"A battle companion... huh… it's quite rare for me to be unable to recognize a monster species and I consider myself to be quite knowledgeable in this field, so he must be a special case…" 

As Blade walked beside me at this moment, he didn't bother using a mental transmission. Simply using his mouth as he observed Light in his mature form.

"Indeed, he went through a special mutation on top of coming from quite the special lineage…"

"Though it does look familiar somehow…"

"Surely you jest, he had been in hiding for the last while. Besides, he couldn't be just 'familiar' if you did indeed see him before…"

"You are probably correct, it might be that I'm just too drained from the prolonged fight earlier…"

For some reason, we just stood there for a few seconds, discussing in such a relaxed manner. Well, not exactly so…

Just like my Wind Essence discs went around me cutting down demons, Blade's sword, which was probably his 'Essence Weapon' judging from how lethal its strikes were, went around taking the lives of the demons as well.

We were both actively contributing to the chaotic fight unlike how we appeared to be. It seemed like Blade was just trying to forget the stress he felt in his battle by clearing his mind, but I, on the other hand, couldn't keep my head clear at all. After all…

[ Congratulations! You have managed to destroy one of the erupted demon bases of the Nature Domain! ]

[ Calculating your contribution to the base's destruction… ]

[ Your actions… ] 

[ You have received 0.25 stat points ]

[ Congratulations! You… ]

[You have… ]

[ Congra… ]

Who could keep his mind clear when the notifs won't just stop being announced in his head and appearing in front of his eyes…?

'The rewards are nice and all, but the repeated notifs are just annoying at this point…'

It simply seemed as if most of the other 'team leaders' had been suspicious enough not to end their battles at the very first sign of their adversaries' weakness like the Cult Master did, but once they did confirm the fact, they simply went all out as notifs that signified the destruction of the 'mini-corruption cores' literally kept being spammed at me.

Having tried to mute them somehow but still failing to do so, I could only put on my facade of just watching the battle and contributing a little until the notif wave finally ends.

'That being said, this guy still seems to be full of energy…'

On the other hand, the Supreme Sword who was done with his task, didn't try to calm down or take a rest or anything of similar nature as he started a large scale slaughter against the remnant of the demon army who simply stood no chance in their weakened state…

It seemed like he was the one that had it the easiest so far as he probably didn't have much trouble neither with consumption of essence nor with over-fatigue against the five 'mini-bosses', being nothing but a matter of time to him.

"Well then, we should probably help with the clean-up so that we can support other fronts if needed…"

"Mhm…"

`~~`~~`~~`

Silence pervaded the usually bustling Battle City even though a great deal of people were gathered within the scene...

"We may have all gathered here for the purpose of celebrating our victory, but…"

In the Colosseum where the exciting battles, or even the anticipation full ranking event normally took place, those who sat in the observing seats and those who stood in the now almost stage-less venue were mostly just looking downward as they listened to voice coming from the only stage at the very center of the venue…

"Not all of those that made this possible are here to join us…"

"Regardless of their origin being a sect, cult or any faction. The domain as a whole has lost a select few who were both honest and devoted, those who ended up sacrificing themselves for the sake of humanity and its survival. Naturally, they all deserve to be remembered and rewarded even after their death…"

"However, let us not be overcome by grief and forget why their lives had to be forfeit. Their deaths are nothing but losses that we have accrued due to how foolish we have been acting for a very long while!"

A few faces took on a slightly offended look as they heard that statement, but they returned to their original state due to how partially correct it was, and most importantly to the one who spoke it out loud, for he was one of the only few that could let out such careless words.

"The fight for resources, inheritances, and talents, all of these stages had caused a great division that overtook the domain, starting from my sect itself and moving on to the other factions, a division that is considered to be the underlying cause behind the capability of those insidious demons to hide within our ranks and achieve their scheme that almost laid waste to the whole domain!"

"If not for the outside help that we received so that we can take a look at the big picture, we probably wouldn't have been able to have this gathering, which obviously calls for a big change in how we ran things…"

As the mysterious Elemental Blade that hardly appeared before people stood there and recounted his speech that seemed to be asking for innovation, most of the observers understood that something big was bound to happen very soon considering the fact that more than half of the top tier faction heads were standing next to him without batting an eyelid. 

"Naturally, what comes first after remembering our fallen ones is to celebrate the success of our rebellion against the demons, what changes will happen as well as the rewards for each one of you who participated in the final stand will only take place after that, so…"

"Let the celebration begin!"

Meanwhile, in a close quiet noodle shop, the so-called outside help was sitting on the same table as two other familiar faces…