All Veluriyam’s great emperors were gathered together once more.

Unfurling the map a second time, Jiang Chen pointed to and fro. “Friends, Pillfire is at its wit’s end. It’s preparing a final assault on us to find victory or death. We should rise to the challenge in meeting them on the battlefield!”

He had refrained from formally making a break with Pillfire all this time because of his regard for the bigger picture in the human domain. A clash between two powerful forces was sure to result in civil unrest in the domain for a long while, reducing humanity’s already meager strength even further.

Alas, Pillfire had seemingly cast Jiang Chen’s efforts to the dogs. They’d perceived Jiang Chen’s self-control and restraint as cowardice and timidness. This infuriated Veluriyam’s young lord. If continual restraint couldn’t bring peace, then the alternative was a thunderous strike to excise the festering boil of Pillfire from the world!

It wasn’t just the great emperors in the city who...