Aterna.

The arrival of the convoy from Divine Sea Sect and Hollow-Tiger Army heralded the beginning of irreversible changes. The army took over the areas that were out of the habitable territory and started constructing their base rapidly. If one were to compare Aterna to a circle, then the area of the natives would be a concentric circle inside with an annular ring of chaos ravaged by law ocean. The base of the army was like a fortification surrounding the area of natives.

Apart from building the base, the convoy also arranged a ritual to heal the plane-will. All this was done according to the contract between Michael who had represented the natives and Divine Sea Sect.

3 months after the military convoy reached Aterna, the construction of the military operating base was completed. The process was completely handled by the Hollow-Tiger Army and the convoy. The details were kept separate from all people in Aterna, including Michael. On the outside, it looked that the army was here to guard the plane, keeping it safe from devils and other hostile factions. But the leaders of the plane knew that it was also a prison for the plane. In this prison, the Sect would make sure that the plane would be under their constant monitoring. For disciples like Michael who were brimming with potential, the Sect would use countless methods to tie them together and enforce their loyalty. Changing one's sect was not uncommon for outer-sect disciples but for disciples of importance, it was hardly ever seen.

Given the situation, as long as the army fortifications remained around the plane, Michael wouldn't be able to betray his Sect unless he was prepared to give up his home plane.

Michael kept constant contact with the convoy but he was excluded in most of the internal decisions. This was a matter of propriety as Michael was not a formal member of the expedition. Also, his status was not enough to have access to the details.

After the completion of the base, the ritual for recovering the plane-will was held. This was a complicated ritual that was personally carried out by Krill Nash himself. Recovering the plane-will was one of the conditions in the contract. The level of the ritual was so high that none of the locals understood it much. They just followed instructions and helped the Divine Sea Sect convoy. After another month, the ritual was held breathing life into the weak plane-will. The results of the ritual stunned all living beings of the world. Aterna was a bonafide secondary-rank plane before its regression. Throughout millions of years, the plane had slowly recovered but it was still far from full recovery. But with a single ritual, the entire recovery happened in just a few hours.

The vitality of the entire plane increased tremendously. The first visible effect was the rapid thickening of spirit energy of the plane. The spirit energy increased to a level that it became possible for people to cultivate without any resources. This was only possible in the legendary era before the cataclysm. After this, the fundamental laws of the plane were strengthened. Tertiary planes had very weak law-currents making comprehension of laws extremely hard. Thus, it was impossible to reach ascendance without special destiny or truly heaven-defying talent. But now, the ceiling that had suppressed the cultivators of Aterna for millions of years was removed.

There were many other subtle changes as the plane evolved into a secondary-rank plane.

The entire plane rejoiced in unison along with the cheering of plane-will. All natives received rewards from the plane-will increasing their strength. The increase was not significant for those in the law-comprehension stage but for the low rung cultivators and mortals, it was a windfall. Aterna Empire held a plane-wide festival celebrating the advancement of their home plane. Despite his many worries, Michael also enjoyed himself from the bottom of his heart.

It had been half a century since his rebirth. Michael clearly remembered the broken world of his previous timeline, the desolation and grief that had permeated the plane due to the devils' invasion. Having lived in that war-torn era, Michael, who was originally an inherently selfish person, had changed. Aterna and its people had become a part of his heart. Looking at the smiling masses, children running around in joy, adults smiling and the elderly filled with hope for the future, Michael felt a sense of accomplishment as well as a heavy sense of responsibility. He had seen countless tragedies. Emotions did not distinguish between mortals and cultivators. All the people of Aterna considered him their emperor. While it might not have been that way when he initially rose to power, through his achievements, he had made his place in the hearts of people.

Humans had already considered him their leader and hope from the beginning. But the same could not be said for other races, especially the earlier hostile dark-races. The racial bonds in the plane were too strong for people to accept someone of a different race as their emperor. But things changed with the emergence of devils. In the first invasion, many races came together and sacrificed their blood to keep the future of the plane. At that point, with the knowledge of otherworld, people gradually understood the necessity of uniting under a powerful leader. Michael's performance won him the approval of masses. Later, when he went to explore other more powerful worlds to find a way of survival, his image in people's eyes became even more dignified and slowly, all races started adoring their leader. When the divine beasts pressured the new races, their unity increased further.

Michael's return and uniting of the continent was supported by many people from all races. To the people, Michael Rageberg was a natural choice for their leader. After Michael brought forward the knowledge of cultivation and disseminated the valuable knowledge freely, most people benefitted and became his supporters. His fair policies after uniting the plane gradually made him into a popular leader. While not all people liked him, the majority considered him as their leader and held goodwill towards him. The recovery of plane-will had again increased his popularity. His achievements over his new life were his foundation which had united the plane. The Aterna of now was completely different from the Aterna of his past life. At the beginning of his rebirth, he had set his goal to unite the plane. Now that he had truly united the plane, he realised that he could not step aside anymore. The weight of the hopes of hundreds of millions of people was so heavy that Michael had no choice but to continue fighting for his home and his people.

The ephemeral river of time continued flowing and another 5 years went by. These 5 years were an era of rapid growth. Some demi-ascendants broke through to the realm of ascendance and more and more demi-ascendants emerged. While the total power of natives was weaker than many secondary-planes, it was above and beyond any tertiary plane. But like all good things, this period of peace and development ended before anyone knew. 10 years after the unification of the plane, the war with devils began.

Hundreds of thousand kilometres away from Aterna, a city of tremendous size was floating in the law-ocean. This city was too huge to be called a city but it was more like a concrete country. The entire structure could hold millions of combatants easily. The laws around the city were not chaotic but were orderly. This was the characteristic of a plane. Of course, the city was not a plane as the scale of laws was much smaller and did not form a system. But such a treasure could not be constructed by upper-ascendants. Only divinities could step into the realm of creation and truly form demi-planes.

Four high-level devils were currently in-charge of the city. They were the commanders of the current expedition against Divine Sea Sect.

One of them was a young lady with a sinister aura around her. She looked extremely beautiful except for hollow eyes and green hair that seemed to have a life of their own. In her eyes, small green flames could be seen flickering. She was a disciple of Green Devil Divinity, Medussa Green.

Another was a young man with a devilish charm. He had red eyes and red hair. The air around him gave a stench of blood and death. He was a disciple of Blood Devil divinity, Neon Blood.

Another was a lanky man with sunken cheeks and eyes with a frail appearance. This is a disciple of Bone Devil Divinity, Jaren Bone.

And finally, was the leader of the operation, a prime-disciple candidate of Black Devil Divinity, Theo Black. He appeared the weakest and most normal among all the people present. But from the environment around the place, it was clear that he was the leader of all commanders present.

Theo spoke in a calm voice, "The Divine Sea Sect was quite fast in setting up their defences. They have a well-guarded base. In this battle, they have a defensive advantage. Also, the Hollow-Tiger Army is a powerful army considered top 10 among Divine Sea Sect's armies. Krill Nash is also a problem. There are some others in the convoy who could be troublesome but we don't have to pay them too much attention."

"We have three armies. We can easily overpower them in a frontal battle.", Medussa added.

Jaren replied, "This way, we will leave ourselves vulnerable to their reinforcements. Given that the trail has been built, there is a high chance that they will have reinforcements before we can destroy the plane."

Jaren was the main strategist of the group and his words carried great weight. Theo asked, "What is the best option?"

Jaren continued, "One army has to block the trail. The reinforcements from the Divine Sea Sect can only use the trail. As long as we hold it, we will be able to gain enough time to destroy the plane. I think Neon is the best choice for blocking the trail. He is experienced in defensive battles and the blood devil faction is known for their hardiness. He can hold the trail for a long time easily. With there only being a single trail, he will only be facing the firepower of one or at max two armies. Meanwhile, Theo and Medussa can do a two-pronged attack. The best option would be to catch the enemy by surprise. I have prepared a replica of star cannon. The cannon can only be fired three times but it should be enough to fool the enemy. In that case, they will have to move to destroy the cannon. We can lure them out and encircle them to kill most of them. As long as the casualties are high, we will be able to break through the defences."

In response to his words, all the commanders were left in awe. The star cannon was a war weapon of mass destruction. It was considered in the highest category of general war weapons. Each shot of the cannon could threaten a peak-ascendant. Beyond this was the realm of divinities and any power that reached that realm would no longer be deployed in small wars. Only in great wars were the divinities deployed. This was the treaty of law ocean and even the devils would not dare to break it.

The star cannons were generally used in wars between primary planes or superplanes. No one would think of using it in a small war like this. Each of those cannons was costlier than an entire secondary-plane. Ascendants were not able to deploy these weapons with their status and the permission of a divinity was needed.

"This is a perfect trap! It will be outside Krill's expectations to see such a weapon on the battlefield and to make sure that they stand a chance, he will be forced to move to destroy the cannon.", praised Theo with sincerity.

"Even if it is a replica, it has cost me almost half my savings! I hope you will keep this in mind after becoming Black Prime.", Jaren replied.

The devils were a unique existence among the several powers of law-ocean. Under the leadership of Devil Ancestor, they fought against all orthodox powers. The devil ancestor was rumoured to be a transcendent cultivator who had crossed the final boundary of mortality and had become a God. The devils were not a power located primarily in the law ocean or 33 minor worlds. They were oppositions to the Heaven empire and the Heaven emperor. Given that the devils had survived countless years against Heaven Empire which was known to have true gods, the devil ancestor had to at least be a true god.

Of course, the ones present here had never seen the devil ancestor's true body but they had indeed met his clone. The devil ancestor was known to lead the devils of each world with his many clones. These clones only had a wisp of the ancestor's true might and were only around three or four-star divinities' level. But none of the divinities who lacked the support from a true god would dare to go against them.

What was a true god? Countless chosen and geniuses, masters and grandmasters across aeons who had reached the third step of cultivation and become divinities had asked the same question. A true god was an entire step beyond divinities, a being in the fourth step. It was a realm unimaginable to normal divinities. The fact that the devil ancestor could easily maintain and control thousands of clones as strong as four-star divinities scattered across the known universe was enough for one to understand the might of a true god. The law ocean could not hold a being of such power. If a true god were to let out their true might, it would erase the law ocean completely. This was the reason why none of the vassal worlds did not dare to exterminate the devils from their turf.

Below the devil ancestor were various divinities. Each divinity was a pillar of the devils. They were the ones who were responsible for fighting against the forces of Heaven Empire. Each divinity was considered an independent unit and could establish their own faction. The Green Devil divinity had formed the Green devil faction and so on. Their disciples would take on the name of their faction. Each faction had a prime disciple. The position of a prime disciple was the same as a successor disciple in orthodox sects. They were given the highest resources and guidance. They were the candidates to become divinities! Every power in the law ocean would groom successor disciples to create new divinities. Of course, not everyone succeeded in reaching the next step. Most successors would end up dying in their breakthrough. But, they had the highest chance in the entire law ocean. Also, as long as they were alive, they would only be below divinities in status. Even divine children did not have such a high status. After all, a divinity could have many children but every divinity could only have a single successor at a time.

The successor of Black Devil Divinity had died recently during his breakthrough. This had created a vacancy that had caused devils of entire law ocean to emerge in the fight. All the legacy disciples of Black Devil Divinity would compete to get the position of prime-disciple. Theo was one of the best legacy disciples and thus had a great chance to win. As a test, the Black Devil Divinity had asked him to stop the army of Divine Sea Sect from finding out the Might secret realm. He was not allowed to use the army of Black devil faction. Thus, he had formed an alliance with Jaren, Medussa and Neon.

"I have been asked specifically by Lord Black Devil to let the leader of natives of the plane, Michael Rageberg, alive. If he dies, it would be a crime punishable by death of all people involved!", Theo said.

"Yes, this has been marked as a crime of the highest order. From what I know, that kid has great talent and has the potential to reach divine. I don't understand why we are leaving someone like that alive. I have read his file thoroughly. If given enough time, I have a feeling that he will be more terrifying than the likes of Perseus Pendragon!", Jaren said.

"What?! How can that be? Do you mean to say he will reach divine? How can you be sure? Even divinities can't guarantee this.", Medussa shrieked.

"I can't say if he will reach divine. But know that he is walking 8 paths at once! This kind of person has never appeared in the law ocean before. One would think that he will not be able to focus and would not achieve much but I have a different feeling. As you all know, my psychic legacy focusses on feelings and premonitions. I have a strong feeling that he will succeed in cultivating all paths. Do you know what this means? If he one day reaches Perseus' level of cultivation, he will be much stronger than Perseus! He will be unstoppable below divine and perhaps beyond! Such a thing has never happened in the law ocean before.", Jaren said.

With his words, the four commanders fell silent. Eventually, Theo said, "We don't need to worry about things that are not our concern. Even if he can become a divinity with 8 paths, so what? If the Ancestor wants him to die, he will die. Get ready to destroy this plane. Send out the scouts and vanguard, let the war begin!"