Chapter 2400 - The Decisive Battle (VIII)
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
In the center of the army, Crown Prince’s Junior Guardian Wang Zhongsi was also keeping a close watch on the front.
“Pass on my order! Mobilize the Giant Army!” Wang Zhongsi suddenly declared.
Humans had no path of retreat!
While some decisions were cruel, they were necessary. On this battlefield, there was no difference between the noble and lowly. Everyone had their duty and role that they had to play to the end, and some sacrifices were unavoidable.
However, the soldiers on the front line were clearly not enough to deal with the seemingly endless torrent of the Celestial Army.
“Yes!”
A messenger soldier sighed in relief as he turned around and rode away.
Only a few moments later…
Roooar!
With heaven-shaking roars, a metallic clattering came from the rear. In the back of the human army stood rows of giant door-shaped machines, each standing two hundred feet tall. Inside these metal doors were giants, each one a hundred feet tall and covered completely in armor. With deafening booms, they hurtled into the air, drawing long arcs across the sky before smashing into the front line.
The Giant Army!
Their earliest form was in the Skyquaking Giants of Arabia.
In the war of the northwest between the Great Tang and Arabia, these giants had been almost completely wiped out. But after Arabia had submitted and the Great Tang had united the world, the Giant Army had been reestablished. Unlike in the past, however, recruitment into the Giant Army was voluntary rather than compelled, and the selection criteria were even more strict.
In this war where the fate of the world was on the line, any sort of help would be of enormous aid.
They needed to use every method at their disposal to fight back against Heaven and the Celestial Army!
Boom!
A massive giant, his body curled up into a ball, descended from the sky like a meteor and smashed into the front line. Boom! Dust plumed into the air as several dozen Celestial Army soldiers screamed, blasted up into the air by the impact.
“For the Great Tang!”
A giant charged out of the churning dust, his muscles taut and his eyes bright, his body brimming with explosive strength. Unlike the giants of the past, his eyes were clearly sober, and he was able to think normally.
Boom!
When the giant punched out, Stellar Energy surged out of his body and immediately swept through several Celestial Army soldiers like a gale, his power completely overwhelming.
Even Celestial Army soldiers found it hard to stop!
“Come on! Let me see how strong you are!”
The leading giant moved with an agility that did not match his enormous body, charging at the nearby Celestial Army soldiers. The earth groaned and shuddered under his feet as if it was unable to endure this power.
“Ah!”
The giant gripped a giant wolfteeth mace in his hand, and he swept it with overwhelming power at the Celestial Army.
The muscular Celestial Army soldiers appeared like infants in front of the hundred-foot-tall giants. For the first time, the Celestial Army soldiers had truly encountered an existence that could suppress them.
“Careful!”
A Celestial Army soldier crossed his arms in front of his chest to block the strike, his eyes stricken with fear, but upon being struck by the mace, he flew backward in the air like a ragdoll.
Boomboomboom!
More giants rained down from the sky and crashed into the ground, exploding across the front line of the Celestial Army and unleashing clouds of dust.
For this war, the human world had spent the last three years establishing this army of one hundred thousand giants. At this moment, they were all being tossed into the front line by the massive metal gates in the rear.
As these giants joined the fight, the crumbling front line was stabilized. Besides that, the Celestial Army which had the upper hand began to fall into disarray.
“Killkillkill!”
The human soldiers roared as they launched their counterattack.
On the other end, Zhao Fengchen’s Xuanwu Army had been on the verge of falling to the men in black, but at this moment, two hundred thousand Shadow Dragons joined the fight.
Clang!
In a cold flash of light, a nimble man in black descended from the sky, swinging down his sword, but he was instantly blocked by a sword that was just as swift. A member of the Shadow Dragon Dvision flew into the air, lunging at the man in black.
“It’s you guys!”
The man in black was alarmed as he quickly recognized what force this soldier belonged to.
He had participated in the war in the northeast, and was familiar with this force that the Great Tang had trained specifically to deal with them. Many other members of the Celestial God Organization were also extremely familiar with them.
“Just a loser!”
The man in black snorted in disdain and lunged at him.
While An Lushan had lost, and the men in black who had infiltrated the fortress had been wiped out, in reality, they had killed many members of the Shadow Dragon Division.
No matter how strong the disciple was, he could not be stronger than the master!
In many ways, the Shadow Dragon Division imitated their training methods, and even the arts they used belonged to the men in black. But in terms of actual fighting experience, the two weren’t on the same level.
Bang!
A moment later, a black flame erupted from the man in black’s body, traveling along his sword and rushing at his opponent.
“Hmph!”
Seeing this, the Shadow Dragon soldier coldly snorted. Showing no sign of backing down, he unleashed a dark black flame from his own body.
“M-Mara Fire!”
That proud man in black was instantly left stupefied, not daring to believe his eyes.
The Fire of Mara was extremely difficult to cultivate. Even in the Celestial God Organization, more people cultivated the lower-level Fires of Ju Bi and Lu Wu, but few people could cultivate the Fire of Mara.
Yet not only could this person use the highest-level Fire of Mara, he seemed to have an even better grasp of it than him.
How could this be possible?!
And this was not the only shocking thing.
“You’re a human, but you want to destroy the human world! Truly shameful! Since that is the case, I will take back all your energy!”
The Shadow Dragon soldier roared, one hand attacking with the sword while the other hand thrust out. Boom! The surrounding area suddenly darkened, and the Yin Yang symbol appeared around the Shadow Dragon soldier’s body.
Bang!
A moment later, the man in black’s Fire of Mara rushed out of his body and into the Shadow Dragon soldier’s body.
“Not good!”
The man in black was alarmed and flipped backward in the air, trying to back away, but he was too late.
Not only did the Shadow Dragon Division possess the Fires of Ju Bi and Mara, they also had the Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art which the Celestial God Organization did not train in.
During the war of the northeast, the Shadow Dragon Division had only been recently established, but things were completely different after three years.
Buzz!
As the man in black flew backward, the Shadow Dragon soldier blinked away. Using the Shadow Fiend Art passed down from Wang Chong, he instantly appeared behind his foe and thrust his sword into his body.
“No!”
The man in black’s heart went cold. Even in death, he did not dare believe that this force established in imitation of them would grow stronger than them within the space of just three years!
Thudthudthud!
More and more Shadow Dragon soldiers lunged into the fray, rushing at the men in black like wolves.
The Fire of Ju Bi, the Fire of Mara, the Fire of Lu Wu… countless flames erupted from the bodies of the Shadow Dragon members, and in short order, not only had the Shadow Dragon Division halted the offensive, it had even begun to suppress the men in black.
Grand Supreme and Radiance Supreme instantly grew furious at this sight.
“These bastards are using our own techniques against us!”
Whether it was the Fire of Ju Bi, the Fire of Lu Wu, or the Fire of Mara, they all belonged to the Celestial God Organization and were arts meant specifically to train their experts. Moreover, strictly speaking, that army of giants from Arabia had also belonged to the Celestial God Organization.
But now, the human army was using their weapon against them. Simply absurd!
Several Fallen suddenly came forward and asked, “Venerable One, should we go?!”
The Celestial God Organization had a strict hierarchy. While the men in black were not a professional army and didn’t have very tight cohesion, they were superior in their incredible strength that could be used to sow chaos in the enemy ranks.
But it appeared that these men in black were no match for the Shadow Dragon Division.
The Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art was enough to push them into dire straits. Moreover, they also possessed an extremely frightening movement technique.
Only the Fallen could deal with them.
In the long history of the Celestial God Organization, many Fallen had appeared. Most of them had damaged souls or had gone mad while cultivating. Besides that, there were also various experimental failures.
But in terms of strength, the Fallen were extremely powerful.
Many of them were at the Saint Martial realm, some of them at the Subtle realm, and a small number were even at the terrifying half-step Grotto Heaven realm level.
If they intervened, they could easily destroy the cheap imitation that was the Shadow Dragon Division.
“There’s no need!” Essence Supreme suddenly said, his eyes cold and indifferent as he surveyed the battlefield.
“This battle has only just begun, and there is no need to mobilize the Fallen. Moreover…”
Essence Supreme coldly laughed.
“Whether it’s the Giant Army or the Shadow Dragon Division, they are simply things that the Child of Prophecy has stolen from us. In terms of true ability, there is still a massive gap!
“Pass on my order! Mobilize the Archaic Celestial Army!”
The mention of the Archaic Celestial Army confused the Fallen. They looked to the front, mystified as to what was being discussed. Only the extremely old Fallen seemed to know, but they kept their mouths shut.
Grand Supreme and Radiance Supreme knew what was going on, their faces showing surprise.
Grand Supreme couldn’t help but say, “Venerable Essence Supreme, the Archaic Celestial Army… wasn’t it already wiped out? Did the Celestial Emperor…”
The initial Celestial Army was not at all like its current form.
Grand Supreme had heard that many epochs ago, long before their time, before the Celestial God Organization had been fully formed and did not have many followers, the Celestial Army had been something completely different. They had been extremely powerful and destructive, but their numbers had not been as great.
But when destroying a certain epoch, Heaven had encountered formidable resistance, and the Archaic Celestial Army had suffered a devastating blow. Though it had eventually succeeded in wiping out that epoch, it had suffered grievous losses, leaving behind only a few survivors.
After that, it had entered a state of hibernation.
Moreover, the creation of the Archaic Celestial Army was extremely difficult, so Heaven had changed his mind and decided to focus on quantity. Thus, the Archaic Celestial Army was no more.
Though Grand Supreme and Radiance Supreme had followed Heaven for so long, they had only ever heard about it second-hand.
Besides that, for this ‘Final Purification’ plan, Heaven had given Essence Supreme full authority to execute this war, so not even Grand Supreme and Radiance Supreme were very clear about the details.
“Mm!”
Essence Supreme nodded, indifferently adding, “All is the will of the Celestial Emperor!”
Essence Supreme said nothing more. There was no need to elaborate too much on such things.
There were far too many variables in this epoch, and even that Child of Prophecy had finally appeared after countless eons. Heaven regarded this epoch and the Final Purification plan with far more import than he had any other epoch.
This was why he had spent three years reviving the Archaic Celestial Army.
Buzz!
Essence Supreme waved his hand, and a hazy light pulsing with spacetime energy began to spread out from his position to the Turkic steppe behind him.
