(Sect Master Feng POV)
"Sect Master Da!" I yelled.
"I'm on it! OOOHHHH!!"
Enhancing his body to the limit, he leapt up into the air with his fists clenched and thrown back.
Sect Master Lee raised his hand to point at the giant rock, his entire body glowing as he slowed the meteor's descent with his specialised Gravity Technique.
Sect Master Jian clapped his hands together, summoning an array of swords around him that flew towards the rock and embedded themselves in it.
I called forth my trademark Phoenix Flames and launched it towards Sect Master Da, covering his entire body with the sacred flames.
Sect Master Da's aura became even brighter just as he smashed his fists into the bottom of the meteor.
A large explosion of dust and flames occurred at the impact, sending a shockwave that shook the ground beneath our feet.
Cracks formed along its surface towards each of Sect Master Jian's embedded swords, causing them to glow before exploding splendidly.
The result was the meteor breaking apart in the air and the pieces smashing into the ground a distance away from us.
Sect Master Da landed back on the ground with a thud, his bloodied fists already healing back to its former pristine state thanks to my flames.
"Not bad," Master Lin clapped. Not sure if he was actually praising or mocking us.
"Should we be honored to receive such praise from you?" Sect Master Da asked sarcastically.
Master Lin shrugged, "I dunno. Should we continue?"
For someone who can summon a meteor instantly, what chance do we even have against him.
Wait, he only summoned one didn't he? Maybe the finger snapping was an act and he had been preparing to summon that meteor when he first infiltrated our group?
Then after he had completed his preparations, he made himself known so that we would be distracted by him and not notice the meteor already above us. That would make more sense.
But still, to be able to inscribe implosions while summoning a meteor is definitely impressive, no less expected of Master Lin.
But with his trump card gone, we now hold the advantage!
The other Sect Masters came to the same conclusion and nodded their heads at me.
Sect Master Da immediately slammed his fist on the ground, creating a miniature earthquake that made Master Lin stumble.
Sect Master Lee then raised his hand into the sky before bringing them down, increasing the gravity to immobilize Master Lin in place.
Swords of various shapes and sizes appeared in the air around Master Lin, summoned by Sect Master Jian. Should any of these be touched, it will cause a chain reaction of explosions that would engulf the entire area around him.
I stretched out my palm towards him, summoning a dome of fire around him and locking him inside.
Not hesitating for a single moment, I clenched my fist, shrinking the dome in an instant before it exploded, triggering the swords' explosion at the same time.
The resulting explosion threw up a dust cloud that reached the sky, we would have been affected by it as well had Sect Master Jian not erected a barrier to protect us from it.
For sure, one of these attacks would have landed right?
"Close, but not close enough." A voice spoke through the dust cloud.
No way.
A gust of wind blew the dust away to reveal Master Lin standing perfectly fine within, his body emanating a golden glow. Though the glow dissipated a few seconds later, all of us knew what he did immediately.
"He managed to materialise the God's Armour Technique in such a short time?" Sect Master Lee gasped.
"No… Must have been an item that triggered it! We can still do this!" Sect Master Da roared, charging at Master Lin.
"No! Stop! You idiot!" Sect Master Jian yelled.
Perhaps not hearing us through his rage, Sect Master Da did not stop his charge towards that monstrosity.
Master Lin raised an eyebrow, "Oh? Hand to hand next? Alright then."
Sect Master Da punched at Master Lin's head with his right fist, the latter merely tilting his head towards the side to dodge it.
Master Lin raised his left hand to wrap his arm around Sect Master Da's arm, resting his hand on the larger man's shoulder.
Sect Master Da only had time to look down curiously at Master Lin's actions before Master Lin grabbed the larger man's elbow with his other hand and pulled, breaking Sect Master Da's arm at the elbow.
With his other hand still on Sect Master Da's elbow, Master Lin sweeped his leg under him and tripped him to fall flat on his back.
I tried to fire off a Phoenix Bolt in an attempt to distract him but Master Lin merely deflected it away with the back of his hand like an afterthought, not even looking at my direction.
Master Lin punched at the downed Sect Master Da's head, the Sect Master barely avoiding it in time by jerking his head away.
With his unbroken hand, he tried another punch at Master Lin's chest but that strike was easily pushed aside by Master Lin's palm.
Master Lin got ready to punch again but he suddenly slowed down as Sect Master Lee managed to increase the pressure around him at the last moment, allowing Sect Master Jian to reach them with his sword.
Master Lin clucked his tongue before rolling away from Sect Master Da, avoiding Sect Master Jian's slash by mere centimetres.
"You alright?" Sect Master Jian asked, pointing his sword towards Master Lin.
"It'll heal, I can still fight," Sect Master Da grumbled, snapping his elbow back into place with a loud crack.
"Oh, nasty," Master Lin commented. "Doesn't that hurt?"
"Buy me some time, I will use it…" Sect Master Da whispered, lowering himself to a half crouch with his fists by his side.
Seems like Sect Master Da will use his secret Technique, in that case we will rely on him to carry the plan forward after he wins.
Though this was outside of the plan, we have no other choice now, it's do or die!
The other two Sect Masters and I charged forward, intending to keep Master Lin distracted while Sect Master Da finishes his preparations.
"Finally serious now?" Master Lin smirked, lowering himself while summoning a giant sword in his hands. "This will be good."
Master Lin swung his sword at Sect Master Jian who had his own sword up in an attempt to parry, unfortunately the force behind it was much more than he imagined and he got sent flying away by Master Lin instead.
Sect Master Lee came in, this time using all of his strength to bring the force of gravity on Master Lin.
Master Lin grunted, somehow still managing to stand when such a force would even bring a lesser dragon to the ground.
Not wasting this opportunity as a last ditch effort for me to move into the Royal Family, I threw a Phoenix spear towards him, intending it to explode right in front of him and secure victory.
All he did was look in my direction and the spear exploded in midair, not even remotely near to him.
Though I might have failed Sect Master Da had already finished his preparations.
"Raaargghh!! Take this! Serious Punch!"
Sect Master Da punched both his fists forward, creating a shockwave that tore up the ground as it travelled towards Master Lin.
The three of us leapt away just as the shockwave reached him, creating an explosion that threw all of us back and sending debris flying in every direction.
Learning from our past mistake, we did not let down our guard until the dust cleared, showing Master Lin lying on his back with a hole through his chest.
"We… We did it!" I exclaimed, throwing my hand up into the air.
"Goddamn it. That monster… Can't believe we need so much effort just to get him…" Sect Master Jian whined, leaning on his sword.
Sect Master Lee turned towards Sect Master Da, "Congratulations, Sect Master Da. Remember our end of the deal."
The big man was still gasping for breath so he simply gave him a thumbs up.
Well, at least we did it. Seems like even Master Lin would have trouble dealing with four… Wait a minute…
"The body isn't disappearing?" I pointed out.
All of us turned out attention to the body when it suddenly crumbled into dirt before our very eyes.
"A mud puppet?! We've been fighting a mud puppet this entire time?!" Sect Master Jian screeched.
I gritted my teeth, "Calm down! He must have substituted it! He must still be close! We just have to–"
I stopped my words when I noticed the sky darken.
All of us looked up to see another meteor hurtling towards us, this one at least twice the size of the previous one.
Ah… It seems like we were foolish to even think we had a chance from the start…
