Arios smiled before looking back toward the rest of the demon generals.
The truth was that they were very much used to battles that lasted for months at a time. Things like teleportation pads for rest and energy supplying fruits were completely foreign to them.
It wasn’t that the demon sage didn’t care for their wellbeing, but, he was equally as tough on himself. How could one complain as a general when you saw your head commander fighting just as hard as you? Especially when he took more upon himself than even they did?
There was also something all demon generals had that they had yet to make full use of.
As the chosen geniuses of the demon sage, they were also privy to some of his techniques. So, although it wasn’t as complete as Dyon’s version, each had their own understanding of Demon Emperor’s Will. Add this to the fact that their bodies were already stronger than normal due to their mastery over demonic will, and their stamina was simply unquestionable.
“Alright Commander. Let’s go.”
Aeson stood in a corner, blood dripping down his arm as he tightened his grip on his spear. He hadn’t said anything in weeks, but the fire in his eyes was just the same. However, the disgust he held for himself was stronger than ever. Even after he had promised himself to put his life on the line for Ri, he had still been forced to retreat before her. His heart steeled because he knew he had to be better.
Actually, it seemed that quite a few people were feeling unsatisfied with themselves. Delia, for instance, had fought to the best of her abilities – but, she was fully aware of the fact that had it not been for the demon generals, her impact would have been all the more minimal.
“What’s the situation?” Ri asked Akash.
“We sent a small group from the big sects to skirt around the battle field to check on the situation. It was a bit difficult since the land is so flat, but they managed to get us some information.”
Ri nodded as she listened.
“Their number amount isn’t so much, only about a thousand. But, although our scouts couldn’t be sure, they’re definitely more powerful. The big sects don’t have anyone who is able to read cultivation levels much past the lower levels of meridian formation… So, in reality, the approaching army could be anything from upper meridian formation experts to even essence gathering.”
The brows of those listening creased. Although Akash had been lenient in her assessment, everyone here could tell that it was likely the approaching army was made of essence gathering experts. After all, what would have been the point of calling for more meridian formation experts? Especially when it was only a thousand. That wouldn’t make any sense.
Now the lotus alliance had more problems to deal with. Over the past few months, they had reduced the number of the enemy to the extreme. However, with the coming reinforcements, this wasn’t entirely a good thing… Why? Because that meant all of the remaining experts on the enemy side were ones strong enough to survive an onslaught of demon generals, Ri and the best the Niveus and Elves had to offer.
Because of this, the coming reinforcement of essence gathering experts was about to merge with the best meridian formation experts the basilisks had to offer…
“Do we have any idea what we’re dealing with aside from power? Like information on their wills or techniques like we had for the Phantus clan?” Ri wanted to see if there were any possible counter measures. Dyon still had many tactics they had yet to put into practice. Maybe there was still a way…
A complicated expression surfaced on Akash’s features as though she was struggling with something. But, her silence only served to increase the tension at the center of maze.
“This…” Akash started. “According to the descriptions we’ve gotten, they don’t match any of the clans we’re used to dealing with. But…”
“But?” Ri turned back to Akash, trying to gain something from her reaction.
Akash took a deep breath. “I’ve studied a lot of old accounts of past campaigns to try and prepare myself. And… Although I haven’t met clans with these descriptions personally, from what I see there is only one most likely answer…”
Everyone grasped the seriousness of Akash’s words.
This was their fearless commander. To Ri and the demon generals, Akash was an unknown. They hadn’t been the ones to fight along side her in past campaigns. But, the Elves and the women of the Niveus sect were different.
To them, Akash was fearless. She was a woman who put her life on the line for her comrades with every step she took on the battle field. She had no qualms about being a commander on the front lines.
And yet… This same fearless Akash was hesitant to introduce just the name of a clan. This same Akash was visibly trembling as her jaw clenched tightly.
Just what was it that she had figured out?…
‘Don’t tell me?’ Evelyn’s white eyes flashed with something imperceptible as she seemingly understood exactly who Akash was referring to. And, if she was right… They were in trouble. Real trouble. This wasn’t a clan they could defeat without real power. What was a maze of peak practitioner defenses to an army of genius essence gathering experts?…
“This clan… It’s without a doubt the King God Clan of our enemies… The Uidah King God Clan…”
“King God Clan?” Ri bit her lip. With the limited information they had, much of what they knew was speculation or based on outdated information. The fact the opposing universe had a King God Clan was known to them, but only in so far as what they garnered from the other planets of their universe.
The Uidah King God Clan saw their universe as more of a training ground for their meridian formation geniuses. In fact, Earth was looked down on even more so than the other planets of their universe. So much so that the Uidah clan hadn’t had a documented instance of coming here in decades.
And yet, they were now reinforcements? What was going on?
The best explanation they had was that the faith seeds of the Ragnor and Pakal God clans had finally become widespread enough to make Earth a worthy training location again. After all, Caedlum and Thor had only just recently activated their faith seeds. And Vidar hadn’t had access to his faith seed for much longer. In the grand scheme, this was only Vidar’s third campaign and Thor and Caedlum’s second. It would make sense if the Uidah clan only recently caught wind of it.
However, this didn’t explain why the Uidah clan was attacking them in specific. The lotus tower was very much known to be the weakest and since Ri had only just recently revealed her faith seed, it was much too early for them to be attacking for her.
But, imagining for an instant that they really had come for Ri – if, for example, they had come for the other three faith seed wielders, but had caught wind of Ri and decided to direct some attention toward her – why then had it taken them so long? Ri had been fighting for months now. She had been fighting for so long that this campaign cycle was very nearly over. And yet, they were coming now?
“What do we know about them?” Asked Ri. They didn’t have time to sit in awe and reverence, they needed an action plan.
Akash shook her head. She was embarrassed that she let her emotions get the best of her. She was supposed to be the leader of the Elvin race. They were meant to be proud. What was a King God Clan to the ancient elves? Absolutely nothing. ‘Get yourself together Akash. You’re supposed to lead.’
Biting her inner lips, Akash’s grey skin flexed as she steeled her features. “The Uidah clan, from the old accounts I’ve read, have a grasp on a very mysterious will that gives them ridiculous offensive capabilities.
The good news is that this will is rare even amongst them. Only those who’ve been labeled as Vice Commanders would have access to the will. In their hierarchy, it is impossible to move up without having first understood this will. They place a very deep importance on it.
Another important part is that their commanders are known for making odd movements in battle that sometimes seems absolutely ridiculous, but usually end up working in their favor. I’m not entirely sure on how that works, but my best guess would be their second technique of note. Something they call buddha’s eye, I believe.”
Ri’s eyes flashed at this. ‘Could it be a technique similar to the Mathilde family’s imperial eye?’
If Dyon had been there, he would have agreed immediately. The old man had once told him that the buddha’s eye could perform partial functions of the aurora – but, he had also said that it mimicked the Asura’s imperial eye’s ability to read attacks as well.
It was clear that they were using their ability to see through attack patterns to take advantage of the battle field. It was much like how innate aurora wielders could use their 6th sense to gain a view of the battle no others had.
Ri took a deep breath, “Is there anything else?”
“The rest will have to do with the logistics of battle an army of essence gathering experts… Fighting an army with the ability to fly is… Troublesome.”
The problem was that even Akash didn’t know how right she was. Because of the difference in purity of essence energy in the Uidah universe, it was likely that not only could they fly – an ability of all essence gathering experts – it was also a strong possibility that they could fly for much longer with much better stamina.
It was at moments like these that the elves wished they had their peak essence gathering geniuses here. There was a reason why Akash could lead while only being at the second essence gathering level… The simple fact was that this gate simply wasn’t worth fighting at if you were any higher. Much like First Prince Belmont, even the Elvin geniuses went to other gates, hoping to become powerful enough to one day come back and conquer this gate.
Unfortunately, unlike the Sapientia and Royal God Clan, the Elvin Kingdom was in decline and couldn’t afford to ship their geniuses back and forth between planets easily as it was a truly pricey affair. As such, only Elvin geniuses of this gate had come back to attempt to help in stabilizing the kingdom.
If those peak essence gathering geniuses had fought at Earth’s gate, it is true that the Uidah universe would have retaliated by giving them competition on their level. However, the resources of Earth simply couldn’t compare to that of other planets and gates.
In other places, ranking well gave them access to cultivation materials that were near non-existences on Earth… And that wasn’t even mentioning the fact that due to the expansion of earth to millions of times its original size, the energy here was even more diluted than on other planets.
In fact, the only reason the elves didn’t send their geniuses even earlier in their cultivation was because without sufficient power, ranking well enough to earn the necessary resources was a near impossibility.
However, there was no use in thinking of such things. Right now, it was only them. And they had to make do.
“Commander Akash, we still have some lower essence gathering experts in the Fletcher and Nodin family, no? With good archery and the Nodin family’s flight, we can counter that.
The demon generals are also more than capable of dealing with aerial combat. In fact, they’re probably our best weapon right now.
I can fight in the skies if I use my arrays. But, I can’t draw footholds as quickly as Dyon can, so, it’s best I stay on the ground. If we can force them to see aerial combat as a disadvantage for them, it would be best.
It is likely that the maze is useless now, but, I don’t think we should forget about it entirely. If we can distract the essence gathering experts from it and leave the meridian formation experts to their own devices, then the maze will still be a good advantage for us.” Ri spoke quickly as she tried analyzing all of the information she had.
Akash nodded in agreement. “I am most used to commanding the Elvin armies. As of now, we still have about eighteen thousand with about two thousand either dead or too injured to battle. Among them, we still have a few tens of essence gathering experts who’ve been forming the core of our defenses within the maze.
What we can do is bring them out to bolster ourselves, especially since their stamina is relatively intact.”
Suddenly, the rumbling of the approaching army was too close to ignore anymore.
Ri quickly nodded. “It seemed we’ve run out of time. I’ll leave the communication up to you Akash. Also, I hope the Niveus sect will help to the best of their abilities as well.”
Without waiting for a response, Ri flashed, disappearing along with the demon generals.
**
Outside the maze, Bas and Liska were watching the approaching army. But, unlike what one would expect, their expressions contained no joy or triumph.
“Bas… Were they supposed to come?” Liska asked in a whisper as she hovered in the air on an array along with her husband.
Bas was silent for a while before he replied, “Something is wrong. We may have deviated from his plan, but, he always expects us to in some form or fashion. In fact, he usually reads our mistakes before we even make them and anticipates how we’ll respond to them. That’s just the kind of person he is.
But, this is definitely outside the scope of his expectations… The Uidah King God Clan being here isn’t good for any of us… They’ve figured something out.”
Liska’s brows furrowed, “Are you sure that Alidor didn’t want this? He did say he wanted to lure someone here…”
“But, the person he wanted to lure should have gone to the Epistemic Tower, not here. The Uidah clan suddenly becoming interested in this gate would only be worth it if Alidor lured the right person… But, if he somehow miscalculated and they become interested without the payoff… This could have all been for naught.” Bas grit hit teeth. “There are just too many variables this time! Even someone as smart as smart as him can’t account for all of this.”
First there had been Dyon wiping out the scaled elephants much too easily. Then there had been the exposing of Bas and Liska as just regular aurora wielders, which severely lessened their pressure on the battle field. After that, there was the discovery of Ri’s faith seed – and even further, there was RI’s faith seed’s true awakening – all of which came together to make this battle far more difficult than it should have been.
And, none of that even mentioned the fact Dyon had somehow been able to take out half of their army before the fighting had even begun.
Suddenly, the arrays below Bas and Liska began to vibrate violently before they shattered completely, sending them falling from the sky and into the path of the oncoming army.
“Since when did beasts have the right to stand above the Uidah King God Clan?” The sneer of a woman with long golden hair caused Bas’ voice to be caught in his throat.
‘Second daughter! Why would she come?!’
Stepping out of a carried vessel was the second daughter of the Uidah King God Clan, Silvyr Uidah.
Oddly enough, she was dressed identically to her elder brother, Kaeghan. Even as a woman, she wore no shirt, instead opting to cover her ample chest with her large prayer beads and golden hair. However, Bas didn’t dare stare or even gulp.
They husband wife pair landed heavily on the ground before bowing deeply, not showing even a hint of dissatisfaction. “We apologize, second daughter, we were rude. Please forgive us.” Bas kept his head lowered respectfully.
“Kneel and report.” Silvyr didn’t spare the basilisks a second glance as she looked off into the distance. What was confusing her was the fact that lotus tower was nowhere in sight, but, this was clearly the correct location. So, what was going on?
‘Concealment array?’ An eye opened on Silvyr’s forehead as she listened to Bas’ report of the past events. ‘Teleportation too?… Interesting.’
The truth was that as a high-ranking daughter of the meridian formation Uidah geniuses, she had the right to lead their essence gathering experts into battle. But, it had confused her when her elder brother had told her to come and campaign here, especially with such a power group. And, that was especially true because first son had always been wary of second daughter taking his place in the hierarchy. So, for him to tell her about this had been suspicious to say the least…
However, it really did seem like something odd was going on. Not only was there really an innate aurora expert here, he was clearly powerful enough to make up for a numbers’ disadvantage that had start as 40:1. That in and of itself was ridiculous.
That being said, what first son knew, and second daughter wouldn’t find out for a long while, was that second daughter was here to test a theory…
In first son’s estimation, ‘Dyon’, or Alidor in disguise, had only defeated him so easily because of the Epistemic Tower spatial tears. So, he thought to himself ‘what would happen if we met on a relatively neutral battle field?’
Second daughter smirked to herself as her buddha’s eye seemed to peer through everything. It was time for the lotus alliance to learn the true prowess of the Uidah sons and daughters.