Repaying Old Aggression

The Crimsonbreaking Faction had long become a Third Step organization. To be seen a full-fledged one, one has to amount as many soldier units as dictated in the Glorious Nexus Entente. That was usually reserved to any Step organizations in their early phases. For a Third Step Faction, that number was 210,000,000 soldier units. As long as an organization reached such requirements, considering what was needed to maintain them, one was considered a full-fledged organization of their Step.

The Crimsonbreaking Faction wasn’t a generational organization, so it didn’t have as many of a soldier unit quota to fill before being considered one. Those organizations that passed to the middle phase or level, and didn’t have their Step’s soldier unit requirement, were the worst of the worst. As for the Crimsonbreaking Faction, it had also long become a peak Third Step organization.

The current army of the Crimsonbreaking Faction had amounted to about 500,000,000 soldier units before Heian Ciemnosc joined it. All of which are easily recognizable and make any cultivator weary when they find them, be it in space or in a Kingdom.

With the 300,000,000 soldier units Heian Ciemnosc brought, and the constant recruiting changes since he joined its military, the number increased to an exponential 1,000,000,000. It was a lot, perhaps too much for the young cultivators who don’t grow up in those organizations.

Nevertheless, from those 300 million new soldier units from the Dragoon Ore Kingdom, 200,000,000 were prisoners from the north, while the rest were those that wished to follow the Crimsonbreaking Faction, their supreme leader. Most of which were the oldest soldier units since Heian Ciemnosc began training them under the Faction’s regimen.

These 200 million ex-prisoners of war had not much to do, and they were enormously defeated, although it wasn’t a one-sided massacre. It wasn’t a bad option to remain behind and do their lives as much as they could. With the ruling organizations’ change of views, they would’ve rejoined the Calatida Region one way or another.

However, following Heian Ciemnosc was a much better option. Virtually every prisoner and neutral cultivator from the north joined him in his return to the Crimsonbreaking Faction. When they arrived at the ‘legendary’ Space Station, they wanted to see the Mothership in construction, but it was no longer there.

Under 2 months, the few hundred million new soldier units were screened and recruited into the Crimsonbreaking Faction. Only a few of them couldn’t join it and became life-long garrison units in the Space Station. In the 8 years after the war, Heian Ciemnosc had, of course, set a training regimen for those he decided to bring and begged him to bring them with him.

They were trained so they could pass the Crimsonbreaking Faction’s recruiting terms and not embarrass him. It would be too shameful to see the people he brought fail at the Faction’s recruitment and wander the world without any protection or way to life.

Thus, only a few thousands didn’t make it. Although this was partially cheating, it never happened during the recruitment period of the Crimsonbreaking Faction, so it was no big deal. Besides, a few hundred million soldier units, already trained to become part of the Faction… This was really the first time in the Faction.

Of course, compared to recruiting efficiency, Alyona, Hong Mei, Tania, Grietta, Fonso, and Loon were the greatest during the 10 year war. Especially Alyona, she recruited from the vacant spots of hundreds of millions of soldier units every 10-12 months to keep fighting. Otherwise, with the brutality of it all, how could a rogue Third Step organization and the Wrath Nihility Academy survive through so much, never swearing fealty to an Existential Sixth Step organization?

Thus, in a year, the new soldier units became proficient in the practices and training of the actual Crimsonbreaking Faction. The Space Station wouldn’t become crowded even if it was 1,000 times their number. They weren’t actively seeking more people to inhabit their Space Station, after all. Those who live in the Space Station now have been doing so since before the 10 year war, and they have all they need to live without feeling caged in the slightest.

… After the Crimsonbreaking Faction Space Station moved through the free space and reached another Existence. Heian Ciemnosc went out when the missions re-started, and hundreds of millions of spaceships flew out of the Space Station after it anchored near a Godly Space Station.

His objective was something simple, albeit he carried a slight vendetta. Heian Ciemnosc led another 2 Large Flotillas beside his own. His people were on board, although Tulla and Floris weren’t from the Crimsonbreaking Faction, they were Heian Ciemnosc’s subordinates, and he was their Chairwoman’s husband. Who gave a fuck?

Thus, Heian Ciemnosc set off into space with Ruo Wei and Clanton’s Large Flotillas. Their Cruisers led the way as the Battleships remained at the rear. They went at maximum speed for 12 days before they neared their target. Meanwhile, the Space Station had already been set into motion, and they would meet with it on a Space Station further on its path.

“… Ruo Wei, stay a little behind. Let me speak with them,” Heian Ciemnosc opened communications and informed Ruo Wei. Although they both led a Large Flotilla, she was still his Team member.

Heian Ciemnosc could’ve accepted becoming a Team-less Disciplinary Elder, but refused it. On the other hand, his Eternal Return Team were near the Bright/Silhouette realm, and they could apply to become a Disciplinary Elder then. His Team would become more powerful and with more status, which Heian Ciemnosc really wanted to see.

Ruo Wei didn’t respond as Heian Ciemnosc nodded at Etherea, who nodded back, and turned around to exit the central command. Heian Ciemnosc stepped into a transporting vehicle and was driven to the Battleship’s hangar, where he left with his Ornament.

At the same time, a small vessel exited Ruo Wei’s Battleship and moved towards the asteroid space station, which Heian Ciemnosc’s Ornament was already flying to.

A few minutes later, Heian Ciemnosc stood beside his Ornament on the open landing zone of the asteroid space station. A small area where 2 Cruisers would fit, at most. Heian Ciemnosc landed his Ornament in the middle and faced the closed gates with a relaxed pose as the small vessel remained in space, several tens of meters above the landing zone.

… psshhf…

At last, Heian Ciemnosc watched the gates open as a group of people exited it, led by a reptile Beast, followed by those of many other Races. They wore serious expressions, but a few of them wore ‘sweating’ faces as they stepped into space without the array formation to isolate Elemental Poisoning.

When the latter group of people looked at Heian Ciemnosc directly in the darkest eye, they showed a terrified expression before continuing on their journey. As for their leader, he wore the most strenuous, afflicted expression as he narrowed his eyes to gaze at Heian Ciemnosc. Both parties arrived to face each other with 20 meters in between.

“… Esteemed black monster, you’ve arrived at my place. I know what transpired long ago, but those were matters of the past. Is it necessary for you to chase me?” The reptile said, imploring as he confronted Heian Ciemnosc, who had no reaction to his words. The reptile added, “My Tri-trident Pavilion might have acted under the Sword Majestic Pavilion’s influence, but that’s far from today’s present!”

“We didn’t flee to the Evergazing Existence, we are here, trying to live a new li-” The reptile continued as he sensed the advantage of reason on his side, but Heian Ciemnosc interrupted with his left hand casually sweeping in front of his face.

“It’s been more than 4 decades, but from the Mystical realm, you’ve only managed to achieve the Central Formation realm. And your Tri-trident Pavilion is but a second-hand organization who hasn’t even achieved half your Pavilion’s desired army head count. You’re a terrible ‘villain’ to get revenge on.”

“Back then, I was just a kid, a student in the Wrath Nihility Academy. You attacked such a person simply for the desire of going against it. What, did you think that being a Third Step cultivator in your very own Third Step organization would deter the Academy from taking action? Well, it wasn’t needed. Today, I won’t let you suffer for no reason. Since you like bullying the weak, I thought of an ironic method.”

“Limit your cultivation base to the 5th stage of the Mythical realm,” as Heian Ciemnosc spoke, the small vessel opened a hatch, where a young woman exited it and flew towards them. “And fight my daughter in a duel to the death.”

“…” Heian Ciemnosc’s darkest eyes looked at the reptile for a few seconds. His silence had a mighty presence, weighing on the whole asteroid space station. “Don’t test my capabilities. You will vow with your blood essence, for starters. If you don’t comply and die or kill my daughter with that cultivation base, I will not give you a natural death. And I remind you, don’t test me. You can try detonating, but you’ll only make an attempt.”

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“…” The reptile’s eyes fell as he thought hard of Heian Ciemnosc’s words. He looked at the daughter Heian Ciemnosc spoke of and saw she was in the Mythical realm 3rd stage, and his eyes momentarily widened in hope. But remembering everything he’s heard and read of Heian Ciemnosc, he fell apprehensive of none other but the black monster’s daughter.

“My people?” Finally accepting, the reptile asked as he spread his legs to the back and front to get into a fighting stance. Heian Ciemnosc had a casual expression as he dictated, “Will it be your people or you?”

“…” In the end, the reptile fell silent again and said no more. The group that followed him dropped their faces. One of them was scared silly and ran back to the gates, but nobody stopped him. Meanwhile, Anastasia looked at the reptile who once nearly killed his father. As for Heian Ciemnosc’s words, those were simple. This reptile could kill her, but so could she do the same to him!

Anastasia took out a lance with a cone-shaped ornamental piece above the shaft’s bottom. As she wielded it, her enhanced Neutral Energy coiled around it like a rose’s thorny stems. Her face became obscure, and she lowered her eyebrows, while her pitch-black eyes became deathly cold and lost all sweetness.

SWWOOP!

Anastasia flew forwards, unafraid of the reptile, who took a trident from his Covert Space bags and dashed forth as well. Heian Ciemnosc watched with crossed arms as the Large Flotillas he brought moved to orbit the asteroid space station, disappearing from the naked eye.

Anastasia’s movements weren’t too fast, but each of her attacks were heavy to block and sent slight, impacting shivers through the reptile’s body after every clash. The reptile grew wary of Anastasia right away. On the other hand, the reptile’s attacks were swift and fast, concrete and accurate as they sharply targeted Anastasia’s neck and lower abdomen at numerous angles.

The attacks were rapidly joined by Arts and Elemental particles as Anastasia moved through their fight like a dancing ballet. Her lance still defended her against every attack, and even those that came too fast with energy behind them, forming a few meters in diameter to encompass the trident, were stopped when meeting the lance’s shaft.

For a minute, Anastasia’s body moved, as if dancing around her lance, whose bottom remained stuck to the ground despite numerous jumps and dashes left and right. The reptile avoided hitting the lance’s head and continued bashing Anastasia away, but she started making more attacks of her own after a while.

The Earth element appeared first just as she deflected a strong, lion-shaped energy trident attack with the lower section of her lance. Warm, light lime glowed at its lancehead before Anastasia’s right hand tightly gripped its shaft and aimed it at the reptile.

The latter’s eyes widened, but Anastasia’s body had already lunged towards him. The lance seemed to enlarge its width to several meters, and when the reptile realized, his body was locked by her!

The reptile amassed a third of his enhanced Neutral Energy storage to cover his trident’s forks and bottom with fang-shaped energy. He first struck downwards against the approaching Anastasia, but his attack was immediately parried upwards. This worked in his favor, however, as the trident’s bottom swooped up towards the lancehead from below, intending to do the same.

However, at that moment, Anastasia skipped in the air and her body floated upwards in a jiffy. Her lance aimed downwards as the trident hit only space and nearly fell off the reptile’s hands. Then, Anastasia launched lurched attacks in a flurry, striking shoulders, chest, sternum, arms, and even the neck.

“Gaaah!” The reptile groaned and managed to bash the lance away by striking it with his left forearm. However, instead of retreating once she was stopped, Anastasia drew the Earth particles that exploded from each collision against the reptile into her left fist before slamming it into his chest with a cold countenance.

PAM!… …

The reptile’s eyes widened as his chest sunk, its scales were broken apart after the numerous strikes on his chest, but the fist held all of Anastasia’s bodily strength and the Earth elemental energy. The reptile struck the ground on his back immediately before bouncing off and chased by Anastasia’s flaming figure as orange flames wrapping her figure turned blue. Her fingertips revealed Wind elemental energy as she became faster and more dangerous at the same time!

DAAAAAASHH~~!

Anastasia’s body furiously lunged. The reptile only felt flaming tongues arrived at his sides and his scales melting before wind blades suddenly appeared and cut through his skin. These revealed more openings as his flesh was tenderized, and an inviting scent drifted through the Elemental Poisoning particles. Anastasia’s lance was held by her tail, which coiled below its lancehead as Water elemental particles coalesced it.

Then, just as Anastasia entangled in direct melee confrontation with the reptile, swinging their limbs so vastly that the surrounding space separated into hundreds of meters long shapes and expansive areas where Elemental Particles became isolated. Her tail swept the lancehead forwards, crashing it against the reptile’s solar plexus.

Before the lance arrived, her eyes showed off a golden luster, with a shadowy aura around it as her hands expelled blue, purplish flames towards the reptile. The reptile used its innately resistant body to the Fire element, albeit negligible, and Neutral Energy to defend himself, but he was still being charcoal-ed as Anastasia’s intensity increased.

The reptile’s body gained a carbonized layer on its front and back parts of his shins and knees. When he sensed the incoming lance with the Water element covering its head, his eyes widened in terror. He produced blood essence like a broken record, sometimes a lot, sometimes too little from his mouth and nose. His eyes panicked, but his actions were confident as his inner crystallized armor glowed bloody red beneath his pried open, carbonized skin layer.

But then, just as his hands were forming gestures, Anastasia’s arms spread downwards as she was leaning forth and lunging at the reptile’s body, with her hands spread open. 5 roots the size of her wrist came to be from both her backhands as they fattened and elongated endlessly. They immediately arrived before their target, and with a simple stabbing sequence, the reptile’s limbs were forced apart.

“!!” The reptile’s eyes widened. Its contents nearly disappeared, shrinking. It wasn’t due to the shocking fact of Anastasia’s hidden Art, though. Instead, it was because these roots began consuming his flesh and blood like vacuum drinking from their mommy’s milkers. Yet, just as he became impossibly astounded, the Water-covered lancehead arrived before him and impaled his Dantian region.

“Guwhaaaaaaaaahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa- AAAAAAA!” The reptile roared in a squeal. But he hadn’t given up, not yet, never!

His Neutral Energy went all-out. He had more energy storage than other cultivators at Anastasia’s cultivation base. But, as Heian Ciemnosc’s daughter, did she not have more energy storage than her peers as well?

PSSSSSSHIIIIFFFT~! PHHSHK! PHHSHK! PHHSHK!…

The lance didn’t move, but the Water element covering it twirled nonstop as the bloody inner crystallized armor in the reptile’s body congregated and was focused on his abdomen to stop it. Yet, the Water element twirling like crazy wasn’t alone. When the reptile felt the connection where his limbs remained attached to his torso began cracking apart, the lancehead sent off an obscure-violet smog, one that was filled with energy… and belonged to a Supreme Art!

CUH- CUH- CUH- CUH- CUH- CUH- CUH- CUH- CUH- CUH-…

The Milblades Storm Supreme Art’s Category 2 launched itself all-out. Tens of thousands of blades broke out from within the Water element. It left the lancehead thinner and thinner until it finally returned to its original size as the reptile’s body was cut bit by bit to only a few parts remaining of his corpse.

“… … …” The watching group from the Tri-trident Pavilion looked at this scene and fell under utter shock! They looked at the place where their Head’s body was struggling just a minute ago, with only a few pieces of flesh and bones floating adrift in space.

“Please spare us!” The first to kneel gathered his palms tightly and begged, knitting their eyebrows as tears excited their eyes. Anastasia looked up at the terrified fellows but remained quiet. The rest knelt and wailed, “Please let us join you! You’re more powerful! More fitting to be our leader! Please!! We don’t wanna die!”

“… Father, I am too tired to continue. Can you kill them for me…?” Anastasia turned her head and asked Heian Ciemnosc, who smirked with his arms crossed. But Heian Ciemnosc had just released his arms when some from that group directly kicked the ground and made a run towards Anastasia. They wanted to use her as leverage to survive!

‘Fine! Very well! GOOD! We’ll see if you and that black monster keep acting like that after you’re in my hands! I wonder, will I be able to bring you away with me? You will fall under my feet and end up with me after countless years together. Just you wait, yes, just you wait!’

But just as the cultivators running towards Anastasia formed these increasingly twisted thoughts one after the other, they felt a dark presence in their inner universes. They only had time to peek into it to watch their Souls gripped by what seemed to be a dark claw. Then, as they barely saw it clench their Souls, they were overwhelmed by tranquil darkness.

Plop, plop, plop, plop, plop… Their corpses fell on the floor on the floor one after the other. First were those that dashed towards Anastasia, followed by the rest who were watching with clenched butts and wailing intestines. None were spared, but none would’ve been since they were facing the black monster.

“Hey, Father!” Anastasia rapidly sent her lance towards each corpse and destroyed their heads, sending her lance flying before immediately picking it up with a root flying right behind it. This was faster than using her Neutral Energy. But then, she called for Heian Ciemnosc’s attention as she picked the flesh left from that reptile and took a bite from a rosy spot of a leg.

“It’s not bad! Want a bite? Nom, nom- nom…” Anastasia jump-dashed towards Heian Ciemnosc with her back straight and gave Heian Ciemnosc another limb. That one was from the reptile’s right forearm. Heian Ciemnosc took a bite and nodded, “Alright, let’s go. You can enjoy your spoils on our way back. We still have 6 days to do missions. Anything you’re interested in?”

“Mn!” Anastasia nodded before elaborating, “First, let me participate in this extermination. Then, let me decide. Can I?”

Anastasia had been a Soldier for a year. But not many extermination missions were appointed in the Universal Conveyance, and they were usually against ‘weaklings’ like the Tri-trident Pavilion, but they still held a territory or small space station like this asteroid space station. They had arsenals, defenses, and some even a grand array formation.

“Alright, go ahead and fly besides Ruo Wei. She won’t bore you,” Heian Ciemnosc said as he finished crushing the forearm’s bones and flesh, patted his hands, and boarded his Ornament. Before Anastasia’s pouty, disappointed face could continue, she heard Heian Ciemnosc rapidly say before flying away, “If you accomplish less than I can while only using my Ornament, I’ll spank you.”

“Gwuyiaaaaa?!” Anastasia felt threatened, and with that, encouraged to exterminate and destroy as much as ever possible. She hurried to the small vessel and then to the Battleship to retrieve her war instrument with her team leader in charge.

…