Beastmaster of the Ages

Torch Dragon was an imperial-class world in the Realm of Chaos, burning with an energy of flame that was not too different from that of Vermillion Bird. The only difference was that the flames congregated into great dragons of fire rather than vermillion birds, complete with their mighty roars.

There was a complex of buildings that resembled a mountain range, Torchdragon Palace. It was in fact built atop many mountains. Many dragons of flame flew next to the palace complex, decorating it as they would a scroll painting.

Within the palace, Imperator Zhu, Granny Long Ya and many powerful cosmic gods of Torch Dragon gathered. Their expressions were all solemn as they looked at their towering imperator, surrounded by countless flaming dragons. His draconic eyes radiated immense authority. In his hand was an open blood-colored letter. Clearly, he had read its contents and was contemplating in silence.

”What were the Adjudicator’s orders?” Granny Long Ya asked. She was a fervent worshipper of the Adjudicator, a being stronger than even imperatores. To her, only the mighty deserved to rule.

”The Adjudicator ordered us and Aquamarine to send our forces to besiege Vermillion Bird.”

”Vermillion Bird?!” That came as quite a surprise for everyone. Quite a few peak cosmic gods were rather excited by the prospect, Granny Long Ya in particular.

”For what reason?” some asked. Their imperial son, Long Xuanzhao, had perished in Violetblitz Capital at Tianming’s hand. This ruffled quite a few feathers. Far too many of them were itching at the chance to avenge him.

Yet, the imperator didn’t answer those queries. After some time, he shook his head and said, ”No reason was given. We were only ordered to deploy and work with Aquamarine.”

The cosmic gods seemed rather troubled by that. If they deployed their troops and started a war in the Realm of Chaos with no justification, they would be criticized by countless people! There were many other fortuna and maniverse-class worlds in the Realm of Chaos. The imperial-class worlds weren’t the only places that mattered. Apart from specific divine races, the majority of the population in the Realm of Chaos was made up of Chaos denizens, humans of that world.

”The sky plunderers have always had sufficient justification when they did anything,” Imperator Zhu said. ”But if we send out troops to trigger a war without a good justification, we would be cast as the villains of the Realm of Chaos!”

”So what?” Granny Long Ya said. ”The Adjudicator is clearly siding against the sky plunderers. Since we are on the Adjudicator’s team, we should cooperate with his plans to crush the sky plunderers! Once they’re gone, there will be no other faction in the Realm of Chaos that we have to fear!”

”That’s right,” said another flaming cosmic god. ”Imperator, we have just lost our imperial son at Violetblitz. We don’t have to do this just because the Adjudicator said so. We can do this to avenge our imperial son! This is what the other warriors think too!”

Imperator Zhu gradually nodded. They were right about a deep grudge forming between the two worlds the moment Long Xuanzhao died by Tianming’s hand. The torchdragonoids cursed Tianming nonstop and clamored to avenge their imperial son. This was a matter that would greatly affect their reputation as a whole.

Granny Long Ya pressed, ”Just say that we’re doing this to avenge the imperial son. It’ll all be over once we complete the task the Adjudicator gave us!”

Then again, attacking Vermillion Bird to avenge the imperial son didn’t seem quite right. Even so, the rest of the torchdragonoids didn’t seem to care about the finer details.

”Alright. Gather the army and prepare to deploy!” Imperator Zhu ordered, knowing that this would spark war in the Realm of Chaos once more. Countless souls had been condemned to their deaths through this single order. The death toll would spread out across the entire Realm of Chaos. No place was safe.

***

Imperator Lan was just as quiet after reading the letter and the instructions. But like the torchdragonoids, they didn’t really have other options but to obey the Adjudicator, justification or not.

”Assemble the troops! Work with the soldiers of Torch Dragon to attack Vermillion Bird. We will attack from two different directions.”

The cosmic gods of both worlds felt their blood boil at the eve of their deployment. Massive armies that numbered above ten billion left their respective starcages for Vermillion Bird, led by elite primocosmic gods. Countless neat ranks of soldiers flew across the stars, filling the starscape to the brim. It looked as if the Realm of Chaos itself had awakened from a deep slumber.

The deaths of Long Xuanzhao and Cang Shentu were the sparks of the cosmic gods’ fury. Only by avenging their imperial sons could they reclaim the dignity of their worlds and people! Despite the worries that the imperatores had, their subjects were all too willing to join the fight.

The deployment of the troops spread far and wide and stunned the rest of the Realm of Chaos. Many Chaos denizens that didn’t belong to those two imperial races were worried about being dragged into the war. Maniverse and fortuna-class worlds risked being completely annihilated by the crossfire between both sides.

”Torch Dragon and Aquamarine are shameless for dragging the entire Realm of Chaos into this war!”

”Avenging the imperial sons? You mean the brats that got themselves killed by tempting married women? What gave them the right?!”

”And what does attacking Vermillion Bird have to do with avenging their imperial sons anyway?”

”Shameless people! These two factions are clearly just doing what that outsider Adjudicator told them to do. They’re raising their blades against their fellow Chaos denizens just because an alien told them to!”

Discontent rose sharply all over the place, but their disgruntled voices would not stop the armies of the imperial-class starcages. The people of Vermillion Bird were also riled up when they heard about the approaching army. Nobody imagined that the Adjudicator would drop all pretense to start wars out of nowhere.