Chapter 1667: Endless Devastation The Eternity Legion struck first, followed by the Hollow Saints and the Parasite Kings. Although these were the probing forces, they were all linked to Primordial powers and contained hundreds of Old Ones, and their entire troops were counted in the tens of billions. Their advances in the desert were like the movement of tectonic forces, their footsteps cracking the earth. This was not just due to their powers but because a force in the desert made it impossible for anything to take flight, and so this army had to walk across the sands while carrying weight that could crush a universe on their backs. However, these were all immortals who were extremely powerful and under protection from countless formations, spells, armor, and all the myriad treasures and abilities gathered from all around Reality. Such an army had never been seen in this age, and the strength they possessed was nothing that the weight of a universe could be able to crush. Still, this weight was not even counted among the list of dangers present inside the Great Desert. From the sand, countless shades of dead immortals began to rise, the Memories of the fallen, and the weakest among them was at the sixth-dimensional level. The probing forces might have numbered in the tens of billions, but what was rising from the sands was infinite, and they swallowed these billions so easily that it was almost as if the vast armies of billions were a daydream. The army might have numbered in the billions, holding power that could shatter a thousand universes, but Kacius could see that the forces that arose from the sands were in the trillions, and none of them were weak. If Kacius had ever wondered what it would look like if all the dead heroes from the distant past to the present were to rise up in battle, then he believed he was seeing a fraction of this powerful scenery. No matter how much the number of immortals that were gathered here today to wage war against the desert, it was nothing but a drop in the bucket against the endless might of the sands. After all, the number of the dead would always far surpass those of the living, and when the sheer scale of time was added to the mix, then the advantages the Great Desert had accumulated over the Eras were unmatchable. Powerful tremors and screams emerged from within the endless ranks of the shades of the desert, the last signs that an army of immortals had waged into this desert, and then there was silence, as the killing ended. A potent haze of blood emerged from the sea of bodies, which began to create a storm cloud overhead that was filled with scarlet radiance, and then something horrifying transpired. The Memories of the dead that were once slain were resurrected, and their companions now belonged to the enemy. Their eyes were empty and filled with sand, and as one, they all opened their mouths and spoke, "All who trespass in the Great Desert shall fall and their Memories be imprisoned for all eternity." This sight was deeply unsettling, but it was not something that the coalition here did not expect; they had sent these probing forces into the desert to learn about its hidden abilities. They were aware of its power to resurrect the Memories of the fallen, but to what degree needed to be understood. Did the resurrection take place over an extended amount of time, or was it instantaneous? How much of the powers of the deceased were transferred over in death, and could their treasures and other special techniques that required the flesh or soul be utilized even as a shade of the desert? All of these and much more needed to be known by them, and all of the billions of immortals sacrificed were for this cause. Perhaps a mortal might not be able to comprehend sacrifice at such a scale, but to the cool intellect of immortals, all of this was worth the price because at the end of it all, the benefit they would gain would be nearly inestimable. There were no signs of fear or hesitation among the vanguards of the coalition. The massive titanic beings began to walk towards the desert, but Kacius could not understand how their forces were able to win against a power that grew stronger the more the battle continued. He was clear that, although the probing forces were quickly slaughtered in that short skirmish, they had not gone down without a fight. They had also brought down a sizable number of the shades of the desert. However, as the Memory of the armies were resurrected, so too did the shades of the desert that were slain. What the first clash had shown was that the Great Desert had suffered virtually no losses in the fight, and had grown stronger instead. How then were the vanguards matching forward with no hesitation? Kacius watched with bated breath as the vanguards stepped foot into the deserts. The sheer weight imposed by their extremely heavy bodies shattered the horizon, and multiple ranks of shades in their billions collapsed into ash from the presence emitted by these titans. Weapons made from concepts of creation and destruction were unsheathed and wielded against the endless shades, and although Kacius could not follow a lot of the battle, he could see ranks after ranks of shades collapsing in numbers that defied imagination. The vanguards were like an unstoppable spear thrust into the heart of the desert, and the rest of the army followed them behind. They resembled a horde of infinite locusts as they poured into the sands, wielding spells and abilities of endless might, and hell rained down on the Great Desert. A loud cheer rang out among the formations of healers as the march of the army appeared to be unstoppable. Millions of miles were covered in the blink of an eye, as a slaughter that would make gods and demons weep in fear was unleashed upon the desert. Kacius observed that although the endless shades of the desert were formidable, they were still lacking in comparison to living immortals, who had the benefit of treasures and free access to their higher-dimensional powers. Standing high above the army was a mysterious figure, and Kacius could not discern their figure or their race, but their cry of encouragement made his heart race, even though most of it was not directed towards them. "In this desert are the last shackles that bind our immortality. We shall seize it for ourselves, and finally, we shall all be unrivaled, our battles shall last for all eternity, and Reality will quake at our glory. See the bones of the past that sought to stop our conquest, but there has never been an age as great as this one, and nothing shall stand against us!" For a while, it seemed as if the momentum of the coalition of immortals could not be stopped, countless miles of desert were conquered, and the bodies of shades in innumerable numbers had been returned to dust. It was possible to see the shades attempting to rise from the sands once more, but countless spells of destruction were rained down on the sand, turning it to glass for endless miles and locking down the shades attempting to re-emerge. The entirety of the desert trembled under this cosmic devastation as the power being released here in every moment was sending shockwaves that rippled all across creation. What did not fail to astonish Kacius was that despite the number of immortals who had entered the Great Desert, many more were left behind in unknown numbers, slowly making their way into the desert before they were sucked towards the ground. However, the degree of devastation was becoming so great that something inside the desert was breaking, and the laws that were binding the immortals to the ground were loosening. As the Old Ones were now free to leave the ground, the reach of their devastating abilities multiplied. Auras blazing like burning dimensions, countless spells of devastation were hurled from the bodies of a million Old Ones, and the Great Desert trembled under the mayhem. Oceans of flames that made the fires from stars appeared like match flames rained down from the sky, tornadoes of lightning spiraled down, splitting the earth with devastating cracks. Ice shards the size of planets rained down, impaling the desert and freezing entire regions in an instant. Within the ice were countless Memories of frozen shades. These were the forces that Kalcius could barely comprehend; the others that followed brought his mind to the brink of madness. Space was fractured to nothing as immortal hands more powerful than Kacius could ever imagine tore through dimensions, summoning black holes that devoured vast swatches of the desert. Time slowed in some areas and accelerated in others. Shades caught in this distortion were shredded to pieces, and even their resurrection was stalled. The unknown central figure that was directing this army called out with exultation in their voice, "The Great Desert is ours. The fulfilment of our destiny is at hand!" Kacius did not think it would be this easy; surely, this could not be all the forces of Primordial Chaos.