novelraw Chapter 346 - 345 - Fall of the Blade
Chapter 346 - 345 - Fall of the Blade
"So, the demons have learned a few new tricks." A massive camp at the northern border of the Divine Sword Sect lands was bustling with activity. There were 5 Sky Realms, 200 Diamond Tiers, and over 10000 for the rest of their forces.
It seemed small but the quality of each warrior was far above many forces. The Divine Sword Sect was not known for group tactics, thus each individual was tasked with surviving near impossible odds.
There was a good reason many considered the sanity of the Divine Sword Sect to be tenuous at best.
"The reports transferred to us from the south all came from the Moebius Sect but we do not know how they knew an attack would be there." A slim girl was examining a jade slip next to the older man in charge of the camp.
His eyes were gray as steel with a face full of wrinkles. He could no longer advance but he had made it to the first tier of the Sky Realm. The girl had bright pink hair but it was cut short with a broadsword hilt sticking out over her left shoulder.
The man had a massive blade as tall as he was leaning against his chair under the tent. The misty air around them was too damn moist for mortal swords but the water seemed to flow around the camp and the people walking in it.
Sword cultivators could cut even the air itself if they advanced enough.
"Have any of the scouts seen any sign of the Demon Empire forces since they struck the Conclave?" Enid was a simple man, he would rather fight than run a camp but his duties were important to him.
He would carry them out no matter how it grated on him to simply sit and wait for a fight.
Most of the camp was happy to have a battle but Enid had seen enough battles to know the idiots around him did not understand. It would not be a small group of demons looking to cause trouble, but organized units working together to kill them.
His fellow Sky Realms were more somber but no less prepared. They were fully aware of the blood to flow in the fight to come.
"They are due bac–" The girl was checking the schedule when blue fire took the tent literally away from them! Enid was stunned but reacted quickly by protecting the girl. The power of the attack was on his level!
"DEFENSIVE FORMATIONS!" Enid roared as he used his earth elemental Qi to disperse the flames. He could not find the source of it! There had been no warning but there were supposed to be formations to protect them.
Why weren't they working?!
His steel eyes quickly looked over the camp and frowned deeply. Only his tent was attacked? There was no chaos as the disciples quickly organized and the other Sky Realms triggered the formations but nothing happened!
None of the formations were working!
"Sir, it is a demonic formation master. He is disrupting the Qi!" The girl called out something Enid had never heard of before. His confusion was clear so she continued. "I read about it in the historical records of the last war. The demonic formation masters would lay out arrays that specifically disrupt formation plates or other pre-built formations.!"
Enid felt the blood drain from his face. If it had happened before, why did no one prepare for it or have countermeasures?!
"What else did they use, quickly?" His question had a prompt answer.
"If they are using that tactic, then the force here is small but powerful, like us. I would expect Sky Realms, a lot of them!" How many spirits cursed Sky Realms did the Empire have?!
"PREPARE FOR ATTACK!" Enid unsheathed his massive blade which hummed as soon as it was exposed. The moment he did, his instincts screamed of danger. The sword moved far faster than most would believe possible to intercept an acid bolt.
It was also at the Sky Realm in strength. Enid stopped trying to use his cultivation senses and used his battle instincts. A glow came to his sword as he swung it like the wrath of god into the sky.
The air screamed as it was ripped apart by his sword intent. The arc of light flew until it hit a shimmering part of the sky.
"THERE!" A thousand arcs of sword intent flew from the camp and shattered the formation hiding their enemies from them. Exactly as expected, there were Sky Realms, but there were 10 of them!
Enid felt conflicted as victory was possible but there would be decimation of the lower realm disciples. They could not withstand even a flick of a finger from one of those demons but then another disturbance appeared on the ground!
"Be ready! They are on the ground too!" Enid saw a massive army of World Realm demons appear. There was no fear on his side but even the most overconfident fool among them could do simple math.
It would be bloody.
"Go, and do not dare die on me." Enid let the girl go who pulled out her own broadsword before floating down to the ground.
"We are both old men, so I take no pleasure in this swordsman." The demon with white hair and wrinkles spoke to Enid. He was surprised as the Sky Realm demons did not attack at first.
"You dare come to my home and threaten my kids and expect me to accept an empty line to console your conscience?!" Enid vanished to all eyes which made both demons and swordsmen pause when the sky actually began to darken over them all.
The sound of thunder came as all wondered what caused it but the slim girl smiled coldly at the demons. Her broadsword flashed as her foe was slit from stem to stern in the moment of distraction.
Her action made her fellow disciples snap out of their awe as they recalled that they were in a battle. The blood flew on the air until the demons reorganized but the Nightfalls were looking at their counterparts yet not one moved.
The men and women did not seem inclined to start as the darkness deepened until the old demon suddenly recalled a detail of one of the Sky Realms of Divine Sword Sect.
"SCATTER! It is Thunderstruck!" The other Nightfalls became grim but before one could even begin to summon their Qi, the thunder changed as pressure crashed from above. There was no lightning as the cause of the thunder was the speed of the massive sword Enid carried.
It was called Thunderstruck because when infused with Qi it would actually use air, darkness, and earth to cause a storm of pressure. It took a slight bit of time, but a Sky Realm had plenty of power on top of starting from higher in the sky to increase the effect.
All were stunned when 2 Nightfall Demons were split in half! Enid reappeared but despite his victory, he was looking grim. The massive sword in his hand was glowing with Qi yet the man was heaving as if he had run a marathon.
"Damn it." Enid turned in midair as the 8 remaining Nightfall Demons remained.
"You have gotten older than I thought, Enid of the Storm." The old demon now felt calmer but still made sure to lock on to Enid at all times. They could not afford to lose more of their brethren.
"Indeed, that should have killed you too." The demon looked confused until he felt a metal necklace shatter on him! Shock filled his mind as the protective artifact had been broken by a single stroke of a sword!
"I will take Enid, the rest of you kill the others!" The pressure above slowed the battle below but the demons were struck dumb as their forces suffered far more from the suppression rather than the humans!
Enid laughed at their confusion. The Divine Sword Sect did not raise greenhouse disciples. They intentionally made them fight with the pressure of Sky Realms on them.
The results were clear but once more, it was borderline insane to push a cultivator under such pressure.
The coordination of the demons was disrupted constantly by the near chaos of the Divine Sword Sect disciples' independent actions. The swordsmen and women were death on 2 legs, but they were not gods.
Blood flowed on both sides but where the demons tried to retreat when too wounded to continue, the swordsmen just became more powerful! An arm was lost, then the wounded would use the imbalance to carry them in strange movements to throw off their enemy.
Massive injuries were sealed by pills or blazing swords.
Demons were bloodthirsty for battle but what they faced that day was a level of battle intent far beyond their worst nightmares.
It was not enough for victory, however.
Just as Enid believed they could win the day, more demons appeared. No more Nightfalls, but Purgatory battalions moved forward from the east and west at the same time. If the war continued, all the World Realm disciples would be dead!
"You should pay more attention." A whistling was heard as 2 sabers nearly took his legs! Enid knew who he fought, but the demon should be dead!
"I thought the traitor of the Fang Clan was long dead, yet you persist. I think I know how there are so many Sky Realms now." Cultivators were always looking for ways to advance to increase their life but some powers took a different approach.
If a cultivator had no potential left but wanted to not simply resign themselves to their fate, they could accept an offer of terrible temptation. Techniques existed to put a cultivator into a kind of suspension for a time.
The higher the cultivation realm, the longer it could last. If the Demon Empire had begun to store away aging or dying Sky Realms, they could summon a terrifying but short lived army. The frustrating part was the lifespan would not simply evaporate once they awoke, it would simply resume.
Depending on when they went into suspension, it could be centuries of life left. Enid did not think his foe had that much left based on similarities between them.
Enid only had a couple centuries left but using Thunderstruck strained him. The 2 sabers looked like the lost treasures of the Fang Clan. The only survivor, Cyntilla, was now in the Floating Isles but used short swords for her clan technique.
"Sabers of Life and Death. Your descendent would find a good use for them as she is in the Sky Realm." The old Fang paused. He could tell Enid was not lying. There was still a Clan member left alive?
"You lie! The Empress told me all my Clan was dead!" The old demon was not going to be distracted when suddenly the entire battlefield was oppressed by a new aura. It was terrifying and getting closer!
"Senior Enid does not lie. My wife is very much alive and the last of her Clan aside from her mother who married Trynith. She had no desire for the legacy weapons but I would not object gifting them to her." A voice came from the skies as emerald light suddenly filled it.
"Who dares?!" Enid was stunned as the demon shouted but many of the Purgatory demons flinched while the Divine Sword Sect disciples found a second wind.
"Who? Someone who has no time for games. KNEEL!" The aura changed as a man appeared. He had emerald scales for skin and his slitted eyes were cold. The Nightfall demons fell from the sky while the Sky Realms flew down.
They were severely injured in a few cases but all stopped fighting as the new aura left no room for disobedience.
"Disarm them quickly, I cannot maintain this for long." Enid did not need to be told twice as they all moved. Even as their numbers were less, a formation was suddenly deployed to suppress demonic Qi.
"Nicely done, but it could be better." Lind Frey summoned several artifacts that enhanced the formation and now the Nightfalls fell to their hands and knees entirely powerless. It would not last for more than a day but it left the demons stuck.
"Thank you, Master Frey. I don't suppose–" Enid was interrupted as elixirs with sparkling Qi appeared. Heaven grade elixirs!
"Use them to recover quickly. More demons are coming but no more Nightfalls. I have somewhere else to be." The man turned into a blur that even Enid could not follow. There were no Qi fluctuations but Enid could see some tiredness in the boy's eyes.
"Don't die in this war boy. I have no desire to be drawn and quartered by your wives." Enid resumed disarming and capturing the demons. A few tried to fight and blood was coughed up but some of the Nightfalls were crippled to be safe.
Many died, but victory was claimed for the moment. The war raged on.