A Witch's Rage (7)

Ed spun around as the darkness fell and stared at the skill caster in the distance, before looking away. For a moment, Elder Se who walked into his pagodas easily almost thought Ed could see in the dark.

"Spirit Well!" Elder Se bellowed as he surrounded Ed with a mud wall that rose almost to the ceiling of the pagoda, blocking his vision even more.

Ed felt water fill the enclosed space quickly, threatening to rush to his lungs. For a second, human instinct almost caused him to panic as he thought of the issue of air and almost started to struggle. The water covered him completely and filled the well and Elder Se hovered over the well he had created and sealed it completely.

"Red coal palm!" his burning palm descended so greatly on the well, melting together the mud and fusing it solid.

Inside the well, Ed stared up at Elder Se above. Even though his vision was supposedly blocked, the elder had entered his range. He could feel the panic in the air from the cultivators who could not see in the dark, sealed within the pagoda.

"Elder Se sealed us in too," someone said.

"Do not panic, we will be freed soon when the boy is handled,"

"Elder Se got serious. We should not be too close to the fight,"

"We could get caught in the line of fire," another said.

Their worry was not unfounded, as Ed himself knew they were good as dead. In the water that had been heated to dangerous degrees by Elder Se's Red coal palm, Ed had calmed down. The water was in his range. The well and some of the pagodas were also within it. He tried to stretch further than the pagodas, beyond the cultivators on the outside, but he could not move beyond the last pagoda. Just at that moment, he realised, he had stretched across all the pagodas easily. Was it because it was one thing? Was that why he could stretch across it beyond his usual range?

One thing.

He looked at the mud beneath his feet and touched it with his mind. From the mud, he stretched so far; he covered the entire battlefield and the lands far. His mind only paused at the Edge of the Fu forest.

Before, it was his mind that stretched wide covering everything around, but now he learnt to cover one thing that covers all, the ground. All must step on it. If not that he was encased in this well, he would have stretched to the air instead. After all, all must breathe. In the hot water, he pulled the Yhenxia sword from his space. He was no more one that would manifest raw energy through his weapons. He manifested its meaning instead. He manifested the laws of weight on all he touched within the pagodas; the ground, the well, the pagoda, and all who stood felt their weight multiply.

Screams rang out from inside the pagodas, causing those outside to tense and Elder Se inside to frown. He hovered in the air and looked at all on the ground screaming and...Shrinking? Before he comprehended what was happening, Ed's Yhenxia sword imbued with the essence of his energy seemed to stretch too. The sharp blade, only slightly longer than his arm, was swung by Ed but cut through well; all the cultivators around till the pagodas, like a knife through butter.

Ed had thought the slice too clean and would not break down the structure, but his energy touching it still degraded the structures till they crumbled to the ground.

Elder Se retreated from the pagodas quickly into the light and stared back at the crumbling structure.

"Impossible!" someone behind him said.

"Get ready, he is coming out!" Elder Se Instructed those around. Another Heaven seeker came closer to him and looked down at the scene.

"You intend to kill him?" he asked Elder Se.

"We kill him first and handle the rest later," Elder Se replied. This was the mind of all others present. At this moment, Ed stepped out of the rubble and looked around the destruction.

"Even the essence of my energy is still really dangerous. How could I forget that?" he asked himself, and then looked up at those in the sky completely ignoring those on the ground.

The dust cleared, revealing the destruction and bodies of the cultivators for all to see. The cultivators on the ground paled at the sight. The dead were completely split in one clean swipe. What was going on?

"What a boy," Nti Anem commented as he chewed on his fried yams. His eyes were drawn to the sword Ed held and his eyes cooled slightly. A Yhenxia sword, an unnamed one; he needs to talk to this boy after this.

"You have decided to get serious, I see," Ed said coldly but Nti Anem chuckled.

"He is happy, alright. How could I forget His Highness used to be a warrior?" he said as he watched Ed step forward.

"He is coming. Be prepared!" Elder Se said, before he could finish his words, his body along with all those in the sky fell unceremoniously to the ground. The fall was so loud; one would have thought that a few mountains were crashing to the ground. The Heaven seekers and soul realization experts wondered what was happening. Their eyes rounded out in horror as they looked up at Ed approaching. The weight was only there for a few seconds now, but they felt their organs squeeze to almost mush and vomited blood. The other cultivators were so horrified they turned to flee.

"Monster!" they screamed and ran in all directions away from Ed, only to slam into the barrier at great speed.

"What is this? Let us out!"

"Let us out!" they screamed at the top of their lungs. Their panic from seeing the twelve heaven seekers fall had caused them to lose all reason and run for their lives.

"You will kill them at this rate, Ed. You must fight fair," Nti Anem reminded Ed and he returned their original weight. At this point, those coughing blood felt their body become light and took in ragged breaths. They looked at Ed in horror.

"You... Impossible!" Elder Se said. He had seen those who cultivated the laws of weight. They could only affect inanimate objects and some plants. Because of the energy running through a living being's body, a person cannot just invade their being with their own energy, and instil a law.

"Just who are you?" they asked.

"We have left that title arch, okay?" Nti Anem reminded.

"No matter who you are, it does not matter," Elder Se said as he stood up strong.

"You think you can beat forty soul realisation masters and twelve heaven seekers all on your own?" another heaven seeker asked.

"Yes," Ed answered and their rage boiled over.

"Naive. Even though you can do odd things, we have yet to get serious," another said. To this, Nti Anem chuckled, "His entire being does anger people" he commented.

Ed took a stance, "Come!" he invited them.

"I hope you will not regret this," Elder Se said coldly.