572 Domineering (part 2)
The Supreme elder saw the mocking light in Aster's eyes and she gritted her teeth, she really didn't like the fact that Aster was the one taking the lead, when this whole plan was supposed to lower his popularity allowing them to expulse him from the sect, or at the very least he should lose the position of Holy Son.
The crime of killing a fellow disciple was punishable by the sect in a strange way, if completely solid evidences of the crime were presented by the accuser, the punishment hall would take the matter on their hands.
Resulting in the accused being in the best-case scenario, exiled from the sect or stripped from its cultivation and then exiled, of course there were cases where the evidence was deemed "insufficient" and the accused would be instead imprisoned.
The previous were the most that those with backers could get as their privilege, since go unpunished was impossible in the Myriad Occupation sect.
In fact, so far there hadn't been a case of the Punishment Hall directly executing someone, which is the ultimate punishment, as proving a crime isn't as simple as one would imagine, there are ways to kill and erase traces after all, like using disposable assassins or shadow guards and the like.
All the righteous sects "prohibited" their disciples to kill each other, but that was only in the open or inside the territories of the sect, outside in the vast universe, it was a dog-eat-dog land, so the only one you could blame for being killed was yourself.
The Myriad Occupation sect wasn't that different, with the little detail that if you could prove that others attacked you, a punishment was guaranteed to be bestowed upon said person, regardless of their backing.
The other "benefit" that the Myriad Occupation sect had, that none other sect in the middle or low ranked Stellar Systems had, was the Life and Death arena.
An option to solve conflicts between people that couldn't live under the same sky without the need of any process, a paradise for the strong and a hell for the weak, that was the Life and Death arena, still the consent of both parties as well as a good reason for an enmity that required the participants to kill each other was needed.
In exchange the Myriad Occupation sect, would ensure that there won't be retaliation by the relatives or forces behind the ones that were defeated, it wasn't something to be used lightly, in fact until now there hadn't been cases of the arena being used between disciples, only between deacons and some times among elders, but it was unheard off for the youngest generation.
'This might be a once in a lifetime chance to get rid of that bastard, it will be a four versus one battle…', after being lost in her thoughts for a couple of seconds, the Supreme elder nodded and then said.
"Very well, I will act as the witness from the accusing side and accept the life and death challenge from the Lord of the Twin Sword Valley, there will be four representatives from our side against you, is that all right?".
Aster casually nodded in response.
"Fine by me, in exchange we'll fight using only a weapon and armor, no talismans, or other type of treasures".
The Supreme elder inwardly smirked as she thought.
'Of course, you would put such a condition, after all you are fighting against the Blacksmith Peak', still she kept her cool and just nodded back.
"Deal, Galatia family's Patriarch you are okay with this right, once they enter the Life and Death arena, only Ancestors are allowed to interfere after all?", she asked to Julian who didn't hesitate to agree.
"Sure, let's get this over with", said Julian.
And with that, the news spread across the whole sect like wildfire, the Life and Death arena which can only be accessed with the permission of the Core elders representing both parties, as well as either a Supreme elder or a Law enforcer acting as a witness, was opened for the public.
Aster didn't want to waste anytime so they directly moved to the Life and Death arena, while Edward's group was clearly tense, he casually chatted with Vivian since this was still her day and their date wasn't over.
"So, how is the dress, you enhance your fly with telekinesis so despite it being soft armor, I asked Eris to make it as fluid as possible", said Aster as he saw the corners of Vivian's dress smoothly wave due to the wind.
"Mm, it's amazing, it feels as if I wasn't wearing anything~", she enthusiastically said, which almost made Julian choke the moment he heard her words, Aster could feel the intense gaze of the Galatia's Patriarch on him.
"Ahem, that must be due to Espi's scales, it's easy to not notice that little wyrm even if it's coiled around you, Eris and Mylene also said something similar about their storage bracelets", said Aster trying to divert Julian's attention from the ambiguous example used by Vivian.
…
While Edward's group observed Aster with disdain, as he instead of preparing himself for a life and death battle, was using this "precious" time to flirt, the girls from the Black Sword and Green Lotus factions observed with sparkling eyes imagining themselves in Vivian's place.
And with that strange atmosphere they all arrived at the Life and Death arena, form the outside it was basically a giant colosseum-like structure built near the central capital of the Battle Planet, despite its amazing size from the outside, it was even more spacious on the inside, similar to the training room at Aster's mansion.
Even Aster who is used to the seemingly infinite vastness of the mind space, couldn't help but be marveled at the size of the Life and Death arena from the inside, in a rough calculation more than a million people could be accommodated here, which is crazy, the total amount of people in the sect don't even amount to half of that after all.
And that million would be just the "regular" seats for disciples, elders had their own separated seats, and then there were skyboxes for Core elders and above, of course such an immense structure was only practical as this was a cultivation world, otherwise the spectators wouldn't be able to see the event ongoing with their own eyes, the marvels of spirit sense.
As a proof of the previous, even after a lot of the disciples of the sect arrived in a rush, for the incredibly rare occasion of a life and death battle among members of the youngest generation, they didn't even occupy an eighth part of the seats.
Unlike a battle on the outside, there was nowhere to hide in the field of the arena, the whole area was a flat rock surface, it was huge though, and at the center of it, Aster, the two core elders that were supporting him as well as Vivian and Julian were gathered.
"Wait for a bit, this won't take long", said Aster to Vivian who sweetly smiled at him as she flew towards the skybox reserved for the Twin Sword Valley, where all the others were already sitting to enjoy the show.
Edward who was at the other side, receiving the equipment he was going to use directly from the Supreme elder, clenched his fists.
"That bastard isn't taking this seriously", he said in a low angered voice, which made the Supreme elder confidently smile.
"That's fine, you won't have to see his face past today, also we'll be able to restore and solidify your status as a Holy Son, you just focus on attack, your teammates will provide support, control and defense so don't hesitate and crush his skull, for what happened to Julia", she said.
Edward nodded, he then handed his ring and other treasures to the Supreme elder, the other three that were selected to fight against Aster, one from each of the three factions that joined for this whole thing, including the disciples from the Red Sword faction, who stayed behind despite the fact that their Core elder had left, since the Supreme elder promised them support.
Aster had already given his ring to Vivian and unlike his opponents he wasn't wearing armor, the only thing he had on him were his usual clothes and the golden broadsword he was holding in his right hand.
"I'll deal with this side, I leave the other one or you", said Aster to Julian who nodded in response.
"They even tried to attack Vivian, so, destroy them!", he said as he left accompanied by Ophelia and Amanda who cheered up for Aster, one because he helped the members of her faction and the other because that was William's will.
As soon as the Supreme elder left the battlefield accompanied by the two Core elders that remained at her side, a giant transparent barrier appeared to separate the spectators from the participators.
Julian and the Supreme elder floated above the battlefield to give the green light at the same time, not without saying.
"Start!".
"Boooom!", the moment they were given the green light, the area where Aster was standing was bombarded by a barrage of fire arrows, that was the contribution of the representative from the Red Sword faction.
Naturally the name "Red Sword" didn't mean that all its members were swordsmen nor that they had fire related attributes, the ones who founded it did, but now it only meant to be against the Black Sword faction, so that guy using a bow and long ranged attacks was normal.
"Did that get him?", asked the full armored guy that was chosen as the representative from the Light Blue Anvil faction, unlike Edward who was though using heavy armor, was wielding a Warhammer, meaning he was an attacker, that guy's armor was even more voluminous and he had a tower shield as his "weapon".
"Don't underestimate him, if he was that easy to kill, would the people from the Fireheart family, the elite of the Red Sword faction, have been defeated like that!", said the representative from the Red Sword faction, a slim man with a red bow as his weapon.
"Keh, those guys got done in, because they lacked someone to tank him properly, against a full offensive type cultivator like that guy, full defense is the best way to get him…".
shield included.
14:38
The other two representatives noticed that the guy from the Light Blue Anvil faction didn't finish his sentence, so they turned to see him, just to see his body splitting into two, vertically, his giant tower shield included.
"For someone who should be focused on defense, your shield intent was quite bland, even after using "solidification", it couldn't even stop one of my slashes", the dust cloud raised by the barrage of fire arrows was dispersed by Aster waving his hand, revealing that he was completely unscathed, hell, there wasn't even a stain in his clothes.
His sword on the other hand had a stain of blood, or more accurately there was a stain of blood "floating" in the air, since he used ghost sword along with sharpening to cut in a straight line, the surprising thing is that the opponent couldn't feel it, until it was too late, also the others, Edward included ignored that Aster had attacked, it was as if he was completely inexistent.
Seeing the peak Carnal Disaster defense expert being cut in half, like that, followed by the corpse bursting in blue flames, the other two immediately gathered near Edward, whose face was unsightly.
"You cheater, we said that other treasures weren't allowed!", shouted Edward, to which Aster simply smirked.
"What treasure, that was pure and unaltered sword intent, did you believe that what I showed back when I accepted the Galatia's mission was the only way I could use my sword intent, because if so, you are far more stupid than what I thought", he said as he stretched his body.
Even if Aster said that, the truth is that what he did is something he learned just recently, thanks to Agnes to be accurate, but that could be left for later.
"Oh well, one down, three left, stick together closer so I can end it with a single slash" said Aster as he swinged his sword towards Edward.
"Shit, everyone dodge!", shouted Edward, the three of them dispersed and managed to avoid being split in half, but then they looked at the result if Aster's attack and their scalps became numb.
Behind them there was a one-kilometer slash crater on the ground, what surprised them wasn't just the fact that the crater seemed bottomless, or the huge range of the cut, despite the fact that the ground was really tough, non, what made them pale was the fact that there was no sound, nor explosion or aftermath.
Aster just waved his sword and then a moment later a half moon huge crater appeared on the ground, it was as if… a giant invisible sword followed the direction of his attacks.
"Oi, Edward, fucking do something, you said you could kill that monster!", demanded the guy with the bow as he started channeling his spirit energy for a strong attack.
"I have a poison that should be able to stop him for a moment, but after using it, I'll be out since that is the "weapon" I chose, you have to bust his head open in that opening", said the representative from the Purple Lotus faction, a gloomy looking man with bandages covering his eyes.
Edward gritted his teeth, but ultimately, he nodded as he took a deep breath, his spirit pressure went through the roof in a second, to the point that the ground cracked below his feet as his skin became metallic gray colored.
'I wanted to keep this for the tournament, but if I can kill that bastard then it would be worth to reveal the ability of my body constitution', thought Edward as he shouted.
"Steel Emperor!!!".
"Aghhhhh!", while Edward's veins bulged as he prepared his strongest state, a pained scream came from his right, where Aster had just appeared in a flash and casually stabbed his sword on the chest of the guy from the Red Sword faction.
"For a change, that woman was right, you will never see my face again past today", said Aster as he retrieved his sword from the chest of the enemy to then slash down the guy from the Purple Lotus, who in response broke a vial with a dark green liquid, producing a green smoke explosion.
"Now, kill him!", the green smoke covered the whole nearby area, but while Aster's sight was blocked, Edward could properly see and hear his last remaining teammate.
Unfortunately, that meant that while others couldn't see it, he got to witness the moment where Aster casually moved inside of the poisonous green smoke to then stab his sword on the face of the guy from the Purple Lotus faction.
The green smoke dispersed on the spot, since the one providing spirit energy for it to spread and thicken, was dead.
The whole arena fell in a sepulchral silence as they saw Aster's sword coming from the back of the head of that guy from the Purple Lotus faction, once again the corpse exploded in blue flames before turning into ashes that were scattered by the wind.
"Despite all the times you tried to antagonize me, what I truly despise about you is the fact that your anger regarding your lover's death is feigned, now turn into a warning for all those that hold even the slightest ounce of ill intent towards my family".
The screaming voice of the Supreme elder then echoed through the whole area.
"Hold your hand!!!", she shouted, unfortunately not only Julian stopped her from doing anything, but she couldn't even bypass the barrier.
The last message was only heard by Edward as well as the Supreme elder, what followed was the gurgling sound of Edward drowning in his own blood, as he tried to hold his neck with hands to apply pressure on the wound that appeared on his skin out of nowhere.
"Grngl!!", Edward walked a couple of steps before his head separated from his body, both falling to the ground the next second.
Aster didn't even look at Edward's burning corpse, he instead turned to see all the presents as he raised his sword.
"From now and onwards, anyone who gets in my way will have the same end, I challenge all the ones that have clashed with me to the Life and Death arena, and in case you try to feign ignorance, I remember all your faces, so come down right now or never appear before me again and for those who think that plotting in the shadows is "smart", I'll find a way to kill you openly, just like this time!".
Aster's words echoed through the giant arena, there was another aspect regarding the Life and Death arena, those who rejected the challenge basically were considered to be both cowards and guilty.
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