The report caused Emperor Rozwald to narrow his eyes.

"That figure is coming from the direction of headquarters and approaching fast! That figure… that figure uses long-range teleportation movement with almost no intervals. Your Majesty, he has almost arrived," the report continued.

Emperor Rozwald kept his eyes narrowed, but then he widened his eyes as he suddenly realized who it might be.

"It's His Majesty Aldrian the Great, Your Majesty! At this moment he has stopped and is floating not far from us!" another report came in.

Just as he thought, the one approaching was Aldrian, and he could not help but smile. It seemed this battle would be much faster than he had imagined. The beam cannon attacks stopped, but he did not question it since they would naturally stop the moment Aldrian appeared near them.

After waiting for more than fifteen seconds, Emperor Rozwald grew confused because Aldrian did not seem to be approaching this place. Then suddenly an urgent voice came.

"Your Majesty, Aldrian the Great will unleash that technique again!"

Emperor Rozwald's confusion deepened at this, but as if sensing it, the other side continued before he even needed to ask.

"Aldrian the Great will use that sword technique again! That countless-swords thing!"

The moment Emperor Rozwald heard that, he felt goosebumps and looked behind him at his troops.

"I give an order for all of you to retreat two kilometres! Retreat! Retreat!" he shouted, causing his troops to freeze for a moment. They did not understand why Emperor Rozwald would give such an order, but they obeyed him. They began to retreat in a disciplined manner.

Emperor Rozwald looked up at the sky, which appeared red from where he stood, yet he could still see the high sky clearly. Thanks to the repeated beam cannon attacks, they had cleared the clouds and mist in this area, allowing him to see beyond.

At this moment, he finally saw countless glimmering lights clustered in the sky. But he knew those were not stars. Those were the early signs of disaster!

The devils inside the city noticed that the beam cannon attacks had stopped and there were no follow-up attacks. The devils on the defensive wall also saw Emperor Rozwald and his troops pulling back, which left them confused.

"Why did they stop attacking? Did they already give up?" one of the devils asked.

"Yeah, let them retreat. I think they gave up because of the strong barrier. Not even a peak pseudo-immortal stage cultivator could break it!" another devil shouted.

"Yeah! At least we bought more time until reinforcement arrives! After that we can strike back at those bastards for attacking our world!" another one commented.

However, not all devils were immediately happy with Emperor Rozwald's sudden retreat. Some became more cautious, thinking it was part of an unknown plan.

'What is that guy planning by retreating when their position is at an advantage?' one pseudo-immortal devil thought. He narrowed his eyes as he watched the retreating troops in the distance. Then he saw Emperor Rozwald looking toward the sky, which made him also look up.

At first, he thought there was nothing wrong with the sky. Nothing had changed except for the clouds and mist that had been cleared away by the beam cannon attacks.

But after focusing more carefully, he finally noticed a small detail.

'Wait, are there usually this many stars visible from here?' he thought as his frown deepened. But then he finally noticed a change in the glimmering "stars" in the sky as all of them began to move.

At first he could not determine their exact direction because of the distance. But after a few seconds he finally sensed that the "stars" were actually descending toward his direction, and it sent goosebumps across his body. What he sensed horrified him.

"EVERYONE TAKE COVER INSIDE THE UNDERGROUND SHELTERS!" he roared.

His shout echoed across the vast city, startling many devils. At this moment, several devils at the pseudo-immortal stage also sensed something falling from the sky, and it made all of them shudder. They shouted the same warning before rushing toward the shelters or activating escape talismans they had prepared earlier.

The devils who still did not understand what was happening assumed something serious was going on and immediately obeyed their leaders.

Meanwhile, Emperor Rozwald and his troops were still in the middle of their retreat when they finally sensed something falling from above. Those who had reached the pseudo-immortal stage felt horrified as they looked up and saw countless glimmering objects descending at incredible speed.

They finally saw the shape of the falling objects, and all of them were actually countless golden swords that carried the power of a peak pseudo-immortal stage strike. They immediately understood why Emperor Rozwald had ordered them to retreat. He did not want them to be caught in the crossfire.

As the countless swords drew closer to the surface of the world, everyone could sense their presence, and it made all of them stare at the rain of golden swords. The devils were truly horrified, to the point that they forgot about escaping as they watched the countless swords finally reach the city's barrier.

Dung! Dung! Dung!

Crash! Crash! Crash!

The barrier did not even last a second when the swords struck it. With the sheer number of swords, combined with their speed and momentum, there was no way the barrier could withstand the assault. The moment it shattered, the apocalypse descended upon the devils.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The countless swords destroyed everything in front of them. They were not piercing, they were obliterating. Each sword's impact created a crater, and with countless swords raining down, the catastrophic scene in the city was beyond imagination.

There were many swords that fell not far outside the city, but none of them landed near Emperor Rozwald and the alliance troops. They stopped their retreat when they saw that the rain of swords was only targeting the city. The scene was truly chaotic and terrifying at the same time.

The rain continued as if the number of swords were never ending. The rumbling impact of the swords striking the ground echoed everywhere, and the ground trembled from the force. There was nothing that could stop the rain of swords. The city walls collapsed as the swords tore through them.

Every standing structure inside the city was also destroyed. They collapsed easily the moment a sword pierced through them. The devils who had already hidden underground were no more fortunate. The power and momentum of the swords allowed them to pierce deep underground even after hitting the surface.

In fact, the swords could pierce more than a kilometre deep. The underground shelters the devils spoke of were far shallower than that. The cries of horror and despair from the devils were drowned out by the rumbling sound of the apocalypse spreading across the vast area of the city.

Dust from the collapsing buildings had already covered the entire city, completely obstructing the view of anyone trying to see the destruction within.

The rumbling sound, the trembling ground, and the continuous rain of swords went on for more than fifteen seconds before the rain finally stopped. At this moment, the alliance troops were still staring at the city in amazement, their hearts trembling from the display of power they had just witnessed.

They already knew that this had to be Aldrian the Great. This was the same technique many had seen on the day he annihilated millions of devils in space.

He had finally emerged from his seclusion and joined the battle!

The troops from the Aster Empire who were among the alliance troops could not help but smile with pride. Initially, Emperor Rozwald had not wanted to include them in the alliance force for the expansion of the operation. They were directly under Aldrian, and he did not dare take them without Aldrian's permission.

However, because they wanted to join the battle and contribute, they insisted. After Emperor Ladwin—who was said to be Aldrian's father-in-law—persuaded him, Emperor Rozwald finally included them in the force. Since then, they had already participated in several battles up to this moment.

Seeing their emperor in action still filled them with pride as they noticed the amazement in the eyes of others. There was nothing like their emperor.

Emperor Rozwald, who was still observing the aftermath of swords apocalypse, suddenly received another incoming communication. He took out his communication artifact from his pouch and connected to it.

"Your Majesty, Aldrian the Great has already moved in another direction. At this moment he is heading toward the far west. Aldrian the Great sent a message saying that he is sorry for joining only now. He will take care of the remaining devils in the region after this. Your Majesty may handle the aftermath," the report came from the other side.

Emperor Rozwald smiled and nodded. "Alright, the message is received."

He stored the artifact again and looked at the troops behind him.

"All troops move forward! Secure what is left in the city. If there are any survivors, make sure there are no survivors," he shouted before flying forward, followed by the troops.

After a few moments, they arrived at the edge of the destroyed city wall. The thick dust had already begun to clear, and they could faintly see the aftermath, which made their hearts tremble.

Total destruction.

Those were the only words they could use to describe it.

The city was already flattened into rubble, with many large craters ranging from tens to hundreds of meters across the surface. They did not see any movement at all, and they doubted that anyone could have survived that attack.

Emperor Rozwald took a deep breath before finally giving his order.

"Alright, spread according to your groups. Be careful of any devils that might have survived the attack just now. Do not let yourself get caught off guard!"

After that, the alliance troops began to spread out and sweep through the entire city. They needed to make sure this place was safe from devils so that they could rebuild the city in the future.

While Emperor Rozwald and his troops were taking care of the aftermath, Aldrian was already in another place to do his part after being absent for a week.

He was on fire and wanted to unleash it on the devils!