Chapter 86: A Whimsical situation
The pressure continued descending through the cathedral as the gold-black beam connected Qin Haoran to the opening above the realm.
The sphere beneath his hand shook inside the surrounding threads, while pale energy continued rising from the corpses throughout the fortress and gathering around the altar.
Just as the ritual began stabilising, a notification rang inside Wuxia’s mind.
[Massive concentration of death energy detected nearby.]
[Absorption conditions fulfilled.]
[Automatic absorption beginning.]
Wuxia’s expression changed, before he could react, the staff in his hands released a dark light.
The beam descending through the cathedral trembled.
Every stream of energy flowing toward Qin slowed twisted in the air and suddenly changed direction. The pale mist rising from the bodies, the remaining power inside the ritual and even the energy gathered around the sphere rushed toward Xingluo.
More precisely, it rushed toward Wuxia, the staff pulled everything into itself without restraint.
The pressure around Qin collapsed as the currents crossing the cathedral passed through Xingluo’s position and disappeared into the dark surface of the weapon.
Wuxia tightened both hands around it, but the suction continued growing until the surrounding air began twisting around his soul body.
Notifications filled his vision.
[Death Energy absorbed.]
[Death Energy: 50,000/100,000.]
The number continued rising before the first notification completely faded.
[Death Energy: 67,000/100,000.]
[Death Energy: 82,000/100,000.]
More power entered the staff from outside the cathedral and the streams covering the fortress walls and battlefield were torn away from Qin’s ritual and dragged through the city toward Wuxia.
The cyclone above the cathedral lost its shape and its lower half twisted toward the beam, while the clouds rotating around it began breaking apart beneath the reversed current.
[Death Energy: 100,000/100,000.]
[Death Energy capacity reached.]
Wuxia barely had time to understand what had happened before a second series of notifications appeared.
The staff was not absorbing only death energy, fragments of soul power mixed within the sacrifice were entering his Soul Monarch Authority at the same time.
[Soul Power increasing.]
The energy passed through his soul body faster than he could control it. Every connection within the Anchor Link brightened, while the damaged shadows scattered throughout the cathedral began recovering without his command.
[Soul Power: 71,400/100,000.]
[Soul Power: 86,700/100,000.]
[Soul Power: 100,000/100,000.]
[Soul Power capacity reached.]
Wuxia stared at the two completed reserves, he had never received this much power at once.
The others could not see the notifications, but they saw the ritual collapsing around them. The currents that had been feeding Qin were now passing through Xingluo, while the staff near her body burned with dark light.
Han Zhen and Miao Tianhe stopped attacking the barrier and turned toward her. "What is happening?" Han Zhen shouted.
Xingluo could not answer, the force moving through their connection had become so heavy that even her armor trembled beneath it.
She planted her sword into the floor and held her position while Wuxia struggled to keep the staff under control.
Inside the barrier, Qin’s laughter stopped, he looked toward the streams abandoning him before pressing both hands against the sphere.
"No."
The chant left his mouth again, louder than before but the ritual no longer answered him.
The Divine Eye formation surrounding the altar began cracking.
Thin fractures spread through the remaining pupils before reaching the golden threads connected to the sphere. One after another, the eyes broke apart and dissolved into particles.
The barrier vanished with them and the gold-black beam above the cathedral flickered, bent toward Wuxia, and was pulled into the staff before disappearing completely.
The opening in the sky closed immediately.
A notification rang inside the mind of every surviving challenger.
[External Authority has been severed from the Ninefold Legacy Realm.]
[Realm structure stabilising.]
[Emergency restoration successful.]
[The Ninefold Legacy Realm has been restored.]
Silence spread through the cathedral.
Haoran remained beside the shattered throne with both hands pressed against the sphere, the golden markings covering his body flickered before fading from his skin.
His wing began losing its colour while the white feathers dried and fell across the altar, the flesh between its bones shrank around the remaining structure.
The Divine Eye behind him disappeared completely, leaving only faint particles drifting through the air.
Then slowly Qin Haoran’s face changed, the skin around his eyes loosened. Wrinkles spread across his forehead and cheeks, while the blood covering his face darkened against rapidly aging flesh.
He looked down at his hands, the skin had already become thin and grey, and his fingers shook against the surface of the sphere. "What did you do?"
His voice had changed with his body, becoming rough and weakened.
He clawed at the sphere as his remaining strength continued draining away. The armour around him lost its light, while the enormous wing collapsed against the altar and began breaking apart.
"No! This belongs to me!"
The sphere spun beneath his hands and the golden-black fluid covering its surface was thrown outward in every direction.
Qin tried to hold it, but the rotation tore his fingers away and sent him stumbling across the shattered throne. Layers of corrupted power separated from the sphere as it continued turning, revealing the pale light hidden underneath.
The threads restraining it had already vanished, it remained still for a moment before moving and then shot across the altar.
Qin threw himself after it and caught only empty air as it passed beyond his reach. It crossed the cathedral directly toward Xingluo, moving too quickly for anyone to intercept.
She raised her sword, but Wuxia felt the Fate Star Token react before the sphere reached her.
A clear ringing spread through the Anchor Link, Light escaped from beneath Xingluo’s armor as the token emerged and floated before her chest.
The sphere struck it with enough force to drive her backwards, but neither object broke.
Their surfaces connected, the pale light inside the sphere poured into the token, while the remaining outer shell collapsed around it and disappeared.
Xingluo felt the energy pass through her armor and enter her body before the token returned beneath it.
The entire process ended within several breaths, she remained standing where the sphere had struck her, unable to understand what had just entered the Fate Star Token.
Wuxia looked toward the staff in his hands, then at the completed Death Energy and Soul Power reserves still displayed before him.
Around them, Han Zhen, Miao Tianhe and the surviving participants stared at Xingluo without speaking.
Upon the altar, Qin Haoran dragged his aged body across the broken stone and reached toward her with one trembling hand.
His voice emerged as a hoarse scream. "Give it back!"
Before anyone could move, the cathedral roof collapsed.
The altar shook beneath the falling debris, and Qin covered his head with both weakened arms as several pieces of stone crashed around him.
A figure descended through the opening, he landed between the shattered crystal coffins without bending beneath the impact, his boots touching the blood-covered floor.
The Beast Commander slowly straightened, without the distance and living weapons that had surrounded him upon the battlefield, his appearance was unexpectedly calm.
He possessed a handsome face and a gentle smile that would have appeared kind anywhere else, but the pressure resting around his body made every surviving participant instinctively tighten their grip around their weapons.
Even Wuxia’s shadows lowered slightly beneath it, the Beast Commander looked across the cathedral, his eyes passing over the bodies, the shattered throne and the Saintess pinned against the distant pillar.
His gaze finally settled on Qin Haoran and a faint glint appeared inside his eyes.
Qin noticed him and stopped reaching toward Xingluo, his wrinkled face changed as recognition replaced the madness that had covered it moments earlier. "You—"
The Beast Commander opened his mouth and a thin black tendril shot from between his lips and crossed the cathedral before anyone could react. It pierced Qin through the chest and lifted his aged body from the altar.
Several more tendrils followed, entering his stomach, neck and limbs before spreading throughout his body beneath the skin.
Qin released a broken scream and clawed at them, but his weakened fingers passed uselessly across their smooth surface.
The tendrils tightened and his body collapsed inward within a single breath. Flesh, bone and the remains of his armour were pulled through the black cords as though they had been turned into liquid.
Qin disappeared before his scream ended, the tendrils then withdrew into the Beast Commander’s mouth, leaving only several drops of dark blood across the broken altar where Qin Haoran had been lying.
Miao Tianhe stared at the empty stone, while Han Zhen raised his weapon toward the Beast Commander and slowly moved in front of the surviving participants.
Xingluo remained beside Ruan Mei, her sword still in one hand as Wuxia’s shadows gathered around them.
The Beast Commander wiped a trace of blood from the corner of his mouth and gave them the same gentle smile.
Another figure descended through the broken roof, the Fortress Commander struck the cathedral floor with his spear already in hand. Blood covered his damaged armour, while several sections had been torn apart during the battle outside.
He turned toward the Beast Commander first, but the sight around him stopped his next movement.
All the children, elderly and wounded no one was left, the Saintess remained pinned against the pillar by her own staff, her breathing so faint that it could barely be heard beneath the shifting debris.
The throne had been destroyed, the altar was broken,and the roof above the prayer hall had collapsed into the sanctum. His expression hardened in rage.
"May every hand responsible for this slaughter be torn from its owner," he said. "And may none of them live long enough to receive a grave."
The Beast Commander laughed softly. "You still waste your anger on the dead."
The Fortress Commander disappeared and his spear reached the Beast Commander’s chest before the final word had completely left his mouth. Pale force erupted from the weapon and the remaining cathedral windows shattered beneath the impact.
The Beast Commander did not evade, and the spearhead struck directly against his chest.
The stone beneath him collapsed and a shockwave tore through the prayer hall, forcing Han Zhen and Miao Tianhe to retreat while Wuxia’s shadows closed around Xingluo and Ruan Mei.
When the dust cleared, the Beast Commander remained in the same position and the spearhead rested against his clothing without entering his body, even the fabric beneath it had not torn.
The Fortress Commander’s bloodshot eyes narrowed, the Beast Commander looked down at the weapon and placed one hand around its head.
"You were barely able to wound me before." His smile widened slightly. "Did you expect anger to change that?"
The Fortress Commander twisted the spear and released another burst of pale power directly into his chest. The cathedral shook again, but the Beast Commander only moved one foot backwards before catching the shaft with his other hand.
A notification suddenly rang through the minds of every challenger.
[Warning.]
[External interference has altered the Ninefold Legacy Trial.]
[Ninefold Legacy Trial difficulty has increased.]
The notification disappeared, but the pressure throughout the cathedral remained.
Miao Tianhe looked toward the drops of blood remaining upon the altar and cursed beneath his breath.
"Even in death, you are still a bitch, Qin Haoran."
The Beast Commander glanced toward him, but the Fortress Commander attacked again before he could turn completely. Their weapons collided near the broken altar, forcing everyone else farther toward the cathedral entrance.
Wuxia remained beside Xingluo, but his attention suddenly shifted toward the staff still held between his hands.
The dark surface had begun trembling, both his Death Energy and Soul Power reserves remained at their limits
Dark-grey particles rose from its surface and wrapped around Wuxia’s hands before climbing along his arms. More appeared around his soul body, gathering across his chest, shoulders and face until even Xingluo could barely see him through their connection.
Wuxia?
He tried to answer, but the pressure entering his soul suddenly increased, the voices of the commanders, the falling stone and the distant battle outside disappeared. For a moment, all Wuxia could hear was a low sound resembling countless breaths leaving their bodies at the same time.
The cathedral around him darkened and every corpse throughout the prayer hall released a faint grey outline, but none moved toward the staff or entered his Soul Monarch Authority.
They only turned toward him, children, elderly residents, disabled civilians, soldiers upon the walls and the countless creatures that had died outside the fortress appeared as indistinct impressions within his perception.
There were too many to count, then notification opened before him.
[Soul Power capacity reached.]
[Death Energy capacity reached.]
[Soul Monarch Authority advancement conditions fulfilled.]
The staff released a violent pulse and dark particles spread across its entire length as thin cracks appeared along the weapon. Instead of breaking apart, the outer surface began peeling away and revealing a darker material beneath it.
More notifications followed.
[Authority advancement beginning.]
[Bound weapon has absorbed sufficient Death Energy.]
[Weapon evolution beginning.]
Wuxia’s soul body trembled as the grey outlines surrounding him moved closer.
Several unknown symbols appeared across the system panel before rearranging into words he could understand.
[A sovereign of souls has gathered the power of the dead.]
[The dead have witnessed your Authority.]
[Recognition condition fulfilled.]
[You are being recognised by Death.]