The sky and the earth within that enclosed world trembled. Fourteen golden runes lit up, releasing such immense pressure that even the formations in the buildings couldn’t dissipate it. They looked like golden stars born within that dome.
"Empyreans!?" All the soldiers and even the Immortal Crane prince widened their eyes, watching the fluctuations emanate.
At that moment, it seemed like they were in tune with the laws, manifesting the power of the world. However, the laws of heaven and earth seemed unable to adhere to them. It was unclear if they were isolating themselves from heaven and earth or if heaven and earth were isolating them.
All the soldiers had seen Empyreans before, but this group was clearly different from any other. They had a dominating will in their bones, a will that seemed dissatisfied with the restrictions of heaven and earth and desired to break through them.
Those present felt something very peculiar when looking at these people. The four royal families, the greatest power in the galaxy, didn’t have Empyreans. Like the Yinblood sect, their power had long been based on the ancient bloodline of the four spatial beasts. Historically, they had never been inferior to any Empyrean.
The man interrupted his attack, surprised. The prince took a deep breath; the soldiers and people didn’t know this yet, but the four families were in crisis. After the changes imposed by the heroes, in a few years, many terrifying Empyreans with power capable of surpassing theirs would emerge in droves. It was only a matter of time before they targeted the ancestral legacies of the families.
Now, this group appeared... all Empyreans, and apparently very strong. An excited thought arose in the prince, who turned to the whale.
What was most surprising was that the power of this half-human came purely from his bloodline and refined combat technique; in other words, he wasn’t even an Empyrean but was clearly the leader of the group and didn’t seem weaker than them.
’Let me first say that my group is using everything they’ve got just to scare this enemy. You don’t think they can really kill someone a realm or more above, do you? You should hurry, because if we die, we’ll haunt you every night,’ the whale’s voice echoed in the prince’s mind, waking him from his stupor.
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’I know. Hurry up,’ he retorted.
The whale snorted, and his spear spun. Except for Ruri and Nixis, everyone else sighed and moved at the same time.
In a second, that man was surrounded with a dark expression. All the weapons of that group trembled, filled with power, and then, from all sides, groups of four attacked.
*CRACK!*
The man coughed up blood, continuing to burn his life to endure. But unlike the prince, who was forced to retreat, these youths were terrifying. They managed to force him to divide his power. And when he attacked, the four would unite and block him, splitting the impact.
One group attacked, then another, then another; then the first group returned. Several seconds in an endless cycle engulfed that man.
The prince was shaking with all his feathers, and a shocking power was almost ready. But... while watching that fight, he just closed his eyes. ’Why do I feel like they’re holding back... and a lot?’
’HURRY! Are you going to let us die?!’ The whale’s voice in his mind made him snap back to reality.
The Immortal Crane roared, and time seemed to twist. Unlike the laws of space, time wasn’t something visible, only felt. But around the prince, anyone could feel something very strange.
His feathers flapped, and everything went silent. "Fast Time."
He made a simple spatial cut that advanced. Suddenly, it was as if he could accelerate time to the point of making it pass extremely quickly. The spatial cut vanished.
*BOOM!*
Everyone suddenly heard an explosion. The man was thrown backward, crashing into the spatial barrier. A gigantic hole formed in his body, sliced by the spatial blade. He was hit and pierced with no chance to defend himself, and the flame of his life extinguished quickly.
"Capture him!" ordered the prince.
Ruri waved, and the spatial formation dissipated. At the same time, the soldiers surrounded the body, immediately sealing his soul. This ancestral nation had many methods for extracting memories from such souls.
"Good hit," the whale commented calmly, approaching the prince.
He turned to the whale, his body glowing. He quickly used metamorphosis and assumed a human form; he didn’t want to show it, but that strike had exhausted him considerably, and the human form reduced energy consumption and helped maintain the appearance of being fine.
The whale continued, "I’ve taken care of things. One of the group sealed the entrance so no spies in the city could escape."
The prince recalled this detail and nodded, pretending to already be aware. The whale smiled slightly and proceeded. "Let’s finish this quickly. It doesn’t need to take long to collect his memories." He signaled for Kaiyka to come forward. "She can extract the memories in minutes, allowing you to know who they are and capture all the spies in this world today."
The prince, now in the form of a tall, handsome human with long golden hair, looked at the whale and Kaiyka with suspicion. Did they claim to be able to do something better than his entire nation? And why couldn’t he bring himself to doubt it?
Even without fully understanding, the prince nodded. It wouldn’t hurt to let them try; if the soul was about to explode, he could use the laws of time to prevent it.
Kaiyka moved, and the soldiers cleared a path. She waved, and her eyes glowed; suddenly, all the soldiers felt a chill down their spines. Kaiyka was at the ninth level of the Divine Origin Realm, while they were at the beginning of the next realm. Even with the difference of being in another realm, everyone felt their souls tremble, as if she could easily dominate them if she wanted.
In less than twenty minutes, she waved, sealed the soul back inside the body, and turned to the whale.
"Did you give up?" the prince asked, but she just handed him a rune with the memories. He took it and read.
In a minute, he sent dozens of mental orders to the soldiers, who roared and split into groups, shooting off in all directions.
The prince turned to the whale, "I’ve sent someone to seal the entrance. That person from your group should be back soon."
After speaking, his eyes fixed on the whale with intense seriousness. "Who are you? From what I’ve heard, you claim to have been recruited by the twins. Don’t take me for a fool; why did you choose to serve them?"
He asked dryly. The whale’s group moved slightly closer, while he just snorted, staring at the prince.
"What’s wrong with wanting to join him? As you can see, my group can handle itself in that forest, even without the support of any nation. If you were in my place, would you prefer to join the other three and bow your head, following their rules? Or would you rather join a simple, kind-hearted boy, allowing me to act freely?"
The prince sighed; it made sense to prefer the latter option. He then said, emotionlessly, "So you intended to take advantage of his kindness and extort him?"
Everyone in the whale’s group clenched their weapon handles simultaneously and stared at the prince. He immediately stopped breathing, stunned by their fury.
"If I were going to do that, would I have risked my group’s lives right now? Or is this an attempt to back out of your promise? I won’t let you escape! You promised me endless treasures and unlimited resources!" the whale shot back quickly.
The prince narrowed his eyes, confused. When had he promised that? He just sighed. "We’ll discuss everything later. Your contribution was immense and took a huge weight off our shoulders."
As he spoke, Zia returned carrying Nenuo on her back. She was in her true form, looking like a majestic white lioness. The whale nodded and said, "Great, I want a good place to rest first."
"Let’s go to the royal castle," suggested the prince, then turned to the five young people he already knew. "Take the twins to live there. They made a great contribution through their allies and will be rewarded. Now you can prepare better for the expedition to the Forest of the Void."
"YES!" the five roared with trembling eyes. They had been ready to die trying to protect the twins in the forest, with no hope. Now, they could dream of a future.
Quickly, one of them took his true form, transforming into a gray wolf that raced towards a distant area of the capital. Within minutes, he returned. On his back was a young woman with a gentle look.
She was extremely confused; the ally had suddenly appeared and taken her without much explanation. Seeing her brother unconscious and his clothes stained with blood, she panicked and rushed to his side.
"He’s okay and will wake up soon," Calirer said gently, watching the young woman embrace her brother with extreme concern.
The prince saw that everyone was present, then waved his hand, and one of the nearby buildings released a wave of light that covered everyone; then, they disappeared.