Realm Wars 3 - Logistics.

FRANCO'S POV

War wasn't easy compared to what was shown in movies and read about in books. It was more than just screaming for charge and having a hundred men race down to clash against the enemy.

There were numbers to be done, men to be moved or in this case, living armors to be marched.

Teams were formed of at least one member of the first circle leading them. This made twelve major teams, and within these teams were various subgroups led by the second circle. Then a lower group was led by the third circle. At this point, there were twenty-four-second circle leaders and then forty-eight third circle leaders.

The remaining gods had command over the armies of living armor that marched with them. While surprisingly the third to first circle had been granted command over the Zeukites.

Daedalus awed over them. They were just perfect. Their sleek silver armor, white lines, and eyes. He stared at the cores in their chest his desire to inspect even one of them high.

Sighing he turned to find the other of his team members. Pantheons had been sent to work on positions that covered their territories for familiarity purposes. With the divine realm being sizable this proved to be troublesome as most of the territories covered not even ten percent of the realm. Leaving the territory to a lower leveled member of the pantheon was the best way to go. Since most of his pantheon members were quite high level they had picked the weakest race.

While technically it should fall to Gertrude due to her being the weakest in combat removing Hardima's Lomrie race, in the end, the Lomrie took the defense of the territory with the merger amounts of living armors spared.

The pantheon split scattered into the wind whilst leading their various troops of Aegites their collective pantheon living armors. In the Argonne and Elosas case, they led the Zeukites.

For Daedalus with a thousand Zeukites marching below him as he flew ahead scouring for any Devil and demon activity, he was drowning in the feeling of excitement for the upcoming fight.

He would say the Zeukites shared his excitement but they were nothing but steel with the ability to only follow orders. The best soldiers.

*

Egere sat atop his Silver Hound. An eight-eyed wolf with silver fire for claws and black fire for eyes without irises. It stood tall with midnight black fur letting off smoke that blended it into the night. Here in the divine realms, he stood out like a nail.

Egere glowered as he raked his purple eyes over the large mountains that blocked his path into the deepest areas of the realm. He already had confirmation from his brothers of success in breaching Feyrire. He could only grumble at this obstacle.

Every victory would be rewarded by the queen. He would be damned if he was not to receive a great reward with the other victors.

Their instructions were simple. Kill as many beings as possible in sight. Harvest their shards. The Kaizer had no thoughts of dominating or keeping any of the realms under her control.

Her words and wants were one thing. Resources.

They were to be aware of the great gods watching over the four realms and the one that ruled it all from the red burning ball above.

Egere didn't like it. It was nothing like their black sun. It didn't give him strength. If anything it tried weakening him. Egere could only smile at his Kaizer's wisdom in having them constantly fuel their black sun symbol on their chests with necrotic silver fire. It kept their connection with the black sun constant which helped to fight the divine power the sun unleashed on them.

"Lord Egere." a demon king bowed to the Devil pulling out of his musings. The demon raised his head at receiving an affirmation from the devil.

"What have you found?"

"A path" he pointed to the west. " A route through the mountain chain. But, it could be a good point for an ambush"

"For us. Or the gods."

"Both sire. I advise we proceed with caution". he spoke.

" I'll take advice from beings worthy of thought little demon." Egere eyed the demon with a scowl earning the whimper he sought from it. Demons thrived on deception and lies. Devils were being who sought conquest, fear, and pain.

Egere waved at the demon to proceed. Staying back he watched as the army of demons marched.

It would have been easier to conquer this realm and all realms. But having a higher being, one at the same or maybe even higher level than his Kaizer was a hindering factor.

Even worse when said beings were bound by familial ties. Conquering a realm would lead to antagonizing all five.

His Kaiser was not that powerful to face all five, at least she claimed. So Egere decided he would aid her. He would rise swiftly and take his place as her right hand and with a few more powerful subordinates the realms would bow.

But a thousand steps always needed just one to begin. This was it. His one step, his first move.

Maybe, just maybe he could even be Kaizer

*

Cole shook his head. The Devils were too easy, had always been. A race of conquerors that saw nothing but glory and power before them.

He didn't feel bad for what had to be done. He knew she needed this. They needed this. What he did feel bad for though was those who would stand in her way and do her harm.

"Ouch," he murmured as he saw a scene flash in his mind's eyes. His left hand rubbed at a spot over his right shoulder.

He looked to the Devil with his blue skin and purple eyes. He'd chosen this one for a good reason. His power set was good enough to bring about what was needed.

There was always a one-in-a-million chance of getting a void connector created amongst gods or devils. He could only smile at the thought. While the realm devils were nothing like the actual gods, since they were made from templates and infused with a bit of true devil essence they were artificial devils. Just better and more dangerous.

Yet imagine his surprise when the ability he had needed had come not from an organic god but an artificial devil. It worked better for him since it would have been harder to convince a god. Maybe easier with a player but harder with an NPC. Fortunately, either Callisto was nudging things his way or...

"Damn Hete Fate"

He sighed.

While both were most likely. He knew that both were true. With each acting on the other to pull strings.

"Sometimes even I hate this place," he shook his head before snapping his fingers and walking away. His legs touched the golden fields once before he ceased to be.

*****

Erebus heaved a huge breath as he slumped to the side of the dungeon wall. His eyes glared at the now-dead lair boss or ruler as the system dungeons called them. The entity was harder to describe than it was harder for his eyes to understand what he saw.

Fortunately, all he had found out he needed to do was drain the darkness from the being, and at the last moment where the energy had calcified into Umbra just on the top of its skin, he halted.

The blockage had made a hard exoskeleton for the monster entrapping it within its affinity but one under his control. It had been as easy as shredding the monster's head from there.

" When in doubt go for the head." he spat in irritation. It had taken him the longest time ever to beat this thing. His eyes went to the patch of skin that lay beside the creature. His reward for a kill well done.

"Be worth it". He snarled in both distaste, fatigue, and just annoyance.

Getting to his legs he shook the mental fatigue away as he slowly walked over to the skin patch. Ignoring the rest of the headless beast he kicked a large tentacle the size of two of his thighs together away.

Lowering himself in a squat he appraised the thing.

It reminded him of that which he used to create his universe form. But this one was different. It was not primordial. Something less yet more.

The blood from his outstretched hand running out of the still-healing wound on his right elbow dripped unto the parchment.

The once black-as-night piece of skin glowed brightly in the one spot the blood dropped on before dimming. A prompt appeared mentally to Erebus, one that made him pause

[WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE VOID MAP]

Confused he accented as he pondered what a void map was. Before him, the dungeon faded with darkness engulfing him.

Erebus took a battle stance as he waited. His eyes frisked the darkness that not even his insight could see through.

He watched as slowly little pinpricks of lights appeared in the darkness. The lights grew brighter and bolder. Some he noted were scattered about while others were arranged in a pattern he couldn't decipher. Like words.

Before he could ask the system answered filling his head with information. Information that made him blanch. His gaze traveled the lights with new desires and new wants entering his thoughts.

There were a lot of ways to use this information. But all of that left his mind as his gaze landed on one light. It blinked constantly as if calling to him. It was like the attention a moth had to flame. The moment his will touched it and he knew what it was, what it meant, and how to use it greed replaced his ideas.

His fists tightened and with a smirk, he prodded the light.

[You have made a Starbeam through Starlink- connection >> Code 0079]

[Proceed with confirmation]

Affirming he watched as the light brightened still blinking before its glare reversed and dulled.

[YOU HAVE USED UP STARLINK CONNECTION TO CODE 0079]

Erebus paused for just a moment. The player god wasn't sure if his decision had been the right one. What had spurred him on?

His gaze furrowed. Looking at the spot of the full light he prodded it and frowned at the new message. He'd used up this Starlink thing to the light. To attempt something as close to what he had done he would need another skin patch.

Erebus shook his head glad he had not streamed this part.

'Wouldn't want to be blamed for whatever this causes'. He mused. The darkness and lights vanished as he found himself back in the dungeon the corpse still where it was. He pondered it for a while but just shrugged.

Moving to the checkpoint stone he spun ideas on how to use this to gain advantages. He was unbothered to question why he had not received so many rewards for clearing the dungeon since it was already a fact that loot for creator gods were rare, self made or just something dropped by an enemy.

So focused on his plans for the void map he missed the sight of a boy rubbing his right shoulder harshly in the dark just above him.