The First One Goes Down

Heian Ciemnosc's body was slightly arched backwards by the tackling motion, but his back was straightened by the staff. As the slender fellow locked him, he looked at the other party's face and showed ultimate coldness. Simultaneously, the fella's face seemed to think of something. His face changed, and he immediately screamed at the bulky cultivator, spinning and closing in, "Hurry up! I'm about to get attacked!"

“I’m coming!!” The bulky fella, understanding his partner’s worry and anxiousness after experiencing a brief fight against Heian Ciemnosc, shouted back as he no longer focused on spinning and floated towards them faster. Heian Ciemnosc’s right claw hand appeared, its dark claws seemingly wanting to devour the slender fellow’s blood as it was already doing with the street lamps. It went up, and the other party closed his eyes to endure the pain.

However, there was no pain, and after a second since he closed his eyes, the sender cultivator opened them to see Heian Ciemnosc’s mighty handsome face as he looked up. He didn’t catch anything with his Spirit Sense, so he looked up, amazed. Then, he heard his other partner finally arriving behind Heian Ciemnosc and about to clash. He was about to let Heian Ciemnosc’s body go and dash to safety. It was an easy combo for them to do… but he found himself wonderstruck.

Above him, 5 ‘plates’ were spinning and starting to shake off the ‘stuck’ illusory image they gave anyone who watched them because Heian Ciemnosc and the slender fellow were clearly moving. But it felt like those black screens weren’t. Then, the slender cultivator looked at the bulky one before slowly opening his lips. In his mind, it was slow, but for any person, even Heian Ciemnosc, it was in fast motion.

“WA-” Psium psium psium psium psium psium- phhshk, crreeshhk, crreeshhk, crreeshhk.

Heian Ciemnosc felt a couple Power Energy strands behind his back directly attacking his clothes. His black coat was cut open. These left small wound traces, but the bulky cultivator could cut through his skin, immediately forcing dark blood out. Heian Ciemnosc held his Vocón Link with both hands, gripping it tighter than anything else as bodily strength and dark Power Energy oozed wantonly in and from his body.

Pulling his Vocón Link, those 5 black screens were as if coming to life. They leaned and proceeded to come down at them. Heian Ciemnosc’s back began bleeding, with several thin wounds forming on his skin, some even revealing bones but still not that big. The slender fellow only had a second to gloat as he protected himself from the bulky cultivator’s Power Energy move, watching Heian Ciemnosc’s back splutter with dark — ? — blood.

Suddenly, 3 screens immediately came down on him, slamming his back and right below his nape. They cut through after grinding on the slender man’s body, already stabbed with the initial momentum and sharpness. The bulky fella wasn’t watching as his partner’s body was being mutilated from 3 different areas of his body. He continued to employ his Power Energy to pulverize Heian Ciemnosc’s body from the back.

The bulky cultivator stopped spinning altogether, struck with his right palm, at the last moment, on Heian Ciemnosc’s back, and focused all those Power Energy traces in this move. He expected the sound of his palm colliding with the teenager’s body. But the bulky fella’s attention was diverted to the sounds of flesh being cut off. As his shoulders were cleaved by something, he watched as his old pal’s body was already becoming 3 irregularly shaped and sized chunks of meat flying about in the air.

The dark blood from the pale skin was incomparable to the fountain of red before them. The slender fellow’s legs bounced in the air and struggled as they went flying. The center of his torso simply wabbled onto the ground, making a ‘bugsh’ sound before remaining limp. Intestines and a few organs limply came out a second later. His upper body continued to be ground by another black screen, slowly diminishing its size as the slender cultivator’s eyes enlarged.

“Aaagh!” The bulky fella felt the black screen trying to cut his shoulders off his body intensify as if drinking his blood. His right palm sent more and more power Energy bouts as he tried killing Heian Ciemnosc, hoping that would be enough to save himself. And, if lucky, to rescue his old pal. However, even after being mangled open by so many Power Energy attacks, Heian Ciemnosc’s back was still as sturdy as the most formidable defense the bulky cultivator had ever faced.

The Power Energy gusts continued assaulting Heian Ciemnosc as he flew backwards still. His skin was already nonexistent from his back. Only blood, muscles, and bones were showing. As the bulky fella did his utmost to kill Heian Ciemnosc, the latter slowly turned his body around to the left. His side glance wasn’t noticed by the fellow, whose shoulders were half-cut from his body. A right-handed claw-like hand slowly made its way to the cultivator’s face. Just like before.

“... …?!” The bulky fella felt his strength leave his body. His blood already stained the sides of his neck, and his legs no longer felt alive. Even sending his Power Energy down to effectuate them. He couldn’t move most of his lower body, and his vision blurred. At last, he seemed to sense something, and he looked where a small thing, pale in color, moved towards his face, just like when he was pinned against the ground when his head was bashed.

Like the black screens from before, 5 little dark thingies slowly made their way to his face, his Spirit Sense barely managing to scan whatever was before him. At that time, his eyes widened, and his body stiffened. But Heian Ciemnosc, without hurrying or mercy, effortlessly grabbed the bulky man’s skull and pulled, tearing apart everything he clutched.

Crrreeesshhhhkk.

. . .

Two hours later, in the southern Wrath Nihility Academy camp inside the enemy City.

“Ouh,” Heian Ciemnosc sat with his bare back against Sakura, who kept moving a bowl to catch the little pieces of dirt, stones, glass, and even shrapnel coming off his back, one after another. Hearing him groan as if he was truthfully in pain, Sakura looked up at the back of his head and commented. “Hm~. If team leader doesn’t like it, maybe stop trying to find those as strong as you to fight? Any Spirit Rebirth realm cultivator could’ve come out of nowhere and dealt you the killing blow. What then?”

“I just got myself some cultivation materials, nothing else.” Heian Ciemnosc innocently answered. He shut up, let his body heal alone from the inside first, and didn’t let his skin recover. He was singly testing his body’s self-preservation when he had foreign materials inside. He also trained his body as he felt closer to the All-Devouring Force Chronicles 4th level, but still not in the breakthrough zone.

After Heian Ciemnosc finished off both fellows, his body couldn’t stand up for a while. He was even attacked by a few Conflagrate realm cultivators who grabbed the staff and circular blade, both Mortal weapons, to try killing him. However, they failed to even harm his clothes. And when they targeted his wounded back, they couldn’t even form another cut in his muscles with their Power Energy imbued into them.

In the end, he killed them with his Vocón Link before picking up some flesh and organs from the 2 fellows with it and munched on it to recuperate some strength. Afterwards, he even rejoined the fight and continued fighting for another 2 hours before the army called it off and ordered the student troops to set camp within the City, cleaning off any remaining cultivator in a small portion of their side of the City.

The 30,000 group Heian Ciemnosc was in took a third from the enemy City’s southern side. The rest took the north, east, and west of the enemy City. It was just that, a portion, and comparing a third of the enemy City’s sides, it was negligible compared to the territory the enemy withheld in the City. Still, the army was prepared for a prolonged siege, and those auxiliary student troops got to work as they placed several array formations around.

“How are the transporting ships?” Heian Ciemnosc asked. In the end, 2 transporting ships were struck in this enemy City’s siege, leaving the Academy’s troops slightly confused. However, before ideas of retreating formed in their hearts, others like Heian Ciemnosc continued the fight and even died, not letting their fellow student troopers think about abandoning the battlefield.

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“Ah, they are fine, mwuah. The first one had its guidance systems temporarily disabled. The others only suffered some structural damage and didn’t lose anyone,” Sakura said while giving his pale shoulders a kiss or two. The sensation of his skin on her lips was felt too good for her to do this with the other COs looking. Heian Ciemnosc didn’t mind and nodded, resting his eyes as he discerned his breakthrough to the Spirit Formation realm close. But he wanted to push himself until he could feel his body and the world forcing him to breakthrough.

Violet was tired, but she fought incredibly. The terrible trio had worked their asses to slowly grind the enemy’s rear lines, forcing the enemy into a thorough defensive notion until they were exterminated. And this time, only 3 team members were heavily injured, but no one died. They were also notably lucky and brave to bear the pain and incapability to continue the fighting. Their potential had to have been enhanced somewhat, at the very least.

The territory the army took over in the enemy City was shaped like a simple line that went from one extreme to another. They had their backs against the City walls and prepared pre-inscribed array formations to the front. The transporting ships had additionally come closer and were just a couple kilometers outside the enemy City. No wall had an enemy cannon team after the respective zones were cleaned up.

This was the first day’s result, not since the siege started, but in the taking of the enemy City. It was crucial the army didn’t go overboard and took time to adhere to the situation. It wasn’t the same in the current eastern or western enemy Cities. One was under the harassment of the enemy troops, and the other was constantly being fired by the machine guns. The central enemy City was the most quiet, but it also became the most dangerous.

After the scouting, it was known those enemy Cities designed as ‘western’ and ‘eastern’ had a ‘regular’ amount of arsenal and troopers guarding them. Meanwhile, the enemy central City had the same amount of arsenal. But they had more powerful cultivators among them and promising ones as well. Just those 2 fellows Heian Ciemnosc faced off were worthy of becoming top-notch experts in the Spirit Rebirth realm. As long as they had time to grow and were attended.

Now that they were dead, they naturally couldn’t grow, and only Heian Ciemnosc benefited from their deaths like this. They were entirely delicious and had good Power Energy quality in their Dantians. After Heian Ciemnosc gobbled them down, his foundation couldn’t be any more solidified. But it felt like he was preemptively doing so for the next realm and stages. He liked the feeling and prepared to abuse this discovery from now on.

“Let’s rest. Tomorrow will be a big day,” Heian Ciemnosc said after he felt no more intruding smallish objects, like a grain of dirt, between his muscles and bones. He stood up, turned around, and looked at his Concealed Ornament Team. The heavily injured team members would be moved into the transporting ships, which couldn’t battle for the time being or shouldn’t, and the rest took camp inside the enemy City outside any structure.

… Nobody looked for the City’s civilians below at the shelters. And whenever they saw one in a residence or building, they ignored them or signaled them to keep quiet and hide.

The Watery Land Sub Division’s civilians had a different idea and vision. They were naturally scared, as if it didn’t matter to them whose side they believed in, and only cared about whether they’d be mistreated to death or let alone roaming the Cities on their own. Since the start of the war, commerce plummeted, and the once-always-flourishing Endless Desert Division turned into a prison with a hundred cell blocks.

Unlike before, when some little civilians would come out and greet the soldier units, even skip towards them and hug their thighs, every civilian they met was cautious and only wanted to keep looking for survival materials and food. A few undersized houses held more than 2 dozen civilians, living together to share their misfortune with barely something to eat. The cultivators really didn’t care anymore about the civilians.

It was understandable to a certain point since this was a war they were losing, and they couldn’t get help from spaceships or through air as promised. After all, who knew the Crimsonbreaking Faction would adamantly kill off any blockade the Blackotia Kingdom’s enemy hidden forces set up? The enemy wasn’t just unable to restrict the Academy’s movements. But they were even pulverized by the Crimsonbreaking Fleet’s blockade around the Blackotia Kingdom, truthfully helpless.

The first day’s night went off, and the early morning quickly came. To the enemy’s disgruntled surprise, no matter how the Academy’s forces were harassed or kept ‘awake’ all the time, they attacked their City again! It was still mostly dark. The sky didn’t have the sun’s rays coming down to illuminate. But several thousand student troops came from the protective, sensory, and illusory array formations in a quick mobilization to a part of the City!

The other sides of the central enemy City and the western and eastern City had to work harder than Heian Ciemnosc’s side in the central enemy City. No one had the Spirit Sense he did, which couldn’t go through array formations a Spirit Rebirth realm cultivator inscribed but could detect them anyway. The enemy was also not dumb, and they opted for some kind of guerilla tactics, hiding between buildings, inside, and even in plain sight, hoping their array formation wouldn’t be spotted.

But under Heian Ciemnosc’s eyes, any ambush, sneaky tactic, or trap was spotted and swiftly dealt with. His teams were always moving to every order he had to give, surrounding the enemy without alerting the others watching in case something went wrong. Heian Ciemnosc couldn’t help but understand more as the day passed, and he and his teams walked through the enemy City, cleaning them of any cultivator.

His Concealed Ornament Team was the best in moving through any terrain, not being detected as their killing intent was well hidden, responded swiftly to sudden ambushes where the enemy watching over other groups came to rescue those they were hunting. They could break off the enemy’s momentum, and there wasn’t even a surprise element with their team leader’s ‘all-seeing’ eyes. Thus, they could defend themselves until allies arrived and helped them from the other teams.

Heian Ciemnosc had no trouble doing this. His medallion was always connected with his Spirit Sense. Whatever information he read through, he would immediately share it with his teams and the team in specific under grave danger. It was a cheat, as if Heian Ciemnosc could tell the future and exactly mentioned the road every enemy team or group was taking. From the early morning to the night, Heian Ciemnosc and every other Wrath Nihility Academy force invaded more terrain inside the enemies’ Cities and took over.

Casualties were less avoidable now. No matter how experienced the student troops were or how different it was to fight as a First Step cultivator in the second half of the spectrum than as a citizen or ordinary being, they fell to the surprise attacks and ambushes one after the other. However, unity was one of the Academy’s strongest strongholds. Even in precarious situations, the teams and groups were able to retreat. Not one group or team was exterminated completely, leaving at least half their numbers breathing before returning and avenging their precious, now fallen, comrades.

Each side faced at least 2 direct battles. Too much ambushing and waiting for one side to do something first led the enemy cultivators to impatience. In the end, tens of thousands against tens of thousands resulted in a defeat on the enemy’s side. Even then, some Cities’ sides were a close call, both parties suffering and struggling. But the victor of each encounter was still the Academy, even if there were a few thousand casualties by the end of the day from each City’s side.

Mourning couldn’t be done. Even after defeating the enemy time and again, despite suffering losses and taking a whole day, and the Academy’s army took the entirety of their side. The central section of each City was still enormous. Even more than the cardinal points in the City. There weren’t many enemies inside there, but machine guns and mini-turrets were installed.

The army had to take more time in order to plan. They didn’t want to send precious devices and lose their momentum for the sake of taking the enemy Cities at a rapid pace from now on. If they wanted to keep their ammunition and manpower at a ‘high’ level before facing off the enemy’s central City in the Watery Land Sub Division.

After the entire night and morning, on the third day’s late noon. The army attacked the enemy’s last occupancy in the City. Since the first day, the auxiliary units have been working on managing what little territory they could. And after the second day, their work only got somewhat heavy. The civilians who weren’t in the center, the majority, finally wanted to understand what was happening, as some left their buildings and even shelters.

The army went all out! Their foottroopers rushed into the enemy’s ranks, brandishing steel and Power Energy to cut and stab through them. The enemy fought hard, their machine guns heavily working, and those holding bazookas waiting for the transporting ships to appear anytime. But they weren’t confident they would show up. After all, on the second day, no transporting ship helped the land force.

However, to the enemy’s surprise, they did appear somewhere in the middle of the battle! Just as skirmishes were happening everywhere, with teams and groups taking turns to fight each other’s side, the enemy’s machine guns became deathlier as time passed. The enemy was clearly gaining insights into how to use them most efficiently.

But suddenly, transporting ships came rushing above the City’s center before abruptly stopping with a ‘futomp’ sound and opening fire on the enemy’s machine guns until they became pure black smoke. Just as every student troop could see rapidly-traveling missiles going into the sky, to the enemy’s relish and to the Wrath Nihility Academy’s concern, diminutive firing shots were heard behind the Academy’s forces as mini-turrets had been placed!

Any missile trying to take their transporting ships down was neutralized, some even exploding a second after being launched and harming the enemy instead! The transporting ships effortlessly spun around and encircled the City’s central aerial space before bombarding those machine guns and massacring any visible enemy, especially those Spirit Rebirth realm cultivators trying to bully student troops with lower cultivation bases.

Even before night fell, the enemy City became the Academy’s City, and the first victory in the Watery Land Sub Division was achieved with all 3 enemy Cities falling before the third day’s dark!

…