The Spirit of Himmel.
A cursed Spirit that only appears in few Spirit Users bearing the bloodline of Spirit Immortal Lucius Himmel. Distinguishable by their hair which was as rich as the silver that filled the Empire's coffers, the cursed Spirit Users all shared the same destiny. Those that awakened this Spirit were fated to remain mortal their entire lives, never getting the chance to promote to the Spirit Immortal Realm. Their curse… The curse that Spirit Immortal Lucius Himmel had placed upon them, would force them to stop at Rank 99.
And the curse didn't stop there… Without the ability to harness elemental energy, they weren't able to create their own spiritual abilities. They had to rely solely on their physical and mana strengthening to stay ahead of the curb. Fortunately, those who awakened the Spirit of Himmel had an excellent cultivation technique that enabled them to breeze through their cultivations. Theoretically, without their bottlenecks, as long as the Spirit Users cultivated consistently, they would be able to reach the Spirit Saint realm without becoming stuck.
So… Why was the Spirit of Himmel so feared in the mortal world? If there were that many limitations on that Spirit, why fear it at all?
Well… Everyone knew that the Spirit of Himmel had only one spiritual ability. It doesn't matter if the cultivator was a Rank 1 Spirit Practitioner or a Rank 99 Spirit Saint. Those that awakened the Spirit of Himmel would all only have one spiritual ability. However… It was this one spiritual ability that kept the Himmel Empire a superpower that everyone knew. It was this one spiritual ability that made the Himmel Ancestor the most powerful man in the world. It was this one spiritual ability that… struck fear to everyone's soul…
"ARISE, HEROES OF HIMMEL!!!" The Ancestor's voice bellowed through the battlefield, which had turned as silent as a church. The Flag of Himmel was fluttering wildly in the wind, sending out dense mana particles throughout the broken earth. Mana that could tear mountains in half burst forth from the Ancestor's body, turning the entire world into a muddied mush.
Ten thousand wisps flowed out from the flag, slowly morphing into humanoid creatures. Some were over two-metres tall, holding a flaming great shield in one hand while spinning a flail in the other. A handful of them were dual-wielding giant claymores as if they were light rapiers. Some had glorious spears and could dexterously spin them around like a baker kneading dough. At the rear, archers pulled their sheepskin bowstrings and nocked deadly arrows that could easily pierce through flesh in a fraction of a second. Almost all of them were armoured like any army that came before them. Some wore full metal plates while others had leathery clothes to ease movement.
However, one thing was constant throughout the ten-thousand strong army… They were all emitting the pressure of… Rank 60 Spirit Kings.
Shin, who had been peacefully recovering his mana, felt a disturbance in his Spectre Soul. Saint Himmel's spiritual energy was just far too powerful for anyone to sleep through. Not to mention, the immense pressure that his ten-thousand strong army was emitting would wake any Spirit Lord up, even if they were in the deepest of sleeps. The black-haired Prince opened his eyes, only to witness the aghast faces of those that protected him.
Heigui Xuegang was biting on the bottom of his lip and holding back the urge to run back to the Lantis Republic. Bingbing was quivering while grabbing onto the hems of Shin's clothes. Zishen squinted his eyes, his face lacking any form of nonchalance and finally… Lady Seph scowled, her eyes mixed with fear, uneasiness and apprehension. Though she wouldn't admit it, there was a hint of awe as well. Honestly, who wouldn't be taken aback by the Spirit of Himmel's majesty? Even Shin's Celestial Dragon, a being that could easily topple the world once fully matured, nudged Shin on the cheek as it wanted nothing to do with the Spirit Saint.
"Master… This is..." Only Shin's voice could be heard among the pale group.
"Yes, I told you about it before..." Lady Seph felt her blood run cold. "That's the Spirit of Himmel's true power… The power to create an Immortal Elite Army!!!"
The Spirit of Himmel had only one spiritual ability, one that couldn't be used unless its owner was in the Spirit Spectre realm. Once their Spectre Soul had formed, they would be capable of unleashing the most powerful spiritual ability known to mankind. The ability to summon all of the heroes that fought alongside Lucius Himmel in the war to end all wars.
"Every single one of the soldiers that are summoned would always be three realms lower than the caster… A Rank 40 Spirit Spectre would summon ten thousand Rank 1 Spirit Practitioners… A Rank 50 Spirit Lord would summon ten thousand Rank 10 Spirit Apostles… The Ancestor, who is a Rank 96 Spirit Saint, will summon ten thousand Rank 60 Spirit Kings that can respawn as long as he provides them with mana… How frightening is that?!" Lady Seph exclaimed at the top of her lungs.
Ten thousand Rank 60 Spirit Kings… That was equivalent to ten thousand Brahmins!!! In the whole world, there were barely thirty thousand Spirit Kings and yet, the Himmel Ancestor had just summoned thirty percent of their population. Furthermore, the Spirit Kings under his command were elites that once fought alongside the Himmel Empire's Spirit Immortal, a legendary army filled to the brim with heroic figures. To rub salt to the wound, they weren't mortal beings that would die once beheaded. If their form was destroyed, all the Himmel Ancestor needed to do was pump in a little more mana and they would be ready to fight again. It was a true Immortal Army, one that was capable of defeating any forces that the other two superpowers had.
"It's bad enough that he has that atrocious spiritual ability, but his own physical and martial prowess are the best among all the Spirit Saints!!!" Lady Seph exclaimed. Shin gazed at the Spirit of Himmel's divine glimmer, stunned that such an overpowered ability could ever exist. No wonder the Himmel Bloodline and Isadore in particular, was so protected! If they could produce a Spirit User with the Spirit of Himmel, the Himmel Empire would continue to reign as a superpower for many years to come.
No general in their right mind would ever charge their forces into an Immortal Army led by a Spirit Saint. That would be tantamount to suicide! And well… The Black Masks didn't have the luxury to choose. Once the Umbras were spawned out of the Obsidian Gate, their instincts urged them further east. Thus, without knowing of the danger, wave upon wave of Umbras crashed onto the Himmel Ancestor's vicinity, hoping to overrun him eventually.
That… was a mistake.
"Oh, great Heroes of Himmel!" Thrusting the sharp end of the flag into the air, the Ancestor roared. There was a dominant mana in his voice and everyone felt a chill run down their spine. It was as if they were witnessing Lucius Himmel himself, the Spirit Immortal that was long gone, lead the Immortal Army into battle. "The Terre Continent… No, the Himmel Empire is in danger! Are we going to sit back and do nothing?!"
"ORRYYYYYYYAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" The ten-thousand ghost army groaned, raising every single weapon they had into the air.
"I'd thought so… The target is that Obsidian Gate! Don't stop until that structure is destroyed! Anything or anyone that gets in your path… Kill them!!!"
"GRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOARRRRRRRRR!!!"
The Immortal Army responded with a deafening warcry. Arrows wreathed with sacred flames were launched from the rear. Some of the archers closed their eyes, mumbling something inaudible to the human ear. In a fraction of a second, the arrows that they'd unleashed split into a few thousand smaller ones, creating a hail of whizzing projectiles. The mindless Umbras could only wail in horror as the holy fire incinerated their darkness bodies before dissipating into nothingness.
"Elemental Arrow Rain?!" Shin's eyes bulged and his heart almost stopped. "Can the Heroes all use spiritual abilities?!" It was a proposition that struck fear into the young Prince's heart. There were ten thousand Spirit Kings summoned. Assuming that the phantoms were like normal Rank 60 Spirit Kings who had seven spiritual abilities… Does that mean that the Himmel Ancestor could use seventy thousand spiritual abilities?!
"Yes and no..." Lady Seph shook her head as a bitter smile crept up her face. "The Spirit of Himmel's sole spiritual ability, the Heroes of Himmel, is powerful but it does have some limitations. The Heroes can only cast one of their spiritual abilities from their peak and using it puts an enormous toll on the Ancestor's soul."
"Still…" The black-haired Prince gulped. "If he can use one spiritual ability per Hero, does that mean the Ancestor could cast ten thousand spiritual abilities?!"
"Theoretically, yeah..." Lady Seph replied grimly. "Although they are limited by the lack of elemental energy and mana, it is possible for the Himmel Ancestor… No, anyone who has the Spirit of Himmel to cast ten thousand spiritual abilities. That's why the Spirit of Himmel is so revered all around the world!"
"..." Shin's mouth was sewn shut. Ten thousand spiritual abilities… Even if they were limited due to the Spirit Saint's lack of elemental energy, that variance was enough to confuse any opponent. So what if the Spirit of Himmel's owners couldn't create their own abilities? They had over ten thousand abilities to choose from just by summoning out their Immortal Army.
'I wonder if Isadore could do the same...'
Shin's mind instinctively went into theory town, where he formulated new stratagems to combine the might of the Celestial Dragon and the Spirit of Himmel's overwhelming power. However, it didn't take long until his train of thought was derailed.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!
The World Serpent slapped his tail on the earthen floor, which was covered with rain and snow, sending avalanches and mini tsunamis flying all about. The three Spirit Venerates that were sent to take him down all created energy barriers to protect themselves from the onslaught, particularly Pangu, who still had a blood feud with the beast.
'I can't let him run rampant!!!' Ao cursed inwardly. The Obsidian Gate still had to stand if the Black Masks wanted to overrun the Kori Federation. Though the Himmel Ancestor had arrived and the gate's fall was inevitable, the least that Ao could do was delay the Spirit Saint for a few more minutes.
Alas, it wasn't as easy as it sounds.
SLIIIIIIIIIINGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!
An energy beam shaped in a crescent moon whizzed past the World Serpent, forcing the Tier 9 Spirit Beast back in place. Ao rapidly turned his head, only to see Pangu, the Sword Venerate from the Dalgeom Sect, putting on an ever-radiant smile. By his side, Shenshe Yowang and Zhangyu Yaofu flashed the devil's grin as well.
"You're not going anywhere, you fat snake..."
They could see the light at the end of the tunnel. They knew… They knew that the Alliance was going to triumph, landing a crushing blow to the Black Masks. The moment that the Himmel Ancestor arrived, it was the final nail in the coffin. Now, all that was left for them to do, was to add the World Serpent's corpse into said coffin.
'God damn it!' Ao hissed mentally, his eyes switching from the Obsidian Gate to the three Spirit Venerates that surrounded him. Defeating them was one thing, but attempting to hold both the Spirit Venerates AND the Himmel Ancestor off… That was a tall task, bordering on the impossible, in fact. However… It was still something that had to be done.
'Oh, Allfather… Give me strength...'
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