Magnus tottered, almost unable to stand.
His face was twisted in pain, and for a moment it looked like he might fall.
He righted himself, and stood straight.
"I have it. I... have it."
Ferenike looked over at Tisamenos.
"Record the details. If we fail and the city falls, try and hide them somewhere. They might be useful in future."
He nodded. He had figured out the shape of things now.
"You're going?"
Ferenike shook her head.
"There's nobody left to command. If they all die... somebody needs to get you juniors out."
Tisamenos swore in his heart that if he lived, she would be known as the leader of the Indomitable Thirteen. Accurate? Well, maybe. But the cauldron girl just flew around killing people, the snake man was... hissing at his snake? They all were focused, seemingly uninterested in the rest of them. He knew it wasn't true, but still. Of all of them, Ferenike had been the only one to talk to him. A little petty, now he thought about it. No, he'd better report it accurately.
Atop the wall, an archer stood. Tisamenos had read up on the Basilakes, but Tasos hadn't been doing much so far. Apparently he had all sorts of powerful techniques, but hadn't used them at all in the defense of the walls for some time.
Rina spoke, her voice higher and softer than he had though it would be in such a situation.
"You're ready, Tasos?"
The man nodded. Rina smiled.
"As we planned. Only one shot at this, so let's make it count."
The north wall burst and shattered, a massive wave of force spreading out, catching thousands of enemy cultivators in a field of amber, making them slow, unsteady. Clearly something that had been prepared before.
Seven cultivators ran out, Amaranth Castellanos in front.
There were two at the centre of the pack, protected. Rina, and Magnus.
As they ran, figures moved to oppose them. It seemed for the time being all the Qi Condensation cultivators were trapped in the amber, as far as Tisamenos could tell.
The first was a figure of tremendous power. Tisamenos was used to this now. He could feel the subtle differences, understand what they were facing. While his eyes couldn't even see the movements, he could discern what was happening with some logic.
"Foundation Establishment..", he whispered, hands writing down all he saw.
The figure moved with blinding speed, and Amaranth struck. With blinding speed he intercepted the enemy, matching them blow for blow. Once. Twice. Thrice.
Again and again he struck, but as he did Tisamenos could see Qi bleeding from him like a great bronze fire, a furnace consuming his life.
A second Foundation expert strode from the crowd, lazily going towards Amaranth.
"Go!", Amaranth shouted.
Tisamenos had been long practicing the Qi-Piercing Eye Art, allowing him to see far, and to see what manner of Qi was used. Useful as a scout, or as an intelligence officer. Amaranth was burning now, his body on fire in truth as he erupted, blood streaming from him and turning into steam, surrounding the air around him. He moved through it at incredible speed, matching the two experts for five, ten, fifteen seconds. Twenty. Thirty.
It was on the thirty-first second Tisamenos saw him fall. The two experts turned and looked, ready to chase, but Amaranth grabbed and held on. One of them looked down contemptuously and kicked him, shattering ribs and causing him to cough up what little blood he had left. The remaining cultivators of the Thirteen were running towards a Core Formation Elder, that healer that had apparently made the siege impossible.
----------------------
Diogenes Aparámillos was next, peeling off to face an enemy.
He struck, and was immediately sent flying, an arm broken. His Devil Silver Body saved him for a but a moment, and his second strike was deflected as well. Another Expert ran in, striking at the core of their group. Diogenes twisted, deflecting one strike, and thrown to the ground. In anger, the woman attacking him blurred and struck - a deadly blow he could not avoid.
Suddenly the Ninth Prince was there, spears and snakes flying, a bottle in hand, shattering it. It contained the Foundation Building expert, and the Ninth Prince drew out a puppet, striking repeatedly at another expert.
They were blurs to Tisamenos, but in one moment an expert stopped. A tall man, with a shaved heard and long, white beard. Bent slightly with age, he struck at the Ninth Prince with a massive axe, cutting at him, hacking off a leg.
The puppet rose up and struck the man down in a moment, poison on its fists - some sort of snake venom, Tisamenos hypothesised. He fell, and another two experts came. These were Qi Condensation - apparently the field was fading quickly, having only bought a few moments time.
He could see now, that the field was shaped. He didn't know how the array had been repeatedly brought down to accomplish this, but there was no doubting that it was a magnificent accomplishment. The amber light gave the Thirteen a corridor directly to the Core Foundation elder, but they had needed to be able to get through. A great gate stood at the front of the field, and as the majority of the field fell, it left only two walls on either side of concentrated amber light, with a great gate behind the Thirteen.
Now, those who had been paralyzed were flowing around, running into the gate.
Against what had to be hundreds of Qi Condensation cultivators stood a woman. Atop a bear.
Peta and Wajo, fighting in unison. Massive swipes and growls, slapping enemies time and time again. Peta wriggled up, swimming through the air, striking with force from above that was difficult to counter. Wajo was cut, and she dove down to save him, but a mighty blow from his paw sent back tens of enemies, and sent her flying into the sky as well.
--------------------------
Three Foundation Building experts had been driven off or wounded by the puppet, and the Ninth Prince stood bravely against a fourth. The puppet was exhausted, and had fallen to the ground. The Ninth Prince laughed boldly, and challenged the man, thumping his chest, daring him to fight him.
A moment later he was run through, a massive metal spike shoved into his chest. It had been an attempt to buy one or two more seconds of time, and it had worked. He coughed, and collapsed, spitting out a mouthful of snake venom as he did. The expert glided smoothly around it, chasing the rapidly-moving remainder of the force.
Diogenes Aparámillos was bringing up the rear, stabbing and slashing at those who dared approach him. It was only a delay, a minor delay, but it would be enough. Hopefully, it would be enough.
Behind them flew several arrows suddenly, clouds of poison interposed between Diogenes and his pursuers. A few seconds, no more.
At the gate, Peta had fallen, two spears piercing her stomach. In front of her Wajo stood, roaring with rage, killing and killing with furious blows, ten, eleven, twelve spears piercing his body. They kept striking at him, and he kept fighting, harder and harder, corpses littering the ground. For another minute they lasted, and it was not until a Foundation Building expert arrived that Wajo fell. A single skull-cracking blow, and the bear lay silent, as much pincushion as anything else, his blood staining the sand. Even in his fall he had shielded Peta, paws and the like covering her over. Those around them hurried in the gate of amber light, ignoring them two fallen enemies.
Wei Feng, Rina, and Magnus. Two seemingly unable to fight, Wei Feng saw a spear hurtling towards Magnus. He stepped in front of it, and pulled it out, and scoffed.
This time a sword, cutting off three fingers. Wei Feng said something - though Tisamenos could no longer hear - and he saw a Foundation expert's face stiffen with rage. The fingers regrew, and this time a spear to the thigh.
Wei Feng ran, pulling out spears, blocking blow after blow with his body. One spear struck his back and protruded from his belly - he pulled it out, turned around and struck down an enemy with it. The belly healed over, though the skin was looking patchier. Pale.
There.
In the middle of this formation of light a woman stood, unmistakable. She was tall, beautiful, and commanding.
She spoke, and all could hear her, her voice sweeping over the desert, into the city. Tisamenos felt an urge to bow, to prostrate himself and apologise for the mere pretension he had of thinking she could be challenged. He gritted his teeth and remained standing.
"You come to challenge me, children. And for what? You cannot hope to hurt me. You have eyes, I presume. Can you not recognise Mt. Tai?"
At their rear three cultivators were stabbing at Wei Feng, cutting off fingers and toes, part of an arm, slicing and stabbing. One tried to run past him and Wei Feng turned, threw himself at the man and sliced his throat out with his teeth.
Still fighting.
"Phoenix...", muttered Tisamenos.
"Phoenix! Phoenix!", cried a man next to him. Tisamenos didn't recognise him, but the cry went out.
"Phoenix! Phoenix! Phoenix!"
Tisamenos looked, and the Core Formation cultivator spoke again.
"Let me show you what power is. Take your shot. Do whatever you want."
She waved a hand.
"I won't strike the first blow. Of course, once your friend there dies, my disciples will kill you anyway. So? What do you have?"
He didn't, couldn't hear Rina Callista's words.
She spoke, and the Core Formation cultivator smiled.
"Do you really think so?"
More words from Rina, Wei Feng's eyeballs bubbling with blood, one arm here and a leg there, standing on what remained, blocking off five. It didn't seem possible that the man was still alive. His arm squirmed towards him and re-attached, a shattered and protruding bone snapping as it was pushed into an enemy's eyeball, another one dead. Wei Feng yet lived, unthinkably.
He didn't hear anything but the final two words.
"...will be."
They rung through the world like an absolute command, Tisamenos felt an urge far greater than before, to believe. Whatever was said was true, and if it was not true it would be true. A truly vicious word, trampling all other beliefs, all other paths.
For just a sliver of a moment the image of a pillar hung in the sky, domineering and demanding. Even the Core Formation woman was shaken, looking up with fear.
She stepped back for half a breath, shaking her head - and as she did Magnus leapt.
His now-blackened hands wrapped themselves around her neck, poison sliding from him into her.
She screamed in anger, and flung him away with tremendous force, sending him flying.
He hadn't been able to do it.
They had failed.
It was over.
Except...
Tisamenos saw two hands still wrapped around her neck.
Magnus was flying away, arms torn and bloodied. Rather than be torn away himself, he had chosen to leave his hands!
One breath of time.
A second.
The core formation woman stood forward, her mouth gaping like a fish.
Her eyes turned green, and even those attacking Wei Feng stopped.
She walked forward, towards Rina.
One step.
Two step.
Three steps.
In the middle of the fourth, she fell down.
Dead.
-------------------
The roaring in the city was unimaginable.
It was a woman who shouted it first.
"Qi Condensation killing Core Formation! Unrivalled Beneath Heaven!"
Tisamenos shouted as well.
"Indomitable Thirteen! Unrivalled Beneath Heaven!"
The shout went on and on, though a single voice rose up through the rest. A dry, broken voice, like a thin reed about to be snapped.
It was Minervina.
"Tasos. Be a dear and clean up, would you?"
Tasos smiled, and drew an arrow. It shimmered impossibly, and when Tisamenos looked at it he felt as though it was not merely one arrow, but a space containing many.
The bow was drawn back and shot, the arrow splitting time and time again.
Tasos shot again and again, thousands of arrows raining down on the Fifth Sea Cultivators.
Minervina cackled, and clouds of golden mist rose up, combined with a sickly green.
"You there, scribe."
Tisamenos froze.
"Yes, you."
As she spoke, tokens began shattering, and people began teleporting out. First one, then ten, then hundreds, then thousands, an entire army melting away like snow in summer.
"Write, write. I have notes for you."
---------------------------
Minervina Barda
Omake reward - Sentient Venom
Fate - Held Pleuron against all odds. Brewed the ShatterDao Four-Step Poison, killing a Core Formation cultivator and forcing tens of thousands of others to retreat. Due to a lack of time, brewed this poison in her own body to allow it to be used, allowing the Indomitable Thirteen to complete their impossible strike. At the moment has the strength, speed, and vitality of an old mortal woman, though her touch is still death to any who oppose her.
Cultivation - Early FB (Second Pillar)
Health - Crippled. Dantian has become a Poison Cauldron, meridians now only flow with Poison Qi. Minervina exists but a step away from death at all times until this is resolved.
