Chapter 1259: Chapter 1259:- Surpassing Expectations

However, what infuriated Ren the most was not just the enormous number of soldiers his army had lost. It was the comparison that everyone would inevitably make between him and his cousin, Aditya, after this battle ended.

Both of them were the supreme commanders of their respective factions, and both were fighting for control over the Celestial Dragon Empire. Yet their actions on the battlefield had been completely different.

While Ren had remained inside his camp and directed his army through his officers and commanders, Aditya had personally entered the battlefield and started slaughtering his enemies.

Within just six minutes of his arrival, Aditya had already killed close to one hundred thousand soldiers from the Emperor Faction. And that number was only a rough estimate based on the information gathered by the scouts. Considering the enormous destruction caused by his crimson flames, the actual number of soldiers killed by Aditya could be even higher.

Ren could already imagine what people would say once news of this battle spread throughout the Celestial Dragon Empire. They would praise Aditya for personally leading his faction to victory, while questioning why Ren had remained inside his camp despite being the Emperor and the supreme commander of his army.

Even if Ren explained that he had been directing the entire battle from his camp, it would not change the fact that his cousin had personally killed an enormous number of his soldiers.

What made the situation even more frustrating was that Ren had not personally appeared on the battlefield even once. He had spent the entire battle giving orders and watching the situation through the artifact.

His commanders and officers had followed his instructions, and there was no major failure on their part that he could easily use as an excuse to explain such a humiliating defeat.

This meant that Ren could not simply blame one of his commanders for everything that had happened. Even if he tried to do so, the nobles and powerful factions supporting him would eventually learn the truth. And once that happened, the comparison between him and Aditya would become even more difficult to avoid.

There was also another problem that was beginning to worry Ren, although he was not nearly as concerned about it as he was about the humiliation of losing the battle.

Among the more than two hundred thousand soldiers who had either been killed or injured, a large number belonged to the private armies of the nobles supporting him. These included powerful dukes, high-ranking nobles, and many lower-ranking noble families who had sent their soldiers to support the Emperor Faction.

Before the war began, Ren had ordered the nobles under his rule to contribute a certain number of troops to the imperial army. Depending on their wealth, territory, and military strength, some nobles had sent thousands of soldiers, while others had contributed much smaller numbers.

However, now that the Emperor Faction had suffered such enormous casualties, Ren would have to take responsibility for a large part of the losses suffered by these noble families.

The families of the soldiers who had died would need to receive compensation, while many of the injured soldiers would require treatment and financial support. There would also be pensions for the families of fallen soldiers, compensation for damaged equipment, and the cost of replacing the weapons, armor, cannons, and other military supplies that had been destroyed during the battle.

All of these expenses would eventually place an enormous burden on the Celestial Dragon Empire’s treasury.

And this was only the first battle of the civil war.

If the following battles resulted in similar losses, the amount of money the Empire would have to spend could become almost impossible to imagine. Even though the Celestial Dragon Empire was extremely wealthy, its treasury was not unlimited. Supporting such a massive army was already expensive, and paying compensation for hundreds of thousands of casualties would only make the situation worse.

However, Ren quickly pushed these thoughts aside. Compared to losing his throne and allowing Aditya to become the next Emperor, spending an enormous amount of money was something he was still willing to accept.

What Ren truly could not accept was how completely the battle had gone against his expectations.

Before the fighting began, he had already considered the possibility that the Anti-Emperor Faction might use its Seventh Order cultivators to attack his ordinary soldiers. After all, cultivators at that level were powerful enough to destroy enormous groups of soldiers within a very short period.

To prevent this from happening, Ren had sent three Seventh Order cultivators to make sure that the powerful cultivators supporting Aditya would not interfere in the battle. His intention had been simple. As long as both sides kept their Seventh Order cultivators away from the main battlefield, the outcome would be decided by the strength of their armies and the abilities of their commanders.

And to a certain extent, his plan had worked. The Seventh Order cultivators from the Anti-Emperor Faction had not entered the battlefield to slaughter his soldiers. His three Seventh Order cultivators had successfully prevented the situation that Ren had been most worried about.

However, there was one thing Ren had completely failed to consider. Aditya himself was capable of causing the same amount of destruction as several Seventh Order cultivators.

Despite having only recently reached the Beginner Sixth Order, Aditya had entered the battlefield and started killing soldiers at a speed that even many Seventh Order cultivators would find difficult to match. His ability to launch powerful attacks over enormous distances allowed him to destroy entire groups of soldiers without needing to approach them.

Ren had taken precautions against the Seventh Order cultivators, yet his army had still suffered the kind of destruction he had been trying to prevent.

And all of it had been caused by a single Sixth Order cultivator.

The more Ren thought about this, the angrier he became. He had spent so much time preparing for this war, gathering powerful cultivators, organising his army, and making plans to deal with the strongest members of the Anti-Emperor Faction.

Yet Aditya had managed to destroy a large part of those preparations within just a few minutes. For Ren, this was simply unacceptable.

’How the hell did he manage to reach Beginner 6th-order?’ Ren couldn’t think of any logical way that could have allowed Aditya to reach Beginner 6th-order before the war started.

The last he heard, his cousin was a Mid 5th-order cultivator. Now he entered the battlefield as a Beginner 6th-order. This simply did not make any sense. How did his cultivation suddenly jump so much?

Before Ren thought while the war starts, he will secretly send 7th-order cultivators to personally end his cousin’s life to end the war as soon as possible so that both sides suffers the least casualities.

The day his cousin appeared in the Celestial Dragon Empire or the Main Continent in general. He has been doing things that were beyond Ren’s understanding and expectations. Even now, what his cousin was doing was simply beyond his expectations.

As a powerful cultivator, even Ren did not have the confidence that he would be able to kill this many soldiers within just 6 freaking minutes.

’No wonder, Leo always took Aditya so seriously.’ Ren was starting to regret not sending more forces to eliminate his cousin earlier when he came to the Tunnel World to rescue the Goddess of Wisdom. If Aditya was eliminated then, this whole civil war would not have happened and he could have peacefully continued with his life as the Emperor.

After thinking about the situation for a while, Ren finally made up his mind. Although he had already ordered his army to retreat, he knew that withdrawing such an enormous number of soldiers from the battlefield would not be easy. The Anti-Emperor Faction was currently holding the advantage, and there was a very high possibility that they would take advantage of his army’s retreat to kill even more soldiers.

Furthermore, Aditya was still present on the battlefield. With his ability to launch powerful attacks from a great distance, he could easily continue targeting the retreating soldiers and cause even more casualties. Ren had already lost far too many soldiers today, and he was not willing to allow the number to increase any further.

"Send another Seventh Order cultivator to the battlefield. I want our four Seventh Order cultivators to protect our troops while they retreat. I don’t want the enemy to take advantage of our retreat and increase our casualties even further." Ren ordered in a cold voice.

Hearing his orders, one of the military officers immediately stepped forward and bowed his head.

"Understood, Your Majesty. I will send the order immediately." The officer replied respectfully.

However, just as the officer was about to leave, Ren suddenly stopped him.

"And one more thing. Tell them that if an opportunity presents itself, I want them to kill Aditya. As long as Aditya is killed, this entire war will be won. Without him, the Anti-Emperor Faction will have no choice but to surrender." Ren added while staring coldly at the image of his cousin being projected by the artifact.

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