Chapter 96: Victory
If the battles between World Masters are merely reshaping terrain and celestial phenomena, then the battles between Star Realm Masters are about transforming worlds.
As the battle deepened, the battlefield between the two Masters began to expand enormously.
Behind the Swallowing World Snake, the space rifts continued to widen, gradually assimilating the land of the Four-Eyed People World into the Beast Origin World.
The Undead Crown Throne, however, was even more dominant; under his summoning, over a quarter of the Four-Eyed People World's land awoke the dead.
An immense number of undead connected with the illusion rules of the Undead Crown Throne, and aided by these rules, the lands raised by the undead all turned into Netherworld Soil.
On this land, the undead will not die; unless their souls are devoured, the undead will regenerate infinitely, growing stronger each time.
Even after the battle ends, these lands tainted into Netherworld Soil will take thousands upon thousands of years to recover.
On the vast earth, the two Masters were fighting a decisive battle in the sky. With every gesture, they could tear the space and unleash fierce storms. Meanwhile, on the ground below, an endless sea of undead and an equally endless beast horde engaged in perpetual combat.
Magic Beasts that died were summoned to become new undead, while the undead would have their souls devoured by Magic Beasts, thus dying completely.
The entire battlefield resembled a meat grinder, set to shred all living beings until the land became empty and desolate.
...
At the northern end of the world, a group of Great Wizards floated in the sky, attentively watching the distant battle.
Usually, battles between Masters occur outside the world, specifically in the Star Realm. In a world that is not vast enough, two Masters could easily turn the entire world into their battleground.
At such a time, all lower-level creatures and even mid-level ones like World Masters would become cannon fodder in the battles of the two Masters.
Fortunately, the Four-Eyed People World was expansive enough, reaching the fringes of a medium-sized world. Thus, the many Great Wizards did not need to worry about being affected by the battle.
"Sigh, I really don't understand."
A Great Wizard sighed as he watched the distant battle.
Despite having become a Great Wizard, a figure above ten thousand others, they were as insignificant as ants in the presence of the Masters.
"The Illusionary Dimension... What a capricious thing it is," the Coral Sage Great Wizard sighed. "The rules of the Material World are completely absorbed in the Illusionary Dimension unless we can construct a world using rules; otherwise, before the Masters, we are no different than mortals."
"No, there is still a difference," the Bronze Spear Great Wizard suddenly said. "Our enhancement of dimensions far surpasses that of ordinary mortals. The battles between Masters, to a large extent, are determined by the strength of dimensions."
He looked at the battlefield and said softly, "So, the Wizard Civilization, possessing thousands of worlds, will surely defeat the Beast Origin's Guardian..."
"Isn't our situation very bad then?" Richard suddenly spoke, "Having lost so many worlds, our dimension must be weakening, so is our battlefield situation not becoming worse and worse?"
"Hehe, this is true in the long run," the Bronze Spear Great Wizard replied, "but in the short term, the dimensions of the two civilizations haven't changed much due to the state of the war.
The strength of the Wizard Dimension has even become a bit stronger than before the war began."
"Ah?"
Richard was stunned; the Wizard Civilization had lost so many worlds, it would already be good not to weaken dimension strength. How could it have become stronger?
The Bronze Spear Great Wizard softly said, "The foundation of civilization is people. Although new Wizards are far inferior to old Wizards in combat strength, they are also First Level beings.
Currently, the number of Wizards in the Wizard World far exceeds that before the war started. The loss of dimension power from losing worlds merely reduced the dimension power growth brought by the surge in Wizards.
And those bugs... hehe"
The Bronze Spear Great Wizard let out a cold laugh, "Their losses far exceeded ours; even if they occupied those worlds, the dimension power they gained would be offset by the dimension power losses from personnel losses.
Although, in the long term, those occupied worlds would provide them with a vast war potential, in the short term, those worlds won't significantly impact the dimensions of either side."
In the short term?
A trace of melancholy flashed between Richard's brows. Although the Physique Crown painted a tempting picture, releasing billions of Wizards to surely sweep across the Galaxy Mayflies...
What if this expectation is not met?
Even if met, what if too many worlds are lost and cannot supply such a large Wizard group?
Alchemy Magic Equipment is an indispensable part of the Wizard Army, and a lack of it would severely diminish their combat effectiveness.
What if some technological breakthrough among the Galaxy Mayflies allowed the annexed worlds to unleash their war potential?
Once this war ended, Richard would formally engage in this huge war concerning his very existence and the survival of the entire Wizard Civilization.
Anxiety, confusion, fear... various negative emotions entwined in his heart, unable to be shaken off, unbearably vexing.
"Gah, stop overthinking."
Suddenly, Ulysses's voice sounded in Richard's ear. He looked over at his shoulder, where this divine raven from the Gods Civilization was calmly watching him.
He spoke to Richard with serenity, "Do all you can, and leave the outcome to destiny."
Destiny... Boom!
Suddenly, a massive roar filled Richard's senses. He abruptly looked toward the distant battlefield, where the two Dominators, who had been fighting fiercely for over a month, finally unleashed their full power.
The Undead Crown Throne held a Magic Wand made of white bone, adorned with countless gemstones and gold and silver. But at that moment, all of those decorations lit up with Runes, the intricate Runes flowed across the wand, eventually gathering at the wand's tip, transforming into the head of a black Giant Dragon.
Among the six Crown Thrones, the Undead Crown Throne was theoretically the oldest.
During his lifetime, Giant Dragons still ruled the skies and the earth. This influence did not fade even after he became a Crown Throne, and deeply affected the Undead School.
Just like the Undead Wizards always liked to have a Bone Dragon, their Crown Throne's witchcraft always took the form of a dragon.
The black dragon head spewed out a breath as dark as the night curtain, under this breath, whether it be undead or Magic Beast, both became part of the breath.
"Twelve-Ring Dimension Witchcraft, Dead Dragon's Breath," a Great Wizard of the Undead School declared.
Twelve-Ring Wizardry, second only to Forbidden Spell. And with the blessing of the Power of Illusionary Dimension, this originally terrifying witchcraft blossomed with a terrifying potency, nearly beyond this world.
"How will he face this breath?"
The Great Wizards watched closely behind the breath, wanting to see how the Swallowing World Snake would confront this terrifying witchcraft.
The Swallowing World Snake opened its massive mouth, capable of devouring space. Once again, it erupted with a terrifying suction force; even thousands of kilometers away, the Great Wizards could clearly feel their bodies gradually approaching the serpent.
"Did it fail?" A thought flashed through Richard's mind.
He hadn't battled this Dominator, but considering it shared abilities with that snake burned by Miracle Fire, he deduced that the serpent also contained a vast realm within its body.
Although powerful, if this witchcraft was diluted thousands of times, it wouldn't be able to kill...
Richard's thought hadn't concluded when the Swallowing World Snake's body began to twist.
Richard's left eye continued to flare, allowing him to clearly see dark spots appearing on the serpent's body.
"I know you can use Rules to negate conceptual death, ensuring space itself doesn't die. I also know you'll use the Power of Dimension to counteract dimension-enhancing the witchcraft."
The Undead Crown Throne stated calmly, "But you overlooked, or perhaps you didn't even know, high concentrations of Death Energy can corrode space. With a slight alteration in energy structure, it can easily become poison and harm a world.
Moreover, this is a material world's rule manifestation, where the Power of Dimension and Death Rules are negated with no effect."
Swallowing World Snake's body twisted continuously, that black mark representing death continued spreading across its scales.
Its scales grew fragile under death's corrosion, its cells kept dying, with yellowish fluid oozing from beneath its scales.
"To swallow the entire Dead Dragon's Breath, unless you have a medium-sized world inside… otherwise, certain death."
The Undead Crown Throne retrieved an Enchanted Quartz Tube from the Void, quietly observing the mountain-like Swallowing World Snake writhing on the ground.
Eventually, a Spiritual Message reached the Undead Crown Throne's soul.
"What do you intend to do?"
The Swallowing World Snake looked at the Undead Crown Throne, fear reflected in its weakened eyes.
The Undead Crown Throne "smiled."
"Quite simple, we just want to make a pact with the Beast Origin World."
...
With the Swallowing World Snake's submission, the war finally came to a close.
Theoretically, Richard's loss in this war wasn't significant, as most soldiers entered the Divine Country, becoming part of the Heroic Spirit Army.
However, the Heroic Spirit Army itself had both advantages and disadvantages.
Transformed heroic spirit soldiers would lose varying degrees of memory due to the intensity of their souls and could no longer provide Power of Faith.
Though these heroic spirit soldiers could still fight, if they were to leave the Divine Country, they would need the Power of Faith to materialize their bodies.
This consumed a tremendous amount of Power of Faith.
Fortunately, his rewards were ample.
At the One Ring Tower of Truth, Richard stood inside a tightly sealed room, gently releasing his spiritual power.
Once released, a warm and pleasant feeling accompanied his spiritual power into his soul, making him feel somewhat ecstatic.
The weariness accumulated in his heart surged up, his head felt dizzy, and he quickly lost consciousness.
In dreams, it seemed he returned to the moment of becoming a Wizard, seeing the Wizard World Origin once again.
But this time, the origin not only left a mark but also gave him a beam of light.
A vague message entered his mind.
"Child… let go and do it."