The Lantis Sea continued to snow, however, unlike the moments before, there was a foreign influence within the white rain. It was something much purer than the dirty and bloody atmosphere of the battlefield. Bingbing glided down onto the frozen ocean, her body seemed as light as a feather. The ice angel wings attached to her back flapped around gently, spreading even more of her created glitter dust. The temperatures above the ocean dropped to extreme levels, and thousands of glaciers were forming rapidly. Bingbing didn’t slack on the job. She really was going to block any routes that the Black Masks’ fleet had.

“...” The claymore-wielding Brahmin stepped out of his longboat, his eyes never leaving the young girl that barred their way. She was so small and looked much weaker than any of his subordinates. Yet, Bingbing had just frozen the entire ocean that lay before them. Even if the Brahmin exhausted all of his flames, it'd take ages to thaw out the mana-infused ice. By that time, the Lantis Navy would have overrun the Black Masks fleet, giving the Alliance a stellar victory. It really was a dead-end for the Black Masks.

“State your name,” the Brahmin raised his claymore, wreathed with pale blue flames and pointed it straight at Bingbing. He knew when the battle was lost. There was no point in dragging out this charade anymore. Once the time comes, the Black Masks’ fleet would sink to the bottom of the ocean, and the Paradise Hearts would be lost forever.

The young girl’s azure eyes glistened as she folded her arms. Bingbing wasn’t a fool. She had observed humans for decades now. The Spirit Beast knew of the customs that cultivators had and what their words really meant. Thus, she could tell that the Brahmin was seeking one final duel. “Bingbing, Tier 9 Kamaitachi.”

“A Kamaitachi… To think that my great plan would fall to a gerbil...” The Brahmin flung his head up, his eyes plastered upon the grey skies. The snow… The cold… The oceans… Everything was against his side. He had lost convincingly.

The Brahmin raised his claymore into the air, and the blue flames inside of his claymore were unleashed in a tremendous explosion. They rapidly rose up, following the laws of thermodynamics, creating a full blistering domain. Dalits, Shudras, and even Vaishyas had to run desperately away, else their entire being would have been melted. The Brahmin’s spiritual energy had created an atmosphere far hotter than that of a volcano. And he wasn’t done…

“No matter, I’ll just accept my punishment accordingly...” A cold and resolute voice escaped out of the Brahmin’s mouth. The flames he created congregated into seven beautiful sapphire swords. Anyone who watched the blades from afar would be caught up in its grandeur. Each one of the seven swords seemed to house a great soul, probably a heroic swordsman of old. They seemed so distant… so powerful… That none of the Spirit Venerates could move a single inch. All they wanted to do was to bask in the majesty of those seven swords.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!

Alas, all beautiful things had to have its end. The Brahmin swung his claymore once, and the sapphire swords came flying down onto their targets. Seven longboats, each one hiding one Paradise Heart each, all fell victim to the Brahmin’s deadly attack. A dance of fire spread out upon the frozen battlefield as countless of detonations rocked the land. Friendlies… Enemies… They were all ruthlessly charred by the immense swords that descended upon the mere mortals.

“...” Bingbing’s face remained neutral, though if one looked really carefully, they could see the ends of her lips curl downwards. Her objective was to keep the Black Masks’ fleet in position and the Brahmin’s self-destructive methods aligned perfectly with that. However, the brutality of the Spirit Venerate’s actions completely turned the Kamaitachi off as an urge to rescue the poor burning mortals crept up upon Bingbing’s soul.

Yes, they were the enemy, but they were still living beings too. Perhaps that was the difference between the Alliance and the Black Masks. The Alliance still saw humans as… humans. To the Black Masks, humans were just… expendable tools.

The Paradise Hearts, as well as the Black Masks that were faithfully guarding them, turned into balls of endless fire. They had crossed the threshold of no return. Sinking down into the bottom of the ocean, neither the Black Masks nor the Alliance could ever seek its nucleus to reverse-engineer anymore. The objectives of the Brahmins, as well as the Lantis Navy, was no longer there.

“My apologies for the delay...” The Spirit Venerate shook his head and stepped onto the thick ice floor that Bingbing had made. The moment the Brahmin landed onto the ice, alarm bells resonated within Bingbing’s mind. She leapt back like a fleeing frog, increasing the distance between the Brahmin and herself by at least a hundred metres. Now that she was a Tier 9 Spirit Beast, Bingbing could acutely tell how powerful the man that stood before her was. There was a bottomless flaming Venerate Soul within his body. Not to mention, the dark aura, that was shared among every single Black Mask in the vicinity, was at least a hundred time more prominent within that very Brahmin. It was as if the man housed two Venerate Souls inside of him.

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“My name is Seymour Fielder. Some call me the Sword Baron,” the Brahmin finally introduced himself. The fire that sheathed his claymore instantly multiplied and the sapphire swords graced the skies once more. This time, there were twelve of the said blades instead of seven. “Rank 85 Spirit Venerate… Please advise me...”

The battle was lost. Every single Black Mask present could infer that. Thus, there was only one thing that they could do. Wipeout as many of the Lantis Navy’s strongest assets, at the very least, the assholes that had caused them to lose the battle, to begin with.

“Yip! Why should I fight you?!” Bingbing opened her mouth in protest and fluttered her crystal wings. There was no point in taking on a foe that she couldn’t beat. Freezing the Lantis Sea was good enough, why should the Kamaitachi risk her life once more?

“I wasn’t requesting for a duel,” the Sword Baron clarified his stance. His flaming claymore was raised up high, and the mana he generated was suffocating. The entire Lantis Sea was shaking, and bits of ice were falling out of Bingbing’s created floor. “I’m just telling you the name of the person who will send you to hell!!!”

Flames from purgatory ran out from the Sword Baron’s claymore, and the twelve sapphire blades rushed out in complete anger. They wanted to taste blood, Bingbing’s blood to be specific. Snowflakes that dripped within ten metres of the swords were instantly vapourised, and the soul of the ocean was being ravaged by the Brahmin’s claymore.

Bingbing was quick to evade. Her crystalline wings flapped hurriedly as colossal glaciers leapt out from the icy floor, blocking as many of the Brahmin’s attacks as they possibly could. However, the Sword Baron’s wrath was far too intense. All twelve of his sapphire swords sliced through all of Bingbing’s protections and slithered right towards the Kamaitachi like serpents that had locked onto their prey. There was no way that the blades were going to miss their target.

“Yip!!!” The young girl forgot the human tongue and chirped in her own language. She had just evolved into the Tier 9 realm and had used a tremendous amount of mana to freeze the Lantis Sea. Given enough time, Bingbing might be capable of taking the sapphire swords head-on. However, in her weakened state, all the Kamaitachi could do was send endless amounts of glitter dust, and pray that the deadly blades would never arrive.

“Mind your head!!!” Fortunately, on this day, God was on her side. Like an angel who had heard her prayer, an elderly man leapt down from the heavens. An ultramarine harpoon sped down with the force of a thousand seaquakes.

VOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!!!

It repelled one of the sapphire swords, turning its fire into simple embers. Seven serpent heads rained down from the heavens, creating an endless tempest to disrupt the other eleven swords. Fire was extinguished, and water was vapourised. Mist hot enough to melt a human’s face off dominated the Lantis Sea creating a myriad of rainbow colours. It really was a sight to behold.

It took a good minute for the chaos to die down and for the old man to reclaim his treasured harpoon. Standing right in front of Bingbing, the man dusted off his pristine, white naval uniform, all while keeping his posture cool. The first thing that Bingbing noticed were the dozens of silver and golden pins that riddled the man’s uniform. All of those bling and badges… Who else could it possibly be but the Fleet Admiral himself?!

“Apologies for shocking you,” the Fleet Admiral said, his voice somewhat remorseful about the terrifying ordeal that Bingbing had just encountered. The Seven-Headed Hydra that he’d summoned continued to create barriers to protect the pair from the Sword Baron, all while his spiritual energy “Are you okay?”

“Yip, yip! Yeah...”

“Good,” a sigh escaped out from the old man’s mouth. “Leave the cleaning up to the Lantis Navy. Missus, you should return back to the Prince. Your contributions in this battle have been duly noted, and I’ll ensure that we’ll repay you accordingly.”

“Yip, yip!” Bingbing didn’t argue. Her job was done, and it was time to return to whence she came. However, before she left, the Kamaitachi made sure to give the Brahmin that nearly killed her twice, the finger.

“Haha, what a funny little lass!” Amused, the Fleet Admiral chortled out at how human-like Bingbing had become. It wasn’t just her appearance, but everything about Bingbing’s personality was like that of a regular nine-year-old kid. Well, a vulgar one at that.

That laugh of the Fleet Admiral was his final for the day. Turning his attention back to the enemy, the seasoned soldier said: “Seymour Fielder… It looks like the Allfather has a habit of collecting washed-up zombies into his army, huh?”

“...” There wasn’t any response from the Brahmin. He stared straight at the Fleet Admiral, the strongest being within the Lantis Army. A Rank 88 Spirit Venerate, Qilong Liang was the strongest offensive-type cultivator that the Lantis Republic could field. Any stronger, and they would be stepping into Spirit Saint territory. One could say, Qilong Liang was the most powerful weapon that the Lantis Republic had at the moment.

“No response?” The Fleet Admiral continued to taunt the Brahmin.

“I’d never thought that I would be facing the legendary Fleet Admiral of the Lantis Navy this early on,” Seymour replied. The twelve sapphire swords of his made an appearance once more, and his flaming domain spread out to even greater distances. “Shouldn’t you let me take down some of your subordinates first? The final boss should only come out at the very last moment...”

The Fleet Admiral smiled. “Sorry to defy your expectations then...” The harpoon in his hands glistened in emerald light. Lightning surged, and the turbulent waves broke apart small chunks of Bingbing’s icy hell.

Fire and water. There was no better waltz than that of the two Spirit Venerates. The building blocks of life were now coming together as enemies. The Fleet Admiral’s Mythic-Grade harpoon sucked in all of the mana that the Seven-Headed Hydra provided, while the Sword Baron played with the claymore that gave him his moniker.

Shin gulped at the drastic change in the atmosphere. He was sensitive to most elements, and the current state of the battlefield was akin to that of warzone of the Gods. It wasn’t only the Fleet Admiral and the Sword Baron. Admiral Zhangyu Ruogang and Meijing Xuenkai’s battle was coming to a conclusion as well, sending the spiritual energies of the land into complete disarray. There was only one word to describe the Spirit Venerates that were taking the field.

Overwhelming...