315 Dreadful Surprise
Approaching with caution, he realized a barrier had been set up starting at the Border.
"Hmph!"
Augustus punched out reflexively, only for his hands to phase through the barrier.
'Hmm?' He was surprised. 'It wasn't to keep out intruders?'
Or was the barrier faulty?
Augustus didn't think so, regardless of how faulty it was, it should still put up resistance no matter how little.
From the news about the manite mine and now this, Augustus started feeling uneasy about the whole situation.
Steeling his heart, he looked to the others, "Something's wrong with whole situation, so we'll go in together, be on guard"
Normally, they would banter amongst each other, but since Augustus was the one talking, they had to take it seriously.
Passing through the nonexistent barrier, they appeared on the other side, and their expressions took a turn for the worse.
Grandmasters could sense each other's presence without much effort.
So when they felt the aura of four Grandmasters, they had their guards up.
At the same time, they realized there was something wrong with the presence, it wasn't the usual type.
They'd met Nitonian Grandmasters at least once, the presence they felt did not match any of them.
"A battle happened here not long ago" Rita Grimwald said.
"We can all see that" Jerry replied, rolling his eyes.
They were corpses all over the place, did she think they were blind?
"Not that" Rita shook her head, pointing further ahead, where they saw a massive crater, with the soil around also damaged worse than other places.
"It doesn't seem to have happened long ago" Perry remarked.
Rita nodded. "Moreover, only Grandmasters can create such a large crater"
"Keke, so some Grandmasters decided to stretch their muscles eh? I also want to get in on the action!"
As expected of a battle maniac, Wimbledon was fired up.
"Calm down" Augustus intoned.
All of a sudden, "We have a problem"
They turned to the speaker, Zokov Ruwain.
He punched against the barrier without, only for it to be repelled.
The others tried their luck, same result.
"The formation master is most likely inside the formation" Lativ Bernard inputted. "We just need to find him"
"I'll bet my life he's with those Grandmasters"
Nodding for affirmation, they went further in, noting the red soil along shrivelled corpses, some already decomposing.
It was exceptionally filthy.
They sped up, blazing through the sky, and by the time they flew past the palace of the late Quartz King, they'd confirmed that almost everyone, if not all, had been killed.
The palace itself was in ruins, its previous elegance now unrecognizable.
The situation was even more bizarre. Was the Emperor conducting some demonic rituals to increase his strength?
Augustus felt that Andrew would never do such a thing, he was too prideful to do so.
So what was going on?
Surprises after surprises. Like him, the others had begun feeling like they'd been caught in some deep seated conspiracy.
Still, Augutus was unbridled.
In front of absolute power, all such schemes were useless.
Soon after, they slowed down, the enemy Grandmasters weren't too far from the palace.
Being Grandmasters, surely the enemy must've felt their presence, yet they chose not to engage.
In short, it was two things.
They were either being lured into a trap, or the enemy was burdened by something.
Upon reaching enough distance to sight the enemy, all their thoughts froze.
'Demons?'
It was too shocking.
None thought the Emperor would lose to a bunch of Demon worshippers.
But then, why were they here?
"What are demons doing here?" Augustus' voice rang loud and clear. "Where is the Emperor?"
"Hmm" A voice came from where none of them had been looking. "You really don't know, do you?"
They turned to see a demon almost doubling their height watching with his arms folded, with two long horns jutting out of his head.
Augustus felt cold sweat slip across his face.
'I didn't feel presence at all'
Fully fledged demons had become myths to Oranians-that was how long ago they'd last been seen.
Of course, Grandmasters knew the stories were true, but they expected to face them here.
But Augustus wasn't one to cower, "Answer the question. Where is the Emperor"
"He ran away" Alvarach replied.
"Lies" Calagar Houston refuted. Spitting, "As if I would believe a demon"
Alvarach's eyes curved with disdain. "Are you going to run away too?"
"Not until I see you dead" Calagar replied, squeezing his fists as his red gauntlets shone.
Though prideful, Calagar has brains.
"Augustus, work with me. Let's kill him"
Brandishing his great sword, he flew to Calagar's side.
They were the strongest of the bunch.
"Keke, I'll be joining in as well" Holding two serrated daggers, Wimbledon joined the duo.
"Your assistance is unnecessary" Calagar said coldly.
Wimbledon only gave him a glance. "Who the f#ck came to assist? I'm just here to see if he's a worthy opponent"
Wimbledon lay a rank below the likes of Calagar and Augustus as a Mid Grandmaster.
Sparks flew between Calagar and Wimbledon.
"Both of you, stop. The earlier we finish this, the better"
Augustus was still feeling uneasy as he couldn't see through his opponent's strength.
With "hmph" from both of them, they got ready to face Alvarach.
"The rest of you should take care of the last few"
"Don't try to order us around. We're not your subordinates" Daniel snorted. Getting into an attack position.
"Let's get this over with" Jerry remarked. Before they could break into teams, Calagar attacked.
With Augustus and Wimbledon right alongside him.
Upon closing in, Alvarach took on a look of disgust. "Insects"
A large wave of killing intent erupted, forcing the approaching Grandmasters into a momentary pause.
All the Grandmasters felt their brains shut down for a second.
That was all Alvarach needed.
At once his nails elongated, and lit up with flames as he went with his full strength, decapitating Calagar in a single stroke.
Augustus was able to react, breaking the sudden shock faster than others, proving his strength as he raised his sword to block the strike aimed for his neck.
The strike never came as Augustus found his vision twisting.
'Ah'
He had been split in half, with top and torso separated.
Wimbledon's intuition was extraordinary, stepping backwards just before Alvarach released his killing intent.
"Wha-
Unfortunately, he was still too slow.
Five nails were plunged into head, blood flowing through like a leaking juice sack.
With little movement, his head was torn like a watermelon and he fell to the ground.
Alvarach didn't stop at that, capitalizing on the moment, he successfully dispatched Zokov Ruwain, Calagar's brother Berenger, before killing one other Vonnamorian Grandmasters all in a single minute.
The dangers of unpreparedness could be seen clearly.
They were the ones he'd judged to be of highest threat.
After facing the might of Andrew, Alvarach understood two things.
Before he completely assimilated mana into his body, dragging out battles was disadvantageous for him.
Two, he could not allow them time to use any gimmick.
So the plan was simple, that was to end the Grandmasters as fast as possible.
The moment the Grandmasters passed through the barrier, he knew their numbers and rank.
As such, he concealed himself, which was why the Grandmasters dared to act arrogant in front of him.
Moreover, thanks to whoever it was, they knew about him, allowing his plan to work even better.
Augustus was cautious, but he still ended up underestimating the enemy.
Maybe he even suspected Alvarach's level was above theirs, but forced his mind to reconsider.
Either way, the most threatening of the group was now dead.
Had the battle dragged out, those few could've given him a really tough time.
Alvarach was not used to concealing himself, because in the demon world, strength determined everything.
Furthermore, few were dumb enough to fight someone higher rank than them.
Moreover, ganging up an opponent was actually a rare phenomenon.
Ranking battles were basically one on one duels where fighters were allowed to do anything to obtain victory.
With all battles being ranking battles, who would team up? Were they supposed to share the rank after winning?
Demons didn't work like that.
And for stronger ones, why would they bother duelling those weaker than them?
Regardless, he absorbed their souls, allowing him to heal a bit.
The power he was emanating shunned the remaining Grandmasters.
Fear struck deep in their hearts.
Talia's voice was shaking. "He killed Augustus…in one strike…how is that possible?"
With the rest at Mid Grandmaster rank, Alvarach didn't have anything to fear.
It seemed the first group containing so many Peak Grandmasters were an exception.
Still, he decided to be cautious and attacked Rita, but while she was severely wounded, she didn't die.
He decided to leave it at that, having trimmed the party of thirteen to seven in a short time.
The rest were for his subordinates. "Kill them"
The subordinates pounced at the startled Grandmasters, and another began battle
He needed them to gain battle experience as well, what better chance than this?
Besides, he would be watching while recovering his strength through the portal.
If anything seemed off, he'd simply kill them.
Using his strength in Orion had sapped more dark essence than he anticipated.
In the few minutes of fighting, more than half of his essence was used up.
The souls of Grandmasters he absorbed recovered about a quarter of that.
In any case, he simply had to hold out until he completely assimilated mana, once that was done, this planet would be his to take.
Meanwhile, the army of Peak Masters lay outside the barrier.
With the warning they received, they were all reluctant to cross the barrier.
The chance they would lose their lives was very much present.
Triton couldn't force the situation else the mercenaries simply cut their losses and ran away.
Though, he wasn't actually forthcoming on pressing on either.
But he needed a way out, directly ordering a retreat would reduce his prestige in the eyes of others.
Luckily, the vice commander was smart enough to extend the olive branch.
"Commander. They could be fighting in there, to enter such a battle would only be suicide"
"Hmm" Triton acted like the decision was a difficult one.
"Besides, you diligently answered the Emperor's summons. If we were forcefully enter and suffer needless casualties, the Emperor would not be happy"
Triton raised his head. "I suppose you're right. After waiting so long, no one is coming out, so something is definitely going on inside"
"Until someone leaves the barrier, we won't enter. Let's head back to the town"
Like that, they marched back to the town.
Amongst them was a member from Black Jaws.
He'd been given a set of identical artifacts to place along their road to Quartez without being informed of its function.
As they marched back to the town, he threw the last one towards Quartez, thus signifying the end of his mission.
They went back to town, wining and dining once again.
Grandmasters were indeed strong, four against six, none tired easily, battling all through the night, while Alvarach occasionally intervening whenever the situation turned dire for his subordinates.
The situation was frustrating as they felt themselves be toyed with, but could only suck up the indignation.
Alvarach was loving it, his subordinates were grown and the enemies were only getting tired as time went on.
Thanks to Winfrey's early arrival, the barrier now disabled dimensional rings, so they were unable to use potions.
Struggle in futility and then die full of despair, a fitting end for insects.
Watching as he recovered his strength, the Grandmasters could only keep struggling hoping that someone or something would get them out of their situation.
The night passed like such, and morning soon came upon them.
At its rise, two powers were soon to clash and by its fall, Orion's fate would've been decided.
(Guys, I'm thinking of changing the Nitonian royal family surname to Zephyr instead Miller, let me know what you think in the comments)
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