Selina watched the Array cover up the area and block her sight. Making it impossible for her to see into it.

The Horst scions had left the moment they were out of the entrapment. They were most probably heading out of the Forest at that moment with no thought in their mind to inform others of the danger lurking.

At least not until THEY were safe.

The Krasts still stood in front of the array because Arnold, the de facto leader had not yet left and they would follow his lead and wait for his call.

As long as it did not unnecessarily put them in harm's way of course

Arnold on the other hand would not leave without Selina who was once again ignoring him despite him having alerted her to the urgency of their situation and how there could be other Assailants nearby.

Selina gazed at the Array and groaned,

"Bastard, what's he trying to hide?"

Despite the words, Arnold almost thought he detected a hint of concern.

But he was sure he must have heard wrong.

She gazed at it a while longer before she turned away and left, her brother and the Krast scions followed closely.

...

Meanwhile, in the Array,

Sassy uncoiled her Serpentine body from Hal's body and slithered a little distance away from the altercation that she could sense was about to begin.

The assailants had no idea why they felt fear when looking into the faces of these two teenagers.

There could not possibly be a chance that these two could take on all twelve off them.

That was insane.

With that thought in mind, the leader shook himself physically and mentally. Getting rid of the feeling of doom that had begun to set in.

Hal and Marla let loose their Cultivation bases.

Hal at the late stage of the Cosmic Pearl realm and Marla at the Peak of the Energy sensing Realm.

Hal's cultivation raised eyebrows all around.

How could he be that strong? There were only a few of them on the scene who could contend with him in terms of cultivation.

However, this was not cause for despair, after all, their late-stage still outnumbered him.

As for the girl, she was no threat.

Or so they thought.

What they did not understand was that when Hal had said 'We go all out' He had actually been referring to Marla as these Men were not worth him going all out.

He was not even going to summon Executioner. The only reason he transformed into his fiend form (Eye color change) was that he wanted to reap their blood essence.

In that regard, it did not matter who killed them.

As long as they bled.

Marla knew this was for her.

An opponent against whom, she could finally use all of the cards at her disposal.

Granted she could not use a skill, as she had already used her quota for the meantime against Selina. But that was fine.

As they were already in the Mid and late states of the Cosmic Pearl Realm. The best choice of Skill to use against them would have been from 2nd grade upward.

And those were beyond her. For now.

"The Mid stagers first" Hal said and the assailants looked confused.

Was he really going to have a girl at the Energy sensing Realm fight those at the Cosmic Pearl realm?

He must have a screw loose!

Marla closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

When she opened it, she grinned and the illusionary dark lady around her form became even darker.

The leader narrowed his eyes at the display.

The changes both Hal and Marla showcased worried him slightly.

He did not completely believe that it was all for show, however, their cultivation remained the same so he couldn't help but relax.

Marla eyed all assailants one by one as though daring them to make a move but none of them did, so she took the decision out of their hands by going after one of the twelve who stood a little apart.

It was as though the assailant she had chosen to go after was expecting it.

And he was.

He had deliberately stood apart, knowing she would pick him for being 'Alone'.

Marla could tell from his confident demeanor that that was his plan but it hardly mattered.

Her grin remained unchanged even as the assailant sent a fully powered Cosmic attack at her.

On a norm, it would have been much too fast for her to avoid but the assailant was quite predictable, and sending a Cosmic attack was something she already expected.

Taking advantage of the inability of Cosmic attacks to change trajectory once released, she was able to change her path slightly and it was enough to evade the attack.

*Boom*

It hit the ground behind her and she made use of the little shockwave to push her forward and punch towards the assailant.

The assailant sneered, surely she was stupid.

Just because she had been lucky enough to evade the Cosmic attack must have made her so arrogant that she even expected her body to hold its own against his.

"Well then, eat this" he snarled and struck out with a punch of his own.

*Bam!*

The two fists made contact and the assailant only had a fraction of a second to gasp at how overpowering her punch was compared to his, as he found himself thrown back by it almost immediately and slammed into the Array that smacked him right into the ground.

*Bang!*

*Cough* *Cough* *Cough*

He covered his mouth as he stood from the floor shakily. Thanks to the metallic taste in his mouth he knew once his hand was withdrawn from his mouth, it would be covered in his blood.

Sure enough, it was.

"Damn it"

He groaned.

He had been careless.

Her body was strong enough to rival his.

That should have been impossible but it was happening all the same.

While Marla's victim struggled and eventually succeeded in standing to his feet, his fellow Mid stages let go of all misguided thoughts that Marla was going to be easy to handle.

It didn't take long at all before Marla was surrounded by all seven Mid stagers.

They made no move and simply stared at Marla while she narrowed her eyes as though calculating the best way out of the predicament.

The leader turned to Hal who had not taken his eyes off the late stagers even though his poise was casual.

He was surprised to find that Hal did not seem remotely worried.

Was there more to Marla than she had shown already?

Nah, that's not possible.

Overpowering a cultivator at the Mid-stage of the Cosmic Pearl realm was surprising enough but now that she had been surrounded, there was no possible way she could remain overpowering.

That was what he thought.

If Hal could hear his thoughts, he would have agreed.

It was true that, in a one on one altercation with a Mid-stage Cosmic Pearl realm cultivator, as long as Marla incorporated the full imbuement of her Dark Maelstrom physique, she would always come out on top.

However, against multiple opponents of that same realm, she was going to be rendered powerless.

If she remained the way she was.

But, if she should make use of her Awakened Mastery. It would be different.

Of course, even with all this, the Mid-stage was her limit.

Hal had noticed she could not cross over that threshold until she advanced to the Cosmic Pearl Realm.

He had no intention of putting the responsibility of taking care of the rest on her.

After all, what kind of a man would he be if he let his woman do all the work.

Training her is a different matter altogether.

And that was why he grinned when he saw Marla's already dark eyes go even darker as the illusionary Dark lady around her swelled to 15 feet in height.

The Array rose higher to accommodate its height increase.

Marla stood in the middle of what now seemed more like a humongous Avatar and started down at the assailants with an imperious gaze.

Awakened Mastery!

Marla raised her fist and the Avatar mirrored her movement and smashed down at one of the assailants, breaking his spinal cord in the process.

"Arrrrghh" he yelled as he quickly went off to the great beyond.

The rest widened their eyes but did not let their stupor last too long before they bombarded the Avatar and by consequence, Marla, with a barrage of Cosmic attacks.

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

The attacks chipped away at the Avatar's strength as it worked to counteract any damage they caused.

Sensing that their attacks were affecting the Avatar, no matter how small, they increased their efforts all for the purpose of bringing it down but it was futile.

Marla made a somewhat complicated gesture from within the Avatar and cloaked three of the assailants in a dark mist.

Then her Acartar shrunk and she returned to what was her normal size but her strength was never diminished and she went after them with strikes that damaged their organs before severing their life force.

Hal smiled and chuckled as he absorbed their blood essence and stored it away for a breakthrough,

"That's my girl" he said proudly.

Marla turned to him,

"This is fun"

The leader's jaw dropped, as he watched his men fall one after the other to Marla's wicked strikes.

"Well, I can't let you have all the fun"

Hal said and before the Leader could blink, he had vanished from his sights, going after one of the late stagers who quickly surrounded himself with Cosmic Energy for protection.

Hal smirked as he saw the useless display.

He unleashed his own Cosmic Energy and pierced through the protection as though it was nothing...

*Bam!*

... and punched a hole into his Victim's (we should probably call all of them victims now) chest and absorbed his blood essence right from the source.