The moment the Mandates and Keepers arrived, a terrifying bloodlust descended upon the battlefield to where Izroth, Hakros, and Sychia gathered.
When Hakros felt this killing intent, the blood of the ancient behemoth that ran through his veins boiled with excitement.
“This is more like it…!” Hakros growled.
Being face to face with so many powerful opponents at once, how could he contain his enthusiasm? Hakros did not know what Izroth did to incur the hatred of this crowd so fast, but he wanted to learn such a useful method!
“Remember what I said. Do not lose sight of the objective.” Izroth reminded after clearly feeling a shift in the aura around Hakros.
“Don’t worry. After all, you’re giving me a real good opportunity here to pay some old debts.” Hakros stated with a fierce look in his eyes.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Suddenly, three figures appeared amidst Izroth and his group. One was the Celestial of Ripples, Kyamakri.
As for the other two, it was Izroth’s first time meeting them face to face outside the main travel group. On the left was a man who appeared to be in his early thirties and exuded a great aura.
The hair that stopped just at his shoulders was half black and half white. The iris of the man’s left eye was pitch black like an abyss, while the white of his right eye was, instead, black with a pure snow-white center.
Although Izroth had never spoken with this man personally, he was not entirely unfamiliar with him. That’s because he was the one responsible for taking over the group’s communication after Isylo departed with Astratis—the Celestial of Duality, Diparxi.
Though despite filling the role left by Isylo, Diparxi’s main ability was not merely communicating and relaying messages. He was one of the three legendary realm celestials present on the battlefield.
Next to Diparxi was a woman who gave off an unusual aura. She possessed long messy black hair that almost reached her ankles.
Wrapped around her right eye and covering the top right part of her face were bandages; however, her left eye revealed a gorgeous light blue iris.
Bandages were also wrapped around her chest as she wore a set of loose-fitting robes with an elegant yet domineering design that revealed her navel area. Attached to her left wrist with a simple strap was a gourd.
The woman’s cheeks were flushed a light shade of pink, but it was not out of embarrassment or anger. Rather, if someone took one glance at the hazy look in her left eye and inhaled the scent of sweet liqueur that came from her, they would think that she was inebriated! And, they would not be wrong. This woman was the Daughter of Spirits, Methysria, as well as the strongest among those present, standing at the late stage of the legendary realm.
Even though Methysria was the strongest, Astratis took into account the unique nature of her ability and made Kyamakri the leader in his absence. Of course, this did not mean that Methysria was not able to think straight.
“Hey, kid—ya have something reeeeal interesting there, ya know?~ Look, you really manage to set them off- hic! Hahaha!” Methysria stated as casually pointed towards ancient races unleashing their killing intent.
She then lifted the gourd and took a few gulps before softly exhaling.
“This is not the time for jokes, Methysria. Now that the essence of Gaea has been revealed in this place, our plans have been ruined.” Diparxi stated as he visibly frowned.
He then looked over at Izroth and continued, “If you do not have a good explanation for your actions, even he will not be able to cover for you.”
They had planned this excursion for a long time. To fail now because of an avoidable mistake would be catastrophic.
‘Ruined plans? I’m afraid it’s a little too late to be concerned about such things.’
Now that the Pillar of the East had arrived, even if they went forward with the plan, the only thing that awaited Astratis was a heavily wounded state—and that was if he was fortunate.
Unfortunately, Izroth did not have time to go into details given their current circumstances. However, if he left the celestials too far in the dark, they may be unwilling to cooperate. Therefore, he tapped his left shoulder twice, activating Diparxi’s communication ability. With it, he spoke only five words. But, these five words were enough to completely change the expressions of the celestials into one of somber.
Even the Daughter of Spirits seemed to be pulled from her state of inebriation as the hazy look in her left eye cleared up.
“This—are you absolutely certain?” Kyamakri inquired in a grave tone.
She secretly hoped that Izroth was just fooling around and speaking nonsense. At least, that would be better than the news he just delivered.
But, against her hopes, Izroth gave a small nod in response.
The words he said to the celestials were simple, “The east pillar is here.”
“I can’t tell you exactly how I knew who it was, but—my eyes did not deceive me. That, I can assure you.” Izroth clarified calmly.
Although the celestials were taken aback by his statement, Izroth could still sense an underlying layer of doubt.
For one, Izroth should have never met nor seen the Pillar of the East or any of the pillars for that matter.
Secondly, even if there was another pillar present, wasn’t the timing of his discovery a bit too convenient to ignore?
If not for the fact that Astratis personally vouched for Izroth and the previous display of his detection ability that was well above Tox’s, the celestials would have thought Izroth was a spy sent to disrupt their plans at a critical point.
Of course, the biggest reason behind helping to clear up their doubts was the ring on Izroth’s finger.
The Breath of Gaea would not have fallen into the hands of someone who sided with the pillars.
Kyamakri released a heavy sigh as she shook her head and said, “This makes no sense. The pillars have never acted together since the First Overturn many cycles ago. Even if their territory is under direct threat, the last person they’ll turn to is another pillar. That is unless something unprecedented occurred without our knowledge.”
“Indeed, this is well outside their ordinary behavior,” Diparxi commented.
Suddenly, Methysria narrowed her eyes as she glanced to her right.
“It seems we’ll have to put this conversation on hold. We have some guests arriving.” Methysria said in a calm yet solemn manner.
Not long after those words left her mouth, the earth trembled as a great scene unfolded.
The ancient races kneeled down simultaneously as their killing intent immediately vanished without a trace.
In the presence of these individuals, they did not dare carry the slightest hint of killing intent.
The following moment, an oppressive aura descended upon the entire battlefield. It was so heavy that simply standing had become a challenging task. In addition, the Ethos in the atmosphere became thick, making it difficult to breathe naturally.
As this phenomenon unfolded, the massive palace doors in the distance opened as two figures emerged.
With one step, they instantly disappeared and, in the blink of an eye, stood in the sky above the battlefield.
‘Oh? I thought it’d take a little more effort, but… It turns out I pulled an even bigger fish. It’s no wonder they didn’t act against us immediately despite their bloodlust.’
“Struggling against a group of insects? Pathetic. What’s the point of keeping you alive if you can’t perform a task as simple as removing trash?” One of the two individuals said with a deep and indifferent voice.
The one who spoke was a man with straight white hair that stopped halfway down his back. He had a pair of piercing light silver eyes and donned attire fit for a ruler.
Though the most frightening thing about this person was that the pressure he emitted was not in any way inferior to the Son of Thunder.
This man was the Pillar of the West, who was also called Heaven’s Strength, Ourami!
“You can deal with their failure at a later time. I’m more curious as to why some brat who can’t even properly circulate his Ethos is in possession of the ring that belongs to that cursed woman. Also… What gives him the courage to act so brazenly?” The one next to Ourami commented.
There was only one individual in the eyes of the ancient races worthy enough to stand next to their master. That was, of course, the Pillar of the East, Heaven’s Son, Yia.
The Pillar of the East had short black hair and wore a large white coat that hid his body. His eyes were constantly closed, so it was impossible to peer into them. And, just like Ourami, this individual was no weaker than Astratis or his two brothers.
“Is there a need for such curiosity? Should we question every ant that wanders onto our path? The solution is simple—we just have to step on it.” Ourami said as he looked down from above on Izroth and the other of celestials.
In his eyes, they were no different from a passing group of ants!
