Desolate Era

by RWX

  “These Sithe descendants…” Ning shook his head slowly, then waved his hand and drew in all the thronging masses of Sithe descendants as well.

  “The rest can die.” There were a number who were still struggling to flee. They were scattered throughout the warship, and Ning had no time to waste on capturing them one-by-one. He simply cast his ‘Heartforce Eradicator’… and with a thought, all of them were slain!

  In truth, Ning knew that many of the Sithe warriors had been forced into this war. However, this was a clash of civilizations that would result in the destruction of one! Ning’s time was extremely precious. He was willing to capture and imprison a few Sithe instead of killing them if it didn’t take up too much time, but if it did? He’d rather just wipe them out.

  “In you go.” After exiting the warship, Ning collected both the warship as well as several realmships floating around next to it.

  Generally speaking, the warships which Ning or Autarch Stonerule were responsible for attacking would be captured in perfect condition. Autarch Ekong and the others mostly used highly destructive attacks, resulting in the warships being damaged or destroyed. As for this particular warship Ning had captured, it was a transport warship that had been filled with many artifacts and treasures that hadn’t even been used yet.

  ……

  “Twenty-six different battlefronts are under attack. They are located…”

  New information came from Ning’s Autarch message-talisman. As one of the supreme leaders of the cultivators, Ning naturally knew where all their forces throughout the Chaosverse were located. Thus, he immediately knew which ones were under attack.

  “I’m very close to the Springsea battlefront. I’ll head there immediately,” Autarch Stonerule sent to the other six. The Autarchs were all exchanging information with each other, ensuring that they were on top of the situation overall.

  ……

  Time flowed on. More and more battlefronts became embroiled in war. Given how far the various battlefronts were from each other, the Autarchs and Ning were all separately responsible for different theaters and could only do their best to cause as much damage as possible.

  “That’s one of the native Autarchs!”

  A dazzling figure of golden light suddenly appeared. The Sithe Hegemons and Emperors who were assaulting the battlefront were all stunned. They knew that encountering a native Autarch represented doom.

  “Die.” Ning swept his gaze across the Sithe. In order to keep his true identity hidden, during battle he intentionally kept his aura flared to the max, making it impossible for the Sithe to know who he was.

  An awesome wave of heartforce immediately spread out, covering an area comparable to more than half a realmverse. With but a thought, Ning eradicated over 99% of the Sithe who were spread out throughout the battlefront, even the ones who were located within forts and castles! Only the few who were lucky enough to be inside castles and warships which blocked out heartforce were able to survive, but Ning simply spent a few more seconds mopping them up.

  “The Sithe in the Rearlake battlefront have all been exterminated.” Ning sent word to the other six Autarchs, then hurried to his next destination.

  ……

  The Autarchs and Ning seized every moment, continuing hastening across the Chaosverse continuously scanning for threats. Every so often, they would make a stop at a nearby battlefront that had already been embroiled in war! As for the more distant ones, they wouldn’t be in a rush to go to them.

  The war began to expand in both scale and ferocity. By now, there were multiple battles going on throughout the Chaosverse at every moment.

  Things weren’t so bad for Ning and Autarch Stonerule, as they were able to use their heartforce powers to instantly exterminate large numbers of Sithe! The other Autarchs had a much rougher time of it. Many of the Sithe were protected behind castles or formations, and these Autarchs had to go through the time-consuming process of breaking through those defenses.

  “Keep on killing them for all I care. How many can you possibly get rid of, Autarchs?” Iyerre sat upon his throne. He was quite calm despite the many messages he received from the squads he had sent out. “I have far, far more warriors under my command than your civilization does, and I have far more powerful treasures as well! Even if you massacre half of them, the other half is more than enough to ensure that countless Hegemons and Emperors belonging to your Chaosverse will die.”

  Iyerre didn’t care at all about the casualties his subordinates had suffered. Even if they died, their truesoul fragments would return to the Sithe Chaosverse; there was no permanent loss at all.

  However, when the native Hegemons and Emperors perished their truesouls would be devoured by Sithe techniques, resulting in this Chaosverse being weakened. Eventually the sheer magnitude of deaths would result in the Chaosverse being so weak that he, Iyerre, would have a very good chance of becoming the Lord of Chaos for this Chaosverse.

  “Just keep fighting.” Iyerre was in full control of the war. He knew exactly how many losses he had suffered and the cultivators had suffered.

  ……

  Ji Ning was feeling increasingly anxious. He killed at a very fast pace, but the majority of his time was spent traveling. The Chaosverse was simply too vast! The Sixteen Realmverses Alliance was only possible because those sixteen realmverses were quite close to each other. There were many realmverses which were extremely far from each other, which was why the empty space between realmverses was known as the ‘Great Dark’ to many. Ning would usually need anywhere from half a day to two days to travel from realmverse to realmverse.

  The more he and his six peers slew, the fewer of their own Hegemons and Emperors would die. But if things continued the way they currently were, they were going to suffer enormous losses in Hegemons and Emperors on their own side as well.

  “The Skywitch battlefront is in desperate need of assistance.”

  “The Ninelamps battlefront is in desperate need of assistance.”

  “The Dragoncaller battlefront is in desperate need of assistance.”

  One report came after another. A total of twenty-six battlefronts were in dire straits right now. They had achieved great successes in some battlefronts, but these twenty-six were in grave danger! The Sithe had their own ‘elite squads’, and these squads were extraordinarily powerful.

  There was nothing Ning could do. All twenty-six of these battlefronts were very far away from him. It would take him over half a month to reach even the nearest one.

  “I’ll go to the Dragoncaller battlefront,” Autarch Skyfeeder replied. “I’ll need three days to get there.” She was the only one who could go respond. None of the other Autarchs would get there in time.

  ‘Desperate need of assistance’ meant that the situation was so grim, they wouldn’t be able to last much longer without help. In the end, they were only able to preserve half their forces in the Dragoncaller battlefront. They lost everyone else in all twenty-five of the other battlefronts! Clearly, while the Autarchs were busy massacring the Sithe they found, their own Hegemons and Emperors were being slain on the field of battle as well. This was a truly ruinous war of attrition.

  Many Sithe died, but at least they would have a chance at being brought back to life! Those native cultivators who had been slain, however, could never be brought back if the soul-eater technique was used after their deaths. They became true martyrs for this war.

  Ning had no choice but to suppress the rage he felt. Early on, he imprisoned as many of the Sithe as he could… but now, he was beginning to kill more and more of them!

  Book 44, Chapter 4 - Powerless

  A giant black warship hovered in the empty silence of space, completely unmoving. A white-robed figure was standing directly above the giant black warship. He seemed tiny in comparison, but his aura was utterly overwhelming and his eyes were ice-cold.

  “It’s just too big. The Chaosverse is too damn big.” Ji Ning felt a sense of powerlessness.

  More
than half a year had gone past since the war had erupted. During this half year, all seven of the most powerful leaders of the cultivators civilizations had been scouring the Chaosverse for any and all traces of the Sithe, but the Chaosverse was simply enormous! Usually, battlefronts would consist of groupings of at least ten different realmverses, sometimes even more! Every single battlefront was very far away from the others, and the Sithe warships were just as sparse and hard to find.

  The Sithe were constantly making adjustments as well. Each time Ning and the other Autarchs attacked a location, the Sithe would adjust for it and make it even harder for the Autarchs to find their other warships.

  The warships were doing their best to avoid the Autarchs, while Ning and the others were doing their best to find them!

  “The Tongwu battlefront is in desperate need of assistance.” Yet another report came flying in.

  “The Tongwu battlefront?” Ning sighed to himself. “It is too far away. It would take me twenty days at maximum speed to get there!”

  “Time to continue.” Ning waved his hand, collecting the warship and then continuing to warp through space and search for the Sithe. It was like searching for a needle in the bottom of the sea. This was a very robotic and numbing process; the Autarchs were relying on their overwhelming strength to scan large areas and ‘fish’ out a warship or two! This process was clumsy, yet it was also the most efficient process available.

  “Have you noticed? This war has been quite odd,” Autarch Titanos sent to the other six. “The war has gone on for over half a year and the battles have been fierce. Now that the Sithe know where we are, it has become harder and harder for us to find their warships. All of this is expected, but… we haven’t encountered any Sithe Exalts at all!”

  While hunting and killing, the Autarchs continued to exchange messages with each other. The hunting process wasn’t all that mentally taxing, after all.

  “Right. I haven’t found any Sithe Exalts,” Autarch Ekong agreed.

  “I haven’t found a single one of them either. Judging from the various reports which have been sent by cultivators throughout our Chaosverse, no Sithe Exalts have appeared at all,” Autarch Stonerule said.

  “I haven’t found any either. Logically speaking, the Sithe should have many Exalts ready to fight,” Ning replied.

  “They’ve lain dormant for aeons… I wouldn’t be surprised if they had dozens of Exalts ready to take part in this battle. But, they haven’t deployed a single one. This is extremely odd. Everyone, while hunting down the Sithe you need to constantly stay on your guard! I’m worried that there’s some sort of a plot behind the Sithe Exalts remaining in hiding,” Autarch Titanos sent mentally.

  Autarch Skyfeeder agreed, “Perhaps they don’t know that Darknorth has become an Emperor, but they know that we have an Eternal Omega Sword Dao! Thus, the Sithe should know very well that this war against us is their final chance. If they lose, we’ll only grow even more powerful in the future and they won’t stand any chance against us. By all rights, they should be throwing everything they have against us! As soon as that behemoth hive appeared, I could tell that the Sithe had made extraordinary preparations for this war. For no Exalts to have appeared a full half-year after the war began… we really do need to be careful.”

  “Agreed.”

  “Stay on your guard.”

  “Keep scanning at all times. Don’t let yourself fall into a trap.”

  The six Autarchs and Ning were all quite confident in their abilities. They weren’t like the Sithe, who suffered from rejection by the Chaosverse and were unable to use the Dao! Ning and the Autarchs had access to virtually limitless amounts of power. During the previous war, not a single Autarch had fallen.

  “The Purejade battlefront is in desperate need of assistance!” Suddenly, another report arrived.

  “The Purejade battlefront?” Ning was startled. He reflexively scanned his mental map of the Chaosverse, mentally placing the Purejade battlefront. It was fairly close to him. “I need two days. I’ll go right away.”

  “Alright, Darknorth. I’ll leave it to you. I’ll tell them to hold on until you arrive,” Autarch Stonerule said.

  Swoosh! Ning began to fly at maximum speed towards the Purejade battlefront.

  If he spent these two days slowly scanning, he might be able to locate one or two Sithe warships… but rescuing more of their own cultivators was more important than killing the Sithe! This was because when their cultivators died, their truesouls would be devoured by the Sithe soul-eater technique. This would harm the Chaosverse itself and make it impossible to revive them.

  “I hope they can hold on until I arrive,” Ning murmured softly. The leaders in a battlefront would only beg for assistance when they could sense that they really weren’t able to hold out for much longer. This would generally only happen once the enemies revealed their full power and launched a final, all-out attack! Thus, the battlefronts were usually lost shortly after the distress calls were sent.

  Sometimes, the cultivators would last for four or five days. Other times, the cultivators would be wiped out before a single day passed.

  ……

  The Purejade battlefront. This was a place where an awesome astral river flowed through the region in multiple looks, almost like a snake coiling around itself. At the very center of the coiling flows of the river was an enormous castle, and the castle held over a hundred figures within it.

  Nearly half were Hegemons, while the rest were all normal Emperors. They poured all of their Immortal energy into maintaining this powerful castle, which was the core of the mighty defensive formation which protected them. Many of their avatars and comrades were situated throughout the astral river, where they were responsible for protecting important spots and were fighting against the Sithe.

  “Autarch Stonerule sent word,” a red-bearded Hegemon roared. “Two days! In just two days, an Autarch will arrive to save us!”

  “What?!”

  “We’re saved!” Some of the Hegemons and Emperors who had been on the verge of despair instantly grew excited. This was just a second-class battlefront! They didn’t expect that one of the extremely powerful Sithe elite squads would attack this place. At first, the Sithe had hidden their true power. They had first battled for more than a month to verify the defensive strength of the local cultivators, then had revealed their true prowess and launched a final assault.

  Once the Sithe revealed their true power, the cultivators were instantly beaten backwards and forced to retreat to their final defensive lines within and around this castle. All they could do was try to delay as long as they could.

  “Two days! Just two days! If we can hold on for just two days it’ll be the damn Sithe who die, not us!” the red-bearded elder howled.

  “My brothers and sisters, fight on! If we can hold for two days, we’ll all make it out alive!” The voice rang out from the castle and echoed in the minds of the Hegemons and Emperors who were stationed within the astral river which coiled around the castle.

  “Hold on! We must hold on!”

  “We only need to hold on for two days.”

  The battle continued. The Sithe furiously pressed the assault, while all of the defenders were equally frenzied in resisting. Even so, more and more of the defenders were defeated. First, it was their avatars which were destroyed. After that, it was up for them to use their true bodies to endure and fight on.

  “Remember, even if you know you are going to die, you need to try and stay a safe distance away from them. Avoid that truesoul-eating technique or you’ll never have a chance of being brought back!”

  “If you are out of options, self-detonate after you reach a sufficient distance.”

  Bang! One defensive formation after another began to collapse, with most of the various Hegemons and Emperors electing to self-detonate. In doing so, their truesoul fragments blasted outwards and then quickly vanished. The Sithe soul-eater technique was limited in range, and self-detonation often caused some o
f the truesoul fragments to blast so far out that they returned to the Chaosverse.

  “Hurry up! It’s been two days. Hurry up and come!”

  “Why hasn’t he arrived yet?!”

  The Hegemons and Emperors were still fighting back, hoping beyond hope…

  BOOM! Suddenly, a figure stepped out of nowhere in the empty space above the coiling river. His entire form was blazing with energy, making it impossible to see him clearly.

  “AUTARCH!!!!” All of the surviving cultivators let out cries of joy and excitement.

  “That’s one of those native Autarchs! Quick, flee!” The Sithe who had been pressing the assault using their many treasures were stunned by the Autarch’s arrival. They had been trying to wrap things up as soon as possible, so that they could immediately depart and move to the next target. It would be quite hard to locate them after they left… but unfortunately, a cultivator Autarch had made it here in time!

  The dazzling golden figure above them stared downwards coldly. Boom! A wave of invisible energy instantly swept across the region, extinguishing the auras of the attacking Sithe. Only a tiny percent of the Sithe who had been inside heartforce-proof warships managed to survive, but just a heartbeat later all of them died as well. The only ones Ning spared and took away with him were the ‘lucky’ Sithe descendants.

  “Thankfully, at least half have survived.” Ning surveyed the castle below him, nodding to himself when he saw how many Hegemons and Emperors had made it.

  “Thank you, Autarch!” The Hegemons and Emperors all felt excitement and gratitude. They knew that the vast majority of distress calls went unanswered, as the Autarchs simply couldn’t make it in time.

  Ning nodded, then turned and left. He didn’t take any of the warships with him, electing to leave them behind with the survivors in a bid to strengthen their decimated forces.

  ……

  After saving that battlefront from defeat, Ning began to patrol the cosmos once more. Every so often, he’d exchange a message with the other Autarchs.