Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

Gelread Valley...

A barren land made that way from the many monstrous level battles that had happened there for hundreds of thousands of years.

After getting trampled on by so many cultivation Experts and facing the brunt of numerous missed semi saint and saint level attacks, the grasses had simply stopped growing. And let's be honest, who could blame them?

The Valley in itself was a very long stretch of land that was considered a neutral zone between the territorial boundaries of the Haron Continent and the Dystopian continent.

The dividing line preventing their boundaries from touching and every part of that piece of land had experienced battle.

Anyway, this particular Expedition had been organized when spies placed at the valley noticed movement from the Dystopian continent. Movement that told of a possible invasion.

The weeks before Hal actually joined the expedition, there were Haron experts already at the valley and battling the occasional attempts to cross over into the Haron continent.

By the time Hal arrived with that platoon Devon Dane had assigned him to, the battlefield was already littered with bodies that were yet to be cleared and additional tents were quickly erected on the side of the Valley regarded as the Haron camp.

Especially a grand tent which was where Devon and his closest commanders would plan out strategies and tactics.

The moment Hal saw the bodies on the battlefield, his eyes sparkled and he realized the aspect of joining this expedition he had neglected to be excited about;

Prime Bodies to feed his Devil Beasts.

With the sheer potential of bodies that was sure to litter the battlefield all through the expedition, no matter how short it was, he might actually be able to feed his beasts up to a point that they actually became true Devils and even acquire the ability to transform into human forms.

He could not stop grinning and when the lieutenant leading his platoon saw the look, he instantly assumed Hal was a psychopath and he was never shy about showing what he thought.

Anyway, 

Almost as though the Dystopian continent had been expecting this, the day after the Grand tent was set up in the Haron camp, one was set up in the Dystopian camp as well.

It was then it became clear what the true aim of this attack had been.

It was not just to attempt to Infiltrate the Haron Continent by taking over the Valley and begin an invasion, it was mainly about killing a general of the Haron empire.

Killing prospective experts such as the foot soldiers was good for planning ahead but killing a general went a step further.

First off, becoming a general was not so easy that the loss of one would not be felt. As impressive as the young generation might be, they were all still just that; young.

They did not have the experience and they definitely did not have the strength.

In the centuries it would take to raise another capable general to replace the one that had been killed, the Dystopian continent would have gained a stronger foothold.

Now imagine, they actually succeed in killing all the generals, Oh, how glorious the Dystopian victory would be.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. If it was so easy, both continents would not have still been held at a stalemate up till now.

Generals from both warring sides had died and neither had ever truly been able to take advantage.

Anyway, 

Once it was clear what the Dystopian side was after, the battle got on but was far from swift.

The climax of the expedition had yet to happen.

The generals were yet to face one another.

Even after two whole months since the expedition began.

Instead, the whole force had been divided into companies made up of about three platoons and led by a cooperation between the lieutenants leading the individual platoons.

Then the Company would occasionally go out for battle.

Sometimes to lay an ambush for the opposition company or sometimes to answer a war cry.

Basically, they were to do all the grunt work while the general and his commanders stayed in the grand tent, dishing out orders to best suit their 'strategy'.

Hal hated it.

Don't get him wrong, he loved the killing and how it was making him a better combatant. It was also sharpening up his senses. Not to mention the dead bodies he was occasionally able to cart away into his Beast habitat was more than a welcome bonus.

What he hated was fighting for someone else's cause. 

A cause he really could not be bothered to care about. 

At least not without seeing how it could prove beneficial to him. To his goals.

...

The Grand Tent,

Devon Dane was poring over a map of the terrain. A map on which the locations of the Dystopian forces had been marked and not with the use of any type of sense.

Whether cultivational or Astral since both camps had precautions in place to avoid such snooping.

No, the locations were known thanks to spies sent to the opposition camp to source for information.

This was a dangerous task usually left to the weakest strength category of the Army which was the Cosmic Phenomenon realm late stage.

And sometimes they sent Cosmic Aurora realm experts but usually made sure their strength did not go past the mid-stage of the Realm.

Anyway, Devon and his commanders looked it over as they had done many times in the past two months that they had been here.

"They are waiting us out" said one of the commanders with silver hair and pale eyes that showed he was a Silva.

"I know that Aulich, but are we to continue this way?" Devon asked.

The one called Aulich shrugged, 

"Well, you could just challenge their General and battle it out" he said and Devon shook his head, 

"If I will face this general, it will be on the Field of battle" he said with furrowed brows and Aulich looked as though he was trying not to laugh, 

"Am I to understand that the Dane Monster is... Afraid?" 

As soon as the Silva man said it, the other commanders shared looks as they felt Aulich was going where he should never dare to go.

While the commanders on this Expedition were indeed under Devon Dane, it could not erase the fact that Silvas and Danes disliked each other.

That said, Devon remained calm as he said, 

"Very well, Aulich, since I am so afraid, why don't you take over. Be the general and challenge the Dystopian general to showcase your 'impressive' strength and 'infallible' strategic mind" 

That wiped the smile off Aulich's face.

The Silva man gulped and was without retort.

"Now that we have all been entertained by how, despite a sharp tongue, Aulich Silva is still a cowardly brat, let's move on to the matter at hand." Devon said.

"Well, insubordinate and rude as Aulich might have sounded, he does have a point" said another commander.

"How do you figure?" Devon asked him.

The commander shrugged, 

"Well, we should end this now. And I don't mean you should challenge the Dystopian general, I just mean that we should provoke the deciding battle. No more ambushes. No more laying of traps. We all meet at the battlefield and we battle it out.

We end this and in the process, you get what you want, you meet the Dystopian general on the field of battle."