What? His Name Was Alikui'en?

"What kind of joke is this?"

In Mingdu City, Xite, the southern governor of the Light Church and commander-in-chief of the Southern Legion, angrily smashed the cup in his hand.

Xite had been having a terrible time lately.

In just one month, the entire continent had descended into chaos.

First, a rebellion broke out in Holy City. The many crimes of Pope Aodarming were exposed, and Chief Justice Wuer Nuode personally apologized to the families of the young girls and compensated them. Then he publicly executed the pope.

When Xite heard the news, he flew into a rage. Though he was also deeply dissatisfied with this pope's actions, how could the chief justice put the pope on trial? It was an act of blasphemy.

Besides, they were only girls from the families of commoners. To publicly apologize on their behalf was practically rubbing the Light Church's face in the dirt.

But before Xite's anger had even subsided, a new problem emerged.

A group of strange objects suddenly drifted across the sky, broadcasting outrageous statements through devices that looked like crystal balls.

According to the scouts' reports, those things were called airships. The devices aboard them that resembled crystal balls were called screens.

Every day, those screens broadcast all kinds of outrageous statements, publicly condemning the pope and the many other high-ranking officials of the Light Church.

The most troublesome thing was that the airships were incredibly fast. They tried sending out flying magical beasts to pursue them, but couldn't catch up.

Not long after, an army of tens of thousands descended without warning from the sky and landed in Holy City. They swiftly took control of the city's military and government, then announced that the Light Church was dead and the Interstellar Federation would rise in its place.

The scouts who returned with the news claimed that those people had come down from the sky in something called a spaceship. They also had all sorts of other things—tanks? Fighter jets?

The result was that the continent's greatest city, the Church's Holy City—a fortress garrisoned by two hundred thousand troops—fell in just one day. More than half the army surrendered, and the rest had barely put up any meaningful resistance.

That wasn't even the worst of it. The worst came the next day, when news arrived that countless unfamiliar iron ships had appeared along the coast. After landing in large numbers, their troops began attacking every kingdom.

In just one month, five of the continent's seven kingdoms had already fallen. The people below were bringing food to the heretics' armies, while soldiers were surrendering in droves, entire units at a time.

After capturing a city, the invaders executed large numbers of the Church's bishops and the kingdoms' nobles. They even talked about eliminating the princes and nobles altogether.

"What kind of joke is this? Those commoners don't even know their place! How dare they attack us!"

Xite cursed, his voice half furious and half afraid. He was furious that those commoners dared to put the Church's high-ranking officials on trial, and afraid that he himself would be purged next.

Lately, he had to both calm the people and gather his troops, fortifying the defenses in preparation for a final stand.

However, as someone with at least an average amount of intelligence, he knew perfectly well that, given the enemy's demonstrated strength, their resistance would likely be futile.

But he had no choice. He wasn't absolutely loyal, and he had considered simply surrendering.

The problem was that those heretics wouldn't let him live.

They had been generous to the commoners everywhere they went, but they had shown no mercy to the Church's high-ranking officials, often wiping out entire families. Only a tiny few with good reputations who had frequently helped the people had been spared.

As a high-ranking official of the Church, a governor with authority over an entire region and a military bigwig besides, Xite had countless innocent deaths on his hands.

He had secretly sent people to approach the invaders and sound them out, hoping they would accept his surrender.

Instead, the people he sent were publicly executed. He was completely stunned.

Someone of his rank, with his strength and command over an army, would have been welcomed with open arms by any empire in history if he surrendered of his own accord. They would probably have granted him a fief and treated him with courtesy.

But those people from the Federation were different. They said that people like him deserved to be swept away by history.

After that, Xite finally understood.

There was no chance the heretics would spare him. The enemy controlled all the surrounding nations, and escape was impossible. His only option was to resist to the death.

Still, even though he used force to make his subordinates fight to the bitter end, not everyone was willing to die alongside him.

Three days later, at the front lines, row after row of Magic Crystal Cannons stood ready.

Soldiers had formed defensive positions around the cannons, waiting for the enemy.

Hundreds of mages mounted on flying magical beasts were on high alert in the sky.

"General, do we really have to fight?"

On the city wall, the deputy general looked at the general with a troubled expression and couldn't help asking.

Everyone, from the princes and nobles to the street peddlers, knew that the Federation's unification was inevitable.

"Do you think I want to? This is the governor's order, after all."

The general sighed, then shook his head.

How could he not understand? News had been arriving constantly lately: iron monsters, flying beasts in the sky that couldn't be brought down, and explosive iron arrows.

Judging by the results, they had no chance of winning this battle. If they fought head-on, they would only die.

He didn't really understand what weapons the enemy was using, but the front lines didn't lie. They had no chance of winning.

But surrendering wasn't so simple either! The enemy hadn't arrived yet, and although the people below were panicking, the governor still controlled the entire army.

The governor had gone mad by now. If the general even showed signs of wanting to surrender, the governor might kill him before he could do it.

The Federation was powerful, but it wasn't going to send people to protect him.

As for staging a mutiny and taking the governor's head to the enemy as a gift, did he even have the strength to do that? If he were that powerful, he'd be the governor himself.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

"General, look up!"

The deputy general's voice interrupted the general's thoughts. Hearing the roar from above, they both looked up.

Dozens of fighter jets roared past at high altitude, their guns spitting fire as they swiftly bore down on the flying magical beasts.

"Ah!!!"

Screams rang out as the mages and flying magical beasts plummeted toward the ground one after another.

From the ground, the disparity in strength between the two sides was plain to see.

The Light Church's flying magical beasts were too slow. Their opponents toyed with them.

And the enemy's defenses were formidable. Even when a spell managed to hit them by chance, it had little effect.

Worse still, their firepower was terrifying. Flying magical beasts kept getting shot down.

At the same time, the ground began to tremble.

The vanguard of the mechanized forces charged toward the defensive line, driving unfamiliar vehicles straight at the troops.

"Fire!"

The front-line commander shouted. The Magic Crystal Cannons flashed, unleashing a barrage of spells.

But just as the cannon fire was about to hit, an invisible barrier appeared directly in front of the enemy forces. The Magic Crystal Cannons' attacks failed to impede them at all.

"Boom!"

The next moment, a barrage of attacks rained down on the ground positions. The Magic Crystal Cannons were battered and twisted out of shape, and the entire defensive line began to collapse.

Blood flowed everywhere, and flesh and bone flew through the air. It was a meat grinder of a battlefield.

"Run!"

At last, someone shouted, and the already-panicked defensive line collapsed completely.

Everyone scattered in all directions. No one cared about the heretics anymore.

The officers who had been loudly calling for a fight to the death against the heretics before the battle ran faster than rabbits.

Two months later, the fighting across the continent had completely died down. Many problems remained, but things had begun to improve.

The Light Church was abolished, and the Light Continent became the Byron Division of the Interstellar Federation. Holy City was renamed Federation Byron City.

"Lord Huosi, the personnel appointments are complete. We should be able to begin developing the mountains and mineral resources across the region in about a year."

Wuer Nuode knelt on the ground as he reported, his eyes filled with fervent admiration.

He had witnessed the changes across the continent with his own eyes. At last, he understood in his heart just how great Lord Huosi was. He had decided to abandon the Lord of Light once and for all and worship Lord Huosi alone for the rest of his life.

"Good. First, take two years to recover. After that, the Expeditionary Army will set out for the Dark Continent. Then, within the following ten years, we'll build coastal ports and develop the ocean's resources. The ocean makes up seventy percent of this plane, and its treasures are abundant."

Huosi nodded as he spoke.

Overall, this battle had gone very smoothly. It probably wouldn't take decades before they could replicate Yulan's approach.

"By the way, my lord, about Chiyan Mountain..." Wuer Nuode began cautiously.

"Oh? You mean the two gods in Chiyan Mountain? I was just planning to go see them in a few days!"

Huosi thought for a moment before replying.

After arriving in this plane, Huosi had investigated its inhabitants. Apart from the rulers of the two continents, two gods were living in seclusion in Chiyan Mountain.

But since they were in seclusion, they probably wouldn't interfere in worldly affairs. Huosi had planned to first take care of the two continents, then go meet them.

In any case, he couldn't just leave two gods alone.

"Lord Alikui'en has been a god for many years. He is..."

"Wait. Did you just say the god living in seclusion is named Alikui'en?"

Huosi cut him off, a glint flashing in his eyes.

"Yes, my lord. His name is Alikui'en."

Wuer Nuode was a little confused, but he nodded at once, thinking that Lord Huosi must know Lord Alikui'en.

"How interesting. It really is Alikui'en. Then is the other one Pusiluo? Looks like I'll have to go meet them."

Huosi's lips curled up, as if he had remembered something amusing.

Alikui'en was a character who left a deep impression on people. Of course, it wasn't because of Alikui'en himself, but because of his pet: a little golden cat, the volcanic traveler Pusiluo.

A master cautious to the extreme and a pet who wanted nothing more than to kill his master—and somehow, they had managed to live together like that for billions of years.

A cautious Seven-Star Fiend and a hidden Asura. One was exceptionally good at keeping a low profile, while the other wanted only to kill his master.

After billions of years of pent-up frustration, Pusiluo's mind had become twisted. If not for the self-healing abilities of a god, he would have gone insane long ago.

It was hard to say whether Pusiluo was still in his right mind when he attacked Li'ermengsi and spoke with Linley and the other two.