“Don’t you want to say anything in your defense, sect master Maramasa?” Christopher Delian asked in surprise when he saw Maramasa slightly bowing to the people present and turning to leave without uttering a word.
“No one did provide any evidence accusing my sect of anything, therefore there is no need to defend.” He casually said with a shrug, “You are taking an opinion of someone as a reason to basically destroy my Voodoo sect, that is all.”
“Watch your words, sect master!” Delian angrily retorted, “The word of an immortal is a stone solid evidence and …”
Before he managed to spout out any threats, Maramasa bowed once again and while doing his best to hold back sarcasm said, “My apologies, venerable immortals! Thank you for your leniency!”
Afterwards he rushed off in the distance.
He was short on time. Lady Evelyn definitely will be able to arrange teleportation back to Sacred Order and probably right after that her army will march towards the Voodoo sect. That means he had at most ten, maybe even seven days time to organize the defenses. Fortunately he and his father had already mentally prepared and the strategies were ready as well.
Flying at the speed of a falling star Maramasa covered the two day distance in half time and the next afternoon he was already in the territory of the Voodoo sect. Unfortunately even before he got to the sect from far away he noticed the few savanna fields in the vicinity packed with the cultivators dressed in the attire of Sacred Order.
Even though the sect was seemingly surrounded from three sides and fourth being the ocean, there was only one formal route through the jungle surrounding the sect. Sadly the natural defense the jungle would provide against regular army forces was trivial for the cultivators at his level.
Just as expected, the moment Nascent soul stage cultivators floating above the treetops noticed him approaching all at once used their techniques and flattened large jungle areas in front of them. Obviously it was still hard for normal people or low rank cultivators to traverse such terrain and this action was more like a display of power, and probably an attempt to shake the moral of the defending troops.
Ignoring the army below and the few Nascent soul cultivators who intended to approach him with lady Evelyn in the front, Maramasa directly darted towards the sect where on the central plaza his father had gathered everyone who was capable of holding a weapon.
His arrival was met with loud cheers and faking a loud, joyful laughter he arrived at his father’s side.
“I guess I don’t have to ask how it went?” The old sect master grinned.
“Ye. Just as we suspected, it was a setup.” Maramasa nodded. There was no need for theatrics between them since the outcome of the following events was already set in stone, “Unfortunately we didn’t judge the hate she harbors for us adequately.”
“Mhm.” His father agreed, “Right after the sunrise the troops of the Sacred Order and some other sects began popping up all over the place. I can’t imagine how much they spent on this operation alone – the cost of a teleportation to a spot without a receiving teleportation platform is a quadruple that of a regular one. And the amount of people …”
“Wait!” Maramasa interrupted. The fact that Sacred Order was filthy rich was no secret and as long as their spirit stone mines were not depleted they could easily rival some sects in the Immortal realm, “Other sects?”
“Ye, our people recognized some elites from other sects mixed in between ranks of the Sacred Order. While they were not as numerous, there were quite a few.” Old sect master explained with a sigh.
“They probably intend to use this opportunity to hone the skills of the younger generation.” Maramasa nodded, “But everything points at the fact that they had been preparing for the war for a while.”
“War? Hahaha!” His father suddenly burst into laughter, “Son, the whole event is planned as an annihilation. They probably even consider it a ‘special operation’ of sorts, not a war.”
“Right.” Maramasa said, “But we’ve prepared some surprises as well. Did our snake show up?”
“Ye, for a moment, but then it vanished immediately after. Even I can’t tell where did it go.” The old sect master said in disgust.
“So much for trusting an anaconda.” Maramasa made a sad smile, “We even helped it reach rank seven and intended to let it use the cultivation platform after the tiger. What about the other bests?”
His father shook his head and said, “You probably noticed – it was a bit of struggle, but in the end I decided against using them. While the chaos that beasts can cause on a battlefield can be great, our own forces might suffer immense losses as well. There is a reason why ranked beasts are not used in wars. It would be a whole different thing if we fought individual or group battles, but to even have a tiniest of chances we have to stick to our tactics.”
“Sigh, alright! It’s probably a good call. Let’s get this thing started, otherwise the morale of our people will drop even further.” Maramasa said clapping his palms together.
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After the rush back home he was mentally tired, but as a Nascent soul stage cultivator he had almost endless supply of energy and was not worried about the upcoming battle, at least not from from his own strength's point of view.
Leo stood at the far end of the crowd with furrowed brows, deep in thought. This morning he was given a long stick with a pointed tip and told it was a weapon. Afterwards all the outer sect disciples, including him were gathered in the central plaza along with the rest. He had no clue how many people were there, but from what he overheard others whispering, all the sect members were present and while many had worried looks on their faces, most looked excited and even somewhat pumped up.
Many things about the whole situation didn’t feel right. First of all – why the stick? Leo knew the ‘proper’ weapon was a sword since his father used one, but his neighbors, Zalupo and Fanaka, for some reason didn’t mind. Another thing was the contrast between the reaction of others – why some people were excited, but the others scared? And why did they have to wait in the plaza under the hot rays of sun?
Fortunately Leo had rules and after moving over to the outer sect, he began to carry a small gourd of water at all times. It was small enough for him to be comfortable to carry around strapped to the waist, but at the same time held enough water to quench thirst if the necessity arose. Unfortunately after half a day in the sun the gourd was almost empty, but there were no signs of the crowd dispersing.
Suddenly loud cheers echoed through the Voodoo sect as everyone celebrated the sect master’s return. Dazed by the noise Leo kept stretching his neck, trying to see what exactly went on, when suddenly the sect master rose in the air above the crowd.
Cheers quickly quieted down and Maramasa began his motivating speech, “On this auspicious day our enemies have delivered themselves to our doorstep! They have blessed us with an opportunity to gather new slaves and concubines …”
While the sect master spoke, Leo was stunned silly with the first sentence. Since he began to follow his own rules, he never thought much about the first one – ‘There are no auspicious days! Everyone who claims otherwise must die!’. While it was not that important to him personally – this was his father’s legacy! It was the last wisdom he imparted and Leo intended to follow it.
But there was a problem. Leo though, ‘How in the world I can kill the flying man? I can’t throw this stick that far and hit him in the eye, right?’
“Alright, Leo! This is it!” He was brought back to reality by Fanaka when the sect master’s passionate speech came to an end, “When the killing begins, stay close to us – we’ll try to protect you!”
“Killing?” Leo was confused.
“Ye, the big battle we all are waiting for.” Fanaka explained, “It’s very important for you to stay focused! Don’t get distracted by the blood and people dying around you. If you’ll manage to survive, you’ll be handsomely rewarded! You definitely might get a couple of beauties to serve you!”
Looking at Fanaka’s grin Leo got even more confused. Killing? Dying? But then everything finally registered in his brain and he realized this was what his father once described as a ‘war’. But he always said that Leo had to become strong in order to survive such ordeals, but there was no way he was currently strong enough! He couldn’t even kill the flying man even though the rules demanded so!
Both Zalupo and Fanaka saw Leo’s distress although they couldn’t guess the right reason. To them it was obvious the child was scared out of his mind.
Suddenly Zalupo got an idea, “Leo, could you go fetch me some water? I’m getting thirsty. But go quickly and make sure no one will notice you.”
Fanaka looked at his friend in confusion, but then understood the reasoning and shouted, “Let’s go! For the Voodoo sect! For the sect master Maramasa!”
Many people from time to time were shouting such encouraging words and the nearby crowd immediately joined them by shouting along and punching the air. Now when everyone was busy with their own excitement, Zalupo smacked Leo’s butt and whispered, “Go!”
Either the boy would go and hide somewhere or gather bits of courage and actually bring water – either way was fine. He obviously was useless on the battlefield and it was unlikely he would survive this day if he joined the fight therefore him hiding was probably the best option. If the Voodoo sect won, the higher ups would be lenient, but if lost – nothing really mattered.
With these thoughts in mind the two friends watched their little neighbor silently slip away and then joined the roaring crowd forgetting about him.
At first Leo sneaked through the sect while trying to avoid others, but then realized it was completely deserted. He did go towards the closest well first, but then for some reason his legs on their own continued to carry him further and further away.
It didn’t take long until he found himself at the ocean side of the sect, the place where he spent almost a moth learning the main dialect. The tubs were still there and the little hut Bimpo and Onataka owned was also still standing.
Leo was just about to enter the hut when sounds of a huge battle came over from the distance. The wind carried over the buzz of weapons clashing, battle-cry roars and screams of agony from five miles away and even though Leo was here in safety, his heart skipped a beat in fear of what would’ve have happened if the two neighbors didn’t send him away.
While the boy hid in the hut, he didn’t witness how the armies of the two sects clashed. According to the tradition the cultivators of the respective stages went against each other – Core foundation stage against the Core foundation and Foundation establishment against the other Foundation establishment stage cultivators. The rest – the Qi gathering stage and lower in a large crowds found themselves in a huge skirmish.
Obviously lady Evelyn came well prepared and with the Sacred Order not holding back resources the attackers were in much larger numbers. They clearly knew there will be many casualties in this war, but the disciples who remained standing would gain great experience and no amounts of practice could compare to honing skills in a real battle.
Maramasa and his father, of course, knew this and already expected such development. But since the Voodoo sect was bound to fall, they intended to inflict as much damage to the Sacred Order and the young elites from the other sects as they could.
After the first clash the attackers seemed to have an upper hand when suddenly between ranks of Formation establishment cultivators and those in the Qi gathering realm people from the Sacred Order began to fall like autumn leaves.
Several Core formation experts form the Voodoo sect appeared in the crowd of the weaker cultivators and began to reap them as if they were death gods on the loose.
Maramasa’s oldest son, Uwataga was the worst nightmare of all. In each hand he held a five feet long curved blade and like a whirlwind of death stormed around the battlefield leaving behind tens of Sacred Order’s disciples cleaved in halves.
Yes, the Voodoo sect was clearly on the loosing side where the Core formation stage cultivators fought with each other, but none of their Core formation cultivators had died yet. They fought defensively while protecting each other and continuously retreating so much that the attackers wondered since when the Voodoo people became such cowards.
Of course, the Voodoo sect’s intent became obvious quickly, but even before the elders from the Sacred Order could react, the damage dealt by such despicable tactics became substantial.