Kai's eyes shot wide as the phantom glow of eight blue spears sparked to life in the grasp of the expert cultivators swooping toward him. Like skilled surfers riding a monstrous wave, they balanced and darted along the gleaming lines that held him captive. The dread tightened in Kai's gut as he glanced at his distant swarm of winged needles and cursed the space between.

Like frantic birds in a net, his robes continued their wild flapping against the azure tethers. Panic born of instinct churned within Kai as he wrestled his spiritual pressure onto his robes to suppress them, silently screaming, "Stop!" His wings vibrated then fell silent, and Kai plummeted, forcing his blue-spear foes to hasten their assault.

"Now!" He commanded his robes, projecting a crystal clear mental blueprint. Responding in an instant, Kai's wings folded in, then erupted into an array of golden bronze spikes, striking out at his assailants. Their onslaught was too fast, too close, too sudden for evasion. Three grizzled veterans managed to power through, spear tips aimed and deadly.

Two blue spears dug into Kai's robes, only to be halted by the unyielding garment, sending a shiver through its fabric. However, one guardian struck with lethal precision, thrusting his spear through Kai's neck.

Kai's hand instinctively shot up, fingers tracing the cold, glowing energy now embedded in him. As his grip tightened, the spear flickered, then vanished - banished to his soul space. He found his hand wandering to his throat, probing the eerie void where the spear had entered and exited.

He felt his body drain of color, even though he was already as pale as a specter. Still in shock, he glanced up as his swarm of sky needles descended, ripping through the divine spear guardians in a storm of death. With a mental command, the golden spines from his robes retracted, slipping back into the fabric as if they had never been there.

Kai coldly watched the attackers who had tried to kill him while he was trapped as they fell from the glowing blue lines, some still writhing with spears lodged in their bodies — eight more souls extinguished by his hand.

They had struck him in synchrony, a rehearsed dance of death, but to what end? His wound bore no blood. There was no searing pain, no... Kai suppressed a shiver as he swallowed hard. Utilizing the God’s Eye Art, he scrutinized the puncture in his neck. The flesh surrounding the hole comprised radiant white energy, leisurely restoring and reshaping muscle, tissue, and bone. But it wasn’t mending damaged cells but reconstructing something resembling tissue.

He stared as the opening sealed itself, his God’s Eye geometry shifting to allow for an analysis of movement. His eyes absorbed the sight of his meticulously fabricated anatomy being reconstructed, including the illusion of blood coursing through his veins.

But it isn’t real blood. All of it is a facsimile. I am nothing more than pure energy. Just like... His gaze flickered to the azure serpent winding around him – just like her. My internal structure is simply more complex.

Shock rocked him. If he existed entirely as energy now, what had happened to the solid matter of his former body? Had it shifted into his soul realm, waiting for reconstitution? But that notion faltered. There was no need for physical disintegration if his body just moved into his soul space.

His hand traced a path to his chest. His microns? They had nestled beneath his skin in his previous body, creating his transceiver, neural link, and skeletal reinforcement. I’m still connected to the network. His eyes narrowed as he hunted through his body, seeking the microscopic machines. He located them almost instantly.

They sat precisely where they did in his original form, even tethered to his simulated 'brain' center. Was this the reason for the transformation ripping his body apart every time – to move these microns between forms?

An understanding began to take shape in his mind, a critical truth hovering on the edge of his comprehension. But a loud, intrusive voice yanked him from his deep thoughts.

"Heaven’s Barrier!" The leader's scarred face drained of color. "Heaven’s Barrier! Now!" The interruption rankled Kai, snapping his analytical train of thought. His sky needles honed in on the man with a chilling intent, Kai's countenance turning stony.

A myriad of flashes heralded the arrival of more cultivators. They weren't the guardians in purple garb. Instead, they bore the stark contrast of red and black robes - the mark of the Lou elders. As the aged cultivators took their positions around him, they wore the same grim countenance.

Simultaneously, they produced small disks from their robes. Array disks, Kai recognized with a surge of disgust. Energy coursed through his body, white light radiating from his skin with an intensity that set him ablaze. Determined to bleed out the blue energy faster than before, he flared brighter, white flame wrapping around his form.

My flame soul weapon! Kai thought, berating himself for the oversight.

It had sparked to life unbidden, answering his dire need. Flames danced around him, clawing at the azure bonds that held him in place. His bindings wavered under the insistent heat, their blue hues overtaken by the ravenous fire. The searing blaze began to march along the lines, threatening to reach the guardians.

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"Heaven Sealing Array!" The command echoed from the mouths of the elders in unison. They hurled their array disks into the air with practiced finesse while their fingers wove intricate seals. An orange cube sprang into existence around Kai, slicing cleanly through the azure lines that trapped him and successfully penning in his aggressive flames.

With the restraints severed, Kai plummeted to the cube's floor just as his swarm of needles descended upon the scarred cultivator. The first needles fractured his shield, while the rest tore him. The scarred leader's body collapsed, fatally skewered by Kai's needles and tangled in the azure tether.

As the life ebbed from him, his limp form tumbled from Azurewing's back. With an icy smile, Kai watched as the wind became the dead man's tormentor. It snagged his body, dragging him mercilessly across Azurewing's scales and dangling in the air like a grotesque kite in the wind's cruel play.

The most aged Elder opened his mouth wide, but no sound reached Kai. His eyes, however, caught the flurry of movement as purple-clad guardians all around Azurewing began to act, lips moving in silent proclamations. His sharp vision picked up one uttering what seemed to be 'Heavenly Binding!'.

Guardians busied themselves, anchoring their azure tethers onto the eyes of each array disk. With eight disks securely fastened, the orange cube descended slightly, restrained by the taut tethers. The red-robed elders collectively exhaled, their bodies visibly relaxing.

"You think this will hold me?" Kai's voice echoed within the confines of the cube. "I've already broken free once." He frowned at the thought of his unheard defiance. With a command, he tried to redirect his needles toward the newly arrived red-robed cultivators. No response. A grim understanding dawned upon him.

I’m cut off again!

Kai's eyes sprang open, panic seizing his heart as he advanced, his body colliding with the unyielding orange barrier. His hands battered against it as his gaze darted over Azurewing's back until he found the source of his terror. Relay. The golden ferrox lay lifeless next to one of the elders.

Following Kai's horrified gaze, the eldest elder's eyes met the unconscious beast. His lips moved as if uttering something, his gaze cold and unyielding. Close to Relay, another elder displayed a grimace of contempt. A pale-gold sword shimmered into existence in his grip, and he stepped ominously toward Relay's prone form.

"NO!" Kai's voice echoed hollowly within the cube, his fists pummeling the barrier in futile desperation.

With a macabre fascination, the elder buried the sword into Relay's form, grunting with effort and cruel satisfaction as he hacked and sliced through the defenseless creature. Kai wrenched his gaze away. He knew it was merely an avatar, but they didn’t know that – their brutal attack incensed him. The guilt gnawed at him, a bitter realization that his actions had unwittingly revealed Relay. A simple act of concern, yet it had drawn the enemy's attention to his friend. Perhaps they would have left Relay alone if he had only ignored that instinct.

A flurry of movement drew Kai's gaze upward. The cultivators responsible for suspending the cube began a strategic dance. Like the hands on a clock, some moved in a steady clockwise path around the azure serpent, their bodies leaning into support the Heaven Sealing array. Their counterparts paced counterclockwise, the intricate choreography mystifying to Kai.

Unable to discern what they were up to, Kai paced to the cube's center, gazing at the cultivators' maneuvers. Their actions seemed senseless - crisscrossing lines, stretching the energy tethers far beyond their original locations, unnecessarily elongating them.

Internally, he intensified his efforts, pumping more energy through his form. His hands descended, actively draining the cube’s energy, the orange essence diverted into his soul realm. Despite the strenuous attempt, he sensed the barrier reinforcing itself, becoming more impenetrable.

He glanced up. The blue tethers stretched taut across the cube, their crossing patterns straining against each other and the array disks. The cultivators extended their arms as if on cue, yanking their respective lines inward with impressive force. The cube obeyed, contracting a foot in each direction, a compressed version of its former self.

A ripple of satisfaction passed through the elders as they witnessed the success of their technique. Joining the effort, they lent their strength to the tug-of-war, coordinating their movements with practiced ease. Each forceful pull prompted the cube to recede further, the walls thickening in response to the reduction in size.

They are trying to crush me.

His pure white flame blazed around him as he concentrated on moving more energy to his soul realm. Kai shifted his attention to his soul realm - and watched as the wind of a dark storm caught the splintered orange power and blew away. He quickly scanned the storm.

While being held captive, planning his escape, he’d searched for a suitable prison world for Azurewing and her guardians. He had discovered a storm-ravaged planet, a water-world of eternal tempests where refuge would be a fleeting concept.

He hovered in the sky of this would-be penal planet, unable to enact his plan because of their collective measures. They were clever, but he was undeterred.

Yanked back into the searing reality, he could see his white-hot inferno consuming the shrinking cube. The walls, constantly closing in, were now within a desperate arm's reach. The walls were impossibly thick; he couldn’t drain them fast enough.

Kai's gaze cut through the pulsating flames of his confinement, landing on his adversaries orchestrating his downfall. Each of Azurewing’s guardians worked in a meticulously brutal rhythm, their visages contorted into grotesque masks of triumph and malevolence, illuminated by the steadily increasing glow of the contracting cube.

The reflection of victory danced in their eyes, echoing the ominous luminescence of the shrinking barrier. Every deliberate contraction of the cube edged them nearer to their savored triumph. They moved with unwavering resolve, their gratification in the suffering grotesquely apparent.

Their scornful sneers were aimed at him, a repulsive mosaic of arrogance and presumption. They indulged in his apparent downfall, savoring each heartbeat that brought them closer to his doom. The image of the aged Elder, his sneer the cruelest of all, was seared into Kai's memory. The perverse pleasure on his face was a bone-chilling affirmation of their collective resolution - to crush, to obliterate him.

Amid their gruesome display of delight, Kai remained unyielding. His adversaries' gleeful faces were a stark juxtaposition to his perilous predicament. Meeting their gaze, he returned a silent challenge, a defiance mirrored in his eyes. Yes, he was ensnared, encased within the walls of the shrinking cube, but defeated?

Kai closed his eyes in concentration, a grim smile forming on his lips.

He was far from defeated. And they would soon learn.