Delia backed up slowly, her brows furrowing as an increasing amount of big sect members inched toward her. Clearly, they understood Delia could hurt them, so, none of them were willing to be the first to jump forward.
The room around them twinkled with the faint gold of defensive and concealment arrays, and yet there was nothing fantastical or alluring about the scene that was taking place.
“How could you all be so selfish! Ri, the demon generals, and the elves have been putting their lives on the line! On the front lines! While all you’ve been doing is huddling up in here! The only reason you’ve survived these attacks up until now is because of them!” Delia’s voice trembled as she edged between anger and tears. She just could not understand how there could be such horrible people in the world.
People had taken away her mother for selfish reasons. They had destroyed her father as she once knew him for selfish reasons. Selfish people were all the reason Delia needed to push herself. But, she still remained naïve to her core. She still couldn’t fathom how Evelyn, a big sister she had once looked up to had betrayed her. She still couldn’t understand how the seemingly nurturing Matriarch of the Niveus sect had played a hand in forcing her to lower her defenses – just to trick her in the end.
Even now she would never think that Evelyn was simply ignoring this situation. Even now she couldn’t understand how these people could turn on the ones who had been preserving their lives for all this time.
However, Delia’s pleading fell on deaf ears.
“Stop spewing your nonsense.” Hashim pulled his black rod from his back, his dark skin rippling as he steadied himself to attack. “I owe this Dyon dick a debt of revenge. Because of him, our quotas have been decimated. Although I would have liked to pin his woman beneath me, having her die in a sea of enemies will have to be a close second.”
Delia’s lip trembled. She had never felt such a level of disgust in her life.
“Enough talking. Even if she was here in front you, you wouldn’t be able to do that.” Lehabim sneered, jeering at Hashim. “But, this Delia girl is decent. After the army leaves, we can have our way with her, no?”
“Are you retarded? The trackers heavily penalize friendly fire within the gates. There’s no need to go overboard.” Hashim glared at Lehabim. But, his point had hit on the second reason no one was willing to attack just yet. No one was willing to take responsibility for the loss in ranking their sect would suffer should they be the one to attack. That’s why they were trying to scare Delia away.
That said… At the end of the day, what was more important? A ranking? Or your life…?
The truth was that intra-universe fighting was looked down upon for the anarchy it caused. As such, part of the ranking system, in order to temper the competitive spirits into the right avenues, was a penalty for such things. The reason Dyon never got penalized for attacking Evelyn was because he had yet to activate his tracker and he is the only one within this gate capable of manipulating the trackers in such a way.
Almost reading their thoughts, Delia gritted her teeth in anger. “I don’t care about my ranking nor will I be scared away by the likes of you. It’s either you attack, or you leave.”
The members of the big sect twitched at Delia’s response.
“If you want to die so badly, let us help you then.” Lehabim’s fiery red hair raged as he pulled out his saber. “Go on Hashim, teach her a lesson.”
Hashim’s lip curled in disgust, “Why don’t YOU teach her a lesson?”
The big sects could only watch as their two geniuses bickered back and forth. The only two remaining that could possibly influence the decision were Orbis and Jessica, but they seemed to be struggling with the decision themselves. But, in the end, they too stepped forward.
“You two stop your nonsense, the four of us will attack together. This is a matter that concerns the survival of our sect.” Jessica stepped forward, her wind will picking up at her feet as she planned to strike.
Orbis followed whatever words Jessica said. As soon as she made a decision, he too made his.
His feet stomped into the ground causing a dense clump of earth to begin to coat him as a large embroidered hammer appeared in his hand.
Delia’s features steeled. It was likely that the rest wouldn’t attack, after all, these four were the best the big sect had to offer – their very best seeded geniuses… The only one missing was Venus…
“Listen, Delia. We’ll give you one more chance.” Jessica tried to mediate once more. “I was recently promised to Oliver Sapientia in marriage, you could say we have a faint connection, no? I wouldn’t like to have to hurt you.”
Delia’s brows furrowed. ‘Big sister’s brother?’
Delia had known for a long time that Oliver had feelings for Venus, not Jessica. Even back years ago at the Legacy World Opening, he had doted on her. So, why was Oliver marrying Jessica?…
Orbis was as shocked as anyone. He felt as though his heart was breaking. After years of pursuing Jessica, she had just gone to someone else?
Jessica didn’t even look back to Orbis, understanding quite well how he must be feeling. However, with the rise of Madeleine, Jessica had to take advantage of Oliver’s concurrent rise. It was for the good of her sect and her family. Jessica could only ignore Orbis.
The truth was that Oliver had originally had deep feelings for Venus, however, things had changed drastically after Dyon had left…
The Bai family was now closely tied to the Daiyu family…
Focus Academy was no more…
And the Viridi family was sold into slavery…
Seeing Delia’s struggling, Jessica relaxed a bit, hoping that her words had been enough. She was a part of the Wind Blade Sect and was completely unwilling to destroy their rankings by tanking her own.
The ranking systems were complex. But, there was a reason why Dyon had registered under the Elvin Kingdom.
Every ranking not only effected the prestige of the individual, but also the prestige of the clan they come from. Jessica was well aware that although she must preserve her life for the sake of her clan, she also wanted to do so while minimizing the impact such an action would have.
However, Delia’s next words only forced her smile to freeze.
“Tell yourself whatever you need to, to feel better. But, warriors should have integrity. And none of you have that.” Delia’s white hair waved wildly as she braced herself to fight against the big sect seeded geniuses.
“See what your talking got us, Jessica? Nothing but wasted time. Let’s go.” Lehabim launched himself forward, his saber flaming in an arc toward Delia.
The three remaining seeded geniuses attacked as well, ready to kill Delia if need be.
Delia stepped forward, her blade clashing with Lehabim’s and forcing him back. Her arm vibrated under the pressure. This wasn’t the fighting style she was used to. She always danced and flowed with her sword play, but… that kind of style now would give her opponents too many chances at attacked the teleportation pad behind her.
Before Delia could think of counter measure, blades of wind whipped out from Jessica as she maintained her distance.
Delia stumbled, wincing as the sharp wind cut through her skin. But, there was little time to focus on that has Hashim’s rod and Orbis’ hammer attacked her from both sides, intent on crushing her.
“Ice rain!”
A storm of hail spun around Delia viciously, blocking their approaching weapons for an instant and allowing her to leap out of the way.
Delia panted heavily as she looked at her slowly approaching four enemies…
‘What do I do?…’
**
Outside of the array maze, the situation wasn’t much better.
The wounds of Ri’s skin and the blood the trickled from them only increased with each passing second. Even the gash in her forehead had reopened, nearly blinding her vision completely.
And yet, she continued to fight as it seemed hundreds of meridian formation basilisks wanted her head. Ri’s state had made them all forget that she had once been a peerless beauty on the battlefield. All they saw was an enemy, a bloody mess that would only look better by being found at the end of their weapons.
‘I have to use it.’ Ri thought to herself weakly as her knees buckled. “AAGGHH.”
Ri forced the Tree of Life and Death into existence.
The roots spun in the air wildly, piercing through the unsuspecting basilisks and causing shrills of agony. But, it seemed like even with their lives on the line, the basilisks didn’t dare disobey the commands of Silvyr. If they let Ri teleport away, even the eradication of their entire race might not satisfy that she-devil.
So, they ignored the piercing obsidian branches, continuing to pressure Ri and no allowing her the space to breathe.
But, the small influx of stamina helped Ri hold on for just that much longer. Although her soul power was quickly running out, her essence energy and bodily wellbeing were improving slowly.
Seeing this, Silvyr frowned before she made a gesture toward a Vice Commander in the distance.
Once reaching the Essence Gathering level, communicating with a hundred meters with your essence was possible. This way, you wouldn’t have to use wind will as a substitution as Dyon had been.
To use this on a battle field wasn’t very effective, though. For one, the reason you had to be of the essence gathering level was because sustaining such communication required enough energy. And secondly, if communicating with just one person took so much energy, imagine how much would be required to communicate with hundreds if not thousands as Dyon had with his communication arrays.
However… Silvyr communicating with her closest Vice Commander to send an essence gathering expert over to finish off Ri? Easy…
The Vice Commander immediately reacted to Silvyr’s voice, training his eyes on the distant Ri. “You.” The Vice Commander leaped back from his fight with the demon general, pointing toward one of his subordinates. “Go and finish her.”
The essence gathering expert nodded, training his blood lust onto Ri’s injured figure.
The expert was a middle-aged man who had been fighting amongst the Uidah for a long while now. His talent wasn’t exceptional, as such he had had to slow down considerable when he was in the meridian formation stage in order to become a 4th grade essence gathering expert. Although this was a far cry from the 3rd grade levels of the Vice Commanders, it was still very much respectable… Especially in comparison to the universe he was about to fight right now.
The man flashed forward, edging toward his pray.
Silvyr watched from atop her throne, a smile playing on her features as her plan was set reach its conclusion.
With the death of Ri, whether the warriors within the maze had broken to her demands before or not, they would definitely break now. After that chaos was sowed successfully, Silvyr could go about destroying the outer portions of the army.
Then, would she really let those members of the big sect go?
‘How ridiculous.’ Silvyr chuckled to herself. ‘You expect me to have come all of this way just to kill a few nobodies? If I don’t conquer a tower, what’s my purpose here?’
The Uidah King God Clan had attacked such a lowly planet. This was already beneath them. If they somehow came back with no real fruits for their labor, wouldn’t that be much too embarrassing?
The members of the big sects were destined to die. They just didn’t know it yet.
So, as the seeded geniuses edged toward Delia… And the lower 4th grade essence gathering expert edged toward Ri… And the demon generals and the elves could only watch helplessly, locked into their own bloody battles… Despair loomed over the lotus alliance.
Delia fought hard, even to the point of becoming as bloodied as Ri was on the outside.
She lost count of how many wind blades she had narrowly dodged and how many times her arms had threatened to shatter under the might of the saber, rod and hammer that constantly bombarded her.
And yet, she stood firm.
The truth was that Delia still had no idea whether her god level constitution was of the top three or of relatively normal stature… Without having awakened it fully, or even to a great enough extent, there was no real way to tell.
However, the way she fought now, anyone would be hard-pressed to label her as anything normal.
It seemed like she was awakening her own ferocity with every blow she parried and every strike she withstood. She thought of how much she wanted to see her dad become the man he used to be. She thought about how she wanted to bring her mother back under her very own power. She thought about how she wanted to be as mentally strong as someone she always thought of as her elder sister – Madeleine.
With every thought, her ice path slowly raised itself up, resonating with her constitution.
There were many paths to every will, each as important as the next. However, when one found the perfect path for them, the ease of progression was something to marvel at…
The Infinite Ice Hell constitution was within the top three without a doubt.
The Goddess’ Disposition provided unmatched purity and elegance. A wielder of such a constitution would reach the epitome of grace and gentleness. They would be caring and loving, but also soothing and gentle.
Elvin Queen’s Reign was slightly different. This was a path of sovereignty. A domineering and unyielding path. But, it also contained an undoubtable righteousness and fervent passion for good. A wielder of this constitution would be demanding but would have a heart as soft and delicate as the clouds.
However, Infinite Ice Hell was something completely different. It was a path of rage and endless permeation. A cold to the core mentality that refused to allow anything to escape it. This constitution allowed the ease of a path that many found unattainable within the ice wills… The path of the absolute.
The seeded geniuses began to shiver as the suddenly realized their wills and cultivation weren’t shaking off Delia’s ice as easily anymore.
Their actions had sealed her heart to emotion. The only thing Delia saw was an endless white that coated her vision… It was an endless white that she attributed to the death of her enemies. Her will was dominant and her ice was absolute.
**
Outside the maze, Ri was struggling on her own as well.
She tried to spur on her void will and tap into a next level like Delia had, but the truth was that Ri had been fighting much harder and the stress of the battle was much tougher on her than anyone else.
Not only had she carried the worry of Dyon with her for days before he relieved her of that, she had also pushed herself far past her limits afterwards.
The demon generals were essence gathering experts and demonic will cultivators. Their bodies had access to far more stamina than Ri’s did. However, much of the problem lied with the fact Ri had to fight at her best constantly to be of good use.
Although beating 6th and even 8th level meridian formation experts from their universe was very much easy to Ri, the experts of the same level from the Uidah universe were simply too much better… Ri had only just awakened to faith seed fully, she had stifled her will progression trying to follow a path that just wasn’t hers, and now she had to fight enemies of much higher cultivation than herself. It was simply too taxing…
So, when Ri noticed an essence gathering expert rushing toward her with a despicable grin playing on his features, she couldn’t help but laugh bitterly to herself.
Her soul strength was already tapping out after a few minutes of using the Acacia family technique, her improved stamina was dropping even faster than that, and it seemed like even lifting the sword in her hand was too much effort.
Aeson watched from afar, trying to spear his way toward Ri much like the demon generals and Arios were. But, it seemed like the Uidah army only willingly opened up space for their comrade, and soon, he was right on top of Ri.
Knowing she was finally cornered, the basilisks finally took in a deep breath, pulling back to allow the Uidah soldier to deal with the rest. If Ri tried to teleport away now, there was no way the Uidah warrior would give her time to. There was simply too much of a difference between their cultivation and their stamina.
Ri breathed hard, her chest heaving through her reddened silver armor.
Everything on the battle field seemed to pause… This was probably the most important turning point. If Ri died, the alliance would fold. The Elves would lose a princess. The demon generals would lose another commander. The big sects would see their central figure… gone.
Evelyn watched this scene with a slight smile playing her features. It was as though what was happening was something Ri deserved. To her, what was the need to get involved? Her hatred for Dyon had clouded everything, even when she thought he was dead.
Akash tried to use her double headed spear to make her way over, but the Uidah army was simply out of her league.
Aeson, Arios and the demon generals weren’t fairing any better…
Everyone could only watch.
But, suddenly something odd happened. A smile spread across Ri’s face as she lifted her sword for her last stand. “Sacharro’s don’t lose…” She whispered to herself.
Yet… Despite her words… Ri’s stamina gave out.
Under her constant fighting, she had been able to distract herself from the fatigue. She ignored the pain of her sliced flesh and her crushed bones. She ignored the searing pain of her heart as is pumped wildly, trying to keep her upright. She ignored the fact she hadn’t even produced a single drop of sweat in days… Her body was tapped out.
And now, in this rare moment of pause and relaxation, it all hit her at once. All the pain, all the fatigue… Everything. And suddenly, she couldn’t stand anymore.
The elves and demon generals watched in horror as Ri’s eyes closed and her body fell forward.
“NO!”
No one had any concept of who uttered those words, but it seemed to be the thoughts of everyone.
They had watched their princess fight with her everything for months. And even now, her sword was raised high as she lost consciousness.
Ri’s greying tails retracted completely, her darkened hair returning to its previous blue-silver color.
But, she never hit the ground.
Everyone watched in shock as a handsome young man seemingly appeared from thin air, his back to the essence gathering expert.
Something had changed about him so fundamentally that it felt as though they were witnessing the appearance of a God amongst men.
The tattoos on his back glowed faintly with a golden hue as black flames slowly circulated around him, permeating such a scorching heat that even the Uidah army backed up, unwilling to get close.
Dyon’s heart shook in anger as he held the fragile Ri in his arms. Her face held such a peaceful smile that one could almost forget the damage she had sustained.
Picking her up, Dyon nestled Ri into his chest, circulating his celestial will and aurora as he slowly healed her.
Before, the battle field had only held the semblance of silence – it was a state that had still held the clanking of swords and the raging of battle… It was just much quieter than before. But, now? Everyone seemed locked in place. Even the big sect members had turned from their battle with Delia to focus on the appearance of this young man.
Dyon lowered his head, kissing Ri’s forehead softly as she shifted in her sleep to lie more comfortably in his arms. “You’ve done enough. I’m here now… I’ll handle the rest.”