*Rumble!~*
The space increasingly gave off an ominous aura, increasing the sense of foreboding for every lifeform above. The atmosphere was thick with an otherworldly tension, causing the realm itself to tremble as though it had never experienced this before.
"What's going on now?"
Abruptly, a golden-armored middle-aged man with a mustache above his lips and three horns on his head stood up, his expression appearing furious as he turned to look at a white-haired, fiery-orange-robed elder.
"It's been a few days since the Astral Forgeheart Minor Realm has been mysteriously sealed. Just what the fuck is going on!?"
*Booom!~*
A huge hot blast of air caused numerous Sovereigns to be sent flying into the distance as they crashed into numerous devices that supposedly had to display the projections filming across the Astral Forgeheart Minor Realm. They were all blank at the moment, displaying the flying silhouettes of numerous people before they broke into many pieces.
A month ago, these projections were working fine, occasionally scrambled from the Realm Core's undulations, but from the past week, they couldn't even reconnect with the formations hidden in the Minor Realm.
The golden-armored man had never appeared so furious, but looking at the white-haired elder remain unresponsive, he stepped out of the humongous floating palace in the space, his gaze falling on the unbelievably long and wide, vast continent encased by a silver-coated layer. He raised his hands, summoning the brightest flames as he created a sun out of thin air.
A giant ball of flames that was well over a thousand kilometers wide formed and kept enlarging. Its influence was visceral, sending shockwaves through the space. The dark space began lighting up, even making the beings in the gargantuan palace scared shitless as they imagined that they were going to burn, but suddenly, the golden-armored man's gaze shook as he sensed a peculiar sensation that swept up his soul.
"…"
His body began shaking, and he felt as though if he were to show any more disrespect by raising his hands and throwing a star at the Minor Realm, his life would be done for. His instincts were screaming for him to stop, causing his expression to churn.
"Whoever you are, you dare insult my Forgeheart Peak Upper Realm and the Astral Pill Upper Realm by taking over our Minor Realm!?"
His voice bellowed out, appearing as though he was about to throw the sun, but his arms stopped moving halfway, his eyes widening in shock as he could see something splitting apart the sealing barrier set up by an unknown entity.
Thunderous rumbling clouds could be faintly seen in that time part of the Astral Forgeheart Minor Realm, but the color of the skies underneath and the sensation of it caused his soul to be struck with a severe ounce of fear, his heart throbbing in trepidation.
"Is that… Is that an Anarchic Divergent's Tribulation…?"
He gawked as the sun manifesting above his head suddenly stopped enlarging before becoming smaller and smaller. Eventually, it disappeared.
"Which power? Which power sent a disciple of this vile stature!? Or is it the intruder!?"
He roared, but finally, the white-haired elder finally moved his lips as he spoke out.
"Have you lost your mind? Whoever it is, we've already established the fact that we can't go against the intruder as even Peak Stage Sovereigns like us, who can almost match Autarchs in prowess, can't put a dent in that strange realm-wide barrier. Clearly, this is someone only our Autarchs would be able to take care of, so stay quiet a bit."
"You-"
The golden-armored man pointed at the white-haired man, "You Astral Pill Upper Realm's people are way too laidback about this situation!"
"And you Forgeheart Peak Upper Realm's people are too hot-headed. Say, if we do strike now and manage to break the barrier, what of the youngsters down below? Do you think they'll survive the intruder's clutches, or do you want to bet on their destiny that could allow them to overcome the challenges placed in front of them, qualifying them to participate in the realm concoction and create history?"
"…"
"If we make a move, the unstable realm hastens its death from our attacks, and they die. If we don't make a move, the realm stays stable enough for the youngsters to have a chance in succeeding the realm concoction, and perhaps, a legend could be born."
The golden-armored man seemed to be at a loss for words as he heard the old white-haired man's statement.
The truth was, they didn't know if the realm would end up collapsing faster if they attacked, as they speculated that this barrier imposed by the powerful intruder was actually somehow connected to the core of the realm. Therefore, attacking the barrier might hasten the fall of the realm instead, making them lose in both situations.
They had no choice but to trust the heavenly geniuses of their Galaxy.
He clenched his fists, appearing reluctant, glancing at the Astral Forgeheart Minor Realm again before finally relieving the power in his clenched hands.
==========
The crimson-gold clouds continued to swirl, summonsing a brilliant bolt of crimson lightning as it emerged from the heart of the swirling mass. The ephemeral clouds thundered, sending the crimson lightning downwards as it zig-zagged its way through the skies, carrying it with a message of celestial punishment.
*Bang!~*
With a deafening explosion, the light faded, and the thunderous echo subsided, marking the aftermath of an eerie stillness.
*Rumble!~*
The clouds thundered again as though violently declaring that it was still active.
"Sorry, I miscalculated the prowess needed to weaken the annihilative heavenly lightning…"
Tina spoke as she gestured at Dalila with an apology.
However, Dalila shook her head, "We're almost done. Epsila's spirit consciousness has strengthened enough."
Tina pursed her lips and nodded, returning her gaze above as she readied herself to face the eighth strike, her amethyst eyes flashing with a solemn light.
From the fourth strike to the sixth strike, she took care of them with a bit of leeway, allowing her to weaken the annihilative heavenly bolts of lightning strikes before showering Epsila in them in order to temper her spirit. The way she managed to accomplish such focus earned even Myria's praise. However, the seventh strike was different.
It was comparable to her peak prowess, disallowing her to be complacent with it.
Of course, she had never been complacent from the first strike, but now, she just didn't have the luxury to weaken it and allow enough essence to remain for Epsila's tempering session.
After all, if Tina could not find the right energy required to weaken the annihilative heavenly lightning and allowed much of it to remain, then it would heavily slam on Epsila as it broke past her defenses, eventually killing Epsila, but if she held back again, even she might be injured. With that being the case, she could only be extra cautious from now on.
With that decided, Tina raised her hand and channeled her soul force again.
Her soul force flowed out like the wind, manifesting into metals that seemed to have a ravenous nature. They absorbed the heaven and earth energy around them on top of her own soul force, rapidly growing into leaves as they seemed to be imbued with the aura of wood. They did appear to be in the shape of leaves, appearing like curved knives, each one of them appearing deadlier than the other.
"Metallic Arboreal Barrage~*
Tina pushed her palm upwards, causing the myriad of metallic sword-like leaves to rush toward heaven.
At the same time, the eighth lightning strike was also on its way down, intending to destroy everything in its path.
*Chila~* *Chila~*
The metallic leaves cleaved past the annihilative heavenly lightning strike, shredding most of it. However, it didn't weaken the annihilative heavenly lightning strand much as its serpent dragon-like head still shot down, intending to gulp Epsila in one fell swoop.
Terrifying undulations emerged from it, leaving Epsila and Dalila shaken as the latter quickly increased the power of the barrier she and Tyriele cast on Epsila.
However, Tina calmly cupped her hands.
"Earthen Thornveil Wrap~"
Earth soul force flowed from the left, and wood soul force churned from the right, combining into thick roots that burst from within her fists, causing the annihilative heavenly lightning strike to entangle and immobilize. These roots appeared to be studded with sharp protrusions that would pierce and restrain the victim, and it just did that, causing the lightning arc to be stuck inside the thorny wrap-trap.
Tina saw that the annihilative heavenly lightning strand was unable to measure up to her second attack, looking about to be eroded again. However, she pounced over and sent a flying kick toward the trapped annihilative heavenly lightning strand, causing her own trap to be destroyed as a result, which caused the lightning to finally break free and fall on Epsila.
"Nuuu~"
At this point, Epsila shivered, but she let out a strange sound that honestly wasn't decipherable to Dalila.
She didn't know if Epsila was in pain or not, but she pursed her lips as she thought it sounded like she was experiencing bliss, perhaps some kind of transformation.
Regardless, she turned to look at the skies as she saw the ninth and final heavenly lightning strand form. However, the worst thing was the dark-gold crimson clouds also rumbled, appearing to be preparing its punitive heavenly flames.
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