Evalyn dashed out of her tent and quickly gathered Sandra and Aaron, who had already rounded up Rein, Steve, and Larkin.
"What are your orders, General Skye?" Martha inquired, hovering close by with Calvin.
"Both of you need to stay here and safeguard our people," Evalyn instructed. "I'm leading the Immortals and the elites to tackle this situation."
"But ma'am, if we're facing a full force, there'll be around ten heaven realm cultivators at my level," Calvin interjected. "Without Lady Pyron's assistance, your technique could decimate our own soldiers. I urge you to consider utilizing our numbers."
"I don't have the luxury of debating this with you, Mr. Olman," she retorted frigidly. "As talking to them could prove fatal for you, you and Martha will remain here and defend our people. Although confronting Killian factionists isn't an obligation of your soul pact, a bleak future awaits those who refuse to protect their people."
"Understood, ma'am. I'll fight without any reservations," Martha replied, moving towards the civilians.
Calvin was taken aback by her unwavering determination; just a few weeks ago, she had been a humorless devotee to the Killian cause, so her newfound resoluteness was unsettling and ominous. He employed a vision technique to scrutinize her condition, and his eyes widened in astonishment. "General Skye, wait! Before you leave, isn't Martha Yama a slave?"
"Martha Yama is an indentured servant—slavery is illegal and that won't change," Evalyn corrected icily. "Martha has proven valuable, so we're fostering her growth in preparation for her future release. As I said, we reward those who aid us, Calvin; I will not repeat the alternative."
Calvin stood there, dumbfounded, as she departed, unable to shake his disbelief. Despite living for over a millennium, he still possessed only a mid-tier heaven-grade technique. So bestowing a peak heaven technique upon a past foe and current indentured servant was unfathomable—especially within weeks of their encounter!
Gazing skyward with a conflicted expression, he prayed the cultivators wouldn't show. While he wouldn't betray Emperor Lexicon and General Skye, the thought of battling his own people was unbearable. Even if his people were ruthless and Immortal Sky was a utopia, he couldn't forsake those he had fought alongside for centuries—it was simply unimaginable.
***
Evalyn, accompanied by Sandra, Aaron, Rein, Steve, and Larkin, sprinted eastward with the Immortals, vaulting over cars, rooftops, and corpses in their path.
"They're over here!" A group of Immortals shouted from the north, beckoning the other teams.
The entire party converged on a parking lot situated within a corporate complex, surrounded by towering structures adorned with glass-paneled windows. An abundance of vehicles cluttered the area, impeding the Immortals' movement.
"They're almost upon us," General Skye cautioned, employing a vision technique to scan the sky. The group halted and anxiously waited, their hearts pounding as they observed the cultivators drawing closer. "Disperse and conceal yourselves within the lot; if you detect a fire attack, distance yourself from the vehicles."
There were hundreds of vehicles in the lot, making it an ideal place to hide in an ambush. Anyone with a weak vision technique would only see the Qi around the lot twisting amorphously, proving countless were there but not indicating their position.
At the same time, it was a double-edged sword. A fire attack could trigger a cascade of flames and explosions. Although not as instantaneous as depicted in action movies, the ensuing chaos would be lethal while surrounded by cultivators and unnaturally intense heat.
"Halt, mortals!" a red-haired woman clad in a white toga commanded authoritatively. "I am Major Abigail Watson of the Killian Army—state your intentions or face the consequences!"
Evalyn's eyes narrowed, detecting the unease in the woman's voice. It seemed as though Abigail had anticipated them but not expecting the opposite. "I'm here to warn your people—leave this place now. If you encroach upon our territory, you will suffer the consequences."
Abigail's gaze locked onto the Ice General, her eyes clouded with a blend of astonishment and disbelief. A storm of emotions churned within her as she processed Evalyn's words, her heart hammering like a blacksmith pounding a blazing anvil.
She was well aware that the mortals had a formidable ally and could not be underestimated. However, the audacity they displayed in confronting her, a heaven realm cultivator, and warning her of the consequences were unthinkable!
"Your arrogance knows no bounds!" Abigail sneered, her laughter tinged with madness. Yet, she restrained herself and the other forty-nine cultivators with a single gesture. "Speak, mortal—what fate awaits us should we refuse to leave? Do you not see the vast chasm in power between us?"
Evalyn gave her a bone-chilling smile, making her blood run cold and her body stiff, "I was going to ask you the same thing."
The redhead's face tensed, her jaw muscles preventing her from quick responses like a jammed door. "Your people might be in the sky realm like many of my soldiers, but there are ten of us who are heaven realm cultivators. You couldn't possibly comprehend the disparity between us."
"You're right—I don't understand," General Skye grinned with a tinge of lunacy. "I've never been so feeble."
A heaven realm cultivator touched Abigail's shoulder hesitantly. "Major…." However, the redhead swatted it away with vehemence, her eyes blazing with wrath and disdain.
"Major, listen—" another cultivator tried to interject, only to be met with a menacing glare. Nevertheless, their attempt reminded her of their purpose.
"Speak the name of your master or provide a reason to spare you, mortal!" Abigail demanded, her voice sharp and urgent. "Should you fail to do either, I will strike you down where you stand!"
Rein, Steve, Larkin, and the Immortals tensed, feeling adrenaline coursing through their veins. Clearly, the power-obsessed cultivators were sensitive to matters relating to power, indicative of decades or centuries of power-related abuse. Therefore, diplomacy was impossible; citing Kaze—another mortal—as their leader would only exasperate the problem.
Evalyn's smile vanished, replaced by a steely gaze that sent shivers down the spines of the weaker cultivators. "I have given you fair warning—now leave. If you utter another word, you will face the consequences."
"You impudent wretch!" Abigail shouted, her voice dripping with malice as she prepared a wind attack, drawing upon her Elemental Qi. As she readied her assault, she activated a vision technique to identify the woman's vulnerabilities. Upon doing so, her fight-or-flight response kicked in, and she grasped the true nature of their foe for the first time.
A ruthless heaven realm cultivator launched a lightning-fast strike—too swift for sky realm cultivators to counter—with lethal determination. Panicked, Abigail tried to halt him, but it was too late to prevent hostilities.
In the midst of the ensuing chaos, the cultivators were suddenly gripped by an icy coldness. "From above!" a heaven realm cultivator warned, raising his hand skyward and erecting a Qi barrier above Abigail. His alertness made their internal alarms tangible, spurring them to action.
CraCK! CrraaacK! CrraACK! Crack! CRAacCK! Beep! Beep! Beep-beep-Beep!
"AGhhHHhhHhhHHH!" A cacophony of shattering sounds, car alarms, and screams assaulted Abigail's eardrums a moment later. A torrent of gray objects plummeted from the heavens onto the shield, rattling her mind. "W-What's attacking, Gallard!?"
"I don't know," he yelled, his shield groaning under the weight of the hail. Desperate for answers, they scanned their ranks and found that the heaven realm cultivators and half the sky realm cultivators had erected shields, struggling under the bombardment.
For the others, the gray objects had pierced their bodies with multiple punctures, causing them to plummet toward the ground, or they tried dodging the attacks. Unfortunately, the attack wasn't hail—it followed the cultivators as they flew.
Perplexed, Abigail focused and found the objects raining down were intricately crafted daggers, as hard and gray as stone. That was impossible! Stone techniques didn't exist! No, the cold chill—they were made of ice so hard and refined that they didn't reflect the sunlight.
"Wait, could this be Frosted Blades!?" she gasped, unbelieving. Ice techniques were so rare and dangerous to the user that administrators personally handed down Frosted Blades to anyone with a compatible physique. Considering the technique created ice blades, and there was a legitimate reason a mortal would have it, it wasn't unthinkable.
However, Frosted Blades was merely a weapon-creation technique. It attained heaven-grade status only because it necessitated a heaven-realm sub-technique: evocation, the materialization of Qi. Yet, it was nearly universally unusable—like all ice techniques—since normal cultivators couldn't hold the weapons.
If the technique could launch blades like arrows, thereby bypassing direct contact with the weapon, cultivators would use it! However, it didn't make blades fly, let alone make a thousand using magnetism—a divine realm sub-technique—and send them flying simultaneously like omnidirectional Guided Arrows! If there even was such a thing as an omnidirectional Guided Arrow! What type of freak did she run into!?
"Gallard, we need to—" Abigail tried to call an immediate retreat. However, before she caught sight of something more alarming. "Arrows!"
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