Aldrian and Eleine picked their table and ordered their food while still monitoring the group's movements. Aldrian maintained a calm facade, but inside he was thinking and calculating.
"Two high Earl stage, three low Marquess, and one middle Marquess. That's quite a formidable group over there." The lineup of this group worried him. Not because of how he would face them, but because of their actual intent in infiltrating the Ivory Empire with such a force.
"They are too strong for us, young master! I think we need to report it to the city guard in the end." Eleine sent him via transmission.
"It will be a hassle to convince them for now. We can't just point out some people without clear evidence. Our biggest evidence now is the teleportation artifact, and as for the devils, they have truly covered themselves well. Even we cannot feel their devil energy from here." Aldrian replied to Eleine.
"If the others who infiltrate Balin are this strong, then they are planning something big! And that's just from one artifact that I can look into its karma." Aldrian thought to himself. From one artifact, he could see thousands of branches stemming from it. The energy from the artifact could teleport a Duke stage cultivator.
"If a Duke stage cultivator successfully infiltrates, then the situation is more dire than we can imagine." he frowned.
"Well, let's move one step at a time." he looked at Eleine. "Do you trust me, Eleine?" he asked through transmission, and Eleine looked at him.
"Of course I do, young master." she answered.
"Let me take care of all the Marquess, and you can handle the Earls. Can you do that?" Eleine widened her eyes.
"Young master, please reconsider your decision—" Eleine stopped her sentence when she saw his serious expression and determined eyes.
"Those eyes." Eleine thought, seeing the eyes full of authority that made her unable to refute his decision. It stemmed from her instinct and soul that she had to follow his plan. She lowered her head and sighed, then looked at Aldrian again.
"It's quite tough, but I believe I can hold them, young master." she answered.
Aldrian smiled and sensed the entire kilometer around him, trying to plan his next move.
"There are too many people in this area, so it leaves us with a few choices. First, we wait for the right moment. Second, we create the right moment." he said.
"How do we create the right moment?" Eleine asked.
"I just need to move them to a place where we can fight them while they are caught off guard."
"How?! Don't tell me you just want to teleport us all!"
Aldrian smiled.
"Get ready. There is an open field outside the city. Once we arrive there, you have to attack the Earls instantly. Don't hold back." The range of his second domain extended more than inside the city walls, reaching a kilometer outside the wall and expanding each hour. Eleine wanted to pull her hair out because of his willfulness and her lack of understanding of his actions.
"On my mark..."
He circulated his energy and tried to implement his theory after his comprehension of the space laws of the artifact. However, his technique was more advanced and complicated than the artifact's formation. He locked his energy onto the six people and Eleine, tying their bodies to his. He then locked his energy on the field and created an "exit" for them.
"NOW!"
He instantly pulled them into the folded space he created and placed them on the field outside the western city wall. All of this happened very quickly, not more than a split second, and before they knew it, they were already on the field outside the city wall. The group of six people and Eleine were stunned, but not for long. Eleine instantly unleashed her technique and dashed into the group of six.
"Ice needle." Thousands of needles made from ice launched at very high speed toward the two Earl stage cultivators.
"What the—" The group, caught off guard when they were instantly moved outside, was shocked by the sudden attack. Before they knew it, two of them were already injured before Eleine slashed at them with her daggers. One of them had his head separated from his body, but before her dagger could reach the second person, a barrier suddenly erected before him.
Tack
The dagger couldn't penetrate the barrier and slightly bounced off.
"Defense talisman!" she thought. She continued her attack, focusing on him while the four Marquesses were placed 500 meters away.
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The four Marquesses were already in a wary stance, but when they looked at the person in front of them, they were stunned.
"High Viscount stage?"
"I thought some big shots attacked us."
"What the hell is a mere Viscount stage doing here?"
Aldrian looked at the four of them and thought to himself.
"Still not enough." He wanted to test his full ability inside his domain, but he didn't feel the pressure.
"Maybe I need a Duke cultivator?" he kept thinking as he stared at one of them, the highest cultivation here. This one looked different from the others who underestimated him; he was still in his stance and looked at Aldrian warily.
"Who are you?" he asked. Aldrian then looked at his information again.
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Arion Larv
Age : 10.450 years
Race : Human
Cultivation : Middle Marquess
Cultivation technique : The Curse of The Devil God
Attack techniques : The devil god's wrath, The last shadow, Devil abyss, Hell's shadow.
Defence technique : Devil form
Movement technique : Shadow step
Supporting technique: Devil form
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He looked at the person, whose youthful face contrasted sharply with his age. There were no signs that he was a devil cultivator; he looked just like a normal cultivator. Aldrian remained calm when suddenly one of the Marquesses attacked him without warning with blue fire. The fire, full of devil energy and powerful enough to obliterate a peak Earl stage, was momentarily stared at before Aldrian moved his energy to create a spatial crack in front of the attack. The fire fell into the crack, and another spatial crack appeared in front of the four Marquesses.
"Watch out!" the devil named Arion screamed. They did not expect the attack to be redirected to them like that by a Viscount stage cultivator! However, they were experienced Marquesses, so they quickly created a defense barrier. But when the attack touched their barrier—
Boom
The barrier broke, and a spatial crack slithered like a snake at instant speed toward them. They did not expect the barrier to break and the redirected attack to be more powerful than the original! It was an attack strong enough to kill a low Marquess and heavily injure a middle Marquess like Arion. The crack sliced toward one of the low Marquesses, cutting off his legs and immobilizing him, while another low Marquess was decapitated, ending his life.
"He can use spatial energy and space laws!" Arion said.
"Fuck! What is he?! There is no way he is just a Viscount! I'm afraid he is already a Duke!" the last low Marquess exclaimed.
"I will use Devil Form! We need to tell the others that we have been compromised! You return to the city to call for reinforcements!" Arion ordered. The devil energy inside his body churned and expanded, creating a suffocating aura around him. His body suddenly transformed, becoming bigger and bulkier. His eyes turned black, his skin turned red, and two protruding horns appeared on his forehead. His cultivation also rose by one minor level.
This was Devil Form, the last trump card of devil cultivators, but it had side effects. Their bodies, pushed to contain their sudden power-up, would be damaged, not only physically but also in their dantian, which acted as their energy container. The worst-case scenario was becoming crippled and unable to cultivate ever again if they didn't have strong bodies, while the least was that their cultivation potential would be affected in the future.
Aldrian observed the change, noting that Arion's appearance was now twice and a half his own height.
"So that is Devil Form. What an ominous aura and energy." he thought. He saw that the other devil was trying to run to the city while Arion stayed behind to hold him off.
"What an honorable intent."
But as the other devil dashed back to the city, the devils noticed something strange.
"Call for reinforcements? I'm afraid you can't do that." The devils were stunned and looked around before realizing what had happened.
"Barrier!"
Before they had arrived, Aldrian had already erected a transparent barrier with a diameter of one kilometer around their location.
"The strength of the barrier is enough to withstand a full attack from a Middle Duke! It can also block aura and energy from inside." Arion felt a chill from the strength he sensed from the barrier, but he didn't know the true complexity of the barrier and how Aldrian had made it.
"Hmm, the barrier's sturdiness is good, even though I created it in a rush when I sensed this place. With the illusion formation mixed into the barrier, anyone looking will see nothing except the usual scenery of the field." In other words, Aldrian had built this barrier from his seat when they were still in the tavern! With the power of his domain, he could just put his energy anywhere and create something like unleashing techniques or formations wherever he wanted inside his domain. Suddenly, a line came to his mind,
"'There is nothing that can escape my will.' Is this also a part of it?" He could imagine the potential of this power. For example, if he had an illusion technique, he could cast it wherever he wanted, on whoever he wanted, inside his domain, even when he was in bed. Or he could trap someone with his technique while taking a bath. He could kill someone while just sitting and eating. He saw many applications for this power in the future, and his imagination already formed many scenarios, but he stopped when he looked at the devils' ugly faces.
"I'm sorry for the wait. Let's continue, shall we?" Aldrian said with a smile.