As the raging hellfire swallowed the road, vehicles caught fire from the unnaturally hot flames, causing their gas tanks to ignite.
BOOM! Boom, boom, BOOOOM!
An encore of explosions followed, accompanied by a chorus of shattering glass and falling debris. A thick plume of black smoke signaled the battle for miles, giving those in the forest an ominous warning signal for what would come.
As the flames ended, Brandon, Rena, and Zoe awaited the smoke dissipating to learn the tragic fate of their old captain. Part of them wished he was still alive and would walk through the smoke unscathed, kill Kaze, and set them free from the ominous Soul Pact they signed.
"He's alive…." Brandon said in amazement, using a vision technique through the flames.
The grey-haired cultivator's words made Rena and Zoe's hearts flutter, surreptitiously checking their surroundings just in case. Unfortunately, the scene behind the smoke crushed their hope.
"Woooooow, kudos for surviving that." Kiera remarked genuinely, "I thought you'd die from irony, considering that you solved our problem, but it seems you scathed by with your life and limbs.
I'd say it was a miracle if you didn't look like a thrice-radiated zombie in a burn ward."
Third-degree burns covered most of Varis' body, charring his skin in some areas and causing white splotches in others, signs of blistering. He had no hair, and the flames had caused his eyes and throat to swell. While a cultivator could heal, he'd have to undergo a procedure to rip off the damaged flesh and muscle to heal completely—it was gruesome.
"What do you mean I solved your problem?" He wheezed, provoked by the pink-haired teen.
"As you said, we couldn't light a fire in raging winds." Kylie explained, taking over, "We knew that, so Addison created a small explosion while I used a wind attack, but our wind was too strong.
However, in a picturesque moment that perfectly captured the essence of this battle, you arrogantly showed off your superiority by using a wind technique to stoke the flames. Kiera then used it like a blowtorch to send it back to you. It was spellbinding."
Kiera created duck lips and bobbed her head as if to say [not bad, not bad]. Marilyn and Addison smirked victoriously.
Everyone had contributed to his takedown. Marilyn blocked his back with a Qi Wall while Kiera compressed oxygen above him with Combustion. Following the explosion, Kylie attacked using [Wind Scythe], a sky-grade variation of Wind Slash. However, it got absorbed into Varis' wind shielding technique.
In an attempt to set the wind shield on fire, Addison used combustion, and Kylie used wind attacks, hoping to create a blowtorch. After it failed, Varis arrogantly showed off, demonstrating how to use combustion with the wind to create a torch. Kiera said cool bro, thanks, and used a powerful wind attack to push flames back at him.
As for Kaze, he stood and critiqued their attacks, giving them pointers while keeping an eye on the other cultivators. It was psychologically crushing for Brandon, Rena, and Zoe, who watched their accomplished Heaven Realm leader get decimated. Their hope of breaking the pact was reduced to ash at that moment, sealing their fate.
"Is this all just a game to you?" Varis spat, feeling pain scorching through his body, "Just a battle to add to your fucking picture books!?"
"No, it was a failed attempt at recruitment." Marilyn replied mockingly, "You didn't have a chance of winning from the beginning—we made that clear. You were the one that chose to fight instead of accepting our generous offer, so don't make us sound like demons for your foolishness."
"You're monsters." Varis scoffed angrily, "Absolute monsters."
"I'll take it." Kiera declared, pumping her fist in the air, "It's been two months, and we're already so strong that Skythenians are calling us monsters. Considering we still have a month before the next batch arrives, fighting them will be a joke."
Anxiety coursed through the cultivators' bodies, connecting the terms. Two months? They got to that level of power in two months? The youngest person there was Amy, and she was 76 years old! Monster was an understatement!
"Don't get overconfident." Kaze frowned, "These people are scouts with a few leaders; they're nothing compared to the people you will meet next month, so make sure you train for the worst. There's only so much that I can do to train you."
"Awwww… why did you have to ruin my super OP monster high?" Kiera pouted, "I was really enjoying watching the culti-peeps squirm."
"You can have your moment when they're at the base with us." He replied dryly, "They're part of Immortal Skye now."
"You people…." Varis growled, writhing in pain, anger, and humiliation, "You're going to have a casual conversation on the battlefield as if battle means nothing to you? As if we mean nothing to you?"
"Yeah, I'll stop you right there you." Kiera snapped rudely, "Two things—first, I'm not listening to a half-naked mummy in training. Second, your people have massacred almost eight billion mortals; I could rip out your mother's liver and feed it to a gremlin and be half as tainted as you are."
Deafening silence overtook the area, making the sound of breathing feel overbearing.
"We gave you Elemental Qi—that's a blessing." Varis scoffed, gritting his teeth past the pain, "Your people were weak, so they died."
"Is that so?" Marilyn smirked with a lethal glint, "Then how do you explain only one of us getting a technique from your people? Your people didn't even see potential in Emperor Lexicon and thus didn't give him a breathing technique."
The revelation baffled the cultivators, who looked at the emperor as if they had seen a ghost.
"T-That's impossible." Veris stammered, his eyes showing signs of mental collapse, "You're lying. The weak don't just get magically strong! Someone here has been training you, teaching you, prepping you for war against us."
"You're wrong." Kaze replied chillingly, grabbing an invisible ball and twisting his wrist. A real ball of golden Qi materialized, filling his hand. "All things can get strong with Elemental Qi."
GrrRRrrRrrr Ghat! GHAT! Grrr Ghat! GHAT! Ghat!
Caw! CAW! Caw-caw! CAW-CAW!
Squueeee! Squueeee!
"W-What's going on!?" Veris panicked, hearing overwhelming animal cries in the distance. He wanted to turn but couldn't due to the pain, which made simple living excruciating. "TELL ME!"
"I'm attracting all the beasts in the area." Kaze replied, flicking the orb at the man, "They'll prove to you that all, even the weakest creatures, can get strong enough to bite."
The cultivator's body radiated in a golden light, overwhelming his senses.
GrrRRrrRrrr Ghat! GHAT! Grrr Ghat! GHAT! Ghat!
"This is cruel." Brandon said, watching massive wolves leaving the forest ten miles out, "Please don't do this."
"I must hunt for elementals, train my partners, attract the other Killian cultivators, teach this man a lesson, and kill him." Kaze replied, "Not only does this accomplish my objectives, but the elementals from the beast meat will also grow exponentially by ingesting his Soul Qi.
I offered to spare this man's life, but he attempted to kill my partners and me. I have no sympathy for him, so I will make the most of his death."
"How can you be so callous?" Rena asked in disbelief, "That mindset is disturbing, even by Sky Plane standards."
"Don't you dare judge Kaze by your standards." Kiera demanded chillingly, "You people are the worst—the lowest of the low. You're not callous; you're the inspiration for callousness.
I wish someone would murder everyone you knew; your mothers, fathers, siblings, children, and friends—fucking everyone—so you can gain perspective on how sick you people are. You've put us through hell, butchered our people, and are collecting information to ensure your third massacre attempt succeeds. Even now, as you complain of cruelty, your people have gone to Immortal Skye to massacre our people."
Rena, Brandon, and Zoe fell silent, not wanting to think about the Killian faction's actions. Accepting it would make it real, and that was too much to bear.
"You're lucky Kaze is callous cuz he should be killing you." Kiera said in a haunting melody, "Instead, he spared you and offered you a bright future. If that makes him callous, then you're irredeemable."
Her words were a nail in the coffin for the cultivators. They couldn't face their people's atrocities, so they fell silent and let the scene play out.
"You're sick freaks!" Varis roared, hearing the wolves drawing near, "Look at what you're doing now: do you think this is benevolent!? Mary's judgment was right when she ordered your massacre!
Hell, so was Major Ramble. He sent twenty-five Heaven Realm and a hundred Sky Realm cultivators to your base to kill your people. I can't wait until you go back and find them all DEAD!"
"That's all?" Marilyn smirked, "If that's all you sent, your people must have had a rude awakening when they got there."
"W-What do you—AGHhHHhH!" Varis hadn't completed his sentence before a 400-pound wolf with white, blood-stained fur sunk its canines into his shoulder. The bite snapped his collarbone, triggering a feeding frenzy from the wolves and nearby crows.
Captain Varis Hood would never know that happened to the cultivators. However, his ex-subordinates would, and after hearing Marilyn's smirking tone, they weren't sure if they wanted to.
-
═─┈─═
—Two hours before | Immortal Skye—
"It's always when he goes away…." Jake swallowed nervously. A hundred cultivators cast large shadows on the trees as they flew to the mountain. They were still ten miles away, giving him time to think. "I'm not sure how to handle this."
"We have four Heaven Realm cultivators, a divine beast, and nearly 3,600 Sky Plane cultivators on site." Sage said chillingly, "Let's just kill them."
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