There was a thunderous boom, followed by a deafening cracking sound that seemed as if it wanted to herald the end of the world. The sky split open, or perhaps it was the earth that was torn apart this time, Souren honestly wasn't able to tell anymore. Something whizzed through the air and grazed his face as his thoughts wandered, a momentary flash of searing pain clearing his mind.

"Ah, so it was the earth that split..."

He could feel blood run down his face from the cut left behind by the stone fragment that had just cut open his cheek. But when he looked around, that little bit of blood felt so insignificant that it was sad. The land was drenched in it, a crimson hue splattered across everything he could see. Compared to that, the blood running down his face was practically just a drop falling into the ocean.

It was perhaps a bit grim, but right now his mind was so numb that he actually felt a bit thankful that the scent of blood was so thick. It clogged his nose and lungs, each breath required a concentrated effort. But thanks to this he couldn't smell anything else. The festering corpses that were scattered about, their bodies torn apart whenever an attack was launched or landed. The excrements left behind by those who cowered in fear just before they died, the intense stench of death that emanated from this entire land. None of it registered in his nose, there was only blood.

"Huh? Someone...else..."

A voice reached Souren as he ran. Or at least he thought he was running, it was what he should be doing right now since the squadron he belonged to had been torn apart. His eyes slid across the devastated land, the eviscerated corpses and the people currently trampling over them as they tried to advance. His gaze eventually settled on the person that had called out, a youth who seemed like he was just reaching the latter stages of his teens.

The youth was poking his head up from the foxhole he was hiding in, or perhaps it was just a smaller crater that had been left behind by an attack, a foxhole would do preciously little here after all. The youth's expression was faltering as he looked at Souren, but Souren was just happy to see someone else in the same situation as him.

"Ah, another unlucky sod, huh? Got room for...one more..."

Now it was Souren's expression that faltered, his voice trailing off. He saw the clothes that the youth was wearing. They were dirty with mud and blood, but that golden colour couldn't be mistaken, that sun-like gate emblem emblazoned on the front. Titan's Gate. He was an enemy. The youth had evidently realized the same about Souren, taking the only action he could think of at the moment.

"He...Here! There's one he...GHK!"

Just as the youth did the only thing he could think of in his panic, calling for help, so too did Souren. His body sprang forward and silenced the youth's cry, his hands wrapping themselves around the youth's throat as they tumbled into the foxhole. The bottom of the crater was filled with a small puddle, a mixture of blood, water, and organs splashing around them as they struggled to get the upper hand.

But Souren had the advantage of age, he also wasn't as panicked as the youth, he was just numb. As such, he gained the upper hand almost immediately, sitting down on the youth's waist and pushing his head down into the puddle.

"Sheep, Souren... remember the sheep as they run into the pen. One, two, three, four, one by one, neatly to their homes..."

He muttered to himself as he held the youth's head underwater, that was the only way he could maintain his numbness in this situation. Those weren't bubbles rising in the dirty water, those were his father's sheep prancing through the field as they returned to their pen.

"There's Bairen, there's Shishi, Sangdo prances like a proud cock, DongDong is always a bit late so we have to urge her on..."

One by one the sheep came home, one by one he guided them into the pen. And finally, there were no more sheep outside the pen, no more balls of wool prancing around happily.

"Ha...Ha...Ha..."

Souren breathed heavily, his fingers almost creaking as he loosened his grip. He was part of the Merged Heaven clan's army, he had already fought in this battle for close to a year already. But this was the first time he was outside the formation used by his squadron, the first time he fought in a way where he didn't just pour his energy into the squadron leader so that he could attack freely. This was the first time his hands touched soft flesh, the first time they felt it go from warm to cold.

"Ha...Ha... I'm sorr...Hurk!"

He couldn't finish his words, the youth's head bobbed up when Souren removed his hands from his neck. Bulging eyes with ruptured veins, small traces of foam bubbling up from his mouth, blood running from his nose, skin that was starting to turn a dark purple. He retched at the sight, as if he wanted to cover that despairing face with his vomit so that he didn't have to look at it.

"Haha...hehe... how pointless... how pointless we are..."

The blissfully numb sensation in his mind slowly faded as he laughed, chuckled painfully to himself. He didn't want to admit it, he didn't want to say it out loud. But he knew, he knew how pointless this all was. The alliance had been protecting this city, this planet, for close to a year already, repelling numerous attacks from the Titan's Gate.

But it was all pointless, it would never lead anywhere. Titan's Gate couldn't take this planet, if they did then the Grand Heavenly Deities, or even the Exalted Godkings of the alliance would definitely get involved. But at the same time, the alliance couldn't utilize their exalted members to eradicate the attacking force sent by the Titan's Gate, if they did that then the exalted members of the World Tree clan would get involved and things would get out of hand.

Neither side wanted that, they still weren't ready to truly start an all-out war to determine the final victor. They knew that, both sides knew that. Yet they kept fighting, kept sending out their forces. And this was the result, this land where all the sheep had pranced into their pen and the plain was left empty. It was despairing to think about, to realize how little value their lives actually had in this pointless war. And in times of great despair, the helpless people could only do one thing, pray.

"Ha... Please... Can someone please end this pointless war, I beg of you."

Souren quietly prayed, unsteadily rising to his feet. And as you unconsciously did when you prayed, he raised his head to the sky, which should be filled with black smoke after the prolonged battle. But as his gaze rose, he noticed that the surroundings were strangely quiet, almost deathly so. And then his body froze. He saw it when his gaze settled on the sky, those descending figures that had drawn everyone's attention.

A white crane radiating an aura that made the beast blood injected into him seethe and tingle, it was an existence of a higher realm. And two people were standing on the back of this crane, one was a man with sky blue eyes and dark grey hair that radiated an aura that resonated even more intensely with Souren's beast blood. And then there was the final man, that thing that stood there, its black eyes gazing down on the carnage while its black hair fluttered quietly.

He could feel it, the beast blood in his body was crying out for it and his eyes could see it. It was spilling out from that thing, that man. Energy unlike any he had ever seen, authority, unlike anything he had ever seen. It spilt out from him like wine from an overfilled cup, it was as if he was a vessel too small to hold himself in.

Souren's leg lost all strength and he fell to his knees, or perhaps his instincts simply wanted him to kneel as he gazed upon that thing. His face was wet but he couldn't tell if it was because of the blood or his own tears, but that didn't matter to him right now.

"End...Ah, you listened."

Yes, he was instinctively aware of that simple fact. That thing was the end of this war, the end of that empty plain. But Souren didn't know what end that plain would face, if it would be an end where all the sheep got to run around happily or if it would be an end caused by the disappearance of the plain.

---

Yao Jun looked down at the battle that was now quieting down as they descended. There were corpses everywhere, platoons forced to stride across them as they struggled for ground. The deathly energy that hung in the air wasn't something that could be accumulated in a day, this war here had probably lasted for quite some time.

On one side he saw the garish robes of the Titan's Gate and on the other side, he saw the myriad of robes and armours signifying the alliance that the Merged Heaven clan and the others had entered. They were all looking up at them, awaiting their descent as they tried to figure out which side they were on.

Zhuan Yi undid her transformation as they reached the ground, the crane morphing into the humanoid appearance she had chosen for herself. There was a slight splash as they landed on the ground, well, in this case, it was better to say that they landed on the corpses that had become part of the dirt.

"Who are you, state your business and alignment!"

Someone from the side of the alliance was the first to speak up. He was clad in silver armour stained with blood and dirt, the helmet covering his head torn open to reveal half of his face. He was in the later stages of the Earthly Deity realm and seemed to be the leader of this battle, maybe even the entire army stationed here. Yao Jun's gaze landed on the man's face, he had features that Yao Jun wouldn't forget.

"I imagine that Peyton used to talk quite a bit about me. I see now where he got his features from."

Peyton Eluard. Once he was the 5th Young Master of the Merged Heaven clan, and he was also the one that started Yao Jun's feud with the Merged Heaven clan. He had made threats he never should have, tried to lay his hands on people he should have steered clear of. In the end, he died at Yao Jun's hands and his Supreme Law fragment was taken, given to Little Gray along with its core, the Human God's Gate.

Peyton was dead, his sister had also died when she tried to take revenge for him. As such, there was only one identity that could belong to this armoured man, his frog-like eyes narrowing sharply as he realized who Yao Jun was, his entire being seething with rage.

"King of Demonic Deities. Yes... my son spoke of you quite often before you killed him."