novelraw Chapter 926 - 925 - Breakout!
Chapter 926 - 925 - Breakout!
Five powers had fallen! It was not a rival or one of the new arrangements the new powers brought but the most feared of all!
The Fiends!
The Dark Orchid Kingdom, Empire of the Sun, Ascetic Path Sect, Dance of Lightning Sect, and Claw Tribes were all wiped out in a single night!
The Divine Sword Sect and Hellfire Sect were closest to respond. They brought their full might but found few survivors. The Fiend powers finally expanded after nearly 6200 years of peace!
The Heavenly Maiden Sect then followed with many of the tribes from the Wilds. With such heavy hitters, the advance was stopped but they could not prevent the consumption of many Immortals and lower people.
Horror spread on that side of the realm but that was not all. A powerful message came from the heir of the Dark Orchid Kingdom before he died that they were betrayed!
He had not much proof to give and all evidence was lost inside the newly captured areas, but it explained many things to those with other pieces of the puzzle.
The Sylvan Kingdom especially was set out to dry as one of the chief causes of the cracks that were used to slip through and prepare the attack!
In fact, the 5 powers that fell were ones that were not allied with it after the ascension of their prince to becoming an Immortal.
It took a year to firmly stop the advance and another 5 years to set up new defenses but the blame and recrimination caused several previously quiet powers to actively attack each other.
Some expected the Frey Clan to come once more but there was only silence! It seemed Lind Frey truly would no longer interfere unless it threatened his interests.
It also marked that the Celestial Fields were far more stable than the last time when the Alliance broke down.
In a hastily constructed fort, a meeting was taking place but aside from the usual faces, newer ones had been dragged there.
It included many of those newer powers that were now shaken at what they had seen in the reports from their agents.
They had never faced the terror of the Fiends until then.
A man with a simple sword on his hip and gray robes sat near a demon with 2 battle axes sitting next to his chair. They were too massive to hang from his waist so they had been placed there.
Most would store them away but the demons rarely hid their weapons like that no matter where they came from.
"He called it. You recall what he told us at that gathering where he treated us all like unruly children." The demon was sipping at a wooden goblet of ale. He was missing a tooth on his upper left side and part of his lip in the same area.
His bald lavender head revealed a few more scars across his face but both his cobalt eyes seemed bored as he looked over the milling people at the tables around them.
The man with dark blonde hair tied back behind his head could only nod at the demon's words.
"Ego, you remain very blunt but correct. He did warn us." Both men referred to when Lind Frey had forcibly stopped the fighting between the fracturing Alliance.
He did not negotiate nor did he treat them like equals anymore. In fact, he had been very arrogant.
{I do not have time to indulge your greed. The realm is only freshly healed and you idiots threaten us all. Push it and I am more than happy to bring all the dragons down on you all. I assure you, glassed powers will be safer than war at this point. Further, your infighting gives the Fiends a chance to strike. Stop being idiotic and get along!}
It had been a rather memorable speech.
"Ah Riven, you always indulge me." The demon smiled as he drank more from the cup before having a servant pour more into it. Demon and man spoke more but similar conversations were going on around them until a sweating man with a corpulent frame was practically dragged in.
This piqued their interest as they had no idea who he was. It meant he was not active in the Celestial Fields yet someone wanted him there.
It was only when a man and woman followed in behind the group that they both snapped to attention.
One was a girl with dark green hair and mischievous eyes but currently had a grim visage as she carried a spear on her back. The other was a young man with eyes as black as night and hair to match. Both were wearing crimson, gold, and black robes.
It seemed the Frey Clan had come after all but it was the children, not Lind Frey, that represented them.
"I think that is Sora and Hei Frey. The latter is the new lord of Rasker too. That city of healers got a powerful dragon Shard Tier as their protector!" Riven smirked a bit but Ego next to him frowned.
"That girl is trouble. The Heartpiercer Sect lost 2 of their best demons to her. She has some kind of bewitchment about her." Riven snorted but had heard the stories. She was a powerful warrior but that was not why she was known.
She had a harem on par with most spoiled young masters yet not a word of complaint came from them. The powers she took them from, on the other hand, complained quite a bit!
"I heard both lost out in the most recent bout of however Lind Frey is choosing an heir. I am really curious how such monstrous cultivators cannot qualify for that!" It was another facet of the Frey Clan all powers worried about.
Ego's words spoke of how each of his children and grandchildren seemed to breeze through cultivation realms like they were not even there! His grandchildren and great grandchildren were possibly more normal but reports were no longer as detailed as before.
The announcement of a century long testing to find an heir was not hidden at all but few details came out about how he tested them.
It had been almost 40 years and no one knew how many were left in the running but the ones not in it had been announced!
They thought the meeting was about to settle when both narrowed their eyes. They had a description of some that should be there and they were missing a few!
"Where is that idiotic king? He let his son run wild and now we are all in this mess!" Ego spoke loud enough to be heard before Sora stepped forward.
"I am afraid the King, Crown Prince, and the princess of the Sylvan Kingdom were found murdered. There were also many servants and nobles found killed in similar ways. This one–" She kicked the large man, "knows who did that. He has decided after several failed attempts to see the wisdom of talking rather than scheming."
All the Immortals present seared the man where he sat.
"The Skull King was partially at fault but he had interests far from this place. Still, he tried to interfere with several powers that came to this side of the world to try and gather resources to rise up against him. You may recall the foolish attempt by the Golden God Alchemy Guild trying to take Rasker. He is their leader." Hei dropped that little bomb and more than a few Immortals drew weapons that made the large man flinch.
"I NEVER TOLD THEM TO DO THAT! Those narrow minded misogynistic fools could not stand seeing women healing! They lost their damn minds and assumed distant powers would not care what happened in a local place!" It was a rather common view that many of the former Alliance still did not understand.
Despite the massive size of the Celestial Fields, there were precious few areas developed. The newer powers did not seem to grasp that the teleportation arrays and needs of everyone were still too interconnected.
Any threat, even from across the realm, could not be allowed to pass unhindered!
"Your intentions do not matter, only the results. A string of Fiend agents allowed us to gather evidence you were working with the forces of the Widow to bribe the border weak points to let through caravans without inspections." Those words from Hei doomed the man instantly.
Jade slips were passed around as well as several storage bracelets. It only took a few moments for all to confirm the reports with their own forces.
The investigation revealed an organization was behind the weakening of the border forts but it was not alone. It was a mix of rivals trying to out maneuver each other and the Fiends benefitting off all the chaos caused by it!
"I do not see any mention of the other force that killed the royal family of the Sylvan Kingdom." An elder of the Smoldering Flame Sect spoke up. He was missing an arm but seemed hale otherwise.
The 2 Frey children nodded before prodding the large man on his knees. He flinched and actually seemed more scared of Sora than Hei!
"The weapons used to kill those people are from the Crippled Sun Sect. They formed in response to my cohorts and I along with others. They were just a bunch of demons that did not know their place–" The man flinched as Ego's aura sharply fixed on him.
It only took a bit to confirm old records and make it clear the Crippled Sun Sect was something more nefarious than even the large man realized. All the former Alliance members recognized a shell group for the Fiends to subtly wreak havoc.
The fact it was so far from the old battle line meant nothing. Fiends were terrifying in the long term planning but now they all shivered as they realized that a seed planted hundreds of thousands of years ago and now bloomed when all of them came back to the Celestial Fields.
"True Lord Lind Frey has decided this man and his organization are to be left to you and Hei to deal with. He only said he would act if an Immortal Fiend showed up. The rest is up to all of you." Sora then bowed and left!
Hei sighed but sat down while the prisoner began to sweat as several Immortals grinned at him in ways that shortened his life! The reality that the Fiends could have more seed powers spread across the entire realm also gave them a wakeup call.
The breakout of the Fiends was not a one off event but an eventuality they had to plan for and prevent at all costs. They were too weak if the Fiends built up momentum! The meeting decided on new actions and punishments.
The one end result was a force created to descend back to the Heaven Realm lands to wipe out the Skull Kingdom and all their allies as a lesson. Hei would support it from Rasker but not directly involve himself.
It was one of the rules as the highest cultivation realm sent would be beak Sliver Tiers. The Skull King was crippled and sent to serve hard labor as a further example of what could happen to those that betrayed the races to the Fiends.
The changes in the world caused many tremors but none knew how long they would be safe anymore from the terrifying Fiends. The world now felt far more dangerous to everyone and the lax attitude vanished for the next 50 years.