Silver trees fell from the sky like shooting stars piercing into the ground creating deep depressions mirroring sink holes. Each tree left a trail of silver spreading out with the force of the winds blocking vision and increasing the damage Raven had accumulated.

Dashing through the air while evading the worst of the attacks pushed Raven to his limit's yet he persevered inching ever closer to Las Nicho, with a single step he covered hundreds of meters leaving a white shadow behind.

"Spiral lance!" Las Nicho launched attack after attack to slow Raven down each hit strong enough to pierce through flesh with ease 'If he gets close again it will get dangerous!'

Ravens body swelled in size further yet his speed only increased and like an unstoppable bulldozer crashed headfirst into the first barrier erected by Las Nicho.

The barrier held for brief moment only to crumble like dry sand.

Two wreaths hidden among the silver blade sea struck directly toward Ravens remaining eye, with each attack coming from Ravens blindspots he had no awareness of the incoming danger.

Just when it seemed the wreaths would

successfully strike their target two fish appeared in the sky biting them out of the sky, the wreaths unable to break free could get dragged away.

Las Nicho sighed, he wanted this to be over.

He had lost several treasures in such a short period of time with no assurance of being able to fix or retrieve them.

The wreaths cost him a fortune to craft, years of research and each linked to him no different then an arm or leg, after all they were spiritual artifacts.

Each attack he launched was supposed to cripple Raven in one form or the other yet Ravens endurance was simply a variable he could not fully account for.

A giant bear paw struck from the left crashing into one of several barriers Las Nicho had prepared.

From one attack to the next the bears size had gotten bigger to the point a single paw could encompass Las Nicho fully. Las Nicho hoped his defenses would endure long enough, if not he would be in trouble.

The number of barriers he had left could only take so much, he had already started to dodge as much as he could but the attacks came so fast it left him unable to evade fully.

Outside the golden pillar formation the disciples watched as the earth below turned from a solid whole to a slurry of stone and mud devouring everything from stones, trees to the animals trying to hide away among the foliage.

The disciples did not know if the ground had been churned by the sound of the pillars or if there was some other cause for it.

"Is there a flaw in the formation? Did we mess something up?" one asked to the other.

Seeing his companion shake his head providing no answers he could only imagine what could have caused this.

Having been raised inside the sect for several hundred years now he knew much about the cultivation world, however he had never witnessed fights of such a level before.

Earth as it currently stood held only one major power in the cultivation world that being the Final edge sect. With no competition from outside forces all the younger disciples had an almost sheltered life, only holding friendly exhibition matches with between disciples during special events.

Very rarely would one witness a life and death battle, most of the magic skills they knew off was supplementary or supportive magic rather then combat based.

While the outside world may be chaotic fighting over territory or ideology, they generally had no need to ever leave the vicinity of the sect to care about such problems.

Besides, could a mortal hurt them? They certainly didn't think so.

As for their master or other high ranking members of the sect, only the occasional display of power would give one insights into their might. Just like their disciples they had no competition from outside forces to worry about, as for the past who cares.

The disciples watching the land below shake and churn wanted to run but stayed against their better judgement.

Inside the formation Raven struck the air with all his might, he only needed to land one more hit to bring Las Nicho down to his knees.

His wounds could no longer be sustained, opening wide creating plumes of blood that rained on the ground below covering the tops of any trees that stood. The shaking earth devoured dirt and stone with any blood that landed upon them quickly disappearing as quickly as it landed.

Ravens head felt light, he had prolonged this fight till the bitter end but he could no longer persist.

The silver-white blades that looked like ribbons had wormed inside his flesh tearing at his muscles and cutting his veins. The sound released by the pillars had started to affect his mind, at times seeing multiple Las Nichos forcing him to attack at shadows.

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'Just one more attack, that's all'

With a final lunge multiple barriers disintegrated just one step to late.

He had fought.

That was enough for him.

Las Nicho spat out blood enduring the rain of blows that came at him, he evaded and evaded yet even the slightest touch sent him flying.

He was just as affected by the sound given off by the golden pillars are Raven was, the only difference being that he had prepared countermeasures before hand to counteract the incoming sound.

Just when it seemed that he was about to run out of gas the attacks stopped.

He looked up towards the head of the giant bear.

Streams of smoke dissolved in the air as Ravens bear form turned back into that of a man with a beasts head.

Raven looked at Las Nicho his eyes unable to discern his true location, without a final word he fell from the sky dead.

Las Nicho did not know if it was truly over yet, it could all be a cunning trap to lure him in but he had no choice. He chased Ravens falling body catching it in the air before it was swallowed by the earth.

Silver streams rushed out of Ravens body unleashing a torrent of blood directly onto Las Nicho covering him in red '...Great, you did have one final attack after all'.

Las Nicho carried Raven up calling out to his disciples to return, the sleigh which had been hidden in the sky all along now revealed itself allowing for Las Nicho to place Ravens body away safely.

He looked down, the grounds shaking had lessened turning from a slurry back into a solid.

Waiting a while his disciples all joined him allowing for them to leave with a victory under their belt, even if his disciples had no direct involvement it was an experience for them. His treasure wreaths never surfaced from the ground during this time, even those carried away by the fish had disappeared beyond his sensing range.

'I will seek compensation for this from the sect, even if the mission was a necessary thing it should still be properly compensated' With that the battle ended without further events.

At least events that would effect Las Nichos mission.

The earthquake devastated the surrounding landscape for thousand of miles, while the ocean water nearby had been pushed out sending a gigantic amount of water out into the sea with great force.

This giant mass of water would later on cause rouge waves to capsize many ships and further on cause a tsunami to hit the lands to the east, drowning its inhabitants.

At the final edge sect the days passed slowly as the children trained themselves to gather and feel spiritual power. Some kids had mostly given up only sporadically training while spending the rest of the day loitering around the sect.

Other kids had started to miss their families spending less time interacting with others as they entered a period of depression. While those whom never had anything holding them down put all their effort into training or forming new friendships.

Some formed groups roaming the sect in search of things to do or play around with, this did cause trouble for some but most got away with a warning. Each childs action and temperament would be the major deciding factor to each child's future, just because they were considered special among human kind it did not make them better mentally.

No one would be leading the kids every hour of the day, they had to learn from their surroundings and individually.

Aakriti taught them for three hours in the morning, helping those that asked while consoling those that felt alone yet this only did so much.

Like a school with little funding and overworked teachers, the hidden edge sect only provided the bare minimum of resources for these children. Any additional resources or emotional connections had to be obtained by the children themselves.

Many sect members had gone through the same thing at some point in their life, they knew how difficult this period of time could be for anyone let alone kids. This pity often translated into financial donations supplied in the form of food, shoes, clothes and cultivation spirit stones to be handed out at the discretion of Aakriti.

Aakriti would do her best to give out the items but choosing who gets what was not an easy choice, any sort of preference to a child could easily make them an outcast.

The luckiest of children could even get adopted by older couples who could no longer have their own children.

These older cultivators had been similar to the children, unwilling to cultivate while young, lacked talent, yet had no place to go so they spent their days doing anything but cultivating. Now as they finally had the will to cultivate in their old age, their prospects became limited.

They did not mind if the child lacked talent, they would be supporting them; the child just needed to put in the effort they lacked as children.

Many single cultivators wanted to take in a disciple among the newly arrived children but decided to wait a few more days until the seventh day when Aakriti would tests their potential.

Spiritual roots, Spirit elements, Cultivation rates, mental temperament and body physique all came together as deciding factors for a child's future.