595 The War Begins

The wood elemental’s report did not come as a surprise to the Lord, for he had long felt the presence of cultivators approaching Xin. What he did not expect, however, was for them to attack right away. After all, while cultivators were belligerent in nature, they too would take their time to discuss things before jumping straight into an all-out war.

Regardless, the Lord did not panic. While still sitting with his legs crossed, he once again closed his eyes, and allowed for his consciousness to expand through the natural mana. Like a ghost leaving one’s body, his mind grew, becoming one with the entirety of the Lord’s Palace, then the planet, its atmosphere.. The entire system.

Once in control, the Lord focused the majority of his mental power into Xin, the system’s gargantuan star, merging his consciousness with the heat it constantly emanated alongside blinding rays of light. These heat waves acted as a radar, mapping the system in waves that traveled at the speed of light, and only stopping once they found a surface to land on.

While tately this ability was mostly used to perceive the position of planets, asteroids, and other celestial bodies, the Lord had a more practical use for it. The ability to examine the full extent of an enemy’s power before they could even come close enough to be considered a threat.

Soon enough, these heat waves landed on two rapidly moving objects. One with the semblance of a large sword that carried a small contingency of powerful cultivators, and the other, a half sphere of spatial essence which held a few of his people. Elementals of fire, water, metal, and what appeared to be their leader, a high-level spatial elemental.

As the Lord kept observing what appeared to be a high speed chase, the situation took a sudden turn. The spatial elemental, seemingly unwilling to continue heading towards his home planet, came to a halt. After that, interaction that saw the two groups show their hostility to one another took place.. Like the spatial elemental being threatened, cultivators surrounding the small dome, and finally, the elemental grim decision to take their own lives.

Enraged by what the Lord believed to be the most obvious explanation, he immediately teleported back to the palace’s main hall, where the elemental ancestors were already waiting for him.

Among the entities the Lord had perceived, the vast majority he believed not to be a threat. In fact, of all the cultivators that had approached his system, only the power of one went beyond his understanding. The middle-aged man whom he had witnessed grab the spatial elemental by the throat, before destroying it..

A man who, as he now stood in front of the ancient elementals, noticed fiddling with a little sphere in between his fingers, a treasure of spatial essence.pᴀɴᴅᴀ-ɴ0ᴠᴇʟ.ᴄᴏᴍ

As he observed these events, he suddenly noticed a small detail inconsistent with his explanation of what he had seen. This middle-aged man’s body language did not give off the usual signs of hostility he had seen in most of the groups he and his people had had to face in the past, but signs confusion, and to some extent, of sadness.

“My Lord, a contingency of cultivators has followed our scouts back to Xia before we lost contact. We believe them to have perished by their hands.” Said a large golem made a pure stone, as tall as a house, and just as large. His deep and grotty voice emerged at irregular intervals, hidden in between the smacking of his rocky lips and tongue.

The Lord was confused. “When did you receive the report?” he inquired.

A second elemental, a humanoid creature covered in uncountable metallic quills, each straight as an oversized pin, and as sharp as a needle’s point, took a step forward. “A few minutes ago, my Lord.” He claimed as he casually approached a fire elemental.. Action which caused his dark golden skin to start glowing bright red and dilating. A reaction which the creature did not seem to be bothered by.

An even deeper confusion emerged on the Lord’s face. He had witnessed the death of the elementals the two ancestors of earth and metal were talking about only moments before.. How could they have learned of their deaths minutes earlier? Something was not right.

The anger the far away events caused rapidly faded, replaced by a feeling of alertness. His eyes, still tired from his last attempt at merging the perfect spheres of light and darkness into his body, were now aimed at the several creatures that awaited his orders. “If they are here to cause trouble, then we will give them something to fear.” he said in an attempt to appease his people’s spirit, yet not allowing them to go into a blind rage.

“This offense will not be left unanswered.” he then added before turning towards the ancestor of the spatial elementals, who, alongside the ancestors of the elements of dark and light, awaited for orders like everyone else. “Take as many of our people as necessary, bring them to me.. Alive. I want to speak to them.”

The Lord knew that his orders would find some opposition. Some elementals, especially the primordial ones, had long lost their kind nature. A side effect of thousands of years spent fighting back against the worst character traits the cultivation world had to offer. pᴀɴᴅᴀ ɴ0ᴠᴇʟ

It wouldn’t have been a surprise to the Lord if these elementals in particular complained, as the simple idea of letting them live was already asking them too much. In order to avoid this, the Lord did not let his followers respond. Instead, he turned towards the entrance and walked out at a stable pace-A composure which he soon lost as he walked out of sight.

What this sudden departure did not allow him to notice, unfortunately, was the exchange of nods between the ancestors of the elementals of darkness, and light.

Once alone, the Lord exhaled sharply. A piercing headache was now ailing him, numbing his mind and causing his knees to buckle. His teeth had started to chatter, an instinctive reaction to the sharp drop of his heartbeat and body temperature. All side effects of his latest failed attempt at adding the essence of darkness and light into the fragile balance of essences present in his body.

“Look at the state of you. You are a mess.” Said a familiar voice that came from the far depths of his palace. A voice that he had come to associate with the side effects of these tests, for its owner, was a crucial part of them. “I know you have noticed it.. That something was wrong in their report. Yet, you are in no state to investigate.”

The Lord tried to ignore the Elementalist’s words while gasping for air.

“Of course, if you were to free me, I could take over your.. People. I could pull some string, speak a few words with closed lips. Puppets never disappoint you.” The Elementalist continued, unbothered by the lack of a response.

After what felt like an eternity, the side effects began to die out, allowing for the elementals’ Lord to finally breathe. “Vorah, we both know that, had I been even the slightest bit keen on accepting your proposition, your system would have told you.” The lord muttered in between deep breaths, and short bursts of dry laughs. “So don’t bother..”

The Elementalist suddenly fell silent. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀ ꪶ

—–

Back in the edges of Xia’s system, the Warlord and his personal guard had regrouped. The elementals had just taken their own lives, leaving them dumbfounded in a graveyard of small elemental treasures which they did not dare to gather.

In the distance, an immense army was forming. Layers after layers of old elementals, all capable of displaying different varieties of the elements they represented. The weakest of them being capable of displaying high level comprehension. A level of development that, in their planets of origin, most low level cultivators would have started wars over.

As Nihala noticed this, she could not help but wonder how far and wide the Elementals’ group had traveled to reach that size.. How many galaxies had they needed to explore to gather that many rare creatures? And how many armies did they have to defeat in order to preserve their existence.. She could not say. All she could tell was that whoever had been in charge of this army’s protection was not someone the Immortal Armada should underestimate.

pᴀɴᴅᴀ-ɴ0ᴠᴇʟ While this was a worrying thought, Nahila did not panic. Hundreds of years had passed since she and her people had joined the Immortal Armada, and since that day, she had never feared a loss. As long as she stood by the Warlord’s side, she knew there were no obstacles they couldn’t surpass. Her faith in him, as well as that of her peers, was absolute.

Time seemed to slow down, as seconds started to feel like minutes. The elemental army was drawing close, to a point where those with the sharpest sense of sight began to spot the enemy in the distance, growing larger and larger as time went by.

After what felt like an eternity, the elemental army finally arrived, halting its march a few hundred feet away from the group of cultivators. Rows and rows of elementals floated in space, split into mixed groups that quietly stood behind the ancestors of the essences of darkness, space, fire, water, earth, metal and wind.

The Warlord did not say a word. Instead, he spent the following few seconds observing the enemy army. He could feel among them several creatures of incredible power, yet, his interest was in finding their leader.

The way in which the elementals behaved was very telling of the elementals’ ranks, considering that their species followed a hierarchy based on seniority, which meant that the oldest members were not only the most powerful, but also considered the leaders.

A handful of seconds was enough for the Warlord to narrow the search down to the few entities that stood in the front line. Once only that handful of creatures remained, finding out who spearheaded this army’s troops was only a matter of spotting displays of pride and authority. Behaviors which he noticed in two figures.. A glass-like humanoid being, and a shadow, hidden within a dark smoke.

“Yes, it does make sense..” the Warlord muttered in a low tone as a connection formed in his mind.

These words were heard by each of the elemental ancestors, who looked at the cultivators while showing different-looking displays of curiosity. ‘What made sense?’ they wondered.. But did not ask.

To speak was the ancestor of the Dark elementals, who merged into the darkness of the surrounding space, forming an immense face-shaped black mask that floated in the limitless vacuum. “Invading our universe was not enough for your kind.. You also had to attack us?” the dark elemental accused loudly enough for his voice to resound through the entire system.

“We did what?!” Kyle burst out in anger. “You-“

Before the young cultivator could speak his mind, however, the personal guard was interrupted by his Warlord, who silenced him by raising a hand in front of him. “Any breath spent speaking now will be wasted. Our words are.. Less than credible at this point.” The Warlord muttered while fiddling with the spatial treasure he had obtained just a few minutes earlier. An item which, as intended, would have been proof that any attempt of clearing his people’s names would be nothing but a lie.

It had been a long time since the Warlord had felt such surprise. This level of machination and deceit was not something he had ever expected coming from elementals.. Or at least, not the ones he used to know.

Nevertheless, the Warlord did not let this surprise cloud his mind. He knew the dark and space elementals held the highest position, and likely possessed enough cards to paint them as the villains. A lie the elementals were very likely to believe. Yet, he also understood something else.. A weakness in this plan.

A malicious grin curved his lips, as his eyes darted towards the black mist. “I have come here to answer the warning we were given, not to fight. Report this to your leader.” His words were spoken with politeness, one that left the elementals pleasantly surprised.

The ancestors of dark and spatial essence were enraged. Their authority had been ignored, and what was worse, was that it had happened in front of the bulk of the elemental’s army. The Dark elemental, now in the shape of an immense face-shaped cluster of dark essence, appeared to be the most affected.

But that was not all.

Aware that he had hit where it hurt,while also giving the impression to the rest of the elemental’s army that he wasn’t a brute with a thirst for war, the Warlord struck while the iron was hot. “We will take our leave now. Inform your leader that I am willing to meet privately, in a place of his choosing.. Whenever he wishes so.” he said before nodding his head politely. As he prepared to leave, he then added, “The name is De-“

“ENOUGH!” Barked out the dark essence ancestor. “You dare act friendly while surrounded by the remains of the elementals you have killed?!”

The sight of the many elemental treasures, all floating aimlessly in space, caused many elementals within the army to wake up. Their deep hatred towards the cultivators had awakened once more.. But, before they could react, the Warlord took control of the large sword, and with a thought, ordered it to turn around.

As he noticed the cultivators preparing to leave, the ancestors of the dark and spatial elementals looked at one another. No exchange of words were needed.

“What he came for doesn’t matter.. He is here, in front of us, with only a few people to help him. We have to take him down now.. Because the moment he joins back with his army, our losses will be incalculable.” The spatial elemental said to the other ancestors, who nodded in agreement.

Regardless of what the dark and spatial ancestors wanted, they too had their orders.. To capture the enemy alive.

Satisfied by his peers’ reaction to his words, the spatial ancestor turned back towards the cultivators, who had started to leave, and with a domineering tone, he ordered “ATTACK!”

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