Myriad King, Birell had just begun her career. She hadn't even been a Mage King for more than 10,000 years.
"Why did he choose you?" Stacy asked after she finished recounting everything that had happened.
"From what I've heard, this menace will most likely ruin nearly all of our past efforts," Birell said. "Sir already assumes that we will be pushed back significantly, which will prolong this war for several thousand years."
"He sent me to watch over all the battles and gain insight into how warriors fight. He didn't give me explicit orders, but I know what he wants me to do."
"Who knows? Maybe I can create our own warriors," Birell said.
Stacy just shook her head.
No wonder King Sanctified Death killed Samuel.
King Sanctified Death assumed that the Judgment Palace would be pushed back significantly, ruining nearly 2,000 years' worth of progress.
That was a huge fuckup, even bigger than what Stacy had done back then.
Birell asked a couple more questions to Stacy, and Stacy gave very curt answers every time.
Eventually, the cloudy barrier turned transparent, and everyone could see Shang again.
Nobody was surprised that Shang was still alive, and they also weren't surprised to see him fully healed.
A moment later, the barrier vanished, and the territory switched Empires.
"We only have one Defender Flag remaining," Stacy told Birell. "Don't lose that one as well."
Birell didn't answer.
In fact, she didn't even hear Stacy.
As soon as Birell saw Shang, she was shocked.
Since Birell had a Life Affinity, she could immediately see that Shang's soul was far from normal.
In fact, it was heavily injured, with around 15% of it completely missing!
How could someone with an incomplete soul reach so much power?!
"How very interesting," Birell muttered to herself.
Stacy just rolled her eyes.
Meanwhile, Shang took out his Transmission Medal without moving.
Due to the nature of the Transmission Medals, Shang didn't need to conceal them from the enemy. The connection couldn't be read by anyone other than the owner of the Transmission Medal.
"What next?" Shang asked as he established a connection with the Starlight Queen.
"I need you to create a tendril, Young Master Shang. Please, proceed to the territory south of your current one and capture it. I don't believe Young Master Shang will meet with any resistance," the Starlight Queen said.
Shang nodded and put the Transmission Medal away as he flew towards the south.
Then, he put an Attack Flag down.
Naturally, nobody dared to attack Shang's flag.
An hour later, Shang conquered the territory.
After the barrier vanished, a portal suddenly opened in front of Shang, and he could feel the Starlight Queen's intent for him to step through it.
Shang stepped through the portal and shot into the barrier that had appeared in front of him.
This was the Attack Flag from a Peak Ancestral Mage from the Judgment Palace.
Naturally, Shang did quick work of the occupant.
Another portal opened, and Shang entered it.
Over the next couple of seconds, Shang destroyed several Attack Flags.
Birell very quickly realized how big of a problem Shang was.
As long as Shang was present, she couldn't use Peak Ancestral Mages to attack.
She was restricted to the other four levels of Ancestral Mages.
Sure enough, the menace was a menace.
Chapter 879 879 Impact
Shang dealt with all the different Attack Flags that had been used by Peak Ancestral Mages and then returned to extending the tendril.
Naturally, no one dared to attack Shang while he attacked territories.
However, there were still ways to counter things.
For example, after Shang conquered a line of three territories, an Attack Flag from a Mid Ancestral Mage appeared on a territory behind him.
Shang couldn't defend that territory since he was too powerful.
Because of that, just having Shang wasn't enough to secure all the territories.
Shang continued attacking territory after territory, conquering one territory per hour.
He did that for weeks.
However, the progress the Lightning Manor made was only minor since the Judgment Palace kept counterattacking.
Luckily, attacking was always disadvantageous since the enemy had enough time to look at whoever was attacking and send the appropriate person to defend.
It was a bit like making your move first in rock paper scissors, but the advantage wasn't as extreme as in this case since there were still aspects of deception and power that played a role.
Nevertheless, the Lightning Manor was making progress, and since no Peak Ancestral Mages attacked the Lightning Manor in this Zone anymore, the Lightning Manor's Peak Ancestral Mages could move to other Zones.
This increased the quality of the Peak Ancestral Mages in other Zones, resulting in fewer Ancestral Mages dying.
At one point, a portal suddenly opened in front of Shang, and he charged through it without hesitation.
In an instant, he appeared over three million kilometers to the north and charged into one of the Defender Flags of the Twilight Dusk Family.
Everything had happened so suddenly that they couldn't even react.
Naturally, the Twilight Dusk Family became quite angry with the Judgment Palace, but the Judgment Palace told them that they were having issues with the menace.
They couldn't warn every other Empire every time a portal appeared in front of the menace. The warnings wouldn't be fast enough to make a difference anyway.
The Judgment Palace told the other two Empires that they should have been ready for such a stunt. It was obvious that the menace could appear anywhere on any frontline.
The other two Empires were still annoyed by the Judgment Palace, but they didn't want to argue anymore and simply became more careful.
However, after this incident, things had changed.
Since the surprise effect had now passed, there was no more reason to keep Shang in only one Zone.
Shang shot through one portal after the other, attacking any Peak Ancestral Mage that attacked the Lightning Manor.
After some devastating losses, the other two Empires had to make the tough decision to stop using Peak Ancestral Mages.
None of the three Empires could use Peak Ancestral Mages anymore.
One had to remember that around half of all Ancestral Mages were at the peak of their Realm since that was the level they stayed the longest.
The Peak Ancestral Mage Realm was when all the Mages focused on comprehending the Concepts they needed to become Mage Lords.
This meant that all three Empires were locked from using half of their Ancestral Mages unless the Lightning Manor attacked with their own Peak Ancestral Mages.
This reduced the number of deaths on the frontlines quite a bit since there were now far fewer battles.
The Empires didn't want to send so many of their weaker Ancestral Mages forward, and the Lightning Manor wasn't interested in sending their own Peak Ancestral Mages since that would essentially nullify the entire advantage.
So, the Peak Ancestral Mages mostly retreated from the frontlines and went back to training.
However, this was a good thing for the Lightning Manor.
As long as the Lightning Manor wasn't under too much pressure, it wouldn't lose many Mages, allowing them to refill their ranks.
Additionally, the goal of the Lightning Manor was to waste as much time as possible so that Shang had the time to become even more powerful.
By now, everyone in the world knew that the Lightning Manor probably had some kind of extremely talented genius that would fight King Sanctified Death in about 48,000 years.
And yet, no one connected Shang to that hidden genius.
Yes, Shang was extremely powerful, but there was still a huge gap between him and someone like King Sanctified Death.
Additionally, Shang was just a warrior.
Lastly, it would be stupid for the Lightning Manor to unveil their hidden genius since that would open them up for assassination.
After all, there was a precedence case with a Mage King attacking Shang.
Naturally, that Mage King had failed, but that was because the attacking Mage King hadn't been too powerful.
If a Mage King that knew Domain attacked, Shang would be dead right now, but that would be too much of a waste. After all, there were only very few Mage Kings that knew Domain, and they also probably weren't willing to sacrifice their life like this.
Eventually, years started to pass without any Peak Ancestral Mage fighting.
Shang kept conquering territories, but the Judgment Palace kept resisting.
Nevertheless, the Judgment Palace had been pushed back to barely owning 10% of the Zone.
That was when the Judgment Palace's defenses became desperate, and the Lightning Manor essentially stopped making progress unless they were willing to also sacrifice a lot of their Ancestral Mages.
The Judgment Palace wasn't willing to lose its entrance to the Lightning Manor. They were fine with losing the other territories since they could just reconquer them, but they couldn't possibly lose their entrance point.
If they did, the Lightning Manor could defend from the Judgment Palace with three measly Defender Flags.
Naturally, with less territory, the Judgment Palace also didn't need to defend as much, making it easier for them.
Eventually, the Lightning Manor decided that it wasn't worth it to continue advancing with that much opposition.
Shang retreated from the frontlines, but still, none of the Empires sent any Peak Ancestral Mages.
One portal, and they would lose a Peak Ancestral Mage. They knew that very well.
With that, a rather calm period of the war started.
At least for the Ancestral Mages.
The battles of the High Mages, Archmages, and Mage Lords were still as intense.
However, these three categories were not as important as Ancestral Mages.
The Zones with Mage Lords were very small, and since Mage Lords could capture a territory with a diameter of 100,000 kilometers, there were very few battles between Mage Lords.
Only the most talented Mage Lords were used in these battles, and no Empire was willing to risk their very talented Mage Lords.
As for High Mages and Archmages, the Zones also weren't as big, and the two categories couldn't conquer as much with one attack.
The Zones with these kinds of Mages were just many tiny battles with not a lot of planning.
Additionally, the Lightning Manor only had to defend from two Empires when it came to the other three categories. After all, the Judgment Palace could only fight with Ancestral Mages.
This had made the Ancestral Mage battlefield the most intense and dangerous one for the Lightning Manor.
And Shang's actions had alleviated the pressure considerably.
For the next couple of years, Shang remained on standby.
There were a couple of instances of an Empire testing out if they could use Peak Ancestral Mages again, but they very quickly realized that they couldn't.
Time passed.
And about 20 years after Shang had returned to the frontline, a major development in the war happened.
Chapter 880 880 Global Politics
The eastern border of the Judgment Palace was attacked by the Tower of Climate Empire.
The Tower of Climate was located east of the Judgment Palace, in the middle eastern part of Aterium.
When the Lightning Emperor had destroyed so much of the world about 2,000 years ago, his act had also destroyed quite a big part of the Tower of Climate.
Naturally, Jenny Greenhouse, the Climate Empress, wasn't happy about having been dragged into this entire mess.
Kali had killed one of Gregorio's Mage Kings, and because of that, Jenny had lost such a huge part of her Empire?
That was unfair and stupid!
This was something that only concerned Kali and Gregorio, but she had to pay the price because of their argument.
Naturally, Jenny wasn't interested in eradicating the Judgment Palace.
She just wanted to conquer enough of the Judgment Palace that her Empire returned to its old size. The Judgment Palace had the most land anyway since they had originally had two Emperors.
But hey, now they only had one Emperor, and Jenny deserved this land. Kali was the one that had started all of this, and she should pay reparations.
Sure, Jenny was more inclined to actually demand land from Gregorio, but the Lightning Manor was on nearly the other side of the world.
She couldn't attack the Lightning Manor from here.
So, the next best thing had been to give everyone time to deal with Gregorio.
For 2,000 years, the Lightning Manor had been besieged by three other Empires, who could all fully focus on attacking the Lightning Manor without any other worries.
That should have been terrible for the Lightning Manor.
But now, the Climate Empress wanted her land back, and she decided that it was time to attack the Judgment Palace.
Naturally, the Judgment Palace immediately demanded to know what was going on.
The representative of the Tower of Climate simply told them what his Empress had told him.
Obviously, the Judgment Palace wasn't happy with that.
They had lost just as much land in the process!
On top of that, they had never attacked or antagonized the Tower of Climate!
Lastly, they were all sacrificing their resources and lives to punish the one true culprit of this entire ordeal, the Lightning Emperor.
The three Empires were sacrificing their people for the good of the world. The fact that none of them demanded support from the other Empires for their sacrifices was already generous and benevolent.
The Tower of Climate was way out of line and focused on small and unimportant problems instead of the big problem that was the Lightning Manor!
That was how the Judgment Palace argued.
The Tower of Climate countered by saying that they weren't ignoring the Lightning Manor. After all, they weren't planning on weakening, threatening, or destroying the Judgment Palace.
They would just take the eastern 10% of the Judgment Palace and would stop advancing.
The Judgment Palace only had to hand over these territories by not defending them, and everything would return to normal.
The Judgment Palace wouldn't even lose a single Mage.
The Judgement Palace was also allowed to pull back all the Mages living there and move the towns and cities if they wanted to. The Tower of Climate only wanted the land.
Naturally, the Judgment Palace said that they had lost just as much land as the Tower of Climate and didn't ask for their portion of the missing land.
Additionally, it wasn't them that destroyed the world but the Lightning Emperor.
They were not responsible for the Lightning Emperor's actions, and they wouldn't sacrifice their own land for the Lightning Emperor's sins.
But the Tower of Climate just said that they would take the land, no matter what the Judgment Palace said.
Eventually, this escalated to such a degree that the Judgment Palace even informed the Empress of Death.
Kali contacted Jenny and asked her what was going on.
Jenny just smiled and told Kali that she owed her about 10% of her Empire in reparations for her deeds.
Kali just snorted and said that she hadn't started this entire thing. It hadn't been her that had killed Gregorio's Mage King.
Naturally, Jenny didn't believe Kali. After all, she had admitted it back then.
Surprisingly, the argument only continued for a couple of seconds.
That was due to Kali's uncaring, cold, and prideful demeanor.
The argument very quickly ended with, "If you want it, take it with force."
As the publicly acknowledged second strongest in Lucius' little group, Kali also had her own pride and viewed herself as superior to all other Emperors.
Even though Gregorio had proven himself as the actual second strongest 2,000 years ago, Kali still viewed herself as stronger than all the other Emperors.
So what if Jenny decided to launch a war against her Empire?
Kali's Empire was the strongest, and she was confident that her Empire would win.
And with that, a brutal war between the Judgment Palace and the Tower of Climate began.
Naturally, the other Emperors very quickly got involved and tried to stop this war. They all had the same enemy, and they couldn't allow Jenny to attack the Judgment Palace.
Jenny just said that Kali and Gregorio had destroyed a huge chunk of her Empire, and she just wanted it to return to how it was before.
The other Emperors said that they understood where Jenny was coming from, but the actual culprit was Gregorio. Sure, Kali also had part of the blame, but Gregorio was the one that had actually destroyed part of the world.
"Oh, so you acknowledge that Kali shares part of the blame. Great! Then, I will take 10% of Kali's Empire, and Kali can take whatever she wants from Gregorio."
More arguing ensued.
"I want land equivalent to 10% of the Judgment Palace. I don't care where it comes from. If you are so adamant about defending Kali, why don't you two share the pain and give me 3%
of your Empires while Kali gives me 3% of hers?" Jenny asked Bina Ching and Linastra Boomwitch.
Now, Bina and Linastra were not known for being nice and agreeable. Bina was an ice-cold and ruthless person, while Linastra exploded in unreasonable anger all the time.
Obviously, the two of them immediately shut down that idea.
The argument ended with no resolution.
Jenny continued attacking the Judgment Palace while everyone else just told her to stop.
However, they didn't use any force to stop her.
And the war continued.