A Divine Battle

Tiff’s transformation didn’t end there. Leylin had showered the man with divine grace, raising him to a legendary priest immediately.

This ability was unique to true gods. Demigods could only give their priests rank 0 to rank 5 divine spells, while true gods could go all the way up to rank 9, even legendary divine spells like Revive that only existed in rumours!

This was also the basis of the influence of true gods’ churches. In the past, Leylin was limited to guarding his worshippers on Debanks Island, but now he could move outside and attack like any other god.

Tiff knew this, and it naturally caused him to be flooded with emotion. He was on the verge of tears.

“Return and placate the worshippers on Debanks Island. Their lives will remain like they were on the prime material plane, maybe even better.” Leylin waved a hand, and space fluctuated once more as Tiff was returned to his original location.

Truth be told, although fusing Dis with Debanks was good for Leylin, this was not necessarily so for the natives of Debanks Island. They were residents of the prime material plane, and being told that their lands had fallen down to the Nine Hells could terrify them to death. Some might commit suicide, or just go mad.

After all, the churches indoctrinated the prime material plane with Baator being a synonym for the evil devils. Thankfully the natives weren’t as affected since they knew little about Baator and the propaganda around it. They put their faith in the Giant Serpent, and with the pope personally telling them that their lives would only be better, they would likely settle down.

“Isabel, Azlok, Borke!” Leylin turned to his cousin and the two other large devils.

“You did well!” He started with expressing his approval, then moved on to the main question, “How are the war preparations?”

“The devil hunters are ready and waiting,” Isabel said with a bow. “The flame devils and armies of gluttony are prepared to receive your orders.”

Azlok and Borke bowed elegantly as well, their eyes full of a thirst for battle and unification. Devils liked order, and unification and laws were a representation of that. All the Lords of Baator were unsatisfied with its current segmented nature, and now these two believed they’d found a chance to combine the Nine Hells once more!

“Good. Begin operations immediately,” Space flickered, and the three figures disappeared. Dis began to make an abrupt move.

All higher existences shifted their attention to the Nine Hells once more. The Second Hell glowed with divinity, causing all the divine conscients watching to be filled with suspicion and confusion.

In their view, Leylin should have kept a low profile as a newly advance god, amassing his strength. Instead, he was doing something so eye-catching right after his ascension!

[Beep! Host body has created an avatar. 100 divine force consumed.]

[Beep! Host body has created an avatar. 100 divine force consumed.]

[Beep! Host body has created an avatar. 100 divine force consumed.]

Three bright balls of golden light separated themselves from Leylin, warping in the air to three doppelgangers that looked exactly the same as him.

They were avatars, something every god acquired the ability to make after ascension. However, Leylin had been exceptionally quick in this, and that was thanks to the A.I. Chip.

These three avatars all possessed a holy lustre, their golden pupils radiating the cold dignity of the divine. Leylin didn’t have to give them any commands, they already knew what to do.

*Rumble!* The three avatars left instantly. Reappearing in front of Isabel and the army of devil hunters.

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Isabel raised the Red Dragon Sword high up, announcing, “The Lord has sent us a decree. The target is Minauros. In the name of the Lord, ATTACK!”

“In the name of the Lord!” “The mighty Kukulkan is watching us!” Huge portals opened up, and the devil hunters called out Leylin’s true name as they marched into the battlefield.

In front of them was a nasty, loathsome marsh. There were numerous imps and lemures here, stunned to see this large army all of a sudden.

One of Leylin’s avatars walked to the head of the army, body suddenly radiating an inexhaustible light, “Begin the divine battle!”

*Rumble!* Dis began to emanate bright light that corroded Minauros unceasingly, fusing with the light from Leylin’s avatar.

Divine light shone to quickly neutralise Minauros, and what had been a filthy marsh dried up, congealing into solid ground.

“Go!”

The devil hunters charged forward, a great battle was about to begin!

“Our mission here is just to control the battle. With the two avatars and the help of my divine kingdom, there won’t be any issues with keeping the frontlines of the battle here for a while.” Leylin’s two remaining avatars were in deep discussion with Isabel at the heart of the army.

“If it’s necessary, sacrifice the avatars. That should be enough to hold Mammon back for a while...” Leylin’s avatar glimmered with golden light, smiling gently as he spoke.

“You mean this attack is a feint? Then your true motive...” Isabel’s eyes went wide.

“This place is one of my targets as well. But before that...” Leylin chuckled.

The earth rumbled, as even greater power radiated than before. Divine light filled the First Hell, and in that moment the laws of Leylin’s divine kingdom fused with the original laws of hell to begin remodelling everything.

Those gazing upon Baator from the outside would see an extremely interesting scene. Avernus and Minauros, as the First and Third Hells respectively, had originally been sandwiching Dis between them. Now, Dis began to emanate a bright lustre that was corroding these two Hells of Baator.

Minauros was only slightly affected, but Avernus was taken over completely. Under Azlok and Borke, large numbers of devils had broken through into Avernus from Dis.

Numerous powerful conscients arrived in the place in a moment, filled with anxious questions and terrifying roars. Nothing could exceed this situation in its abruptness!

‘So what if you’re true gods? What if Mammon is a Lord of Baator? If I don’t do this now, there won’t be a better chance in the future!’ Leylin was incomparably calm at the centre of this storm. He seemed extremely resolute, ignoring the intent of the two gods of Avernus to negotiate. Once he made up his mind about something, he would never change.

Amidst the army at Minauros, Leylin’s avatar was still speaking to Isabel.

“There’s three reasons I want to seize two of the hells immediately,” he said frankly, “First and foremost, my divine kingdom is but one of the Nine Hells. If I don’t occupy more and gain the upper hand, the other Lords will definitely unify to resist me. While I’m not afraid of them, I’d lose the opportunity to grow further.

“However, if I can fuse the first three layers, I’ll immediately have the power to choose between attack and defence. The rest of the Lords aren’t of one mind, and I’ll be able to rope them in or attack them individually.”

“Ah. Since Asmodeus was gravely injured by the origin force during the descent of the divine kingdom, he can’t come out anymore. The rest of the Lords are leaderless, so they can’t work together now?” Isabel seemed to understand.

“Yes. Making use of the momentum of becoming a true god, I’ll suppress them and give them no chance to react or establish ties with me. In the future we can learn of each other better, then it’ll be even more difficult for them to reach an understanding amongst themselves. Instead they’ll serve me... After we take these two Hells, we’ll be stronger than them. We won’t be afraid of being overthrown!”

“The second reason is for the other gods to see,” Leylin’s eyes glimmered with wisdom.

“The other gods?” Isabel exclaimed in surprise.

“I am one of the gods, after all. They see me as an enemy and want to beat me down, so I need a reason to do this. If I attack the devils and conquer Baator, won’t that be a great pretext? I’m sure it’ll garner support from some of the good gods. More importantly, even the gods that detest me will be happy to see me expend my energy on fighting the devils, so they’ll lower their guard...”

“Making use of this time to lower their guard...” At this point, Isabel was beginning to understand Leylin’s overall strategy, and she respected it a great deal.

“But...” She bit at her lips, worry evident from the crease between her eyebrows, “Two Hells... Even if we catch one by surprise and the reinforcements can’t come in time, two true gods and one Lord of Baator... Can we really take them down like this?”

“That’s the third point,” Leylin lifted his brows, looking decisive and unyielding, “We won’t just win, we’ll do it beautifully! That way, we can completely terrify everyone who’s unsure!”

This was Leylin’s main intention, and after thinking it through properly even Isabel had to admit that as long as Leylin’s plan succeeded he would truly be able to stand on his own two feet amongst the gods. He would no longer be afraid of any uprisings against him.

Even after understanding all this, Isabel still watched Leylin with worry, “Are you confident?”

“A 100%!” Leylin’s boundless confidence was evident in his smile. His divine body took one step forward, and arrived inside his concealed semi-plane.

““Master!”” Shaylin and Ilyo appeared atop the flying city, “Thultanthar is ready for launch!”