Shit!

He conjured a platform of spiritual energy and only barely managed to redirect himself a few dozen metres to the right of the falling blade just as it crashed into the earth with a chaotic sound usually reserved for natural disasters. The earth for fifty metres in all directions suddenly exploded with a massive shockwave that hurled Nolan hundreds of metres away despite his relative proximity to the blast. The next platform that he conjured was immediately destroyed while the left side of his body—the side that he braced against the blast—almost went entirely numb. His left arm and leg had both broken in several places, but he pushed on through the pain when he saw that the others had all been swept away into the surrounding woodland.

Keplin stood high up in the sky, a matte black sword beneath his feet.

What kind of weapon…? Nolan shook his head, tossed several medicinal pellets into his mouth and then conjured another platform to stand upon. He panted heavily as blood ran down his face and partially obscured his vision, though he had no time for reprieve. His opponent had discarded his sickle in order to activate his martial skill, so now was the time to strike. He momentarily activated the Tranquil Void Step and kicked hard so that he flew toward the smug-faced man at his maximum speed.

Standing atop the strange sword as if it were a hoverboard of sorts, Keplin avoided a strike with the bone sword as he barked out a ridiculing laugh. “I’ll admit that you’ve got some talent, but you’re a million years too early to—”

Floating several hundred metres above the wasteland that their battle had created, the expression on Keplin’s face changed as vibrant light suddenly exploded all around him. Nolan had maintained a connection with each of his talismans via his spiritual energy, which had hardly been depleted throughout the fight. Fourteen person-sized swords of radiant golden light had just sprung to life, all of which immediately shot toward the despicable elder at incredible speeds.

“You think you can beat me with just this?”

Hearing the contempt in the man’s voice, Nolan smirked and launched himself toward his opponent as fast as possible. While the man was preoccupied with avoiding the blades of energy Nolan poured everything he had into conjuring a tiny ball of extremely condensed spiritual energy, the strongest and most durable that he’d ever managed. The place where he had the energy manifest was directly ahead of Keplin’s line of retreat, specifically when the man changed direction so that the hilt of his weapon traced his forward motion.

Nolan didn’t waste time revelling in the man’s disbelief as the handle of the black sword collided with the dense mass of spiritual energy and caught in place, which sent the elder flying from atop its length. Keplin wasn’t able to regain his balance before Nolan crashed into him, protected by his defensive martial skill as he latched onto the man’s body and willed all of his needles to sink deep into his wrinkled skin.

Although Keplin had been caught off guard, he was still an elder of a great martial sect and thus no pushover. He grabbed Nolan’s right arm with his remaining hand and broke it with a painful vice grip before hurling him downward where he crashed into the devastated earth below, though a condensed swath of golden energy claimed the man’s right leg as he followed after Nolan in a freefall, courtesy of Ian.

Just before he’d hit the earth Nolan had conjured a large bubble of spiritual energy which he structured so that it was soft and malleable. Thanks to his quick thinking the fall merely stole his breath away, though the impact sent shooting pains clawing throughout his broken limbs.

Ian appeared at the landing site hoping to help his friend retreat when Nolan slapped his arm away and pressed the bone sword into one of his bleeding hands. Ian read his intentions and activated the Essence Fusion effects in full before he jumped skyward to meet the falling elder head on. With the last of his spiritual energy Nolan conjured some small rings which he used to catch the falling man by the ankle and wrists, though these were broken almost instantly as if they were nothing but paper restraints. Still, this held him up long enough for Ian to run him through the gut with an upward stab. He let go of the blade as soon as its point emerged from the small of the man’s back and then kicked off of the enraged elder’s body in order to avoid a sudden explosion of ashen energy.

Keplin crashed to the ground with a heavy thud, though he hopped up to stand on his remaining foot with murder in his eyes.

Ian returned to Nolan’s side and supported him to his feet. “How is he still alive?”

Keplin ripped the bone sword from his stomach and wielded it with an angry growl, the hole in his stomach sealed off by a dense globe of inner essence, dark needles protruding from all over his body.

“I’ll fix that…”

At Nolan’s behest the needles buried in Keplin’s skin suddenly tore free from his flesh and immediately embedded themselves back in, quickly followed by sixty more of various sizes. The injured man attempted to bat them away with his sword but suddenly began to convulse on the spot, which allowed for the majority of them to find their marks.

“What…what is,” he croaked. “AHHH!”

“It’s about time that poison took effect,” Nolan muttered weakly as Sean and Esteban arrived at his side and hurriedly doused him in water from the Divine Spirit Fountain. Even though Keplin was at the ninth level of Integration, it was difficult to believe that he’d been able to withstand so much poison in his system for so long.

Ian’s great sword appeared back in his hand as he limped over to Keplin to look down on the man with disgust. “I thought you had some associates in the area.” He stabbed the tip of his sword into the man’s throat and pressed down with a flesh-tearing squelch. “I should have known someone like you wouldn’t have any friends.”

Keplin’s spatial bag fell into Nolan’s sodden lap as Ian returned to the others and plopped down with a sigh, his eyes absentmindedly taking in the moonlit destruction.

Nolan read his friends intentions and scanned the contents of the spatial bag with his spiritual sense, which was greatly weakened. Holy shit! The spatial bag was of much higher quality than any of those in his possession, not to mention that it was filled to the teeth with all sorts of objects. I guess sometimes it pays to be a scumbag. Once he located the remaining marrow mending pellet he tossed it into his mouth and weakly swallowed it down. His body jolted upright and began to twist in uncomfortable ways, though before he knew it the only remnants of his broken limbs and other injuries was a pervasive itch that seemed to tickle at every cell in his body.

“How’re you feeling, kid?”

“I feel great, weirdly.”

Just as the others were about to help him to his feet a sudden windstorm set the surroundings into motion with gust after gust of turbid air. Looking towards the epicentre of the gale, Nolan’s heart sunk as the moonlight betrayed a shadowy aura that was slowly spilling out from Keplin’s corpse, until the wavy, refracted air solidified into the thin face of a bald man with a piercing stare and a neatly trimmed goatee. The ethereal face was two metres tall and half that at its widest point, the aura around it exuding a type of pressure that made the hairs on Nolan’s body stand on end.

A cold and commanding voice echoed throughout the forest. “Who dares kill a member of the Nightshadow Sect?” The floating face turned toward Nolan and his group, though quickly shifted away from them as if they didn’t exist. “Was it you?”

Even the crickets ceased with their songs as the heavy pressure expanded into the surrounding forest. Eyes wide and bodies tense, Nolan and his friends exchanged cautious looks underlined with confusion.

The authoritative question was met with cackling laughter that seemed to originate from all directions, a delicate silhouette appearing up in the sky so that the darkened outline appeared at the centre of the largest moon. A beautiful woman in her mid-twenties floated calmly over three hundred metres above the devastated earth, a long silken robe billowing in the wind as she stared down at the energy projection with a pair of steely grey eyes. Her clothes were the same colour as her hair, that of healthy clouds on a bright summer’s day.

Who the hell is that?

She gestured with a slender hand. “Would you believe me if I told you that they killed that pathetic friend of yours?”

“What is the White Rogue doing so far out into on the mainland?”

“Whatever I please.”

The projection’s eyes narrowed. “Your days are numbered, wretch.” The head turned to focus on Nolan and his friends once again. “The fact that you’re here means that you’re involved in some way. I will remember your faces. As for you, wretch, now that we know where you are—”

“Yes, yes,” she gave her hand a wave and the energy that composed the projection dissipated like scattering ash. “You will track me down and kill me in the most terrible way. You lot in the west have been saying that since my younger days.”

The woman vanished like her existence was a lie and reappeared in front of Nolan’s group without a sound. “I didn’t expect you lot to survive. I don’t say this often, but that was quite impressive.”

Though the woman before them was a stunning beauty, Nolan felt no comfort as he met her indifferent gaze. A mass of objects appeared above her the moment that she stopped talking, his heart nearly skipping a beat as he realized that she had instantly gathered all of his scattered needles, the bone sword, and the matte black sword that had belonged to Keplin, as well several spatial bags.

When did she…?

It wasn’t just him. Sean, Ian and Esteban belatedly realized that all of their belongings had been stolen.

“Such treasures are wasted on weaklings like you. They’ll be much more useful for me.” All of their belongings disappeared in an instant as they were sucked into Keplin’s spatial bag in an orderly fashion. “As for you lot, I can’t have you growing up and seeking revenge, now can I?” White light engulfed her body as she raised her hand in an intimidating motion, though the she and the light abruptly disappeared with a blur, the spatial bag falling harmlessly to the ground in front of Nolan.

He became even more confused as a massive swath of forestry was levelled amidst a thunderstorm of terrifying crescendos. Nolan exchanged incredulous looks with the others as they stared at the long line of fallen—mostly exploded—trees that trailed on for at least half a kilometre, though they recoiled as a sudden shockwave ripped the leaves from nearly all of the trees in the area. White light flared up as if a small star had just been born, the falling storm of leaves dark against the vibrant backdrop in a beautiful yet frightening display.

“What the hell is happening?” Sean had grabbed Esteban just as the two of them were blown back into a large tree where they remained stuck until the wind pressure abruptly died down.

“I have to admit,” came the woman’s deceivingly soft voice, “I didn’t think you’d come, let alone your friend!”