New Battlefield Command Center – Progenitor City

"Report! Kuja’s unit has successfully destroyed the enemy supplies, but three Asuras have fallen!"

"Report! Valkyrie Vivi’s squad has neutralized the enemy unit, but five Valkyries have been martyred!"

"Report! Xago’s forces have crushed the enemy, but seven Asuras are dead!"

"Report! Torgan’s unit was successful, but..."

"Report! ..."

Report after report flooded Boku’s strategic desk like a rising tide. Across the pulsing organic holographic map, the red dots representing Wilwatikta’s forces on the New Battlefield began to flicker and extinguish, one by one.

Boku stood rigid, his hands clenched tightly behind his back. His gaze remained flat and stoic, even as his ears were bombarded with news of his brothers and sisters departing for The One’s Heaven. As the High Commander, he knew emotion was a luxury he could not afford. His clarity of mind was the sole anchor for the lives of hundreds of thousands of monsters. Nevertheless, his knuckles—white from the intensity of his grip—betrayed the simmering rage beneath the surface.

"Zilya is truly insane," Boku muttered, his voice thick with suppressed fury. "She orders her troops to swallow that poison the moment they feel cornered. They no longer care for human lives, so long as they can drag a single Asura into the grave with them."

Boku had anticipated the use of the Body-Eating Pills, but he had never expected the tactic to be deployed on such a massive scale. The pill provided strength multifold and regeneration that surpassed even an Asura, but consuming it was a suicide pact. Zilya was literally ordering her soldiers to become living pipe bombs.

Even more cunningly, Zilya had embedded speed-specialist mages into every unit, from supply convoys to main combat divisions. By doing so, she eliminated Wilwatikta’s most effective countermeasure against the Body-Eating Pills: fleeing and waiting for the pill’s duration to expire.

The result was a grim paradox: while Wilwatikta technically won every engagement, those victories were bought with Asura lives. To the kingdom’s current state, every Asura life was priceless.

Though the population of newborn Orcs continued to rise, they were not yet ready for the front lines. They required training and evolution. While EXP Potions could accelerate the process, Boku could not allow the number of existing Asuras to stagnate, let alone dwindle. He needed the Asura population to surge, for he knew the true enemy was not just humanity, but every Mana Species in the world.

Currently, the Asura remained the backbone of the military. Although the Valkyries were far more numerous, they held a duty far more sacred than mere combat: birthing the next generation of Asuras. This role was so highly revered that a pregnant Valkyrie held the right to sit upon her partner’s lap during high-level meetings or important events. There was even a doctrine within The Church of The One stating that a pregnant Valkyrie held a higher standing than a combatant Asura. This sentiment had taken deep root, as no Asura contested it—even Moku himself seemed to endorse the principle.

Then there were the Druids and Hobgoblins. Both races were resilient, but ill-suited for open warfare. The Druids, with their cloaking abilities, were better utilized as scouts. The Hobgoblins, in truth, had largely functioned as bait to lure enemies into Asura kill zones.

However, since the 5th Constellation mages had descended upon the battlefield, the Druids’ scouting capabilities had been paralyzed. They could not draw near without being detected. Under these conditions, the Inner Eye of the Asura was far more effective for intelligence gathering. As for the Hobgoblins, Boku preferred they serve as laborers building traps and fortifications rather than throwing their lives away in vain.

Ultimately, aside from the Asura, Boku had no other monster race to rely on as the tip of the spear. He had considered implementing a policy to ban Druids and Hobgoblins from combat, but the current number of Asura was insufficient to fill the void.

Now, the enemy was using suicide tactics to grind down the Asura population. If this continued, the number of veteran Asuras would shrink until they were matched by the number of inexperienced, newly evolved Orcs. Eventually, they might be forced to deploy those green recruits to the front.

"Our casualty rate is spiking, General," an aide reported, face pale. "If this continues, we will win on paper, but we will have no soldiers left to guard the kingdom."

Boku knew his aide was right. But what choice did he have?

"We cannot retreat," Boku replied firmly, his eyes fixed on the border that was creeping ever closer to Wilwatikta’s core territory. "If we yield even an inch of soil on this battlefield, the humans and their cursed pills will arrive at the very gates of Progenitor City."

That was the bitter reality. Had they not been defending Progenitor City, they might have retreated and tightened their defenses at Bitter Maja. There, the subterranean labyrinth lay ready to swallow anyone daring to cross it. However, the existence of Progenitor City forced Wilwatikta to maintain two battlefronts simultaneously, forfeiting their labyrinthine advantage.

The thought of abandoning Progenitor City and retreating to Bitter Maja had crossed Boku’s mind. But the Demon race was watching, waiting for the slightest excuse to stab them in the back. Boku could not afford to show weakness while Moku remained in close-door cultivation. His current task was to keep the New Battlefield stable and maintain the facade of being a "tame dog" in Lucifer’s eyes.

That way, they could at least buy time until Moku’s return.

Boku let out a long sigh. "Deploy the reserve forces to both battlefields. Tell them... do not let a single human draw near. We must hold Progenitor City!"

He knew that Goku and Swa, leading the Old Battlefield, would surely make the same decision. For now, they could only pray that Moku would return soon and bring a miracle, as he always had.

Outside, the drums of war began to beat with a renewed, deafening ferocity. Unbeknownst to Boku, his worst fears were already coming to fruition. Furfur no longer cared whether Wilwatikta was a "tame dog" or not. Lucifer’s orders were absolute: slaughter the dog, burn it to ash, and scatter the remains into the sea. And he was prepared to do exactly that, immediately.