Yuan Zhen floated ominously above the battlefield, his presence overwhelming as his eyes glowed white, as if two miniature suns had formed within his sockets.
Lassim’s breath caught in his throat as he saw the Sun Sect Master’s form begin to shift.
Now that the solar beam attack had dispersed, he could see how what was a regal figure draped in golden robes was now warping.
His body twisting and bulging with abyssal energy. His skin darkened to a sickly, corrupted gold hue, cracks forming along his arms and chest where the abyssal power seeped through.
The red glow of abyssal energy laced through his sunfire aura, turning it into a twisted, hellish version of its former glory.
His hands, once human, now ended in jagged claws that shimmered with both the light of the sun and the reddish darkness of the abyss. His robe tore as his form grew larger, muscles bulging grotesquely, and his golden hair seemed to catch fire, burning with a corrupt, red-tinged light.
A low, guttural growl rumbled from Yuan’s throat, his voice now a twisted echo, "Witness the true power of the Endless Sun," he sneered, his voice carrying across the battlefield as his transformation completed. "I am no longer bound by mortal limits. The abyss has granted me power beyond comprehension."
The air around him crackled with the combined energies of day and abyss, and Lassim could feel the oppressive weight of Yuan Zhen’s presence pressing down on the sect like a smothering blanket.
Even from his distance, Lassim could sense the sheer magnitude of the transformation. Yuan Zhen had become a demon; one that was much more powerful than the Lieutenant he’d encountered before—he’d become a captain-level abyssal demon.
The other disciples nearby recoiled in terror as Yuan’s transformation sent waves of abyssal energy through the air, corrupting everything it touched.
Then, as if on cue, a wave of what looked to be Sun sect disciples had arrived. The disciples of the Endless Sun Sect were following their leader as they approached the barrier of the sect and attacked, desperately trying to break in.
Lassim’s grip tightened around his halberd.
This was madness!
~~~
Grandmaster Volten watched as he floated high above the tallest spire as the transformation took hold of Yuan Zhen, his lightning-filled eyes narrowing in disgust.
The array had slowed the onslaught of the sunfire beam, but it hadn’t stopped it entirely as an enormous amount of day elemental energy caused chaos in the reforming lightning storm.
The sheer magnitude of power radiating from Yuan was palpable, his body now a terrifying blend of abyssal corruption and day-elemental energy.
Volten’s heart sank slightly—not out of fear, but out of frustration. He had seen this before, during the war against the Dragal legions. Cultists of the Abyssal Cult had always been willing to sacrifice anything for power, even their humanity.
The worst was that he was saddened by the sudden revelation. The combined forces of Nexaria had suddenly lost a powerful combatant against the forces of the Dragal and an entire sect.
The Day Elemental god would certainly not be pleased as a massive loss had just occurred. For now, Bavdall had not reacted, but for a cultivator on the cusp of nearing the stages closest to Demi/God status, Grandmaster Volten’s cultivation had touched upon the fringes of their realms and he had additional insight into their thoughts and schemes.
He wondered what Bavdall might do, but that was a problem for the future.
Volten stepped forward, his eyes blazing with the same lightning that danced through the clouds. His lightning serpent elemental companion, coiled around the spire and glowing with crackling lightning, seemed to sense his resolve. It reared its head, preparing to strike again.
"Yuan!" Volten’s voice boomed across the battlefield, a sound like thunder crashing. "You’ve sacrificed your humanity for this power, and for what? To tear down everything you built? To become a puppet of the abyss? You have given in to their temptations—And for what? You’ve lost your entire sect in the process!
All of the disciples you’ve been entrusted with! You’ve done unimaginable harm to this planet!"
Yuan Zhen laughed, the sound twisted and monstrous. "You still don’t understand, Volten. The Endless Sun Sect has always been destined for greatness, but this… this is beyond greatness. This is godhood. With the abyss, I can rise beyond the heavens!"
Volten’s expression hardened. "Fool. You’re nothing but a slave to the abyss now. I will end you."
With a surge of power, Volten leapt from the spire, his body a blur as he shot toward Yuan Zhen.
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His fists surged with lightning, wrapped tightly in his elemental weapon—fist wrapping bandages— and his serpent companion followed closely, its massive form twisting through the air next to him.
Yuan Zhen snarled, his claws glowing with both sunfire and abyssal energy.
He met Volten’s charge head-on, their clash sending shockwaves through the air as they collided. Lightning and abyssal sunfire exploded outward, the sky itself trembling under the force of their battle.
Volten moved with the precision of a master martial artist, his fists and knees striking like thunderbolts, each blow charged with enough power to level a continent.
Yuan countered with brutal, sweeping strikes of his claws that trailed with his abyss-tainted sunfire burning through the air with deadly intensity.
The two clashed again and again, their movements too fast for most eyes to follow. Each strike sent ripples through the battlefield, and Lassim, even from his position, could feel the raw power of their fight shaking his body’s core and the very ground beneath him.
~~~
Back in the ground, Lassim glanced around at the Lightning sect disciples nearby, many of whom were crouched behind his ice barriers, their faces pale with fear and exhaustion. They were barely holding on, and the heat was only intensifying.
"We can’t stay like this much longer," Lassim muttered under his breath.
He reached out with his spirit sense, trying to gauge the situation across the sect. The battle was raging in every corner, and while the array was holding for now, it was clear that the Endless Sun Sect had launched an all-out attack aimed at breaking the Lightning Sect’s defenses entirely.
Above, the sky suddenly darkened further as Yuan Zhen, the Endless Sun Sect’s leader, descended from the heavens, his form glowing with an eerie light.
His presence was like a hammer to the chest, the sheer weight of his aura pressing down on the entire sect.
Lassim gritted his teeth, his eyes narrowing as he sensed the abyssal energy radiating from Yuan Zhen.
He felt it every time he’d encountered the Abyssal legion, but the instinctual feeling that there was something deeply wrong about that energy—something twisted and unnatural—was ever present and all encompassing. And it wasn’t just affecting Yuan Zhen.
The Endless Sun Sect disciples that had followed the solar beam’s attack and have been against the outer barriers were the same disciples who had consumed the Sun Drops in vast quantities. The most loyal and righteous that believed in Yuan’s dream of controlling the Southern Continent.
They suddenly began to change as Yuan waved claws and released an unholy, terror inspiring wail. The disciples began to convulse, their bodies trembling in pain.
Lassim and the other disciples watched in detailed horror with their spirit senses as their skin rippled, bones twisting and muscles swelling grotesquely.
Their eyes, once filled with the fervor of battle, turned black, void of all light, as their bodies contorted into odd humanoid and demonic monstrous forms.
They howled as the change spread through them, their bodies distorted into grotesque forms.
Their skin bubbled and cracked as the transformation continued, turning them into monstrous, day elemental-themed demons with white eyes that glowed brighter than ever. Yet now, their attacks were no longer pure daylight either. They were tainted, burning with the corrupted red hue of the abyss.
Abyssal demons.
Lassim’s stomach churned.
These weren’t just any old random demons either—they were cultivators who had probably been innocent yet were seduced into something that could help surpass their limits, and now the abyssal energy within them was twisting them into something far more dangerous.
The ground trembled as the first of the mutated demons roared, a guttural, ear-splitting sound that sent waves of fear through the disciples.
Their bodies were larger, their muscles bulging unnaturally, and their sunfire techniques were now tainted with abyssal darkness, just like their Sect Master’s, creating a chaotic mix of energy that lashed out wildly.
Lassim’s mind raced. He needed to act quickly. His ice barriers wouldn’t be enough to protect the disciples from these monsters, and the heat from the battle above was making it harder to maintain his defenses.
Drawing in a deep breath, Lassim activated his [Grand Aegis] once more, focusing on creating layers of ice and water to shield the disciples behind him.
"Mari! Help me out here with maintaining them. Zaphy, let’s get crazy! We’ve got to do something!" Lassim called out loud to his companion.
At the same time, he prepared his halberd, ready to strike if any of the mutated disciples made their way toward them.
The air around him crackled with tension as the first of the closest abyssal demons regained clarity and lunged forward, its body moving with unnatural speed. It shattered the barrier easily and shot directly into a nearby street.
Lassim responded by activating [Tempest Steps] to approach it from behind and swung his halberd, channeling his water and lightning mana into the blade as it collided with the demon.
The impact was immense. The force of the blow sent a shockwave rippling through the air, and Lassim barely managed to hold his ground as the demon staggered back, snarling.
But it didn’t stop. The mixture of abyssal energy and day energy pulsed through its body, healing its wounds almost instantly as it prepared for another attack.
Lassim cursed under his breath. This was going to be much harder than he thought.
Just as the demon lunged again, a bolt of lightning shot down from the sky, striking the creature with pinpoint precision. The demon howled in agony as the lightning tore through its body, leaving it smoking and motionless.
Lassim turned his gaze upward, his heart leaping as he saw Grandmaster Volten hovering above, his eyes glowing with raw power. The lightning serpent that accompanied him had grown even larger, its body coiling through the sky as it unleashed strike after strike against both the beam of sunfire and the abyssal demons below.
Volten’s voice rang out across the battlefield, commanding and filled with authority. "Disciples of the Lightning Sect! Hold the line! The storm is our shield, and we are its fury!"