The dark army had fully assembled at the southern tip of the Orpris continent. Inside a massive command tent, Lord Demon Shura sat lazily upon his elevated throne, leaning his head against his right fist as his sharp gaze swept across the floor.

Nesia sat opposite the throne, occupying one of the carved seats arranged in two facing rows along the central aisle.

A looming figure clad in heavy iron chains—with razor-sharp blades attached to every link—stepped into the marquee, requesting an audience. It was Warlord Tora, one of the 10 Annihilation Demons. Shura offered a subtle nod, permitting Tora to enter and take a seat to his left.

Tora complied, seating himself opposite Nesia. As a warlord, he was well aware of the rumors surrounding the Four Gates—the Demon Lord's inner council whose martial prowess was legendary. Yet the whispers circulating among Tora's scouts suggested that four of the Five Gates had already been eradicated by the righteous alliance.

That rumor seemed confirmed today: of the renowned Five Gates, only Nesia sat before him. Furthermore, Tora was the first among the 10 Annihilation Demons to arrive in the command marquee, meaning his fellow warlords were still consolidating their ranks.

"Welcome, Tora," Shura said softly, without moving his head. "Did your legion arrive intact?"

Tora offered a formal salute to the man who had saved his life decades ago. After more than twenty years of hibernation, they were reunited to execute the ultimate conquest of the five continents. Under Shura's sovereign mandate, the dark army's triumph felt absolute.

"My entire legion has deployed at full capacity, My Lord," Tora replied confidently. "We await your absolute command."

Shura offered a faint, unreadable smile. Had the 10 Annihilation Demons remained completely whole, sweeping through the martial world would have been an effortless endeavor. Yet a cold truth weighed on his mind: Do the remaining warlords know the fate of Jonas and Marie?

Shura had felt the dark magic links connecting him to Jonas and Marie snap earlier that morning, signaling their absolute neutralization. The scouts he dispatched to the Denad continent had reported total destruction, with the bodies of the dark operatives incinerated beyond recognition.

Because every Annihilation Demon’s core was bound to Shura's central Black Blood reservoir, he experienced instantaneous feedback whenever a supreme warlord's life force was extinguished.

"We shall wait for the others before finalizing our strategy," Shura announced coldly. "Our assault plan against the orthodox alliance must be executed flawlessly."

Tora pressed his right fist against his heart, accepting the directive in silent obedience. He dared not speak further, chilled by the suffocating, bloodthirsty aura radiating from Shura's vessel—a dark magic density that transcended mortal limits.

Moments later, Zero and Hexos entered the marquee, bowing respectfully to Shura. At Shura's gesture, they took their seats alongside Tora. The right side of the aisle was now occupied by three supreme warlords in sequence: Tora, Zero, and Hexos.

Shura gestured for them to wait until the rest of the Annihilation Demons arrived before opening the council. The three warlords nodded, pressing their fists over their left chests in quiet agreement.

Shortly after, Draudo and Rukio made their entrance, taking their places in the row behind Hexos. Five of the 10 Annihilation Demons were now present, forming a formidable line on one side of the hall, with Nesia sitting alone opposite them.

Within seconds, the three remaining active warlords—Widi, Metri, and Alumero—arrived together. Shura instructed them to sit on Nesia's side of the aisle. Requesting formal permission, the three seated themselves opposite their peers, creating a four-versus-five seating arrangement.

The warlords exchanged subtle, questioning glances, yet none dared break the silence. Their private intelligence networks had already reported the fall of the four Gatekeepers, confirming that the righteous sects were far more dangerous than anticipated.

But where are Jonas and Marie?

Jonas and Marie were notoriously independent, especially when operating as a synchronized dual unit. The 10 Annihilation Demons had not remained completely isolated during their two decades in the Second World; Shura had granted each warlord specialized spatial operatives capable of constructing minor bullet portals, allowing the commanders to visit one another's domains for joint training.

While those standard portals could only transport one or two individuals at a time, the specialized spatial masters deployed today were a hidden strategic corps reserved exclusively for mass troop relocation.

The warlords knew that Jonas and Marie were inseparable, commanding a combined dual-synthesis that outmatched any individual warlord among the ten. When fighting side by side, their parameters were unmatched. So why were they absent? Normally, the devoted pair was the first to arrive at Shura's side.

Several warlords traded perplexed looks, recalling the massive energetic shockwave that had vibrated across the continental atmospheric channels the previous night.

Unaware of the exact details, they had assumed the disturbance was merely a skirmish between high-tier grandmasters somewhere on the physical plane.

"Ahem..."

Shura cleared his throat softly, instantly cutting off the silent inquiries circulating among the warlords.

"Our global conquest begins today," Shura declared, his voice cold and even. "We shall not await our two missing comrades, Jonas and Marie."

The warlords stiffened as Shura addressed the elephant in the room.

"To be precise," Shura continued, his tone darkening, "Jonas, Marie, and their entire two-hundred-thousand-strong legion were erased by the orthodox alliance last night. Their hidden coordinates were compromised. The martial world of today is no longer the fractured, fragile coalition of twenty years ago—they command vast parameters, and they have already slain four of my Gatekeepers!"

A suffocating, pitch-black aura erupted from Shura's hand as he spoke the final sentence. Though he maintained a serene facade, his internal rage was palpable, radiating through the tent like a physical weight.

"Now, we must decide our strategy to eradicate the righteous sects once and for all."

Shura invited the warlords to present their tactical proposals. Previously, the 10 Annihilation Demons had held the martial alliance in complete contempt, believing global conquest would be a swift, trivial affair.

Yet hearing Shura's grave report, a heavy tension settled over the room. The orthodox grandmasters were proving terrifyingly capable. Slaying four Gatekeepers—who possessed high-tier Black Blood regeneration—was no small feat. Normally, even if a Gatekeeper sustained catastrophic injuries, their rapid cellular repair allowed them to disengage and recover mid-battle.

Yet all four were dead. Worse still, Jonas and Marie's hidden sanctuary on the Denad continent had been mapped and breached, resulting in the total annihilation of two supreme warlords whose combined parameters rivaled Shura himself.

If Shura confirmed their deaths, it was an undeniable truth, bound by the shared energetic link of their dark cores.

The martial alliance had clearly reached unprecedented heights of combat power.

This campaign could not be executed through mindless slaughter; it required absolute strategic precision. The council turned its focus toward identifying the dark army's key tactical advantages over the orthodox forces:

1. Deployment Velocity: The dark army possessed absolute spatial mobility, capable of concentrating massive legions anywhere in the realm via their specialized spatial masters—an asset the martial alliance could not match.

Conversely, the alliance relied on municipal teleportation networks constrained by severe bandwidth limits, capable of processing only ten cultivators every few minutes due to array recalibration requirements.

2. Regenerative Endurance: Orthodox cultivators lacked cellular dark regeneration, relying instead on high-cost healing disciplines that required intense concentration and time to stanch bleeding. Dark operatives, by contrast, utilized Black Blood techniques to repair severe lacerations mid-combat, remaining combat-effective so long as their central core remained intact.

3. Transformation Parameters: The dark army commanded Demon Transformations, allowing operatives to unseal mutated physical forms and multiply their kinetic output. Orthodox cultivators relied on spiritual circles and internal node manipulation to draw natural elemental mana into their vessels—a process strictly limited by their physical durability, as absorbing excess natural mana risked destroying their internal pathways.

Exploiting these three advantages, Warlord Tora proposed an immediate, full-scale assault on the capital city of Prisma—the heart of the Orpris continent—before continental reinforcements could complete their overland march.

Shura considered Tora's proposal carefully. The logic was sound. Yet a subtle, persistent apprehension lingered deep within his core. Why do I feel this lingering unease? Is it merely caution?

Shura closed his eyes, falling into deep thought as the war council awaited his final command.