Unsealing Emptiness

Chapter 444: Rampage.

"Don’t take it out on the kid, Ryujin. It’s unbecoming of you."

"Alliance Leader." Ryujin looked at him warily.

With all the misfortunes falling on him one by one, the Alliance Leader was the last person he wanted to see. "Why are you here?" He asked strictly.

"Now now, why the hostilities? I come with good intentions." The Alliance Leader tried to ease the tension.

"Don’t play petty games with me, Hestian." Ryujin shot back, not in the mood to entertain him. He continued, "I already have a lot to think about. If you’re here to waste my time, leave now!"

But Hestian, the Alliance Leader, remained calm under his scrutiny. It was as if an old man was waiting for the child to calm down after throwing a fit, so he could show him the bigger picture.

"Don’t you want to know who’s the cause of your headaches?" He asked softly.

Ryujin’s son standing behind his father gave him a sharp stare. Whatever words left this old man’s mouth should always be considered with scrutiny; that was what his father taught him.

"The distrust in your eyes hurt me," Hestain added with an amused tone.

"What reason have you given me to trust you?"

Hestian took a seat and raised his arms in the air in a show of harmlessness, replying, "I am here in person. Isn’t that enough?"

"Fair enough," Ryujin relented, "What do you need in return?"

"Hahaha... You embarrass me, Ryujin. Why would I need anything in return for helping an old friend? Our relationship is beyond the material world."

"I made myself clear that I’m in no mood for jokes."

Acting surprised, Hestian got serious as well. "Losing 4 Transcendents is a crippling matter. You can either hide all your pieces or confront your enemy in person. Yet, what can a man do when his foe is a ghost?

In return for the name, I deserve at least 3 seats for the next Trial of Rebirth. Don’t you think so? Of course, it would only be you returning me a favor. Not a price for my services, but a favor from one friend to another."

But Ryujin shook his head. Three seats at the Trial of Rebirth were three too many. "I can only allow you one."

"Don’t be so petty. Give me at least two. That is a deal breaker."

Thus began a staring competition between both of them until Ryujin finally relented and leaned back with a sigh. It was at least better than dragging the Immortal Sect into this matter.

"Why are you doing this, Hestian? It can’t just be the Trial of Rebirth."

With a sharp tone, Hestian replied, "I have as much to lose as you if the Immortal Sect bastards were to gain footing in this city."

Nodding his head in understanding, Ryujin told him, "Alright. You will have 2 more seats at the next Trial of Rebirth. Now tell me who murdered my people!"

Smiling, Hestian answered, "Who else, but our old friend Ember?"

"That bitch!" Ryujin’s aura leaked out as he cursed out aloud. "I knew it was her! I just couldn’t find any links! She better prepare for war!"

"She came prepared this time. She found a subordinate who can completely erase his aura," explained Hestian, not mentioning that the said subordinate was one of the Dragon Hatchlings.

And just when he stood up to leave, the three of them suddenly felt a familiar aura spike from a certain direction.

"It’s that bitch!" Ryujin stood up, ready to throw hands. No longer would he continue to tolerate her behavior in fear of angering the Phoenix.

What he missed, however, was the look of horror slowly etching over Hestian’s face.

’That... is my place!’ It wasn’t hard for a Sage to pinpoint the exact location of the spike. And to his confusion, Ember was at the headquarters of The Alliance!

. . .

At the headquarters of The Alliance, Ember didn’t hold anything back and killed any Transcendent that she could locate.

"Run!!"

The Vice Leader of The Alliance shouted at his colleagues who ran in the opposite directions to minimize casualties. The Vice Leader knew that Hestian had gone out, so it was the worst time possible for anyone to attack the headquarters.

"Embers of War! Haven’t The Alliance helped you!? Is this how you repay us?" One of the Transcendents shouted, hoping she’d come to her senses.

Ember, for her part, completely ignored the weaker Transcendents and instantly killed the top brass of The Alliance.

Finally, having done enough damage, she set her sight on the Vice Leader who was the strongest Transcendent under Hestian.

Being half a step into the Sage Realm, the Vice Leader took the full brunt of her flames and stayed standing, but coughed up dark blood. Glaring at her with hateful eyes, he spat, "You’re a mad woman! At least tell me why you’re doing this?!"

But how could Ember not see that he was stalling for time, waiting for the Alliance Leader to return and save him?

She didn’t waste even a moment and attacked him with all of her force.

A dark fire that even melted the jaded pillars of the building enveloped the Vice Leader as his skin slowly melted, evaporating in the air even before it hit the ground.

When the fire faded, the ground looked like a meteor had hit and crushed everything in sight.

Uncaring of the sorry sight and the state of the headquarters, Ember hunted down another Transcendent.

But that was the limit for her as before she could make another move, the two auras just as strong as hers had already arrived in front of her.

The Alliance Leader and the City Lord had both arrived!

Enraged and eyes full of hatred, Hestian and Ryujin looked at Ember like a dead woman.

Ryujin had only lost four Transcendents, but Hestian even lost his right-hand man! The Vice Leader of The Alliance was gone! Not only that, but Ember had killed more than six other transcendents as well.

"Why!?" Hestian couldn’t help but shout, his voice reverberating throughout Phoenix City.

But Ember merely laughed in his face, not taking him seriously at all. Even faced with two Sages just as strong as her, she didn’t falter a bit.

"Why, you say?" She mocked, "Oh, mighty Alliance Leader. You really think all of us are jokes, don’t you?"

In response, Hestian remained silent, but his clenched hands and bulking veins were a testament to the storm raging in his heart.

Although Ryujin didn’t understand what she was saying, he was too blinded by rage to care whatsoever about a conversation.

Just at that point, all the Transcendents of Phoenix City had finally gathered around the now-ruined headquarters of The Alliance.

Ember’s men stood behind her, Hestian’s remaining subordinates floated behind him, and Ryujin had also come prepared with all of his forces.

Not caring about the tense atmosphere, Rai standing just next to Ember coughed and whispered, "My Lord, if you had told me before, I could have mowed a few puppies myself."

But his whisper was loud enough to be heard by all parties.

Suddenly, Hestian’s and Ryujin’s men also raised their Spiritual Essence. Ember’s men didn’t back down either. Although they were still outnumbered, the scales of power weren’t really unbalanced.

Ryujin had four fewer Transcendents while Hestian didn’t even have a single subordinate left alive at the peak of the Transcendent Realm.

Ember had really dealt a huge blow to both leading forces of Phoenix City.

The cumulative Spiritual Essence of so many Transcendents and the three Sages would have suffocated the rest of the population of Phoenix City, but even in their rage, they all made sure not to go overboard.

Ember looked at him from the corner of her eyes and commented, "I have developed trust issues since the time I was gone. Be thankful I didn’t just kill you to be absolutely sure you weren’t a threat."

"Ahh, My Lord... Even though you hurt my feelings with those words, for some reason, you have only become more attractive," Rai replied while unconsciously wagging his unnoticeable dog tail.

He was, in the end, a dog Beastkin, and excited dogs can’t help but wag their tails.

But just at that moment, Rai heard a telepathic link form in his mind and Ember’s voice flooded in, ’Take out as many of them as you can. If the Phoenix awakens, cease all your actions and restrain all your emotions at once.’

On the other hand, Ember began to taunt Hestian, "For all the years you have lived and honed your trickery, you never imagined it would turn out like this, did you?"

Looking at the frustrated figure of Hestian, Rai couldn’t help but add from the side, "Hm? Why is he so quiet, My Lord?" His taunts only helped escalate the tensions.

"I already knew you would meet up with this sorry excuse of a Phoenix Lord, and I had been waiting for this moment for weeks now. At last, you left the estate to play your trickeries," Ember revealed.

It wasn’t something she had just done in the spur of the moment but in the conclusion of a weeks-long planning.

Before she could add anything further, however, Hestian realized he couldn’t let her speak anymore lest the City Lord have doubts about fighting Ember together.

"Shut up, you evil woman! You murdered Ryujin’s men and now destroyed The Alliance! You must pay for this!" He shouted and thus started the war between the three biggest forces of Phoenix City!

And just after a few seconds,

*Screee!*

A mind-numbing screech emanated from the center of Phoenix City, halting all activities...