The patriarchs of the Eight Great Clans were all Sovereign Emissaries who possessed Sovereign artifacts.
On the Four Divine Beasts clan's side, there were only six Prefect-level experts in total.
Among them, Blue, the Great Elder of the Azure Dragon clan, was merely an ordinary Prefect and did not possess a Sovereign artifact.
Fortunately, as the patriarch of the Four Divine Beasts clan, Gislason was the strongest among them.
By himself, he held off both Barbary and Boleyn.
Aside from Gislason, Gaia also single-handedly tied down Edric and Saintnar.
If Gislason's battle against Barbary and Boleyn was evenly matched...
Then Gaia's battle against Edric and Saintnar consisted of her completely abandoning defense and desperately exchanging blows with them by relying on her material defense Sovereign artifact.
Against a material defense Sovereign artifact, even though Edric and Saintnar possessed offensive Sovereign artifacts, they couldn't injure Gaia in the slightest.
All they could do was remain entangled by her.
Gus, the patriarch of the White Tiger clan, fought against Venna.
Both were wind-element Prefect-level experts, and both wielded offensive Sovereign artifacts.
The intensity of their battle was no less than that of Gislason's fight against Barbary and Boleyn.
Tia, the patriarch of the Vermilion Bird clan, battled Dean of the Lightning Divine Plane.
Lightning and flames intertwined across the battlefield, making theirs the most spectacular clash.
Feynman, the patriarch of the Black Tortoise clan, fought Reynolds, the Sovereign Emissary of the Blood Peak Sovereign of the Infernal Realm.
The countless years of enmity between them made their battle especially Brutal.
Blue, the Great Elder of the Azure Dragon clan, faced Ashcroft of the Dark Divine Plane.
Because he lacked a Sovereign artifact, Elder Blue was suppressed throughout the battle by Ashcroft.
Fortunately, whenever he found himself in danger, Elder Blue would activate the innate divine ability Dragon Roar once, buying himself enough breathing room.
For the moment, defeat wasn't imminent.
However...
From these six battlefields alone, it was obvious that the key to the outcome of the war between the Four Divine Beasts clan and the Eight Great Clans rested entirely upon one question—
How long could Elder Blue hold out against Ashcroft?
Gislason's battle against Barbary and Boleyn was deadlocked.
At this rate, the three of them could continue fighting for several thousand years without determining a victor.
As for Gaia...
Although her material defense Sovereign artifact prevented Edric and Saintnar from harming her, she could only rely on that defense to entangle the two Sovereign Emissaries and prevent them from reinforcing other battlefields.
As for the remaining three battles...
The differences in strength were too slight for anyone to defeat their opponent in a short period of time.
Only Ashcroft possessed the possibility of killing Blue within a relatively short time.
Once Ashcroft killed Blue...
Whichever battlefield he chose to reinforce would quickly swing in the Eight Great Clans' favor.
Both the Four Divine Beasts clan and the Eight Great Clans clearly understood this.
Even so...
The Four Divine Beasts clan showed no fear of fighting to the death.
"Kill!"
"Kill!"
The patriarchs were fighting with all their might.
Naturally, the clansmen wouldn't remain idle.
More than two million members of the Eight Great Clans...
And over five hundred thousand members of the Four Divine Beasts clan...
All moved away from the battlefield of the patriarchs and began slaughtering one another.
The aftershocks of battle continuously tore open spatial rifts across the sky.
Brilliant divine power illuminated the heavens as countless Laws manifested, devouring the lives of the warriors below.
Almost every second...
Countless Deities fell.
One could say that the battle between the Four Divine Beasts clan and the Eight Great Clans within the Infernal Realm rivaled the final decisive battles of the Planar Battlefield in terms of Brutality.
The corpses of Deities piled up like mountains.
Divine blood flowed like rivers.
A boundless killing aura surged into the heavens.
Such a battlefield transformed the once-beautiful lands outside the Skyrite Mountains into a ghostly domain.
If an ordinary Deity approached this place...
The overwhelming baleful aura alone would probably shatter their soul and reduce them to an idiot.
Within the Infernal Realm...
Not even Seven Star Fiends dared approach the battlefield between the Eight Great Clans and the Four Divine Beasts clan.
They feared being mistaken for one side and immediately slaughtered by the other.
Even the Prefects only dared observe from nearby with their eyesight.
None of them dared extend their divine sense into the battlefield, fearing it would be torn apart by the aftershocks of combat.
Perhaps...
Only Paragons and experts above that level could spread their divine sense across the entire battlefield and observe the war between the Eight Great Clans and the Four Divine Beasts clan.
Of course...
Since this was the Infernal Realm, even though the Sovereigns of the other Divine Planes were curious about the battle, none dared recklessly extend their divine sense into the Infernal Realm.
Thus...
The only Sovereigns observing the conflict were the six Sovereigns residing within the Infernal Realm.
Well...
There was also one divine clone of a Sovereign.
Beirut.
After the struggle over the Sovereign sparks in the Yulan Plane concluded, Beirut imprisoned another batch of Deities from the Yulan Plane who had greatly overestimated their own strength within the Planar Prison.
He then sent his dark-element divine clone to the Infernal Realm.
On one hand...
Beirut had made a deal with the Destruction Chief Sovereign.
As long as his divine clone didn't leave the Yulan Plane, the Destruction Chief Sovereign Wodred would ensure that Beirut's divine clone was protected within the Infernal Realm.
In other words...
Aside from the Yulan Plane, the Infernal Realm was currently the only Higher Plane where Beirut's wind-element divine clone could freely operate.
This time...
Beirut had come to the Infernal Realm to repay a favor owed to the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns.
Back then...
Beirut had acted with astonishing audacity.
Using his tail within the spatial turbulence, he had dragged the corpses of the Black Tortoise Sovereign and the Vermilion Bird Sovereign into the Yulan Plane.
That allowed him to obtain both their corpses and their Sovereign sparks.
However...
Beirut was a dual-element divine beast of wind and darkness.
The fire-element and earth-element Sovereign sparks were completely useless to him.
Had he failed to become a Sovereign...
Without a soul-protecting Sovereign artifact...
The Light Chief Sovereign Augusta could have killed Beirut with nothing more than a Sovereign projection.
It was the White Tiger Sovereign Laius who gave Beirut his soul-protecting Sovereign artifact.
Only because of that did Beirut survive the Light Chief Sovereign Augusta's Sovereign projection.
Finally...
The Azure Dragon Sovereign Redding used the innate divine ability Dragon Roar to slow the flow of time around the Light Chief Sovereign Augusta.
That allowed Beirut to successfully seize the bodies of the White Tiger Sovereign Laius and the Azure Dragon Sovereign Redding.
He obtained the wind-element Lesser Sovereign spark...
And ascended to Sovereignhood.
Because of this...
Beirut had always taken seriously the Azure Dragon Sovereign's dying request—
To preserve the bloodline of the Four Divine Beasts clan whenever the opportunity arose.
However...
After becoming a Sovereign, Beirut also realized that the true mastermind behind the destruction of the Four Divine Beasts clan was the Light Chief Sovereign Augusta.
Beirut didn't know that the Light Chief Sovereign wished to use the corpses of the Four Divine Beasts clansmen to refine the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns' blood essence.
However...
After being toyed with by the Azure Dragon Sovereign Redding within the spatial turbulence and having his face sprayed with blood...
How could the Light Chief Sovereign possibly suppress such humiliation without venting it?
After Beirut stole away the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns' corpses...
Even if the Light Chief Sovereign wished to chop those corpses into pieces, he no longer had the opportunity.
Thus...
The Four Divine Beasts clan inevitably became the primary target for Augusta's wrath.
In Beirut's opinion...
Even if he intended to protect the Four Divine Beasts clan, he would have to wait until the clan had declined to the point where it no longer attracted the Light Chief Sovereign's attention.
Furthermore...
Since a Sovereign's true body couldn't leave the Yulan Plane, Beirut could only act through his dark-element divine clone.
Seeing that the Four Divine Beasts clan could still hold on for some time...
Beirut immediately turned around and flew toward Indigo Prefecture.
Over the following several years...
Beirut achieved one hundred consecutive victories upon Indigo Prefecture's Duel Platform.
Finally...
He challenged and defeated the previous Prefect, becoming the new Prefect of Indigo Prefecture.
Afterward...
In his capacity as Prefect of Indigo Prefecture, Beirut announced a new law—
Nowhere within Indigo Prefecture would battles involving more than one hundred participants be permitted.
News of this decree issued by the new Prefect rapidly spread throughout all of Indigo Prefecture.
Naturally...
Both the Four Divine Beasts clan and the Eight Great Clans heard about it.
However...
The Eight Great Clans paid no attention whatsoever to the new Prefect's order.
They were all the foremost clans of their respective planes.
Their patriarchs were also Sovereign Emissaries.
Whether because of their clans...
Or because of their Sovereigns...
Neither status was something a mere Prefect could compare with.
Every battle they fought against the Four Divine Beasts clan involved hundreds or even thousands of participants.
Once fighting began and reinforcements arrived from both sides...
Battles involving hundreds of thousands of combatants were commonplace.
If they truly obeyed the new Prefect's order and limited every engagement to fewer than one hundred participants...
How long would it take before they finally exterminated the Four Divine Beasts clan?
As for the Four Divine Beasts clan...
There was even less need to mention them.
Given the current situation between the Eight Great Clans and the Four Divine Beasts clan...
The Four Divine Beasts clan possessed only the ability to resist, not to counterattack.
In every battle against the Eight Great Clans...
They were always outnumbered.
Had it not been for the fact that every member of the Four Divine Beasts clan could undergo Dragonform, Tigerform, and other transformations after completing the Ancestral Baptism, giving them individually greater average strength than members of the Eight Great Clans...
They would already have been exterminated.
Precisely because of this...
Although the Four Divine Beasts clan understood that the new Prefect's decree greatly favored them...
They still didn't dare split their forces into groups of fewer than one hundred.
Otherwise...
The moment one of their teams encountered a force from the Eight Great Clans...
It would be completely wiped out.
...
Within the encampment of the Eight Great Clans...
The eight patriarchs gathered together to discuss how to eliminate the Four Divine Beasts clan as quickly as possible.
"Boleyn."
"Among all of us, you're the cleverest."
"Don't you have any good ideas?"
Inside the command tent, Venna asked Boleyn.
Boleyn came from the Celestial Realm.
He was a Prefect-level expert who cultivated the Edicts of Fate.
"Venna..."
"I also want to eliminate the Four Divine Beasts clan as soon as possible and return to the Celestial Realm."
Hearing Venna's question, Boleyn shook his head.
"After all, this war with the Four Divine Beasts clan has cost all of us dearly."
"The sooner it ends..."
"The fewer losses we'll suffer."
"However..."
"As long as we don't possess an overwhelming advantage among our top experts..."
"The only option is to continue relying on our clansmen to fight theirs, gradually reducing the Four Divine Beasts clan's numbers."
"Once we've reduced their population sufficiently..."
"Our clansmen can support us using magical battle formations."
"Then we'll be able to kill one of the Four Divine Beasts clan's Prefects first."
"Only then will victory truly be secured."
"Indeed."
"Blue is the weakest among them."
"But he also possesses the greatest amount of Sovereign's Might."
"There have been many occasions where I nearly killed him..."
"Only for him to counterattack after activating Sovereign's Might."
Ashcroft also spoke.
Throughout the war...
He had been the one fighting Elder Blue.
Initially...
Everyone had placed their hopes of victory upon Ashcroft.
But after so many battles...
Everyone realized that although Blue was weaker...
He was actually the hardest opponent within the Four Divine Beasts clan.
The Four Divine Beasts clan also understood that once Blue died...
Their clan would lose all hope of resisting the Eight Great Clans.
Therefore...
In every battle, Elder Blue always carried the largest reserve of Sovereign's Might.
Whenever Blue activated Sovereign's Might...
Ashcroft was forced to do the same.
Otherwise...
One careless mistake might even result in Blue killing him instead.
However...
With the tremendous regenerative power granted by Sovereign's Might...
Although Ashcroft was somewhat stronger than Blue...
The situation actually became slightly less favorable to him than when neither side used Sovereign's Might.
A single great battle lasted four to five hours.
Both Blue and Ashcroft consumed at least a dozen drops of Sovereign's Might each time.
Although the Four Divine Beasts clan no longer possessed any new source of Sovereign's Might...
They had gathered together the Sovereign's Might reserves from all the Four Divine Beasts clan's branch families across the various planes long ago.
Thus...
The amount of Sovereign's Might they possessed far exceeded Ashcroft's own reserves.
As a result...
After fighting more than a dozen battles and wasting over a hundred drops of Sovereign's Might...
Ashcroft had almost never managed to push Blue into a truly desperate situation.
And since Ashcroft was holding back...
Blue was naturally happy to conserve the clan's Sovereign's Might as well.
The other seven patriarchs all understood the situation between Ashcroft and Blue.
However...
None of them were willing to abandon their own opponents and switch battlefields with Ashcroft.
After all...
No one's reserves of Sovereign's Might simply fell from the sky.
Losing more than ten drops during a single battle...
Meant that after only several dozen battles...
Their families' accumulated reserves would be exhausted.
Yes...
They wanted to complete the task entrusted to them by their Sovereigns.
But none of them wished to squander the foundations their clans had built over more than a thousand calendrical eras.
"It seems..."
"This is still our only option."
After lengthy discussions...
No one came up with a better plan.
Thus, they could only continue using their previous strategy.
"Oh, right."
"Earlier, the Prefect of Indigo Prefecture sent members of the Prefect's Army to warn us."
"He ordered that no battles involving more than one hundred participants may take place within Indigo Prefecture."
"Otherwise..."
"He'll consider us his enemies."
"What do you all know about this new Prefect?"
After they finalized their strategy against the Four Divine Beasts clan, Saintnar suddenly spoke.
"Mm."
"I also received a warning from the new Prefect of Indigo Prefecture."
"He said he'll give us ten years to adjust the situation."
"But after ten years..."
"If there are still battles involving more than one hundred participants anywhere within Indigo Prefecture..."
"He'll personally take action against us."
(End of Chapter)
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