With this one move of Lothar, he invoked Selena's wrath, and she was looking at him with burning hate. If she gets the chance, she will oppose him no matter what.
After they entered the next floor, she began gathering support against Lothar. She even gained a slight nod from Cyra when no one else was watching.
On the next floor, they met sentient mutants who called themselves the cult of the Death and progress.
The cultists they were facing were as strong as an Awaken Saka, with two members missing their progress of clearing the floor has dramatically diminished, and it took them four whole years to reach the next door.
During these four years, they have split into two factions Adam, Cyra, Selena, and Dani, on one side and the others on the other side.
Selena wished to push and kill Lothar, but she had to use fair rules that everyone has agreed to; as such, she decided to challenge him for a duel.
A dual between the brain and strength, first and the last, the others moved away for them it didn't matter who died as long as they were able to access the next floor.
During this time, the points of the top 8 were already ages ahead of everyone else. Even if they stopped now, they would probably stay at the top until the end of the competition.
The collider sect and the heavenly sect were both puzzled by their points because they suggested that they were continually killing Saka-s, which was impossible as only the whales were vital in the Heavenly Abyss.
The fight between Selena and Lothar was a bloody one against everyone's expectations. They were equally strong.
While Selena relied on Essence based attacks, Lothar used his spear. Even though he had the advantage in close combat, Selena kept keeping her distance and fired him out with her Unique Essence Techniques.
Eventually, their fight Ended with Selena-s Victory and Lothar-s death. As brain beat raw strength, they gained access to the next floor while their ranking changed for the first time after years.
With the 7 of them remaining, the power balance has wholly turned to Selena Favor, and it seemed like they will get rid of the others the next time they have the chance.
Among all of them, the next weakest was Dani. Since Cyra has never overextended herself and played along with them, nobody knew she wasn't using her full strength.
Cyra had no problem spending years in the shrine while it would be troublesome keeping alive them until each door if they knew she was more robust.
This time they spent eight years fighting off the mutants inside. Their opponents were ghoul-like cult priests with the strength of a Golden Saka. To make it even more annoying, they were continually rising Saka-s corpses to attack them. They had to kill the priests first if they didn't want to be overwhelmed by numbers.
At the end of the floor stood a door once more. Cyra was standing there with an indifferent attitude as she was waiting to see who would die next.
During these years, she mostly just followed Selena's instructions on how to deal with their enemies. She never once said a word. Her simple nods were enough for everyone to see that she agreed. As such, this let her be.
While Dani spent eight years getting to know everyone and getting on their right side, knowing full well that Cyra wasn't the talkative one, he directly proposed his idea. "I think we should sacrifice Cyra on this floor. After all, she is the one that ruins our morale!" To his statement, even Selena began to think as to what he said was right. Killing Cyra over him seemed to be much more beneficial to their team.
Just as she was about to make a Judgment, something split Dani's throat, and the gates have opened. Cyra walked in as if nothing has happened.
Dani's Death was utterly unexpected. They had no idea who did it because Cyra never used her waves before them; instead used raw strength just like Lothar.
Even Adam was powerless and couldn't go this anger as even though he was sure that Cyra killed Dani, he had pretty much 0 evidence.
With that, all that left was killing either Toma or Zoey openly. Cyra preferred Toma as she was currently the last place, and the higher she was, the better her survival chances became as the others wouldn't pick on her.
For the next 16 years, everything went just like normal nothing out of the ordinary happened; their new opponents were Cult priestesses who had similar abilities to the priests. Still, they also had Asuras growing inside their bodies living in perfect symbiotic relationships. When a priestess died, hundreds of thousands of spores were released.
For the first time during their stay here, they suffered casualties as both Toma and Adam were infected, and the team was unable to remove the spores from their bodies.
Up until their last breaths, they fought alongside the others to find hope to survive, but just as the team reached the gate, both of them burst, and spores were released once more.
Cyra was standing the closest to them. As such, the remaining 3 had the same idea. They have to leave her here!
Selena started by directly confronting her about it as Cyra was always reasonable through their years together. As such, she was hoping she would understand. "Oh, the weird one, we spent so much time together, but since you have been infected, we have to leave you here."
Cyra didn't say anything performed a slight nod, and turned around to sit down, unknowingly to the others she began to cultivate.
Seeing that Selena could reason with Cyra, the others didn't say anything, just headed for the next floor.
....
In the past 80 years, all other disciplines and elders have taken up their phase at the sect. Even Jade has become a rising star among the sect. She was beautiful and charming. Alongside the rise of her teacher, she had a bright future ahead of her.
Her strength gradually risen above her peers and granted her the recognition of the sect masters, and the family decided to accept her. With the resources of the sect, she became a Kir.
As a Kir, she had the chance to become a core discipline, but she was granted the right to skip that and directly become an inheritance discipline with her teacher achievement.
Today was the day that she would receive the founder's Blood and become an inheritance discipline. With her talents and looks, nothing could stop her from achieving her goals.
"It's time to forget the past and look towards the future!" With that, Jade took of the ring that Cyra gave her and threw it in the trash.
"My teacher taught me everything that I know, even her technique. I perfected it and, through the process, became even stronger!" She murmured this under her breath as she left home.
Even if Cyra was strong in the past, she was nothing anymore. Even if she wins the competition, she would only become a Head Elder, and after receiving the collider Blood, she wouldn't be her equal. After all, she will be chosen by a master from the sect's pure-blooded descendants.
Her life long dream of torturing and killing her own master was coming closer with each day. As Cyra held no more use to her, it was only natural to get rid of her. "Oh, the weird one that's such a fitting name for my future toy, enjoy your glory as long as you can, because soon you will be mine!" An evil chuckle left her mouth then she walked towards the sect temple to start her new life.
Entering the main hall, millions of discipline looked up to her as she arrived at the flying platform.
Hundreds of Huns were welcoming here. Together with the presence of 25 Grand Masters, they welcomed their new children entering their ranks.
Jade was a Kir. Like her peers, she increased her battle power above her actual realm by more than 2.
This talent was already considered once a hundred-year genius worthy of nurturing into a high ranking member of the family.
The Blood of the founder was a miracle drug. It was the Blood of a deity with immerse powers. It was known to grant benefit based on what the body showed it.
Jade gracefully received the founder's Blood and slowly drank it. Under the force of the Blood, her strength had risen as it activated the [True Path] Jade became an Awaken Kir while being surrounded by a white Halo resembling the path.
Then the Blood continued to force her and activated her signature technique [Angel of Beauty] 2. Pairs of divine wings appeared behind her back, and her strength climbed to become a Golden Kir.
The process became slower at this point, but it managed to force out another two pairs of wings. This event turned Jade into a once in a thousand-year genius and rose to her realm to a Crowned Kir.
Then the Blood took effect, and Crystals enveloped her Halo and wings, raising her strength with another three realms, granting her the cultivation realm of a Wusun, and giving her the power to rival the other family's geniuses.
A Conqueror Hun walked before Jade and declared, "From this moment onwards your Jade Collider, member of the purebloods and ruler of the collider sect! Do you accept your duties as one of us?"
"I accept" During this moment, the only thing that was in Jade's mind is: I surpassed you, master, and the need of you.
Looking at her Crystal-like wings, Jade was fascinated by her beauty. She no longer had to search for beauty as she became beauty itself!
....
In the meantime, Cyra turned on her reflection and began to follow after the group of 3 from a moderate distance. She observed their fighting and struggled against the Cult Chosen one, who was Emperor Saka.
With the 3 of them working together, they took town their last opponent with great teamwork. Only 20 years were remaining.
Standing before the door, they started a bloody battle to determine who would be the one to be killed here, but after Zoey has fallen, the door hasn't opened yet. As such, they continue to fight until only Selena was left standing.
She was ragged and closer to the death door than anyone before her, yet she finally did it. She was the last one standing.
The door slowly opened, and the Conqueror Saka cult leader directly attacked her. She didn't die as Cyra kicked her to the lower floor. She had to make sure that this was the last floor or she will be in trouble.
After spending her senses using force control, she was sure that this was the last floor, so she went to finish off Selena.
With that, her rank climbed to first place and gained the right to consume the founder's Blood and become a full member of the Collider Family that ruled the Collider Sect.
Cyra, of course, knew nothing about this as she was facing the sect leader. She had barely any time to think.
Cyra was the apex predator of this planet. None of the other species had evolved as much as she did.
For the first time in hundreds of years, she decided to fully lift her mental barrier and go all out against the Cult Leader.