Chapter 240: You Think I Won’t Kill You?

[Your troop Giselle has killed a Golden Behemoth — Legendary Four-Star. Battle Essence +14,000,000. Golden Behemoth Troop Sigil ×1.]

"A Troop Sigil?"

Cassian read the notice again.

Killing another Lord’s troops often yielded equipment. On very rare occasions, it might even yield one of their skills. But a Sigil for the troop itself? He had never heard of that happening.

He opened the other Behemoth kill records at once.

Only one Sigil.

Still, it was a windfall. He could hardly complain. He searched the day’s combat log for "Troop Sigil," reducing hundreds of thousands of records to a few hundred entries.

"Swordmaster. Beast King. Doom Knight..."

His smile widened.

Besides the Golden Behemoth Sigil, there were three more Legendary Troop Sigils. Twenty-eight Epic ones too.

"The Vein’s bonus is this strong?"

Few Lords would pour so much into developing a Domain Aether Vein. If anyone else had discovered returns like these, they were probably doing exactly what he was doing—keeping quiet and enjoying the profits.

"The last Fortune aggregation is almost finished. Riftward should pass three thousand Fortune. The Vein will grow stronger again."

Three Marches Rankings had brought Riftward Marches’ total Fortune above six thousand. Cassian had made no apologies for concentrating half of it in his own Region.

One Troop Sigil could recruit twelve troops. If the drop rate ever rose high enough, could he have someone recruit these Behemoths, kill them, and get two Sigils back?

While he considered the possibility of repeating that process, Darian sighed beside him.

"What a waste. With a Legendary Sealing Scroll, we could have beaten those Behemoths half to death and tried to seal them."

Darian had been buying aggressively on the Worlds Market over the past few days, raising more than a dozen Hundred-Battle Guards to Legendary. Even so, the sight of Extreme troops left him aching to own some.

"Catch."

A streak of golden light flew toward him. He caught it by reflex.

A second passed.

"Holy shit!"

Darian’s cry rang out above the battlefield, full of disbelief and delight.

Below, Maren looked up with a headache already forming. Cassian had many good qualities. Improving Lord Darian’s manners was clearly not one of them.

Ten seconds later, Darian showed her the Golden Behemoth Sigil as proudly as if he had found it himself.

"Holy shit!"

Bren turned to look at her.

Maren hardly noticed. She pulled Darian aside.

"Lord Darian, tell me honestly. Did Cassian ask you to promise him anything in return?"

These were Extreme troops. Even a Lord with a Dawnwing corps would not casually give them away. Was he trying to bind Darian—and House Frost—to his cause?

"No." Darian looked surprised. "I think he just finds Behemoths ugly. He won’t admit it, though."

Ugly?

Maren felt dizzy.

Cassian watched the two whispering below and shook his head.

"What a spender."

The preparations for this battle. The three hundred veterans who had descended, quite possibly under secret instructions from House Frost. The five billion Aether Darian had just poured into the barrier. Each contribution was worth more than an Extreme Troop Sigil.

Cassian was the Governor, after all. The greatest benefit came to him.

Even then, Darian had insisted on paying him two billion Aether for the Sigil. He would not take no for an answer.

Cassian might deal in billions these days, but Aether was still hard currency. Even a powerful Lord like Elara would struggle to produce ten million on short notice.

Golden Behemoths were excellent troops. They simply had no place in his army’s current fighting system, and he had no Orc Hero to command them. His Faerie Dragons offered even better value. The Crystal Maidens and Stormlance were physical Extreme lines in their own right, every bit as formidable as the Behemoths.

And the Maidens were much easier on the eyes.

From that point of view, Darian was not entirely wrong.

More importantly, a stronger Tidecrown meant Cassian could keep more of his own strength hidden.

——

With the Behemoths dead, the Stormlance were free to fight wherever they pleased. They unleashed their full power, crushing everything in their path.

The Black Banner’s leaders were already holding back. Now even the slowest of their followers noticed something was wrong. They quietly ordered their troops to ease off. Some began retreating.

One Lord. Ten. A hundred. A thousand.

Panic spread through the army.

When the enemy finally began pouring away from the defenses, cheers shook the hundred-kilometer Capital.

"They’re retreating!"

"We won!"

"Another miracle for Divine Province!"

"Long live Cassian! Long live Divine Province! Long live the Crown!"

"Heaven has blessed us! Our journey from Dragon Tiger was not in vain!"

From the Northbear section came a rolling roar of "Hurrah!"

Cassian’s voice thundered across the battlefield.

"Dawnwings! Eclipse Legion! Follow me out and kill them. Leave none alive!"

Another Origin Divine Fist crashed down.

The armies had fought savagely for almost an hour, but few Lords had died. Cassian had no intention of letting the men hiding behind those armies simply walk away. There was more Battle Essence to collect too.

His advance sent the defenders’ spirits soaring.

"House Frost! Follow me out!"

"Westreach brothers, with me!"

"Fenwick sisters! After them!"

"Friends from Dragon Tiger! Our Provinces are neighbors. Shall we go together?"

"Hurrah! Northbear won’t fall behind its allies!"

Some Black Banner Lords still had the will to fight. Seeing the Crown forces leave their defenses, they tried to rally a counterattack.

It was too late. Their army was already breaking.

The Dawnwings cut down the few who stood up to lead. The rest lost any desire to distinguish themselves and fled among their routed troops.

Suddenly, Darian pointed into the distance.

"Galen! I can see Galen Tervain! Over there!"

Ten kilometers away.

Cassian waved a hand. Several Dawnwing squads flew straight toward him.

Galen was quick enough to recognize his last chance. He opened a live feed, pointed it at himself, and shouted desperately.

"I’m a Homeworld Champion! I still have to represent our world against the other races! Cassian is trying to kill me! He’s making an enemy of the entire Homeworld!"

The other Black Banner Lords who held the title understood at once. One after another, they opened their own feeds.

"Cassian! Order your troops to stop!"

"We concede! We’ll pay a ransom! The Crown cannot openly violate the Westmere Convention!"

"Even if we’d won, we wouldn’t have harmed your Lords. We request permission to surrender!"

People soon began speaking on their behalf.

[Nerissa Vaust — Vaust Province: The Contest of Champions is about to begin. Lord Cassian, you’ve already won. Don’t destroy your own future by slaughtering everyone.]

[Garran Ravenscar — Ravenscar Province: There are team contests as well as individual battles. Losing dozens of Champions will weaken the Homeworld’s strength.]

Even some neutral Governors intervened.

[Walter — Norman Province: The Black Banner was wrong to start this war. But for the good of the Homeworld, I hope the Crown can consider the larger picture.]

Having accepted its payment, the Homeworld Council could finally step forward in public without embarrassment.

[Malcolm — Concord Province: Lord Cassian, the Crown has an old saying about showing mercy when one can. The Black Banner has been defeated. We hope the Crown will uphold the Westmere Convention and treat prisoners properly.]

Nessa flew to Cassian’s side, furious.

"Cassian, what do we do?"

Darian licked his lips.

"What else? Kill them before the contest starts."

Fearless as he sounded, he still looked to Cassian for the decision.

Before Cassian could speak, startled cries rose from below.

"Look at the Homeworld Channel! The Contest of Champions has opened!"

"Now? Of all times?"

"Is the Realm itself trying to save them?"

Cassian opened the Channel at once.

More than a dozen golden announcements were pinned at the top.