The war between the unorthodox sects and the orthodox sects began with a series of deafening explosions.
Facing against space rocks carrying insane energy and momentum from being pulled by the planet's gravity, a large protective dome was constructed surrounding the Land of Death.
Despite this, the relentless onslaught clearly took a toll on the protective array and its casters.
Inside the commander's castle, a tense atmosphere remained. The four direct commanders of the unorthodox side, who also held the sect leader position of the four prominent sects within—Silent Arrow, Veiled Rage, Bloody Moon, and Ice Venom—struggled helplessly as they watched their disciples suffer tremendous injuries from overexerting themselves for the array.
Eventually, a somber-looking woman—the sect leader of Veiled Rage, couldn't bear it anymore. She slammed the table with her hand, causing it to almost crack.
''Your Majesty, we must help them!'' She exclaimed toward the first seat, her veil fluttering.
''I am of the same opinion.'' A man in black followed; his blue eyes gleamed with a sharp intent. ''We cannot afford to lose our precious force like this.''
At this, the woman sitting on the first seat, with light blue hair as dreamy as the clear sky, mockingly scoffed.
''Do it if you want to. I'm not holding you here, am I?''
Immediately, all four sect leaders frowned. An indescribable rage welled up inside their hearts, and complaints poured out like a tsunami.
''Your Majesty, we are asking if you could help us!'' A woman with a huge crossbow on her back said.
''In the first place, if we could strike back when they weren't prepared...''
Poking at August's seemingly unreasonable decision to hold back the war, a beefy man dressed in red uttered. Of course, this arrogant was immediately faced with a chill that sent cold to their very bones.
''I said I won't help.'' August declared, narrowing her eyes as she pushed out a mind-crushing amount of pressure. ''Or... are your brain so useless it can't remember? Do I need to discard them?''
'''' !!! ''''
''We were wrong! Please forgive us!''
''Please forgive us!''
Once again, they bowed before the sword empress.
August's orders for them since descending this world were utterly unreasonable. From forcefully taking over the command chain of the whole faction, having them entertain her by summoning esteemed demons as dummies, to revising many crucial practices that defined their identities.
Yet, when they tried to turn their rage into actions, their minds instinctively warned them to stop. The primal instinct of fearing death had them standing still in their tracks, unable to rebel against this human.
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No, this wasn't a human—it was a monster.
Originally, there was another prominent sect in play, but when its sect leader got bold and insulted the sword empress, the whole sect got banished to the shadow realm in an instant.
No one could forget the space-splitting sword strike that flattened half of the dead land.
As it was, all four of them hurriedly fled the scene. Even the battlefield was better than being with her!
Left behind, August yawned lightly, pulling out a small book. In it, a compilation of a person's images could be found. Page by page, they were filled with moments of a black-haired, red-eyed woman.
Looking at these put August at ease. She especially loved the bashful Kierra and the shy Kierra...
'Almost.'
August waited patiently for nine months, all because she wanted some time for the archwizard to train her soldiers as she liked. With this, the sword empress's side would surely lose, but she couldn't care less.
After all, the only thing she desired in the corporeal realm was a lone woman.
Meanwhile, at the frontline.
''Advance!!''
With the initial blow being delivered, cultivators, regardless of their power and their position in the hierarchy, clashed with each other. From inside the vast and lifeless terrain, thousands of soldiers rushed out with weapons in their hands, each exerting a different spectrum of dark qi.
Compared to that, the orthodox's force was spread thinner due to them having to encircle their enemies. For one, they didn't try to surround the Land of Death completely but instead positioned themselves in a half-circle formation, intending to protect the central land only. They even had soldiers arranged further to the sides to prevent the main force from being surrounded themselves.
As the orthodox disciples, led by their sect leader and elders, advanced toward their adversaries, they noticed a blue aura gently spread on the ground.
Not far away from the inevitable clashing point, Kang Shuren and Bai Qing—the two wizards who were not as proficient in offense magic as the others—were casting a large-scale support magic to the allies.
⌈SANCTUM OF FORGIVENESS—6★⌋
''This is...''
''It's a blessing from the Heavenly Dao!''
''Go forth! Subdue evils!''
In an instant, the allies could feel their bodies steeling up, becoming more impenetrable than ever! Not only that, the cultivators who had already clashed with the enemies had their fresh wounds closed in mere seconds, allowing them to continue battling.
The unorthodox folks were rightfully baffled. It wasn't as though they were fighting zombies!
Slowly, with advantage after advantage stacking on top of each other, the allies pushed back their enemies, and just when the momentum was at its peak—
BOOM—! BOOM—!
BOOM—! BOOM—!
''Argh!''
''What the hell?!''
One after another, exactly four explosions took the battlefield by complete surprise. In one corner, a bloody storm raged. In another, a dome of flying swords seethed. A little further, it rained blue venom. And, lastly, a giant holding a mountain-sized sword descended.
Once the four sect leaders arrived, the story changed. The people of the Land of Death celebrated, seeing that the tide had turned. Initially, the power scale between the sect leaders of unorthodox and orthodox—counting the major sects—was equal, which meant that five of the unorthodox were on par with six of the orthodox.
Inherently, those using nefarious schemes to power up had better strength, as unfair as it might sound. If they were weaker than normal practitioners, then why bother going that way?
However, this time, the balance was different. One of the five unorthodox sects had been erased, and Emei's abbess got quite stronger as well.
Following their predetermined split, Mie Xieren immediately headed toward the giant armor, while the remaining five top sect leaders went for the other three. Of course, Yu Chen and Tian Yun also accompanied them to help.
With their newfound source of power, they were confident they could contribute a lot to the war.
BOOM—!!
Right then, the earth shook violently once again, and when everyone gazed toward the direction of the force, an incredible sight greeted them.
Floating calmly in the sky was a lone woman of dark blue hair. As her red eyes gleamed brightly, she gently flicked her obsidian sword, causing myriads of water tornados to rise from the ground, eating up people and surrounding the giant.
A humongous shadow befell her as the enemy raised the sky-splitting sword above his head.
''Phew...''
Mie Xieren took a deep breath, and she began to chant, wielding her mana.