The Great War started.
Once both sides deemed their preparations to be sufficient, war inevitably broke out regardless of anyone's will.
Both sides' objective was also very clear—not for territory or resources, but solely to kill the enemy.
The Star Rulers went to war for the Godheads inside gods' bodies, while the gods also went to war for the Godheads, only they wanted to protect them. Only by giving those Star Rulers a painful beating could the God Hunt be curbed.
Of course, mortal armies were also essential. Be it gods or Star Rulers, both were elusive existences who would never obediently wait for death by staying in one location.
Only by using mortal armies to invade the corresponding planes was it possible to truly determine these people's locations.
That was why the mortals already started fighting in this war a while ago. For example, information on the various gods that Academic Heaven previously gave Gu Nan was obtained through the sacrifice of countless mortal lives.
When the Star Rulers and gods started participating in the war on a large scale, the military campaign's rhythm began to shift as well.
The mortal armies on both sides no longer patrolled and restrained each other, instead continuously invading target planes to wantonly wreak havoc and plunder, forcing out the other side's powerful figures.
After all, wars at this level were already vastly different from mortal wars.
It was impossible for mortals to pose a threat to Star Rulers, so they could only assist from the sidelines, aiming to weaken the enemy plane.
Therefore, the war eventually developed into a situation where hundreds of Star Rulers either acted alone or in groups to launch surprise attacks. Though their ambushes seemed uncoordinated, like scattered sand, Academic Heaven was commanding all dispatches from the center based on a larger strategy.
Those in the World of Gods also had something similar, but overall, they were on the defensive.
The reason was simple: the main force for the Myriad Heavens was the low-ranked Star Rulers, as well as the forces under their command—the very group of people who had the greatest demand for Godheads.
As long as they obtained a single Godhead, they could turn around and mass-produce over a dozen Void Cutters who were then capable of swiftly joining the war.
In contrast, the World of Gods had no time flow difference to speak of, so the efficiency of cultivating Legend Ranks was so low that they had to rely entirely on the gods' own apostles to defend.
...
Frontlines, Fairhaven.
Fairhaven was one of the largest planes belonging to the World of Gods at the junction of the two worlds, with a large number of gods and mortal armies assembled there.
In a sense, Fairhaven was the frontline command center for the World of Gods. It coordinated most of the frontline battles and personnel dispatchment.
However, the gods meeting in Fairhaven all looked gloomy today.
"Four more gods fell yesterday, which means our enemies have at least forty more Legend Ranks." A middle-aged man with blond hair pounded the tabletop with great force. "Everyone, things can't go on like this!"
This was God of Knights Wayne, a recently-ascended Tier 8 god, yet he was already one of the higher-ranked people in the frontline command center.
"What else can we do? Let's ask for help from above. The enemies' personnel can be constantly replenished, but we'll only lose more people as we fight…" A young man beside him complained with a grimace.
"If we keep fighting like this, it'll be too late once all our apostles die, weakening our own powers."
"That's right. We should've requested their assistance a long time ago…"
The gods in attendance discussed amongst themselves, but the consensus was basically the same—to invite high-ranking gods to help out by ambushing enemy Star Rulers.
After all, if they used their apostles to fight enemy Void Cutters, they might be able to handle it for a short while, but losing too many apostles would inevitably weaken their own powers.
Apostles themselves were the most devout believers and would receive a small portion of the god's divine power, so every apostle's death was a major loss.
Wayne listened to the crowd's arguments in silence, at a loss on what to say for a while.
Even the people here had lost their confidence and were only thinking of asking the high-ranking gods to intervene, so one could see just how bad the situation had gotten.
But Wayne knew perfectly well what caused this. There were two reasons—one was Claudia's death not long ago, making the higher-level gods fearful of stepping foot onto the frontlines.
The other reason was even simpler. Wayne glanced down at the intelligence report on the table. Of the four gods that fell yesterday, three had once again died at the hands of "Ghost".
"That damned 'Ghost'…"
...
In the gap between the two worlds, the sixteenth spatial jump point.
A tidal wave of armies from the Myriad Heavens continuously surged in, attempting to capture this place in one fell swoop.
Spatial jump points were the best places to enter larger worlds. Crossing the dimensional barrier from here can minimize risk of injuries, so it was a location the two sides would inevitably fight over.
After all, there wasn't much need to worry about spatial jump points when only a few people were sneaking through, but they couldn't just pick a random location when trying to move a large army.
The strengths of individual members of the mortal army were insufficient, so if they didn't go through the jump point, the casualties incurred during the trip alone would be astronomical.
"Shameless invaders! In the name of His Majesty Tarak, I will drive out all evil!"
A blond girl in full armor floated in the air. The towering shield in her hands glowed with golden light, shielding the gods' side from hundreds of enemy troops at once while attacks from her forces were able to travel through the golden light freely, inflicting a large number of kills.
Julie was an apostle of Shield God Tarak and had been dispatched to the sixteenth spatial jump point to defend against the evil invaders' attacks.
As a genius who managed to step into the threshold of Legend Rank at the young age of nineteen, Julie had every right to be proud of herself, and she was confident that any evil would be destroyed under the holy light.
However, only after she came to the frontlines did Julie realize that the world was a harsh place.
The enemy was not only evil and cunning, but also far more powerful than she imagined! One by one, powerful Legend Rank enemies as strong as herself—or even stronger—rushed at her, as if they didn't care about their lives at all.
How could she know that these "mass-produced" Void Cutters were originally a part of the Star Rulers' direct branch to begin with, so they naturally didn't care about their lives?
Or perhaps they already entered an agreement to risk their lives fighting for the Star Ruler with all their might for a certain length of time in exchange for the opportunity to become a Void Cutter. Otherwise, why would they be chosen to become Void Cutters?
Outside the golden shield, she saw the mortals being swiftly killed off one by one while the Legend Rank opponents temporarily dodged their attacks. In the end, they didn't manage to injure a single Legend Rank enemy.
Julie couldn't help hating herself for not learning divine arts that dealt wide-area damage so that she could exterminate these despicable invaders in one fell swoop.
When the divine power that Julie invoked was exhausted, the radiance from her shield gradually dimmed, as if endless enemies were once again surrounding her.
Julie gazed ahead in slight despair. The empty feeling from her depleted power caused her to stagger a little.
"My Lord… is this the end?"
With the last of her strength, the young girl silently mouthed the name of her god while slowly closing her eyes, waiting for death to arrive.
A faint sigh seemed to travel over from beyond the horizon, followed by endless golden light falling down, blocking and even annihilating all the invaders from the Myriad Heavens.
This time, not even the Legend Rank enemies escaped.