The battlefield was eerily silent, especially compared to the carnage that had enveloped it a mere handful of moments ago. Every single gaze was focused on a single person right now, Yao Jun, his black hair fluttering quietly as the cold breeze swept across the blood-soaked land.

King of Demonic Deities. There was not a single person present who did not know what this title meant, who bore it. It had once belonged to the man who unveiled several Divine Beasts during the universe's grand championship, the man who violently claimed the first place before abruptly leaving the competition. And in the end, he broke a planet and got his new name, Nine Heavens Demon God, one of the core founders of Titan's Gate.

As such, the almost oppressive silence took on two meanings. Those on the side of Titan's Gate rejoiced quietly that their greatest war asset had arrived while those on the opposing side despaired because the greatest horror had arrived. But whatever any of them felt, they were keenly aware that this wasn't a place for them to open their mouth, this stage belonged to their leaders.

"What are you doing here? I'd love to tear into you right now, but you should know about the state of this war and what it means, this doesn't seem to follow your usual modus operandi."

The one who broke the silence was the silver-armoured man with frog-like eyes, Maximus Eluard, father of the late Peyton and Lucia Eluard. He was probably the one here who despised Yao Jun the most, he had previously killed both of his kids after all. But he also knew that this was war, it wasn't a personal matter, a fact that the other side should also know, they had honoured it for quite some time already after all. But what a shame it was that the 'modus operandi' of Wan Yi's Titan's Gate was not something Yao Jun adhered to.

"Don't speak to me of their way of acting, it's got nothing to do with me."

Yao Jun's answer was exceedingly simple and straight. Keeping the war stable to train soldiers? Keeping things at an acceptable level so that the higher-ups didn't all move at once and bring the war into its final bloody stages? None of that mattered to him in the slightest. He'd move and do what he wanted, and if the world wanted to react then it was free to do so.

Maximus' flinched slightly at Yao Jun's tone, he felt a creeping chill that things weren't exactly as they used to be. Yao Jun ignored Maximus' reaction and turned his gaze towards the side occupied by Titan's Gate's army. His targets were approaching, the army dividing to open a path for them.

"Brother Jun! I didn't expect you to come all the way here to join up with us, has there been a change of plans?"

A booming voice that would probably have been heard clearly even when the battle was at its worst. A burly and rugged body surpassing two metres, short and somewhat dirty golden hair, and green eyes so clean they seemed translucent. He was as handsome as his sister was beautiful, but he had a face that looked like it was carved with a knife so it was a different type of beauty.

Quite some time had passed, but Yang Long had barely changed. There was a glint in his eyes that told Yao Jun that he hadn't expected his arrival, or perhaps return, so it seemed like Wan Yi had yet to contact them, probably too busy trying to concoct a new plan while tending to her wounds.

Two more people were following Yang Long. Lin Ren's skin was still tanned, but his grey hair was now cut so short that it barely reached his ears, his black eyes curiously inspecting Yao Jun after their long separation. Back when they first met, Lin Ren had been muscular but not burly, but he had slowly let himself go over time. Now he had lost that muscular shade he had in the past and was already well on his way to becoming chubby.

And then there was the last person. Limpid blue eyes carrying a strong light, long golden hair that flowed like silk, and cherry red lips that glistened slightly. Yao Jun didn't know exactly what sort of disguise technique this one was using, but she was even able to mimic Yang Yuhuan's smell, it was so accurate that it was disgusting.

"Thank you for coming to me, it saves me the trouble."

Yang Long was just about to ask what Yao Jun meant when a slight squelching followed by a dull thud reached his ears and stole his thoughts. He only had to move his eyes slightly to see where the sound had come from, the corner of his mouth twitching quietly once. The head of the 'Yang Yuhuan' that had been standing next to Lin Ren had left her shoulders and fallen to the ground, her inquisitive expression forever frozen on her face.

"And that's the last one."

Yao Jun's simple declaration sent a shiver down the spines of those affiliated with Titan's Gate, Yang Long most of all. He could be said to be somewhat familiar with Yao Jun so he felt like he had a good guess as to what he meant. He was confident that if he contacted Wan Yi right now then he would be told that everyone who had impersonated Yao Jun, Yun Yantian, Guo Luo, and Yang Yuhuan were now all dead. Buried by their own Demon God.

"The last? Have you gone insane?! Are you trying to tell us that you've killed more of our generals, cut down more of our own forces? We're allies, friends, what are you doing?!"

Lin Ren was the first to voice his reaction, evidently also understanding exactly what Yao Jun meant with his words. This was awful. Not only was it bad because he had cut down their own forces, but he had also done it in front of the enemy, this was a display that could cost them everything. He glanced somewhat warily at Maximus, he was the Ghost General so it would fall on him to figure out how to best handle this situation. But there was someone here who understood the situation better, Yang Long's hand landing on Lin Ren's shoulder.

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"Stop it. We are Yantian's friends, not Yao Jun's friends, we can barely be considered acquaintances."

Yes, Yang Long was well aware of this fact. How much time had they spent with Yao Jun, how many times had they talked? It was barely a drop in the ocean, it wasn't even worth mentioning. Spouting pretty words was fine, but when it came down to it they were barely more than acquaintances, it was always Yun Yantian that they had been friends with.

"My sister... Yantian... What has happened to them?"

Even though they were only acquaintances, Yang Long would say that he was fairly confident in his knowledge of Yao Jun, mostly because of how simple Yao Jun actually was. If it involved those close to him then he would move and act without hesitation, he would spill all the blood in the world if he had to. And now he had killed the person impersonating Yang Yuhuan, and probably those impersonating Yun Yantian and the others as well. Something must have happened, something that made him react this strongly to their images and names being used.

"Let me finish up here and then we can talk in private."

Yang Long's heart sank to the pit of his stomach when Yao Jun didn't deny that something had happened. But then again, just the fact that Yao Jun's hair and eye colour had returned to normal, and the fact that he had come here alone, was enough to tell him that his time in the major universe had not been kind to him. He drew in a sharp breath and nodded his head, doing his best to calm his heart as Yao Jun turned his gaze back onto Maximus.

"Infighting... seems like the situation of your little gate isn't too good. So, is this the part where you move to fight us?"

Maximus had yet to make a move, he too was aware of the fact that this was not a stage made for him. He phrased it as a question, but he could see the truth written all over Yao Jun's face, it was engraved in the fire that burned within his eyes.

"I lost my first friend thanks to your alliance. That is something I will never forgive you, nor myself, for."

He remembered it every day, saw it in every flash of lightning. Little Thunder, the first friend, the first companion he ever made. Yao Jun had been too weak to breach the barrier set up by the Merged Heaven clan and their alliance and the end result was that Little Thunder died to protect his parents. He was the first to lay down his life for Yao Jun, and while he had hoped that he would be the only one, Yun Yantian proved that Yao Jun's hopes were destined to be nothing more than dust on the wind.

"Hah, so we managed to rob you of something already, that's good. Let's hope many more follow."

Maximus smiled grimly, baring all the hostility that was burning within him. Yao Jun's eyes narrowed sharply and his arm rose, his Qi seething violently as he tapped into it. But just as it was about to burst out from his body, the exact moment his offence was at its peak and his defence was at its lowest, the corpses beneath his feet shuddered slightly.

The murky blood pooled around and between the corpses rose like a geyser, forming a humanoid figure with spears for arms, both weapons aiming directly for Yao Jun's chest from below. It was a very patient ambush that had waited for the perfect timing, and if he was alone then it may have had a degree of success. But right now, Yao Jun wasn't alone.

Zhuan Yi's arm elongated and shot out like a tendril, slithering between Yao Jun's legs and morphing into a spiked mace that slammed into the humanoid figure. Zhuan Yi was a Sovereign God, a Godking, no attack launched by her was easy to deal with. But even so, the humanoid figure was only pushed back by Zhuan Yi's attack, a clicking sound coming from where its head should be.

The sound seemed to be a signal as Yao Jun felt space behind him shift slightly at that very moment. A silver-haired and grey-eyed woman appeared out of empty space, her long spear already slashing down towards Yao Jun's head, space around the weapon constantly folding into an increasingly sharp edge.

This time it was Sirius who acted, throwing himself towards the incoming attack while pushing out his arm. The wind in the area was all sucked in and pushed outwards, a horizontal tornado tearing into the descending spear. But despite his best efforts, the spear continued to descend through the tornado, slicing cleanly through it.

This wasn't entirely unexpected to Sirius, who tapped into the Supreme Law of Defence fragments that Yao Jun had given him in the past. The wind formed a two-fold barrier between Yao Jun and the descending weapon, one that was incomparably hard and one that reflected all that touched it.

The attack tore through the first barrier and touched upon the second one, that shaft of the spear trembling faintly before the woman strengthened her grip and pushed down even harder, the folding of space speeding up. In the end, the last barrier was also cut through, but it had bought Sirius enough time to arrive by the weapon and push it aside now that it had been weakened after going through three separate defensive lines.

Blood gushed out from his hands after he pushed aside the attack and he breathed somewhat heavily, but at least he had managed to protect his lord. Yao Jun had yet to move, his expression a bit darker but otherwise unchanged. His gaze followed the spear-wielding woman as she teleported away, meeting up with the humanoid figure that had melted back into the blood before reforming into a man with dark brown hair and bright yellow eyes.

He didn't recognize the two people, never having met them before. But the energy that they quietly radiated told him enough. The first one wasn't too surprising, they were part of the alliance so it was inevitable that they would try to send someone to deal with him. The second one was a bit more surprising, but perhaps it was to be expected that they would get involved in a matter as big as this, they were eyeing this universe after all.

"One from Heaven's Gate and one from the Sebettu, huh. I'm sure you think I should be honoured that you decided to send two Godkings to deal with me, but I hope your organizations are prepared to lose two Godkings instead."

Yes, the energy radiating from the two of them marked them both as Godkings, they were part of the highest echelon in this minor universe. From the looks of things, they had gotten quite worried after Yao Jun killed Firesage Wyrmheart, one of the Final Fire clan's Godkings. But that was understandable. After all, how many years had it been since a Godking last fell? And to a youth even.

The Heaven's Gate sect was part of the Merged Heaven clan's alliance so Yao Jun had nothing to say about them, he'd come to find them even if he left them alone. As for the Sebettu, he didn't really have a terrible relationship with them thanks to Ren Shuren, it wasn't exactly friendly, but they weren't enemies either. But yet, here stood one of their Godkings after trying to ambush him so it seemed like they too were looking to cut down their own forces somewhat. And that, that was a request that Yao Jun was always more than happy to fulfil, now would be no different.