The several silver metallic balls that were revolving around Timur slowed significantly as he held his breath and observed Nyx's every movement. His eyes carefully tracked her arm as it continued to slowly rise above her head. Yet, apart from a few muscle twitches, Timur didn't make any movements.

To each side of him, the knights and disciples of the twilight sect were displaying similar serious expressions. However, unlike Timur, who seemed as stable as a mountain, they were tense and restless. Most of their hands rested on the hilts of their sheathed weapons while their feet continuously shifted to adjust their stance.

A warm breeze blew past, ruffling hair and robes as the everyday sounds of the town continued in the distance. High above, a vulture-like bird released a high pitched screech.

Multiple eyes watched as Nyx's arm eventually became vertical to her body. Slowly, as if moving through a thick liquid, her index finger started to uncurl and point towards the clear blue sky above.

"Easy." One of the knights, held his arm out to the side as he saw a few blue-robed disciples start to lean forward, the first few centimetres of one of their blades visible above its sheath.

"Skittish." Nyx's quiet voice carried unnaturally to every disciple and spectators ear. It was like a whisper that tickled the ear and caused the skin to prickle. "Very~ skittish."

As she spoke, her finger fully straightened out, yet nothing else happened. The seconds quickly passed and soon the gathered crowd, both sect member and civilian, started to become restless.

Timur took a quick glance to each side, a slight frown on his forehead. "Nyx-"

Just as he was about to continue, Timur sensed a faint vibration from the ground beneath his feet.

At the same time, some of the dust from the dirt road and cafe's courtyard lifted into the air. It was accompanied by a small amount of debris, including a dislodged bird nest, that fell from the tops of the nearby buildings.

While it wasn't very powerful, everyone had felt the tremor. The faces of the disciples were strained as they took uneasy glances at Timur, seemingly waiting for a command, while a few of the civilians that had been watching quietly started to mutter and talk amongst themselves. A few even started to back away or turn away and leave.

Soon, the dust was caught by the breeze and blown further down the street and into the nearby alleyways. This forced some of the disciples to squint and turn their heads slightly.

Timur glanced down to his feet. "The town dungeon?"

Moments later, his gaze snapped back up, his expression rapidly souring as he glared into Nyx's eyes. "What have you done?"

The twisted smile that had been planted on Nyx's face started expanding as she scanned the nervous faces of those standing before her. The smile quickly grew to the point where it was hard to describe it as human. The corners were too far apart, and the tips of small, sharp teeth could be seen sticking out of her pale lips.

"Ah, how I have missed this~." Nyx's voice, while still cold and somewhat lacking in emotion, faintly hissed towards the end of her sentence. After scanning the sect disciples once again, she took a deep breath, the sound strangely audible to everyone nearby, before gently sighing. "The smell of fear."

One of the disciples standing behind one of the armoured knights, a young woman in her early twenties, flinched as a healthy, human-looking tooth fell out of Nyx's mouth and onto the ground. Before it had even settled, the sharp point of another slowly peeked out between Nyx's lips.

"Steady~." Timur's deep voice rumbled out before he huffed noisily. When he did a visible, transparent silver dome flowed outwards, swallowing everyone, including Nyx, before becoming fainter and finally vanishing when it was ten meters from him. "Remember what I told you. She is a master of mind games and misdirection. Don't let her get into your head."

"Oh~ Hall master~." Nyx chuckled as her head tilted to one side. Small black veins were visible on her wrist, just above her leather armour. If one were to look close enough, it would seem as if something was flowing upwards. "Praising a woman in front of a crowd might normally get you somewhere... if you do it to me, it might just get you killed."

"Stop wasting time." Timur glanced at the tooth on the floor, seeing it seemingly break down into small wisps of black smoke, before taking a step forward with a straight back. Occasionally, he could hear a faint, almost inaudible crack or pop emanating from Nyx's body.

Taking a deep breath, Timur slowly raised his hands, palms outwards in a placating manner. "There is a reason we are here, talking this out instead of-."

"That you don't want to lose more than half your forces for a pyrrhic victory?"

Timur cleared his throat, ignoring Nyx's interruption. "We know that you are already suffering elemental poisoning and your body is being corrupted. From what I see, it won't be long until you reach the point of no return."

He paused, staring intensely into Nyx's eyes. "If that happens, nobody wins. We all lose. You will become nothing more than a mindless elemental that must be put down at all costs, and countless innocents will suffer. Surrender and we can-"

"You think this is elemental poisoning?" The smile on Nyx's face froze before being replaced with a frown. After a few seconds, she shook her head and sighed. "Ow well, doesn't matter. I can ask Dimi later."

Timur’s eye twitched slightly when he heard Dimi's name. "Dimi has been stripped of her title and sent to the sect headquarters and awaiting interrogation."

Nyx chuckled as the black veins seen through the pale skin on her arm briefly expanded. "Now, now, Hallmaster. You wouldn't be lying to me, would you? If she is not here who is the beastkin lioness two blocks away with a squad of-"

Timur's head moved back slightly as he blinked before revealing a broad smile. "That's Methia, Dimi's sister. Seems your observation ability isn't as powerful as I feared. Probably not able to transmit sound or clear images?"

Nyx snorted, the smile vanishing from her face. "Smarter than you look, Hallmaster. Oh well, you're out of time anyway."

The moment her voice died on the wind, a dull thud that was felt more than heard, erupted from Nyx's raised hand. Black mist-like energy spewed forth from her finger, flickering as it did, and shot high into the sky. As the black beam rose, Nyx's arm and shoulder sagged. It was as if she were bearing a substantial weight.

"Don't take your eyes off the target." Just as everyone was about to follow the energy upwards with their gaze, one of the knights shouted out. While most of the sect disciples appeared to be listening, they were soon distracted as the shadows around them seemed to spring to life.

The faint shadows merged together, forming inky-black mist-like shapes that resembled serpents. Before they were fully developed, they started snaking between the disciples and flooded towards Nyx.

Most of the sect members shouted in surprise or flinched away. A few even lashed out with a sword, spear or blasts of variously coloured essence. Yet the shadows were not affected as they quickly reached Nyx and started winding themselves around her body.

Timur tried to stamp on one of the shadow snakes, never taking his eyes off Nyx as he did, but his foot passed through it. The shadow did not seem impeded or affected in the slightest.

For the shadows that had reached Nyx, they climbed up her body and quickly converged towards her raised hand. As they passed over, they seemed to suck more dark essence from Nyx's body and became much darker in colour before reaching her hand and joining the stream ascending into the sky.

"Hallmaster?" One of the knights shouted towards Timur, his long sword in the process of being drawn. As if he set off a chain reaction, the other knights and disciples drew their weapons and pointed them at Nyx.

As they did, the surroundings that had already appeared somewhat dim continued to darken. However, unlike before, where it was strange and unnatural, it felt as if a dark cloud was blocking out the sun.

Timur took a step forward, soon followed by the armoured knights that were surrounding the open-aired cafe in a semi-circle. As he did, a dull silver essence seeped from the pores of his skin and started to wrap around his body. Against the dimming background, this made Timur appear as if he was glowing. Coupled with his white robe and beard, as well as his imposing figure, it gave him a somewhat holy appearance.

"First squad. With m-" However, just as Timur was about to take another step, his right and left hand moving to form some sort of seals as the rotating balls surrounding him started to warp, he froze. It wasn't only him. Every single knight that has been in the process of moving forward had frozen as if time had stopped. Some even in mid-step.

Timur's pupils dilated as he was unable to repress the shiver that had crawled up his spine and set the hairs on the back of his neck and arms on end. A nauseating fear rapidly rose from the depths of his stomach as his heart started beating at an increased rate. For some reason, as he stared into Nyx's lightning-filled eyes, he felt that if he took another step forward, something terrible would happen.

Feeling the back of his robe become damp with sweat, Timur moved his hand out to the side and made a backwards waving motion. While he was sure he would be fine, after reading Nyx's profile, he wasn't sure about those that followed him.

"How can this be? She's only a core level eight."

The strained complaint from one of the nearby armoured knights reached Timur's ears, causing his heart to skip a beat.

"How in the four heavens can a level eight cause me, with an equivariant power of twenty-five, to feel instinctual fear?"

The knights, their heads obscured by their helmets, all moved back at the command. It was as if they had stood on a poisonous snake.

"Something's not right."

Another thud, this time much louder and with more impact than the first, rippled out from Nyx's chest. As it did, a ring of dust was kicked outwards as the nearby tables and chairs toppled and crashed to the ground.

"Nyx. Don't do this. Nobody wins." Timur's skin felt as if ants were crawling over him after being dunked in a frozen river. However, his cheeks were flushed red as he ground his teeth."If it wasn't for the fact we can't kill her or give her an opening to flee into the town and cause a bloodbath, we could have ended this farce and struck first."

Timur watched as the robed disciples that had filled the overstretched gaps between the knights started to retreat. Their faces were pale, and a few could even be seen violently shaking.

"It's an empath!" One of the nearby disciples, a boy wearing a grey robe carrying bags of what looked like talismans, shouted out as he stumbled backwards. "An empath of fear."

"Nonsense." One of the knights that had been standing near the archway that lead down the street responded almost immediately. "Witch and cultivator powers can't mix. It's another deception. Don't fall for her tricks."

Before Timur could even process the information, Nyx's chuckle resonated in his ear and mind at the same time, causing an eerie echo-like sensation. "Oh~ So that is what this feeling is."

Nyx's voice suddenly turned icy, sounding similar to a death knell in the ears of everyone who could see her body. "It seems that I was fretting over nothing. I'm already impure."

"Timur!" Angelica, standing on top of the roof directly behind him, yelled. She was looking up with a horrified expression etched on her face. The four people who had wings similar to Angelica, their long, curved blades flicking with what appeared to be fire held at their sides, seemed to be in an even worse state as they stared upwards.

Angelica spoke again, and even though she didn't shout this time, Timur was able to hear her clearly. "Elemental Summons."

Timur, against his better judgement of not looking away from his opponent, looked up. The moment he saw the pitch-black lines filling the sky above, his eye violently twitched as his stomach churned and a growing sense of danger arose from the depths of his soul.

Unlike the sect disciples who had been instructed never to take their eyes off Nyx no matter what, the civilians were all displaying baffled, somewhat terrified expressions as they stared upwards with open mouths. Even the waitress and those who had been detained for being too close to Nyx were no exception.

The few that noticed that Timur had broken his own command were soon staring up as well. A few silently opening and closing their mouths or staggering backwards. The eyes of each one expanded rapidly as their eyes traced the familiar black symbol seemingly etched into the blue sky.

"Elemental Summons... she wants to rank up and become a Queen elemental?" Timur's heart resumed beating, having skipped a couple when he had first seen the black, intimidating lines that crisscrossed the air. "We should be fine if a prince shows up but if its a king..."

At the same time, Angelica snapped from her daze and cursed loudly as she drew her enormous sword. "It's too late. Disable her quickly, and we can draw them away from the town."

Hearing this, many of the sect disciples started to move forward with grim, determined look etched upon their faces.

"HOLD!" Timur's voice echoed between the walls of the buildings, making him the centre of attention. Everyone halted their advance and looked towards Timur.

Taking a deep breath, Timur took another step forward. His eyes were locked onto Nyx's. "So... that's your plan? An elemental royalty rank up? Use the chaos to escape? This isn't the prime continent. Princes, let alone kings are rare. And if this area is considered another Queen's territory, you will suffer a fate worse than death."

He took another step forward, closing the distance to Nyx to around four meters. "And even if you do attract one or two, in your current state, they will simply capture and dominate you. Elemental Royals are nothing more than half beast, half elementals that care about nothing but themselves and their element. Stop this now, and I will ensure that any demands that you have that are not unreasonable are met."

"Do you think your words have any weight after the last deal?" Nyx smile made it seem as if she was enjoying the emotions the Twilight Sect disciples were displaying. She was taking deep breaths, and the slit-like pupils were slowly becoming rounder. Due to the teeth peeking from Nyx's lips, a small trail of saliva had started to form on the left side of her face.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"You are only in the eighth layer and are in a weakened state. They will overpower you and drag you away to be their plaything. You might become an Elemental Queen, but you still won't have your freedom. Elemental Kings will never allow a weaker Queen to gain more strength than them. They will drain you like a battery. Do you even realise how many innocents will suffer if they start to compete? Entire towns and-." Timur stopped, his eyes narrowing. "... you want this."

Listening to the conversation, a look of realisation dawned on the faces of those near enough to hear Timur’s words. After realising that what they were seeing was, in fact, an elemental promotion or summoning, a few of the blue-robed disciples cursed just as Angelica had done earlier. Their glares that locked onto Nyx made it seem as if they wanted to tear her apart on the spot.

Timur's fists cracked as he tensed. The silver aura started to seep back into his skin, shining brightly as the area around them continued to dim. "Fine. The twilight sect will never be afraid of a fight, nor will it cower when threatened. The runes for the barrier come from the prime continent. Even if they fall, it will only be after we have dealt with you."

"Threat?" Nyx shook her head. "My dear Hallmaster, how can something that is already in motion be a threat? And do I really look like I need rescuing? That you have pushed me into a corner where I am chewing off my own limb to escape?"

Nyx's laugh was incredibly eerie, causing those that had still been inching forward to hesitate. The blue flickers of Nyx's eyes almost matched the silver shine that was emanating from Timur's skin. At the same time, the stream of essence pouring into the sky slowly diminished as the snake-like shadows faded away.

As it cut out completely, Nyx lowered her arm. Yet, even though it wasn't being supplied with any more energy, the gigantic symbol, the same as the one on Nyx's right hand, remained in the blue sky.

"Atta-"

Timur was unable to finish his sentence as a black blob flashed into his peripheral. It was a large black crow, diving down from the sky and approaching him at a break-neck speed. To most, it seemed nothing more than a streak of black, yet all disciples of the twilight sect instantly became on guard.

With a wave of his hand, the silver, metallic balls that had been slowly rotating around Timur flew towards the rapidly approaching bird. When they were no more than a foot before it, they slammed together as if they had been made from a thick liquid and formed into a bumpy, silver shield.

From the corner of his eyes, Timur spotted multiple birds descending from the sky, their eyes completely black and their bodies covered in strange, mist-like tentacles. Each of them approached the largest groups of grey-robed sect disciples or the backs of the blue-robed or knights.

"Welcome to my parlour~." Nyx's voice snaked its way into Timur's ears, seemingly close but at the same time, unbelievably distant. His skin crawled as he sensed the icy cold bloodlust contained in the voice's tone. "Said the spider to the fly~."

"All of this..." Timur's pupils violently dilated as he realised why he had been feeling so unsettled and cautious since he arrived. The reason why they had carefully surrounded Nyx and taken things slowly even though they had taken every precaution they could have with the limited time they had.

"Even this conversation..." It explained why Nyx hadn't seemed surprised, worried or even flustered when they revealed themselves. In fact, she had acted as if she had known they were coming and was merely annoyed that they arrived too soon. "was a trap."

"Defend yourselves." A few heartbeats after Timur had bellowed out his warning, a deafening explosion forced him to stumble backwards. Flashes of various colours flickered across the badly damaged, warped shield that had been between him and the strange crow. Even though they only lasted a moment, Timur swallowed hard as feathers and chunks of flesh rained down upon him. "Core detonation."

Just as he was about to shout out another warning, similar explosions detonated to his sides and behind. After each explosion, screams of pain and fear filled the air.

"For-" Timur lunged forward, kicking off the ground with enough force to cause a small dent to appear in the cobblestone street. Yet, once again, he was unable to complete his sentence. Nyx, who had been standing a couple of meters away, was now directly before him.

A black, demonic clawed hand was striking towards his rapidly shrinking pupils. The fingers were pulled together, the claw-like nails forming a single, vicious-looking point that was mere feet from piercing into his head.

Less than a moment later, large sparks flickered and pushed back the dimness, as if two metals had been struck at high speed. Timur's hand barely intercepted Nyx's strike. The skin was now entirely silver and glowed with a radiant shine.

Timur's head leant back to avoid the extended nails as his body, which had been hurtling forwards, came to an abrupt halt due to the force generated from when his palm had met Nyx's strike.

"Twelfth-layer!" Timur's gasp was lost as Nyx's other hand, grasping a dagger, swept forward. Unlike her right, her left remained utterly human-looking. It's frail, delicate appearance belying the incredible speed and vicious angle it travelled. Sparks once again flew as Timur blocked it with his wrist as he tried, yet failed, to disarm Nyx.

Timur's eyes widened as he found his body starting to move backwards. After another flash of black, the sparks so bright that he found it increasingly difficult to see Nyx's movements, the tip of his foot returned to the ground. Without any hesitation, he pushed off backwards, trying to generate some distance between himself and Nyx. While she could not bypass his defences, he was heavily pressured by her speed.

The knights around him, as well as the robed disciples, were in chaos from the sudden explosions. Only a few noticed Timur's battle and even less started to move to aid him.

Even though he was moving backwards, Timur's hands were barely managing to block Nyx's streak of attacks, all targeting the weak points on his body. They all focused on vulnerable areas in which his metallic skin was at its weakest. The eyes, mouth and ears. There even a few that targeted the groin or joints.

After twenty or so strikes, the barrage of explosions that had caused pandemonium in the surroundings started to die out, and the speed of Nyx's attacks began to slow. Grasping an opportunity, Timur slapped his palms together. The loud, metallic clang forced Nyx back and gave Timur enough room to regain his stance and take a breath.

The sleeves of Timur's robes were in tatters, and he had lost more than a few chunks of his beard. There was also a long scratch that ran from his nose back to his left earlobe.

Nyx somersaulted in the air a few times as she was forced back, her tail causing the air to faintly whistle, before agilely landing on the balls of her feet. After her eyes scanned Timur's body, lingering on the scratch on his cheek for a moment, she clicked her tongue. "Seems like you get to fight another day."

Timur quickly glanced to each side, scanning the devastation that had turned the once peaceful street into something of a warzone. Small fires kicked smoke into the sky as bodies of grey and blue-robed disciples, the ones that had been blocking off escape routes or positioned to support the heavily armoured knights, littered the ground. Most weren't dead but rolling around in agony. While the majority were uninjured, they seemed to be either struck dumb by the intensity of the attack or trying to help their comrades. Small craters, flickers of remaining essence due to the detonation of cores still visible, littered the ground. Screams of panic could be heard nearby, mostly from those that had been spectating.

"Angelica, we mu-" Timur's words once again died in his throat as he turned his head so he could see the rooftop behind him as well as Nyx.

A man that looked like a beggar, with tears flowing from his pitch-black eyes, was charging towards Angelica while screaming in terror. Bits of flesh and bone could be seen at the edges or the ruined rooftop where Angelica stood.

Angelica's armour looked to have been damaged, with black char marks around the right side, and her blonde hair was dishevelled and burnt. The people that had been around her could no longer be seen.

"If the shield cannot be destroyed~." Nyx's voice once again crept into Timur's ears, like the whispers of the devil.

Instead of charging towards the beggar, Angelica flapped her outstretched wings as she backed away. She always kept the flaming sword between her and the man, yet refused to fly away from the rooftop.

Although Timur wasn't sure, his eyes moved over what appeared to be a crumpled body just behind the valkyrie.

A flash of movement to the right caused Timur's head to slightly move to the side, still keeping Nyx in view. It was a large, wolf-like dog that was bounding towards Angelica from the opposite side of the rooftops. Black vines seemed to bind the dog's mouth as similar tendrils tugged and pulled at each of its limbs, forcing the obviously struggling animal forward.

A terrified scream, followed by an explosion, momentarily distracted Timur. He glanced down towards the group of civilians that had been detained when they first arrived and sucked in a sharp breath. All of the captives, bar the waitress crumpled on the floor screaming, appeared the same as the beggar above. They were racing towards groups of disciples, tackling them to the ground before detonating their cores.

Those that were not immediately affected scrambled about in a confused daze, trying to work out what was going on. The moment a small group formed, it was instantly bombed by an infected human, bird or rat. While the size of the detonation varied due to the host's size, the smaller animals were much harder to defend against.

Timur returned his attention to Angelica when the beggar was no further than a meter away. Just before he touched the tip of her sword, he exploded. Multi-coloured lightning erupted from his chest as his flesh and blood were scattered outwards.

"Impossible. These are intelligent beings. It's impossible to force a core to explode, even if you can control their movements." Timur wanted to shout a warning about the dog to Angelica but seeing the man detonate his core, Timur's mind turned as chaotic as his surroundings.

"Then, I shall remove the sword~" Nyx's voice brought Timur back to his senses.

The dog lept awkwardly towards Angelica, who was staggering due to the explosion caused by the beggar. At the last moment, it seemed she noticed. Abandoning whatever she had been protecting on the rooftop, she threw her sword at the dog as she flapped her wings and took to the air.

Just before the sword hit the dog in the chest, and Angelica was out of the explosion range, the dog's core shattered. Along with a hail of body parts, the sword was flung into the distance as Angelica struggled to remain airborne as the multi-coloured lightning streaked over her body and paralysed various muscles.

She continued to back away as the energy dissipated. Her face had been hurt, and a large amount of her hair had been burnt away. Her armour was now in tatters, small blue runes flickering here and there weakly.

Timur sighed in relief, having momentarily put his entire focus on Angelica, as he watched her fly away from the building and towards him. However, that relief instantly vanished as a bad feeling started gnawing the pit of his gut.

Even though he wanted to shout out and organise everyone, everything was happening too fast. His conscious was torn. To save the lives of the weaker disciples and retreat, the civilians that would undoubtedly be Nyx's targets of vengeance if she escaped, or prioritise the elder who was clearly Nyx's target.

"NO!" Timur distracted mind cleared as he returned his full attention to Nyx, who was starting to lean forward. The metal balls that had formed the shield had separated and started to create small, needle-like daggers pointed in her direction. "I got distracted."

"You shouldn't overthink~" A smirk bloomed on Nyx's face as she exploded forward, her hands pulling a continuous stream of daggers from her leather armour and throwing them. However, even though she was heading towards Timur, the knives were not targeted at him. Instead, they flew towards the weakly armoured disciples that were behind him on each side.

The disciples were utterly distracted, and even if they recognised the threat, it was unlikely they could respond in time.

Without a moment's hesitation, one by one, the metallic needles shot towards the daggers, sending them off course. Due to the speed that the knives were travelling, they continued moving forward for a distance after passing their targets. With each successful block, the seven needle-like objects got further and further away from him.

Ignoring the stray thought of where Nyx had managed to hide all of these weapons, Timur snorted loudly as his skin started to harden.

"Do you think Gem ranked cultivators are that weak or foolish." Timur bellowed, his beard fluttering from the force of his enraged voice. The shine of his skin darkened as it continued to harden and make faint screeching noises as he moved. Although his movements were much slower than before, they were still quick enough to set his stance and await Nyx's attack.

As he expected, a dagger flew towards him. Yet, Timur didn't bother to block. It slammed into his cheek and, with a few sparks, harmlessly bounced off. However, just as he was about to make another comment, he sucked in a sharp breath. He spotted a projectile that had been hidden behind the knife. The stone, seemingly picked off the ground randomly, was covered in red-lined talismans and was already a few feet from his face.

Timur's hands rose as his silver eyelids started to close. However, as his speed was significantly reduced, he wasn't able to completely block the explosion as the talismans burst into a bright, blinding light.

Timur continued to close his eyes as his hands changed direction and started to strike outwards. Even though he couldn't see, he could still use the metallic essence he had sent out earlier to get a rough idea of Nyx's position.

Braced for a fierce confrontation, Timur was slightly shocked when the image of Nyx in his mind agility jumped, her right foot landing on his left shoulder. "Thanks for the lift~."

The weight he felt on his shoulder increased as he sensed Nyx launch herself into the air.

"ANGELICA!" Nyx's words echoed in Timur's mind as he screamed and changed the direction of the metal needles to the point that would force Nyx to dodge or be hit. He had been aware from the start that while he wasn't the best suited to deal with Nyx, she would be unable to harm him. His strength lay in a slow defence while Nyx relied on a fast offence.

But unlike him, Angelica had only formed three layers before forming her Gem core. As she was only Gem rank three, that meant her power was only at core-layer twelve. As such, at least in terms of power, they were equally matched. However, when thinking of their types, Timur felt a chill. One was a support-offence type that relied on her agility and flight while the other seemed to have been born for direct melee.

Angelica, still reeling from the explosion, a small trickle of blood seeping out of her left ear, looked down and towards the sound of Timur's voice. She flinched the moment she saw the rapidly approaching Nyx, a savage grin plastered on her face.

With a single beat of her wings, she ascended a fair distance higher and glared downwards. The dismissive look on her face vanished the moment she saw what appeared to be black wings from behind Nyx.

Similarly to the movement, Angelica had done moment's before, the mist-like semi-transparent wings beat down and sent Nyx rocketing into the sky.

As they reached their fully extended, downwards position, the wings dissolved into nothingness. Yet, Nyx continued to travel upwards with the momentum. The tip of her tail, poking through a seemingly improvised hole in the leather armour, fluttered slightly behind her. Nyx's momentum continued until she was level with Angelica, who was still reeling from the shock.

Flinching as she regained her focus, flames danced around Angelica's hand as she prepared to strike. Yet, she was a moment too slow.

The flames died on as her hands paused in mid-air. Angelica stared into Nyx's blue eyes as revealing a somewhat terrified expression.

Down below, the world seemed to hold its breath, at least if the screams of pain could be ignored. Timur had just regained most of his sight and was staring in horror just like the rest.

While he already had guessed Nyx's current power level, for everyone else, they still believed that their opponent was a level eight-core. A genius among geniuses but still too weak to face a sect elder, let alone defeat them.

A light, almost whimper-like cough escaped Angelica's lips, followed by a large amount of blood, as her wings stopped beating and she started to fall, dragging Nyx who still had her hand inside the other's chest.

As they fell, Nyx curled her body, forcing Angelica to the bottom as she pressed her feet against each of the valkyrie's shoulders.

The valkyrie slammed into the floor with Nyx's body crouched above. Just as Nyx was straightening up, a sickening plopping sound emanating outwards as her fist was pulled from the cavity in Angelica's chest, a sliver flash slammed into her left shoulder and sent her flying. A puff of blood remained in the air where Nyx had been standing moments before as Timur slid down next to Angelica's body.

Nyx's figure barely came to a stop before she launched herself at Timur. With a single hand, he managed to grasp her arm and flung her over his shoulder, back towards the area she had been standing earlier. Without waiting any further, he quickly touched Angelica's neck. His eyes refusing to look at the blank, fish-like eyes that were unfocused as they stared up without any signs of life.

The disciples and knights that were not distracted by helping their wounded comrades held their breath.

"NYX~." Timurs enraged voice boomed outwards, turning into a low growl at the end as he slowly stood up and turned around.

Nyx was already on her feet, but her left arm and a large part of her shoulder were gone. Yet she showed no signs of distress, let alone discomfort. Instead, she was smiling as if everything had gone according to her plan. Small black tendrils wiggled from her wound, but the loss of blood had already stopped.

"You have gone too far."

Nyx raised her remaining hand and looked at the bloody, dull-pink orb contained within it. "Too far?"

Nyx chuckled. "I haven't even got started."

Everyone's expressions, including the enraged Timur, froze as Nyx did the seemingly impossible and crushed the orb with her bare hands. Yet, what happened next left them as horrified as they were dumbfounded.

Nyx directly ate the shards of Angelica's core.

Moments later, the arena wall behind her exploded. Out of the dust and falling ruble, eight hulking figures appeared through the dust and falling debris. They were mostly bare-chested but carried a variety of crude-looking weapons. Apart from their rugged appearance, there was one thing that linked them all. They all had Nyx's sigil tattooed onto their bodies.

"Would love to stay and chat but~ I have a city to destroy." In an entirely unconcerned manner, as if she were merely going for a walk, Nyx spun on her heels and walked towards the massive opening in the wall.

"Stop her." Timur snapped from his daze and roared as he charged forth. The first to respond where the knights followed by the remaining disciples.

"For the darkness." Seven of the brawny men howled into the sky as they charged to meet the members of the Twilight sect. As they passed Nyx, flickers of black lightning, no more than a foot wide, flashed from her body and stuck them, quickly flowing into their eyes, noses and mouths. As it did, black veins erupted on their bodies as their eyes turned completely black.

Nyx stepped up the rubble and into the arena, followed by the only gladiator that stayed behind. The one with a gigantic black tattoo on his back.