Chapter 256: Hand Over Your Aether

The announcements continued.

[The World Wonder to be constructed in this contest is the Five Elements Temple.]

[Kill Elemental monsters to obtain Elemental Pearls, the materials required for construction.]

[Higher-Quality Elemental Pearls increase the Wonder’s construction speed.]

[Each additional 10% of construction progress triggers a monster siege. Damage to the World Wonder must be repaired using Elemental Pearls.]

[Destroying another Legion’s World Wonder grants a proportion of its Elemental Pearls.]

[Every hour, the elements shift and space-time is rearranged.]

[The Legion Contest lasts three days. Final rankings will be determined by each Wonder’s completion percentage. Click to view ranking rewards.]

[All Lords may leave the battlefield at any time.]

Tens of thousands of light pillars rose across the Homeworld Realm. Its Champions vanished from the map, taking their Domains with them.

[You have discovered Fivefold Heaven.]

[You have entered the temporary All-Races Champions Channel.]

[You have entered the temporary First Homeworld Legion Channel.]

[Each Legion has ten minutes to survey its surroundings and select a Legion Commander.]

Cassian and his Domain appeared in a world filled with color.

"The Five Elements Temple. A Mythic wild Building, second only to something like the Mythic Ancient Road. If one of those appeared in Divine Province..."

He shook off the impractical thought and rose several hundred meters into the air.

The first thing he saw was an enormous Building foundation, tens of kilometers across, shining with five colors of light. This was what they had to complete and defend.

Crown Domains stood scattered around it. Squads of troops were cautiously leaving their grounds to scout. Farther away, groups of Elemental monsters were just visible.

Messages began chiming in rapid succession.

He opened the All-Races Champions Channel. One declaration caught his eye at once.

[Gideon: I am Gideon of Mount Celestia, son of the Throne Angel Calista. Poor fortune kept me in the top hundred of the Individual Contest. First place in the Legion Contest, however, belongs to Mount Celestia. I trust you will all show us due consideration.]

Cassian’s gaze sharpened.

A Throne Angel had six wings. Mythic rank.

Azrak and Vespera were hardly the only formidable opponents in this War Realm. Here was the direct descendant of a Mythic Lord.

But if Gideon expected his background to frighten the other Champions into yielding, he would be disappointed.

[Zareth: Such authority, Mount Celestia. I am Zareth, son of the Demon God Vorthan of the Abyss’s eighty-seventh layer. I would welcome a contest with the Champions of every race.]

[Lord Zareth is right. Let ability decide the Legion Contest. Otherwise, we might as well compare our elders and cancel the fighting.]

[Does he think everyone in the Worlds Battlefield has to give way because he was born special?]

[He’s an Angel. Looking down on everyone comes naturally.]

Among the Lords mocking him, Cassian spotted a familiar name: Azrak.

Gideon had left himself no graceful way out.

Then Malcolm appeared.

[Malcolm: Lord Gideon, this humble servant offers congratulations in advance on your victory, on behalf of the Homeworld Realm.]

Cassian almost felt his own face burning.

On behalf of the Homeworld? How disgraceful.

Western Beacon had spent centuries seeking powerful patrons because it lacked foundations in the higher Realms. Mount Celestia was one of the powers it had approached. The Concord Society even called itself the Eye of God, borrowing from the title of Mount Celestia’s legendary founder.

Malcolm would never waste a chance to flatter an Angel of such rank.

Anyone with eyes could see how one-sided that relationship was. Mount Celestia barely acknowledged them.

For the moment, however, Malcolm’s praise gave Gideon a way to recover his dignity. He answered with a little more care.

[Gideon: The Homeworld? The world that produced the winner of the Individual Contest?]

Malcolm perked up.

[Malcolm: Yes, Lord Gideon.]

[Gideon: His name was Cassian, wasn’t it? There must have been some luck involved, but a Lord of his strength would naturally command your Legion. Are you Cassian’s servant?]

Malcolm had no answer.

Gideon took the silence as agreement. His tone chilled.

[Gideon: Where is Cassian? Does a lucky first place make him too important to speak to me? He sends a servant instead?]

Cassian stared at the exchange.

Malcolm had to force himself to reply.

[Malcolm: I am the Homeworld Legion’s commander.]

[Gideon: You’re stronger than Cassian?]

Among Angels, the strongest led. Many other powerful races followed the same rule.

Malcolm wished the ground would swallow him.

A Lord of the Logician race offered an explanation.

[Some intelligent races practice something called politics. I cannot understand it, but it demonstrably exists. Humans are one such race. Apparently, the Homeworld has more than two hundred nations on a single planet.]

Gideon was arrogant, not stupid. He had already noticed the name beside Malcolm’s: Second Homeworld Legion.

There was a First Homeworld Legion too.

[Gideon: Such a small, weak civilization. And now you exclude your strongest and divide your force over this politics of yours. To think I considered the Homeworld a rival.]

——

The Second Legion’s Channel erupted.

[Who chose this idiot to command us?]

[Another idiot, presumably.]

[Now every race among the stars gets to watch us humiliate ourselves.]

[Malcolm, please stop talking. We don’t ask you to accomplish anything. Just stop disgracing the Homeworld.]

["This humble servant." And he claims to represent us? Disgusting.]

[So I have to become someone’s dog to get my Legion rewards? Is it too late to join the First Legion?]

Many Champions had followed their Provinces into the Second Legion under the pressure of public duty and overwhelming numbers. They felt no loyalty to the man Western Beacon had chosen to speak for them.

If their posting permissions had allowed it, some would already have been cursing him in the All-Races Channel.

In the First Legion’s Channel, Nessa could barely stop laughing.

[He’s going to wear a hole in the ground squirming like that.]

Darian was less amused.

[Serves him right. Disgracing all of us like that. I doubt the Concord Society will be pleased with him after this contest.]

Lana brought them back to the task at hand.

[We only have ten minutes to prepare. Let’s choose our commander.]

[Silas Venn: We came here to stand with Divine Province. Cassian is the First Champion. Who else should lead?]

Everyone agreed. Cassian became commander of the First Homeworld Legion without a single challenge.

Before he could inspect his new permissions, Soren Hartwell spoke.

[Soren Hartwell: Lord Cassian, we may only have a thousand Champions, but we should still fight for a ranking. What is your plan?]

Seeing the Harrowmere Governor’s name, Cassian thought of Orion Valcrest.

Orion came from Harrowmere too. He was neither its Governor nor a Marches Commander—only a Regional Warden who rarely drew attention to himself. That seemed an oddly modest position for someone so powerful.

Cassian put the question aside. After a moment’s thought, he came straight to the point.

[If you trust me, hand over all the Aether you won’t need immediately. As much as you can spare.]

The other Lords looked at one another.

Their first thought was that he intended to take the money and run.