Out went the crap.

In came the grind.

Millenia flew by.

What the hell was I doing?

Fighting.

Those idiot priests only listened to Almthar. I actually cultivated.

I'd gain power until the war.

I slammed my hammer into monsters at level 85, over and over, while alternatively casting light magic at them. It was simple. I was killing them all. I was living up to my class description, standing alone in a field of corpses. Slowly, my essence level went up. Things changed on the outside, but I stayed in the cultivation room, leveling up.

There would be a war.

And I would win. I would kill Ylmthar.

I was above him.

And I would assert it.

I smashed a level 87 monster's whole body into dust. At this point, with my fine gear and great hammer, I could fight gods. After many millennia, the grind was done. It was time for the final challenge. Just then, Almthar came in.

"Your Empire needs you."

Almthar cast a light aspect shield over me. It was different, with level 200 mana. More powerful. Almthar punched a hole through reality. He picked me up, walked through, and promptly closed the hole.

Soon, Almthar was at the edge of the realm. "Use the ring, and I will get you. I will not enter the realm for the same reason that no sane person would go to a level 0 planet for anything other than an exercise."

Almthar punched a hole through the fabric of the realm. I went in, and Almthar closed the hole.

All seven nobles were level 74. They didn't emit auras of much power though.

"My lord," all 7 said in unison, "You have returned. We tried running the Empire, yet we were found by Holthar, who has invaded the outer reaches. You have reached level 80. May you please help the Empire."

"Okay. But what the fuck have you been doing? I wanted you to become properly powerful, not some shitbags. I will fight Holthar, but I want all gold-sections and diamond sections to train."

I teleported to the flag nearest me. I went into it, and teleported into a planet that had been marked for only gold and diamond sections due to Holthar invasion.

Holthar soldiers surrounded me. A level 90 stepped forward. "Tighyt Sasomac, you have been arrested for treason, among many other charges."

I stepped forward, to stand in front of him. I cast out an aura as the chosen of Almthar. Pure, undiluted light. The entire army seemed weakened, and some had passed out (mostly the silver sections). I said, "Your lives are forfeit."

The army rushed towards me. Those idiots were too late. I slammed my hammer into the planet, destroying it. All the silver sections were floating around helplessly. It was a small price to pay. Besides those helpless silver sections, there were a thousand gold sections, and an elite squad of 25 level 80s, along with the leader.

I cast a blast of twenty quintillion mana, killing most of the silver sections, and crippling most of the gold sections. I had made sure to anchor it to the essence plane so their essence was ravaged. They would be unable to fight for millennia.

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Those taken care of, I wheeled on the leader, a swordfighter. I hit his sword with all my strength. It chipped. "I squash your life, and I reap your death."

The very aura of a Mandate made those gold-sections die, and many so-called elites were trembling. A gold-section from the other empire appeared at the flag, screamed in terror, and left as fast as possible.

I slammed my hammer into the leader. His physical body turned into pulp, with him dead, because of how many planes my hammer was on.

I cast a beam of a quadrillion mana at each of the level 80s' necks, crippling them badly. With the few minutes that provided, I smashed all into pulps easily.

I put all in a spatial ring. I went to another planet. That planet had the bulk of the siege, but other star systems were also effected.

I poured all the bodies out of the ring once I got to that planet. "Go flee. Tell your emperor to come here and fight me in person, like a man, instead of like a coward, sending rank-and-file troops. I will spare your life if you do. These are the main incursion corpses."

Almost the entire contingent fled in fear. The level 56 that didn't was quickly killed by a blast of light.

A gold-section appeared through the flag. "Sir, the elf has been going rogue, killing people on Mars and Earth, and trying to escape to Holthar. Our gold-sections are stopping him, but if a minute is wasted, most will die."

I teleported to Earth. There was a lot of blood, but no elf. I jumped to Mars. All the gold-sections (none had been killed, though some were on the edge of death) were fighting the elf. I shot a beam of light at the elf, cutting off its head. That let me make a quick announcement. "Get out of the way. Healers, heal."

The noble healers started healing the wounded, while everyone else started moving them away. I jumped into that spot. The elf's head was back. I was in front of the elf. It tried to cast some spell at me, water magic, but I blocked with a shield of pure light. I grabbed the elf's neck. "Any last words, traitor?"

"I... will not die!" The elf tried casting teleport. I broke the spell structure by blocking the tube with a rod of mana.

I smashed the elf with my hammer.

I summoned all gold-sections to Venus.

"Stop being such shitbags."

There was a collective gasp. "Complete idiots. That whole Holthar contingent was just a bunch of weak idiots. I killed them all easily. I want you to fight. Also, I'm giving you these. There will be no tournament. All you will become nobles, and there will be no more nobles."

I gave each one a diamond ring. "Touch the diamond to talk to me."

It was a contraption I had set up in Almthar's realm. It took the sounds, and turned the sound into mana dots of varying sizes (there was 20 million mana in the system). The dots would flow to the other end, and a dis-encryptor would turn it back. "You can also use it to talk to each other. The target is selected by sending the number of mana that the person has as their mana number into it."

I assigned everyone a mana number, with me, the greatest, having number 1.

I said, "For now, I want you to become properly powerful. I will go and fight Holthar. Once I come back, I want you to be able to fight a level 80 on your own."

I teleported to the edge of Holthar. I started a methodic conquest, considering most planets only had the level 55 guard, who I could kill with a mana beam of 20 mana, considering my compression. After that, I'd take the planet for Sasomac.

Within a day, I was at the capital of the Kajar Province, the third biggest province in Holthar. It had a level 95 guarding it.

I drew my hammer. "Level 80, what do you want with the Kajar Province?"

"I want it for myself."

I hit the guard with a beam of 20 quintillion mana right in the head. It instantly reformed. The guard drew a spear.

"You really think you can kill Eman Kajar?"

"I squash your life, and I reap your death."

I hit the spear as hard as I could with my hammer. It shuddered. I hit it again.

It splintered. He used the tip to hit my armor, yet it barely left a scratch on the level 150 material.

I slammed into him repeatedly with my hammer. He was quickly forced to use his final attack.

A red spear appeared. It slammed right at me. I held up my hammer, and blocked. It made me slide backwards. It would not pierce my hammer though.

Once it was done, Eman looked like he was out of mana. I slammed my hammer into him as hard as I could, ending his life.

I claimed the planet for Sasomac. The only resistance I encountered was a bunch of level 75s lead by a level 80, whom I easily killed with a mana explosion.

From there, claiming the rest of the province was easy. It was done within a day. I stood outside Kalamata. I entered right where the village I had been guarding was. It was a level 65 area, with the town no longer there. Only one person remained. The emperor of Sasomac.

"Well, Tighyt, traitor, it's time I fight you. You have gained power. I knew you would come to this village. I will kill you."

A stave appeared in the emperor's hand.