Silvyr chuckled to herself, ‘It seems brother has given me quite the interesting task. And here I thought he would be having all the fun…’

To Silvyr, her universe didn’t have an innate aurora expert. Alidor’s existence was assumed to have been wiped out with the destruction of the Gautama family. So, to her, this was the first time she was going to witness the prowess of an innate aurora wielder first hand.

The Uidah family had an inborn disdain for those like Alidor and Dyon – mostly due to their history with the Gautama family. As such, Silvyr was very much looking forward to this. What she didn’t know was that Dyon wasn’t here…

“This can be quite fun if we do this right…” Silvyr looked off into the distance of the arranging Lotus Alliance. It seemed that they had come out of their maze and were set to fight.

Her attention wondered through the forming lining, trying to see where this mysterious innate aurora user was. But, nothing stood out to her immediately, leaving her a bit disappointed.

However, when her eyes landed on the demon generals, they couldn’t help but narrow. ‘They’re dangerous…’

Among the opposing army, only those hundred left a pressure Silvyr couldn’t ignore. Suddenly, a seemingly simple mission had multiplied in difficulty twice… First by the knowledge of this innate aurora wielder, and secondly by this odd squad of white haired devils…

‘Wait.’ Silvyr’s eyes picked up on something else. Somehow, this core of devils she was worried about were submitting to a woman? ‘Blue-silver hair… Relatively petite… Common level sword?… Elvin? Who?’

“Who is that?” Silvyr asked.

Bas and Liska, who were still kneeling, followed the direction of Silvyr’s gaze to land on Ri.

“We believe that that is the woman of the innate aurora wielder you seek, second daughter.” Bas replied respectfully.

“Then where is the innate aurora wielder?”

“He should be dead.”

Silvyr’s brow raised. “Dead? When did he die?”

Bas and Liska looked at each other oddly, did that matter? But, they still answered. “He should have died the very first day of our attack. He fell into a death qi trap along with half of our army.”

Silvyr giggled at this information. “He’s not dead.”

Not bothering to explain any further, Silvyr turned back to her army, a devious plan forming in her mind slowly.

Despite how much she disdained her elder brother for maintaining a position higher than hers, she still had to maintain the loftiness of the Uidah family. So, letting Bas and Liska know that the only reason she was sure Dyon was alive was because he elder brother had failed to kill him… Didn’t exactly work in her favor.

What Silvyr didn’t know was that the run in her brother had had with ‘Dyon’, was actually Alidor. However, how could she ever make such a guess? To her, there was no reason for anyone to have a need to disguise themselves as Dyon. Alidor had only done so as a safety measure. It allowed him to use his innate aurora freely, while also protecting his identity.

But, in order to deduce something like that, Silvyr would have to know that a) there was a surviving member of the Gautama family and that b) they also had an innate aurora. That’s would be the best explanation for why someone would impersonate a Dyon in particular.

“Vice Commanders, on me!” Silvyr’s ample chest jiggled as ten golden haired commanders stepped forward with stifling auras.

Looking over her commanders, she smiled a smile that wasn’t a smile. Silvyr couldn’t remember the last time she had genuinely been happy about something, but, destroying enemies on the battle field was about as close as she’d get.

“There are a little over hundred enemies of any real note,” Silvyr began. “That being said, they’re only of the lower level of the essence gathering. You as my vice commanders have been handpicked. I won’t accept any losses to an inferior universe.”

“AI!” The Vice Commanders slammed both of their fists to their chest in an odd salute. But, the sound that caused reverberated through the battle field, sending rings of ethereal permeation crashing through the air and causing even the meridian formation basilisks to cough up blood.

Ri’s eyes narrowed at this display. Even she was forced to circulate her celestial qi to remain unaffected. But, the rest of the army wasn’t doing so well… Even the outer layers of the maze were threatening to collapse. ‘They’re trying to destroy our morale…’

This showing had proven one thing: The Uidah army vice commanders weren’t simply lower essence gathering experts… It was likely that they surpassed such a level, entering into the mid essence gathering stages. However, that wasn’t the only problem…

After the meridian formation stage, strength was no longer only denoted by your cultivation stage. Because of the nature of energy cultivation, essence gathering experts of the same level could be of drastically different power levels.

Why? Because not everyone had the same foundation. In the foundation stage, quality was separated by how thoroughly your technique could spread essence energy throughout yourself. However, in the meridian formation stage, quality was determined by how many meridians you managed to open before stepping into the essence gathering stage…

The minimum requirement for forcing entry into the essence gathering stage was establishing yourself at the peak of the 6th stage, or 54 opened meridians. However, experts who did that were known as 7th grade essence gathering experts… and they were the lowest of the low. If you managed to reach the peak of the 7th stage, or opened 63 meridians, you would be known as a 6th grade essence gathering expert. And so on until the 1st grade, or 108 opened meridians

But, therein lied a problem. Ri had no idea what grade of essence gathering experts the demon generals were… But, she did know that many of the elves were only of the 5th grade… Only the peak geniuses of the major families would be of the 4th grade and even that was a massive leap in power. Every grade was like a completely new level. A 4th grade essence gathering expert of the 1st stage could toy with a 5th grade essence gathering expert even if they were separated by two or even three stages!

And yet… From the power displayed by the Uidah Vice Commanders… There was no doubt that they weren’t of the 4th grade… No.

The Uidah Vice Commanders were without a doubt lower 3rd grade essence gathering experts!

There was nothing they could do about the power difference. Ri couldn’t only hope that the grade of the demon generals could match up.

From what Dyon had told Ri about their origins, it was very likely that they were strong… But, it was hard to put in perspective the strength of the demon generals because these were only the surviving members of the demon sage’s army.

According to Dyon, all of the demon generals that headed armies in higher level gates had been killed for their threat. But, the remaining demon generals were the much younger ones that had yet to grow to that level of strength. On top of that, they were demon generals the demon sage had accumulated near the end of his life, because many of the demon generals that had been there during his prime, and before he entered the Timeless Library, had been dead before he even returned…

So, the question was… Did these demon generals match up to the demon generals the demon sage had in his prime?… Or… Were they lesser versions? The answer to that question could quite literally decide the fate of the lotus alliance.

‘Lower 3rd grade essence gathering experts… about 82-84 opened meridians… This’ll be troublesome…’ thought Ri.

Still, she stepped forward as her hair darkened and her black tails whipped out from her.

Ri winced as she felt a drastic drop in her stamina. But, she knew she had to push herself to the limit or else she wouldn’t be of much use on the battle field.

Without her faith seed, she was still powerful, but only when compared to lower meridian formation warriors… If she didn’t use her faith seed in combination with her god level constitution, it was impossible for her to fight against enemies as strong as these.

So, she ignored her groaning bones and her tearing muscles, gripping her sword tightly as she stomped into the ground viciously.

Cracks spread through the trembling grey ground, steeling the frayed nerves of the lotus alliance.

“Let’s go.” Ri leaped forward, charging with the demon generals at her back.

Silvyr’s eyes flashed, not having expected the lotus alliance to initiate the attack. But, soon, a smile spread across her face as she leisurely climbed back onto her throne. “Let them feel despair. Then…” Silvyr’s light laughter sent shivers down the spine of her army as she absentmindedly groped her chest. “We’ll make them turn against each other.”

**

Away from that battle field, Dyon had brought Alidor out to the first floor of the Epistemic Tower. It seemed he could will himself to different levels, but, there was also a cap. Much like what the old man had said, Dyon would need to have sufficient success outside of the tower to earn higher levels within the Epistemic Tower.

“Big Brother!” Kaeara ran over to Alidor, happy to see him again. But, when she saw how weak he looked, she snapped an unhappy gaze toward Dyon. “What did you do to my big brother? You bully!”

But, before Dyon could answer, Alidor suddenly kneeled down, pulling his little sister into a tight embrace. He didn’t say anything, but this was the most emotion he’d shown in a long while. Even Kaeara was confused about what was going on. She was being hugged so tightly that she couldn’t even lift her arms anymore.

Dyon smiled, walking passed the siblings and toward his own.

“Successor, you finally came back! I beat this persona game months ago, how could you leave your mistress bored for so long!”

Dyon’s brow twitched at Fraenor’s antics. ‘Mistress? Madeleine would laugh but Ri would kill me! You’re too much…’

“Sorry, sorry. I didn’t expect to take so long either,” Dyon patted Lyla and Zaire’s heads. It seemed they had been bored for a long time too.

Fraenor smiled. Although she liked teasing Dyon, she really did appreciate this successor. They could have very well ended up with a horrible leader, but, Dyon was caring and thoughtful much of the time. He was definitely someone Fraenor found worthy of her loyalty.

“What do you plan on now, successor?”

Dyon thought for a bit, looking back at the two hugging siblings. “Alidor, what do you want to do? Do you want to stay here? But, if so, what about your little sister?”

Alidor looked up, wiping his face to try and hide his glistening eyes. But, he seemed unwilling to let go of his little sister. “I don’t think I can leave her…”

Dyon thought for a bit. ‘The basilisks are the only ones truly under Alidor’s control. He simply uses them to manipulate the other parts of Uidah universe…’

“Alidor. What exactly is the nature of the relationship between you and the basilisks?”

“It’s not complicated. It’s just that I saved Bas and Liska once and they’re fiercely loyal beasts despite what the legends say. They agreed to help me, and I agreed to help them rank highly.”

“Alright. Then, come with me. You’ll stay in my ring along with everyone else.”

“Ring?” Alidor looked up in confusion.

“Yes. I have a spatial ring capable of holding living people. Aside from that, there’s no real use in letting you stay here if you want to stay with your little sister. The gates would only be useful to you if you were in the Epistemic Tower.”

Alidor nodded, patting his little sister’s head before composing himself.

Kaeara’s large black eyes blinked as she looked up at her elder brother. She had never seen him act like this, so she was surprised into silence.

“Let’s get going.” Everyone flashed into Dyon’s ring as he stepped out and into a void tear, heading toward lotus tower.

What Dyon didn’t know was that as he made use of the Epistemic Tower’s key to speed through the gate, a massive shadow was lurking and waiting for the opportunity to strike.

In fact, describing this shadow as massive didn’t do it justice… This entity was so large that it dwarfed planets and even stars… Maybe if Dyon had had the proper perspective, he would have realized that much of the darkness of the spatial pockets weren’t just darkness at all… It was the body of something unimaginable…

Suddenly, a booming voice rang out, causing the shadow to tremble with anger. “It will never be your time to prey on my grand disciple. It’s best you continue to be quiet. Know your place.”

The old man’s voice raged at the shadow, his anger clear.

A raspy voice rang out in response. “We’ll see how long you’ll last. You want to put your hope into another little boy? I’ll tear him apart like I did the last one and make sure you watch.”

…

The battle field was getting chaotic.

The demon generals fought hard to keep the essence gathering experts in check, but, having realized how powerful the demon generals were, they had formed squads to team up against them.

Arios fought against at least ten on his own. Twin black blades that curved to ten inches graced each hand as he crouched with his every attack.

The Sicarius family was known for its assassin techniques, but, these twin blades were more of their signature than anything else. This was why Dyon had gotten the feeling that Ava’s main weapon wasn’t a whip – it was because she had twin blades of her own. But, if her last name was Sicarius, and she used their trademarked weapons, her identity would have been revealed much earlier than she wanted.

But, as Arios fought, it was becoming very clear to him how troublesome the Uidah clan was. If it was 1on1, he had no issues killing them – even to the point that it would be easy. However, in a group? When their goal was to whittle down the morale of the lower ranked warriors? It was nearly impossible.

The roars of Dyon’s vice commanders rang through the battle field, laced with music will in their attempt to keep the fire within everyone lit. However, the problem was that there was only so much music will could do. It followed a law of diminishing return… The more it was used in quick succession, the less of an effect it would have.

So, while the meridian formation experts of the Uidah universe were finally free to attack the maze without reservation, the lotus alliance’s reserve troops could only inch backward in despair… Although the numbers advantage the Uidah had was less than before, it was still about ninety thousand to eighteen thousand… And that advantage was only becoming more and more clear.

But, they continued to fight, albeit desperately. There was no other choice. This was life and death as this point… Retreating in the gates was very difficult, especially when out of the scope of the stability of the Earth Tower.

To retreat in such an unpredictable landscape was suicide. The weather had changed so often and the cyclones had raged so abruptly over the past few months, that the lotus alliance and even their enemies never got a real chance to breathe.

Almost as if one cue, the temperature of the battlefield suddenly dropped, hitting below freezing in an instant.

Ri’s tails whipped wildly, her sword cutting forward and slashing through any meridian formation experts she could fight. The gold of her tail had dimmed considerably and even the black was lightening to an unhealthy grey…

She struggled, using the boost the snow storm gave her to amplify her ice will. ‘I should teleport back… I can’t keep this up…’

Ri wasn’t even able to step through the void anymore. Her speed had lessened and her attacks were only effective on lower meridian formation experts… a power level that was becoming more and more rare on this battle field.

“Hear me!” Silvyr’s voice blanketed the battle field, clearly laced with the mysterious will of the Uidah clan.

A smirk played on her face, it was time for her plan to come into effect. “The campaign will end soon. And honestly, I’d like to head home. It’s been a hard few months.

Now, crushing you before the end of the day makes no difference to me. I have plenty of time to make it back to my gate. But… I could leave now….”

Ri’s brows furrowed as she continued to parry attacks. “Ugh…” Ri felt a sword slice into her shoulder for what felt like the millionth time. But, when she tried to circulate her essence to heal herself, she suddenly felt empty.

“However, there’s a price. Destroy the teleportation pad within your little maze, and I’ll only kill those outside, leaving you alone. Then, I’ll be on my merry way.” A cruel smile curled on Silvyr’s features.

Bas and Liska had spent months analyzing how the Gorilla’s Den formation worked and had concluded that there must be a relay station for the teleportation. So, as soon as Silvyr heard that, she had devised this plan.

By focusing on making sure the demon generals had the least amount of impact on the battle field, the meridian formation experts were lulled into a false sense of despair. In reality, the situation was much better than they thought. The mere fact the demon generals could handle ten at a time, even stalling their vice commanders, was keeping a strong hold on the potential for victory. But… Silvyr knew this… So, she decided to play a little trick.

Without Dyon’s communication arrays, no one had a full scope of the battle field. It was impossible to tell what was really going on from their vantage point. But, Silvyr, with her Buddha’s eye, had a clear advantage over everyone. And Ri, although she had fully awakened her aurora, simply did not have soul strength capable of making up for Dyon’s absence.

Inside the maze, the big sect members looked at each other. A cold sweat had been permeating, but with this last bit of hope, shouldn’t they take it?

Hashim looked at Lehabim before they both nodded. “Let’s do it.” They rushed to the center of the formation, but, found Delia blocking their way.

“Stay back. I won’t allow you further.” Delia stood firm with sword in hand, her hair whitening and her eyes becoming a steel blue.

Delia hadn’t gone out this time because the experts were simply far too beyond her. Without her god constitution being fully awakened, her cultivation had slowed considerably in the meridian formation stage. In fact, she was only marginally stronger than the big sect geniuses.

If it was just Hashim and Lehabim, she could stop them. But, to deal with the growing crowd? Delia couldn’t help but pale even in her determination.

Outside the maze, Ri thought of immediately taking out her teleportation plate to leave and handle the anarchy she knew must have been breaking out, but, it seemed the Uidah army was more than prepared for that.

Their tactics immediately changed. Instead of taking a defensive position to block off the powerful members of the lotus alliance, they began to attack with a fervent passion, not allowing them any time to teleport back.

Ri and the demon generals could only fight to protect their own lives… Desperately swinging their weapons.

Within the maze, Delia backed up slowly. But, the increasing amount of big sect members was starting to weigh on her psyche. There was no way she could handle all of this.

“Get out of the way, little girl.” Lehabim sneered, his red hair lighting on fire. “I hear the Niveus sect has already kicked you out and the bitch you chose to follow is dead. You no longer have any protection unless you count that useless father of yours. It’s best you leave this be. At least that way we can leave you with your dignity.”

‘Where are the elves and the Niveus sect? Are they really going to let their leaders die like that?!’

But, what Delia didn’t know was that Evelyn hadn’t gone out to the battle this time… She had retreated into the maze and was currently hiding among her members, holding them back from interfering.

As for the elves? Akash was currently commanding them on the outside. Because she had said she was best at commanding the elves, she had taken action on that thought as well. But, now… the only person left capable of doing much of anything was Delia… What could she do?