The Avatar’s appearance was well-timed. If the masked woman had appeared a minute or two ago, Rieren would have been a little miffed at having to waste the boosts she had received from Reaver Stance.

As it was, with the skill’s effect running out and Endless Beyond finishing up the healing of her injury, this was the perfect time for a breather. Now she could start plotting how best to kill the remaining three imperial court cultivators. They were starting to become annoying, and Rieren was getting tired of them.

Of course, it was the enemy cultivators who had the loudest mouths and got in an answer to the Avatar’s question.

“We were brutally attacked, honoured Avatar,” the man who had been flinging the golden energy said. “We are only defending ourselves against the brutality imposed upon us.”

“Imposed?” Kalvia strode in, glaring at the man who had just spoken. “That couldn’t be more of a lie if you tried.”

“It is not a lie.”

Kalvia ignored him and faced the Avatar. “These men started taking matters into their own hands after they were supposedly harmed by one of the monsters. Monsters who are under our protection. As such, I decided to interfere and make sure they committed no further criminal acts.”

“There is nothing criminal about defending ourselves,” another one of the cultivators said. This was the man who had the strange, skeletal Domain. “When the monsters attacked, we began taking them hostage. Then more of them appeared, including that one.” He pointed at Rieren with a scathing finger. “We were forced to defend ourselves.”

“What a load of crap.”

The Avatar held up a hand. It was clear she wasn’t going to get an unbiased account of proceedings here. “If the monsters have indeed attacked, then they have forfeited any protection the Emperor and the imperial court bestowed upon them. They are well within their rights to retaliate and take whatever actions is necessary to protect themselves.”

Kalvia shook her head. “But that response depends on the kind of attack they suffered, yes?”

“Yes, I suppose it does, honoured Heir.”

“Good, because that is where the lie originates. They believe that they are in the right and can do whatever it is they wish, but there must be a procedure. Don’t forget that this has happened before. We have dealt with this situation, when the Aryoventos scion died. Why should this be any different?”

The Avatar shook her head. Rieren was starting to get a bad feeling about all this. She was well aware—and so was Kalvia—that there were compromised Avatars. Those who followed the imperial court more than they did the Emperor himself.

This was especially an issue because of the Forborne Emperor’s ascension. Many who bore him their undying loyalty refused to show the same to the current Emperor.

In other words, it was likely this Avatar might be on the side of the Banishedborn in this conflict of theirs.

“You are correct, honoured heir,” the Avatar said. “But this battle seems to be an overwhelming response.”

“Well, they did try to kill me.”

“We did not!” the first cultivator said even as the Avatar turned to face his group again. “One of us may have had the intention but he was executed before he could do anything. If he had ever intended to, in the first place.” He glared at Kalvia. “You killed him before we could verify.”

This argument was going in circles. Even the Avatar could see that.

“Please, honoured Heir,” she said. “Come with me, so that we may report this directly to the Emperor. The others will stand down for now. We will not allow any further brutality to be conducted here, on any side.”

Rieren frowned. What was the Avatar playing at here? Remove Kalvia to do… what? It could be out of genuine concern, but Rieren was pretty certain there had to be some ulterior motive.

And then Rieren sensed it. Others. More people were gathering at their location. More cultivators, all with their Essence signatures burning. All just outside their area.

The Avatar wasn’t intending to diffuse the situation. Not really. She was simply offering Kalvia a way out of it.

But the Empress-to-be was having none of it. “Call forth the Emperor. He should stand direct witness to what is occurring here.”

“Surely you jest, honoured Heir,” the Avatar said. “The Emperor is busy with many matters that concern him and the Elderlands. He has no time for frivolities.”

Well, there it was. The Avatar had more or less confirmed that she wasn’t about to interfere against the imperial court cultivators. There was nothing any of them could say to change her mind.

Which meant Kalvia could get to safety, or face this dangerous horde with just Rireen for company.

For her part, Rieren was trying to formulate a strategy. This many opponents would overwhelm and kill her without any difficulty. If she had been properly into the Ascendant realm, things might have been different. But she wasn’t. Therefore, there was only one option Rieren could truly rely on.

Forcing them to keep talking.

“I do not understand, Avatar,” Rieren said. Her shoulders and muscles were tense, expecting her enemies to pounce on her any second. “Are you truly saying that you will not take any action against those who disregarded the Emperor’s authority? Are you implying that flaunting the Emperor’s commands is something we can all perform now?”

If the Avatar was scowling at that line of thought, she didn’t show it. Instead, she raised her hand, pointing it at Kalvia. “Come, honoured Heir. There is much to be done.”

Kalvia didn’t move. Things were getting more and more tense. If she ultimately rejected the offer, would the Avatar stand back and allow the other cultivators to do whatever they wanted? Kalvia could get caught in the crossfire, even if she never fought directly herself. What would happen to the Elderlands if the heir to its throne ended up dying?

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“She will not be interfering,” Rieren said to Kalvia, indicating the Avatar with a jerk of her chin. “She considers you dispensable.”

Rieren’s words were only for the benefit of those around them. She communicated her real message through a very pointed look and a slight twirl of her fingers that only Kalvia caught.

Keep them talking.

“Do not heed lies I haven’t even uttered, honoured Heir,” the Avatar said. “Come with me, I plead, and leave this to the others.”

Kalvia closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She stepped past Rieren to stand closer to the centre of the area, gazing at the imperial court cultivators.

“I wanted to win the Trials,” she said. “I hoped that through my victory, I would prove my strength and garner the respect that I deserve. I fell short, yes, but only at the very final hurdle.” She raised a furious hand to thump a fist against her chest. “Does that mean I am no longer worthy? Does missing ultimate triumph by a hair mean I am no longer the true heir?”

They were taken aback by her sudden outburst, at the clear ringing anger in her voice. Rieren would have been surprised too, was actually a smidge taken aback. The words were genuine. She could feel it. But in the end, this was Kalvia’s way of buying them even more time.

“Answer me!” the Empress-to-be demanded.

“N—no, of course not, Your Majesty,” one of the cultivators quickly said. Then he remembered he was supposed to be angry at his companions’ demise. “We would never claim to disrespect your authority. But this has gone far beyond that. You have killed one of us, allowed several others to die by your support of that fiend. That monster who usurped your rightful claim.”

“You say you never intended to disrespect my authority, yet you would not heed my command.”

“Honoured Heir,” the Avatar said. “We will not resolve this in such a manner right here. Perhaps—”

Whatever she was about to suggest died without warning. Rieren grinned. Her plan had worked. The others were finally here.

There was a shift in the gathered Essence signatures just outside their view. They were all moving away, backing off as more Essence signatures arrived as one. A large group of hostile Essence signatures arrived.

“You won’t get away with this,” a loud voice called over the entire area. Rieren smiled. Good, old Oromin was leading the charge. “Taking such drastic matters into your own hands and deliberately attacking the heir to the throne. Surrender now, or you’ll pay!”

“The bastards are here already,” one of the imperial court cultivators said.

The one who had replied to Kalvia twisted around to face his comrades. “It’s time. Kill them all.”

The chaos that broke out around them was worse than the one Rieren had been involved in moments ago. But in some ways, it was better too.

For one thing, Rieren wasn’t immediately mired in a life-or-death conflict. No one came to attack her directly. All the enemy cultivators were focused on the newcomers, spreading out to tackle them head on. Powers flashed out, bangs and a dozen other sounds rocked the area, and the multitude of impacts made the ground tremble.

But Rieren was momentarily free. Free, to focus on the Avatar before her and Kalvia.

“Last time, you took on one of them by yourself,” Kalvia said. “You want to kill this one together?”

Rieren bared her teeth at the masked figure who was yet to move. “I would be honoured to. But, you could do that by yourself, can you not?”

She recalled well how she had dealt with the last Avatar who had come after her beneath the bowels of the Shatterlands. How she had taken control of the man and killed him with nary an effort.

But Kalvia shook her head. “I wish it was that easy. I’ve gathered that some of them have come up with a way to divest themselves of their connection to the Emperor and his kin.”

“Ah. A free one. They were always annoying.”

“Yes. I suppose it will be fun to face one that was an actual challenge.”

The Avatar was indeed about to give them a challenge going by what occurred next. It wasn’t just all the smaller battles surrounding them that were making the earth tremble. The Masked Avatar was clearly up to something.

Neither Rieren nor Kalvia were fast enough to stop the woman. The ground split. It wasn’t surprising to see a tree shoot up into the air, thorny branches barging out of its trunk as it grew taller and taller. This was normal. The common Domain of Avatars. What was surprising, however, was the fact that the Avatar had turned into the tree.

“This is not a cocoon like you used,” Rieren said. Her head was tilting back as she tried to keep the entire rising tree in her view. “I admit I have not seen this truck before. Can you do that too?”

“Sometimes, I really wish I could,” Kalvia muttered. Her expression turned more serious. “This changes things. She won’t be as annoying, but she’ll be harder to beat normally now. We can’t leave her alone, either.”

“Leave it to me.”

The earth had broken apart because of the roots digging everywhere and expanding outwards. Rieren and Kalvia both stepped back fast. But Rieren was preparing her technique as she did so, elongating her sword with Rippling Blade. She made sure to apply her mixture of Aspects with Water Dancer Blade too, turning it into a compressed storm.

Then she lashed out at the growing tree. Unfortunately, it turned out the tree was protected.

What looked like golden Essence armour coated its trunk and branches. Rieren’s attack slammed in hard, but her stormy blast didn’t even leave a scar. Not even a scratch.

All the while, the tree continued to grow. Now, its branches were spreading out far over them, its leaves falling off in a gentles shower of glowing green and yellow. Rieren was having a hard time believing she really had never seen such a technique by any Avatar—or anyone else, for that matter—before. Had they developed a new one in this timeline?

No. Kalvia seemed to know what this was.

“The leaves.” Rieren looked around. They were falling everywhere. On the Avatar’s enemies and allies alike. “What do they do?”

“These are Essence leaves. They affect the spirit directly.”

“What about the level of control? Can it affect only specific individuals in specific ways?”

“Yes. This is an Avatar we’re talking about. An Ascendant-realm cultivator’s level of control.”

Good point. It was just as Rieren had feared, but she had wanted to be certain. The first of the leaves fell upon them. When one touched Rieren, she immediately felt a spike of weariness shoot through her legs. Another touched her on her arm, and her grip on her sword loosened enough to make it tremble. Not good. This was potent.

Strange how the effect was reaching through her Essence armour. Somehow, these leaves could establish direct contact with her soul.

“We need to destroy it,” Rieren said.

“Right. But—”

She looked like she had been about to ask how they were going to destroy the Avatar’s self-transformed Domain, but apparently, she had gotten an idea. Kalvia stepped up, her own Domain materializing around her as she reached the large roots.

Rieren flashed back to Kalvia’s battle with Cerill. Ah, so that was what she was attempting.

But did she have the potency to execute it successfully? Cerill had been a cultivator with a similar level of power. Between two Mid-Exalted cultivators, Kalvia might have claimed superior spiritual strength without great difficulty.

Here, she was facing someone an entire realm above her. An Avatar who was more than likely in the Mid-Ascendant realm.

Rieren would have to trust in Kalvia. She was already bending some of the roots to her will, even as Rieren watched. Maybe she could do this. But Rieren couldn’t just stand there. She twisted around, trying to take in the rest of the battle, see where she could jump in and turn the tides in their favour.

Before Rieren could decide on the right spot, a brilliant light grew up from the distance. A sudden, overwhelming sensation of burning Essence overtook them all, accompanied by a gonging sound as heavy as a mountain.

All the fighting paused. Even the Avatar’s tree stopped throwing down its Essence leaves. The combatants separated, giving each other space to take in the new development. Almost as one, they all turned to watch the enormous pillar of blinding light climb high into the heavens not far from where they were all locked in mortal combat.

The Aryoventos Clanmaster was ascending. The ritual had begun.

Soon enough, the Banishedborn would be coming them.