Bang! The four daggers crashed into him with heaven-defying momentum. No one could have imagined that such small weapons could pack so much force! A Noble Grade weapon was already this fearsome. How strong might a Monarch or Imperial Grade be? Or even a Deity Grade? The thought was hair-raising! Although Benedict broke into Perception Realm, he could not reverse the odds. Lord Xu had clearly sensed the four daggers collided with Benedict's body. The result was obvious. The daggers pierced right through flesh and burst out! Benedict's cold lifeless body was blown back in a sea of blood. This young legend had been killed in his crib before he could dazzle the world! Lord Xu smiled menacingly and was about to retrieve his seven daggers when he froze a second time. Benedict and Shirley's bodies that were falling from the sky suddenly turned to mist and vanished. They were nowhere to be seen! They had escaped!
Lord Xu's face was as dark as coal. Despite using his strongest attack, he failed to kill a newborn Perception Realm. Veins bulged on his forehead. When had he ever suffered like this? He swore to skin them alive! Four people soon greeted him, all of whom were extraordinary. The first was a young swordsman from the Jian Family called Little Sword. He was one of the rising stars of the Jian Family, having achieved Perception Realm Adept and Major Sword Form. Few were his match. The second and third were a couple from the elusive Tiuxan School in the north. They were famous for their dual combat styles, which required two people to perform, so every disciple trained and travelled with another. In combat, their strength could challenge a Perception Realm Expert, despite being Adept. The fourth and final person was an older bald man with unknown origins. No one knew where he came from, but he dazzled the world with his Perception Realm Expert strength. He refused the frequent invites to be an Imperial Sentinel. The four of them were the powerful Perception Realms that Benedict sensed.
"Lord Xu, who was that?" the older man asked.
"Someone who could escape Lord Xu's pursuit could not be simple. He must be one of Princess Elizabeth's allies, who could use Martial Energy. I believe their names were Benedict and Shirley," Little Sword added.
The man sneered. "I don't know tricks they used, but they're both heavily injured. They won't get far. When we clean up this battlefield, they'll naturally show up!" Saying this, he joined the surrounding battles.
"I'll take my leave as well," the bald man left.
"Please give my regards to the headmaster of the Tiuxan School," Little Sword cupped his hands and bowed before charging off.
"…What do you think, darling?" the woman whispered to her husband.
"Someone who could command an aura powerful enough to startle us upon reaching Perception Realm… He cannot be left alive. This is a monster in the making! We must hunt him down and kill him."
"Husband is wise. This one will follow your command."
At the same time, Benedict and Shirley landed on a large bush outside the main camp and battlefield. It was fortunately thick enough to cushion their descent, seeing as his Martial Energy was completely used up; however, they still slammed into it with considerable force. Benedict broke more bones and coughed up another mouthful of blood. He could not move another finger as he laid bitterly on the ground. His condition was truly wretched. Despite achieving his dream of breaking into Perception Realm, it did not magically heal his body or restore his Martial Energy. Nothing changed his current situation. How sad was it that his first act upon reaching Perception Realm was to flee like a beaten dog with his tail between his legs? What a miserable way to start his story. Thankfully, his last technique saved his and Shirley's lives. They managed to escape Lord Xu's relentless pursuit. The problem now was that their injuries had turned life-threatening… Just the amount of blood dyeing the grass red would terrify anyone. The feeling in his body waned. Benedict was sure of it… Without help, they would die here! His final regret was being unable to do more…
On the other side, Elizabeth stared at Rena nervously. Normally, she could tell what the other person was thinking by observing their facial expressions, the motion of their hands, or even the rhythm of their breathing. Everything came together to form the 'concept' of a person. This was the strongest weapon that a negotiator had, and a skill which she mastered over the course of her training. She was confident against anyone else, except… Rena did not have a tangible body. Formless and thus expressionless, the spirit was impossible to read. She was not even sure if the spirit was a human after seeing the elder birds. She could only guess what her master was thinking, which led to her nervousness. This was a huge gamble, and a dangerous one too. It could easily turn their situation from bad to worse. However, it also had the possibility of changing everything. This was a gamble she had to win!
Rena eventually spoke, "Cast the Ten Dawn's spell."
"Does that mean you're helping us, master?" Elizabeth was stunned.
"Are you doing it or not?"
"Yes! Right away!" The girl dared not delay.
Although her conversation felt long, it lasted a heartbeat in the real world. Opening her eyes, she found Freon and Ten Dawn Iris waiting for her, believing that she was busy comprehending her spell. The girl nodded and prompted the three of them to raise their wands together. Three Magic Circles immediately manifested. Elizabeth was casting the High Gaseous Fog wind-type spell, Bounded Wheel, while Freon was casting the fire-type spell, Heavy Needle. Ten Dawn Iris was relieved to find that their Magic Circles were progressing smoothly. It was somewhat surprising that their spell comprehension was this great. No wonder they became Half-Condensed drop Arcanists so quickly. Their potential might be greater than Ten Dawn Nassandra, a once-in-a-generation genius! She decided to fully concentrate on her spell in case she slipped up instead.
With everyone busy, no one else paid attention to Elizabeth and Freon otherwise they would have noticed that these two's Magic Circles were being rewritten. The once different spells, Bounded Wheel and Heavy Needle, soon transformed into something else entirely. To change a spell mid-cast was unheard of, akin to adjusting an arrow mid-flight, an impossible task, even for the Zino Kingdom's strongest Arcanist, the Conquestian! Yet, this seemingly impossible task was achieved here. This would have proved that whoever was responsible was far superior to the Ten Dawns and the Conquestian. However, the miracle had just begun, since the two spells began to fuse into one. That was right. The two spells were redesigned into two halves of a single whole! Whoosh! The Magic Circles elegantly met in the middle and combined into a single, highly complex, and extraordinarily powerful Magic Circle. If the previous task of changing a spell mid-cast was deemed as impossible, then the current task of combining two spells into one was above that even. It was practically mythical! Naturally, the credit fell on Rena, as the mystery behind their origins and true powers deepened.
Gong! The new spell activated, releasing a crisp and loud sound, reminiscent to a bell's chime, that spread throughout the entire battlefield. Everyone heard it and paused, most importantly Ten Dawn Iris, who was the closest to the sound. She was nearly scared out of her spellcasting and would have backlashed had she not reacted in time. Once she stabilized her spell, she looked to the source dumbfoundedly. What was once two separate spells that she knew very well had become a single foreign spell, whose intricacies were far above what she could analyze. She had no idea how this spell came to be, nor what it could do! It was completely outside her understanding! Under her terrified gaze, the spell generated a vast and visible shockwave, except it did not damage anything or anyone. Instead, it passed through everything harmlessly, as though it were an illusion. What it did affect was the ambient World Energy!
The wind grew still, the clouds slowed down, and the suns seemed to dim. The grass stood upright, the leaves pointed, and the trees seemed to bend. The world seemed to 'answer' their call. Of course, there was a natural explanation behind this heavenly phenomenon. Everything in the world, be it the sky, the earth, and everyone in between, was formed of World Energy. It permeated all of creation, or rather, it could truly be called creation itself. Normally, a martial artist or Arcanist could only access an infinitesimally small amount of this energy, drawing it into their bodies to create Martial or Magic Energy. Elizabeth, Freon, and the Ten Dawns usually drew this energy from the atmosphere since it was the sparsest and thus easiest to control source. Their abilities were not strong enough to use any other sources, which led to the exhaustion of World Energy in the atmosphere. This was what prevented them from recovering their Magic Energy earlier. However, this new spell bypassed all restrictions and drew energy from the entire environment equally! It was leagues above the spells that Ten Dawn Iris showed.