When he reached the battlefield, a stretch of space with dozens of blackholes creating some sort of boundary, the armies from both sides had already gathered.
The corrupt military officers didn't want to expose themselves to their superiors. So, they disguised the young master as a normal captain assigned to this sector and threw him to the battlefield like everyone else.
As a rank 5, the young master was already one of the strongest group leaders, only next to rank 6 commanders.
The rank 7s didn't take command anyone lower than them and only banded together. The same went with the other two ranks—rank 8s fought only with and against rank 8s as did rank 9s.
The grouping—a superior officier, a bunch of order taking soldiers—happened only in rank 6s and below.
"You all better remember today," Varian addressed his hundred-man troop with an arrogant expression. "History is going to be made."
Even though his tone was arrogant and his expression condescending, his words caused the troop to cheer with hope and enthusiasm.
"I am the nightmare of my enemies!"
"""I am the nightmare!"""
The troop repeated after him with tremenous energy as the the mood of war engulfed their minds.
'The young master isn't capable of any intricate speeches. This much is enough.'
Varian maintained the arrogant
'Status'
[Rank 8
Paragon Body: 25,000/25,000
Ignis: 25,000/25,000
Death Giant: 25,000/25,000
Order: 25,000/25,000
Chaos: 25,000/25,000
Space: 25,000/25,000
Time: 25,000/25,000
ƈοm <All you need is a push and you will blast forward like a rocket>]
Varian exhaled lightly and slammed his axe on the platform. The soldiers on the ship saluted him and jumped onto the battlefield.
As their leader, Varian gave them some orders before joining the battlefield himself.
Instead of fighting rank 5s like himself, he picked upon rank 4s and started killing them. Whenever he sensed a rank 5 aura nearby, he would slip away like a mouse.
While this happened, the real body of Varian reached the battlefield of peak rank 9s.
King Ferdinand, Martial Saint Kong, Dean Ankh, Miracle Queen and Old King were all fighting one man.
Hector Russ, the most favored celestial subordinate of the 7th Prince.
They were barely able to defend so far. But with the disappearance of Kong, they would surely lose.
When Varian reached the site, the battle was already in full swing.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Since he needed to conceal his identity, Varian didn't use his full power. Still, he was badly beaten just like everyone else.
Kacha! Kacha! Kacha!
Space split open and the giant crack swallowed him like a large mouth. When he managed to come out from the chaotic inner space, a quarter of his body was eaten away by the space currents.
"Haa! Huff! Huff!"
The King, the Queen, the Dean and the Old King were also all suffering from various degrees of injuries.
The dean was in the worst shape. With only half of his body left, his flesh was wriggling in a desperate attempt to regenerate. Forget healing, he was barely able to keep himself from being gnawed by the hostile aura.
Varian wriggled the fingers of his regnerated arm and glared at the enemy with gritted teeth.
With pure white hair reminscent of snow and pitch black skin darker than night, the man was a giant of ten feet with four arms.
Just his mere presence was already threatening enough, but with each movement of his fingers, the space around them either collapsed or exploded in completely unpredictable pattern.
There were only a few wounds on his body and while they weren't healing very fast, they wouldn't be able to stop him from fighting for at least a few more days.
"Is this one of your hidden powerhouses?" Hector glanced at Varian who remained in disguise with a look of contempt. "Interesting how you managed to hide him from our spies. Palarians are good at things like this, aren't they?"
Boom!
A trident broke through a space crack and reached Hector.
It was a sudden attack charged with the full strength of the king. Even though Hector noticed it before it could strike him, it was too late to completely dodge.
So, he strengthed the space around his arm and split the space around it. The trident clashed with the chaotic space and exploded, destroying the arm in the process.
"Haff! Huff! Haa!" The king panted heavily as he looked at Hector with a hateful expression. That was his strongest attack and it only took down one of the four arms.
"Why are you even targetting us? The Palarians have no special enmity with the Empire or the 7th Prince than anyone else." The Old King, one who returned from the military, asked in an aged voice.
"No, no, no." Hector shook his head, using the power of space to seal up the wound and block the hostile aura from infiltrating. "This isn't time for such good questions. It's time for answers and punishment."
He clenched his fists and punched out, causing a fluctuation of space that blasted them all away like boats subverted by raging tides.
Varian's bones broke and he nearly fainted from that one strike. Thankfully, he managed to pull himself together and stop himself before he was swallowed by the space crack that appeared behind him at some point.
A wave of lights filled space as the pala powerhouses launched their attacks on the three-armed man.
They were trying hard and were managing to injure him one way or another. If not for Varian's presence, one of the would've died and that would've spelled their doom.
With him taking some of the pressure away, they were able to keep fighting.
'Peak rank 9s? The difference within peak rank 9s is actually greater than low rank 9 and mid rank 9. Heck, even high rank 9 and peak rank 9.'
If he had to quantify it, Hector was at least twice as strong as Kong. The king was 10% stronger. The dean 5% weaker. And he was 5% weaker than the king.
"Arghh!"
With a battle cry, Varian raised a hammer and jumped at Hector.
The man was locked in place with the natal treasure of the old king and using that chance, Varian slammed his weapon onto his face.
Boom!
Of course, it wasn't a direct hit.
The space around the hammer twisted at the last moment and the trajectory was forcibly changed. The hammer struck Hector on his chest which was already protected by a thin layer of space.
Ripples spread as the barrier tried to disperse the force but it was too much to handle for defense set up at the last minute.
Kacha!
Hector was blown black, a depression in his chest and blood spurting out of his mouth.
But he quickly stabilized himself and dodged the spear as well as trident thrown at him.
Wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, he looked at Varian with an amused smile. "It hurt, a bit."
"Oh?" Varian tightened his grip on the hammer and the aura in him surged, breaking the final bottleneck of the celestial ranks.
[Congratulations for reaching rank 9]
"It's gonna hurt a lot more, buddy."