Chapter 47
Your sovereign class has become the dark emperor class.
Dark emperor has upgraded to abyssal emperor.
Kingdom of Prosperity
Passive Ability
Designate an area you control as your kingdom.
Anyone within this area who has prayed to you within the last 48 hours receives a 10% bonus to their stats, a 10% bonus to Healing magic used on them, and immunity to diseases.
If you lose control of the area, this bonus is lost and must be purchased again to reactivate.
-5,000 good-aligned levels
Vigilant King
Passive
Instantly detect the presence of an enemy army when they attack or enter your kingdom.
-5,000 good-aligned levels
Voice of the People
Active Ability
Once per week, deliver a message to every person in your kingdom. The message is the same for each target, no target can be excluded, and this ability does not enable the sovereign to receive messages from their followers.
-3,000 good-aligned levels
You have created a shadow duplicate.
-3,000 good-aligned levels
You have created a shadow duplicate.
-3,000 good-aligned levels
You have created a shadow duplicate.
-3,000 good-aligned levels
You have created a shadow duplicate.
I sent four squads of 250 Byron bots, each led by a shadow duplicate, in four different directions with orders to find the gate to the next plane up and secure control of it.
Since the shadow duplicates were exact copies of me, I saw this as an opportunity to see how my present strength stacked up against my celestial enemies.
Then I opened my system menu to look at the bonus unlocks abyssal emperor gave me:
For the Emperor
Active Ability
Cooldown: 30 days
Duration: 24 hours
If 200 or more of your units are engaged in combat with your enemy, improve the stats of every one of your units, even those not in combat, by 10% for a limited time.
Eye of War
Active Ability
Access a real-time summary of troop numbers and status that accounts for all active units regardless of their location and your proximity to them.
Abyssal emperor also gave me a 25% bonus to all of my stats.
-6 Progress to Your Fall.
Progress to Your Fall: 70 / 100 (Abaddon, King of the Abyss)
For the Emperor and the stat bonus were worth the levels, in my mind, but I was especially excited for Eye of War.
When I triggered it, I saw a running list of soldier types and the total number of those soldiers deployed.
That wasn’t the most insightful information possible, but it gave me an overview of my efforts that a traditional general would struggle to maintain manually.
I still had several thousand good-aligned levels, and that number continued to rise as my war on the celestial plane raged on.
So, I spent another 30,000 good-aligned levels to create six more shadow duplicates. I assigned each of them a person to protect. My party members, as well as Abby, would now have me as personal bodyguards at all times.
A summoner on the plane of dominions invites you for an audience. You cannot receive or deliver harm for as long as you remain within the summoning circle, and you may return to your home plane at will. These rules cannot be broken or cheated by either party.
Do you accept the invitation?
Yes / No
I was wondering when I would receive that message. I expected it to come in hours ago, to be honest.
After selecting yes, I appeared at the top of a white tower.
“How dare you!” Arcturus roared, his voice shaking the ground beneath me. “We do business, and then you threaten my home?!”
“Hello, Arcturus.”
“You are not worthy of having that name on your lips. You have sullied it enough already. They’re coming for you, and you will beg to die.”
“Who is ‘they?’” I asked.
“You’re a coward, Byron of Zaglis. You are the perfect example of why mankind should never be allowed to ascend.”
“Did you summon me for a reason, or did you just want to complain?”
“Tell me why.”
“I don’t take commands,” I said. “Try asking me.”
Arcturus seethed. “Why are you doing this?”
“It’s just business, or is this your way of trying to negotiate peace?”
“You are the one who should beg forgiveness.”
“This is a waste of time,” I said. “Before I go, fair to assume I should cancel your open orders? Happy to send you the inventory if you still want it. Payment in advance, though, please.”
“Wait,” he said with a huff. “The seraphim will learn of this conversation and will ask after your demands.”
“So?”
The space around Arcturus seemed to contract, as if his anger were akin to a black hole. “What are your demands?” he asked, pained to have to play a game led by a human.
“I don’t have any. Everything I wanted out of this, I’m already getting. When the seraphim are ready to negotiate, they can make me an offer. I like rare and powerful items, if that helps.”
“Your message will only enrage them further.”
I shrugged. “I’m excited to reach the upper celestial planes. I’ve always wanted a complete set of celestial virgins. Do you have any daughters by chance? I bet they-”
I reappeared on the 101st floor. Arcturus had canceled the summon and ejected me from his home plane.
What a baby.
Podni and Solara would need 3 days to make a double-strength Seraphim Slayer bomb because of Podni’s crafting cooldown. The invasion would continue in the meantime.
I assigned 400 silk soldiers to build a fortress around the tower exit on the plane of the angeli.
For as much as I boasted about intending to conquer all of the celestial planes, doing that in a literal sense wasn't very practical.
Supposedly, each celestial plane was about half the size of the material plane, so conquering the entirety of one would be akin to seizing and holding three continents on the material plane.
That would require a massive military campaign that spanned centuries if my end goal was to break into the plane of seraphim.
In my mind, claiming a kingdom’s worth of land would be sufficient. The unpredictable variable there was how close the gates between planes were. Was the exit for this particular tower 100 miles from a gate to the plane of the angeli or 10,000? I had no idea.
So I might need two kingdoms instead of one, but the point is I didn’t need to claim the entire plane for my plan to succeed.
Eventually, my shadows and their Byron bots would encounter someone important willing to surrender, and that person would give me all the intel I needed. Hopefully. The chances of my first source having exactly what I needed weren't great, but it would be convenient if it worked out that way.
No matter where the path of ascension was located, I had to protect the tower. A major assault on my sole access point to the celestial planes seemed all but inevitable. Best to be prepared.
I activated Eye of War. Thus far, the only units I had lost were angeli.
Every Byron bot and shadow Byron I deployed was still out there culling and screwing.
The Gol-Gol slime armor had to have a weakness or exploitable imperfection of some kind, but I hoped to be a few planes higher before we saw what that was.
“Abby,” I called from the doorway of the tower.
Despite the fortress construction just outside, I had never actually set foot on the celestial plane. I wasn't ready to face what might happen when I did.
My liluti appeared.
“Tell Invia we’re ready for her,” I commanded.
Abby bowed and vanished.
Invia, ten shadow Byrons, 200 silk soldiers, and 400 more Byron bots were going to be my envoy.
My templar’s mission was to gather information and find someone with the authority to surrender to me.
We knew of six cities so far, and she would start her search with the largest, while the units already deployed continued their campaign of destruction on new fronts.
A hand grabbed my ass.
“I have ideas I want to try when I get back,” Invia said as she kissed me on the cheek.
“What kind of ideas?”
She grinned. “I think I'll let you dangle for a bit. See if you figure it out. Anything new you think of, we can do as well.”
“Can I have a hint?” I asked.
“I have a G-spot in my throat, and I have a 25% bonus to anal.”
“I'm intrigued.”
“I'll bring you back a few presents too.”
Invia looked me up and down one more time, pressed her lips to mine, and exited the tower with her soldiers. Her going into battle in her silk underwear and golden mask tightened my pants. Watching her skin glisten and her ass flexing could entertain me for an eternity.
Abby cleared her throat.
“Apologies for disturbing you, Master,” she said. “Lyle from the Dungeon Brawlers is in Sanctuary requesting an audience.”
I gave the ass of my sweet distraction one more look and turned to Abby.
“Alright. Have him wait outside the throne room.”
“Yes, Master.”