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Maria gathered with her family and closest allies, all those already by her side.

Meanwhile, hundreds more waited on standby across their respective worlds. She had placed special portals in each one, allowing her to summon them instantly through her Shadows wherever she needed them.

Now.

"In only two more months, everything will be over," Maria said, staring at the portal before her.

She was no longer in Yggdrasil but on Floor 60, Umbralheim. The sealed crimson gate in front of her led to the world above—to Floor 61, a Nameless World conquered by Thebes and stripped of its original identity. From there, every ten floors belonged to one of the upper-floor powerhouses.

With her family and strongest allies at her side, while leaving many behind to protect Yggdrasil, Maria turned to the Crimson Emperor. He stood accompanied by three of his most powerful Family Heads. Beside him were Sirius and his two children, Annette and Hercules.

All of them had grown tremendously strong over the last nineteen years, overflowing with power they had never possessed before. They had done everything possible to become even stronger, all for this very moment.

The moment of truth, when the lower floors would finally and officially declare war on the upper floors.

"Olympus has already been dealt with, so we can skip that floor once we reach it. It will be a good place for us to rest and recover our strength," Maria said. "Alright then, Crimson Emperor. Open the door."

"Hmph." The Crimson Emperor smiled beneath his helmet. "So it is time... Thebes must already be prepared for any invasion. Get ready for their strongest ambush."

"I know. I am ready," Maria nodded.

"Very well..." The Crimson Emperor smiled. "Let’s begin."

Maria looked at her family and friends with a confident smile and gave them a firm nod. She was ready to face anything for them.

"Let’s destroy the tower."

"YEAH!"

As everyone roared in unison, the crimson gate swung open, revealing the world beyond.

Shimmering golden sands stretched beneath a clear blue sky. Countless golden pyramids dotted the horizon. Gigantic machines shaped like Egyptian gods charged their divine cannons and fired at them instantly.

"Well, damn."

Maria smiled and closed her eyes for a moment. They were indeed very prepared.

After Ra’s defeat on Earth, the bird god had grown deeply offended and paranoid. The news of Olympus’s fall had only heightened his fear of invasion. And after learning that Umbralheim had been conquered following a great catastrophe caused by a rogue god from Yggdrasil that distorted space between worlds, the Gods of Thebes had become even more cautious.

That was why...

"KILL THEM! KILL THEM ALL! THIS IS AN ORDER FROM YOUR GREAT SUN KING! DON’T LET THEM LIVE!"

Ra screamed through his Divine Voice, which echoed across countless giant machines and floating pyramids. He had gone completely insane.

His true form was so powerful that he could power hundreds of machines at once. Unlike Anubis and Zobek, who could barely empower a single machine each, Ra’s strength was on an entirely different level.

"I believe we can handle this much on our own."

Maria stopped herself from summoning reinforcements, leaving the rest on standby. She wanted to save her greater forces for later.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Countless explosions erupted from every angle, bombarding her group and shaking the conquered world.

"Heh! Keep it up! Continue attacking! Don’t get conceited! Hit her with everything you’ve got! Don’t even let her move! Vaporize her from this world! KILL HER!"

Ra refused to take any chances. He swallowed his pride and ordered a relentless bombardment on Maria and her family.

Explosions rained down endlessly.

And yet...

"Just energy cannons powered by your divinity? You’re really boring, Ra."

Maria’s calm voice echoed through the explosions.

Then...

"{Myriad Firmaments Sword Soul Heart Dream Paths}"

SLASH!

A single slash pierced through space, time, and matter itself.

"{First Form – Path Of Nihility}"

Absolute power surged.

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

Hundreds of machines were shredded into pieces in an instant. Energy beams and cannon fire split apart and vanished. The giant divine machines charging toward Maria were cleaved over a hundred times each before exploding.

"The great war begins now!" Maria declared in a loud, imposing voice as her body blitzed through the skies at lightning speed. "We shall no longer be trampled and used by the upper floors!"

Ra and his many minds gasped in disbelief, completely stunned by what they were witnessing. It took him a full minute to comprehend that even with all his preparations...

It was nowhere near enough.

"W-What?!"

"Impossible...!"

"How?!"

As he screamed in shock, Maria and her family spread across the battlefield.

Lucifer, Nyx, and Thanatos fought together in their dragon forms, devastating the titanic golden pyramids and shattering them to pieces. Thanatos’s dragon form was different from his father’s and sister’s—a long black-and-red serpent with sharp fangs, a large white mane, and a very long ghostly tail where thousands of ghosts and specters gathered. He was far larger than the others, coiling around entire pyramids and crushing them with raw physical power.

Lucifer and Nyx smiled proudly as they watched Thanatos fight with everything he had. All their training had finally paid off.

"HAAAH!"

"RAAAH!"

At the same time, the two dragons crashed through the giant mechas, smashing them apart with their powerful bodies. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

With just Maria and her three dragons, nearly half of Ra’s army was already exterminated.

"T-This is ridiculous!"

"She’s immensely powerful!"

"What sort of Rank is she?! SSS Rank?! No... L Rank?! No...!"

"T-This can’t be...! That wretched woman must be beyond L Rank...!"

Ra panicked. He began combining machines and pyramids into a single titanic construct to fight Maria and her dragons.

However...

"Trying to assemble a bigger toy? That won’t work!"

"Yeah, you tell him, Mom!"

Scarlet and her daughter Ernestina blitzed across the battlefield like two crimson stars. Scarlet pierced through everything with her twin spears, causing massive explosions of crimson and black energy. Ernestina, on the other hand, fought with a pair of rifles, firing thousands of projectiles while laughing maniacally.

Indeed, Scarlet’s daughter had never been interested in spear techniques. Instead, she had become obsessed with guns from Earth and Azure Star and had perfectly adapted them to her magic and skills.

"Hehehehe! Hahahaha!"

Laughing like a complete maniac, Ernestina unleashed hundreds of bullets from her dual Dream Weapons, made of dark red and black energy.

Ra’s face twisted in fury as he watched more and more of Maria’s forces destroy everything in their path. Seventy percent of his army was already gone.

"D-Damn it!"

With an angry, desperate scream, his divine soul began escaping the floor as he prepared something even more drastic.

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