In the Northern City Gates of Soaring Cloud City....
*Grrrraaaaaaaaawr!*
*Boom* *Boom* *Boom* *Boom* *Boom* *Boom* *Boom* *Boom* *Boom*
The sound of artillery being fired along with the horrendous roars of the Dark Specters were heard all night.
As planned by the City Lord Alistair Cloudsoar and Chief of Staff General Brad Schwer, they turned the battle against the giant dark specters that Byron had produced into a siege battle.
Each wall of the Soaring Cloud City had a hundred Energy Artillery Cannons. They are shaped like a medieval cannon but they are made with an even sturdier metal and was thrice its size.
They contain an energy-gathering formation and energy refinement formation that consolidates supplied energy into a refined concentrated ammunition which is shot out of the barrel.
But this is extremely demanding in energy a regular cultivator can only send out two shots at once before needing to meditate and recover their energy. However. the upsides are that their energy output is elevated by several times the power.
Only five thousand six hundred or so soldier out of the seven thousand soldier were even fit to man the Energy artilleries.
The others were injured and incapacitated were tasked to spearhead the evacuation should they fail to hold the defensive and allow the monsters to break through.
That means that they hand over eleven thousand shots of each Energy Artillery Cannons. The only problem was this was that the strength of these attacks were at the mid-peak Origin Palace despite being boosted and refined by the arrays within the cannon.
Yet, their opponent were monsters at the Mortal Severing Realm. There is too much of a disparity in strength.
However, General Brad assured them with another empowering speech,
"Yes, each shot that we produce is weak. However, we have more than ten thousand shots of the cannons! Even mountains eventually get weathered by rain! Even if you don't manage to take them down, you will be able to stall them and give us, the generals in the frontline, time to get through all of them one by one!"
"We need your help to get through this ordeal! Lend us your strength so we can protect our beloved City!" General Brad raised his sword as though to signal them to lift theirs as well.
"For the Glory of the Soaring Cloud!" The army replied with renewed morale.
*Boom* *Boom* *Boom* *Boom* *Boom* *Boom* *Boom* *Boom* *Boom*
It was as General Brad had. The shots were indeed too weak. The only physical effect they had was momentarily stunning them.
But the specters only grew angrier from the first round of those shots and they charged more furiously. However, faced with over a hundred shots at a single's moment of notice, the monsters were inevitably being stalled.
This was the strength of the cannons, it only takes a few second to power and shoot! That's why a barrage of attacks every few seconds would soon overwhelm the specters.
They may not be doing any significant damage but the specters either, lose their footing as the barrages hit their limbs or they are stunned by a few seconds by those consecutive cannon fires.
On the other had, General Brad was, of course, leading the onslaught against these dark aberrations.
"Men, push forward!"
Each of the fifty Mortal Severing Generals have taken on one specter to fight and are keeping them busy. The task of the three star generals is to quickly kill the specters that they have engaged with and immediately assist the others.
They were still struggling to even land attacks as physical attacks does not seem to hurt them even if you enhance it with Innate Energy. This was the terrifying trait of these specters!
"Cloudburst Smash!"
"Furious Wind Blades!"
"Storm Spears!"
"Ascending Slash!"
Thus, they had to resort to mainly grand energy-based moved in order to deal with these specters but this would mean that they might no be able to last long in this battle.
"This is bad, General! A handful of the specters made it to the wall!" A bald-headed general with some tattoos on his head reported
"Hm? Don't worry, the defensive formation will hold if its just a handful." Brad said.
*Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang*
There were five specters that managed to break through in different locations of the gates.
Typically, they would be able to pass through physical objects but the walls of the Northern Gate had a defensive formation that acts as the protective barrier of the city.
So, they would not be able to phase through it leaving them with no other choice but to simply bash the walls with their own dark energy! But they were being blown back every time they do.
The barrier is known to repel attacks of the Half-Saint Realm. But for attacks of weaker magnitude, it reflects it by 120% of the original power!
"Soaring Cloud Sword, Stormbreaker!" General Brad launched an attack on one of those specters that were repelled!
*Boom*
He was able to hit it fatally and it instantly dissipated upon impact!
"It seems like everything is progressing as I have expected..." General Brad Schwer said who just managed to slay a giant specter with his sword.
"We would be able to finish every beasts here within an hour."
"I just hope that the City Lord is safe." General Brad Schwer prayed as he looked at the spot where those heavenly tribulation clouds gathered and that terrifying pure white lightning descended since that was where Alistair was at.
===
Back in the Main Road...
Alistair had managed to survive with the skin of his teeth from that previous combination from Yumi and Byron.
He was able to escape using his Fleeting Clouds movement technique once again but it was not something he was able to do unscathed. His right arm has now been corrupted with darkness energy, making it numb and hard to move while his legs have had multiple lacerations from Yumi's threads.
'I'm still able to move but I doubt that I am able to endure any more attacks from them... Thankfully, the impact from the tribulation lightning momentarily caused them to retreat as well...' Alistair assessed the situation.
Byron who was now dozens of meter away from the site of heavenly tribulation, uttered, "That heavenly tribulation lightning was completely unnatural. I reckon that not even the sect leader can withstand the force of that lightning..."
He was filled with cold sweat when he remembered how miniscule and insignificant he felt when that lightning struck.
"She must have died already. It's a shame that the mission has now failed but there was nothing I could have done if the Heavens wanted to eliminate a mortal." Byron thought as he stared at the spot where that giant lightning just hit.
"?!" His eyes dilated when he discovered something in the dust cloud that formed.
"Where is Kaiden?!" Yumi observed that Kaiden had disappeared. He wasn't where he previously was.
No one saw Kaiden's movements earlier because he was just too fast for anyone to see. Not even Byron noticed that Kaiden actually saved Victoria earlier.
immediately went to question Michael who was left stunned with what just happened!
"I have no idea. Even if I did, I would never tell you!" Michael did not have a clue where Kaiden went. He was looking at him just a few moments ago but then he disappeared along with Dylan and Leila.
"Why, you!" Yumi was about to deliver a deadly blow to Michael when Kris suddenly intervened.
"S-stop, you villainess! I-if you are talking about the knight, h-he went to that brown-haired girl who was about be hit by lightning!" Kris bluffed. He did not know where Kaiden would have gone but he was looking at the brown haired girl earlier so he simply bet on that being the case.
He was trembling and stuttering because this girl in front of him was a Mortal Severing expert! With just a flick of her fingers, he would turn to nothing but a blood cloud.
"..." Yumi looked at Kris intently before turning around on the spot where Victoria was. She then sensed something strange as a shocked expression filled her face.
"How is she still alive after that?! And who....?"
Finally, the dust cloud vanished. There everyone could see that Victoria was actually a few meters away from the point where the lightning crashed.
She was alive and well. But she had tears on her eyes. She initially thought that she had caused the death of another loved one.
But she saw Kaiden who laid at the spot where she was originally standing, lying down and unconscious.
'He's alive... He really is alive!' She cried in relief. She stood up and tried to go to where Kaiden was to help him up.
But she also stopped in her tracks because she sensed what Byron and Yumi just sensed earlier.
There was an unknown being in front of her right now. He was floating above ground. The residual pure white lightning from the heavenly tribulation lightning was strangely wrapping itself around him.
This man had an devilishly attractive face. He had striking brows, stout nose, rosy lips, fair skin, and a prominent jawline. Broad shoulders and a muscular body. The type of beauty that would cause all women to faint and go crazy for. His eyes were especially magnetic as it was heterochromatic: one deep blue eye and the other crimson orange.
The most striking feature was his long, flowing white hair, which cascaded around him like spun silk. While his composed demeanor possessed the refined elegance of royalty, the overwhelming presence he exuded was nothing short of divine, radiating an aura that felt unmistakably godlike.
But the strange thing was, he was wearing the young Dylan's clothes. His right was twisted in a bad way and he was carrying a girl on his left arm.
Yet, he was completely unbothered with his injury. He looked at his body and around him
Words finally escaped his mouth and said, "Interesting... How am I still alive?"