The suddenness of this war was entirely due to the leak. Lu Yang had no way to make further preparations and could only gather his players at full speed. Large numbers of Iron Blood Brotherhood players headed to Sapphire, Screen, Fire Dragon, Resurrection, and Blue Cave Stronghold.
Likewise, Jerz began gathering players with all his strength, sending them to assemble at the Black, Orange, Purple, and Blue Strongholds. The first battlefield between the two sides would be there, but both sides needed time.
First, they needed to determine the number of players available for daytime and nighttime combat. Second, they needed to gather as many supplies and materials as possible. Therefore, the actual fighting would not erupt immediately, but sometime over the coming days.
Fortunately, the initiative in the war was on the Iron Blood Brotherhood's side. Lu Yang was the attacker, while Jerz was the defender, which allowed Lu Yang to make more thorough preparations. Still, it only gave him a few extra days.
Inside the Demon God Temple, Lu Yang was doing everything he could to kill Salamanca. With only a few hundred health points remaining, he desperately needed whatever Salamanca dropped. Any fire-type item dropped by an upper god would be helpful to him.
Salamanca also realized he was on the verge of death and became increasingly enraged, even entering a berserk state. Yet the two divine bulls and golden chains held Salamanca firmly in place.
One minute later, Salamanca could no longer hold on. His body rapidly collapsed, leaving behind only an unwilling roar.
"I am an upper god! How could I possibly fail?!" Salamanca's body turned into flecks of fire within the golden chains and vanished without a trace.
An item dropped, and the very first one made Lu Yang widen his eyes and smile.