CHAPTER 956: IT’S A SLIGHT

"But don’t you all feel like we’re just a disorganized mob?" Torin continued, pressing his advantage. "To defeat the Five-Race Alliance, we must be united. Someone has to step up and take command. All of you must obey orders and follow the chain of command."

Using the army’s supreme commander as a threat to consolidate his power over these greedy lords was a move born of desperation. He knew that doing so would only increase the clown Ogu’s prestige and influence.

"Gentlemen," Torin said, his tone softening slightly. The threat of an arch lord was clearly effective. "The Five-Race Alliance is coming for us. This is, without a doubt, a slight against us. I want to hear your ideas for a better strategy to deal with this enemy."

"Commander, just tell us what to do."

"Yes, we’ll listen to your command, and the command of the one who backs you!"

"Please, Commander, tell us plainly. How do we unite?"

The lords in the tent, for all their greed, knew what was at stake. If they didn’t band together, they truly were just a disorganized mob. They’d end up doing nothing more than feeding the enemy kills, loot, and Lord’s Stones.

"It’s simple," Torin said as their pleas grew more urgent. He produced a contract scroll and placed it gently on the table. "They are the Five-Race Alliance. We will be the Hundred-Race Alliance. This is our charter. Take a look."

The tent fell silent once more as the scroll representing the alliance contract was passed quickly from hand to hand.

"I agree. I’ll sign."

"I’ll sign, too."

These lords were smart. With a great enemy at their doorstep, as long as the terms of the charter weren’t too punishing, they would agree. One by one, the twelve lords signed the contract, a fragile bond of trust finally forming between them.

Under Torin’s direction, they spent some time discussing strategy before finally rising and leaving his tent.

Only after everyone was gone did the puppet of William, controlled by Ogu, walk in.

"Well done, Yi."

"Once this group hits the battlefield, they’ll tie up the majority of the enemy’s forces for us. Once I severely wound or kill that human Saint, the Five-Race Alliance’s morale will collapse. They might even dissolve entirely. After all," Ogu chuckled, "who would be willing to offend an arch lord?"

"Hehehe... and then, Yi, you’ll have the perfect justification to claim a vast swathe of the south for yourself."

Torin stared at Ogu, his face an emotionless mask.

"Ogu, do you take me for a three-year-old?" he said coldly. "Do you think the human Saint is someone you can just kill whenever you feel like it? And even if you do kill him, the stoneheart horde still has their King of Giants, who is also an arch lord. The Five-Race Alliance won’t just collapse."

A clever man who had calmed down was not so easily fooled.

"Hehe... Yi, you’ve grown again," Ogu said, the puppet’s laughter stiff and unnatural. He didn’t think he was exaggerating. For him, killing an arch lord was an easy task. What he truly feared were the demigods that might be watching this continent.

The plan to kill the human Saint is just a test, Ogu thought. A probe to gauge this world’s defenses. If the Saint falls and no demigod intervenes, then I can escalate the invasion of the Titanion Realm. If possible, I could even call upon the Witch to corrupt this entire continent. But I must move slowly, testing the waters bit by bit, until I understand the true depths of this world.

"My growth is irrelevant," Torin said, cutting through Ogu’s thoughts. "What I want to know now is, can you really take down the human Saint?"

For Torin, the other eleven lords, and the entire Avenger armies, this was the only thing that mattered. If Ogu failed, it was all over. Once the human Saint was free, they and their factions would all be purged.

"Hahaha... Yi, what you’ve just said is a great disrespect to a survivor of my station!" Ogu’s voice was full of mock indignation. "It’s a slight! Yi, think about yourself. Can an ordinary lord stand against you?"

Ogu’s puppet stood up. He was finding Torin more and more interesting. He was beginning to regret selling him out. He should have guided him, molded him into one of their kind.

But it was too late for that.

"Prepare yourself, Yi," Ogu said as he walked out of the tent. "Everything you’ve dreamed of is right in front of you."

The Slaughter Space

The brass sphere still stood.

An unknown amount of time passed before a thin crack appeared on its surface. The crack grew larger, deeper. Finally, unable to bear the strain, the sphere shattered into a thousand palm-sized fragments that fell to the ground with a clang.

When the last of the brass pieces had fallen, Orion’s figure was revealed.

"In the end... I still won," he panted.

Killing a demigod as an arch lord was incredibly difficult. It wasn’t a matter of just firing off an ultimate ability for a one-shot kill. Without being a demigod himself, the only way was to use brute force to shatter the power of Law, creating an opening to land a fatal blow. With all his resources, this was the only method available to Orion.

His aura was faint, and the toll on his mirror avatar was immense. Restoring it would require an unknown amount of resources and top-tier magical plants.

"Is demigod the limit?"

By killing the demigod phantom of the brass dragon Latychrenber, Orion had also tested the absolute limit of his hidden trump card, Blood Sacrifice.

Demigod. That was the skill’s ceiling. In other words, once Orion himself ascended to the demigod level, this trump card would become obsolete.

There was a deeper, more serious problem. The skill was a reflection of the giant’s bloodline within him. This meant his own bloodline could only support him up to the demigod-level. He still had many questions about demigods and the gods beyond them, but that was a problem for another day.

Orion glanced at the brass fragments scattered on the ground, then extended his trident. The Flame of Will spat out a tongue of fire, melting the pieces one by one and absorbing them into itself. The trident felt heavier, sturdier.

It was almost depressing. He had exhausted himself, revealed his trump card, and unleashed his ultimate ability to kill a demigod phantom, and all he had to show for it were some rare brass fragments. There was no other loot.

"I wonder how Leonidas and Alexander are doing," Orion murmured as his form slowly faded from the Slaughter Space.