But fifteen minutes later, Lereza got another news from the spies that allowed them to know what the agreement ensued.
"Great! If even one major party acknowledges our presence here, the Verdant Vale Lower Realm is semi-legally ours!" Vereina clenched and spread her hands.
She danced in the air by flying around, appearing happy since she also got to absorb a lot of Heaven's Warriors' soul essences and even the Venerable Knight's avatar soul essence. Particularly, the soul of Venerable Knight Foredawn was much more nutritious to her. She could feel it.
"So the reinforcements that are making their way to us are none other than Heaven's Warriors from the Sacred Crusade League and Astral Spring League. Awesome! I'll thoroughly devour them with my darkness maw!"
King smashed his fists and looked excited.
He couldn't have enough of putting down those who thought themselves to be righteous. He didn't have anything against Heaven's Warriors, but he loved slaughter and eating.
"It's not like they acknowledged us. It is just a temporary ceasefire that could be broken anytime."
Lereza corrected Vereina, "After all, both parties wouldn't be affected by breaking it."
"Is Venerable Knight Lussandra such a person?" Zestria narrowed her eyes.
"I don't think so." Lereza shook her head, "Venerable Knights are all honorable people who hold up their end of the bargain but when it comes to making agreements with Divergents, we can't say for sure that they will hold it. Even if they broke it, the people wouldn't blame them. In fact, they would encourage them to break it."
"Ugh… and we're not supposed to harm the Heaven's Warriors here?" King scratched his head.
"Yes, as long as they don't harm us or bar our path." Lereza smiled at him.
"…"
King appeared embarrassed. He couldn't be bothered to look at badges or insignias on someone's clothes while trying to eat them.
"Don't worry." Zestria suddenly spoke and raised her fist, "Even if Venerable Knight Lussandra quickly broke the agreement, I am fast enough to go toe to toe with her with my newfound powers. I will not allow her to harass us with her speed and kill us off one by one."
She clenched her fist, and reverberations at the near-layer limit resonated, making space crack around her like glass.
Lereza and the others' gazes flickered.
They were aware that Zestria only had a prowess of eight levels higher when she was in the Immortal Emperor Stage. She was comparable to a top-tier supreme genius, but it was not enough to compare her to Evelynn and the others. Still, that had not discouraged Zestria.
After all, she did not have Emperor-Tier Blood Essence like them. She only carried King-Tier Fire Dragon Blood Essence within her, but at the Empyrean Stage, it struggled to make a difference. After all, a Fire Dragon's Blood Essence loses its charm in the Empyrean Stage since a Fire Dragon can't become an Empyrean Beast.
Still, a King-Tier Fire Dragon was still capable of entering the Empyrean Stage by sacrificing its tier to mutate and become an Azure Dragon with fire attribute. Therefore, it still allowed her to retain its prowess by one level higher in the Empyrean Stage.
She worked hard on her comprehension of Laws, and when she became an Empyrean, she finally possessed a prowess that was seven levels higher. It was even more ridiculous than a supreme genius like Autarch Elluro Coldwing, who only possessed a prowess that was five levels higher. This still made a superior existence.
Now that the Realm Core had also blessed her with its prowess, her base prowess was ten levels higher. As a Level One Empyrean right now, if she used Divine Techniques or even powerful techniques, she could naturally break the layer limit.
Her presence gave them all the more confidence to remain here and defend to the utmost limit.
Dying wasn't an option since they were commanded to retreat if things went awry.
Exactly two hours later, the Heaven's Warriors finally reached here.
It was unknown how they were so fast considering they needed to cross one realm to get here, meaning it would take one day minimum even with the fastest ship. Presumably, they probably used teleportation formations en masse to make it here quickly.
Zestria and the others possessed stone-cold expressions as they looked into the distance.
There were around four thousand Heaven's Warriors, at least fifteen at Level Eight Autarch Stage. Their prowess could be two levels higher or even three levels higher, but they are still considerably weaker than the Venerable Knights.
Nonetheless, they were scanning the Heaven's Warriors for the presence of a Venerable Knight, particularly Venerable Knight Lussandra or even Venerable Knight Damien, who could've possibly faked his death.
However, they found no such person.
"Strange…" Lereza uttered with narrowed eyes, "Why aren't they quickly attacking?"
The Heaven's Warriors didn't charge at them. Instead, there was a strange movement within them, as though they were also confused.
"Wait."
Abruptly, a smug voice resounded around the area.
A black-robed man walked out of the tunnel that led to the Realm Core, his expression full of confidence.
He raised his hand, and the darkness itself seemed to respond as tendrils of inky black energy slithered outward from twelve points around him, intertwining with motes of fire, water, earth, metal, and wood. The five elements bent to his will, merging with a dark abyssal force, forming a hexagonal lattice in the air.
The twelve blood essences of the Darkness Empyrean Beasts condensed into twelve points of light within the formation, their power sealing the formation structure in place and feeding it. The tunnel beneath trembled as the formation's might anchor itself, extending its invisible threads through heaven and earth. The moment an intruder entered, terrifying darkness would erupt, swallowing them in an inescapable slaughter.
Each corner of the twin hexagons pulsed with dark radiance, ancient, powerful runes flaring to life as the formation took shape into a dome and expanded.
It covered nearly a radius of a thousand kilometers in an instant!
"Sit back, everyone. My Double Hexagon Dark Star Quintessence Formation will deal with them if they enter our range."
Lest Mistwalker's voice resounded coolly.
"Oh?"
Zestria looked at him and saw that he had completed building the formation, which Davis said was terrifying even for Late Stage Empyreans.
"Took you long enough," Illumina uttered coldly.
"So strict…" Lest Mistwalker chuckled before he rose to the air and extended his hand before waving them towards him, "Come."
The Heaven's Warriors finally made their move.
They began stretching out, seemingly thinking of attacking from all sides. Lest Mistwalker could also see this, but he merely sneered since it would be the same no matter where they attacked from. Did they really think that he would develop a formation with flaws?
"Arrogant as always."
He coldly chuckled and waited for them to come.
However, the more time passed, the more his confident expression faded.
The Heaven's Warriors completely surrounded them, yet… they didn't make a move anymore. Even after twenty whole minutes, they stood like statues guarding the place.
"They're not coming?"
Lest Mistwalker could no longer take it and turned to look back.
"Yeah, it seems like they want to contain us here, perhaps to give a semblance of peace to the people." Lereza shrugged.
She couldn't think of anything other than this over why they would stop and just surround them unless they were planning on making a terrifying formation, but she could detect no such strange movements. All of them were just standing there, appearing like statues as they stared at them.
"…"
Lest Mistwalker's jaws dropped.
His legs went out, and he dropped to the ground, kneeling, "What was my formation for?"
"Decoration." Vereina giggled.
"Decoration indeed. Hahaha!"
King held his stomach and laughed as he pointed at Lest Mistwalker, rolling all the way until he fell into the tunnel.