Mage And Wolf
Chapter 97

Chapter 97: Chapter 97

We leave the Sect within minutes, after Elder Ming hands out communication tokens to the various squads. They’re like an open mic, transmitting every sound that’s audible to the other tokens to their bearers.

"You take the lead, we will follow your acting" Sect Master Becky tells me. "I can hide my cultivation very well, they’ll think you’re the strongest in the group"

Sporadic news filters in. 2 small sects have already fallen, their attackers moving to reinforce the attacks on stronger Sects. The wandering enemy group is headed towards High River Sect at last sighting.

Elder Song’s communication token with Nanny Vitale was destroyed just a few minutes ago, and he’s got coordinates, so we are headed there as fast as we can, trying to make our arrival look like an accidental encounter.

Group 3 has sight of them, roughly a thousand disciples, with only a few dozen at Core Formation and 3 of the enemy Immortal Rank fighters.

If the ambush goes smoothly the teams should be able to hit and vanish while Caravan runs. At least that is the plan. If not, Caravan takes the first wave of attacks and the rest attack at range while hidden.

Plan A is much better.

They’ve moved their entire force of Core Formation fighters with all 3 Immortals to intercept us, with a few moving around behind team Caravan and roughly half of their main force held back in reserve.

They seem to be guarding something, did they take prisoners at their previous attack?

"Group 3 reports multiple bound females being held hostage"

"Group 3, you clear the guards as soon as the fighting starts and free the hostages. Caravan, get that war declaration. 1 and 2, you know your jobs." Elder Po’s voice sounds in my head.

"Halt in the name of the Dragon Gods" An immortal calls to me, as I’m leading the Caravan group. What did he just say? Did he claim to speak for the Dragon Gods?

"This region and everyone in it now belongs to The Dragon God Sect. Surrender peacefully and we will let you live" he declares with a haughty tone, obviously looking down on us.

"Why would even an Outer Disciple of the Shadowed Blade fear war with a half baked unknown Sect like the the Drake Lovers?" I ask him with mock confusion clear in my tone.

"Seriously, could you even take on my escort mission, much less my entire Sect? If you’re just going to talk trash and you’re not going to war with us, go home and behave"

I can hear laughter through every communication token at this point. He’s so mad he can’t even form words, and his companions have each put a calming hand on his chest.

"Well, I’m waiting? Drake got your tongue?" I Taunt

"If it’s war you want, it’s war you shall have. The Dragon God Sect will crush the insolence out of the Shadowed Blade Sect. Take no prisoners!" he bellows enraged, despite his companions trying to stop him.

He’s coming too fast for me to even raise a defense. A sword intercepts his attack and I see that Elder Po has stepped in to defend me. In his own words, Elder Po is almost out of the Immortal Realm and into Divinity, so he should be able to take care of himself against their leader.

A first wave of throwing stars, knives and darts shreds the Dragon God Sect disciples, hundreds die in the first few seconds, causing a wave of death energy to flow into me, overwhelming my system.

It feels like I’m going to break through again, but this one feels unstable, like my body isn’t ready for it. Have I pushed too far, too fast and damaged my cultivation somehow? Perhaps with the overuse of pills? But I’ve only taken them during breakthroughs.

All I can do is grit my teeth and try to block the incoming throwing knives.

With claws of energy that’s a fairly easy task, like playing tennis, just swat at it. The incoming energy isn’t slowing though, it’s creating pressure in the middle of my forehead, so I just let the breakthrough happen, taking me into the Condensation Realm.

The Forbidden Treasure Sect members are covering for me as my body strengthens, but this time feels different, like I can push that energy in my cells out of myself to attack or defend in an imitation of the way mystic cultivators do.

Finally, I’ve been waiting for this. Physical Cultivators have great strength and durable bodies, but for the first half of Mortal Realm Cultivation they lack firepower. My energy claws make up for some of that though, a racial trait humans don’t get to enjoy. At least that’s the best answer I’ve come up with for their existence.

The pressure in my head is spreading, like it’s filling me up and I’m a bit off balance. Then I see the Immortal fighting Elder Song thrown to the ground from where they’re fighting in the air, suspended by their own energies. An ability that all Immortal cultivators share.

He’s about to rise again when Sect Master Becky acts, darting through the crowd to grab his neck and swiftly remove his head from his shoulders.

The Death of an Immortal is a huge amount of energy, more than I can funnel to my Priestesses mark and I am hearing a cracking from somewhere in my mind. With a final shatter, energy is flowing in at an incredible pace, forming its own little world in my mind.

So this is the Spirit Ocean I was supposed to be seeing while meditating. The black flame, that was the only thing I ever saw, is still there in the middle, but now it’s much larger and surrounded by an ocean of energy and a misty surreal world.

Lycans generally can’t use magic and are resistant to it. It seems our, or at least my, Spirit Ocean is naturally blocked, inaccessible to us before the Condensation Realm.

That’s not the only change. No longer is the Dragon Armor only a skill embedded into my body, it’s now a physical thing. As I focus on defense it forms of its own volition. A tight body suit of flexible black scales forms against my skin under my dress, with spiky Dragon scale greaves and gauntlets and a beautiful black chest plate formed to my torso over my clothes.

I don’t have a chance to fully admire myself, my defenders have been drawn away and I’m under attack. A Fortification Realm disciple launches a wide swinging kick at my head, coated in energy.

I block with a gauntlet and his leg shatters upon the ridged scale. My follow up punch throws him across the clearing, hitting a tree and landing in a tangled heap.

Great, my unexpected performance has drawn more attention. A Core Formation disciple is coming my way, that seems like more than I’ll be able to handle, and this energy is getting overwhelming.

All I can think of is to release it, and the only way I can get rid of that much at once is the Death God’s battle cry. The one I used on the goblin army.

I fill my lungs and pour as much of this newly arrived energy as I can into the Soul Shattering Roar, focusing on only affecting those in the Bronze Robes of the Dragon God Sect.

The roar shakes the trees, dropping some of our hidden disciples to the ground, but the Dragon God Sect collapses to the ground en masse. The Fortification disciples are spitting blood, the Condensation and Core Formation disciples are bleeding at the eyes and ears. Even the two remaining Immortals fall from the sky, momentarily shaken.

None gets the chance to recover. The Immortals are tag teamed by our Elders and the previously hidden Inner Disciples rush like a whirlwind through the fallen enemies, making sure none survive.