Hamar bit his thumb and thought about what he just heard. If Yi Sect wants to destroy the world, why have the taken Hou, what's his purpose in all of this?
"I understand..." He stood up and bowed to Si Tai deeply, "Is this all or...?"
So Tai gestures for Hamar to sit down, "There's another thing I want to give you in exchange for after this all happens, to allow me to experiment with your dragon."
Hamar's eyes squinted, "Safely? No harming it?"
"I swear"
"I accept it, what is this final...gift?
Si Tai raised his hand and in doing so shadows stretched off the ground. Then he pulled further and a portion snapped, turning into a coiling ball of shadows in Si Tai's hand.
"Please, take this. In an emergency it should be able to protect you and help you utilise that dragon. Now..."
He stood up and broke the barrier he had made to the outside, "Let us go and save your friend, hopefully uprooting Yi Sect too."
Hamar stood up and stroked the tense death dragon, "Lets go!" The death dragon was deep in thought when it got interrupted and nodded.
***
Hamar, a dark cave.
"This is a safe place...?" Hamar stood up and stroked the walls, cold stone.
He sat down and awaited his signal to start. He was stationed outside the fighting area, he was still too weak even after breaking through. According to his master, this fight involved deca-hardening at minimum.
This was the limit of Hamar's strength if he used all of his trump cards, he was barely qualified to join and since he had special abilities and was a direct disciple, he was stationed away from fighting.
As he was thinking, he heard a bell and started. He held out his hand and imagined the location he was in, visualising what he needed to do.
He was in Cloud Prism within Freedom Haven. He was in the middle of the city, within the higher echelon but not yet powerhouses.
The target was a small alchemy shop whose purchases match up with the laws Hou had been absorbing. Not only that Xiao Ye as she escaped another time, was last spotted in that very shop.
Hamar visualised every building and every minutia he could, then he queried and sent out a huge amount of white aura.
He sealed a large domain around the shop, then he felt another domain going over his, and another one after that. He felt the importance of this mission went beyond what he could even comprehend.
"Yi Sect..."
The death dragon floated in a circle around Hamar, "I will protect you, focus on maintaining the barrier, no matter what"
Hamar alone could sense the powerhouses below but the death dragon had an even stronger sense towards the strength they were facing.
Just the people here, the cultivators, release an aura of death by simply existing. This section of the city couldn't be evacuated as that would warn Yi Sect...many innocent people will die.
Hamar continued to wait, keeping his barrier active. He felt small fluctuations but overall nothing big. That was until it started.
Boooooom!
Massive sound soft crashing, laws Hamar could not comprehend, techniques that rewrite what Hamar even thought of fighting. It all occurred in a fraction of a second.
And for a moment, he thought it was all over until a guy wrenching feeling attacked Hamar and caused his barrier to waver for a moment, "G-good thing there's back ups!"
Hamar looked duo in pain, thinking while maintaining the barrier, "Hou!"
That feeling was a strengthening of Hou's connection and a massive influx of laws into Hou's body.
Not only that, he gathered a strange feeling that something was impending to do with this. And his feeling wouldn't be unsubstantiated.
Just a moment after he felt this feeling, a strong suction force shook Hamar to the core. He felt the laws around him become weak and start to move a certain way.
Not only that he felt his life force draining, his kin started to wrinkle. Quickly, his death dragon shot out a counter force. The life draining attack was easily countered by its methods and Hamar regained his youthful look.
"T-T-They're suing Hou's sealed body as a part of a formation!?" Hamar wasn't the best at formations but using his aura barrier he could gain a rough understanding and he knew what he saw.
Hou was used in conjunction with a crystal to start a formation. As soon as it formed the cultivators acted once more.
Huge techniques crushed down from the sky, lurched from the ground, appeared from the shadows, manifested from nothing.
All sorts of huge creations and massive amounts of energy was let out. To contain it, Hamar's barrier took a bit and a massive amount of his aura had been used.
"Luckily I used some of my aura stones I had been making to give myself a massive amount of white aura after my breakthrough, or I couldn't even participate like this..."
He crossed his fingers, "Please, just save Hou"
On the surface the techniques began to clash. They all attacked the formation but we're easily absorbed and taken as fuel. Then the formation's owners showed up.
A group of a hundred cultivators, all from Yi Sect. They all had fanatic, crazy faces with strong cultivation levels which matched or even surpassed many Elders of smaller sects.
The opposing cultivators on Hamar's side froze, this was a huge force, and they hid within Freedom Haven!
Freedom Haven was a city located within None Clouds Sovereign Sect and it would've been prosperous to say that a huge force like this could be hidden and yet...they were.
Not only that, this formation ran through the streets of Freedom Haven and took power from the city itself among other sources.
"WE, YI SECT, DONT PLAY BY YOUR RULES!"
With that, the whole force of hundreds moved and stood in a circle. They held out their hands, one pointing inwards, one pointing out words.
They would easily deflect any technique thrown at them and then they created a huge ball of energy. The cultivators there became uneasy as they could not understand that energy ball.
Even the strongest cultivators there couldn't comprehend it at all. Then, before they could even think of doing anything, the orb grew larger and larger.
It encapsulated the Yi Sect members then fizzled out, leaving the city free of Yi Sect. No killed members, no injured members, no Hou taken back, no life Crystal taken back, nothing stopped. Utter failure.
Hamar, however, couldn't tell all of that. He only knew that massive fight occurred, one that he could not even comprehend at his level.
Hamar's shoulders lowered, "Is it...is it over?"
His aura barrier started to waver and weaken. He had been using his all to keep it from falling, this was beyond his level really. He could only do this with his storage of aura stones completely drained.
Gughh!
Hamar lurched forward and coughed blood. His body became weak and his eyes hazy and he looked down.
A hand stuck itself through his heart, covered in blood, unharmed by the remaining aura in his body.
He turned his head and saw his death dragon pit to sleep and a cultivator with a large red robe smiling down upon him.
"You."
He pulled back and let Hamar fall down, for some unknown reason he could not move.
"Join us. You know the truth, you will join us."
"Th-the truth?! Who are you, Yi Sect?!"
A low rumble came from the smiling red-robed man. It started as that tumble but quickly became a chuckle and then belting laughter.
"It seems this little thing manipulated you..." It threw it's head back and grabbed the large death dragon in one hand, lifting it up.
Then the red-robed individual opened his mouth and the death dragon shrunk, becoming a monstrous... eldritch insect.
It had dragon horns and form yet more insectoid than anything. He then turned his head to Hamar and flicked the death dragon insect over.
Hamar couldn't dodge and he looked up to his forehead as the insect burrowed its way in. He tried to manipulate his aura but nothing worked and it burrowed itself deeper.
He felt his body twitch without his control and then it shot forward. His flesh started to render and scales stated to grow.
Horns shot from his skull, small insectoid wings shot from us back, involuntary screams sounded out yet no one answered.
Hamar could move finally, he held his head as he remembered it all!
"The world... it's...."