Reynold Lambert Siegmund is a cultivator whose name had long been spread across all four corners of Gaia because of his martial strength.
The shame he felt from failing to subdue a few boys is easily imaginable.
“It’s time to end this,” Reynold scoffed.
Due to the Astral Cataclysm he had to be cautious when fighting Tommy, with Kairos joining in things will turn even more unpredictable than before.
The White Emperor intend to quickly defeat these two before the situation worsens.
“Poisoned Apple!”
The White Emperor’s eyes turned green as he shamelessly used his illusion technique on the two youngsters and the scene before their eyes seemingly turned into one of peaceful bliss.
The two boys smelled flowers and grass with the sound of a rushing river nearby. They looked at the blazing sun and felt the gentle breeze on their cheeks and smiled.
This place is where the two boys met the first time in Rutea Village.
“Ah, third brother, why are we here?” Tommy asked Kairos.
Kairos did not answer him at first, then after a while he said, “Big brother, we are waiting for second, fourth, and fifth brother remember? Fifth brother said that he had some secret to tell us.”
Tommy who was rather confused suddenly relaxed and smiled, “Oh yes, I’ve already heard a little bit from Jim. He snuck into the girls’ dormitory and accidentally saw something. He said he is going tell us all about his great adventure later.”
Kairos frowned, “Jim… fifth brother. No… something is not right. We didn’t call each other fifth and third brother back then.”
“Veritable Sight!”
Kairos’ eyes turned golden immediately and the world he saw before him started oscillating. The movements could hardly be seen, but before Kairos’ sight, no falsehood and secrets could remain hidden.
He could tell that they had been trapped in a mirage; an illusionary world created by countless water droplets in the air.
Not only that, the oscillation is creating sound waves that confuses their mind and giving off strange scents.
Just a whiff is enough to cause a person’s blood to quieten even amid battle.
These three factors caused Kairos and Tommy to return to a time where worries are far from them.
The images of the Rutea Village and the bending river that is so familiar to the boys is only a catalyst while their mind fill up the gaps between information under encouragement of the hypnotic sounds and smell.
However, as with all illusions, lies, and untruths, there are questionable parts that will give their false nature away. Once you catch onto it, everything falls apart.
“Kairos! Tommy!”
Seeing that the two had shook out of their trance, Edward shouted, “Dodge to the side now!”
Immediately, Kairos jumped left while Tommy jumped right.
Unfortunately, they were disorientated in the illusions and the two knocked into each other.
*Oof*
Before they could recover, a powerful force struck them on their heads.
*Bam*
They were both sent flying backwards, knocked right into the ground and bounced off from the pure force behind Reynold’s attack.
Two brown clouds trailed behind their figure as the ground turned smithereens, yet both boys landed solidly on their feet and skidded backward to a halt then they picked themselves up and started walking back to the White Emperor.
Tommy cranked his neck and rolled the shoulder that had struck the ground.
Kairos lightly dusted his robes and tugged the edges back to shape.
The two took a full strength palm strike from the White Emperor yet appeared completely unharmed.
Even Reynold was surprised, he furrowed his brows in thoughts. At that time, both boys had their guards down and he had used ten times the strength than before. He was most certain that they will be killed yet they promptly returned without nary a scratch.
He had seen a golden flash of light from Kairos and a silver flash of light from Tommy when he hit them. Whatever it was, was surely the thing the protected them.
The White Emperor turned serious for the first time against the two but the boys were actually less than confident than they showed.
The gold and silver flash are from the True Heavenly Armour technique that Enki imparted them. It protected them from deathblows three times, afterwards it will take months to recharge to full.
The flash of light came from the first set of protect runes hidden in their skin breaking apart.
The True Heavenly Armour is a group of silver runic symbols that is refined into the skin to form a final protective layer, but for some reason after Kairos learned it, the colour turned golden like his eyes.
“Two more times,” both boys thought solemnly.
It was almost too easy for the White Emperor to force their True Heavenly Armour to activate. Without this technique they would’ve been killed already.
“Strange. That wasn’t any protective talismans or treasures, was it? Did you use a martial skill? I’ve never heard of any defensive combat technique this potent.”
Even the renowned White Emperor became highly interested in the secrets that these boys held. He looked at them as if dissecting them piece by piece in his mind.
When they returned his gaze, he immediately trapped them within his illusions again. His green eyes had been cultivated into a pair of treasures that could induce an enemy to let down his guard and cover him with illusions. The only requirement for his technique is eye contact but it is powerful enough to trap anyone weaker than his cultivation. Even someone like Syriong would not be able to avoid getting enchanted by him after looking into his eyes. Yet, when Kairos saw his eyes, his spell broke almost immediately and Reynold felt the backlash as a trace of blood flowed down from his nose.
He did not wipe it off. Neither did he suppress the internal damage he received.
Even with his powerful willpower, the White Emperor had turned dumbfounded, unable to contain the shock he received.
“The Raksasha… You are just as rumoured,” He said and then turned his head slightly and looked with renewed seriousness towards Tommy who is standing behind, “And the War Monk. The rumours of you two have spread. My soldiers whisper your names in fear. They say to flee if either of you appear on the battlefield. I suppose there are actually a silver of truth in their words.”
Not just anyone could get hit by his illusions and remain unflinching. Kairos is the only person who did so while having much lower cultivation.
Together with the combat strength the two boys had displayed, the White Emperor had to treat them as threats.
With Kairos’ Veritable Eyes, they no longer have to fear the illusions.
At this time, Edward stood up from where he was. His injuries already recovered to the point where it will not affect combat. In a blink, he appeared next to Kairos and Tommy, leaving only flickers of electricity in the air to show that he actually moved instead of teleported over.
Edward had also trained in the Lightning Flicker Body movement technique and surpassed in its mastery over the other boys. No one had yet to reach the second stage, Basic Mastery, and still remained at the Initial Mastery level, but Edward is the closest to breakthrough because he had spent the most time and effort on training it.
As an archer, to move from place to place is more important than a strong attack or defence.
He isn’t supposed to be attacked in the first place as a ranged attacker, and if his arrows are not powerful enough he can simply continue shooting at his foes until they die.
Of course, with his powerful penetrative Secret Art, he did not have to worry about needing a killer move for a while.
This traits make staying nimble and out-of-reach much more desirable for him. Furthermore, if he had been snuck up upon by an enemy, a powerful movement technique will save his life.
While he spent the most time training in the Lightning Flicker Body and had even surpassed Kairos - who had the knowledge poured into his brain directly by Enki – Edward had found himself at a dead end and unable to reach the next stage.
He had left it aside to train in other skills over the past years, but never gave up on finding a way to make his Lightning Flicker Body become Basic Mastery.
If he had been successful then he wouldn’t have been struck by the White Emperor, illusion or not.
This divine-class movement technique is far more difficult to master than anything Gaia has to offer, but likewise it is just as incredible a skill.
An excited grin appeared on the archer’s face although his chest still feel a throbbing pain from being struck, because for the first time in years he could feel the barrier to reach Basic Mastery of his movement technique had softened.
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If he could experience the threat of death a few more times in the hands of Reynold, he is confident to traverse across that once-unreachable threshold and enter the next level.
With the archer’s addition, the three boys managed to barely survive a fight with Reynold who is one of the strongest cultivators on Gaia.
Though not yet within the top ten strongest, the White Emperor is not too far away.
Their fight can only be described as savage, and after a few minutes, Tommy who had been struck the most times had weakened to a point where he took a full blown hit without being able to raise his defence in time. The others had also been wounded but not as badly as him.
Tommy flew across the room and heavily struck the isolation barrier – The Walls of Jericho – and the runes on his body flickered weakly before a third disappeared.
His body is covered in wounds and his True Heavenly Armour technique had been broken a second time. The skill will only protects his life and prevents him from deathblows yet, the White Emperor had been slowly whittling down their strength by inflicting scores of almost-negligible scratches on their body. Reynold’s years of combat experience is fully displayed as he found a counter to their True Heavenly Armour right after a single exchange. The White Emperor’s shrewdly noticed the second flicker appear and he caught the sight of runes disappearing from within Tommy’s skin in that instance.
He immediately deduced that with just one more deathblow, that technique protecting the War Monk will be completely destroyed.
Tommy stood back up, his eyes red from combat frenzy.
The threat of death looming above his head is now hanging by a thin thread, yet he his condition became far better than before. The injuries that once debilitated him are now burning like fires that drove him faster and stronger.
Tommy returned as if he held a mountain on his back and caused the White Emperor to feel as though he was facing a Calamity-class beast.
Reynold’s face turned grimmer. The situation is quickly souring.
While these young boys are far weaker, they are exceptionally good at staying alive. The strangest thing is that there had been multiple times when Reynold believed he had dealt enough damage to keep someone down, yet the person jumped right back up and attacked him.
It is like they had infinite vitality and wouldn’t die unless he kill them outright. This is the benefit of the Life Taker’s pills that granted them ten times the life force they should have for their cultivation.
With furrowed brows, Reynold charged through Tommy and Kairos’ flanking attacks and went straight for Edward.
Taking a full-moon slash from the Swallow right on his back and a five pounding punches on his gut, he appeared right in front of Edward.
The archer did not back off, instead he smashed both palms into Reynold even as an ice spike flies to his face.
The White Emperor took the two blows without flinching, the wrist blades that jumped out from under Edward’s forearms stabbed into his sides and drew blood despite his Ki Barrier.
In return, the ice spike smashed into Edward with killing force and threw the archer right into the ceiling above.
Yet, at that moment a flicker of silver light flashed and dispelled his deathblow.
“As I thought, all of you had learned that strange skill that could prevent death. Then, I will only need one alive. Tell me, who wants to live on.”
The value of the True Heavenly Armour is unmeasurable. Countries will go to war and Paramount Cultivators will clash to obtain it.
Even the Immortal realms will step in if they knew of the skill, because the True Heavenly Armour means they can have more than one life.
Of course, the White Emperor is also not immune to such deadly attraction.
Without waiting for an answer, two large spikes appeared on Reynold’s hands. The Ki condensed into them are ten times greater than the one he struck Edward with.
He threw the ice spikes towards before the archer could pick himself up, and rushed forward. Once the two attacks connect and dispel the remaining True Heavenly Armour, he will end Edward’s life.
This way, the rest will understand the situation they are in and consider his offer seriously.
If they are still unappreciative, then he will kill Tommy who only left with one charge of True Heavenly Armour.
Just as the two ice spikes flew out, Reynold attacked intenting to end Edward’s life in one go.
The three attacks came one after another and Edward felt an incredible pressure from the impending doom.
In this critical moment under the limitless desire to survive the mysteries of the Lightning Flicker Body started to unravel itself and everything suddenly seemed to click into place.
Edward already had accumulate long enough and the pressure of battle acted as the final catalyst.
Just as the ice spikes were about to reach, the archer disappeared from sight.
A small hole tore through the White Emperor’s chest and electricity covered his body until he looked like a glowing monstrosity.
A breath after that then the explosion of sonic boom came.
Whipping wind blew right into Reynold even as they tore his skin like razors and the world trembled and groaned.
Finally, Edward had reached Lightning Flicker Body’s Basic Mastery: A truly divine-class movement technique.
In that moment, the archer had turned into lightning itself, not unlike those who have Lighting Touched affinity.
Of course, unlike the actual Elemental Touched, Edward can only become pure lightning when executing his movement technique and cannot use it extensively.
After turning into an incorporeal form, his speed had improved extensively. His limited energy only allowed him to choose between a burst of speed or a slower short-distance travel mode, but even the latter is more than five times of a boost to his previous speed.
The sudden acceleration already break past the sound barrier, which was why the sonic boom was delayed.
Edward stood behind Reynold with a cold gaze, the ice spikes already shot and missed. The third attack struck air, and the White Emperor himself was actually wounded.
This is a turnabout that no one expected.
The White Emperor looked at the small bleeding hole on his chest with a great rage. He felt embarrassed to be careless and wounded.
At this time, Jim stood up and returned to the fight, his speed is only a notch slower than Edward using movement technique.
In mid-run, he threw out a dozen daggers that flew towards Reynold, aiming for his eyes, throat, and small of the neck while Kairos, Edward, and Tommy joined in on the attack.
The suddenness came at the perfect timing where Reynold is still stiff from the lightning burns.
The White Emperor struggled to block the daggers but were still mercilessly pierced. One of the knives stuck dangerously between the small opening of his neck guard and quite a few hit him in the joint. He wanted to remove them only to see that the four boys had already taken out a talisman instead of attacking him in melee.
“Dao of the heavens, light of the earth. Heed my summons, strike my foe! Ki Burst!” the four of them shouted at the same time.
Reynold only felt the world spin as four blasts made of pure Ki shot into him like cannon fire.
His beautiful flowing hair had been exploded into a bird’s nest, his armour cracked, and blood flowed down his nose.
Each talisman blow was at a Paramount Unit, although unable to kill someone like him, it could still hurt and disorientate. Furthermore the daggers sticking into him had been forced all the way in. It should be lethal, but with his cultivation, he doesn’t die easily.
Confused, hurt, and enraged, Reynold tried to remove the blades in his body while trying to find his coordination. Yet at this time, a flicker of shadow cut through the air towards his forehead.
The White Emperor was caught in a horrible position.
His protective talismans activated. Ten shields made of different elements appeared one after another the attack cut through them without slowing down and left an eerie green line in its wake before driving through the White Emperor’s head.
Blood poured down the enemy commander’s face as a thin and long thorn hovered around Jim – the Fiend Edge. This is the immaterial ore the boys mined from deep underground. It cannot be forged or reshaped as it is a spirit-type mineral and can cause great injuries that cannot be treated without special methods. It is fortunate that this one had been found in the shape of a spear. Jim who have the rare affinity with the darkness element can refine it and control it as a projectile with his mind. Since it does not have a physical form, it cannot be blocked normally and as a transcendent element, most other elements cannot repel it.
Even the greatest cultivator will be killed by such an attack.
However, the hole on Reynold’s forehead is visibly healing. It should be the second time they killed him already, and this time they are certain that there are no illusions in place.
Before Kairos’ Veritable Sight, no falsehood can remain.
Looking carefully at Reynold, Kairos’ golden glowing eyes squinted. He saw a strange mark on the man’s chest, at the place where Tommy tore a hole through. The skin had healed with a tattoo that looked familiar to him. When Kairos used his Soul Perception to probe it, his face turned pale with fright.
That ink is engraved too similarly to the War God Tattoo except there are nine markings on Reynold instead of one.
Right now, two markings had turned pale and a startling thought came to mind.
Maybe, they did kill Reynold twice.
Maybe… the White Emperor had carved the War God tattoo on himself…
Kairos felt his fingers turn chill rapidly but his mind started thinking faster. No, a person like Reynold would not surrender to the fate of a death warrior. The markings are merely similar, but there are still many differences with the War God tattoos he saw.
No doubt this is a skill that could prevent death, much alike the True Heavenly Armour. If so, it cannot be without consequences, and Kairos doubt that any martial arts on Gaia can compare with a divine-class technique.
*BOOM*
A loud crash rumbling the training hall and almost threw all the fighters off their feet. With eyes blurry and blood laced, the White Emperor grabbed a jade pendant in panic and sent his Ki surging into it. A spherical barrier appeared around him, protecting him from the shockwave and any incoming attack, but nothing came.
Now refocused, the White Emperor turned his eyes towards the source of the sound. His pupils constricted as he saw the fifteen bodyguards he brought along had all been kill.
Four draconian warriors, Long, John, Silvers, Sasha, stood over their flaming remains, and above the group is the wind touched Sihala looking down like a grim reaper.
A sudden thought caused a bad feeling to drive deep into his heart.
Why the four boys did not press their attack?
The White Emperor turned his attention back towards Kairos, Edward, Tommy, and Jim, and as he placed his eyes on them, he couldn’t remain calm anymore. On their bodies are all kinds of enhancement talismans, protective treasures, and powerful combat artefacts and above his head, a small ball of light shone gently.
Lee Hei had also been silent for quite a while but all this time he had not been idling but feeding all sorts of attack talismans into a frightening weapon: The Ultimate Seal – The Glutton.
This item is the strongest seal ever created on Gaia with the highest capacity to absorb energies. However, right now, it is reaching critical mass as Lee Hei activates one talisman after another while overloading The Glutton.
The light escaping from it are signs of the seal breaking apart revealing the powerful energies within. When the seal meltdown, there is no doubt that even a Paramount Cultivator will be horribly wounded; it is evident that the four boys dared not come close when it happens.
“Very tricky and a despicable way of fighting but know that two can play at this game,” Reynold said to them then he roared aloud with Ki infused into his voice to carry his words to the ends of the Ku Kang Camp, “Soldiers, it is time to fight! Unsheathe your swords and kill these Saint Empire dogs until none are standing!”
“It’s the Supreme Commander! The White Emperor!”
“Let’s abandon this bunker and kill those empire bastards!”
“Wait, what if this is the enemy’s ploy? It could be someone sounding like our commander.”
“It isn’t a ruse. It is seldom that the commander is isolated from our army but don’t you recognise his Ki?”
“It’s not a trick boys! Charge! Everyone CHARGE!”
The White Emperor laughed happily. He acknowledged that they have a chance to kill him by trapping him here. As Kairos estimated, he possessed a skill that could prevent death.
After countless human experiments, he found the limits of the human body and discovered an energy that determined the natural human life span.
Using that knowledge, he created the True War God tattoo that could save his life nine times and keep him in his optimal fighting condition.
Once expanded, he will lose nine-tenth of all his cultivation permanently and his life span will be shortened to a fraction. But, he will still be alive and still have a chance to retrain his cultivation and increase his life span.
Since he cannot die, he tried to bring out more power than he normally could but discovered that by doing so, the nine markings will quickly disappear and his life span reduce rapidly.
It was a botched attempt, but through it he created the War God tattoo for the death warriors.
Of course, despite being able to survive seven more deaths, he is unwilling to take any more risk.
The boys are a far bigger threat than he expected.
With his command, if they continue to keep him here then the badly outnumbered Saint Empire troops will definitely be wiped out.
It will no doubt come at a great cost, and Reynold estimates that only a fraction of his soldiers will remain but the enemy could not bear the losses either.
The best solution that these boys will take is to ask for reinforcements and quickly kill him, but when help comes, they will have to lower the Walls of Jericho and at that time he can escape.
Once he is away from this prison, he will make them all regret today!
Reynold Lambert Siegmund, an existence that all should prostrate themselves in his presence, he had never been shamed this badly in his life.
Even if he lost the Ku Kang Camp, he will have his revenge.
A vicious glint flashed across his eyes and his thin lips widened into a cruel smile.
The Walls of Jericho is indeed being opened as he expected.