Chapter 97: Total Domination
The world dropped away from the Citadel of Obsidian.
Lucifer stood in the center of the courtyard, his longsword raised. The ascension was not a slow, grinding climb.
The Void-Core Reactor engaged its gravity manipulation at maximum output.
The entire mountain peak: billions of tons of black stone, iron, and ancient bedrock snapped free from the earth with a single, loud CRACK.
[System Warning: Massive Spatial Anomaly Detected!]
[Protocol: Zephyria Ascension Active.]
[Altitude: Increasing rapidly.]
The thirteen million mortal soldiers gasped, grabbing onto each other as the feeling of weightlessness washed over them.
The massive, twenty-meter titana automatically engaged their stabilization thrusters, planting their boots firmly on the rising stone.
The fifty thousand Glacial Wyrms screeched, adjusting their wings to the sudden change in air pressure.
"We are flying!" Lady Scarlett roared, holding onto her dire wolf.
Lucifer looked up at the golden Spire of Celestial Convergence.
Sarah stood on the observation deck, her cosmic eyes blazing. She channeled her starlight directly into the sky, tracking the invisible, atmospheric leylines that crisscrossed the continent.
"The currents are stable, Warlord!" Sarah called down, her musical voice amplified by the Spire. "The reactor is locked onto the primary grid! We are anchored in the atmosphere!"
Lucifer lowered his sword. The ruby-red light of the Heart of Ruin pulsed steadily against his hip.
He didn’t look over the walls at the shrinking ground below. He already knew they were completely out of range of any mortal catapult or spell.
The Citadel was now Zephyria, the first floating city of the new age.
"Hold altitude at ten thousand feet," Lucifer commanded Sarah through the comms rune. "Do not move the city yet. We have one more piece of business to settle on the ground."
Sarah nodded, the violet orb on her scepter glowing as she arrested the rapid ascent.
Zephyria hovered perfectly still among the clouds, a massive, island of black stone and glowing blue Cryo-Pylons casting a colossal shadow over the frozen plains below.
Lucifer turned to his commanders. Elara, Lyra, and Vexia had gathered around him.
"The Royal Armada is still paralyzed on the tundra," Lucifer stated smoothly. His void-swirling eyes locked onto Elara.
"They surrendered the moment General Kain died, even if they were unconscious at the time. The Coalition is officially broken."
"They are helpless," Elara noted, her Twilight wings shifting. "You can execute them from here with the Dragoons. It would be a slaughter."
"I am not going to execute them," Lucifer said.
Lyra let out a soft breath of relief. The Dawn Saintess gripped her silver broadsword, grateful that the Warlord was showing mercy to the millions of conscripted militiamen who had only marched because they were ordered to.
"You will show them mercy?" Lyra asked softly.
"I will show them what happens when they cross me," Lucifer corrected her. A cold, predatory smirk touched his lips. "I am going to let them live to tell the world exactly who owns this sky."
He opened his Dimensional Vault.
Lucifer didn’t pull out a weapon. He tapped his comms rune, connecting to the High Ranger.
"Celeste," Lucifer ordered.
The Ranger jogged over from the mortal ranks, her dire wolf pacing nervously at her side. "Yes, Grand Marshal."
"Take the Phantom Rangers and the Aether-Steel Dragoons," Lucifer instructed. "I am opening a temporary portal from the courtyard directly back down to the tundra."
He raised the Gauntlet of the Void King. Black lightning crackled across his knuckles as he physically tore a wide, stable spatial rift in the air above the stone pavement.
The rift did not lead to the Umbra; it opened to a view of the paralyzed Royal Armada miles below.
"You are going to strip them," Lucifer declared coldly.
Celeste blinked, her scarred face twisting in surprise. "Strip them, my Lord? The entire army?"
"Every single one of them," Lucifer confirmed. His void eyes were absolute. "They came here to siege my fortress.
They brought the wealth of the Crown. I want it. Take their gold. Take their supply wagons. Take their enchanted weapons, their armor, their mounts, and their boots. Strip them down to their tunics."
"Millions of men..." Celeste whispered, a wicked, mercenary grin breaking across her face. "The sheer volume of loot... it will take hours."
"You have until sunset," Lucifer said. "If any of them wake up from the Fear aura, the Dragoons will remind them why they should stay quiet. Throw everything you take directly into the portal."
Celeste didn’t waste another second. She spun around, raising her silver dagger.
"Rangers! Dragoons! Move out!" Celeste roared.
The four hundred Phantom Rangers cheered wildly. It was the ultimate, undisputed dream of every mercenary.
A completely defenseless, millionaire army lying paralyzed on the ground, waiting to be robbed blind. They sprinted toward the portal.
The five thousand Aether-Steel Dragoons hovered through the rift behind them, forming a massive, mechanical perimeter around the paralyzed Royal forces on the tundra below to ensure the looting went uninterrupted.
Lucifer stood by the portal in the courtyard.
He didn’t go down to the ground. He simply held his Dimensional Vault open.
Within minutes, the loot began to fly through the portal.
It was not a trickle. It was a torrential, endless waterfall of military wealth.
The Rangers worked with terrifying, organized efficiency. They tossed heavy iron shields, silver breastplates, and enchanted halberds through the rift.
They pushed entire siege wagons filled with Royal rations, refined mana crystals, and gold bullion directly into Lucifer’s soul storage.
[System: Mass Loot Acquisition Detected.]
[Item Stack Stored: 2,500,000x Standard Steel Swords.]
[Item Stack Stored: 1,000,000x Heavy Iron Shields.]
[Item Stack Stored: 50,000,000 Gold Coins.]
...
Lucifer watched the numbers climb on his system interface. He didn’t even need to use the Apex Multiplier.
The sheer, raw volume of stripping a multi-million-man army was enough to overflow his already massive reserves.
"You are bankrupting the Crown," Vexia observed. The Sanguine Princess hovered a few feet off the ground, her red bat wings beating softly.
She looked at the endless stream of gold and steel pouring out of the portal. "They will not have the funds to raise another army for a decade."
"They won’t have an army to raise," Lucifer said smoothly.
He looked at the towering pile of confiscated gear piling up inside his vault.
"When those men wake up, freezing in the snow without boots or swords, they are going to walk back to the capital," Lucifer explained, his voice a low, echoing rumble of dominance.
"They are going to tell the King that the Grand Marshal stripped them bare while they slept. The fear they spread will be worth ten times the gold we just took. The human kingdoms will realize that fighting Obsidian means losing everything."
Lyra watched the looting process with a complex expression. She understood the tactical necessity.
Leaving the Royal Armada armed and armored on his doorstep was a massive risk, even if they were paralyzed.
By stripping them, Lucifer completely neutralized the threat without causing a mass slaughter. It was brutal, humiliating, but mathematically bloodless.
"It is a total rout," Lyra whispered. "The King has nothing left."
"He has his throne," Lucifer corrected her. "For now."
The looting continued for hours. The sun began to dip low over the horizon, casting long, golden shadows across the floating black stone of Zephyria.
The final wave of Phantom Rangers stepped back through the portal into the courtyard, dragging several massive, ornate chests looted from the Royal Commander’s personal carriage.
"The field is stripped, Warlord!" Celeste reported, jogging through the rift. She was covered in sweat and a massive grin. "There is not a single piece of steel left on that tundra. We even took the horseshoes off the dead destriers."
"Excellent work, Commander," Lucifer said.
He waited for the five thousand Dragoons to hover back through the portal, their blue thrusters glowing in the twilight.
Once the last machine crossed the threshold, Lucifer clenched his gauntlet.
"Spatial Rend," Lucifer whispered.
The purple portal snapped shut instantly, sealing the connection to the ground.
Lucifer closed his Dimensional Vault. His soul space was now overflowing with the wealth of ten kingdoms. The King’s entire military budget, the remaining Cathedral funds, and the raw resources of the Umbral Plane all belonged exclusively to the Lord of Obsidian.
"The tutorial phase is over," Lucifer announced to his gathered commanders. His void-swirling eyes looked out over the massive, thirteen-million-strong Crusade standing in his courtyard.
He turned his back on the sealed portal.
He walked up the wide stone steps toward the central keep, his heavy iron boots echoing loudly. Elara, Lyra, Vexia, and Celeste followed him.
He stopped at the top of the steps, turning to face his army.
"We have the sky," Lucifer declared, his voice amplified by Void magic so it boomed across the entire floating city. "We have the metal. We have the numbers. The King is broken, and the Lich Lords are dead."
The thirteen million mortal soldiers erupted in a deafening cheer. They raised their glowing, holy-buffed fists into the air, chanting the Warlord’s name. The fifty thousand Glacial Wyrms roared in unison, their draconic voices shaking the clouds.
Lucifer did not smile. He didn’t bask in the glory.
He knew the reality of his regression. He knew the timeline.
He raised his Gauntlet of the Void King. The black lightning crackled violently, and the cheering army instantly fell dead silent.
"But the war is not won," Lucifer stated coldly. His void eyes locked onto the dark, starry sky above them.
"The Abyss is still waiting in the dark. The true gods have not yet made their move. We have built the fortress. Tomorrow, we start hunting the nightmare."
Lucifer lowered his hand.
He turned and walked into the grand hall of his keep. The Lord of Obsidian was no longer a minor noble defending a border town.
He was a Monarch without a crown, commanding a flying superpower, and he was ready to tear the rest of the world apart to save it.