Chapter 1334 Final Battle [4]
Forces were gathering.
The stage of the final battle was naturally on Hephaestus. With such a large number of troops moving back and forth to plan, it was impossible to hide the fact that a large-scale war was going to take place soon.
Rose and the rest planned for this. The day they made their plans, they used the long-distance teleportation array system to set up a perimeter around Hephaestus so the Nox couldn't escape beforehand.
It was one of their best cards to this day.
The Nox had tried several times to gain access to it. If they were able to, they'd gain an advantage that even the universe's current advantage couldn't overcome.
However, the arrays were just made that well. No matter what they did, it was impossible for them to even activate them. Whether it be a Nox or a traitor, none of them could be verified by the array's systems, and even when they hid amongst crowds of regular people, they'd be ousted and captured instantly,
There were a few times when they managed to bypass this seemingly impregnable defense. Around four years ago, using a disruption in the spatial layers to trick the array system, a large number of Nox troops succeeded in entering and almost took the universe by storm.
Countless troops were distributed as fast as possible to guard the most important array locations in case the Nox emerged there, and the Grand Heavens Boundary forces were on high alert for several hours at a level of tenseness they hadn't reached in months at that time.
The result?
The Nox never even exited the spatial layers.
Damien specifically made the arrays to disallow anyone who wasn't permitted from reaching their destination. If the array was activated forcefully or through any means other than natural activation, its innate defense systems would activate to identify "who" had illegally used them.
The spatial corridor connecting the arrays would widen, and the rate of teleportation would be slowed to what was essentially a stop. Information on the intruders would be transmitted to Luciel, who had the head token that gave him priority control over the arrays, and he would be able to judge whether to allow the transmission to continue or to take preventative measures.
When the Nox were the ones using the portal, there was really no need to think about it.
He activated the highest level of protection, and the spatial corridor directly shattered into bits, forcing the Nox to endure spatial storms and chaotic waves of unstable spacetime until their bodies were evaporated from existence.
Nobody would've thought Damien could create such a mystical array system. It was truly impregnable, and for each flaw, a separate defense system was in place to correct it.
The universe managed to stay protected that way and maintained the advantage they held with control of the array system, and even in the current situation, it allowed them to form a cage and decide the location and flow of the final battle without the Nox being able to stop them at all.
It was already here.
The universe's forces stood on standby throughout Hephaestus, and the various commanders in charge of them were almost done giving their heroic speeches to raise the army's spirits.
The only advantage the Nox had now was numbers.
But the universe made up for their smaller number with elite soldiers who could fight against crowds individually if the need arose.
And when the various plans made by the highest authorities were also taken into account…
"...there's no way we can lose."
Rose looked to her sides.
Elena and Ruyue, Zara and Alea, Tian Yang and the Golden Dragon Emperor, the members of the Judgement Order…
Everyone was here, and everyone was ready.
She smiled.
"Shall we go, then?"
A small communicator appeared in her hand, and without hesitation, she gave the signal.
Luciel received it from the back lines.
HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG!
A horn blew with such force that its roar resounded through the entirety of Hephaestus.
That marked the beginning.
All forces moved to accomplish their given tasks.
And the final war began!
***
The scale was massive.
There were still billions of Nox remaining despite all the work that had been done to quell their numbers.
This was only the number that actively participated in the war.
When Damien was on Al'Katra, he eradicated several quintillions of Lesser Nox, yet, there were still trillions who remained in various parts of the Abyss and the boundaries of the universe.
Those were Lesser Nox who'd already been "conscripted" for the sake of the war and kept away for when they were needed, and they became pests the universe had to take care of.
Considering how much time had passed, they did a great job quelling said pests. Their numbers were far less than before, but they were still extreme.
Plus, that was just the Lesser Nox.
Those Higher Nox became warier with every passing day. They moved carefully, and rather than prioritizing their duties, they began to prioritize life. Even if they failed everything else, they made sure they'd survive.
However, they'd now been put in a situation where survival was impossible if they didn't win the war.
Under the command of their Supremes, they steeled their wills and developed a sort of blazing insanity.
If they didn't kill, they would die!
That was the mentality they entered the war with. That was a mentality that made combat far harder for the universe's forces than it would have normally been.
Still, the universe had its own cards.
Those Supremes couldn't actively interfere in the battles their weaker counterparts were fighting.
Whether it be Supremes, Executioners, or High Commanders, the universe made absolutely certain they would be too busy keeping themselves alive to help their race win this war!
Rose, Ruyue, Elena, and the rest split up. Each of them was an army of their own, so they were going to make sure all the Supremes were dead by the end of the battle.
For that to work, they had to deal with quite the number on their own.
At the moment, any one of them could be seen with at least 10 Supremes in their vicinity, trapped there through one method or another.
In Rose's case, it was something similar to a Personal Reality.
She couldn't control Creation, but that didn't matter.
Because her power of illusion had become something fantastical.
Illusion and reality, there was no need for her to differentiate between them. Reality was her illusion, and thus, anything she wished possible was possible.
Twelve Supremes surrounded her in a tight formation, warily watching her every move.
The reputation she'd built in the past decade wasn't a joke. They had a great numbers advantage and a relative strength advantage from an objective standpoint, but they didn't believe either of those things true.
Rose Adelaire, who was both the hidden leader of the current Grand Heavens Boundary and the successor of the Demon Sealing Pantheon, was not someone they could handle.
Yet, they had no choice.
For the fabric of reality itself was forcing them to stay within her range.
Rose smiled as she saw the fear on their faces.
"Originally, my will to fight was a bit cold, so I would have dragged this out somehow, but…"
Her eyes sharpened into daggers. She raised her hand into the air, summoning her mana into the atmosphere.
"...I have something far more important to do after this, so I'd appreciate if all of you just died without a fuss."
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