In a battered large hall, a battle was at its peak. There was chaos, explosions and deaths occurring every moment. This was the fight between Miang faction + Xie faction against the Raiders. Additionally, Silverians had joined in and had been fighting Trinity.
Silverians and Trininty were among the elite teams of the Consulate, directly under the elders' council. These two teams had a long grudge with each other.
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The fight between the leaders of two teams had already come to a conclusion. It was a draw.
Silver Knightmare was unable to fight since he was completely exhausted & Uriel was dead. He had gone down in a blaze of glory and taken down multiple opponents when he blasted himself into smithereens.
He'd have died soon anyway as Ming Sheng had poisoned him. This treachery did not escape the eyes of Ganza and Chen- the remaining members of Trinity. They wanted to tear Ming Sheng apart for his betrayal but currently they were having a hard time keeping their heads on their necks. Chen was fighting Deodomus and Ganza was being chased by two silverians.
"Where are you going old man!? Fight me!" Xiurong shouted and slashed her sword in air, sending out chi arcs that could easily cut through metal.
"Flower cushion!" Lifen shouted and threw several seeds towards Ganza. These seeds bloomed into a large cushion of flowers the moment they hit the ground.
Squish-squish! Ganza stepped on the flowers which oozed with gum-like sap and stuck to his boots, slowing down his pace.
Shak-shak-shak boom! The chi arcs struck Ganza's back, injuring him. Ganza stood at his spot with his eyes redding with anger.
Squish-squish. He turned around and faced the two women.
Squish-squish. He walked towards them with intention of brawling it out to death. And it would be intimidating if not for the…
Squish-squish-squish-squish.
"Pfffwahahahaha!!!"
"Ahahahaha!!"
Xiurong and Lifen broken into a cackle as Ganza walked towards them with squishy sounds.
"Ahh so scary! I'm gonna cry! Hahaha!" Xiurong could not stop laughing. Her stomach had started to ache.
"Hehehe." Lifen was barely calming down. Her face was ruddy. She pulled out her belt which turned into a spiked vine. Her gaze became serious as she locked eyes with Ganza's.
"He's coming." Lifen spoke.
Swoosh! Shew-shew-crack!
Lifen and Ganza got into a speedy battle. Ganza was fast but so was Lifen. She used her vine whip to attack him. Ganza hacked at it with his sword but was unable to cut it.
Shinnk! A wavy broad sword attacked Ganza's neck. He bent backwards, letting it slide above his face and then resumed the fight with Lifen while being mindful of Xiurong. It was apparent that he was trying to take them down one at a time but it was an opportunity for Xiurong and she used it well, injuring Ganza repeatedly.
Although Ganza could fight both of them together but he would soon run out of energy and recovering it would be hard. Plus, he was emotionally unstable now. His old friend and leader Uriel had died. Ganza wanted to kill everyone in his sight but keeping his head rational was also important. All his internal conflicts led to him weaken strategically.
Meanwhile Chen was battling Deodomus with great speed.
Clang-clang-clang-clang-clang! His sword clanged with Deodomus' while his body flickered continuously. He was moving rapidly, attacking Deodomus from different sides but continued to fail.
"Hehehe, come on now. Is this the best you can do?" Deodomus sneered. He was far above Chen in cultivation and had his own set of techniques that allowed him to play with Chen easily.
"Haahh! 11 mirror swords!" Chen roared and 11 swords emerged in air out of nothing and hovered slowly with their tips aimed at Deodomus.
"There it is…" Deodomus sneered. This was Chen's trump card. A mysterious technique that could seemingly allow him to control multiple swords without touching them. It was similar to Silver Knightmare's technique.
"22 Mirror swords! 33, 44, 55 Mirror Swords!" Chen howled. His eyes glaring as a total 165 swords emerged and surrounded Deodomus.
"Come." Deodomus gestured with his left hand.
Swoosh-swoosh-swoosh-swosh-swoosh! All the swords leapt at Deodomus, attacking him from all sides.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! He parried and defended while also dodging. Currently he was completely swarmed with swords and could not spare any focus elsewhere. These swords' speed was phenomenal, even making Deodomus sweat.
Swoosh- shak! A sword stabbed through Deodomus' left forearm. It was being held by Chen who was in camouflage mode. Blood splattered. Deodomus' eyes widened in shock and his body trembled. He had been poisoned by Chen's sword! Deodomus' sword fell off his hand while Chen sneered.
"You're finished!" Chen snarled.
But Deodomus suddenly smirked and aimed his palm towards Chen.
"Chaos Beam!" He shouted.
Boom!!! A powerful beam of chaotic energy struck Chen fiercely and blew him away.
Bam-bam-bam-bam-boom! Chen's body struck with multiple unfortunate cultivators in its trajectory and finally collided into the hall's wall, breaking a part of it after the collision.
"Ohok…" Chen coughed out blood and scrutinized himself even though his head was spinning and his gaze was blurry. There was a gaping hole in his stomach and his intestines had been destroyed entirely. His backbone had also been decimated around that hole. This was a deathly blow.
Chen quickly summoned a handful of healing pills and chewed on them crazily. His body started healing rapidly but he continued to cough out blood and almost fainted.
Chi deviation.
This was the worst possible timing for a chi deviation. Chen was currently surrounded by enemy cultivators who had recognized him and were slowly walking towards him with malicious thoughts. His body was yet to heal but all those healing pills had actually flooded external energy into his system for healing but due to the damaged meridians, he immediately suffered a chi deviation. He would be unable to fight properly for a long time. If he could survive the current predicament anyway.
Swoosh! Deodomus landed before Chen and looked down upon him.
"Where are all those swords you had summoned earlier?" He asked with a smirk. Chen glared at him and did not reply. Those swords were nothing but illusion and Deodomus had seen right through it.
"How…?" Chen uttered a question. Deodomus squatted before him casually. He had apparently already detoxified himself with an antidote.
"There is chaos everywhere." Deodomus spoke. "Movement causes chaos, winds cause chaos, even spoken words cause chaos. It cannot be easily felt by people but I can. Those mirror swords of yours…they caused no chaos despite floating and swinging and whatnot."
"…" Chen fell silent. Apparently Deodomus had noticed the illusion of mirror swords thanks to his Chaos technique. There was no need for unnecessary words to explain things now.
"You've bested me." Chen uttered. "Finish me off."
"Heh. Not so quickly." Deodomus sneered and summoned a sword, placing its sharp edge on Chen's right bicep.
"Did you enjoy amputating Xiao's limbs?" Deodomus asked dangerously.
"…" Chen glared at him in rage. "Fuck off." He cussed.
Shak! The sword cut through Chen's arm, amputating it easily.
"Ahhh!!!" Chen screamed clutching his stump while blood splattered everywhere. Deodomus' gaze remained dangerous. He stood up and aimed his sword at Chen's left arm.
"Wait!" Suddenly someone shouted and landed beside Deodomus. This person was Ming Sheng.
"Yes?" Deodomus asked his intention casually. Ming Shen was technically an opponent now. Deodomus had not noticed earlier when Ming Sheng poisoned Uriel.
"There is someone who deserves better to exact their vengeance upon this person." Ming Sheng said and cupped his hands politely.
"Oh? Hahah. And who that?" Deodomus asked, pulling away his sword. Ming Sheng had made clear his defection from Trinity and Deodomus took his word for it.
Ming Sheng's ring glowed and two women emerged from it. One of them had milky white skin, long black hair, petite body and cold eyes. She was wearing a translucent white sundress. She was Tian Mei.
The other woman had a tall muscular brown body with tough abs and tattooed forearms. Her hair were brown and wavy. Her eyes too were brown and emitting danger. She had big dense breasts and tight buttocks. She was wearing a micro bikini of sorts that barely covered her crotch and nipples, still leaving her black areolas visible and her bushy pubic hair sticking out too. Her hips were fully visible with only a string lodged deep in the ass crack in the name of clothing. This bold woman was Lyra.
"You…you killed my mother, you bastard…" Lyra snarled in a shaky voice. Her eyes were teary.
"Hahahah! Come at me bitch! I'll kill you too!" Chen shouted hysterically.
Lyra stepped forward.
Shik-shik-shik! Several poisoned darts were hurled at her by Chen but they struck a veil of water before dropping down.
The water swirled around and returned to Tian Mei's body. She had water element constitution and thus could easily manipulate water.
Lyra immediately pounced on Chen and started bashing him down with bare hands.
Bam! Bam! Boom! Thowk! Crack!
Punches and kicks struck Chen repeatedly, breaking his several bones. Tian Mei joined in and started stabbing him with a dagger. The two women showed no restraint.
"Ahh! Ahh! Gahhh!" Chen's bloodcurdling screams erupted got submerged in the chaos of ongoing battle in the hall.
Deodomus and Ming Sheng watched Chen's death in silence before looking at each other.
"Who's the petite woman?" Deodomus asked. He was intrigued about the water element constitution.
"Tian Mei. A bishop abandoned by her faction after her defeat at Lyra's hand who was representing Raiders back then." Ming Sheng explained.
"And they are fighting together now?" Deodomus raised an eyebrow.
"Common enemy." Ming Sheng replied. "Chen subjected Tian Mei's followers to a r@pe fest. Several of them have died during it. He also raped Lyra's mother to death and then had her transformed into a fuckdoll for casual sex."
"…" Even Deodomus fell silent hearing about Chen's crimes.
"Where is Xiao?" Deodomus asked.
"I thought you'd know." Ming Sheng replied. "Last I heard, she went into closed door cultivation somewhere in hiding. Her condition before that was… not good."
"Hmm, surely you can help her when she returns." Deodomus asked.
"Of course. I will ta…" Ming Shen paused as the world spun around him.
Bam! He was flung away and fell on the floor as Ganza had struck him.
"Backstabbing bastard!!" Ganza roared and attacked Ming Sheng again, landing on his chest and hurling down a barrage of punches.
Bam! Bam! Bam! Ming Sheng saw stars and blood oozed out of his nose and ears.
"We taught you everything we knew! We protected you! We helped you raise your cultivation. We made you an elite! We were your friends, you bastard!" Ganza shouted while continuing his assault.
Deodomus did not intervene. He scrutinized Ganza and found him to be at death's door. There were deep cuts all over his body. His left leg had melted away, his skin was blue and there was fungus growing on his head. Xiurong and Lifen had pushed Ganza so close to his end. Deodomus glanced over and found the two women dozens of feet away. They were equally injured. Xiurong was clutching her belly and vomiting blood continuously. Lifen was trying to help her but she could not see anything. Ganza was no small fry. He was an elite cultivator and an Empyrean doctor. His last fight was nothing short of incredible. He fought two elites and crippled them too. Xiurong's dantian had been shattered. She was now an ordinary human. Lifen had lost her sight to acids. Even the skin around her eyes was burnt off.
Deodomus sighed and his gaze scoured the entirety of the hall. So many young talents had perished. Powerful cultivators cut down like grass. All of this for pride, greed and vengeance. Deodomus had seen so many wars in his life. He was a mercenary since his teenage. All these deaths around him did not make him wince. He only sighed and regained his casual expression.
"DIE!!!" Ganza shouted and raised a liquor jar up to smash it on Ming Sheng's head. No one knew what kind of liquor it was but it would definitely be life-threatening.
Shak! A knife stabbed into Ganza's head and killed him instantly. Deodomus loosened his grip on the sword hilt. He had actually been ready to kill Ganza himself to protect Ming Sheng in order to heal Xiao of whatever health issues she was facing.
Tengfei landed near them. He was supporting Silver Knightmare with one arm. Deodomus nodded at Tengfei and he nodded back. Tenfei was the one who had thrown that knife at Ganza's head, killing him.
Knightmare stood silent. Since even his eyes could not be seen under his helmet, it was hard to tell whether he was even awake.
"Ohok…" Ming Sheng coughed a little and pushed Ganza's corpse off of him. He then wiped his face and looked at Ganza somberly.
"I'm sorry friend." Ming Sheng uttered. "It's not that I wanted to betray you all but… I just could not take it anymore. Your evil seemed to have no bottom line & I could not watch you continue trampling on all the humans around you."
"You are a good man, sir Ming Sheng." Tengfei said. "You did the right thing. Our Xie faction will support you if you'd like us to." He offered.
Ming Sheng shook his head in refusal. "Thank you but…I'll follow Xiao."
Deodomus smiled and patted Ming Sheng. There was no need for further words. They all then looked towards Chen whose corpse had been dismembered into pieces by the two vengeful women. Blood was splattered all over their faces and body. They finally got up panting and turned around. They had exacted their vengeance.
For a short moment, Tian Mei and Lyra glanced at one another. Tian Mei's misfortune was brought about by Lyra when she used underhanded means to subjugate her and then r@pe her. But thinking back then, Tian Mei knew that even if Lyra were not there to do it, she would have suffered the same fate anyway at Trinity's hands. Plus knowing the miseries Lyra experienced all this time had quenched any grudge Tian Mei had against her.
About how these two women regained their sanity…? The answer was Ming Sheng. They were inside his spatial ring since before this raid began. Ming Sheng had healed them both secretly and informed them of the things that had transpired all this while, including Tian Mei's followers' misfortune, Inez's death and current situation. Lyra demanded revenge and Ming Sheng agreed to give it to her. This was actually him trying to seek Lyra's prowess as he himself was not strong enough to take down Trinity. But many unexpected things happened. Silverians arrived and Uriel was badly injured. It was a heaven-sent opportunity for Ming Sheng and he did not let it slip. The rest was now history.
"It's all over now." Deodomus said while scrutinizing the hall. Only the fights between Master realm warriors were meaningful. Raiders had lost Dennis & Aisle. Rage had been defeated by Ryuga. On the other hand, Miang faction had lost a handful of bishops too and some promising cultivators such as Zhilan.
"I'll kill you! I'll definitely kill you!" Rage shouted angrily. His main technique was a unique type Empyrean grade technique. It could make his strength increase parallel to his anger. But it could not boost his defence while Ryuga had many gu worms and his cultivation was higher than Rage's. In the battle of attrition, he had claimed victory. Rage was so injured that he could not even move anymore.
"Hehehe. You can try again. For now, shut your howling." Ryuga said and hacked at Rage's neck with his palm, rendering him unconscious. He then scrutinized the battlefield and his gaze met with Deodomus's. They both nodded. Victory was theirs. It was time to announce it. This had been quite a fierce battle that led to the end of Trninty and Silverians. Of both elite teams, only 1 member each remained able to continue on the path of cultivation. Trinity's 3 members were dead. Silverians' 2 members were crippled. This was truly a loss for Consulate.
RUMBLE!!! Suddenly the whole hall shook heavily. The roof crumbled down entirely and injured several people while the pillars developed cracks and the fighting stopped abruptly.
"What the hell is this? Earthquake in the sky?" Someone exclaimed.
This was a piece of land hovering in the sky. There couldn't possibly be any earthquakes.
"Did somebody use an earth element technique?" Ming Sheng asked curiously.
"Oh no…it's him. The guardian! He has awoken!" Tengfei exclaimed.
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Author's ramble:
Hi. Sorry sorry! It's been too a gap in the chapter release. I'll be honest; I procrastinated for the most time, postponing writing to a fictional tomorrow that didn't arrive until a month later. I did the same at work uwu and work piled up. I did multiple all-nighters to save my job lol but procrastination kept returning. Even now I'm struggling with it. It's always lurking. But thankfully we have multiple comic releases at the end of the month so there's much much work piled up to induce the necessary pressure. So while I haul out the drawings, I'll spin the next chapter in my head. It will prolly be released after a week unless I get my drive back.
Also, I'm putting milf system on hiatus. That one is comparatively easier to return to but Xiao is not. I am trying to finish one book at a time now. Since this arc is almost finished, and the next one is barely 10 chapters, we are very close to the end. See you next week.