Birth of the Demonic Sword

In theory, Marcella's situation should have moved the balance of the battlefield in Heaven and Earth's favor.

The fact that so many of the landmass' powerful experts were ganging up on a single privileged cultivator would normally give Heaven and Earth's forces the chance to use part of their numerical advantage.

Decumia's actions had moved that advantage to Noah's side, but only when it came to the underlings. Heaven and Earth's forces still had more rank 9 assets, and Marcella was absorbing a lot of pressure on her own.

Heaven and Earth's forces could divert their attention to easier targets to widen that numerical gap among elite experts. However, Noah, Alexander, the time dragon, and Divine Demon were so troublesome that they prevented that outcome.

Truth be told, Divine Demon was handling most of the heavy-lifting there. Noah and the forest of roots were immense, Alexander was an untouchable vortex of hunger, and the time dragon was incredibly troublesome, but Divine Demon was beyond incredible.

Divine Demon was the only expert actively fighting the many privileged cultivators after him. He wasn't even escaping. Actually, it seemed that his opponents were the ones running away during the exchanges.

The reason behind that outcome was pretty evident. Divine Demon's bright red energy was so powerful that even solid stage cultivators had to run away from it. Their very lives were in danger whenever Divine Demon aimed at them.

Due to Divine Demon's exceptional performance, June and the others could gang up on Marcella without worrying about the battlefield. Still, that didn't ensure their victory. It even seemed that they fell short compared to the privileged cultivator.

Marcella's announcement didn't dishearten her opponents. June and the others still used the odd dragon to ask the space dragon to collaborate.

That collaboration took a few exchanges to activate, but the group eventually managed to actuate their plan. The space dragon focused the entirety of its efforts on running a series of teleports that surrounded Marcella and kept its companions safe from her attacks.

June, Sepunia, Maribel, and the odd dragon used the teleports to launch massive attacks from safe positions. Meanwhile, the space dragon absorbed any counterattack and gathered that energy to deploy it in following offensives.

The plan appeared flawless. The space dragon's incredible innate ability removed any threat from Marcella's offensive and allowed its companions to focus only on attacking.

That tactic involved far more than simple safety. June and the others could save energy since they only had to focus on attacking while Marcella was fighting normally.

Marcella's world had an immense amount of fuel, but the group believed that the plan could drain her of her power before they reached their limits. Some exchanges even relied only on the absorbed energy, which only enhanced the advantage created by the space dragon.

However, it soon became clear that Marcella wouldn't get tired. She flawlessly answered every attack without ever losing her ground. She didn't suffer injuries even as the space dragon continued to teleport her defenses away.

The matter was initially expected. June and the others knew that Marcella was one of the best experts among Heaven and Earth's forces, so they predicted that killing her would be far from easy.

Still, as more exchanges unfolded, June's group noticed that they were the only ones getting tired. Even the space dragon was slowing down in its counterattacks and techniques, but Marcella remained at her peak.

Moreover, Marcella wasn't even relying on special attacks to fend off the incoming offensive. She only launched waves of energy and alternated them with her dense smoke from time to time. It almost looked like she was having fun dealing with such weaker techniques.

"Here it comes again," Marcella announced when a threatening aura filled the entirety of the higher plane.

The landmass unleashed another massive attack, but a green barrier appeared in front of the dark shadows that shot forward. The impact didn't generate any shockwave at that time. It even prevented the creation of wild storms.

June and the others couldn't help but feel depressed in front of that scene. Marcella wasn't only dealing with their offensive. She was also dealing with the landmass, and nothing seemed able to stop her from doing that.

The effort should have drained Marcella of her energy in no time, especially since she had already blocked six of the landmass' attacks by then. However, June and the others remained on the losing end of the battle, and they had yet to find a way to break through the privileged cultivator's defenses.

"This isn't working," Maribel sighed as she witnessed another of her attacks dispersing right after touching the dense green smoke coming out of Marcella.

The mood was pretty poor. Seeing a series of attacks failing even to hinder Marcella's task wasn't the best scene in the world, but one expert among the team couldn't contain her excitement to be in front of such a powerful cultivator.

June's attacks grew stronger after each failed attempt to hurt Marcella. The space dragon was also keeping her safe, so she could focus her full attention on unleashing stronger attacks.

Needless to say, June's body transformed into a gory mess after her attacks barged past the limits of the solid stage. She was summoning energy strong enough to hurt privileged cultivators at the peak of the ninth rank, so her flesh suffered greatly.

The injuries didn't affect June's excitement. She had finally found an opponent that required her to go far past her limits, and she wouldn't miss that chance. She didn't care how much her companions would have to suffer due to her approach.

Maribel, Sepunia, and the odd dragon didn't complain. June's behavior actually pushed them to unleash stronger attacks, even if that could lead to their exhaustion. They were risking their presence in future battles, but their task was too important to worry about that.

"You are almost there," Marcella commented when hundreds of lightning bolts fell on her figure. "You might reach my level if you are willing to throw away your life."

"Why don't you decide to get serious already?" June's voice came out of multiple teleports.

"I'm afraid I also have limits," Marcella smiled. "I can't stop the landmass and kill you at the same time. I'll do that if you become more dangerous than that creature."

"You don't even need to ask!" June shouted through the teleports as more lightning bolts came crushing on Marcella.

Marcella's expression flickered when she noticed the level of power expressed by the attack. June was turning herself into something threatening, but the greatest danger in that scene was the intense aura that had spread in the higher plane.

"You aren't as brainless as you look," Marcella scoffed as she stretched her arms to launch her corrosive smoke in multiple directions and free herself from the restrictions of the portals.

The teleports crumbled, and Marcella seized the chance to send her energy toward the landmass. A massive shield appeared and prepared itself to face the incoming offensive, but its outer layer suddenly turned pink due to Sepunia's influence.

"You aren't the only one who studied our assets," Sepunia declared before a low noise filled the entire higher plane and made the expansion of mental waves impossible.

A massive dark shadow had landed on the tainted barrier and had pierced it, unleashing shockwaves so intense that King Elbas felt forced to sacrifice some buildings to give birth to safe areas.

Meanwhile, the landmass' attack continued to fly forward and severed anything on its path, be it allies or enemies. The offensive eventually crashed into the sky, and some roots shattered due to the immense power it carried.

The sky's radiance seemed to flicker for an instant, but everyone could soon see that no crack had appeared on its surface. That massive attack had been unable to inflict any damage, but the landmass only saw disrespect in that outcome.

"Let's keep opening a path for the landmass!" Maribel ordered, and her companions seemed to share her idea as they reassembled the offensive formation around Marcella.

Yet, a shocking scene entered the group's vision as they prepared to clear a path for the landmass. In the distance, the experts saw Great Builder free-falling and leaking his energy.