Alexander The Great Mage

Our numbers swelled even more in the few months following Zas and Rona's entry into Night and Day. We grew from five-regiment strength to twenty five in that period. The best thing was, we finally had an entire elite regiment of purely dragons.

Of course, most of the dragons weren't titled. Only ten were Royal Dragons, and that was including the four dual-titled dragons. But still, even though we had three less Royal dragons compared to Thirteen, we have one more dual-titled Royal Dragons. And our dual-titled Royal Dragons were the synergistic types. Space Time and Black White.

In a fight among the Royal Dragons of the two clans, ours would beat theirs hands down without a shred of doubt.

Of course Thirteen did not take this lying down. They quickly recruited two more Royal Dragons, and staked the claim for the second ranked position once more.

We couldn't care less.

We were too busy enjoying the fruits of our newfound wealth and living life to the fullest. We were having so much fun that we only took on another mission once we consolidated our twenty five regiments - a full six months of down time for us.

At first, we thought that Aragosh Dragonos was being too paranoid by insisting that we build up our forces to the maximum first before taking on our next mission. But when he finally revealed what our next mission was, the only thing that appeared in my mind was if we were strong enough to take part in such a mission!

"The Eternal Battlefield." I mumbled numbly as I stared at the details of the mission being presented by Aragosh Dragonos.

Actually, what Aragosh Dragonos was doing was completely superfluous. The Eternal Battlefield needed no introduction nor explanation, especially to the two hundred fifty thousand beings present in that massive auditorium.

Who in the entire universe didn't know of the Eternal Battlefield?

Yes, Your Majesty, I know you don't. I will explain it very soon. That rhetorical question was direction to the situation in that auditorium at that time.

Let me explain. For this, I have to start by talking about the Universe Empires.

We currently know of four other Universe Empires, and the nearest one is called the Hara Universe Empire.

The Harans are a much older and stronger Universe Empire. In fact, it could be said that Symphonia was carved out of an area which the Harans considered their fringe territories. And because of that, they have always been extremely aggressive towards us.

They had tried to invade us countless times over the years, and thankfully they had never succeeded.

While their main invasion campaign comes in seasons, there is a specific area near the border that had never seen peace ever since the first Haran Invasion started.

It was as though both Empires implicitly agreed to keep the fighting localized while they built up their main army for another massive clash in the coming decades.

I suspect that they both treated the Eternal Battlefield as a whetting ground for their new recruits, baptizing them in fire and blood before whisking them away and sending in another fresh batch of recruits.

The Eternal Battlefield is an entire Star System consisting of forty seven Solar Systems. Although the Empires had agreed implicitly to use the Eternal Battlefield as a training ground, they also needed a proper reason to keep fighting. And that proper reason for the endless battles being fought there is simply a single planet at the very center of the Star System.

It is a mining planet with a strange core that was able to naturally produce Shora Crystals, an extremely potent energy crystal that could be used to power Starships. Both Empires had strategic uses for the Shora Crystals and both couldn't allow the entire mining planet to fall into the hands of the other. So a  massive battle erupted around the planet.

At first, it was the size of the solar system, and it only involved hundreds of thousands of ships. Then, as each side continued to pump in more resources and more soldiers, the battle spread to the neighbouring systems, until finally, the entire Star System was engulfed in permanent war.

From all the way in the fringes of the Star System, each side fought to gain better position from which they could influence the battles occurring in the next inner ring, which was in turn fought so that they could better supply the battles occurring in the next inner ring and so on, until they reached the battle in the planet's Solar System itself, which was where the hottest and most desperate battles were fought.

Symphonia had set up an extremely devious and effective merit system for participation in the Eternal Battlefield. Although the main fighting forces were the Symphonial Royal Armed Forces, they also encouraged all other powers to participate.

Assasinations, bounties, logistics, defensive assignments, offensive assignments, all sorts of assignments with extremely generous compensation could be taken up by any organization.

Because the battles fought in the fringes were more casual and much less intense, most of the two Empires' newbies and weaker mercenary group tangled in these fringes. Stronger mercenary groups would delve deeper where they would be able to meet stronger enemies and thus rack up merit points faster.

The deeper you go, the more powerful the participants become. Once you enter within ten solar systems of the mining planet, you'll begin to encounter military forces from both Empires.

Only the strongest mercenary groups would dare to enter the tenth solar system.

Death, Symphonia's top mercenary group, spends most of their time doing missions in the sixth and seventh Solar Systems.

Beyond the tenth solar system, the battlefield was complete hell. Each side fought for real, and pulled no punches. Each strike was measured, surgical and efficient, designed to deal as much damage as possible for the least amount of resources. Ambushes, traps and all sorts of trickeries were daily occurrences.

Within five solar systems, you'll encounter full fledged army divisions. At this point, there are only military units.

All in all, the Eternal Battlefield is pure chaos!

Yet at the same time, it is also a place of great opportunity.

Many mercenary groups found wealth and fame through their exploits in the Eternal Battlefield, but even more mercenary groups perished.

Young masters of various ancient clans also use the Eternal Battlefield to temper themselves, shedding their boyhood and becoming real men through real battles. Many others use the battlefield as proving grounds. You want to prove to your Clan Patriach that you're more worthy of being his successor compared to his first choice? Go to the Eternal Battlefield, rack up a huge chunk of merits and show it to him.

Some even hold competitions and tournaments by entering the battlefield at the same time for a predetermined period of time to see who can accumulate more merits!

In fact, Rag-Hatharos even went as far as setting a minimum amount of merits in the Eternal Battlefield as a prerequisite of applying into his mercenary group!

Our glorious leader, Aragosh Dragonos, wanted to put to rest the speculations as to which mercenary group was second. And so he decided to join the Eternal Battlefield as a blatant provocation to Thirteen.

You say you're second? Well I'm here in the Eternal Battlefield. Come along and we'll settle the issue once and for all!

Needless to say, Thirteen arrived at Eternal Battlefield within days of our own arrival.

I remember setting foot for the first time in a planet called Deep Blue, a staging planet for all Symphonians seeking to enter the Eternal Battlefield. I was accompanying Aragosh Dragonos as he applied for a merit token for all of us.

It was a surprisingly peaceful planet. It was called Deep Blue because of the abundant seas that covered the planet, leaving a mere three percent of the planet uncovered by water. Symphonia had built a massive city in the largest landmass and all who desired to participate in the Eternal Battlefield had to register there.

Each and every single person had to be registered and wear an "Eternal Token" which would track and record our achievements.

Billions of paper pushers worked behind the scenes to make the merit system a success. We don't have to know how the merits were calculated, all we needed to know was that the calculations were precise and fair.

Each kill, each assist, each strategic decision, each tactical positioning, each timely logistical delivery, each well executed bombing mission, everything was recorded and assigned merits.

"This is the calm before the storm, Blackie." Aragosh Dragonos said as he stored the two hundred fifty thousand tokens in his spatial storage bag. We had just finished our registrations and were about to return to our ship. "Are you ready?"

"Yes." I replied confidently. "By the way, the men are asking, which Solar System will we be going?"

"The Blade Storm System." Aragosh Dragonos said evenly while looking straight into my eyes.

I could not hide my shock and my boundless excitement.

It was our first time in the Eternal Battlefield and yet, we're already on our way into the seventh Solar System!

Insanity? No!

Confidence! Audacity! This is Aragosh Dragonos, Leader of Night and Day, a Royal Black Dragon!