"Senior! These Mystic Artifacts are wiping out people like they nothing but ants!
What the hell happened to the man with Mystic Arts?!
Is this his doing?" a cultivator fighting against Esmond and the Red Tortoise Outer Wing, cursed at his unit commander and Senior Martial Disciple, who appeared mentally broken after witnessing the Sect Members being butchered apart.
"I-I…" unable to reply back, the cultivator high up in the sky with nothing but his equipment to save him decided to charge down towards the nearest mountain and find cover.
Similar to him, dozens decided to follow and hide among the large rocks and caves along the mountain wall and cliffs.
Unfortunately for them all, the greater powers of the attacking force noticed the large number of Cultivators cowering.
The disciples from the Inner Court found those who cowered were Outer Wing disciples, further fuelling their disgust for those from the Outer Wings.
All the Inner Court disciples were extensively trained by their Elders from the Inner Court who taught them the new techniques which required sacrificial practices at times to enhance one's own power.
Some thought about capturing the cowering disciples after gathering the loot from overtaking the Red Tortoise Outer Wing, yet as the Inner Court disciples passed the mountain and entered the airspace of the deep valley before the Red Tortoise Mountain, a sea of white, red, silver and black covered the sky.
The next wave of fighter jet drones was deployed, with their colourful markings to represent the creativity of each Virtual Profile.
Every single Virtual Profile had full creative rights on the appearance of the drones and equipped weaponry through the extensive training missions within both the Virtual and A.I World.
They knew what was best for each battle and in the case of flying humans, most of the Virtual Profiles outfitted their drones to have machine turrets.
Plasma cannons were equipped to most of the drones, but the more effective Plasma turrets took up more space in the overall space of the fighter jet drones, so only a select number utilised the equipment.
Unfortunately for the Inner Court disciples, the speed at which the Plasma turrets could fire a shot exceed the number that could be defended by the Cultivators.
Most believed their Artifacts and equipment would keep them safe, however none were aware of the density contained in each Plasma shot.
The fighter jet drones customised by the Virtual Profiles happened to be some of the new models created within the Spatial Ark Star World, even if they heavily customised.
Just the first wave of first from the fighter jet drones left the Inner Court disciples bloodied and furious at their inability to guard against the Plasma fire.
A large number of the disciples died before they knew what hit them, quickly leading to a majority dying at the hands of Virtual Profile pilots before they were aware of deadliness befalling them.
The few people capable of surviving the onslaught tried to counter the attack through their martial techniques, yet none of them could keep up with the sharp and sudden movement of the drones which most disciples couldn't keep up with.
As their numbers started to dwindle down, the strongest disciples were fortunate enough for their equipment to keep them alive in the heavy Plasma fire.
A couple Outer Wing Elders who sympathised with the new methods of the Sect tried their hand at saving the Inner Court disciple, but even their years of knowledge, strength and pooled resources were enough to save them.
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Esmond watched from afar as his need to be involved lessened with every passing moment as the dead continued to pile up.
Rahzil remained ready and prepared to send out his own spawned warriors to fight before using his Magic from elements besides his natural affinity as a Lich.
He bugged Esmond to let him fight, but since the Inner Courts strongest hadn't made their move, Rahzil wasn't allowed to participate.
Similarly, Liao Zhen stayed back and waited for the Inner Court Elders to attack so he could sweep through them in one go, rather than chasing them down one by one.
Esmond had his own battle to fight against the Sect Leader as well, but he knew the fight wouldn't occur here but rather at the Grand Hall of the Sect according to Liao Zhen, who kept a close eye on the combat.
As the Grand Elder of the Exalted Night Heavenly Sect, Liao Zhen could only feel discomfort seeing the vast number of students dying so easily.
There were times he felt like asking Esmond to spare some of the students who didn't know the truth, however Liao Zhen understood if he interfered now with Esmond's plan, he wouldn't be seen to kindly in the man's eyes.
Thankfully his inner turmoil could finally be unleashed as the Inner Court Elders finally chose to take action, only after witnessing the senseless amount of death around them.
While the fighter jet drones couldn't inflict heavy damage on any Elder, the constant light damage was building up with time, which slowly drew the attention of each Elder.
With their focus on wiping out the drones, they weren't aware of Liao Zhen sneaking up on their position, before asking Esmond to cancel the wave of cover fire in the direction of the Elders.
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The second Esmond asked Carter to not fire upon the Inner Court Elders, Liao Zhen appeared before them with his arms folded behind his back.
"M-Master…
It's been some time…"
"Indeed, it has… Wen Fi.
I cannot believe you dared to defy my orders all so long ago…" Liao Zhen couldn't help but have mixed feelings seeing his former students.
Worst of all, his only other personal disciple, Wen Fi happened to be leading the group of exiled individuals who shouldn't have ever returned to the Sect.
"Well… you did something highly student back then, by expelling any of us…
We just felt what you did was rash and quite… rash.
So… in the name of the Sect Leader and his wisdom, we decided to return home… and take what was always rightfully ours… Master." Wen Fi condescendingly stared back at his dear old Master.
Liao Zhen on the other hand, wanted nothing more but to smack the grin off Wen Fi face, especially when the memories of the past came to mind.
All of the dead bodies and villages massacred in the pursuit of power was frightening to clean up when the bodies of the mortals were pinned to the walls or shredded apart into blood, flesh and bones.
Liao Zhen spent many months to quell any after affects caused by the actions of Wen Fi, typically when returning members of the village found their loved ones had disappeared.
"… You've all long lost the right to call me Master…
Tch… I should have never let any of you leave with your heads intact back then." Liao Zhen regretted his decisions from the past, as his mercy had brought upon chaos for the Sect.
He planned to leave no alive after launching his attack, however Liao Zhen felt surprised to see the large increase of cultivated strength in his past students.
'They've all been busy…' Liao Zhen thought as Wen Fi, and the other Inner Court Elders moved in closer to surround their former Master before attacking together.
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"The Old man started his battle against the Elders…
Rahzil… do you want to get involved or what?" Esmond looked over at the Reborn Lich after he noticed Liao Zhen started to fight.
Heavy flashes of colourful lights and pressure encompassed the area of Liao Zhens battle that it drew in cultivators from the Red Tortoise Outer Wing to study the Spiritual Sparks left behind by the combat in the atmosphere to further their cultivation and understanding over the world laws.
Wang Jie tried to send many of the curious cultivators back to safety, yet his own desires trumped responsibility as his eyes and mind focused on the battle in the distant sky.
"I do want to fight… but I'm more inclined to send out my summoned monsters instead so they can improve." Rahzil hoped to send out Spina to fight alongside an army of Undead as his plans were to send them out into the deep valley between the mountains, where many Sect disciples laid in its depths.
"Go then… send your forces." Esmond knew Rahzil was roaring for a fight, but it wouldn't be happening here with the cannons, turrets and missiles all being fired non-stop.
Some of the Droids on the wall hadn't shot off a single round just yet as the weaponry embedded into the mountain kept all away from nearing the walls of the Outer Wing.
Funnily enough, the cultivators who were gathered by Wang Jie in wait for the battle wished to participate more than ever after witnessing the crushing victory so far.
No cultivator expected the artifacts brought by Esmond and Rahzil could leave such a devastating effect on the opponents.
Esmond had yet to realise the conclusive factor which gave the weapons greater functionality happened to be the materials.
Since everything in the Spatial Ark Star World could be infused with Spiritual Essence, the weapons were made mostly out of Spiritual Essence materials, giving them an extra kick and strength above the basic version of the weapons.
Carter recorded a large amount of data throughout the battle, processing it all for Esmond's conveniences, so he'd come to understand the importance of the Spiritual Essence Materials better than Esmond.
Because the battle hadn't finished yet, Esmond wasn't aware of Carters findings, leaving him quite startled at the effectiveness of modern weaponry, but it wasn't anywhere near enough for him to stop and inspect the equipment for an answer.
His mind rather focused on the battle to come against the Sect Leader.
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Rahzil swirled his hands through the air with little effort, summoning Magic Circles and Seals around the outer side of the wall sealing the Outer Wing.
Creatures formed from white bones with dark steel armour surrounding their body frames spawned in the tens of thousands.
The aura from the humanoid Undead Skeleton creatures manipulated those unfortunate in the surrounding area to fall under the weight of its domination.
Its deathly aura was heavily supressed as to not be inflicted by accident on allies, as the strength of Rahzils summoned Undead could shatter the mentality and Spiritual Cores of most cultivators.
Most of the Undead summoned were Knights, equipped with a sword and shield, with only the commander Undead allowed to ride on a beast.
Esmond gasped at the sight of the Undead as he never imagined Rahzil had trained his summoned monsters to such a Level.
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"They've been training ever since I've been here on Astelan.
Like Spina, they were sent out into the forests that surround the mountains." Rahzil only spoke about the Undead extreme strength after observing Esmond's surprised face.
"Seems like this place has more to offer our people than I first thought…" Esmond grinned as he watched the Undead Skeleton Knights carving through a handful of Sect disciples found hiding on the mountain side as the Undead army marched deeper into the valley.
Quick and efficient Knights who were baptised by the blood of the battlefield told Esmond they'd spent plenty of time fighting and battling creatures in the forests to boost their strength to great heights.
Esmond suspected they could easily march on a capital city of any nation on Earth and easily overwhelm any form of resistance without a problem.
Of course, them being Undead gave them a strategic advantage but Esmond believed the Skeleton Knights could slice through army tanks.
Curious to see if I would happen, Esmond planned to have one of the Knights try carving through a modern tank after the battle back in the Space, but for now Esmond needed to pay attention to the outcome of the fight as Liao Zhens mental thoughts reached him.
'Time for you to move, child…
News has reached him of the battle so far.'