News of the call to arms spread like a plague to all the cities that had an Auction House and people had mixed reactions about it. On the one hand, it was the perfect opportunity for advancement for every follower that didn't have a silver spoon growing up and had dreams of making it big but on the other were the nobles that felt that it was too sudden and that the organization was being unfair to them by not giving them a choice since if they didn't participate they would be strip of everything and very possibly killed.
The rest of the good alignment Gods adopted a wait and see attitude even if there was value in the trial by fire, the main reason was that they didn't want to make the the demons think that it was an all or nothing war for the right to control the alliance and the other was that any chance they had to weaken another competitor was worth it.
The reaction of the other gods came as no surprise to Odos that didn't even bother to ask them for assistance.
Odos didn't have to do much to convince Fadall who quickly jumped in and agreed to the war, he prefered that kind of method and thought that it was very important to temper his legions with the blood of his enemies.
Abraham took a little bit more convincing and basically 50% of the spirit energy from all the God of Justice followers that died in the war was to be his as a reward. This was a very steep price to pay but Odos thought it would be worth it in the end when he held the Realm Weapon in his hands.
The stage was set and the rules for the challenge were simple, since Rahz killed members of the God of Justice from Level 20 to Level 40 it was only fair that the ones taking revenge for the fallen were also in this bracket. The time to gather one's troops was set to be a year and anybody that was participating need it to be in the zone designated for the War before the time was up. There were no cap to the amount of participants on each side and there was no rules against building any sort of structures. The war was to last 2 years and after that the beef between the two would be forgiven.
The news of the challenge spread like wildfire and it reach the Temple of the Dreadnought extremely quickly. The information spread so fast that even before the headmasters of the chambers could schedule a meeting to discuss the news, Giant Blade had already arrived and was smiling from ear to ear.
"Those bastards don't even know what is coming to them do they, all those souls coming your way and at the perfect level of difficulty to farm your levels. Oh … Yes … I wish I could be there to enjoy the fun but lucky for you my precious wifu Liz can make the cut".
Giant Blade gave Rahz the thumbs up and continued, " I am also authorized to negotiate a partnership with my new boss Degark Harbinger, leader of Blackrock Port. He would help you recruit people to fight those goodie two shoes and in return all you have to do is to ask those bastards of the God of Justice that in case we win all the pieces of the avatar sets they stole from the Evil alignment Avatar sets return to their respective Factions".
Rahz didn't see any inconvenience with the request and issue his own counter challenge with the new stipulations which was countered once more with another yes but they had to be allowed to do open recruitment.
The agreement that came to be known as the Tempering War was signed by both parties and preparations started on their way. The terrain to be use in the war was a very large area in the territory just outside the influence of the factions involved. The area was massive covering 120,000 square miles and it housed creatures ranging from level 10 all the way to level 43 and in order to prevent outside assistance a barrier was to be erected to isolate the participants.
The higher ups of the abyss,silverwing and Blackrock gathered together and were very enthusiastic about the war and they spare no expense in the sealing and management of the War Area that came to be known as Warsong Valley.
The Temple of the Dreadnought's entrance to the Warsong Valley was located roughly 2 months away from the Abyss portal on a flying mounts but merchants and mages smelled the sweet sweet smell of money and set up portal services to both entrances perfectly name Devas for the Justice side and Asuras for the demon side.
Thanks to the many conveniences that were being provided by businessman, Rahz had time to increased his level, finished his new skills and finally get a mount. It was a tough schedule but if anybody could make it happened it was Rahz's team.
The towns were flooded with adventures and mercenaries that wished to sign up and the whole event was treated like if it was the olympic games.
Rahz decided to acquire his mount first while apocalypse continued to analyse the DNA and the bloodline characteristics of each race. Thanks to Remulus knowledge and ability to communicate with nature searching for flying creatures would not take too long, the problem was that they didn't really know all the creatures capable of flight or the ones even strong enough to carry Riddick.
The team went around the temple asking the headmaster's for help on the matter and they all came up with the same questions? Why do you need a mount and why don't you just get a mage as a retainer?
Hmmm…
"Because mounts are super cool! how can you not want one!!!! and we already have liz for the portals" said Rahz with an annoyed face that Thug'Dromog didn't get it.
"If you are really determined to get one, why don't you buy one in Shinjuku? They have those nutjobs of Your New Best Friend".
It was as if somebody had reveal ancient knowledge that unlock the mysteries of the universe to Rahz , Explosions rang in his brain and he snap his fingers and said, "That's it, that is how I found Rid"
Thug'Dromog was immediately flabbergasted and enraged that the son of the great Demon Azgorth was found in a pet shop. This was a hit to his psyche with a power level over 9000.
Rahz left and gather his team and told them the idea before asking Liz to please teleport them to the city where they quickly found the shop.
"Welcome to Your New Best Friend, If you have any questions please let me know. I Fancy myself an expert tamer and there is not a single animal in the shop that I don't know" said a very friendly store manager
"Great, we want three amazing flying mounts" said Rahz very enthusiastically.
COUGH...COUGH..
"Sorry Sir...We are sold out at the moment due to the War, they are indeed a most have".
(Silence)
Sigh…
"Do you know where we can find a list with flying mounts that are brought over and tamed from the Abyss?".
"OF COURSE! They are recorded in The Compendium of Magical Beast for All your Needs and lucky for you esteemed customer we have 1 copy available, however, it is extremely difficult to get them to recognized you as their master"
Rahz smiled and said, "Thank you for your kind advice please sell us the copy"
"Certainly Sir, you are on your way to obtaining a wonderful partner to help you conquer the skies….That would be 100,000 Gold Coins"
PSSHHH!!!
Jazz's Ale bursted out of his mouth and covered the management that took a rag from his pants' back pocket and cleaned his face in the most natural way.
"Would that be cash or credit Sir?".
"Cash" said Rahz while taking out a runic pouch and passing it to the Clerk.
Once the transaction was over, the team came back to the temple carrying a massive book with at least 50,000 pages. The book was organized by regions and there was a nice picture of the mounts and a brief description of the characteristics of them such as favorite food, if it could fly, maximum speed, basic attacks and there were even special skills that it could learned.
The team looked on with amazement and if before they felt like getting robbed in plain daylight now they felt like they won the billion dollars PowerBall (Lottery).