Aswelth

The battle was not going well. The dozen Grand Trees were indeed a trap. The Grand Elder had ascent more forces to the Sect and Kingdom and hoped to occupy the Grand Trees here. Viola and Duke Reinar had gone back, but it was still not looking good.

Aswelth had his one problem to deal with. The massive army besieging the Capital. The Ducal guard was killing it as quickly as they could, but there was this lesser known thing about multi-continental empires that he had not remembered. The Empires were huge, and so were their armies.

The Grand Elder had put forth and lost thousands of mortals in this battle already. Aswelth would have just let them go, but the poor soldiers were manipulated to such an extent that they would bang themselves against the wall until they died.

The first step, find a way to cancel whatever manipulation they had going on. The way to do that? Now, that would require having someone that actually knew how mental manipulation worked. And the Archduchess had banned it long ago. So no one did. Not in the Arch duchy.

Aswelth had no idea how to deal with such a phenomenon. But he also had no choice, the ring of typhoons guarding them was destroying the Ducal guards' morale. The guard was used to saving people, not harming manipulated innocents.

Aswelth witched to spirit sight, hoping he could find something there. But to no avail, there was nothing. The mortals were just as he had thought, auraless, powerless and innocent in this war. Wait, they were auraless.

And he had it. Or maybe he didn’t. A little push of aura could just move them back, counter the manipulation with more manipulation, but would it still hold when hundreds of thousands came?

The only way to find out was to try.

“Release your auras!” Aswelth commanded. The Ducal guard followed his orders, and it worked, for a while. The mortals got rebuffed, freezing before the walls. The typhoons were withdrawn. But it did not last, there were just too many mortals. The pressure alone crushed them. Thankfully, Aswelth had a solution for that.

The ground opened up below the wall, turning into a portal. A portal to the Empire. The mortals would still head to the Arch duchy to bash their heads on the wall, but it would take them months to get back.

A cultivator would resist, but a mortal could not. The tactic would fail even in the lowest ranks of cultivators, the cost too high for Aswelth. The mortals went away, and more came, But they all ended up in the Empire. A few minutes later, the mortals changed to low level cultivators.

Aswelth smiled. The Grand Elder had fallen for his trap, now she had given his army fuel to grow. The Ducal guard would kill these people, and whoever came to replace them. And just like the beast wave, they would grow immensely.

Aswelth watched as his prediction came through. The typhoons re-emerged, and the army died. Though it was still possible that these cultivators were manipulated, they did not act so. And the rule for portals held here. A mortal could not resist, and thus doing anything to them required minimal Qi. A cultivator? The cost rose exponentially with cultivation.

A Grand Tree could theoretically still control thousands of cultivators, but it would also be a waste of Qi. And in the end, regardless of whether they were willing or not, they were here to kill his people.

The battle continued, and his people levelled up. The growth was practically visible as the Grand Elder poured more and more people, their levels growing higher. An hour later, the Ducal guard was out of Seedlings. A few hours later, Saplings. The members had levelled up so much that there weren’t any around anymore.

The Adventure Guild too was getting close to that level. The only reason the levelling had even been this slow was because quite literally everyone in the Capital was getting a bit o the Qi. The wall had a constantly turning marathon of sorts. The people got in from one side and out the other.

Aswelth shook his head at it. The situation was both an extremely disorganized way to make war, but also an excellent way to solve their current Qi rush. The people would level up, and that would calm it for a while.

The war was a joke.

Viola

Viola met up with Duke Reinar in the Kingdom Capital’s air. The attack on the Sect had been impressive in numbers, but utter trash in quality. A few hours in, it had been dealt with in its entirety. The Kingdom had it worse however, too many cities to take care of, too many targets.

So Viola had come here to help.

“The Duchy of Merden has been secured.” she said.

“Thank you, Viola. Now could you please do the same with the rest of them?” Duke Reinar said, jokingly. “The Kingdom is not faring well. The army was built on numbers, but the Grand Elder has a huge advantage there. The Arch duchy and your sect focused on quality, and don’t have many targets. The amount of portals popping up has increased in the last five minutes itself. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Grand Elder was focusing here now.”

“Well, what do you want me to do then? I could move some of the Sect forces here, and I am sure Aswelth could spare some.” Viola answered.

“Yes, that would be welcome” Duke radar replied and teleported away, having what he wanted. Viola shook her head at his ways. The Kingdom might have become a democracy, but its ruler had yet to outgrow the old ways.

But it was none of her business, all she had to do was call the forces. And she did. The Sect forces joined the battle, and so did the Adventurers Guild, fighting against the Grand Elder.

The battle continued as normal for a few more hours until the Kingdom capital came under attack. Viola immediately shot into battle, attacking the trio of Grand Trees that had emerged from the portal.

A tsunami appeared in the air, heading towards them as she formed a whirlpool before her. The Grand Trees dodged, freezing her tsunami and causing the shards to fall down on the city.

Viola cursed, water would not be a good defense against this tactic. Thankfully, Duke Reinar was there to burn them away. Now angry, she conjured even more tsunamis, making them supernaturally fast as she sent them their way.

The Grand Trees dodged again, once more attempting the same tactic. But this time Viola was ready. The speed of the tsunami made it harder to freeze, and that gave her time to react. A little will, and the tsunami found its mark.

The trio hid behind walls of rock, blocking her from attacking, but she wasn’t done. A number of tsunamis appeared, trapping them in place and forcing them to defend. The rock eventually cracked, and Duke Reinar was there to set the inside of it on fire. The Grand Trees were dead within seconds.

Viola smiled at that. Ah, sweet, sweet victory.

The Jade Sect has been destroyed

And just like that, things changed. Viola felt horror rush up her body as she teleported to the Sect headquarters. As the System had said, it was destroyed. The entire ground lay in ruin, burned to ashes. What had happened here?

The Grand Elder’s attacks had been rebuffed hours ago. And any change would have been reported to her. Viola looked around for survivors, finally finding one.

“What happened.” she asked her.

“The Sect, it was attacked.” the poor girl croaked, her face covered with ash, and her throat clearly filled with smoke, but her body otherwise uninjured.

“Yes, and then what, why was I not called?” Viola asked.

“No, it was just one attack. A woman, she appeared in the sky and waved her hand. And then it was all fire, just fire.” she said.

Viola removed her communicator from her space ring, her breadth quickening as her hands began to shiver. Aswelth needed to know. But before she could get a word in, he was already talking.

“Viola, you need to get here now. And as fast as you can. I know that the Sect has been destroyed, and I know why. Grand Elder Betaca is here, and she is far, far more powerful than we thought.” Aswelth said. Viola could just barely hear the sound of wood crackling and explosions through the communicator. Deciding not to waste time, she teleported there.

The Arch duchy was burning. The wall was gone. And the sea had not only come to its borders, but also risen so high that it swallowed the mountains. And in front of the massive tidal wave was a single white robed figure, embers emerging from her dress. Grand elder Betaca.

Altura

Do I return or do I not? The question was quite important. On one hand, I had not received any message from my Mother through the hairpin. So I could theoretically go back and come back later, but was it the right decision.

Hmm, what should I do. System, show notifications.

The Jade Sect has been destroyed.

And the System had made the decision for me. I sighed as I extended my senses towards the planet, finally able to sense it. I teleported through, spending a hundred million Qi in the process, emerging in the fiery wasteland of what used to be the Sect. Well, it looked like I had missed some interesting things. I wonder who I had to kill now.