Chapter 781: First Contact
As I gazed from above the walls of the imperial city into the cold, dark night, waiting for something to happen, a green jade flew my way. I grabbed it and read its contents.
"Your friends are about to arrive, quite an awkward timing if I may say. I'll be hosting them in my territory for now, so you don't have to worry about their safety and well-being."
The message came from the Wisest Sun. It detailed how Master Rain, Yuyu, Meng Hao, and his wife Yang Song had arrived to the Beyond. I wanted to go and meet them, but it was too early, and if they were with the Wisest Sun, they'd be safe for now. I had pressing matters to tend to, and reconnecting with old friends would have to be delayed for a bit.
The puppets were still pumping up bigger numbers, mining for Saint Qi Spirit Stones to fuel them. Then mining for metal and materials to recreate more of their members, who would then go and mine, continuing the cycle. This increased the puppet army by a great number, which constantly spread all over the twelve cities, further increasing their defenses.
I would have liked to have a bit over a million or so puppets, just to have a strong base to fall back to, but for now, I had about three hundred thousand, which barely covered the needs to protect the city from inside and hold any riots or anarchy.
I needed about a month worth of time for production to achieve satisfying numbers. But I doubted we had a month. That's because I sensed several of the rods that the Cryptic Sun had created based on my own prototype moving. He had several millions of them already deployed, which I thanked him greatly for since he perfectly copied them, including the mechanism that allowed me to remote control them.
Now, about a couple thousand of them were moving in outer space, going far up, which is not the way to use them. They'll do no real damage in outer space and would be as useful as throwing a broomstick at a Rakshasa. The tungsten pillars need acceleration and gravity to have maximum impact.
Otherwise, they're just fast projectiles that might kill one or two Rakshasa if they literally bore through them.
I didn't try to wrest away any of the tungsten pillars from the Cryptic Sun right now. Let him use some and find no use for them. Meanwhile, my own tungsten pillars, about eight hundred thousand, flew above the Sea of Demons.
The air grew colder, and it felt as if the end of time had arrived as the skies began brightening up. The cloudy skies were extremely reflective once the Endless Night dropped. No longer did the Sea of Demons' vaporized seawater block the view of the empty-looking sky; it was now extremely visible to all of us as the first explosion echoed.
The Automaton arrived rapidly to notify me of something. "What's up?" I asked.
"The Noble Ones, they're screeching in rejoice. The enemy has arrived," the Automaton said. Chapter Find:
"I can see that," I said, observing a huge arc of flame and light blowing high up in the starless sky.
More and more explosions occurred as the Suns began acting. They were the first and last line of defense, prioritizing taking down the bulk of the Rakshasa—the strongest and most vicious of the bunch, the nobles—while the lower-ranked ones would be handled by other lower-grade cultivators. This was a fight I was not allowed to join.
Not only were we incapable of flight from inside the Sea of Demons, but it was also simply impossible for us to pitch in anything of use.
"Where is the probe?" I asked the Automaton.
"Two of them are about to arrive at the scene," the Automaton said.
The Dusking Sun immediately arrived at my side. "I'll have to go," he said.
"I understand, you need to hold off the frontline," I nodded to him.
"No, not that. The Red Sun and the Darkest Sun are doing that. I need to go and inform the rest. Damn, I wish I was able to join the battle," the Dusking Sun sighed.
"You mean you'll be acting as the information relaying person? The scout?" I said, almost not believing it. A Sun delegated to do scout work? How the hell did that happen?
"Yes, and I hate it. The Heaven Stage cultivators are too slow to relay the information…"
"I guess you're in luck then. I just sent two probes to the fight above us," I said.
"I don't understand," the Dusking Sun said, haste clear in his tone as he wanted to leave.
"Take this to the Suns that are gathered, and you won't need to relay any information. These probes are currently filming and live feeding visual and audio imagery, and you'll be able to see everything happening in real-time."
"Oh," he said as he grabbed the bracelet I handed to him. "This is actually genius! Thank you," he said and simply flew away, disappearing from sight in less than a few seconds.
The probes flew all over the areas of the Beyond, well, areas I was able to launch them from, giving a feed of what was happening. All because this damn area I'm in doesn't allow flight due to the Qi seal. I only thought of making them because I needed to know what might drop in my territory. But now they're coming in handy to transfer knowledge and information all over the Beyond.
The people of the city began emerging from their homes to watch the 'fireworks.' It was something they hadn't seen in all the years they spent in the Beyond. Many of them had survived several Endless Nights and knew how dangerous it could be due to the walkers. But now, with the addition of the Rakshasa, it was going to be a new level of difficulty never before seen.
From the projection on my other bracelet, I was able to see some of what was happening.
***
Several cultivators of the Origin Realm were moving at incredibly high speed in the darkness of space. They had already been informed of the incoming dangers and wanted to be the first to intercept and gain a good deal of contribution from the upcoming war.
The Beyond was barely visible, as only a few of its landmarks, volcanic or cities where people lived, were visible due to the dim lights. The cultivators were tasked with intercepting the incoming threat. And right above them, several hundred tungsten pillars shot up and bypassed them with incredible ease to intercept.
Explosions of epic proportions echoed in the darkness of space, lighting up a bit of what was coming. From the second or so that the brightness of the explosion showed, a swarm of monsters so incredibly great that the cultivators rushing forward instantly felt terror grip their hearts.
The Rakshasa's numbers were simply in the billions, moving through the empty space with incredible speed, following what heavens only know as their leader.
Hundreds upon hundreds of millions of white Rakshasas led the pack as they flew forward. The intercepting force immediately began shooting as much Qi forward as possible. There was literally no need to aim, as anything they threw would simply hit something.
More of the rods arrived and made impact, quite irrelevant to the bulk of the incoming creatures. The squad of cultivators that went in to get some contribution was immediately disposed of, not surviving longer than several seconds. All they were able to send out was a jade that flew toward the nearest battalion stationed high up in the skies of the Beyond. It had one sentence:
"They're too many…"
The Darkest Sun received the news of the squad's death and simply said, "If anyone else decides to act against our will, then death awaits them. Anyone that acts out of self-interest will be deemed a traitor. Await your orders or die."
It was a simple threat, nothing more, nothing less. But those who had lived long on the battlefield knew well that an unorganized army is of no value, especially if the cultivators try to gain benefits without knowing what's coming their way.
The screams of the Rakshasa, although far away, spread all the way to the army waiting for them. These screams didn't travel through hearing but echoed through one's soul. The endless hunger of these Rakshasas for what they lack, for what they want—a human's soul to feast on—would make souls feel utter terror in their presence.
tension grew to incredible proportions as the enemy was rapidly approaching. From what they could estimate, they should arrive within the hour to above the Beyond. And from then on, it'll be a great battle to protect the Beyond.
The primary goal of the cultivators is to stop the enemy from breaching them and bypassing them to enter the beyond, because once that happens, we'll be fighting in a territory where the Suns will have little power to do much. The Suns are extremely powerful, but too powerful for the Beyond to sustain their power as they might simply break it.
However the Rakshasas do not care about that, all they want is to feast, kill and destroy.
And they were coming.
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