In the courtyard of the palace, Ren was sitting in a gazebo, rocking on a chair while, next to her, Ariana was going through what they found in the past days at the Ironclaw bases they cleaned out.
"You were thorough, weren't you?" Ren smiled, looking at her disciple with a proud light in her eyes as she finished her report.
"Of course, Master! We wouldn't want them to make a comeback ever again, no?" she nodded with a confident smile.
"Shouldn't you finally have some rest?" Ren asked, reaching out and pulling her into her lap, patting her head, and drawing a satisfied, soft moan from Ariana's lips.
"I'm fine, Master!" She replied with a blissful expression, "Also, my senior siblings are completely fired up! Grand Elder Xendar even messaged us he is planning to bring more disciples here to help us out! He thinks it will be a good exercise for them and a perfect opportunity for the locals to interact with us! It would be the best way to ease their thoughts toward us and let them see we are not enemies or occupying forces!"
"Mmm, good, I like that!" Ren nodded, thinking about her father's idea. "Also, it would be a great opportunity for all of you to look for your own disciples."
"Huh?" Ariana raised her eyebrows, turning towards Ren. "So… soon?"
"Soon? You are already a grown woman in the 1st stage of Harmony! What is so soon about it?" She laughed, pinching her face like that of a kid's. "It is a great thing, teaching someone and seeing them grow up. I highly advise you to try it out~ It's like… raising a kid!"
"I'm… not really ready for that, I think… Master… I'd like to remain your disciple if it is possible!"
"Did I spoil you rotten?" She chuckled at her. "Out of everybody, you are the clingiest by far; even Kyu likes to roam by herself by now! Luckily, she causes fewer problems each day. I may even think that she has grown up a little~."
"I… like this…" she murmured, looking down at herself shyly.
"Well, you spoiled her. It's clear." Frenir's voice came into their ears as he approached them, holding his hand behind his back.
"Hyah?!" Ariana yelped as she jumped out of Ren's lap with a completely red, embarrassed face, trying to look normal without success.
"Look who it is~" Ren smiled as she stood up, "Damn, you look like your brother did back in the Capital!"
"Heh, when I last went home and met with my parents, they were… pretty shocked! Spending a lot of time with my way of cultivation had some… after-effects." Frenir said with a half-smile, now even older than Ren in reality.
"Still, you are pretty quick, eh?" She patted his side with a wide grin.
"Not as fast as you." he shook his head. "I'm cheating in a way! So I am still inferior to you!"
"Nah, I'm cheating too!" She winked at him playfully. "How far are you from the 3rd stage?"
"I don't know. It is eluding me now, but I won't rush it; I have… time." He replied with a relaxed grin while Ren rolled her eyes.
"Work on your puns Frenir. That was weak, 3 of 10, at max!"
"Suuuure~" He shook his head, looking Ren up and down. "I heard from Master… but seeing is believing, huh? Tsk… and I wanted to beat you finally! Guess I'm giving back the Junior Sect Head title, no?"
"Nope. It is yours! I don't want it!"
"Why not? I think it fits you more anyway!" Frenir asked with a surprised expression.
"Nah, I only took it at first because there were no true candidates yet. Now, this is good. You are in the Sect way more than I am, anyway! Also, I will say to you the same as I said to Ariana just now, go, get some disciples!"
"I will." He nodded with a serious look. "Sect Head is going to hold a disciple accepting trial very soon. Since King Kaipan joins us, we will give them a special opportunity, so I plan to take on a few disciples myself then and there."
"Good! I'll encourage the rest too to do the same! I-" but she stopped speaking as her body twitched. "No way…" she whispered, turning towards the eastern horizon, blinking her eyes like someone who just won the lottery.
"What is it, Master?" Ariana perked up like a cat who had her tail stepped on.
"Someone is coming," Frenir said, but Ren had already started floating upwards.
"It's Rudrick. I recognize his aura anywhere." she chuckled while looking back at them above her shoulders. "Do not interfere. Whatever happens. Find the others and tell them the same… just… stay out of this." she whispered as she flashed forward and was already outside the city, flying towards the east.
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It only took her a few seconds before she was standing before Rudrick. The man looked thinner, his eyes bloodshot and filled with black circles below them as his long, silvery hair danced behind him in the wind. His aura was much, much wilder than before, not at all concealed as bloody specks of lights were constantly dancing around his body.
"My, my… you look like shit." Ren chuckled, scanning him from top to bottom.
"I am here to kill you," he replied, as the specks hurriedly started to form a bloody armor around him.
"What a coincidence!" she clapped, forming a purple, electric spear between her palms as they separated. "Me too!"
In the next moment, a clawed hand and a spear met in the air, clashing against each other, throwing sparks everywhere. As they exchanged a few moves, numerous others arrived, led by Ariana and Frenir. Not only were Toobu, Qeena, Wyland, or Lulu and Yanda here, but soon Kaipan and Kyu came, followed by different cultivators who also felt the two clash in the sky.
"Keep an eye out; he may try to escape again." Ariana said with a cold look, "We can't let that happen!"
"Agree." Toobu nodded seriously as a purple and red light flashed above them continuously as their powers clashed.
"Hmm… it seems Master only exudes an aura at the 2nd stage…." Lulu raised her eyebrows, watching her fight.
"Mama wants to enjoy this fight," Kyu said, not even blinking her eyes as she watched the fight. "He killed Papa… He should suffer."
Rudrick was focused entirely on battling against Ren, ignoring everyone who had just arrived. The most frustrating thing for him was that every time he struck out, he was met with Ren's spear and her calm eyes looking right into his. Her gaze was penetrating, looking deep under his helmet. Ren was immediately moving in if he stepped backward, aiming at a spot he had no choice but to block. If he took a step forward and tried to dictate the battle's tempo, Ren quickly adapted, meeting his claws, deflecting them, and retaking the lead with a counterattack.
"What?" Ren asked as she was stabbing out with her spear. "You thought this was going to go the same way as previously? Or did you forget that I reached the 2nd stage that day?"
"I did not… thanks to these…" He replied as he grabbed onto her spear, even pulling on it while the armor on his chest opened up, letting Ren's spear make contact with the wound that was still there.
As soon as the tip of the spear touched it, the red lightning hiding inside was like a provoked beast, waking up from its slumber, quickly snaking up on the spear, and diving into Ren's arms.
"Finally!" Rudrick roared, feeling his body freed from the oppressive powers of the tribulation that was not even his, laughing maniacally as his aura climbed upwards like an unleashed beast from its cage.
"Argh!" Ren groaned, soon screaming out, looking like someone in great pain, twitching uncontrollably and even dropping her weapon.
"Good! Good! Suffer what you brought down on yourself!" Rudrick laughed, reaching out, grabbing Ren by her head and hair, and raising her up. "And now, die!" He screamed, stabbing forward with his clawed fingers, trying to stab her through her chest. He wanted to finish this quickly before anybody dangerous arrived, whether from Ren's side or the Kingdom's side. Just as his fingers reached her chest, Ren's screams stopped, same as her spasming body, going entirely still while her fair hand grabbed onto his wrist, holding him firmly in place, not letting it move even a millimeter any further. "What?" He exclaimed, stunned and dumbfounded.
"You fell for it!" She grinned, looking at him between his fingers, her bright eyes flashing with purple and red lightning. "Dumbass!"
What came next was Rudrick's agonizing and rageful roar as Ren just crushed his wrist. She was twisting it, tearing off the armor, and maiming his hand. She was clamping down on it so hard that she tore off Rudrick's back of the hand in the end.
"Mmm, what a nice sound…." Ren moaned, throwing away Rudrick's flesh and grabbing onto his other hand, clamped on her head, still trying to crush her skull. "You are making me wet, Grandpa~" she giggled as all ten of her fingers dug into his armor, cracking it with ease.
Rudrick could do nothing, just howl and thrash around like a trapped animal while his other hand was similarly crushed, bending in a completely wrong direction before Ren tore it off like a twig.
"My gosh, you sound like a little bitch, geezer~" Ren pursed her lips. "Come on, you are moaning like a whore, so let's get naked then!" She laughed, stabbing her fingers coated in electricity into Rudrick's chest, tearing apart his armor. She was eliminating his powers as wildly flashing violet electricity traveled into his body, drawing out more and more painful howls from his hoarse throat.
By the time she finished, Rudrick was stripped of his armor as his powers were overwhelmed and subdued by Ren's own. She was holding him like a meat puppet while he was bleeding from not just most of his orifices but from fresh, finger-sized holes on his body.
"You kill me, everyone connected to me dies…."
"And it affects me… exactly how?" She tilted her head, looking at him like looking at an idiot.
"Sentios is…" he tried to speak while blood flowed between his lips as Ren held his body like a bear trap, clamping down on him hard.
"Though luck." Ren cut in as she started to crush his torso with her bare hands, enjoying the sounds of flesh tearing, bones cracking, and organs rupturing. Not to mention how painfully Rudrick howled toward the sky; it made Ren's body shiver.
"I think that is enough." A new voice traveled to her ears, and soon Zelig appeared not that far away from them with a peaceful smile.
"Who the fuck do you think you are?" Ren asked as she looked at him, leaning to the side to see his face.
"Someone who should punish his own descendant," he answered calmly as he reached out. A giant hand formed from nowhere in the air, and he tried to take Rudrick back. "Don't fight; you are talented. It just isn't worth it, girl. Sometimes it is better to let go." he said like a caring parent as his hand came closer to her.
"You're right. I had my fun; I don't want to play anymore." she nodded as her aura surged forward and squashed Rudrick's body into a meat paste. It exploded like a water balloon squeezed until it popped, letting it fall like a gore of rain, splattering on the ground. In the next moment, she stretched her bloody hands out, meeting with Zelig's open palm, withstanding it easily as they were coming to a stalemate. "You were saying something, my old, senile ancestor?" She asked with a cold voice while Zelig's eyes looked at her in complete shock.
"You…" He whispered, reining in his shock and surprise. He drew back his hand and moved his fingers, still feeling Ren's grip on them.
"That can't be? Is that what you are going to say next?" Ren cracked her knuckles. "Oh, yes, yes, it is possible." she smiled, licking off the blood from her face, looking like an actual demon with bright, violet eyes as her aura in the 3rd stage of Harmony was on full display. "I'm ready for round two if you want some of me~."