Perhaps half an hour or an entire hour had passed, and Caelus finally got up, and Tellus did as well. From the corner of their eyes, they could see a few people, some of whom were guards, and some of them just looked like scholars, in the front.
A man walked, his clothing adorned with gold. Caelus’s tail swung side to side as he wanted to take it, but knew it would cause Chaos. Along with that, he could tell the guards were at Soul Formation, while the Scholars were at Virtuoso, the Man in the front, probably an Emperor, at Heavenly Realization.
Turning to Tellus, He gripped her shoulder and changed their location, returning to the Empire with a loud crash right as they appeared.
Hundreds of guards were going to the front, not to give protection but to fight. Along with that, he noticed people running away from the front, with higher-level Cultivators blocking the entrance, and the Empire itself was now covered in a barrier, one made by the Holy Mothers like Theresia.
"What the hell is going on-"
A voice from somewhere, or maybe everywhere, rang "The Yun Clan, along with their allies, from the Crimson Moon Empire. Have started a war with us. From now on, all Trade with them is Indefinitely Stopped!"
"A war!?" Caelus turned and looked towards Tellus, who was already ready, her blade unsheathed as she vanished almost instantly, without a bye or see you later, but right now, he didn’t care.
Remembering that Elysia was here, he turned towards the Castle, launching himself forward with his Mana blocking any damage it’d cause. He landed in front of it and noticed Elysia was still there with her father and Heavenly Realization Guards.
She was going to be fine, Caelus sighed in relief. Noticing another presence, he turned and noticed Theresia. "Oh, look, it’s the Dragon, what are you doing here?"
"I was checking to see if Elysia was safe, but, also, I do need to say, I apologize for probably causing the conflict." Sighing, though this time, I’m tired.
"I killed one of their kids, Yun Li, because he decided to show off that he killed a kid in front of me, but-"
"No, no, that’s fine, we were going to cut ties with them anyway, you don’t need to apologize, and with you doing that, I can tell you’re honest, even if I didn’t use Mana to see if you are lying." She shook her head while amused.
She noticed he had a familiar smell. "Wow, looks like you’re infiltrating the Empire by getting close with a Guard, how fun." Cleanty Sarcastic, though...
"I don’t know if she’s joking or actually serious."
"Okay, that’s on me, I’m not serious, don’t worry, but I won’t pry into your love life. Anything else you need, or can I go?" Her body changed, from what was the look of any normal person, her clothing changed to be in armor, though not fully, more as decoration, with everything under it being black and white cloth, and her hair changed to a light yellow, like the Sun, though not this one.
"Well, I do want to ask, could I go and help, even if I’m not that strong compared to everyone?" A little nervous when asking.
"Not as Strong? Seriously? Your Mana Efficiency is equal to Nyx’s. Though your attacks are weaker, you can still use techniques to match Soul Formation, Cultivators. But sure, go ahead, I’ll tell the other Holy Mothers that you’re helping." Vanishing right then. Caelus was left alone for a second.
About to go, Caelus felt the presence of someone else here, also Virtuoso, though at its peak.
"Ughhh, Well, looks like I found you. Killing my younger brother was stupid, so just end your life right now to make it quick." An older, feminine voice, holding what looked like a greatsword, though he wasn’t sure.
"Mhm, totally, I should definitely just get rid of myself because someone decided to show off that they went after a child and killed them, definitely."
"Yeah, and I don’t care. Any life that isn’t from the Crimson Moon Empire is worthless to me. So shut up and get to fighting since you seem so persistent on staying alive."
Sighing, still tired, he moved his hand, pointing towards the lady; a couple of Rends flew out, though all flew ahead. Two of them were shifted slightly to auto-target, so they’d follow her.
On the other hand, she swiftly moved to the side, watching two of them follow her. The greatsword swung toward it and crashed into them. Since it was coated in Mana, it could deflect Mana, though they regained their momentum quickly and changed direction back to her, being incredibly resilient to deflection.
"Annoying."
A pause from her as Caelus noticed she was about to launch herself without any restriction. A moment as Caelus activated Horizon Step without Hesitation, moving faster than she could react, being ten times faster than her.
Since she had the same base speed as him, he had to use this before she could cause any destruction. Seeing her, she was completely still. Barely even changing by a degree when moving.
Swiftly approaching, Caelus grabbed her leg and threw her into the sky, sending her flying at the same speed he moved, launching up. A few cracks formed on the ground; he was going to make sure she couldn’t cause any damage to the homes people lived in. Reaching her, she was finally able to react, though Caelus moved and activated-
"Erosion."
As soon as he spoke, her body began to take internal damage, a moderate speed with it being enough to be something she had to worry about, now both burning Mana floating in the sky, though very little, and more regenerating, she looked at where he applied it and cut her hand off, regenerating it instantly, the effect stopped working with his Mana no longer affecting that area. Everything returned to normal colors as Caelus flew back.
Outside the barrier now, Caelus watched her follow at full speed, the air around her turning red-hot, glowing brightly as plasma formed; from that, a shockwave stronger than any sonic boom he’d created while moving. Her speed changed instantly.
"PARADOX MOVEMENT!"
Instead of simply pushing back with the same force, now both the gravity and the normal force push back with equal strength on both sides, making any opponent unable to move.
"The hell!? What is this-" Her face turning slightly red with her body heat rising, she was presumably getting angry or maybe embarrassed, though most likely angry.
"My Rend hasn’t dissipated yet."
A smile on his face as all three rends flew up and crashed into her, still following her, though it was slowed down, along with him throwing her into the sky.
"Might as well make it better."
As she was sent flying to him, Caelus moved his hand towards himself as he turned to his side.
"Rupture."
His hand swung down, right at her stomach, as the space she was in cracked, not simply bending it, but literally destroying the space, hence causing the light nearby to bend as he waited for a split second before it launched her down towards the ocean.
"UN-"
His voice was forcibly stopped, as if something was making him stop, only for something else to come out, though he didn’t think of it.
"Broken Sky, Fallen Land."
"The World Incandescent Light of another"
"A Starry Night of a Dead Sun"
"Brahmastra."
From the sky a light fell, Paradox Movement ceased, with her about to move, only for what was a beam of energy, though not purely, more like Plasma, similar to Nuclear Energy, the area around it burned, including for Caelus. He was incredibly weirded out by why this happened. Sure, it helped, but he couldn’t help but feel uneasy.
[New Technique - Brahmastra.]
[Can only be used after a specific condition is fulfilled]
[Conditions - Unknown]
The heat persisted, the ground and water vaporized, and finally stopped. She was floating with her body covered in burns. She tried healing them, regenerating her body, reforming it. But nothing worked, as if it were permanent.
Caelus paused, the air around him going still. "Wait, THAT?"
Seeing Yun Li’s sister was still floating there, trying to get rid of her burn marks.
"Not like I’m going to let you live." A sigh from him, he wasn’t expecting her to change. Especially since she was in a War.
"...Okay, maybe we can stop fighting-" Her voice wavered
"Draconic Overdrive!"
He flew down towards her as his legs crashed into her, with gravity and more force, moving at his maximum speed, being a hundred times faster than sound, and his new power, his leg crashed into her face, the sound of bones cracking as she was sent down into the water, a giant pillar of water flew up as she crashed into the ground. Due to his being so fast, his already powerful attack, enough to shatter mountains, was multiplied by four.
Soon the water flooded back to the ocean, seeing if she was dead, he looked down there, just barely, he felt Mana-
[Yun Qi’s Mana Reserves - 2%]
"...So she’ll survive, you know what, might as well let her live, or she’ll just die there trying to get out- Wait, Yun Qi? Her name is that?" He took a second, turning away and vanishing to go back to the battlefield where Tellus was. He supposed it’d be at the entrance he always came from. Once he did, he flew down, landing, and seeing the battlefield mostly empty.
"Weird." Looking up, he saw nothing, well, almost, because of that, Caelus circled around, reaching the backside of the Empire. He watched as hundreds of cultivators fought each other, with no clear winner, since they had to destroy each other’s souls to win.
"Maybe War is just really rare, or Nyx fixes the problems, surely." He was hoping for the best.
Looking around, Caelus found Tellus, Arjuna, and Minerva fighting. Seeing as Tellus was fighting Yunlei, though this time without Nyx interrupting. Though she was winning, there wasn’t anything to worry about, especially with the fact that Tellus could just open her domain.
The sky slowly shifted, feeling his body heat rise as the air around him went from lukewarm to literally freezing, the barrier around the Empire protecting them from the heat, meaning anyone who wanted to trade had to cultivate to fix it.
"I should probably help Minerva." A sigh of relief as winter came, he knew cultivation slowed down, so it gave him more time to make new abilities and even reach a new stage way later, so he could train Elysia even more-
Looking to the side, he saw Elysia, who had just broken free from a cultivator’s hand, with her running off into the Empire, someone had actually been able to take her-
Instinctively ducking, the ground severed, reaching across the ocean and barely missing Yun Qi.
The Cultivator, which was actually able to take her, had their soul cut off by an invisible slash. Killing them nearly instantly.
"So I need to catch up to that, huh..."
The temperature kept dropping, and the water nearby was about to freeze, though it stayed warm, from what he could vaguely tell, because of Marine Animals with Mana, which could cultivate a well.
"Way too much new information- WAIT I need to check on Elysia-" Turning to the Empire, he froze, either check on Elysia or help Minerva... Helping Minerva was more urgent; Elysia mattered, but not enough if it meant Minerva had a lower chance of winning, especially since she was fighting someone at Soul Formation.
Launching himself at the person Minerva was punching, he moved his hand, putting it on their back, and activated Erosion without speaking. Along with that, he made sure they couldn’t feel him touching them.
"I’ll find a way to use Burning Temptation soon."