Shared universe, core system of the Golden Peak Mountain sect, three months later.
The headquarters of the Golden Peak Mountain sect, also known as the Merc Pit, had never been a place for peace and quiet. Martial in nature, such a sect existed within the multiverse as a home to mercenaries, each of whom was extremely well trained, and infinitely loyal to those whose gold their pockets were filled with, the sect's main family.
With the reputation of a mercenary cove, the Golden Peak Mountain sect, along with being known for their redundant name, had reached a status akin to that of the Immortal Armada-A military force that did not belong to any of the aspects' domains, and which offered their service to whichever independent faction or domain offered more.
While quite famous for it, mercenary work was not the full extent of the Sect's dealings. Their secondary business, albeit less known, was information gathering. A job that, more than military support, had paid for the sect's immense use of resources, and which had required them to infiltrate many of their members into most of the known domains.
With the system's dozen of planets being used as a training ground for the sect's uncountable warriors, such a territory appeared to be constantly at war, as clashes between the sect's many factions broke out almost daily, leading to bloody battles which, despite being considered by the sect nothing more than 'training exercises', caused the death of millions each year.
This day, surprisingly enough, these skirmishes had come to a halt, as the sect's many powers were too focused on the presence of the Armada's tens of thousands of spaceships stationed at the edge of the system, ready to fire hell on whichever group of mercenaries chose to lead the charge.
The Golden Peak Mountain sect had guests. A young man garbed in a simple black robe, and a large middle-aged man fully clad in plate armor. The two stood in the middle of an open field. A desert of red cracked earth which, from orbit, appeared to cover over ninety percent of the planet's crust.
In front of the two, stood an impressive army composed of millions of cultivators, each equipped in mismatching pieces of armor, yet all standing proudly, ready to answer the call of the man who stood at the front.
This man could hardly be considered a member of the human species, for his body was as large as that of an elephant. His bare chest, gray in color and bulging with muscles as big as a common man's chest, was visible to the eye, as the man wore little more than a pair of fitting leather pants, worn out boots, and a plate combat helmet. From his body a thick essence was being emanated, one that portrayed a level of cultivation that neither Der or Roley had ever encountered in someone who did not belong to a domain.
Despite his brutish appearance, the man seemed to act in a civilized manner, especially when welcoming the unexpected guests. "Your request is denied." His thunderous voice resounded across not only the planet, but far enough to reach the years of those who had remained to man the ships.
"RECONSIDER." Der demanded in response. The gift of the warlord, carried by his grave voice, attempted to enthrall the large warrior, but to no avail. Several failed attempts had made it painfully clear to the old warrior that this was no common foe, and that like him, he had likely been granted a will-binding gift during his several ascensions to immortality.
Unfortunately, Der's guess was not far from the truth.
While the patriarch of the Golden Peak Mountain sect could not control others like his gift allowed him to, his ascension had gifted him a power of similar magnitude, the Berserker's gift. A power that not only sent him into a violent rage, increasing his powers by a hundredfold at the cost of a higher consumption of energy, but also sent his followers into a frenzy, causing them to attack anyone unlucky enough to enter their field of vision.
This gift had made the man a powerful foe, and the leader of a frightening force.
Unfortunately, the Berserker's gift worked perfectly against Der's Warlord gift, allowing the sect's joined army, as well as their leader, to be immune from the powers carried by the latter's voice.
"We are not asking for free information. Give us a price." Roley clarified while casually removing his glasses, and revealing a pair of absurd-looking eyes. From each one, the powers of light and darkness fluctuated, blurring the natural light that approached his face. "You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain."
Suddenly, a fourth, silvery voice pierced the air.
"We do not conduct the type of business you believe we do." Said an elegant and distinct young woman with emerald skin and jet black hair, who had quietly appeared from behind the burly figure of the sect leader. In her right hand was a clipboard, which she grasped in between her fingers next to her thigh.
In Roley's eyes the woman was obviously lying. Not because he was great at discerning honesty on a human's face, a skill which he had once lost due to his lack of human contact, and that he was only recently brushing up on-But because his system did not lie. These people were in possession of the information he needed, and he was hoping to obtain it without having to waste the lives of his and his friends' followers.
Little did he know that, despite being little more than glorified mercenaries, the sect would outright refuse.
Originally Roley had hoped that Daniel would aid them in this quest, but he soon found out how sorely he was mistaken, as the moment he and Daniel had entered this universe, the latter had disappeared, leaving them to follow the instructions of the elemental system by themselves.
Seeing how that path was not available, he and Der had chosen to leave the army behind, hoping that if the offer of wealth could not move this band of brutes, at least Der's power would.
".. and even if we did, we would not collaborate with our historic enemies." The young woman then added before raising the clipboard up in the air, high enough to enter the field of vision of her patriarch's large fiery eyes. "You have killed many of our young masters, Lord of the Elemental army.." she claimed before slowly turning to look at Der, "But not as many as your army did, Warlord of the Immortal Armada."
From her tone, it was clear that both the instances she had mentioned were separated, and stretched across the thousands of years both armies had spent crossing the multiverse, fighting forces they did not even know the name of. After all, be it the nature of Roley's army, or the technological advancement of Der's forces, were sources of greed for most independent factions.
And yet, Der and Roley had dared to show up in front of them, unaware of what kind of favor they were asking, and the history they shared with those they were asking it to.
*sigh* Aware that a peaceful resolution was now out of the question, Roley closed his eyes. "Very well, you leave us no choice." He muttered as the power of primordial light, darkness and each natural element started to converge to the small spot present in between his palm, forming a dark bead of power surrounded by a bright light, as well as the constant flicking of the elements.
The power this bead possessed was horrifying, and powerful enough to destroy half of the system, yet, neither the sect's patriarch, his secretary, or the members of his army moved. To show a sudden reaction were, instead, Roley and Der, whose heads snapped towards where, far in the distance, their armies were laying in wait.
Where once were only the members of the Immortal Armada and Elemental army, was now a third army. An army that had appeared quietly, and invisible to any of their forces' methods of perception, and that outnumbered the numbers of the combined army ten to one, surrounding it completely.
"I guess we are not done talking, then." Roley awkwardly added before forcing the small bead of elemental power to dissipate into nothing.
-----
Not too far from the core system of the Golden Peak Mountain sect, on a drifting asteroid of gargantuan proportion, sat Daniel. Sitting in a cross-legged position, with his hands gently resting on his knees, his head bent slightly forward, as if in the middle of a nap.
The large celestial body he sat on drifted across the universe unbothered by either obstacles, or surprise passengers, who rode it in its never ending and otherwise lonely journey. This loneliness, however, was not only broken by Daniel, for he was not the only creature who lay onto the rocky surface.
In front of him mingled several unique figures, each more peculiar than the other, yet all awe inspiring in their own way. With odd familiarity, the group of individuals chatted jovially, asking questions of courtesy and entertaining conversation of the most random of topics.
While many would consider this an odd group of people, in Daniel's eyes, these creatures looked more like a palette of colors. Glaring human-shaped lights that clashed against one another in a never-before-seen spectacle, each glowing with different intensities, yet all portraying a different feeling, or perception of the people they were emanating from.
The presence of Daniel did not appear to bother this group, as in fact, he appeared to be the center of attention, as demonstrated by the frequent inconspicuous looks that the small crowd would send in his direction.
In their eyes Daniel also appeared as a glowing golden hue, and his light was the brightest of them all. He was a stranger, and yet they recognized him as a member of their kin, for like him, these entities were aspects of existence.
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