The Ground shook.
Nothing stayed in place, the whole second tier of the Ultinian Heavens began to tremble.
There was a jolt, then everything broke free.
It had to be said that when Vector had let loose his attack, he was facing the center of the Ultinian Heavens. The force of gravity, twenty times its own weight, came crashing down. There was a snapping sound, it spread throughout the heavens and the entire plane felt the vibrations.
The Second Tier of the Ultinian Heavens began to separate and as it tore from the main stalk, everything became weightless for just a moment.
Then, everything began to fall.
The Second Tier of the Ultinian Heavens began to sink into the space between worlds, it tipped and twisted. The landscape turned over, people impacted the surface again, buildings crumbled under the hurdling speeds and the world began to scatter like dewdrops from a water can in the wind.
Vector was falling, the battlefield was turning over like a paper in the wind.
There was so much space between levels of Ultinia, it would take some time to reach the bottom.
Noyuki found Kuzunoha in the twist, she was holding onto the others and evading the debris as it scattered. Falling rocks the size of castles were just one of the trillions of objects plummeting across the sky below. Vector's was falling but he couldn't escape the massive rocks overhead. The girls came to his side, grabbing onto his body.
Noyuki channeled and was preparing to teleport them all away when she noticed a strange occurrence. The tier had been falling for almost a quarter of an hour, debris was starting to scatter nicely, only the occasional crash of rocks, explosions or screams could be heard in the air as it whistled by.
More than thirty beams of light came crashing through the debris, they cut through it like a hot knife to butter. The columns of light landed on the lowest levels of Ultinia. Then, a buildup of energy, one large enough to collapse space in on itself was forming. The beams had landed in a formation, thirty Custodians were preparing to destroy the tier before it reached the lowest level.
It would take more than a few weeks for the debris to arrive but by then, it would have scattered like a meteor storm across the largest portions of the Ultinian Heavens. There were no other words to describe it besides an Armageddon level event.
The Sky was literally falling, in the history of the Heavens, no event such as it had ever taken place. All that the Custodians could do was to eliminate the threat.
Noyuki was ready to flick her fingers and escape from the falling rubble, she looked up. There was just too much to discern, mountains crashed into lakes and grasslands split apart, desert sands poured and scattered. It was terrifying to see such an incoming disaster.
Kuzunoha took out a Teleportation Steele, dropped it onto the ground and slapped her hand to it. At that point, there was no use hiding. Even if the steel fell for tens of thousands of miles and crashed into the ground below, it would still be a brick. "Take us away from here, anywhere." It was difficult to keep her hand against the Steele as the majority of the second Ultinian Heavens' tier was tumbling
"Yes, your Grace." The Array spirit charged and took them all away.
The Cities on the Second Tier were torn apart, twisting and unraveling with the rest of it. Paving stones and bodies, soil and rock, children and toys, trees and beasts, none of them were able to react to the sudden changes. The gravity didn't change but anything that wasn't nailed down was in free fall. There was no point of contact that gave them options and maneuvering was impossible. Those without the ability to fly were doomed and even those with wings would have a narrow chance of survival. Falling rocks the size of mountains littered the debris and the many flying beasts summoned by the Orange Emperor were still fluttering about.
'What was that?' An Orange fluid began to come back together. It retook its shape and an Orange beam shot out of the falling debris. Staring at the Teleportation Steele as he left, the Orange Emperor was furious.
Each passing moment, the Debris it spread further. The Custodians below were charging their energies into a formation. All the beams acted in tandem, collapsing on themselves and converting to a single combined attack.
As the energy built up, the residents of the lowest level saw their doomsday. The Gods had come down to protect them but like a predator, their attacks only served themselves. If many of their followers were killed off, there would be no more power, no more faith to serve their purposes.
Seven groups of five joined their power together, a fierce blast crossed the skies. It was like a pillar of the heavens that had the power to piercing all things.
֍ꟷꟷꟷꟷ֍
The Array Spirit quickly sent the group off, they landed in an open field far from other cultures. The grasslands were covered in flowers, everyone was disoriented. Vector's arrival destroyed the landscape, a dragon shaped dent appeared in the soil and crushed thousands of herbs.
"Where are we?" Noyuki looked around, she could see two Suns. Covering her eyes a bit to look up she said, "Looks like we're back on Shiyan."
A Deep rumbling could be heard, a shaking that wasn't coming from any of the group.
"What's going on?" Vira steadied herself.
Twelve Blue-white beams crashed against the ground beside Vector, surrounding him and twelve figures stepped out of the light.
The Girls saw them coming out of the beams and were ready to fight.
"So it is true." One of the twelve spoke, her words were like water, serene and calm.
"We cannot wait here, we will be discovered." Another gave his opinion. He turned to the girls and waved his hand. A netting appeared over them, it confined them perfectly and there was no chance at resistance.
"Agreed." The first one to speak turned toward the girls who looked like they wanted to attack. "You four. Are you his friends?"
'They actually asked something?' "What do you want?" Kuzunoha still had the crusher blade in her hands, she hacked at the netting and tore a hole in it.
The Lead white figure appeared next to her and grabbed the blade. It stopped and when she pulled it from Kuzunoha's hands, she was surprised. "Its .." The leader's voice seemed panicked in that instance. "Koayope, we must flee.. right now!"
A large white blur appeared over all of them, vector, the girls and the white figures were swallowed by it. In the next instance, they were somewhere else.
A place of all white.
There were temple grounds in the distance and the only dirt was in the fields for precious looking herbs.
"Release us now!" Vira yelled at the group of people in white.
"No." A figure at the front of the group, not the leader, spoke up. "As a lower being, you're already suspected of being part of the problem. Shut your fucking mouth or I'll shut it for you." One of them seemed very eager to wipe the group out.
"Keep your mouth shut until you know the situation, otherwise you risk alienating yourselves further." The Leader in White pointed to Noyuki. "You. Come with me, the rest of you stay here and don't cause trouble."
"Why me?" Noyuki didn't have the blade in her hands, it was Kuzunoha.
"Just come." A white ball of light surrounded Noyuki, there was no fighting it and she didn't have a choice in the matter. She was dragged along in the bubble toward a temple.
"Where are you taking her?" Kuzunoha yelled.
The Eight figures in white that had remained all pointed their weapons at the group. "Remain silent. If you cause problems, we have no reservations in exterminating you."
The Three of them nodded to each other and joined hands. Bright white light swallowed them all and they rose into the sky. They would surrender only after their deaths, there had been too many close calls over the last few hours.
The days events would likely never be forgotten, they had even been witness to destruction in the Heavens.
"I said!" The group in white thrust their spears out but it was stuck on a layer of light between the two groups.
"What are you doing?" A voice came down in a beam of white that swallowed all of them. "You were instructed to find the Divine Beast, you have. You are not at liberty to dispatch our guests." The layer of light dissipated and the voice vanished.
"Damn you! Evinate! you don't have to protect everyone!" A figure in white withdrew his spear. "We have the right to defend ourselves!"
"You call your actions defensive? They asked a question, that was all. Yet, you treat them like Cattle." Evinate's voice seemed to be less interested in excuses.
"They might as well be, they fight like it." the spear wielding man in white spit at the ground. "Since you're here, you can handle them. If you're not interested in watching over them, leave.. and I'll end this waste of time and effort right now."
"So you need to defend yourselves against people you consider to be cattle? Leave.. that sounds like a great idea, you should go." A white beam came down, Evinate arrived in front of the Eight. "Do you need me to repeat myself?"
Eight beams came down and the figures were taken away.
"Who are you?" Kuzunoha asked.
"I would ask the same thing." Evinate waved his hand and their power vanished, all three of them fell a few meters to their feet.
"What did you just do?" Vira tried to channel her power but it was gone.
"This is my realm, I control everything here down to the last particle of energy. You will not interrupt me again." Evinate glared at Vira then turned to Kuzunoha. "You. How do you have this?" The crusher blade appeared in his hands.
"It belongs to my Husband." Kuzunoha didn't seem very pleased with the situation, her voice was full of grit.
There was pause in Evinate's response. "..You know what this is?"
"Of course I know what it is! How are you able to wield it?" Kuzunoha tightened her fists, there was still a lot going on and they had been lied to, betrayed, attacked, attacked again, then kidnapped and stripped of their power.
"Prove it." Evinate threw the weapon to Kuzunoha. The handle came close to her hand and she caught it.
"How?" Kuzunoha didn't know how to use its inner functions, picking it up was all she could do besides swinging it.
Evinate closed his eyes, 'Hmmph,' "So you cannot control it. But, you can hold it upright.. interesting."
Kuzunoha stabbed the crusher into the ground. "Explain.."
Mursayade ran toward Vector, she didn't care if she had power or not.
"Do not interrupt him. I will not tell you again. He requires much more than a few moments rest." Evinate put a wall of light up between Mursayade and Vector. Turning back to Kuzunoha he asked, "Tell me your name, and tell me of your husband."
"I am Zao Kuzunoha, my husband is Zao Wu Hai..." She explained about his kidnapping, the Storm Crow, the Royals and the Emperor's from the Third Tier of Ultinian Heavens.
Evinate let her finish speaking, he shook his head in discontent then, he waved his hand and a white light swallowed the four of them.
A moment later, they were standing beside Noyuki.
"Ah.. Evinate, you've decided to join us. Its rare that you find an interest in things." A blue figure was sitting on a throne that was raised, it forced everyone that addressed him to look up.
"I can't take you seriously when you're trying to play the leader when you know you're only a soldier, come down here." Evinate waved his hand and the blue figure reappeared next to the group.
"You embarrass us with your pandering to these lesser beings.. why not just wipe them out, they breed so quickly and out of control, more are bound to come." The figure in blue was agitated and pulled a sword from his waist. "It would only take a second."
"Beazel, You're not in charge. Remember that." Evinate slapped the sword away with his bare hands, it flew across the hall and stuck into the wall.
"What are you prattling on about? Munidod is dead, that leaves me in charge. You might control this space but that doesn't mean you control me or the Guardians." Beazel pulled another sword out.
"I told you, you're not in charge." Evinate slapped the second sword away and grabbed Beazel's throat. "Munidod is dead but his spirit lives on. The Creator will return."
The Girls all looked like they had something to say but Evinate turned his eyes to them.
Somehow, they all understood that the conflict was something that had to happen.