Desolate Era

Dawnclear smiled as well. She knew that it was very likely that both of them would die, and so she cast away all her misgivings and followed her heart.

“Congratulations, Green Bamboo. Cognratulations, big sister Dawnclear.” the other female Hegemon next to them said with a smile.

“Congratulations! Who would’ve thought that something so wonderful would happen during this calamity? Once we all leave this place safely, we’ll have to hold a proper celebration,” the muscular man said with a laugh.

“Yes, we must celebrate!” The other nearby Hegemons and Emperors all agreed. They were searching for a ray of light to illuminate them in this darkest hour. In truth, they all knew that the number of survivors could probably be counted on one hand… and if they weren’t lucky, every single one of them would die!

After spending an hour in discussion, Green Bamboo’s group of Hegemons and Emperors came up with an escape plan. They would separate into a total of fifty-nine squads which would flee in different directions. That way, they would stand the best chance of making it out alive. If they stayed together, they would be wiped out together.

“Everyone.” Green Bamboo swept his gaze across all the others present. “The plan has been settled. Let us carry it out! I hope that after this all ends, we’ll be able to meet again.”

“Let’s meet again.”

“Let’s meet again.”

“Let’s meet again.” The many Hegemons and Emperors nearby all echoed his words. They were all filled with the desire to stay alive and were determined to risk it all in one final clash attempt.

A short while later, a towering warship appeared before the grand formation which protected the Hiddencloud battlefront. In front of the warship was a large group of Sithe Hegemons and Emperors who were employing their treasures to furiously assault the giant globe-shaped formation before them.

Suddenly, streams of power began to shoot out from deep within the formation. Some looked like streams of dark mist, some looked like bolts of thunder, some looked like pillars of solid light. These various types of energy all shot out in a counter-attack, instantly suppressing the Sithe offensive.

“They’ve launched their final counter-attacks! Haha! Keep attacking! They’re at the brink of collapse!” The Sithe leader who was watching within that towering warship felt extremely confident as they watched from within… but moments later, his face turned grim.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Countless figures shot out of the formation and began to flee, each going in a different direction.

“They’re running away! There are so many of them. Which ones are the real ones?”

“I can’t tell, can you?”

“Captain, which ones are real?” The many Sithe battling outside were all waiting for orders.

“They want to escape?” The Sithe leader stroked his long beard. His warship could detect even the approach of an Autarch! Its scanning abilities were absolutely unparalleled, and it almost instantly was able to detect which figures were real and which were false.

“They’ve split up into a total of fifty-nine squads, with three in each squad at most. Many of the squads are single-person squads. They’ve split up into fifty-nine different directions. I now order you to…” The Sithe leader began to issue his orders, deploying different Sithe warriors to chase after different squads. This warship was composed of Sithe elites, and it had an extraordinary number of Hegemons and Emperors.

“Chase after them separately. Let none escape,” the Sithe leader commanded mentally.

“Understood.”

……

“Flee!” A green-robed Emperor was fleeing for his life. “I’m too weak. The Sithe would probably be able to track even Hegemons who tried to warp through spacetime. A normal Emperor like myself would stand no chance at all.” The green-robed Emperor knew just how slim his chances were. “We spent an enormous amount of effort in prepping the Hiddencloud battlefront. There are many powerful formations here that are intact; we were simply forced to abandon them. If I hide inside one of them, they wouldn’t necessarily be able to find me.”

He was going to hide inside one of the remaining formations to catch his breath. Once the danger was past, he would then flee to a more distant location.

Swoosh. The green-robed Emperor quietly snuck into a nearby formation, easily taking control over its great power.

Swoosh. Swoosh. Swoosh. Three figures simultaneously appeared outside. All three were Sithe Black Emperors. The Sithe knew that this target was just an ordinary Emperor, and so they had simply sent three Black Emperors to deal with him. Each of them had Hegemonic power, after all; catching an ordinary Emperor would be very easy.

“He fled into a formation?” The three Black Emperors exchanged a glance.

“Seal off the entire area around the formation. I’ll stand guard outside while the two of you follow him inside,” one of the Black Emperors said.

“Alright.”

“Let’s go inside.”

A mere hour later, the green-robed Emperor who had fled inside the formation had been driven to the brink of despair. Finally, one of the Black Emperors used a sky-blotting palm to smash him into dust!

……

“Let’s run!” Two Hegemons fled in a blind panic, warping through spacetime over ten times. When they saw that they were about to be caught, they finally brought out a realmship. “Let’s run.”

The two Hegemons immediately began to flee within the realmship. As they did, the Sithe squad pursuing them came to a halt and sent a message back: “They have a realmship. We aren’t able to catch up to them.”

After a brief period of time passed, the Hegemons began to breathe a bit easier. “Our realmship is flying very fast. We have a chance to escape.”

“We have to make it out of here.” The two Hegemons both clung onto hope… but suddenly, the realmship was unable to warp through spacetime any longer.

“Eh?” Both turned to stare outside the ship. An enormous, towering black warship had just appeared before them, and it was suppressing spacetime for a wide area around it. These warships had all been painstakingly created by the Sithe leader. Even if Ning and other Autarch-class combatants were here, they would have to slowly fly towards the warship rather than simply teleport through spacetime to it. Its power was tremendous!

“We’re finished.” Looks of despair appeared on the faces of the two Hegemons. They exchanged a final glance.

Bang! Bang! The two didn’t hesitate at all. They immediately exploded into two enormous plumes of light which blasted out, reverberating within the realmship. They had chosen to self-detonate! They were far enough from the Sithe that their truesoul fragments stood a good chance of escaping once they self-detonated.

The Autarchs had long ago instructed them to do this. If they self-detonated they might be brought back to life in the future, even if they were Hegemons!

As the Autarchs saw it, they might not be able to revive the Hegemons who died in the endless void between realmverses, but things would be different once their Chaosverse gave birth to a Lord of Chaos. A Chaoslord should be able to bring them back! They believed this because they had seen from the memories of captured Sithe that slain Sithe Hegemons could be brought back to life. In fact, even Exalts who died in battle could be brought back to life! However, the price was so great that they generally wouldn’t be given such preferential treatment unless they had rendered great merits unto the Sithe forces.

Whoosh. The Sithe warship began to emit an invisible, terrifying sucking power which caused the realmship to tumble helplessly towards an enormous opening at the bottom of the warship. Moments later, the opening in the bottom vanished.

“They self-detonated right after we found them. Damn! Most of their truesoul fragments probably escaped us. Let’s go back.” The black warship immediately warped through spacetime to return to the Hiddencloud battlefront. This entire process had merely taken a few brief moments; they had almost instantly located and eliminated the realmship, then returned to their normal position.

……

“I won’t be able to escape… but those damn Sithe can forget about devouring my truesoul!” a horned, willowy woman howled angrily.

BOOM! She transformed into a burst of light.

……

Self-detonation. Self-detonation. Killed. Self-detonation…

Some who weren’t able to self-detonate in time ended up being killed by the Sithe, as did some who hesitated. The majority, however, had the wisdom to understand when flight was hopeless and thus chose to self-detonate.

……

Green Bamboo and Hegemon Dawnclear were escaping together. As for their other friends, they had all scattered into different groups. If they all fled together, they would probably all be caught together.

Hegemon Dawnclear smiled as she glanced at Green Bamboo, who was using all his power to bring her alongside him in his flight.

“Why do you keep staring at me?” Green Bamboo teased. Even though they were being pursued, they were both quite relaxed.

“It’s nothing,” Hegemon Dawnclear said with a smile. “I just suddenly feel so very, very happy. Even if we don’t manage to escape, dying together is fine as well.”

“What nonsense are you spewing? We’re definitely going to escape. Don’t worry.” Green Bamboo continued to flee at top speed.

Boom! Suddenly, a planet-sized castle appeared behind them. A voice boomed out from within the castle: “You must be the leader of the forces stationed in the Hiddencloud battlefront. You brought us quite a bit of trouble, kid. Now stop struggling! There’s no way you’ll escape.”

Green Bamboo paled slightly. His greatest fear was this. He had been the most powerful cultivator in the Hiddencloud battlefront. When he had sent his avatar to battle against the Sithe, the Sithe had been forced to pay a very high price to defeat it. Without question, the Sithe were paying close attention to him as he fled. They had even sent one of their planet-sized castles to pursue him! Those things warped through spacetime far faster than realmships could.

“Dawnclear, remember to bind the treasure I gave you earlier. It’s something which will allow you to warp a tremendous distance through spacetime and escape,” Green Bamboo immediately sent mentally. “I’ll stop them for now. You need to run! Once you reach a safe distance, use that item. It’ll let you flee incredibly fast, and if you can avoid detection for ten seconds they won’t be able to find any trace of you.”

“No…!” Hegemon Dawnclear grew anxious. “What about you? Are you just going to throw your life away?”