Clearing Out Rats

"Hey, Heian Ciemnosc? This is from the guys at the back." An Auxiliary Soldier walked towards Heian Ciemnosc and passed him an Inferior Covert Space bag. Heian Ciemnosc didn't ask anything and grabbed it, putting some items there from his Covert Space bags as the Auxiliary Soldier spoke, "They said it was really good, and I have to say, the smell around them was amazing! Any chance you're making food for everyone? We could use it out of boredom."

“No… I’m busy. Maybe after we gain better stability. We can move with the new platform.” Heian Ciemnosc contested. The Auxiliary Soldier seemed slightly disappointed, but his eyes shone after finishing hearing the answer. He smiled encouragingly and patted Heian Ciemnosc’s shoulder before stepping backwards with the Covert Space bag back in his hands, “Good! We’ve heard tons of things ‘bout you. Ah, but what are you busy with now?”

“...” Heian Ciemnosc didn’t respond, at least not immediately. And, just then, a flying figure in the Light/Dark realm 5th stage flew from the front and landed behind Heian Ciemnosc. “Heian Ciemnosc?! Good! Where’s your team leader? There’s a situation ahead. Tell your team leader to present your Team for a mission. Hurry!”

Whoosh! The person flew away as soon as his message was delivered. Using Universal Conveyances in the Dimension was already prohibited, and the medallions’ communications between military columns would be detected by the nearby enemy scouting Teams. Their communications might not be noticed if it was within the same column, but it wasn’t safe to say. Both sides were at the same level, after all.

“Ah, I see. Sorry for interrupting. Good luck! My Team is at the very rear. Ahem, if you ever have leftovers… See ya!” The Auxiliary Soldier rushed away, moving with his feet and not through the air, as only important messages could fly individually like the person who notified Heian Ciemnosc just now.

‘Oh, from outcast to personal chef? And they are even okay with leftovers? Well, they aren’t trying to force me… This is really good!’ Heian Ciemnosc looked at the back of the Auxiliary Soldier and thought, praising his achievements and inching closer to being accepted in the entire Faction.

“Boss,” Heian Ciemnosc looked for his team leader, who was assessing some things already, and waited until the team leader was finished to step up and continue. “A messenger just came. The front has a situation. We are to go there right now… It might be a skirmish.”

“Hm?” Beto nodded as Heian Ciemnosc began speaking, already picturing possibilities in his head. But he was slightly surprised when he heard the last few words. Beto’s left eyebrow arched up, and he crossed his arms without a hurry to say, “You’re excited, aren’t you? Does this have something to do with your condition?”

“Yes, boss,” Heian Ciemnosc said, nodding in reverse to Ruo Wei and the others. They understood from his glance and nod and started preparing to set off. Then, Heian Ciemnosc looked at Beto again and lightly elaborated, “My Art is related to my innate capabilities. Right now, think I’m only missing… fighting and other things.”

“Things like… eating?” Beto suggestively uttered. Heian Ciemnosc was left slightly speechless but not worried. He nodded and grinned a little. Beto protruded his lower lip and nodded, “Aight. We’re moving. Whatever we’re facing, if it’s with a complete corpse, leave it for black monster, understood?!”

“Hua!” - “Huaa!” - “Huaaa-wee!” The Team responded, with Cara making a high-pitched cry out of fun. Then, Heian Ciemnosc led the Team in a flight formation as they rushed towards the front. Beto remained behind again, and they met with other officers before flying towards the first column to meet with the other officers and Teams ready to be deployed.

Whoooosh!... Whooosh!... Whoooosh!...

After a series of stops, waiting for other Teams to get ready and arrive at the same time, Heian Ciemnosc and the Team reached the very front, where a small group separated from the first column, but the line didn’t stop moving forwards. Riquel, the Interchanging Dust Dynasty’s officer in command, and Yun Tang were there, waiting for all the Teams.

“... Heian Ciemnosc! Nice seeing you again, bud. Are you okay now?” Riquel walked a little out of place to welcome Heian Ciemnosc. The latter shook his head and slightly shrugged. Riquel nodded and started at Beto, nodded, and began getting acquainted with the Team. Meanwhile, Heian Ciemnosc walked to the leading figures of the coalition, where he was given a spot beside and by Yun Tang himself. The Teams and Riquel didn’t spend more than 10 seconds grouping around them.

“Alright, everyone,” the heavenly leading figure said, flashing his Interchanging Dust Dynasty with the first lights of the day. Everyone paid attention as he began, “We found several groups of enemy scouts in the vicinity. They are spread very far from each other, and the only communication between them is Soul messages. There are approximately 500 such groups nearby. We’ll have to take them out quickly. We’ll start with all-out ambushes in the first days and proceed with intricately targeted plans when they start running and running.”

“However, these are only the ones in the 1 million kilometers ahead of us. There will be more as we advance. The good news is that not every million kilometers has these many groups. After annihilating the first batch of enemy scouts, the rest are around 200 groups per millionth kilometer. We’ll turn between Teams and choose the best to get rid of them. It’s not much, but we’ll delete some enemy’s numbers.”

“However, for now, we must use the best of the best. I understand some of you don't have all your Team members in the Light/Dark realm, but what you should worry about is your objective, not other Teams.” The heavenly leading figure nodded at everyone and continued, “The first groups are in a linear formation.”

“We can’t tell which Team in these formations is stronger, but they consist of 3 Teams, one after the other. After observing them for the past 2 days, we’ve noticed some things and deduced the first and last Teams should be the weakest. The enemy scouts only move between the terrain and the road we’re making and ahead. They fall back and turn into a single ball whenever they meet a group of Fauna or dangerous flora.”

“I will show the method, and the rest of you will act, decide, and strike accordingly.” The heavenly leading figure activated a device from his emblem and showed the map only he and other Dynasty people could gain access to from the imprints in his Soul. It revealed the terrain of approximately 1.25 million kilometers around them. It was immediately dragged to the front and showed the first enemy group of scouts.

“One of the Obscure Orb Sects’ peak Teams will attack the front enemy Team. Meanwhile, Crimsonbreaking Faction’s Beto Team will encircle for 2 minutes, more or less, and strike the rear enemy scout Team. Wherever the central enemy Team attacks, that’s where senior apprentice brothers Riquel or Yun Tang will defend and take care of the enemy. The third Team must hide and only move to destroy the central enemy scout Team, nothing else.” The heavenly leading figure looked up and asked, “Understood?”

“Yeah!” - “Let’s get to it!” - “Come on. I’ve become too bored! I need some killing!” - “Let’s fight!”

“Hold on. First, we’ll see the demonstration from the stars. Everyone will be on their way to strike an enemy group once they’ve returned. Remember to return to the front of our line after annihilating an enemy group. Do not strike others, nor communicate.” The heavenly leading figure said, stopping the excited Teams in their tracks before looking at Riquel and Beto. “Are you guys ready?”

“My Team is,” Beto responded with a nod, obviously not needing to look back at his Team to confirm it. They wouldn’t be his Team if they weren’t ready to destroy the enemy’s efforts. Riquel looked at Beto and furtively nodded. “My Sect’s Teams are ready. If we’re to show how it’s done, it’s time!”

“Very well,” the heavenly leading figure nodded and gestured for the team leader to take a step forward. “Go ahead, show the others the way the Crimsons and the mightiest organization in the Existence work.”

“Hua!!” - “Huaa!!” Beto and the Obscure Orb Sect’s Team roared before activating a device and placing it near their emblem. Immediately, their auras weakened, and the other Teams would’ve only thought they were Fauna if they used only their Spirit Sense or Soul fluctuations.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Whooosh…! Heian Ciemnosc led the Team as his Spirit Sense was kept down and closed. His cultivation base was the lowest among everyone in this soon-to-be-flash battle. Beto was right behind him, with Cara at the rear. Beto had to use his Spirit Sense and cover their tracks from the enemy’s perception. Only he could hold a tool, nearly an Artifact that could hide their appearances and mix them with the vegetation.

They were in a prairie, and while the grass was tall, if they didn’t fly with their chest only 2 feet from the ground, they would be seen by the ordinary naked eye. With the tool, they could nearly hide from the naked eyesight of the bearer’s cultivation base’s perception, including their Soul, if the other party wasn’t careful.

They couldn’t make any communication now, even between the Team members. Heian Ciemnosc had to lead the Team while everyone followed his lead without the team leader or anyone else’s intervention. But it was fine. They’ve spent more than a year training. If Heian Ciemnosc, who was not ordinary or dumb, couldn’t understand every state his teammates were when, before, in, and after a battle, he wouldn’t be himself.

Whooosh…

“Hm? Hey, did you hear that?” Several hundred meters from where Heian Ciemnosc and the Team were, an enemy scout loudly asked his comrade. The latter stood up a little, giving Heian Ciemnosc a clearer insight into where they were, as Beto could only search with his Spirit Sense limitedly to not be detected. Another scout popped up to the right of the other before roughly saying, “Yeah… I think it’s a battle. They’ll be fine. The others will take care of it. Stop fussing for nothing!”

“Doesn’t this mean we’ll have to retreat? They’ll notice once their scouts don’t return!” The first enemy scout said, followed by the second enemy scout contesting, feeling bothered. “Yes.”

Swish- pshift- “?!!!”

Just as the second scout spoke, he felt a tingling, piercing sensation on the right side of his neck. On the other side, as if a cold Water particle formed an area the size of a dot under the left side of his jaw, freezing it to death!

Plah! Swish!! Phhshk! Splasssshh!!

“Inc-” The second enemy scout wanted to shout, slapping away a dark energy blade flying from the ground, a meter beside his right foot. He thought that was it, but when the dark energy was hit, his palm was covered in dark liquid, emitting tremendous cold. His attention was driven away for half a second. The coldness from such a technique was too penetrating! This helped Beto, whose cultivation base was just a couple stages above his target, to come close and send a blasting Earth dagger with his Neutral Energy around it to stab the scout’s throat.

The shout was interrupted. Neutral Energy exploded from the enemy’s back, and his mouth drained in blood, with Neutral Energy wreaking havoc as he vomited it. The damage was too severe, and just like that, a Light realm 8th stage cultivator fell under the Crimsonbreaking Team, with 10 remaining.

This enemy scout Team had 11 members. 9 of which were at the Light/Dark realm, and the others were in the later stages of the Breaking Point realm. The 3 Breaking Point realm cultivators were 2 in the 8th stage and 1 in the 7th stage. The others were in the middle and later stages of the Light/Dark realm, with the strongest among them at the 9th stage.

Whoooosh- paaah! Swish! Whoosh, whoosh- pshiiiift~! Bang! Pshift- bang, bang, bang!

The battle started, and each picked their fights. Only 10 enemies remained, each prepared to fight, kill, or die. Ruo Wei flew past the first fallen enemy, exploded his head with an Earth particle-covered fist, and flew past Beto to choose her opponent. Beto flew after her, directly rushing towards the strongest enemy scout, when another flew by and focused all her Neutral Energy to backstab him with her hands alone!

Cara flew and interrupted that female scout but immediately retreated and selected another target, confusing said scout before she rushed towards Beto to aid their team leader. On the other hand, Cara unworriedly wrapped her legs and lower torso with Wind element as Neutral Energy techniques flashed around her and barraged the enemy, dominating her fight almost immediately.

The scout previously interrupted lost her chance to deal a massive blow to Beto, whose attack flew high into the sky and surely alarmed the other enemy scouting Teams. However, all 3 enemy Teams were engaged in a fight in under a minute.

Loma summoned 2 rapiers, one with a Wind element and the other with a Fire element. They were, of course, Earth edged weapons. The surrounding tens of meters around her were covered with her Elements and mighty Neutral Energy stabs, thrusts, and swipes, blasting the enemy and cutting their flesh, and Neutral Energy attacks rapidly and with momentum.

Sandra fluttered her fiery wings from her Elemental Art and dodged the enemy’s attacks, using her Neutral Energy to defend herself whenever she was caught and exploding with sharp Arts. Her Dark realm 6th stage cultivation and Fire element Art allowed her to move, dodge swiftly, and become more flexible, while her chosen path of cultivation granted her the ability to resist attacks better than any Light realm cultivator.

Clanton was fine, going melee against a female scout, throwing Neutral Energy strikes from his hands, elbows, knees, and feet. His enemy wasn’t having it easy. She wielded a long sword in her right hand and a tiny blade in her left. Whenever she struck from a close-mid distance, Clanton sent energy palm, finger, soles, elbows, or knee strikes. And if she raged on to go melee, she was beaten back and forth until she found an advantage to free herself from Clanton and flew backwards in pain.

Lastly, there was Heian Ciemnosc and Moy. Moy rushed forwards towards one of the Breaking Point realm cultivators in the 8th stage in the beginning, leaving the 7th stage towards Heian Ciemnosc, willing to take on the other 8th stage cultivator like his big brother was doing, facing a Light realm 9th stage and 7th stage cultivators.

However, Heian Ciemnosc was a step ahead. He rushed forth first, coming out of nowhere from the ground, blasting the Breaking Point realm 8th stage fella Moy wanted to target with an accumulated bodily attack the enemy wasn’t expecting. This was Heian Ciemnosc himself, converging his dark Neutral Energy and using all the bodily strength in his left arm to palm-strike the scout’s sternum.

Immediately, Heian Ciemnosc clawed the man’s clothes, but without his Claws Out. The enemy was timed out, hurt, and trying his best not to lose consciousness, as that would be courting death shamefully. With his Spirit Sense out, Heian Ciemnosc detected the 7th stage cultivator fly towards them at maximum speed, with Heian Ciemnosc nodding at Moy before slapping the captured enemy by pulling his clothes and slapping against its sternum.

Heian Ciemnosc’s dark Claws went Out, and his half-a-meter-long dark tail came to light as Vocón Link shot towards the Breaking Point realm 8th stage cultivator. The 7th stage enemy looked at Moy but ignored him after remembering his pal’s condition. The remaining 8th stage cultivator flew towards Moy, to which Moy finally woke up and faced him, hoping to end the battle soon and aid Heian Ciemnosc as soon as ever possible. It was not that he did not trust Heian Ciemnosc’s strength, but anyone would be dubious when facing someone a whole realm and a half above their cultivation base. He was anxious!

Thus, the battle began. Moy summoned his Water Arts and fought his opponent crazily, and from the start, thanks to Cara and Heian Ciemnosc’s intervention of some enemy scouts, fireworks shone in reflection on the clouds above them. The Teams watching from afar sighed in contemplation. The battle started, and the 3 Teams ambushing the enemy scouting group were sweeping the prairie with their living bodies.

Riquel’s Team didn’t waste a second after seeing the central enemy scouting Team move towards the rear. They engaged in battle only half a minute after Beto’s Team initiated their ambush. All enemy scout Teams were hindered, and they couldn’t send any message for reinforcements, or their communications might very well give the coalition a clear map of all their scouting groups. They weren’t aware the coalition had known it since a day ago…

“... huff!” Heian Ciemnosc looked at his opponents. The Breaking Point realm 7th stage cultivator had his right arm cut off, and Heian Ciemnosc was still flicking the underside of his right claw, itching to taste its flesh after the mission finished. The 8th stage cultivator was in better shape, but his Neutral Energy was 10% left, while Heian Ciemnosc had around 60%. They were aware of this, and it had only been 3 minutes since the battle started.

But what imprinted fear the most into their hearts, minds, and Souls wasn’t that Moy was half-finishing his battle with their comrade or that 3 of the Crimsons’ Team were watching from the sidelines. No. It was Heian Ciemnosc himself. Who was smiling and squinting his eyes contentedly after getting a taste of fresh blood from a Human and a Demon directly from the air. They even saw him stretch his neck and bite it in the air with those dark fangs… They were… already obliterated mentally and only suffered 2 quick Bloodthirsty Consuming Enshrinement, Heian Ciemnosc’s offensive Soul Art attacks!

Heian Ciemnosc was making short work of them, even though his shoulders bled dark, and his thighs were bruised with bones showing. However, as dark Neutral Energy circled outside Heian Ciemnosc’s body, forming little chains and appearing to prepare a mysterious Art. Heian Ciemnosc’s enemies watched some of those bones retract ever so slightly and his skin closing… This added to their frightened mental state.

… … … …~

“!” - “!” Suddenly, Vocón Link was stretched and was exposed, bolted from the ground with Heian Ciemnosc as the center and between the enemy scouts. It carried tiny tendrils around it, like hairs moving with a life of their own. As the scouts dodged and were in the middle of employing Arts to counterattack, Vocón Links’ sub-bodies rushed out with Earth particles covering their shapeless limbs, penetrating the 7th stage cultivator’s body and suctioning everything from within.

The 8th stage cultivator saved himself and was only stabbed a couple times before retreating safely, but darkness colored his flesh as blood seeped out and was drawn, in midair or the ground, towards the shapeless limbs and Vocón Link’s main body.

…