In seconds, nearly a million cultivators from the city joined the traitors from the families. Together, the city’s allies and the traitors amounted to numbers almost identical to those of the enemy High Elders and Elders, but the disparity in cultivation power between the two groups was immense.
"LEADER! OUR FAMILY WILL BE BROUGHT TO RUIN! THERE’S STILL TIME, SURRENDER IMMEDIATELY!" roared a Yangta High Elder to the leader who betrayed them.
The response from the colossal serpent in the skies was a sarcastic snort. It was three family leaders against a numerically equal group, but the power gap was absurd. There was no possibility of apparent resistance; whether it was the Yangta leader or any traitor from the families, no one seemed to care. An irrationality had taken over them, a strange will that propelled them to stand firm in what they believed.
The sound of weapons rang out as if they could pierce space. Everyone in the city activated their runic seals simultaneously. The enemy High Elders smirked dryly. Half of them thought, ’Why were they all using spears?’
The other half just laughed, thinking, ’Would they rather die fighting and maintaining their pride?’
At that moment, the laws of the world stirred.
The hero observing, the leaders, and members of the four families, whether enemy or ally, all felt their souls and hearts pulsate simultaneously with the vision they had. A light shone among the city’s cultivators, and a power emerged in the world; on the foreheads of nearly a million cultivators, a golden rune pulsed with a strange peculiarity.
"Empy... Empyreans... impossible!"
Someone among the High Elders spoke with utter disbelief. Empyreans were a symbol of pride for the four families, a figure they could generate only a dozen or fewer of per generation. Having these people in the family conferred upon them a lofty status in the divine world despite their overall power not being much. Now, nearly a million of them emerged from a mortal planet?
"This power... it’s similar, but different from sacred power. The rune... it’s similar, but there seems to be something hidden," the hero murmured thoughtfully, and all the cultivators heard clearly.
"Empyreans? We’re not something so ridiculous and disgusting." A cold female voice rang out among them. It was Ruri who spoke and drew her katana with a sharp sound. Kaiyka did the same motion beside her in synchrony.
"That bitch who controls them has nothing to do with us. We were blessed with rebirth; our god is the symbol of life and death, of light and darkness. He gave us his power, and we are simply his Dark Crows."
Ruri spoke, and everyone in the city roared, pointing their weapons at the enemies. Ironically, Ruri, along with Corin, Loeus, and Vuard, had not yet received the direct changes in their runes from an Empyrean.
"KILL THE HERETICS!" the hero shouted, amidst Ruri’s curses.
She only smirked sarcastically; their overall power level didn’t compare to that of the enemies. But... they had many hidden methods.
The High Dwarves were the first to attack fiercely, eager to be the first to earn glory. Their weapons and armor lit up as they charged forward. Vuard, distant, smiled sinisterly... they were runic seals, his runic seals.
He couldn’t limit himself to creating a single runic seal like the whale did in the past, or infecting the seals with mental power, he didn’t have that at his disposal. However, Vuard, knowing the whale’s plans, developed his own methods in secret.
Within each runic seal that he knew would remain in the family, he left a small flaw. It was something minimal and subtle; only when all the power of the seal was used, would the flaw become apparent, but it wouldn’t alter the power of the seal, just make it slightly weaker. However, for someone who knew exactly where the flaw was... that was a death sentence.
Kaiyka nodded, and her eyes gleamed like two headlights. Ruri beside her snorted, then her eyes pulsed like two violet stars.
The two women, physically quite similar, stood side by side, activating the power of their cultivation to the max. The power of mental cultivation and the power of spiritual cultivation blossomed in the world together. These were subtle energies that could become ethereal and blend with the environment; among their uses against cultivators, they could be used as poison, slowly invading them.
All the dwarves chuckled sarcastically, confident that with their cultivation, they would easily withstand that attack. However, they sensed an oddity almost immediately: the two powers were not focused on them. At that instant, they felt their weapons and armor vibrating against their wills.
Crack.
The sound of something breaking resonated...
BOOM!
The world contorted, space fractured, and the laws, along with all the golden power, were affected and trembled. It was as if a destructive power had been born; all the weapons and armor of the dwarves, most of which were immortal, detonated in a sudden and incalculable destruction.
All the common elders of the Dwarves turned into bloody mist; over two-thirds of the High Elders suffered lethal or near-lethal injuries. At that moment, a robotic female voice within armor sounded.
"FIRE!"
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Thousands of simple city dwarves fired projectiles from weapons simultaneously in the direction of the dying enemies. The weapons made by Thea turned the situation into an execution.
All members of the families, whether allies or enemies, were in a complete state of confusion and bewilderment. The events unfolded suddenly: suddenly, the members of the Grimstone family were nearly annihilated, and a bloody execution began. Then...
"RETREAT!"
The leader of the High Dwarves shouted in desperation. He was lightly injured, but with his cultivation, he sensed the danger and threw away his weapon; only the armor caused him harm.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fгeewebnovёl.co𝙢.
CRACK!
As soon as he spoke, his vision rose to the sky against his will. His mind became confused: ’What?’ Those were his last thoughts before everything faded away forever.
Everyone turned towards the leader of the Grimstone family. They only saw a black shadow vanish. The dwarf’s head flew high, and in the next second, his body exploded into a mist of black blood, completely tainted.
It all lasted seconds, and cries of despair echoed among the dwarves. One by one, they fell; their leader was gone, the weaker ones were gone, and now the last ones, extremely wounded, were taking their last breaths.
The two remaining leaders clenched their fists, feeling a cold sweat running down their backs. That... they felt absolutely no fluctuations at all. A completely hidden assassin was lurking, and their power was enough to kill anyone in the slightest opening.
"Damn, we have to attack with everything we’ve got!" the High Elf leader spoke quickly. "Their cultivation is low, but they have many sinister things hidden to buy time. We can’t give them a chance to use it, or this assassin will take advantage to kill us."
"Psh... idiots." Ruri snorted quietly, and everyone in the city prepared themselves. They still had one more hidden weapon to use; after that, everything would end.
Loeus was already by the leader and all the Yangtas. He sent the commands mentally, and the leader ordered all of hers quickly.
The whale and the hero watched silently; the entire battle unfolded in less than two minutes. Causing quick awe and surprise was one of their few weapons. Ruri and everyone in the city were experienced in desperate battles and immediately used this tactic.
They needed an opening. The whale was completely sealed, and the only solution that would turn the tide for all of them was to rescue him.
The hero clearly didn’t need to attack the city, but chose to do so because he wanted to see the despair of the whale; furthermore, everyone directly related to a Heaven-Defier was to be ’investigated’ or killed. That was an irrevocable rule.
He could attack the whale or take him away at any moment, so the people in the city acted quickly. It was all to distract the hero and create an opening. But this would last very little, and they really didn’t have the ability to fight head-on.
"ADVANCE!" The two leaders, of the humans and the few enemy high elves, ordered in synchrony.
Those who had weapons with runic seals did not dare to remove them. They just attacked using all their cultivation to the maximum; the difference in powers was already enough. But, contrary to expectations, the opponents did not advance.
The leaders felt something was wrong, but with their numbers, a deadly wave of cultivators advanced with everything they had. Suddenly, a shadow appeared in front of them. Then, a female figure wrapped in a dark cloak appeared and waved gently.
Something came out of her hand... something small, like a gem.
"KILL!"
A fierce roar sounded. All the golden hue that permeated everything in the horizon changed. It was as if two suns rose from the ground: one blue, the other red.
Thousands of creatures that seemed like a mix of humanoids, orcs, and beasts emerged. They all had tremendous physiques, and their presence made the space tremble.
It was all very fast; no one knew what those beings were, huge and blue or red. But something changed in them as quickly as they appeared, their colors merged. The tone of their bodies blended, and in the blink of an eye, all the attackers felt an infinite pressure falling upon them.
There was no time for reaction; all the onis roared and clashed head-on with the wave of divine cultivators.
They might not have even a third of the IQ, they might not have powerful techniques, and certainly wouldn’t win in a direct fight.
But...
The physical technique taught by the immortal Oni, combined with the power of their bloodlines, gave them a power only slightly similar to physical cultivation; in return, they gained a unique peculiarity that did not exist in physical cultivation, an unmatched physical explosive capability. It would last a single movement or two seconds; it would use their entire bloodline as fuel. But... with all of them using it together, not even these divine cultivators could bring them down.
CRASH!!
The sound of a violent clash echoed. Each Oni blocked almost five adversaries at the same time. The entire race attacked together, creating an impenetrable shield. The two leaders behind jumped in shock; they had no time to react when they heard a distant command.
"Now."
Shoowh!
All the Yangtas attacked in synchrony, using the maximum of their Yang flames. The golden that changed to blue and red gained a pure white tone.
The flames mainly hit the enemies, although some Onis were obviously affected. Everything was coordinated with this in mind: their physicality, when maximized with their bloodline, for two seconds, was like an invisible and impenetrable defense against anything.
All the Onis turned, using their last strength, and fled amidst the flames. Passing through them, all the people from the city and allies roared, attacking from afar. The High Elves shot all their arrows with their bows, and the other family allies hurled their weapons and detonated them without hesitation.
As for the city’s people, the dwarves fired their weapons. But all the others had throwing spears that were already prepared well in advance, all of them launched them in synchrony.
Corin manipulated all possible laws and attacked, Thea unloaded everything she had, Almin shot countless pills that exploded like infernal flame dragons. Everyone invested all the energy they had in a single all-out large-scale attack, it was all or nothing.
BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!
In two seconds, the light of the world went out, and explosions like the end of the world echoed non-stop. The hero was completely shocked, how the hell did all this happen? In one minute, he ordered an attack; in the next half died, and in the next, an unbelievable and ruthless confrontation happened.
Amidst these thoughts, the hero felt something and turned his surprised gaze.
He saw, amidst the destruction, a female figure with her eyes closed. Her katana moved gently. Her eyes opened... then time and space split with a divine and invincible slash.
"The sword that divides the heavens," Kaiyka spoke softly, and literally the world split with her blade slashing towards the hero.
He smirked sarcastically. And in that exact second he leaped and his face contorted; a violet line appeared in his eyes.
"BITCH!"
He roared, trying to expel it, at the same time the sword’s attack fell upon him. Either the mental power invaded him, or the sword cut him.
An opening was created by everyone among the families, now the two attacked completely free with 100% of what they had. Everything depended on them, it was a perfect and coordinated double move. Any cultivator in the same realm as the hero would be thrown into despair.
But... he just smirked sarcastically and waved.
At the same time, Ruri appeared in the skies above him; in her eyes there was only an undetermined determination, with her katana she attacked. In that second, Alm and Bruno felt something indescribable and premonitory welling up in their chests. It seemed to tear their souls apart...
It was Despair...
pain...
loss...
It was the death of something precious in front of their eyes, and they couldn’t react in any way.