Chapter 728
The dynamic of the battle around the formation core shifted with the addition of Velvet. Two Integration cultivators and the interference of the formation augmenting their energy were a more worthy match for the Augmentation dagger saint. Instead of a battle where Timothy was barely holding on, the balance had shifted to one where Kristel wanted to finish the battle as quickly as possible. It wouldnt be long before additional reinforcements arrived, and at that point getting out alive would barely be possible, let alone achieving her goals.
Timothys wounds were worse than hers, with one lung and his heart damaged but she had also taken severe damage to her kidney. Her tactics shifted as she moved about the room. Velvet attacked her every time there was an opening, and it took all of her focus to keep the other woman in her perception while fending off Timothys attacks.
The battle rapidly shifted around the room, but instead of moving towards Catarina it pulled away from her. Timothy didnt mind that, until her intentions became clear. Her daggers flashed out towards nothing- or at least none of the targets Timothy had been concerned about. Neither himself, Velvet, nor Catarina. But delicate components at the core of the formations were in the room.
Her daggers stabbed into undefended components, though the motion left her open to attacks from Velvet and Timothy. Velvet aimed for her upper arm, clearly intending to cripple her offensive ability. Kristel twisted her body to avoid that while still completing her attacks. Timothy slashed at her leg, his attack finding purchase but not as deep as he wished.
An explosion of energy rocked the room, sending the three of them flying. In the moment it took Timothy to regain his bearings, he lost track of her. He rushed towards the open vent, hoping to block her egress but encountered nothing. Anything, Velvet?
Velvet shook her head. Shes gone.
Sorry, Catarina, Timothy said, approaching her as she strained with control of the formation. I couldnt do it. Ill at least catch her. Soldiers were bursting into the room at this point, but there was no one for them to take out.The debut release of this chapter happened at Ñøv€l-B1n.
Do not worry yourself, Catarina grimaced. In fact, focus on your own wounds before pursuit. And do not think you failed. For what you had to deal with this is a good result. She took a deep breath, the flow of energy changing, And we are not without redundancies. If a planetary barrier could fall to a simple scratch, it would hardly be of use.
She had a good point. Several good points, really. He had his own wounds to take care of. The bleeding was one problem, but there was a poison as well. He already felt his muscles locking up.
In addition to all of that, Catarina said. The formation has now fully locked onto her energy so we can track her wherever she goes in her attempt to escape.
That was something Timothy wished he had heard first. Or maybe immediately after the taking care of his own wounds bit.
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Uzun grumbled as Eterna continued to block the beam meant for Abhilash or that morningstar fellow. Obviously he didnt expect to perfect an Ascension class weapon immediately, but it was frustrating for it to be completely ignored. And in truth, Ascension class was insufficient. The lower realms didnt seem to have Augmentation cultivators, but there were more than a few here. And while they might have merely been one individual out of many billions, across all of the planets in a myriad of systems, their existence was clearly not unique.
With the stupid laser almost out of power, Uzun had one more thing to try. The whole thing was supposed to be on an orbital defense platform to avoid atmospheric interference and especially barrier conflicts, but it took more than a handful of decades to put together the infrastructure to construct such things. He briefly stopped the flow of power as he finely tuned the beam, overriding several safeties in place. He was almost certainly going to melt the weapon, but if he caused any damage he would be satisfied.
Do you think Im so stupid as to not make the barrier cover me? Everheart grinned. I told you, youre trapped.
You cant block both outside and inside.
Cant I? Everheart raised an eyebrow. I am the foremost expert on formations, and yes I have seen the Exalted Quadrants grand formations. Unimaginative and dull. Stymied by worthless rules and lacking creativity. Even worse budgets, Everheart grimaced. Besides, your allies cant come save your ass right now. Theyre busy.
Then Ill simply break out with force! Hans roared. He launched himself across the space of the formation- somewhere around ten kilometers across- targeting the opposite Everheart. There was another great explosion but
I told you, Everheart said. My formation is invincible. He held his head high.
The various projections began to slowly drift towards each other, limiting the area Hans could move. He attacked wildly, targeting every projection or random points in between. One of them caused Everheart to flinch. The saint of light had nearly accidentally stumbled upon the actual trick behind his unbreakable formation.
But it was too late now. Hed already expended too much energy attacking Xankeshan, and Everheart had come in fresh. Each projection pulled out the best weapons Everheart had. The best hed ever collected of every type, except for the bow and the sword. Every projection narrowed in on the saint of light at once, attacking with diverse techniques yet with perfect coordination. Because while Everheart couldnt stand teamwork, he could at least deal with himself for a short time.
A flash of light and two figures remained. The saint of light with half a dozen weapons sticking out of him, and Everheart himself. It was unfortunate to lose the rest of his projections, but he didnt mind too much. He chopped off the saint of lights head and tossed it into a convenient orbit, then began retrieving his weapons. And the saint of lights storage bag, of course. Hopefully he had a functional key to the deeper vaults.
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Chidi was far too busy fighting to notice other battles happening in the skies above. The sword cultivators of the Exalted Quadrant were far too diverse to handle carelessly. Unlike the Harmonious Citadel, he did not know all of their moves ahead of time. Thus, he had to survive and adapt. It was fortunate that most of them were focused on the grandmaster. If they wanted to stand even a shadow of a chance against her, that was the way things had to be. But Chidi was still greatly outnumbered, including by some who should be his technical match based on their cultivations.
He should lose this battle, by the numbers. He knew it. There was only so much his blade could do to elevate him. But the very confidence that they were going to win was what allowed him to cut down cultivator after cultivator. None of them individually thought they would be the one to bring him down. Or even if they did, it was merely passing fancy. They simply didnt believe it.
But was that enough to win? No, it was not. Chidi had to pull out every trick he had. Even as he cut down cultivators, he moved in such a way to use the energy of the group against them. It was a great many things to keep track of, but such it was with all formations. The changing nature of it was only normal. And in a way, the very skill of the enemy worked against them in the form of consistency, if not predictability. They would vary their attacks so he couldnt exactly predict them, but he could at least count on them to try to attack from a certain area and shift the flow of energy there. He couldnt force them to create the remains of a formation solely on their own, instead fulfilling that role with each slash of his sword as he took down enemies.
He constantly searched for dangers, allowing minor injuries to avoid greater. And that sometimes meant lesser organs being impaled when he couldnt let a blade slip between them. He had several swords still in him, causing him to wince every time he tensed his muscles. But as much as it hurt him, their owners were worse off. Chidi could see why Chikere would wish to use more swords. It was inconvenient to have them sticking into him. And he could pull them out with a bit of energy but that would alter the flow too much all at once. Especially since some of them were now part of his cultivations.
But he had to fight. It wasnt just for his former comrades who had risked their lives to gain ground on the Harmonious Citadel. This was Xankeshan. His home where he was born. Where hed been raised by his parents. Where he had met his dearest friend Aconite. And he would defend it to his last breath. Or preferably the last breaths of his enemies.
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