On the planetary surface, a battle of unspeakable carnage was unfolding.
Two colossal armies, each numbering at least in the millions, clashed here in a final, all-or-nothing confrontation.
Both commanders seemed determined to stake the outcome of their entire campaigns on this apocalyptic engagement.
Phalanx after phalanx was thrown into the fray, and with every passing instant, countless lives were torn to shreds.
The battlefield had long since become an immense meat grinder. Any life thrust into it—even the most battle-hardened veteran—could not survive more than a quarter of an hour.
Yet neither side faltered. Their will was terrifying; even such staggering losses could not drive them back a single step.
Charge—unceasing, relentless charge!
Until they broke through the enemy line and no foe remained in sight!
Amid the collision of these two vast legions, an odd sight presented itself: a small detachment, scarcely more than a hundred strong, weaving and striking between the warring masses.
This unit did not appear to belong to either army. Nor did they exhibit any clear strategic aim. They simply moved and slew as they pleased.
Compared to the primitive, cold-steel armaments of the two native hosts, this hundred-man squad was armed to the teeth.
Beneath their various beast-shaped disguises lay full suits of powered armor for every soldier, and in their hands gleamed high-speed particle saw-blades capable of shearing through advanced bio-metal with ease.
They were none other than Kaido's Hundred Beasts Warband!
With only a hundred warriors, they unleashed devastation on par with the clash of two entire armies, turning this two-sided war into a chaotic three-way slaughter.
At the center of his warband, Kaido himself had yet to lift a hand. He merely strolled across the battlefield alongside his subordinates, as though taking a leisurely walk.
Above, the battlefield lay beneath a vast shadow—the silhouette cast by Roya's body against the blazing sun.
At its sudden appearance, the two native commanders had yet to grasp its meaning, but Kaido immediately looked up toward the abruptly darkened heavens.
Fervent fire burst from his eyes as he roared:
"Everyone! Pick up the pace—Lord Roya has arrived!"
His cry sent a surge of excitement through the Beast Warband, and they bellowed in unison:
"Kill them all!"
Like berserkers driven mad, they went into a frenzy, formations forgotten, scattering to a hundred vectors, each carving a bloody swath of destruction.
Everywhere they passed, men and beasts toppled, severed limbs flew skyward, and the savagery of the battlefield climbed to an even greater pitch.
Kaido himself halted, however, and with a calm air drew the spiked iron club from his back, planting it before him as he gazed upward at the shadow above.
His expression grew strange, knotted with conflicting emotions—devotion, fervor, unease—all surging together until his features twisted with contradiction.
"Come then, Lord Roya… accept the blood-sacrifice I have prepared for you…"
The words slipped from him in an unconscious murmur. Only after they left his lips did Kaido realize their impropriety. A flicker of alarm rose in his eyes—yet almost at once, some unseen calm suppressed it.
Suspended in the void above, Roya's gaze had not fallen, but his spiritual sense had already laid bare every detail of the battlefield below.
"Kaido? The Beast Warband?"
"They've defied orders, assembled here en masse, and even intervened in the wars of this planet's natives?"
The information gleaned by his perception left Roya somewhat surprised.
"No… these are no simple natives! One army carries a distinct aura of Chaos—likely the direct host of a Chosen of the Chaos Gods!"
"The other side's aura is no less unusual—ancient, obscure, perhaps remnants of some primeval race!"
"Why are such two forces waging decisive battle here? And why has Kaido entangled himself in this conflict—what is his aim?"
Riddles piled upon riddles. For caution's sake, Roya refrained from intervening immediately. Instead, he lowered his altitude into the atmosphere, seeking further clues.
The great shadow vanished, and golden sunlight once more poured down upon the battlefield already soaked crimson with blood.
At last, both native commanders became aware of Roya's encompassing spiritual perception pressing over the field.
"What dares to pry upon me, the King?!"
From the rear of the Chaos host, a chaotic blast erupted, a surge of four-colored force streaking skyward, aimed straight for Roya.
In less than a second it reached his face—yet only then did Roya finish parsing it.
This chaotic strike was centered on human psychic energy, but suffused with the corruption of all Four Chaos Gods, held in some eerie equilibrium that multiplied its power to unmeasurable heights.
That single blast bore the force of five suns erupting at once.
Yet it had not locked on to Roya. He merely shifted aside, and the attack passed harmlessly by, tearing a gash through the heavens above.
Gazing upon the wound in the sky, Roya could not help but think:
"So much destructive force… from a casual blow?"
Before he could respond, a roar shook the skies from below:
"Dragon God! Lurking in the shadows—will you not show yourself?! Must I crush your most beloved daughter with my own hands before you crawl forth to collect her corpse?!"
Only then did Roya realize—the Chaos-blessed, arrogantly raging figure below had mistaken him for some 'Dragon God.'
From the opposite side of the battlefield, a commanding female voice rang out at once:
"Belakor! To purify filth like you, Father need not descend. I alone am enough!"
At her words, Belakor's attention snapped toward her, and he bellowed:
"Miao Ying! I still remember the taste of your sister—you cannot wait your turn, can you? Good! Then today, the King shall grant your wish!"
"Warriors of Chaos—advance at full strength! The power of the Northern Bear God, the power of the Eastern Dragon God—they shall all belong to me, the great Lord of Darkness, the First Anointed, the Eternal Chaos Prince, the Half-God Belakor!"
"The world shall be devoured by Chaos! And I—shall ascend as a god!"
Each grandiose title he proclaimed was answered by a tidal roar from the Chaos host.
Already fearless of death, their morale now surged even higher. Their lines drove forward relentlessly, pressing back at last the opposing host whose equipment was several times their own in quality.
Then—from near the source of the earlier female voice—a resounding dragon's roar rang out.
It was met with an answering cheer from her warriors:
"The Dragon God shall guard us forever! Purge this cursed Chaos!"