Dusk War

The **Dusk War** was the second Sithe invasion of the Cultivator Chaosverse.

## Phase One

A Sithe weapon is launched into the Cultivator Chaosverse. The weapon is known as the Annihilation Hive and absorbs the natural energy of the Chaosverse to weaken its Quintessence. The 6 Autarchs and Ji Ning (then at an Autarch level of power) investigate the weapon and discover that the weapon's internal generator has to be destroyed. Ji Ning and Autarch Mogg send their avatars into the Hive to achieve this. Though they find the core, they are unable to destroy it nor halt the absorption of energy. Autarch Titanos thus devises a formation to halt the absorption and teaches Ji Ning how to use it. Ji Ning's Avatar thus remains within the Hive for the duration of the war, channeling the formation and preventing the weakening of the Chaosverse Quintessence.

## Phase Two

The Sithe Invasion begins with many Sithe invading on realmships and black warships. They heavily outnumbered the defending cultivator forces and were far better equipped.

The Autarchs act as the powerhouses of the battlefield, rapidly destroying Sithe forces. However, Ji Ning and Autarch Stonerule are exceptionally quick as they are able to eliminate enemies with Heartforce and can bypass any defense mechanisms that the Sithe have. Sithe invaders who encounter the Autarchs are immediately struck with fear for they know there is no escape. Although Ji Ning originally attempts to capture Sithe descendant invaders, the urgency of war later leads to him annihilating everyone he saw.

Due to the Sithe's soul devouring techniques, the Autarchs issued a decree that cultivators facing defeat by the Sithe should self detonate to launch their Truesouls away from the Sithe in order to return to the Chaosverse for the chance of revival.

By arriving in realmships, the defending cultivator forces faced trouble in getting through Sithe defenses. Only Autarchs were able to easily destroy realmships and their defenses, though the massive number of invaders and the scale of the invasion meant that the Autarch could not defend every battlefront. Furthermore, the speed of the realmships ensured that any cultivators that attempted escape could be chased down if they did not have a realmship of their own.

Though the Autarchs are able to rapidly eliminate Sithe forces they encounter, the Sithe forces are spread widely over the vast Chaosverse, resulting in the Autarchs taking many days to travel between the battlefronts made up of Hegemon cultivators. As Ji Ning's avatar was still within the Annihilation Hive, coverage of every battlefront was lowered and some battlefronts were destroyed before the Autarchs could arrive. One example is the Hiddencloud battlefront where Ji Ning's second disciple, Green Bamboo was fighting at. As a result, Green Bamboo self detonated and Ji Ning became frenzied over the loss of his disciple.

## Phase Three

Sithe Exalts began appearing in formation. Their temple formations aimed to capture and neutralise Autarchs and were effective at capturing Autarch Ekong , Ji Ning and various Autarchs' avatars. Autarch Titanos sent his avatar to rescue Ekong but it was destroyed during their escape with Ekong suffering heavy injuries. Only Autarch Stonerule's Avatar evaded capture and subsequent destruction as his mastery of illusions misled the Sithe in their capturing.

When Ji Ning was trapped by the formation, the invading Sithe force's leader, Almighty Iyerre, was notified. Iyerre then set off to the battlefield himself. However, Ji Ning broke out of the formation before Iyerre arrived and escaped. Iyerre, furious at losing his chance to eliminate his greatest threat in the war, decided to hunt the Autarchs one by one. He released three other powerful Sithe, later revealed to be Autarch Sourcewalkers, to aid him in his hunt. Iyerre first encounters and ambushes Autarch Mogg but fails to kill him when Mogg reveals the cultivators' trump card: The Golden Bridge of Freedom.

Meanwhile, a new Sithe weapon is deployed to capture the Autarchs. This weapon was known as the Grassland World which carries it own Quintessence and thus allows Sithe within it to withstand some of the suppression by the Chaosverse. It was also a trap and was used to capture Autarch Bolin. Bolin was killed by an Autarch Sourcewalker using a whip made by Iyerre. However, unbeknownst to the sourcewalker and Iyerre, Bolin made a breakthrough to achieve the Samsara Daobirth Essence and was able to live on. Seemingly in a state of death, Bolin concealed himself within the Grassland World and gave information to the Autarchs regarding the Grassland World's capabilities and location. The Autarchs thus prepare an ambush to eliminate the Sithe Weapon.

The ambush is successful and the Quintessence of the Grassland World is ignited, resulting in it constantly losing energy. Iyerre however, shows up and is able to overpower the Autarchs who choose to flee. Iyerre decides to move the Grassland World to the Annihilation Hive so that he can eliminate Ji Ning's Avatar and restart the absorption by the Hive.

The Autarchs make a final stand against Iyerre within the Annihilation hive. Though they assemble a Sword Titan formation, Iyerre overpowers them by releasing Black Warbeasts that were made by his master and thus impervious to damage. The Sword Titan is destroyed when Iyerre pierces it with his hand, killing Autarch Mogg and disrupting the formation. He then turns to kill Autarch Skyfeeder while the beasts kill Autarch Stonerule and Autarch Titanos. As the beasts move in to finish off Autarch Bolin and Autarch Ekong, Ji Ning awakens to the power of Oblivion and is able to drive off the beasts, stalling them till they run out of energy. Iyerre retreats to his master for aid.

With Iyerre gone, Ji Ning uses his newfound knowledge of Oblivion to destroy the core of the Annihilation Hive. As the core is destroyed, it reforms itself before scattering, giving Ji Ning an insight about Creation. With this insight, Ji Ning is able to comprehend Creation and thus ascends to a Lord of Chaos.

After being granted a protective talisman by his master, Iyerre returns to destroy Ji Ning. Unbeknownst to him, Ji Ning had already qualified to ascend to Lord of Chaos and began to do so when Iyerre entered his Chaosverse. Lord of Chaos Ji Ning thus welcomes Iyerre, easily overpowering him and absorbing his Truesoul with the power of oblivion, ending the Dusk War.