After Angel's attack, the place seemed to enter a stalemate. Seeing nine of the strongest cultivators being blasted flying in an instant was very impactful. Therefore, Angel, who looked extremely pure and innocent while hugging Yasenia's neck, became the most feared cultivator.
Yasenia gave Angel another lick as a reward, making Angel's previous serious face regain a sweet smile and continue to give her kisses. Yasenia squinted and purred, feeling quite well in Angel's arms.
Isla descended beside them, unafraid of retaliation. However, when her spiritual sense caught Angel's hand moving, she flinched and took a step back.
Angel's eyes fixed on Isla, and although she looked calm, Isla knew that this cute and short woman would retaliate quite violently when she said something wrong.
Inside Isla, this didn't feel right. It was as if some sort of authority was being challenged. She should be the one making demands and being feared by others, not the other way around. Nevertheless, she ignored those feelings and turned toward Yasenia, saying what she came to say. "Yasenia, you should give the shield back to Jaxon."
Yasenia looked toward Isla, surprised. She spoke... "Groar?" Only to feel annoyed. 'Why did I lose my ability to speak!?'
Laurina chuckled and said. "Yasenia is asking why you would say that."
Yasenia nodded and commented, with Laurina's help to traduce. "Not only are you his enemy, but your races are also at complete odds. There is no reason for you to defend him."
Isla explained. "If a battle starts, many will die. It is not worth losing so many lives over a shield."
Yasenia looked at Laurina and said in dragon tongue, "Help me translate, please." She nodded with a smile.
Then as Yasenia roared and growled, Laurina spoke, "A battle? Why would all the cultivators here fight? To return a single item to Jaxon? That's not true. His demon side is not strong enough to threaten all of us. Heck, it is not strong enough to threaten my side. With my dears as a spearhead, I'm sure we can exterminate their army with small casualties."
Isla looked at Yasenia with her grey eyes and said, waving toward the beasts, "What if I don't help? Are you willing to sacrifice them so that your lover has a single item? Jaxon wouldn't doubt sacrificing them to recover it!"
Yasenia separated from Angel and squinted. "What are you trying to do, Isla? Do you think you can order everyone around? Your actions are illogical."
Isla spoke aloud, "I can't control the individuals gathered here, but I can guide them! My divine race is the leading race of the Universe, and we fight against Demons for the sake of the other races. Being the only Divine in the Secret realm, I'm more than qualified to be heard by everyone."
Yasenia blinked twice. Then, she sighed and spoke through Laurina some more, "I'm disappointed. With our small conversation, I thought you were different. Someone with a head above your shoulders and with your own beliefs. I think your views are different from mine."
Yasenia looked around and roared aloud, spreading her presence to the surroundings; Laurina followed her tone change and shouted aloud. "Are all of you Jaxon's or Isla's puppets!? Will you really fight against all the beasts and beast-humans present to return a shield to him? Will you really avoid fighting against the creatures invading our Continent because Isla told you!?"
Yasenia flapped her wings, instantly elevating fifty meters into the air, and roared once.
*ROAAR!*
Even without translation, the message was clear. "Bring it on!"
The beasts, Laurina, and the other leaders followed Yasenia's dragon cry, and Yasenia's S.L.U.T group also screamed with them!
*ROAAR!!!*
*RHAAA!!*
The voice of more than two thousand creatures echoed in the surroundings. If the demons wanted to fight for a shield, they welcomed the challenge! They were not afraid!
This shout full of provocation rang alarm bells, and all sides moved in preparation for battle. Isla also flapped her ten white wings and flew before Yasenia. She condemned, "Are you sending innocent beings to their death for a shield!? You are crazy!"
Cecile appeared between Isla and Yasenia and spoke coldly. "It is not for a shield, Isla. How many times have Demons done as they pleased inside the realm? How many have fallen victim to their deeds? Do you think that avoiding confrontation will lead to a pacific end? It will not."
Cecile said word by word, "The only method to make Demons stop is fear! Make them fear us so that they don't dare do whatever they like! In this World and many others, sadly, the one who is stronger is right. And so, we shall show Demons and their allies that we are not pushovers!"
Isla snorted, "You can say that because we are in the Secret Realm. What will happen when we go outside!? Unless the Divines arrive in the Sky Continent, the seniors will all die once the stronger Demons arrive!"
Cecile shook her head, "Go back to your group. We've already heard enough to know your position on things. You don't understand that they've already begun the invasion. Killing some juniors won't change anything."
Yasenia's eyes sparkled as she flew behind Cecile, 'So cool~.' Cecile turned, and after grabbing Yasenia's claw, they flew down.
The numbers were quite against them.
If we counted all beast-leaders as one group, there were a total of three main groups.
The first group was led by Jaxon, with Gerd within the group.
His side had a mix of Demons, humans, and Beast-humans. There were a few beasts, but most of them were contracted.
Those that were not didn't deflect because they had long lost most of their natural instincts, becoming something called Demonic Beast.
They were far less intelligent than intelligent beasts but as strong.
They were the biggest group with six thousand individuals. That was almost half of the total number of creatures present, which was fourteen thousand. It had grown from the previous twelve thousand as the events unfolded.
Half of Jaxon's group was made of demons of many subraces, and the rest were a mix of the other races.
The second biggest group was Isla's, with five thousand thousand cultivators. The grand majority were humans, and the other human leaders that appeared in the past were inside this group. To refresh your memory, they were Isiah, the Medicine Valley genius; Caleb, the Zither-playing Musician; Long Baidi and Tang Xian, the ret- *Cough.* The leaders of the noble families; and Qin Xue, the leader of non-demonic Dual Cutlvators.
Finally, the third and last group was Yasenia's. They didn't reach three thousand in terms of numbers, but they were close.
Between them, almost all the Academy students in the area, the S.L.U.T group, and basically ninety percent of beast-humans and beasts gathered.
However, although their numbers were smaller, Yasenia's group had the advantage of... Well, being Yasenia's group. Yasenia, Cecile, Andrea, Angel, Evelyn, and Kali were forces to be reckoned with.
Then, they also had the five beast leaders, Laurina, Razar, Gorena, Sirae, and Frisk.
Inside the S.L.U.T. group were Lidia and Linda, who had also managed to reach the Unification Realm because they previously were at the peak of the Half-step level. Not to mention the three cult leaders, I mean, fan leaders, who were also in the Unification Realm.
In short, they had more Unification Realm experts compared to the other groups, and it would be nice to remind you that beasts at the same level were stronger than their humanoid counterparts, Demons and Divines included.
That's why Eira and Boreas, the Ice Phoenix Patriarch and Matriarch, fought ten Demon Monarchs each in the War. Even then, they managed to kill some of them before Tian Long was summoned.
All groups evaluated each other's strengths. The thing people still were unsure about was Yasenia's and her wives' current power.
The six of them had surprisingly entered the Unification Realm. Jaxon and Isla expected Andrea to enter it because she was the closest, but not the others.
This fact gave them a bad feeling since they could fight against Yasenia in the past because of her low cultivation level. How strong was she now that she had caught up with them? What about her wives?
Yasenia looked around, her mouth arched, showing a row of extremely sharp fangs. Then, she shouted, "Growl, roar!"
Yasenia froze for a second. 'Ugh... I want to speak aloud!' She still was unaccustomed to not being able to speak.
However, Cecile wouldn't let her dearest embarrass herself. Her cold voice echoed in the area, following right after Yasenia's powerful-sounding roars. "Pathetic! Do you really think you can battle against us? Even if you win, at what cost would that be?"
The dragoness's golden eyes sparkled like a warm Sun. 'Right, I could've used Cecile or Angel to translate me! They know my thoughts thanks to our connection.'
Jaxon frowned. He thought his group was much bigger. 'Weren't there more beast-humans and beasts within my ranks?'
What he didn't expect was Yasenia's influence.
A demon flew beside him and said with worry. "Many of our captured beasts and beast-humans have escaped. With everyone moving, we couldn't stop them all from leaving. Once they were close enough, they all deserted to Yasenia's side. The beasts on their side helped them, and we could only kill twenty percent of those that escaped."
Jaxon's face instantly darkened. "I'm going to kill all of them!"
Isla was also confused about the size of her group until a human man appeared on her side and said a similar thing. "Savior, a part of our forces had deserted toward Yasenia's side. We've underestimated her influence."
Isla frowned. After unlocking her bloodline and transforming into a complete Divine, some of their traits have begun showing. Arrogance and wish for control seemed to be one of them. "Although I have nothing against her, we can't let her run rampant and do as she likes. Do not make it obvious, but help Jaxon's side until the casualties are enough. Once Yasenia's forces are forced to retreat, we'll sweep in and save them. That should build enough influence for me to gain enough authority to overrule Yasenia's bloodline pressure."
The man asked with uncertainty, "What about the Death Empress? If something happens to Yasenia, she will go on a rampage."
Isla shook her head, "In the grand scheme of things, she is weak. We don't have to worry even if we enter combat with Yasenia; the Death Empress is not a threat outside this realm. Moreover, we can't let Yasenia grow, or she can develop a very powerful threat… Hmm? Where are Linda, Lidia, and those from the Academy?"
The man coughed and said awkwardly. "The reason I informed you is so fast is that the ones who left amount to almost seven hundred. Our previous six thousand forces are reduced to five because of that."
Isla blinked twice, unable to believe it. Long Baidi and Tang Xian appeared beside Isla and said, "We warned you that she was dangerous the moment you appeared. But you didn't listen. We shouldn't have left her alone for so long; attacking her was the right option."
Isla's frown deepened. "Even those from the Academy left? Are they trying to rebel? They are supposed to be allies with our Heavenly Sect, not a Dragon!"
The man wanted to say that the Dragon's mother was the leader of the Academy, but he kept it to himself. Discussing at this time will only lead to bad things.
This was why Yasenia's group had almost three thousand individuals; one thousand came from the other two main groups.