The Nine Coloured Noble Beasts. Nine Spirit Beasts that followed the Allfather throughout his journey from the researcher Akumu that lived on the outskirts of the Uncharted Wilderness, to the all-knowing, all-powerful being that reigned supreme over the Terre Continent. Little is known about the true extent of the Nine Coloured Noble Beasts other than the odd times that they'd emerged to do the Allfather's bidding.
The most famous of them all was unquestionably the World Serpent who held the Throne of Blue, Ao. He was the ringmaster behind Junius' nefarious deeds and among the top Tier 9 Spirit Beasts living on the planet. Ao had killed off Wangu, the Dalgeom Sect's premier Spirit Emperor, forever putting him as an enemy of the Kori Federation. Furthermore, he was also part of the tragedy that destroyed the old Land of Dreams. Due to his active involvement in the Black Masks' activities, the Alliance had gathered quite a bit of information about the Water-Elemental Spirit Beast.
The other eight Noble Beasts were a little more obscure to them. They knew of Murasaki, the Arachne Queen that joined in the Land of Dream's massacre and could roughly estimate how powerful she really was. The other two prominent Noble Beasts would be Akai and Midori, the Lion Chimaera and the Gargantuan Treant who had attacked Aldrich's Keep that many years back, opening up the Himmel Empire's western frontier. However, the rest of the Nine Coloured Noble Beasts were mostly unknown to the Alliance, particularly their enigmatic leader.
The Alliance knew that Kuro existed. They even knew that Kuro was a Primordial Beast that could easily take on a Spirit Saint on a one-on-one battle. However, they didn't know the true extent of the Spirit Beast who held the Throne of Black.
Alas… It was all going to change today.
The six Spirit Saints levitated in the air, each one heightening their senses and brandishing their weapons. Saint Geom held his Samingeom up in the air, while the other Spirit Saints had long summoned out their Spirits. Elementals danced in pure euphoria as they felt the dense change in the atmosphere. It was a rare occurrence… Six Spirit Saints unleashing their auras at the same time. However, such an action was warranted, given how powerful their opponent might be.
A lone man floated above the energy barrier protecting Mythpoint Reach. Black, sharp hair that fell down to his bum and a muscular build that made him seem like a ravaging barbarian. Chiselled down to the very bone, there wasn't a single ounce of extra fat on the toned man. His crystal black eyes sparkled with a luminous moonlight hue, even though it was still an overcast afternoon.
The man wore a simple jet-black Haori with white stripes bordering its corners. His complexion was a little more tanned than it should have been, but there was not an ounce of facial hair covering his chin. Somehow, the man seemed barbaric and cultured at the same time. However, there was one fact that was undeniable…
His aura was downright frightening.
Not a single life form dared to come within a kilometre's radius of the black-haired man. Birds would fly higher than the clouds would permit while land critters dug deeper underground. Even cultivators weren't immune to the devastating aura that the man was emitting. Shin, a freak of an aura master himself, could feel the bloodthirst and overall sharpness of the man, even though he was ten kilometres away. That was how frightening the lonesome man defending Mythpoint Reach was. In fact, if not for him already meeting the Allfather, Shin might have mistaken the man floating in the air as the all-powerful leader.
"You must be the leader of the Nine Coloured Noble Beasts, Kuro..." Saint Geom led the introductions, not that the Spirit Beast asked for it. "My name is Kim Geom, High Elder and Spirit Saint of the Dalgeom Sect."
The wizened old man paid his due respects towards a worthy opponent. Although Kuro was the second-in-command of the world's most hated enemy, he was still a Primordial Spirit Beast. Typically, a Primordial Spirit Beast was far more powerful than an average Spirit Saint. Sometimes, a Primordial Beast might be capable of taking two Spirit Saints at a time. However, their power didn't come at a cost. It was much more difficult for a Spirit Beast to cultivate all the way to the apex as compared to a regular human being. Some of them train for tens of thousands of years, only to be withheld at the final step. Therefore, each and every Primordial Beast were entities that had to be treated with the utmost respect.
"I know who you are, Kim Geom..." A low baritone echoed out from the core of the black-haired man's mouth, sending shivers down the Spirit Saints' spines. He first looked at the 'leader' of the Spirit Saints gathered, before slowly pointing his finger to the other five in order. "I also know you, Longyu Tian… Firebird Gormatine… Thor Danlaf… Althea Carferum… Atossa Towyn..."
Hearing their full names being recited one-by-one really put the six Spirit Saints into a frenzy. It has been ages since anyone had dared to call them by their full names, due to the amount of respect that one placed on a Spirit Saint. Nonetheless, the Primordial Beast hardly cared about those titles. As far as Kuro was concerned, he was their equal… No, he was superior to those Spirit Saints that couldn't hold a candle to his esteemed master.
"I know that this might be a fruitless ask, but I have to say this anyway..." Representing all of the Spirit Saints, as well as the Alliance that stood behind him, Saint Geom made the first move. "Surrender now, Kuro! We know that the Allfather has been weakened! We have Mythpoint Reach surrounded, and all of our resources are focused on bringing you down! The Black Masks' reign of terror is over!"
"..." Kuro stood there silently while folding his arms, seemingly amused by Saint Geom's request.
Seeing the lack of reaction from the man, Saint Geom added: "Kuro, I know that you're a proud Primordial Beast, but we've already won! Don't waste your long years of cultivation to die for a villain like the Allfather! If you leave the Allfather and the World Serpent here, I would be willing to spare your life and banish you to the Uncharted Wilderness!"
Truth to be told, Saint Geom just didn't want the Alliance's forces to sustain more damages than it should. If he could convince Kuro, the only Primordial Beast in the Black Mask to leave the Allfather and Mythpoint Reach forever, Saint Geom was more than willing to let Kuro go. Alas… He underestimated how loyal the Wolf was.
"How ludicrous..." Kuro snorted. "You're asking me to betray the Allfather? On what basis? Just because you've brought some fancy technologies and six Spirit Saints? Don't make me laugh! The Black Masks aren't an organisation that would fall to such useless threats!"
Kuro's aura turned even sharper as black mist emerged from every pore in his body. Most of them were filled with the Darkness-Element, creating a rather eerie backdrop for the Primordial Beast to stand in front of. However, Kuro wasn't done. From the darkness, an arm-long blade with a baton-like handle emerged and graced his right hand. It was a shimmering obsidian-silver blade with tiny purple tips plus, the aura that it gave out was no less intimidating than that of Saint Geom's own Immortal-Grade Spirit Armament.
"The Blade of the Ephemeral Haunt?!" Saint Thor, the most knowledgable man about weapons among the Spirit Saints, gasped in horror after seeing the weapon's appearance.
"Saint Thor, do you know what that weapon is?" Saint Geom asked.
"I-It's the lost Spirit Armament of Spirit Saint Mercurial, the Ghost of Oblivion!" The hefty man exclaimed. "It's a relic of the ancient warring era! Legend has it that Saint Mercurial used the Blacksmith's League best blacksmith at the time, Saint Overeem, to craft that mythical blade. Using the materials from over nineteen Tier 9 Spirit Beasts, Saint Overeem created his masterpiece and Saint Mercurial was the one to lift it into myth. If the records are correct, Saint Mercurial used the Blade of the Ephemeral Haunt to fight against four top Spirit Saints at once, and that includes the Himmel Empire's Spirit Immortal!!!"
"What?! That weapon fought against the Himmel Empire's Spirit Immortal?!" Everyone was visibly shocked, particularly Saint Firebird. Although it was impossible to verify how powerful those legends were at their peak, there was no question that the Spirit Immortal that founded the Himmel Empire was a powerhouse among powerhouses. Just looking at his descendants and one could guess how mighty the man was.
"Granted, it was when he was just a recently-promoted Spirit Saint… But that doesn't change the fact that Saint Mercurial was able to fight four Spirit Saints to a standstill using the Blade of Ephemeral Haunt!" The Blacksmith Saint looked greedily at the Immortal-Grade Spirit Armament that graced Kuro's right arm. "I'd always thought that it had been lost to time… To think that I would get to see the weapon once more!"
"You have keen eyes..." Kuro praised Saint Thor, not worried in the slightest that his weapon had been exposed. "If you know about this weapon, then you should know about why it's so legendary… HAUNT!!!"
Shouting out one word, Kuro pumped his own mana into the Immortal-Grade blade, and a terrifying buzzing sound broke the tension of the air. The Blade of Ephemeral Haunt started shaking at its core, and the two purple tips unleashed a vast amount of spiritual energies into the surrounding air. The already dense elemental energies had turned far thicker as the Primordial Beast unleashed his all against the six Spirit Saints.
In no time at all, the purplish lights that came out of the Blade of the Ephemeral Haunt congregated into five phantom figures, each one bearing the same face and build as the massive black-haired man that wielded the Immortal-Grade weapon. The purplish phantoms looked half-illusory, half-real. Their fleeting presence was quite challenging to pin down; however, the immense mana that each of them emitted was sufficient to choke anyone weaker than Rank 90.
"Five Saint-level phantoms?!" Saint Althea gasped. Sain-level represented the apex that both cultivators and Spirit Beasts could ever hope to achieve. Any higher, and they would have reached the realm of the Immortals, a domain that few could ever hope to reach. Therefore, when Kuro summoned out five Saint-level phantoms from his Spirit Armament, one could imagine the surprise that the other Spirit Saints sustained.
"Don't fret! It may be at the Saint-level, but they're nowhere near as powerful as the original!" Saint Thor quickly helped to ease his comrades' worries somewhat. "The Spectral Haunts that the Blade of Ephemeral Haunt creates don't possess spiritual abilities or martial arts! Think of them as empty shells that possess a Spirit Saint exterior!"
"But it's still at the Saint-level!" Saint Geom tested out his theory by swinging the Samingeom. A blade beam shot out from his Immortal-Grade weapon's tip and raced right towards one of the phantoms. However, instead of being utterly destroyed, the phantom easily deflected the shot with its own swing.
"Damn it, we can't hold back at all against those shits!" The elderly swordsman spat as he took another stance. "Saint Atossa! Tell the Alliance Head to prepare the Aether Cannon! All six of us are needed to push back this Primordial Beast!"
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