Crown of Chaos

Although one of the Eight Demon Generals died in the battle, it was not a big loss for Hell.

On the bloody front of Avernus, the Eight Demon Generals of Hell were famous. It was rumored that the Eight Demon Generals of Hell were living legends. They had been fighting on the front line of the bloody battle since the establishment of Baator Hell. From the dawn to now, they had experienced so many crazy wars. They were simply living fossils of the bloody battle.

But those who knew the inside story knew that the Eight Demon Generals were just a "title". Many of these titles had been changed for countless generations in the endless years of the bloody battle. Once a demon general died, a new big devil would soon take over his name and continue to be active on the battlefield of the bloody battle under the name of the Eight Demon Generals.

Victory seemed to come a little too easily.

Bayer, the devil archduke of Avernus, just sneered after hearing the news that one of the Eight Demon Generals had died in the battle.

Bayer, who was proficient in bloody battles, watched the enemy being played around step by step.

In fact, as early as the moment the Chaos troops entered the Knuckle Fortress, Bayer ordered his loyal lieutenant, the Devil Duke Balzefin, to lead the cavalry of the Devil Kings to cross the mountains and cut off the retreat of the Chaos army.

Even the Chaos Knights' mounts could not cross the towering and steep mountains of Avernus, but the Devil Cavalry, who would only ruthlessly execute military orders, were not afraid of the rugged terrain at all, not to mention the Devil Ghost Assassination Troops that came and went without a trace. The three fastest Chaos armies were trapped in the rugged mountain roads, and the retreat route behind them had been cut off. In front of them was the impenetrable steel defense line of the Devil Legion, with towering peaks on one side and the roaring Styx on the other.

However, the Chaos commanders did not know this. Just when they thought they were about to drive out the Devil Legion, a war cry sounded from behind. The Chaos warriors looked back in horror and felt the earth shaking under the iron hooves of Hell.

Eight thousand Nightmare Riders formed two huge arrow-shaped charge formations, driving straight in like a scalpel breaking open the chest of a corpse, and the leader of this spearhead attack was Grand Duke Bayer of Avernus himself.

The Chaos army, attacked from both sides, could neither retreat nor organize a defensive line at this time, and could only be forced to tighten up and wait for death. Some were driven into the Styx and melted on the spot, some were squeezed into meat paste, and some were suffocated to death by the piled corpses.

Bayer observed this battle with satisfaction on the top of the mountain - it was more of a massacre than a battle.

The first to fall was the Nurgle Champion. He encountered the charge of the Hell Demon Generals, and was pierced in the abdomen by the dark spear of the Styx Memory Stealer. The Styx water penetrated directly into his body, and finally melted into a pile of bones in the spray of the Styx water.

On the other side, the Khorne champion who attacked the rear of the demons realized in an instant that the Khorne warriors and Khorne Archdemon Gildarts beside him had fallen into the frenzy of killing. They could not communicate or give orders, so they were unable to provide tactical support.

The Chaos Lord laughed wildly and waved the giant blade in his hand amid the flying broken bones and blood, completely ignoring the hundreds of torn wounds he had on his body, and insisted on fighting a bloody battle with the demons. The Tzeentch wizard was still casting arcane magic in the air, but he could no longer defeat the bone demon's defense line like before. The demon wizard fired ice magic arrows at the Tzeentch wizard in the air, and the demon cavalry was also approaching him murderously. If this continued, he might not be able to protect himself.

The Slaanesh army was unwilling to see the friendly troops being eaten away bit by bit and pushed into the Styx.

The leading Slaanesh commander summoned his most trusted war chiefs and ordered their troops to push back the demon cavalry even a little bit.

At this time, the Bayer troops who had penetrated deep into the enemy camp also felt the enemy's counterattack. In order not to be surrounded, he reluctantly retreated temporarily, revealing a small window, which gave Archaon an opportunity. The Chaos Apocalypse Marshal ordered the Khorne warriors who were in a frenzy of war to stay behind as a cover for a difficult retreat.

However, the Khorne warriors who gave up everything to fight also attracted the attention of the Devil Duke. The Bayer guards began to move forward to eliminate the Khorne troops who rushed forward. Even though the warriors of the Blood God did kill several times the enemy, they were ultimately no match for the endless devil army - the devil reinforcements from the Nine Hells continued.

The Khorne warriors fell one after another, until the end, the proud Khorne champion Baptista still stood, his body pierced by dozens of steel spears, but he was still cursing the dirty devil army.

Bayer paid an almost invisible nod to the fighting skills of this respectable enemy before ordering the Horned Demon to dismember him.

The battle of the Knuckle Fortress ended here, and the two sides barely tied, with the bodies of the Chaos and Devil armies killed in the battle covering the ground.

However, this battle made Bayer feel very bad.

The Devil had already sent out all its elite troops, with 8,000 heavy cavalry alone, and only managed to destroy three Chaos warbands and two Chaos champions. The Chaos Grand Marshal on the opposite side even just watched.

Although three Chaos warbands were defeated, there were far more than three Chaos warbands on the other side of the river. Bayer estimated that there were more than a hundred times.

Grand Duke Avernus was ready for a protracted war, and he commanded the large army to withdraw to the Bronze Fortress.

However, Archaon was waiting for this opportunity.

When Bayer ordered the entire army to retreat, the elite of the Eight Dark Demons were responsible for the rear guard. They launched a final volley at Archaon's army and slowly retreated. However, before this group of elite demons composed of Legion Demons, Bone Demons, Horned Demons, Blood Armor Demons, Steel Demons, and Pain Demons withdrew from the battlefield, they were completely submerged by the molten gold that fell from the sky.

The figure of the Succubus Sister Queen Yuanchou emerged from the clouds, and more than 200,000 Abyssal Blood Wars led by sixty-six Balor Flames stood beside her.

Only abyssal true gods like Yuanchou dared to participate in such a gathering, and only the true god Yuanchou with the mark of chaos was worthy of communicating with Chaos Apocalypse Marshal Archaon.

"Am I here at the wrong time?" Yuanchou asked Archaon, who was sitting on Delga, with a sweet smile.

"No, you came at the right time." Archaon noticed the Eye of Slaanesh Power God on Yuanchou. He didn't care whether Yuanchou joined or not. The four gods of chaos gave him the task of testing Aaron, but for Archaon, Yuanchou was not an enemy in this situation.

Archaon was not stupid enough to figure out who was his friend and who was his enemy.

Raising the King Slayer, Archaon pointed at the demon army.

At this moment, the demons of Avernus finally fell into a bitter battle. The Chaos Apocalypse Marshal ordered all his subordinates to completely eliminate the demons of Avernus.

The war began.

The army of hatred slammed into the gun array of the demon army. Thousands of berserkers rushed into the demon's position. The bloody madmen of the bottomless abyss howled with joy, and their bodies trembled in a blow. The bloody demons in the killing temporarily put aside their internal strife: the Balor Flame Demons slashed and killed wantonly, the giant bull demons ran wildly and knocked open the demon's defense line with their heads, and the six-armed snake demons twisted their bodies to harvest the glory of the bloody battle. They leaned on their love of sadism in the enhanced magic and charm of hatred.

However, they failed to break through the devil's defense.

Nurgle's Blessed Sons marched out to battle, the Plague Bearers of the Groot brothers marching through the trenches of the demons, clearing their way through the thick-skinned Great Unclean Ones, these disgusting warriors eager to share their corrupt gifts with Baator, and they were greeted by the elite Bronze Fortress Guards under Bile.

The core of Avernus was soon filled with rotting flesh and broken bones, and the two sides seemed evenly matched.

But soon, the demons saw a stained fat man on the horizon, the Nurgle Great Demon Korgath appeared from the cracks in time and space, and the father's Plague Father Legion arrived. They were the warriors of Nurgle's Chosen, Nurgle's favorite mortal warriors, dragging their bulky bodies and dragging the cauldrons of boiling plague into the battlefield.

Despite the arrival of the enemy's reinforcements, Avernus's flanks still stood firm, and the demon furnace catapults continued to spew death at the enemy. As long as the demon elites held the line, these war machines could crush the opponent.

Bayer ordered the Flame Walker Legion, one of the Eight Demon Generals, to support the front line, but they failed to do so. A fiery red comet storm hit them, four bloodthirsty demons fell from the sky, and several hell infernals died on the spot.

But the hell infernals were not to be outdone. They jumped onto the back of the great demon and pierced the body of the Blood God's Will with their sharp blades.

The bodies of the four great demons and the eighteen hell infernals were stacked together, and thousands of Khorne steel bulls stepped on their backs and charged past.

The 180,000 troops of Archaon, the more than 200,000 blood battle legions of the hatred, and the hundreds of thousands of demon armies of Avernus set up their battle formations and launched an unprecedented war in the first layer of hell.

One round, two rounds, three rounds.

Ten rounds, twenty rounds, fifty rounds.

Endless attack and defense, as cruel and crazy as the bloody battle of ten thousand years.

Bones were broken, blood was drained, and the land of Avernus witnessed the eternal battle, again and again, ten thousand times, another day, another ten thousand years.

But today was different.

In the previous bloody battles, the devils successfully held their positions with superior tactics, indomitable morale, and better equipment. The devils' mastery of military technology is unparalleled, just like their fanatical devotion to conspiracy and intrigue.

Shockingly, in the bloody battle that was like a meat grinder, the situation changed this time, and the devils were the first to collapse.

No matter how many millions, tens of millions, or hundreds of millions of Abyss Demons the devils had resisted in the bloody battles of the Abyss, they were now destroyed by the terrible fighting power of the Chaos army. Even the lowest-level Chaos Marauders - before they were chopped to pieces by bloodthirsty axes or burned to ashes by demonic fires - made their opponents pay many times their own price.

Now, Bayer's army is like an isolated island in a colorful ocean, and its edges are slowly eroded by the endless waves.

Archaon's legions cut through the seemingly impenetrable shield wall of the Daemon army, Khorne bloodletters swarmed through the Legion's phalanx, the halberds of Tzeentch's chosen warriors burst into unnatural multicolored flames, and the gods' great daemons unleashed all their power on Avernus's army.

For the warbands and chapters of the Chaos Apocalypse, this bloody massacre was a glorious scene presented to them by the gods.

Once again, the vengeful Abyssal Daemons poured out of the Abyssal Plains, answering the call of vengeance and joining this glorious bloody battle.

The Daemon's defense line wavered in hundreds of rounds of fierce attacks, but new spearmen quickly filled the gaps in the formation, and the Daemon officers tried their best to maintain their positions.

But this time their opponent was Archaon.

For every Daemon or Chaos Warrior cut down, there would be ten other Daemons or Chaos Followers to continue the attack.

Not to mention Archaon's Abyssal Daemon auxiliary army that was as numerous as a river of crucian carp.

At this time, Tiamat's Ashabi Dragon Demon Legion could no longer hold on, and Arkhan, the half-dragon chosen by the Five-Colored Dragon Queen, was forced to lead the Five-Colored Dragon Queen's legion to withdraw from the battlefield.

Since then, the Bronze Fortress has been completely surrounded.

Grand Duke Bayer of Avernus realized that the final moment had arrived, and he decisively sent out the most elite troops of Avernus, the Nessus War Guards from the ninth layer of Hell. Every member of this elite force was born from the wounds of Asmodeus that were constantly bleeding, and they had never joined the bloody battle. Under Asmodeus' arrangement, this legion was used as a reserve force to prepare for the future war that foreshadowed the end of the world.

These warriors were ready to add bricks and tiles to their glorious deeds at the last moment, but even their most severe order could not avoid the inevitable end.

The apocalypse beast Delgar circled the battlefield from a high altitude, and Archaon cast his eyes on the Grand Duke of Hell who dared to resist him. Grand Duke Bayer of Avernus did not like to fight in the front line like Zariel did. He just observed the battlefield on the bronze fortress. The Nessus team formed a phalanx to guard their master, and twenty deep hell infernals formed a wall of armor around him.

Just you, dare to stop me?

The uncontrollable anger of the Three-Eyed King caused boiling blood to gush out of the sky. The banks of the Styx were broken by the torrent of the Chaos Apocalypse Marshal's divine power, drowning all the devils and demons in this cursed river.

He kicked the three-headed beast Delga's buttocks, and the Apocalypse beast flew towards the side of Grand Duke Avernus like a meteor explosion. Groups of hell missiles were fired at the approaching three-headed beast, but Archaon was not injured at all, and the hell magic disappeared in the contemptuous eyes of the Apocalypse Marshal.

Bayer just raised his scimitar, and a row of angels' heads on his belt continued to howl.

The demon army watched their army collapse around them expressionlessly, the Legion's shield wall was broken, and the demon tide howled and swept past, slaughtering wherever they went. Chaos demons were approaching, and Bayer calmly told the final observation to the scroll master of Asmodeus.

"Hell's weapons are not effective against demons. Hellfire magic weapons and magic bombardment are more effective." At this moment, the giant beast was only twenty steps away from Bayer and his men. The Nessus War Guards were just a pile of bones that were about to be burnt in the face of the flames from Archaon's third eye.

Bayer picked up his long sword and pointed it upwards. The elite devil guards immediately drew their weapons to meet the enemy. The flag officer of the Deep Hell Refiner dug a wound of several centimeters on the neck of the Apocalypse Beast. The Everchosen cut off his head with a backhand swing; the two Eight Demons launched a series of attacks on the Grand Marshal of the Four Chaos Gods, and were then bitten in half by the tyrant's mount.

The Nessus War Guards who pounced on the Everchosen were melted one by one, leaving only Grand Duke Avernus standing alone.

Bayer gently flicked his robe and spread his wings.

"It is your honor to die under my sword." The Everchosen roared rumblingly.

"Me too." Bayer just raised his flaming scimitar.

Delga's speed was terrifyingly fast. Bayer barely blocked the attacking jaws with his power, and then stabbed the sword into the neck of the three-headed beast. The hellfire spread, and the three-headed beast screamed and bent upwards. The hellfire storm swept the Chaos Apocalypse Marshal and his mount. Bayer then summoned a meteor explosion, engulfing Archaon's place.

However, the strongest hell magic could not hurt Archaon at all. The Chaos Apocalypse Marshal raised his sword and fell, and the hellfire was torn apart, and a sword pierced Bayer's shoulder.

Grand Duke Avernus dodged the blade's round after round of slashes, each of which was only a fraction of a second away from his neck.

This was a duel of unimaginable speed and fury. Attacking, parrying, and slashing, the Chaos Apocalypse Marshal and Grand Duke Avernus showed all the skills of their endless lives. During this period, countless demons wanted to rush up, but Archaon signaled that he would give Bayer a chance, a chance to challenge himself.

There will only be one winner at the gate of the bronze fortress.

After summoning seven or eight ice demons in a row and being torn to pieces by Delga, Bayer finally used up his magic and lost his meat shield. Grand Duke Avernus's body was slightly slow under the rounds of attacks, and the lower jaw of Delga's Nalger's head immediately bit his chest tightly, burning with pain.

Then the Tzeentch head of the Apocalypse Beast tore off Grand Duke Avernus's flaming scimitar, and Bayer, who had no power to fight back, was lifted up. What greeted him was the ruthless eyes of the Everchosen hidden behind the gap of the Overlord's Crown.

"Good, good fight." The Devil Grand Duke panted: "I am not as skilled as you, I admit defeat."

"You are not bad." Archaon affirmed his opponent: "You remind me of an old friend."

The Kingslayer fell, and Bayer's head flew up.

In the year 1371 of the Valley Calendar, a shocking news of the multiverse exploded like thunder in the minds of countless divine powers.

Avernus, the first layer of Baator, fell, and Grand Duke Bayer of Avernus and his eight dark demons were all killed in the battle.

The Nine Hells, became the Eight Hells?

The Pantheon was extremely surprised, and many gods began to pay close attention to the follow-up of the bloody battle in the abyss.

The devil moved to Dis, the second layer of Baator, to prepare to resist the offensive of the Chaos Apocalypse Marshal. Asmodeus, the Lord of the Nine Hells, convened an emergency Baator Hell Enlarged Meeting, and the devils were mobilized to prepare for this unprecedented test.

Similarly, Aaron, who rescued Elminster, also knew that after the Nine Hells, it would be his turn to face Archaon.

So before that, he had to complete the last step of preparation to impact the powerful divine power:

End the battle in heaven between Sulen Mama and Sister Shar.