Versatile Mage: Get the Desert Emperor clone at the start

Chapter 389 Standoff and Negotiation: Are You Threatening Me?
Qin Xiaonan was indeed somewhat surprised that several major demonic empires around the world had unanimously turned their attention to her forces.

However, he was not afraid.

After careful planning and accumulation, the power he wields is now far greater than it once was.

The four clones scattered in various locations—Azir the Tsar, Soraka the Starchild, Baelvis the Void Queen, and Kindred the Eternal Hunters—
Each of them has accumulated considerable strength.

He already had a clear strategy in mind for dealing with this seemingly perilous global crisis.

Currently, the situation in the Indian Ocean is the most urgent.

The cold-eyed demon god of the Pacific Ocean and the demons of the Antarctic glaciers attacked from the north and south, carving up the sea area he had just established, which was tantamount to a direct challenge to his authority.

"Trying to steal my spoils?" Qin Xiaonan thought to herself and relayed the command to Soraka, the Son of the Stars.

Soon, a thought, guided by the stars, traversed vast distances and reached the depths of the Atlantic Siren Empire: "Temporarily abandon the Indian Ocean and defend this territory."

This directive, though seemingly a concession, is in fact a strategic retreat, aimed at preventing the Atlantic forces from being excessively depleted in the quagmire of the Indian Ocean.

At the very moment the order was issued, the Antarctic demons' forces had already advanced northward.

The eternal lord of glaciers, this ancient emperor who has just awakened from his millennia-long slumber, brings with him a terrifying cold wave that freezes everything in its path, sweeping away everything in its way. Its vanguard glaciers have almost touched the edge of the South African continental shelf.

Wherever it passes, the vast seas turn into a desolate ice field, and even the light seems to be frozen.

Just as this extreme cold continued to advance—

"Boom!!!"

The sky, no, everything between the sky and the sea, was suddenly filled with an incomparably dazzling golden light!

A magnificent, mountain-like phantom of the sun disk appeared as if it had descended from another dimension, suddenly appearing above the frozen sea!

The disc slowly rotated, radiating boundless light and heat—a miracle formed from the purest Shurima Ascension power.

Under the golden light, an incredible scene unfolded: the vast sea, frozen by the power of the Lord of Eternal Ice Silence, melted and revived at a speed visible to the naked eye!
The ice melted into a warm current, and the deathly silence was replaced by vitality, as if time had turned back.

Under the peak brilliance of this small solar disk, the Antarctic frigidity was forcibly pushed back for the first time.

At the brightest point of the disc's light, a majestic figure clad in golden armor and holding a scepter stood tall—it was none other than Azir, the Desert Emperor!

His gaze was like two miniature suns, looking down at the glacial emperor below.

"Hmph! Playing tricks!" The Lord of the Eternal Silence of the Glacier was both shocked and furious.

Seeing the opponent's posture, it did not hesitate to swing its giant claws. An extreme glacial breath, enough to freeze a super-large city in an instant, was like a white torrent of destruction, carrying countless ice crystal fragments, and blasted towards the sun disk and Azir in the sky!

Faced with this emperor-level, furious attack, Azir simply raised one hand indifferently and casually swung it forward.

There was no earth-shattering explosion. The breath that was powerful enough to freeze everything melted and vaporized as soon as it approached the range of the sun's disk, just like a snowflake hitting a hot iron. It vanished into nothingness as water vapor filled the sky.

The supremely yang and powerful force of ascension naturally counters this extremely cold energy.

"What?!" For the first time, disbelief appeared in the enormous ice crystal eyes of the Lord of Glacier Eternal Silence.

It had been dormant for too long and knew very little about the changes in the outside world. It never expected that its all-out attack would be so easily neutralized by the opponent.

It wanted to continue its attack, but was stopped by a voice. A cold, ancient voice resounded clearly throughout the entire sea.

"Ruler of Shurima, you have finally revealed yourself."

The voice did not come from the Lord of Eternal Silence of the Glacier before them, nor from the Storm Frost Emperor who was stirring up storms in the distance, but from an ice-blue phantom that had just condensed in the void.

Although this clone contained its energy, the aura of its status emanating from it far surpassed that of the two Antarctic emperors present.

The newcomer is none other than the true ruler of Antarctica, the Emperor of Antarctica, one of the roofs of the world!
It did not descend in its true form, but this clone already represented its will.

Azir turned his gaze to the icy blue clone, waiting for it to continue.

The Antarctic Emperor's avatar continued, "We have come here not to fight you to the death, nor to covet this part of the Indian Ocean."

These words suddenly made the atmosphere delicate.

“In fact,” the Antarctic Overlord’s avatar said slowly, “I have little interest in the Indian Ocean itself.”

"The reason why our major empires have joined forces to exert pressure this time is to show you and the united forces you represent the 'rules' of this world and the existing power structure."

Its words went straight to the heart of the matter: "You have united multiple forces to suppress the Bermuda Triangle with swift and decisive measures. Your style of action and the speed at which your power has expanded have already broken the delicate balance that has been maintained for thousands of years."

"This uncertainty makes all ancient beings uneasy."

"Today's actions are simply to obtain a clear commitment," the Antarctic Overlord's avatar stated, revealing the ultimate goal.

"As long as you, Emperor of Shurima, and the Void and other forces allied with you, promise that your sphere of influence will not extend into Antarctica and our existing territory, and will not threaten our sleeping lands."

“Then we can withdraw our troops immediately and ‘hand over’ the right to fight for the Indian Ocean to you.”

It turns out that this seemingly fierce global siege was actually a meticulously planned "military deterrence" diplomacy.

These ancient demon emperors were not a monolithic entity determined to fight to the death. Rather, they sensed the threat posed by emerging powers and attempted to flex their muscles to define their spheres of influence in exchange for a guarantee of non-aggression, thus maintaining their established order of rule.

The Indian Ocean is merely a chessboard and a bargaining chip in this game.

Azir stared at the icy blue avatar of the Antarctic Overlord, his scepter pausing slightly.

"What if I... don't agree?"

The chill emanating from the Antarctic Emperor intensified suddenly, and his voice became even more piercing, like a polar blizzard:
"The Americas, your desert region, is currently being swallowed up by the primal tidal wave of the Amazon!"

"Would we be at a disadvantage if a full-scale war broke out in the Atlantic and Pacific?"

"And when the ice fronts of Antarctica and the cold currents of the Arctic advance simultaneously from opposite ends of the continent, forming an unstoppable pincer movement..."

"What advantage can you possibly gain?"

"Our alliance will last until the very last moment, and we will fight you to the death!"

Azir listened quietly to this blatant war announcement, and a slight smile seemed to appear on the corner of his mouth beneath the golden mask.

(End of this chapter)