I Regressed With a 10,000x God-Tier Multiplier-Chapter 68: The Grand Marshal

Lucifer stepped through the massive, swirling purple portal.

The transition from the dense, lightless void of the Umbral Plane back to the mortal world was instantaneous.

He landed flawlessly on the cracked black-stone pavement of the Citadel’s main courtyard.

Elara appeared a fraction of a second later, her golden wings folding tightly against her silver armor.

The Eclipse Convergence was still in full effect.

The sky above the Obsidian mountains was a terrifying, ash-gray twilight. The sun was completely blocked by the massive, black disk of the Umbra.

The air was freezing, filled with the faint smell of spatial magic.

But the Citadel of Obsidian was perfectly secure.

The ten thousand Cryo-Pylons miles away glowed with intense, blinding blue light, forming an impenetrable wall of absolute zero magic against the darkened horizon.

"The portal is stable, Warlord," Sarah reported immediately.

The Star-Touched Oracle stood on the high, golden observation deck of the Spire of Celestial Convergence.

"I feel the anchor," Sarah added, her eyes tracking the massive rift. "The Key of Shadows locked the spatial coordinates perfectly. It will not close unless you shatter the key."

"Good," Lucifer stated smoothly. His voice carried across the silent eclipsed courtyard.

He did not look up at the portal. He opened his system interface.

[System Status: Intelligence Network Active.]

[Scout Units: 4,000x Void-Stalker Phantoms.]

[Location: Umbral Plane (Sector Alpha).]

A massive influx of tactical data flooded Lucifer’s mind.

The four thousand invisible, intangible assassins he had spawned from the Sanctum of the Void were moving at breakneck speeds across the floating ruins of the dark dimension.

They were not fighting. They were mapping.

The Phantoms fed Lucifer detailed 3D magical maps directly into his Warlord core.

They marked large groups of Level 60 Void Beasts gathering in deep craters. They pointed out abandoned Precursor fortresses floating in the air. They also located huge underground deposits of raw Umbral Ore.

He had complete awareness of the battlefield before he even sent a single soldier through the door.

Lucifer dismissed the interface.

"The Umbra is mapped for a fifty-mile radius around our entry point," Lucifer announced to his commanders. "We hold the high ground in their dimension. But we are not launching the main invasion yet."

High Ranger Celeste jogged across the courtyard, her dire wolf pacing nervously beside her. The Eclipse was causing the beast severe distress.

"Commander," Celeste said, saluting crisply. "My scouts on the perimeter report massive magical fluctuations to the south.

The King’s capital is deploying their Royal Mages. They are trying to seal the random rifts tearing open over the human cities. It is absolute chaos out there."

"They cannot seal them," Lucifer replied coldly. "The Eclipse Convergence overrides mortal evocation magic. The rifts will stay open until the planetary alignment shifts. The cities are going to burn."

Celeste’s eyes widened slightly. She was a hardened mercenary, but the thought of the entire human kingdom being slaughtered by Void Beasts in a single afternoon was a heavy reality.

"Then the Royal Army will be completely overrun by nightfall," Celeste observed. "They do not have the heavy artillery or the holy magic required to fight an endless, multi-front Abyssal invasion."

"They don’t," Lucifer agreed. He turned his eyes toward the towering Spire of Celestial Convergence. "But I do."

He walked toward his Nightmare Steed, which was waiting near the central keep. The beast snorted a cloud of dark smoke that blended perfectly with the eclipsed sky. Lucifer vaulted into the saddle.

"Elara. Lyra. With me," Lucifer commanded.

He didn’t ask for a massive escort.

The Dawn Saintess stepped forward.

Lyra wore her pristine white silk robes, completely free of the parasitic golden halo the Church had used to chain her.

Her own, natural holy aura burned brilliantly, a beacon of pure, blinding sunlight in the center of the dark, eclipsed courtyard.

She had fully recovered her mana reserves after the Scourgelands. She was ready.

"We are going back to the capital?" Lyra asked, her blue eyes reflecting the gray light of the sky.

"We are going to the Sanctum of Solaris," Lucifer confirmed smoothly. He spurred his Nightmare Steed forward.

"The King is currently staring at a map of his burning kingdom, realizing he has no Supreme Commander. We are going to offer him a solution."

"And the price?" Elara asked, riding her own Nightmare Steed up beside him.

"Everything," Lucifer said.

He activated the Zephyr’s Grace Emblem.

The Warlord, the Fallen Valkyrie, and the Dawn Saintess did not march south. They used pure, god-like speed to cross the continent.

They became a blur of dark smoke, silver armor, and blinding holy light. They bypassed the winding dirt roads, cutting a perfectly straight, supersonic path across the territories.

The journey that took days on foot was completed in minutes.

They arrived at the massive, white marble walls of the Sanctum of Solaris.

The capital city was a warzone.

The sky above the golden-domed temples was torn open. Dozens of jagged, bleeding purple rifts hovered over the city blocks.

Panic ruled the streets. Buildings burned with sickly, dark green fire. The screams of the citizens echoed wildly.

Lucifer did not stop to help the city. He rode his Nightmare Steed straight up the side of the towering Royal Spire.

The beast’s magical hooves gripped the smooth white marble wall. Lucifer ignored the burning, chaotic streets below and rode straight up the side of the palace toward its highest point.

He reached the top of the Spire and shattered the massive, stained-glass windows of the Royal War Room with a single, brutal swing of his longsword.

CRASH.

Lucifer rode his Nightmare Steed directly into the center of the chaotic military council.

The glass rained down over the massive, petrified wyrmwood table. Elara and Lyra leapt through the shattered window a second later, landing flawlessly on the polished floor.

The War Room was in complete chaos.

King Carlos sat on his throne, his face completely pale, clutching his heavy gold crown. The surviving generals of the Royal Army were screaming at each other, pointing frantically at the glowing magical map of the kingdom.

The map was covered in thousands of rapidly expanding red markers, indicating hostile breaches across every major city and province.

"The western gate is lost!" a general bellowed, his ceremonial armor stained with soot. "We have to pull the inner guard back to the palace! Abandon the lower districts!"

"If we abandon the lower districts, the beasts will overrun the Cathedral!" another general shrieked.

The sudden, explosive entrance of the Warlord silenced the room instantly.

The generals froze.

"Guards!" a general yelled, drawing his sword in a blind panic.

Lucifer did not even look at him.

He activated a fraction of Gravity Crush.

A microscopic, localized black hole snapped into existence directly over the general’s head.

The intense spatial pressure slammed down, instantly ripping the sword from the man’s hand and pinning him flat to the floor.

The heavy iron plate armor crumpled under the weight.

The general gasped, unable to move a single muscle.

The rest of the commanders immediately dropped their weapons and backed away in sheer terror.

[System: Intimidation Check Passed.]

[Targets: Royal Generals (Level 35) - Status: Suppressed.]

Lucifer dismounted his Nightmare Steed.

He walked slowly around the ruined, glass-covered wyrmwood table. His heavy boots crunched loudly in the silent room. He stopped directly in front of King Carlos.

The frail monarch shrank back into his throne. He had felt the magical resonance of the God-Slayer title few days ago.

He knew the man in front of him had destroyed a god. The King was completely and utterly terrified.

"Your kingdom is burning, Carlos," Lucifer stated smoothly. His voice, amplified by the Void, vibrated the remaining glass in the window frames.

He pointed his iron gauntlet at the chaotic, red-stained magical map on the table.

"Your generals are cowards," Lucifer continued, his eyes locking onto the trembling King. "Your Royal Mages cannot close the rifts. Your walls are useless against an enemy that drops from the sky.

In few hours or days, the Sanctum of Solaris will be a graveyard."

King Carlos swallowed hard. His hands shook violently. "What... what do you want, Warlord? You have the Scourgelands. You have the wealth of the Cathedral. What more can you take?"

"I don’t want to take anything," Lucifer corrected him coldly. "I want to take command."

Lucifer unhooked the heavy gold Sunburst Sigil from his neck. He tossed the badge of the High Inquisitor onto the map. It landed with a heavy clink.

"I am dropping the Church titles," Lucifer announced. "I am not fighting a holy war for corrupt bishops. I am fighting a planar war."

He leaned forward, placing both iron gauntlets flat on the arms of the King’s throne, trapping the monarch.

"Make me Grand Marshal of the Kingdom," Lucifer demanded softly, his voice a lethal whisper. "Give me absolute, unquestioned, legal authority over every single soldier, mage, and mercenary within your borders.

Give me the keys to the Royal Armory. Give me the right to execute any noble who disobeys my orders without trial."

The generals gasped in horror, but none of them dared step forward to intervene.

"If I do this..." King Carlos choked, his face mere inches from Lucifer’s swirling void eyes. "I surrender the Crown’s power to you. I become a figurehead."

"You are already a figurehead," Lucifer stated brutally. "You are a figurehead of a kingdom that is about to cease to exist."

He stood up straight, towering over the frail King.

"Make me Grand Marshal," Lucifer repeated, "or sit on that throne and watch the Void Beasts eat your citizens. The choice is yours."

The King broke.

He reached with a trembling hand to his own chest and unclasped a heavy, platinum medallion shaped like a roaring lion. The highest military honor in the realm. The badge of the Grand Marshal.

Carlos held it out, his hand shaking uncontrollably.

"Take it," the King whispered, his voice cracking with defeat. "Take command. Save my city."

Lucifer snatched the platinum medallion from the King’s hand. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

[System: Title Acquired.]

[Title: Grand Marshal of the Kingdom.]

[Authority Level: Absolute Military Dictatorship.]

[Perk 1: Conscription Right - You may forcibly draft any allied or neutral entity into your command structure.]

[Perk 2: Requisition Authority - Unrestricted access to all Royal vaults and armories.]

Lucifer clipped the heavy platinum badge to his dark leather tunic. He did not smile. He had expected this exact outcome.

He turned away from the broken King and faced the terrified, cowering generals.

"I am the Grand Marshal," Lucifer roared, his voice echoing with the crushing weight of the God-Slayer. "The defensive strategy is abandoned. We are not holding the walls."

He drew his longsword. The Carnage Core on his hip flared a blinding, violent ruby-red light, completely overwhelming the dim gray light of the eclipsed sun.

"Rally the surviving Royal Guards," Lucifer commanded. "Recall every mercenary in the city. We are marching out of the gates. We are going to meet the invasion head-on."