"Long live the Spirit Ice Douluo!"
"Long live the Divine Gift Continent! Long live the Spirit Ice Continent! Long live the Divine Realm Empire!"
All of Star Luo City... no, Divine Realm City, erupted in celebration. A week had passed since the great upheaval transported them to this world.
Emperor Dai Tianling declared that all of this was the work of the Spirit Ice Douluo's mighty power, and that the land beneath their feet was their divinely bestowed territory. To mark this, he renamed both the empire and the continent, and proclaimed the current year the first year of the Divine Realm era.
A military camp on the eastern bank of the Xiding River, in the distant outskirts of Dingchuan District.
The morning mist over the Green Scale Plain had yet to clear when the soldiers stood ready to march, dew on the grass still refracting the pale light of dawn.
This was the base of the First Mecha Corps of the Empire. Ordinarily responsible for guarding Divine Realm City, they had been transported to the Spirit Ice Continent along with it during the great upheaval.
Huang Zhengyang was the corps commander, an imperial god-class mecha pilot and a Titled Douluo who bore the title Pillar of the Empire.
As a senior military officer, Huang Zhengyang had been briefed on their current circumstances. The emperor's orders soon followed-clear out the indigenous tribes on the Green Scale Plain, after which the relevant departments would take over management of the indigenous labor force.
Huang Zhengyang had truly never expected his first battle in this new world to involve bullying the natives.
Using Soul Guidance Mecha against natives-wasn't that firing cannons at mosquitoes?
Only after reading the detailed intelligence did he learn that his corps was the sole professional military unit within the empire's borders to have been transported.
Although Star Luo City had plenty of soul masters, none could match a professional army in organization.
There was no helping it, then. Huang Zhengyang would have to take the field himself and fight the natives first.
As a senior military officer, Huang Zhengyang could practically foresee that, for a long time to come, the First Mecha Corps of the Empire would be tasked with clearing out natives.
Moreover, this force would undoubtedly become the nucleus of the Divine Realm Empire's future army.
If they followed the former Star Luo Continent's army organization, the future commanders of the eastern, western, southern, and northern armies would probably all come from the officers in his unit.
The "little torrent of steel" began its advance, standard-issue Soul Guidance Mecha flying forward.
The corps had two thousand personnel in total, but Huang Zhengyang deployed only one hundred yellow standard-issue mecha. He personally led the expedition, piloting the black mecha, Despair Reaper.
The hundred mecha advanced silently in a standard wedge assault formation, like a moving forest of metal.
At the front were [Savage Bear Type] Yellow Rank mecha clad in heavy metal plate armor. Shoulder to shoulder, they formed an unshakable assault line.
Behind them came the more agile [Hound Type] Yellow Rank mecha, their mechanical arms fitted with Soul Guidance Ray Guns and chainswords glinting with cold light.
The last machine was the black mecha, Despair Reaper, an old companion of Huang Zhengyang's.
Huang Zhengyang did not think a native tribe warranted a god-class red mecha, so he had brought Despair Reaper out for some fresh air.
In terms of equipment, most of the mecha deployed by the corps were close-combat models, with none equipped with Fixed Soul Cannon Shells.
That was because this war was an "economical" sweep intended to conserve expensive soul cannon shells.
Huang Zhengyang's corps staff considered Fixed Soul Cannon Shells and long-range firepower a waste against a native tribe whose strongest combatant was merely a Soul Saint.
Cold steel was cheaper, and more intimidating.
The target: the Green Scale Tribe!
The Green Scale Tribe's alarm was sounded by striking deadwood and beast bones, its notes desolate and urgent.
Tribal warriors in leather armor, carrying bone spears, swiftly assembled behind the crude wooden palisade.
"Are those... soul beasts? Giant flying soul beasts!" For the first time, fear appeared in the eyes of many elders.
Ever since their chief had broken through level seventy, the Green Scale Tribe had become the strongest tribe in the area. Countless weaker tribes had submitted to them, and their rise had become unstoppable.
But why would soul beasts take the initiative to attack them?
They were still so far from those two mountain ranges.
The natives simply lacked the knowledge, mistaking mecha for flying soul beasts.
This also had to do with the empire's preferred mecha designs.
The Sun Moon Federation generally used humanoid mecha, whereas the empire favored beast-shaped designs.
At the center of the tribe, a middle-aged man wearing an emerald-feather cloak rose into the air, seven Soul Rings shining beneath his feet.
One white, two yellow, three purple, and one black.
This was the tribe's chief, the Green Scale King, their Seven-Ring Soul Sage.
The Green Scale King noticed Huang Zhengyang's mecha, Despair Reaper, at first glance.
It had a streamlined, blue-black exterior and stood seven meters tall, with short, thick legs and a longer upper body. A massive scythe rested on its shoulder, one end of the long shaft gripped in the mecha's right hand, its blade more than four meters wide.
"That's not a soul beast!"
The Green Scale King suddenly roared a warning to his people.
How could a flying soul beast carry a scythe as a weapon?
That scythe clearly had a metallic sheen.
"Advance!" Huang Zhengyang's voice reached every unit through the internal soul guidance network.
The [Savage Bear Type] mecha slammed into the wall of piled wood and stone, instantly shattering it to pieces.
Bone spears hurled by the native warriors and scattered Soul Skill attacks struck the mecha's thick armor, raising only a few sparks. They could not leave so much as a scratch.
Huang Zhengyang's Despair Reaper came before the seven-ring Green Scale King.
The Seventh Soul Ring flashed, and under the enhancement of his Martial Soul Avatar, the Green Scale King transformed into a gigantic green lizard.
Then Despair Reaper beheaded him with a single stroke.
"Chief!"
"Your Majesty!"
The cries turned to screams, and the slaughter began.
The [Hound Type] mecha plunged into the crowd, sweeping their chainswords horizontally. The shrill scrape of metal accompanied the dull sound of flesh tearing; primitive weapons and armor were like paper before the rapidly spinning alloy teeth.
A [Savage Bear Type] mecha brought down its superheated battle-axe, cleaving a valiant warrior in two, weapon and all. The searing heat instantly carbonized the wound before blood could even spurt out.
This was not a battle. It was a soul guidance industrial civilization crushing a primitive soul master civilization.
A Green Scale Tribe elder glared so fiercely that the corners of his eyes seemed ready to split. His Seventh Soul Ring suddenly blazed. "Martial Soul Avatar!"
His body swelled into an enormous bird of prey covered in emerald scales. With a mournful cry and grim resolve, he dove toward the densest cluster of mecha.
No wonder the Green Scale Tribe had established itself in the best location on the plain. No wonder it had defeated so many powerful enemies to become the most advanced and strongest tribe, its chief even daring to call himself king.
This native tribe actually had two Soul Saints!
Emerald light erupted, and the powerful soul power shock wave sent two heavy [Savage Bear Type] mecha staggering backward, leaving slight dents in their armor.
"I'll handle this."
The Yellow Rank mecha paused briefly, then parted to open a passage.
The surrounding space seemed to freeze, and an invisible force pinned the enormous body of the Kingfisher Martial Soul Avatar in place.
The tip of Despair Reaper's scythe shot out, a chain linking the blade to the shaft.
"No-!"
The Green Scale elder's despairing cry cut off abruptly.
"Continue."
Giant steel feet trampled tents, fields, and fallen bodies.
Greatswords and battle-axes repeated their chopping motions, conserving every measure of soul guidance energy.
The sun climbed higher, completely dispersing the morning mist and bathing the Green Scale Plain in light.
Despair Reaper planted a flag embroidered with the Divine Realm Imperial White Tiger Crest in the scorched earth where the Green Scale Tribe's altar had once stood.
The flag snapped in the wind.
The empire's will was branded onto this bloodstained plain in a manner at once utterly primitive and supremely advanced.
Before you continue