Chapter 669: Flames of War

"What about the Teutonic side?"

Li Mochen inquired about the situation: "Prime Minister, I am somewhat uneasy about the situation in Teutonia."

The current Teutonic Republic could not be said to be entirely under the control of the Destiny Pantheon, but both the government and the populace were pro-Destiny Church.

And although the Teutonic military had been greatly expanded in recent years, boasting a powerful army of 450 full-strength divisions, 500 reserve divisions, and 300 civilian private divisions, ranking fifth in the world, the country was isolated in the Old Continent, surrounded by enemies on all sides, which inevitably made Li Mochen anxious.

It housed the most powerful heavy industrial cluster in the Old Continent, and its technological level was second to none among all technologically advanced nations—whoever obtained this country would be enough to change the global balance of power.

"Your Majesty, if the worst happens, I believe it will most likely be able to hold. In terms of the defensive capabilities of major cities, the Teutonic Republic surpasses even America, and its military potential is second only to America. You need not worry about Teutonia's reliability; as you can see, the origins of all upper-class families in Teutonia lie here, within your pantheon. Why would they have any reason to defect to the enemy?"

A slight curve appeared at the corner of Bismarck's lips: "It will maintain armed neutrality, but if someone initiates war against Teutonia, that will be our good fortune."

"That will only force the people of the Teutonic Republic to have no choice but to stand on our side."

Guderian then spoke: "Your Majesty, we all hail from Teutonia and have a deep understanding of the situation there. Though it appears surrounded by enemies, neighboring countries like France and the Netherlands will not actively intervene in this war, even if it is the will of the Lord of Light. The Church of Light will not allow Odin and Zeus to pass through Apennine or Eastern Europe, so our only threats come from the north and the sea. But if it's only the north, they cannot possibly shake this country."

Rommel smiled like a fox: "The Teutonic Republic went into full alert three days ago; they will have no chance of a surprise attack. Your Majesty, I personally would be very glad to see war break out there."

"Your Majesty, two months ago, I personally inspected the situation there."

Garcia Feren's eyes also gleamed: "Their defensive system is extremely rigorous and thorough, almost flawless. What is most surprising is that among the active-duty troops, there are almost no followers of the Lord of Light; they are reliable enough. I believe Prime Minister Bismarck and the several princes must have done ample work there."

Li Mochen's mind was greatly at ease. With the assurance of these three war-related subordinate gods, the Teutonic Republic would certainly be able to defend itself.

"What about the Divine Will Legions? How much longer until the Fifteenth Legion is fully formed? When can the Twelfth and Thirteenth Legions be deployed for combat?"

Currently, the Destiny Pantheon had only formed fifteen Divine Will Legions—this was his most helpless issue; their number of petitioners was far fewer than other pantheons. So even though Li Mochen now had a number of followers approaching that of the Lord of Light, he had only formed fifteen Divine Will Legions, more than half of which came from his many subordinate gods.

"It cannot be completed in a short time. Even the Twelfth and Thirteenth Legions will need two more months to finish training."

Garcia Feren also said somewhat helplessly: "But relying on the defensive system built within the Destiny Divine Kingdom, we can definitely hold our ground."

His confidence stemmed from the gods who had voluntarily integrated their divine kingdoms into theirs. The current Destiny Divine Kingdom had a meticulous web of laws that could suppress the strength of intruders to the greatest extent.

And the faith of the entire pantheon, numbering 8.9 billion people, could continuously provide them with divine power to maintain this web of laws.

They also had a magic tower array of a scale unimaginable to ordinary people—a full 360 magic towers of eight stories or more, corresponding to the stars. It not only possessed astonishing defensive capabilities but could also absorb the power of the stars and convert it into energy.

If not for insufficient time and financial resources, his liege would have even expanded the number of magic towers to 3,600, making the divine kingdom's defense system truly self-sufficient.

"The 'Fantasy Type 1' battle armor from Light Magic Industries has entered mass production. As a light magical power armor capable of fighting in divine kingdoms and the void, it can compensate for our combat power to the greatest extent, but it will take time to form a scale. Fortunately, we have one Phoenix Legion, two Giant Legions, two Dragon Legions, 27 Archmages, 40 Demigod Mages, a total of 700 Legendary Mages, and a high-level mage force of 270,000."

These mages were also one of his sources of confidence. Relying on the defensive fortifications within the divine kingdom, these mage legions could unleash firepower equivalent to fifteen Divine Will Legions.

Li Mochen's expression relaxed. He also did not believe they would fail to defend the divine kingdom. However, for a long time to come, they would be quite constrained in the war at the divine realm level.

"Defense is indeed no problem, but if we only hold our ground, we cannot win the war."

This was certainly not Li Mochen's style; he was never one to only take hits without fighting back.

"Therefore, the upcoming sweep operation in South America and the landing operation on Granden Island are also crucial and must be foolproof."

He swept his gaze over those present, especially Guderian and Rommel, who were responsible for these two operations: "I do not require success at all costs, but when you conduct operations, you must preserve our own strength to the greatest extent."

Guderian was responsible for the South American front. He would command five combat clusters, leading 900 divisions, plus a total of 400 divisions from South American countries, to break through the Beast Empire's lines with overwhelming force and recover the lost territories in South America.

The ideal outcome of this operation was to drive the Beast Empire into the sea, but Li Mochen knew this was mostly impossible. He would be satisfied if Guderian could capture a few populous cities in South America, which would deal a heavy blow to the faith of the Aesir and the Lord of Light.

Rommel would lead the invasion of the Beast Empire's homeland. He would command ten major allied fleets, all marine legions, and 67 divisions of marines, preparing to land on Granden Island, originally part of the Beast World.

This was a large island covering 1.2 million square kilometers, with about 12 million people living on it. It was 3,400 nautical miles from the Beast Empire's homeland on the 'Asa Continent,' located between Australia and the Beast Empire.

This was undoubtedly a strategic location. Once captured, it could threaten and harass the Beast Empire's homeland to the greatest extent, undermining its war potential.

Fortunately, Granden Island was a conquered territory of the Beast Empire, with about 30% of the island's population truly believing in the Aesir gods. But it was also the region with the strongest local resistance in the Beast World, with nearly 100,000 resistance fighters still active.

This landing plan was somewhat risky, but not without a chance of success.

Guderian's expression turned serious: "I understand, Your Majesty! I know the key to victory in this war, and I will do my utmost."

Rommel also spoke solemnly: "I will ensure the protective capabilities of the fleet formation are not compromised during operations."

He knew that Li Mochen's 'preserve strength' meant not only preserving his military forces but also the divine level.

It was foreseeable that after the war began, the opposing gods would frequently interfere on the battlefield. Compared to fortified cities and fortresses with massive magical energy arrays, armies marching in the field were better targets.

But at the divine level, the Destiny Pantheon was at an absolute disadvantage. The Norse Aesir, Olympus, Zoroastrian gods, and the Lord of Light—except for the Night Goddess—each had over two hundred gods and the ability to independently confront the Destiny Pantheon.

This meant that during offensives, they must always ensure a powerful magical energy array could support the Destiny gods descending into battle.

This would constrain their operations, but it was a necessary safeguard.

The key to victory in this landing war did not actually lie with their armies.

Since it involved the very foundation of the Beast Empire, Odin would certainly intervene, and his allies would likely follow. If they could not muster corresponding power, this landing operation would surely end in failure.

And their monarch, facing Odin and others alone, would certainly be at a disadvantage, requiring reinforcement from magical energy arrays.

"Very good!"

Li Mochen nodded approvingly, then turned to Bismarck: "Be prepared at all times. If the situation unfolds as we expect, I hope the parliaments of each country will pass bills to outlaw the New and Old Churches of Light within ten days."

Once it was confirmed that the Lord of Light had joined this alliance, he needed to strike at his source of divine power to the greatest extent.

Previously, Li Mochen had been very restrained. He had only prompted the American Department of Education and local education boards to revise textbooks and targeted the numerous church schools in America, using both legal and illegal means to seize control of these schools to influence the faith of the next generation.

But if the Lord of Light was confirmed to be allying with other pantheons, there would be no need for restraint on their side. They would have to drive the faith of the Lord of Light to rock bottom.

The thirty angel legions he had successively established were chilling; only by striking at his divine power source to the greatest extent could they effectively reduce the number of the Lord of Light's legions.

"We are already prepared, Your Majesty. There will be no problem with the parliament; the bill can be passed on the day war begins."

Bismarck's eyes gleamed: "We cannot eradicate the faith of the Lord of Light, but we can sweep away all his churches on this land. I guarantee that the church forces of the Lord of Light will be allowed to exist on this land for at most half a year."

This might be a bloody war. Bismarck understood that it would be difficult to eradicate the 700 million followers of the Lord of Light in the American Federation; they must be prepared for nationwide unrest.

Therefore, after the war began, they would deploy 600 of the Destiny Pantheon's 1,450 divisions for the American homeland.

"Prime Minister, and Prince Heydrich, I approve of the sweep plan you have formulated, but the actions must be swift and decisive, and must be legal and compliant, without excessive use of violence. My Prime Minister, after all, this is the age of the internet; please try not to provoke public resentment."

Li Mochen sighed inwardly, thinking that to some extent, this was his own doing. It was precisely because of the Destiny Pantheon's full promotion that the internet could be widely popularized in America and all allied countries during the war, giving the public more channels to understand the situation.

It must be noted that after years of divine war and the pervasive erosion by the Destiny Church, those who still believed in the Lord of Light in the American homeland were all devout followers.

Such people would be difficult to make abandon their faith without some tough measures. But if the measures crossed the line, it would likely spark widespread public debate and resentment, which would be counterproductive during wartime.

Unless the Church of Light actively created chaos on American federal territory, giving them a pretext for a crackdown. But only a fool would do that; it would only hand over the Lord of Light's faith and influence in this country.

However, judging from the plan submitted by the cabinet, his ministers clearly had a sober assessment of the situation. The action plan led by Heydrich mainly targeted the churches of the Lord of Light and the financial sources of the New and Old Churches, so he need not worry too much.

The only somewhat risky part was the framing of the Old Church, which might not necessarily convince the public.

It was worth mentioning that the God of Intelligence and Espionage had even previously considered having people commit bloody incidents in the northern states of the American Federation in the name of the Lord of Light.

Li Mochen had unhesitatingly vetoed it; it did not align with his moral code and divinity.

"Of course! I will not force them to convert, but appropriate violence is indispensable."

Bismarck did not soften his stance due to Li Mochen's reminder, living up to his reputation as the Iron Chancellor: "I will strictly control the media and the internet during the process to ensure that no social trend opposing the Destiny Church forms."

Heydrich placed his right hand over his chest: "I will also properly guide public opinion, Your Majesty. Our purification operation will be foolproof!"

"I hope so. I trust in your abilities."

Li Mochen nodded, then moved on to the next item on the agenda, concerning the Australian underworld.

To facilitate defense, Angela planned to adopt a feudal system in the newly established underworld in Australia, which could effectively reduce her burden but required dividing her authority among others.

Given the current situation, this was a necessary measure. However, Angela did not intend to create a large, uncontrollable fiefdom here. Her plan was to divide the underworld of Australia and New Zealand into forty portions to win over forty high-level ancient gods.

Additionally, Angela would later divide the underworlds of South America and Canada into seventy portions to enfeoff secondary death gods.

The duties of the King of the Underworld were complex and tedious, and this kind of contract responsibility system was actually a very effective management method. And the plan Angela had put forward indeed tempted many dragons, giants, and mages.

This greatly increased the strength of the underworld legions under Angela's command. Recently, not only had many wandering ancient giants and dragons joined her, but even from the Olympian and Aesir pantheons, many giants had been won over.

What Li Mochen and the others needed to decide now was the specific list of the forty secondary death gods for Australia. Angela had already submitted a list; theoretically, Li Mochen should not interfere and could just go through the motions. However, Reinhardt Heydrich's investigation had found that seven of the forty had various issues and were not entirely reliable.

Also, according to Heydrich's intelligence, after the war began, Australia and Teutonia would be the main targets of the enemy's offensive.

The next dozen or so agenda items were also related to the war, and it was not until an hour and a half later that this imperial council concluded.

After that, Li Mochen looked solemnly at those below: "Now for the last matter. Lady Delfinia Ederick, step forward!"

Delfinia's eyes sharpened, and she strode forward to kneel on one knee before Li Mochen. She already sensed what was about to happen.

Sure enough, the next moment, Li Mochen sent the Freedom Scepter he held and a pure black battle armor before her. Then he tapped the Destiny Sword in his hand on Delfinia's shoulder.

"From today, I appoint you as the eighth Angel King under my command, titled the Angel of Freedom—"

Those present in the hall had actually anticipated this scene.

Over the past half year, this Lady of the Void Night had repeatedly achieved great feats, and their monarch had more than once expressed his fondness for this queen of the alien race. The church had also been continuously building momentum for her.

Their eyes showed various expressions: envy, dissatisfaction, excitement, jealousy, and some regret.

Becoming an Angel King of the Lord of Destiny came with numerous benefits: first, sharing the divine power of the Lord of Destiny; second, a life linked eternally with the Lord of Destiny; third, receiving the Lord of Destiny's secondary powerful divine authority as support—considering the many rare and powerful authorities he possessed, such as 'Causality,' 'Destiny,' and 'Vitality,' this was undoubtedly a significant advantage.

Then, those like 'Guardian Angel' Achilles and 'Lady of the Void Night' Delfinia Ederick could also rise directly from a lower divine rank to the main god rank.

However, once one becomes an archangel, the path to further advancement is also blocked to a certain extent; they can only wait for their sovereign to elevate further before the upward path can be opened.

This is why the number of archangels under the Lord of Radiance has never increased. Although this sovereign has consecrated nine new archangels in recent years, their quality cannot compare with the previous ones.

Yet Delfinia·Alderic is still worthy of their envy. She first advanced from a high god to a major god, and then obtained two powerful mythical armaments from her sovereign. In particular, the 'Scepter of Freedom' is an artifact at the pseudo-truth level, and any major god wielding it can become a top-tier combat power in this world.

Besides this, almost everyone now knows that the 'Wish Spell' bestowed by the Lord of Fate treats insiders and outsiders differently.

Now many in the Fate Pantheon have greatly enhanced their power through this divine art, but none can compare to the angels under Li Mochen.

Not long ago, the 'War Angel' Robert, after contending with the 'Divine Envoy' Hermes, fought fiercely for thirty-four hours on the South Pacific battlefield against the even more powerful 'Holy Fire Angel' Uriel—such a growth rate is almost as exaggerated as that of the Lord of Fate himself.

Another with equally astonishing achievements is the Calamity Dragon Angel Hazel. Not long ago, at the northern tip of Canada, she slew the Night Goddess's subordinate god, the 'Night Wolf God' Atra. That was a powerful existence at the major god level, and his death meant a devastating blow to the Night Goddess's power in America.

Thus, many now believe that the angels under the Lord of Fate must have some special privilege in this regard.

This exceptionally talented Void Night Sovereign, though unable to advance further at the major god level for a long time to come, the god-king level above divine rank 19 is not something anyone can attain anyway.

For now, not only has she gained power from the Lord of Fate, but her clan has also received the protection of the Fate Pantheon.

※※※※

After this imperial council meeting, Li Mochen entered seclusion again.

Since three months ago, when Li Mochen elevated 'Stars' to the pseudo-truth level, he has devoted almost all his energy to studying the law of 'Eternity,' and has now entered a very critical period. Only a thin line remains to cross over.

This is extremely important to him; 'Eternity' not only provides him with a vast amount of divine power but also serves as an immensely powerful defensive ability. It complements time sequence and fate, strengthening Li Mochen's imprint in the river of time, making him truly immortal and indestructible, and further increasing his leverage.

However, things went contrary to his wishes. Just three days later, on April 7, 4002 of the Light Calendar, the gods sounded the war trumpet from all directions around the world.

It started in Java. The 22 million warriors of the Beast Empire poured in like surging tides, wave after wave crashing against the defenses, utterly tireless and fearless of death.

Then came the direction of Myanmar. The Beast Empire's army split into two large combat clusters: one, starting from Chittagong, advanced south along the coastline; the other, from the 'Kohima-Imphal' line, launched an offensive from the high ground of the Naga Hills. A total of 30 million Beast Empire warriors poured into Myanmar.

Fortunately, the industrial system under the Aesir Pantheon is still weak. Although these Beast Empire warriors have enough firearms, they lack ammunition and have few large war machines.

They cannot obtain the bio-armor monopolized by the Rising Sun Group and Huaxia, and in terms of power armor, they can only equip 70,000 men.

Yet this massive army still puts enormous pressure on the Southeast Asian countries.

At this time, besides the 60 full-strength divisions of the American Army and 30 divisions of Huaxia volunteers, Korea and Japan also dispatched 170 elite divisions to participate in the defense of Myanmar. Meanwhile, Southeast Asian countries including Siam and Jiaozhi mobilized nearly 300 divisions, massing them along the Myanmar defense line.

But this huge force of 600 divisions was almost shattered in one battle by the Beast Empire, leaving only a few permanent fortresses stubbornly holding out. Most of the remaining troops had to retreat to the second defense line.

Then came Canada. The church forces under the Light Church landed on Newfoundland Island, occupied the entire island in a very short time, and are continuously reinforcing.

But even more troubling was that on the Java and South American fronts, they not only completely lost the cooperation of the Light faithful but also suffered heavy blows from within.

The situation in Java was manageable; the most serious was in Mexico and Brazil. Overnight, over a thousand rebel forces and guerrilla groups appeared in South American countries, totaling 3 million men, all well-equipped. They not only cut off supply lines to the front but also caused massive damage to the Panama Canal.

Even within America, thousands of riots erupted, characterized by wide coverage and small scale. The vast majority were instigated by followers of Liberty and Olympus, while the remaining 20% were attempts by Abyss followers to open Abyss gates, allowing a flood of demons onto the surface.

However, due to the Fate Pantheon's thorough purge of Liberty followers, and the Light Lord's followers in America turning a deaf ear, these riots were suppressed in time and did not affect America's social order.

At this point, the foresight of Li Mochen's many war gods also became evident. The supplies they had stockpiled at the front could sustain three and a half months of war consumption, giving them enough time to wait for the supply lines to be reopened. Air superiority was also in their hands, allowing small-scale resupply by air.

The heaviest blow came from the Hawaiian Islands. The Beast Empire unexpectedly chose to land there, not only severely damaging the American garrison but also sending a total of 3.2 million warriors onto the main island of Hawaii in an extremely short time.

At the same time, as Guderian and others had judged, the combined forces of the three Nordic countries—3 million men—and 7 million Beast warriors began moving south from the Jutland Peninsula. The Light Church and the Olympian Pantheon, with a total of 400 divisions of church forces, also massed on the border, putting pressure on the Teutonic Republic.

At this time, only Ahura Mazda and his Zoroastrian Pantheon, due to geographical reasons, could only participate in this evil tide against the Fate Pantheon to a limited extent. He first mobilized Truth followers in the South Pacific region to give the Beast Empire maximum convenience; then he withdrew his troops from the Kashmir region, allowing the Beast Empire to more freely deploy its forces in Shen Du.

Finally, he concentrated 600 divisions in Central Asia, attempting to tie down Huaxia.

Comparatively, Ahura and his pantheon were the ones Li Mochen was most at ease about. Whether in technology or military strength, he was the weakest among the several god-kings. As for the holy war divisions he deployed in the Central Asian countries, Li Mochen regarded them as a joke.

Not to mention whether the infrastructure and environment there could support such a large-scale military operation, the strength of Huaxia alone was enough to ignore this minor threat.

As the strongest land army nation capable of mobilizing 390 million bayonets in extreme conditions, Huaxia's power was sufficient to suppress any surrounding disturbances. The fact that the country had no intention of sending troops into Central Asia was enough for the new 'Lord of Truth' to be extremely grateful.

As for the so-called holy war divisions mobilized by the Truth Church, with backward technology, a severe lack of heavy weapons, and no qualified personnel to operate them, their actual combat effectiveness was questionable.

In his strategic planning, Garcia·Feren completely ignored the church forces of the Truth Church.

But even excluding Ahura, the combined forces of the Aesir, Olympian, and Light Lord pantheons were enough to shatter their defensive system and plunge them into peril worldwide.

Li Mochen had to emerge from seclusion and take command at the Fate Township magic tower, which had already been built to forty floors, ready to respond to changes in various directions.

At this time, outside his divine kingdom, it was besieged by twenty angelic legions of the Light Lord, nine angelic legions of Ahura, 650 chosen war groups of Odin and Zeus, and twenty giant war groups, completely surrounded.

The gods of the Fate Pantheon also began frequent divine descents into the mortal world to engage the gods of the four pantheons. They were outnumbered and generally weaker than their opponents, relying on the defensive system built by the Fate Pantheon and the power of the 'Winged Knight Order' to resist and contend.

At the same time, the divine power stored within the Fate Divine Kingdom was being consumed rapidly. If not for the many magic towers within the divine kingdom, the 'Fate Township' personally controlled by Li Mochen, and the total of 6,000 energy pools in the magic tower array that could partially replace divine power, many of the Fate gods would have entered a state of divine power depletion.

For twelve consecutive days, Li Mochen's heart was tense, until the number of riots within the American Federation and Australia dropped to fewer than ten per day, allowing him to relax slightly.

This was his base. As long as these two countries did not experience major chaos, their war potential could be continuously unleashed, especially America's population and industrial capacity.

Only the large-scale loss of territory in the underworld controlled by Angela was frustrating; their power in the underworld was still weak.

But this was not a concern for now. As long as the mortal world still believed in the Fate Pantheon and Angela, and as long as Angela still controlled the core of the underworld, even if the enemy occupied all the territory of the underworld, it would be useless.

The defense of Twilight Dragon City was also fine for now. This former city of the Dragon Lich had been interconnected with Li Mochen's Fate Divine Kingdom, with the latter's law net covering every corner of the city. And the four underworld legions Angela had formed through the Wish Spell were enough to make any attacker bleed against the walls of Twilight Dragon City.

Other aspects were also improving. In Myanmar, though defeated, they were not in disarray. The first and second defense lines had buried a total of 1.5 million Beast warriors along the Myanmar border, exhausting the Beast Empire's accumulated strength. Their army was severely short of ammunition, especially heavy shells. In fact, they had few artillery pieces at all; almost all heavy guns had been lost under the combined forces' self-propelled artillery and missile strikes.

Under these circumstances, the Beast Empire was helpless against the combined forces' several permanent fortresses capable of withstanding a nuclear strike of 50 million tons of TNT equivalent.

The situation in Java was similar. With insufficient ammunition, the Beast Empire's commanders could only send their warriors to storm the fortress walls with their flesh and blood.

At this point, while the Fate allied forces were unable to counterattack, the Beast Empire's army was also powerless against them.

But this was based on the premise that the several god-kings had not yet entered the field. Li Mochen had to be cautious.

What he paid most attention to was the progress in South America. The numerous rebel forces in Mexico had been initially suppressed or forced to retreat to mountainous areas. The allied forces had also restored the Panama Canal and were working hard to clear and repair it.

The South American theater, under Guderian's command, was like thunder, rapidly improving the situation in a very short time.

The South American sweep plan was also going smoothly. Although the Beast Empire had deployed a massive army of 39 million men on the Brazilian Plateau, with 220 divisions from the Olympian Pantheon and 120 divisions of church forces from the Light Church as allies, the opposing commander seemed overly confident in their combat power, always adopting an offensive posture without seriously fortifying the defense line.

Thus, when a total of six combat clusters, 24 million allied soldiers, and a vast steel torrent of millions of various machines began a blitzkrieg under the command of the 'God of Artillery, Tanks, Armor, War Machines, and Blitzkrieg,' the entire Beast Empire line deployed there was shattered into pieces.

The Brazilian Plateau has gentle terrain, a rising peneplain, ideal for heavy armored units like tanks and mechs, and suitable for large-scale troop deployment. So when the 900 'America 4002 Organization Divisions' under America and the Fate Pantheon began a full-line assault, the Beast Empire warriors were utterly unable to resist.

They had powerful warriors and controlled many fierce beasts, but these forces suffered heavy casualties under the dense artillery fire of the allied forces. The various superior equipment of the 'America 4002 Organization Divisions' also rendered their thermal weapons useless—it was like the gap between thermal weapons and cold weapons.

However, Guderian's offensive stopped only at São Paulo state, where he strictly ordered all units to halt their attack and switch to defense.

This former Teutonic general was very rational. The triangular area centered on Rio de Janeiro is Brazil's most prosperous, densely populated, and industrially developed region. Occupying it not only provided supplies and logistics for the South American theater but also dealt a heavy blow to the enemy's military capability and faith.

But going further would involve great risk and would place his army and his sovereign in danger.

In fact, while he was leading his army south, Li Mochen had been preparing for a divine war with Odin and other god-kings in South America.

Yet this god-king war ultimately broke out at the landing battle on Granden Island.