The aftermath of the battle had created a small gap in the rubble. Castiel could see the wreckage left behind, Hundreds of people, cultivators and mortals alike, old and young dead. A mother holding a little girl in her embrace impaled by a dark tentacle. A policewoman sacrificed herself trying to evacuate a group of school-children. Only saving grace for the day was that it was not peak hours, otherwise thousands would have died. But it was all for naught. For all intents and purposes, the people fighting were gods and ants were the one that died. Castiel even saw his mother cutting her own hand off. He wanted to join his mother so desperately but all he could was try his hardest to not let Amelia see anything. He never took his eyes off the enemies though. It’s like he was trying to burn the images of the four black-robed people into his mind.

The fourth enemy did not join the battle and was nowhere to be found. Castiel barely saw a shadow circling the battlefield at extreme speeds. It looked like the fourth enemy was searching for something, maybe for him and his sister. Unfortunately for him, the air drag from the fourth enemy’s movement had scattered the rubble.

The shadow headed their way as soon as he saw them. It wasted no time as it tried to grab the toddler out of Castiel’s hand. Castiel never felt as weak and pitiful in his life as he felt at that moment. All he could do was watch as the enemy snatched Amelia out of his hand, totally ignoring the struggling boy. Just as the enemy was about to leave, a shield formed on Castiel and Ameila and an ethereal fire dragon descended from the sky towards the enemy. The enemy had to drop Amelia to block the sudden attack.

Castiel caught Amelia before she just touched the ground. As smoke cleared, he could see the enemy with barely any damage to his body. Only the left sleeve of his robe was burned off with no damage to the underlying skin. The first thing he noticed was two black scythes crossing each other at the handle with their blades facing away from each other tattooed on the enemy’s left upper arm.

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A man walked out of the flames beside Castiel. He had an imposing figure but he still looked small compared to the overwhelming pressure the enemies were applying on the battlefield. The interruption from the man gave the woman a moment of respite. The woman immediately recognized the man.

“Mather, I know you have a way to contact the military and have them teleport to you in case of an emergency that can achieve your family’s genocide. Look at the person in the sky, I believe he has completed his eighth nirvana, possibly ninth. We are ants to him. Immediately ask for the highest level of reinforcements the Waterford army can provide and you can consider my favor to you one year ago fully paid off.”

The man could also feel soul crushing danger as the main shadow looked at him. Castiel got knocked out just from the collateral of the glance but he didn’t let go of his sister even as he plopped to the ground. The adrenaline coursing through his veins immediately woke him up. The man wasted no time as he crushed a ruby on one of the rings on his fingers.

Almost instantaneously, a breach appeared in the sky and one could see a group of powerful cultivators flying in the distance towards the battlefield. Even then, the mana pressure from the army could barely match the main enemy.

Perhaps to not overcomplicate matters, the main enemy appeared in front of Castiel abruptly and tried to snatch his sister. The woman subsequently dashed to her kids. As the woman reached between the enemy and her kids, the enemy immediately made a gesture of curling his fist which increased the concentration of black ball and surrounding dark particles exponentially.

By now, the group of cultivators had reached the battlefield with an even larger group on their tail in the distance through the breach.

The move of the enemy withered everything away in a sphere of ten meters around him. The pavement on the road and the soil below evaporated into the atmosphere. Mather barely dodged the attack. The woman was not so lucky. Castiel saw the bloodied body of his mother, life snuffed out, turn to dust right before his eyes.

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Castiel got up from his bed abruptly. He was shaking and sweating heavily. He has been suffering from this nightmare everyday for the last 4 years. A constant reminder of the thirst for his vengeance.