"How many demons did the Imperial Army kill?!"
"Even a fraction of his score is several times the second place total."
"Even if we add up every point from every Castle Lord and Ranger in this tournament, I don't think it would reach Lord Haru's score."
"It doesn't. That's a fact."
"He saved all of us, though. If he hadn't cleared the third layer, those hundred thousand Demonic Gods would have come up and wiped the floor with everyone."
That landed, and the noise shifted from disbelief to something quieter and more genuine. Nobody called it unfair. They all knew what they owed.
Haru closed the scoreboard. First place meant a special reward. He'd find out when he found out. The more immediately satisfying number was the drop loot he was still mentally tallying: nearly a hundred thousand Godheads from Tenebris, including the two Supreme God Tier Godheads from Miltonic and Dantean.
There were also hundreds of thousands of artifacts, most damaged but not worthless. The imperial army's spoils hadn't even been formally handed over yet. There was another enormous pile waiting to be counted.
The artifacts in particular. He turned the idea over. A large-scale auction, open to Castle Lords and Rangers flush with the post-tournament enthusiasm, would cause Power Stones, Divine Crystals and Magic Crystals to flow back in exchange for goods he could afford to part with.
There would probably be enough resources to upgrade the Scepter and Armor to the Supreme God Tier. That would close the only real weakness in his combat power.
'Good idea.' He noted, and shelved it for later.
…
The Imperial Army returned in high spirits. Lysandra was at the front with Mary, Aureole, Sylvana, Eveline, Auriel and the other High Gods next to her. Behind them was a contingent of the Gods of Castle Faction who had joined the chase. Every Demonic God that had fled the Arboriel had been killed. Not even one had made it back to the Abyss.
The Empire's Gods gave a short bow when they saw Haru, while the Castle Faction Gods, finally seeing him in person, became visibly more animated than the occasion strictly required. For the Castle Forces, he occupied a category somewhere between their faction's supreme commander and a mythological figure. No one in the Castle Faction could challenge that position and the scoreboard had just made it permanent.
Haru nodded to all of them and said, "You have three hours. Arboriel's surface still has Divine Treasures buried in it. Ten thousand years of accumulation doesn't disappear overnight."
This caused most of them to disperse while only a few stayed.
…
"Lord Haru." One of the lingering Castle Lords kept his voice casual and asked, "Word is the Aetherium Empire's army back at the Endless Continent has taken the Death Swamp. Unified with the Endless Prairies and Andes Highlands, basically that whole region is under your command."
"That's correct." Haru nodded. The Dark Forest, Endless Prairies and Andes Highlands had fallen before he'd even left for Arboriel. By now, that whole region was consolidated under his command. The only thing that could now challenge the Great Aetherium was the central region and the Pantheons of Faith.
"So…" The Castle Lord tried to ask, "…is the Great Aetherium going to declare war on the central area next?"
"Yes." Haru said.
The exhale that went through the group was almost audible. The Castle Faction had wanted this for a long time. They had the numbers now—millions of gods, countless Demigods and Saints—but almost all of those Gods were Lower True Gods. There were barely any Intermediate Gods while there were no High Gods.
Still, against the native empires with Supreme Gods, raw numbers meant nothing without high-end power to back them up. They needed someone who could actually fight those Supreme Gods head on and there was only one candidate for that.
"When it begins…" Haru continued, "…every Castle Lord and Ranger is invited to participate. I'll establish cities and teleportation arrays in the wild territory east of the Imperial Capital. You'll be able to move in and out freely."
As for the Great Aetherium's first target, they already knew that it would be the Light Empire, the native empire closest to the Great Aetherium. These Castle Lords have been closely monitoring the Great Aetherium and were also preparing for war. This situation would erupt soon.
This was all Haru needed to say. The excitement that followed him out as he walked away was the sound of people who had just been handed the war they'd been waiting for.
As Haru left, he didn't hear the conversation that happened after he'd moved out of earshot. Most of it was the usual—exclamations about the leaderboard, speculation about the special reward, and the comparisons between this tournament and the previous Beast Tide Event.
Just at this time, someone finally noticed Svetlana.
"By the way, who was the veiled goddess standing near Haru? She seemed to be a human, not an Angel or an Elf. As for her Divine Power…"
"It was extremely terrifying, definitely not weaker than Haru himself."
"That was Svetlana, the Goddess of Fate. One of the oldest Gods of Faith on the Endless Continent. Her strength is comparable to the Elven Goddess Elunara."
A pause followed.
"So Haru has even got the Goddess of Fate in his…"
"Apparently."
"He's got some serious rizz!"
Meanwhile, Away from the group, Svetlana gave no indication she'd heard any of it. Her silver eyes were already looking elsewhere—at Haru, as usual, with that expression that wasn't quite a smile and wasn't quite not one.
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