The Strength of His Servant (2)

From above the city, Shui and Henry watched the battle. Neither of them showed any change in their expressions as Lily killed the genius from Pemacreba, but Henry was intrigued when he saw her weapon.

"Could that relic, actually be of spirit-rank?" he asked.

"You have good eyes."

Shui didn't elaborate, but anyone would have been frightened by his acknowledgement. Relics were usually of archaic-rank because only Masters could handle the power of them. However, this had less to do with the ability of the artifact to bond with a cultivator, and more with the grade and power of the materials usually needed to make one. Because the materials normally used to make relics were very extremely precious and hard to control, anyone under Master Realm wouldn't be able to control a relic. However, if Henry's old senses hadn't fooled him, the spear in Lily's hand was only of supreme spirit-rank. This was only possible because Shui focused on making a soul-bound artifact, rather than one that could truly be called a relic.

"I don't suppose you would like to tell me where you obtained something like that?"

"Sorry, but that's one of my secrets."

It would be a lie to say that Henry wasn't interested in where such an interesting item came from, so much so that the thought to intimidate Shui did cross his mind, but only for a brief moment. Even though his aura showed that Shui was only in the early Soul Realm, he knew not to forget what he saw on that bloody day. Henry pushed the idea out of his head and returned his focus to the battle.

"It's a good item, but are you sure she'll be okay?"

A relic would surely be more powerful than other artifacts of the same rank, even one like this. However, Lily shouldn't even be able to use the full power of a spirit-rank artifact, and her cultivation was lower than her opponents'. Even so, once Shui agreed to let her go, all doubt faded.

"I'm sure. Just watch. I don't take in useless servants."

With her spear out, Lily intimidated Jacob and those from Pemacreba. Jacob knew the others were burning with fury but hesitated to make the first move, so he had to.

"Ahhh!"

Jacob took out a sabre for each of his hands and charged at Lily. It was a very fierce way of fighting, but with his cultivation, Jacob was confident that he could at least last a few moves. Within their first few exchanges, Jacob had the advantage but only due to his cultivation. Despite Lily being just an amateur in the way of the spear, her ability to wield it quickly surpassed his use of his sabres.

Even so, seeing her on the defensive roused the spirits of the Pemacreba men. They took out their weapons and tried to join the conflict, but were forced to wait at a distance away from the two. They wanted to support Jacob, but the moment they got too close, it was as if the air itself had attacked them. At first, Jacob was bewildered by this phenomenon, but by observing their weapons as they clashed, he figured out how this was happening though it was hard to believe.

'No way...!'

It was a horrifying discovery, but it made sense. With each collision of their weapons, Lily had amplified the vibrations with a spell and then directed that extra force to whoever was approaching. The spell that amplified vibrations was as simple as the barrier spell so anyone could learn it, but only Shui's knowledge and Lily's focus could bring it to this level. This level of precision and accuracy in the midst of an intense battle was hard to imagine, but Jacob knew that she wasn't even going all-out against him. While he seemed to have the advantage, she was actually directing his attacks to go where she wanted them to.

Lily's strength was so great, that it was hard to believe she had been kidnapped by Trin's men, but Lily could only do this well in close range combat due to this spear and the improvement in her abilities due to the Alaste Percus ceremony.

"Use your spells instead!" shouted Jacob.

He knew that he would definitely lose without support so he commanded the men to back him up. The variety of spells that came for Lily looked impressive, but she didn't feel threatened. She easily knocked Jacob back by a few steps, and made a full circle on the ground around her with the spear tip. In response, dirt and rocks rose up to block the spells before returning to the ground.

During this time, Jacob stabbed his sabres into the ground and took out gloves that could amplify the power of his spells. After putting them on, he slammed his palms on the ground.

"Ice Skewers!"

Frozen stakes rose from below Lily's feet, but she jumped before she was pierced by them. However, this was right where they wanted her. Once she was in the air, all of them fired spells at her, sure that she wouldn't be able to escape considering her cultivation. Even so, they still underestimated her.

Lily threw her spear at the icy spikes below her, and used the recoil to narrowly dodge the spells that were coming at her. Then, she used the explosive force caused by the spells colliding to rise further in the air.

Right as she reached the peak of her ascent, the spear broke through the ice and was pierced into the ground. Lily focused on the image of her spear and clasped her hands.

"Burst!"

In response, an explosion occurred at the tip of the spear, which scattered the ice that shot at her enemies with immense force. Unlike Shui, Lily had neither enough experience or soul cultivation needed to use an inscription without drawing it, but the spear helped her circumvent that.

The relic that she had was built with a special soul imprint of Shui's that allowed her to indirectly use his knowledge of inscriptions as long as she could properly imagine the effects. This sort of soul imprint was basically unheard of in the Alterna Kingdom, but any true regalia would have one since it made an even better combination with the person who formed the imprint.

Jacob had managed to block the explosion due to his expensive defensive artifact, but the rest weren't so lucky. Their groans filled the area as they lied helplessly on their backs. When Lily's feet touched the ground, there was only Jacob left to face her.

At the beginning of this fight, he thought that they could handle her, but now she had proved him wrong. If he didn't receive a tip that the one Kia's butler met and the knight in the shadows was Shui, he would have assumed it was her instead.

Jacob no longer wanted to continue this fight since he was certain of his loss, but with the circumstances it was hard to believe that he could persuade Lily to let him go. As Jacob wracked his brain for a way out, an oppressive aura suddenly spread throughout the academy. For the students and staff it wasn't too bad, but for Jacob and Lily, it was as if a boulder was crushing them with its weight. However, there was a faint grin on Jacob's face.

At the same time as the oppressive aura arrived, a bulky man with a moustache appeared in the sky on a floating sombrero. With cold killing intent bursting from his eyes, he examined the site before opening his mouth.

"Who has killed my people?"

Faster than Lily realised that this man was from Pemacreba as well, Jacob went down on his knees and bowed to him.

"My deepest apologies great sir! I couldn't stop that wrench from killing those brilliant geniuses."

For someone who was always so aloof, many would find it hard to believe that this was Jacob. However, anyone who truly knew him was aware that he did anything for his goals.

The man didn't even blink at Jacob's act, he only turned his gaze to Lily.

"So it was you."

Anyone would find it hard to believe that Lily killed so many stronger cultivators by herself, but her aura that lingered on the corpse of her first victim was enough proof. Without another question, the man held out his palm at her, locking her in place with his mental control.

Lily was now helpless; her power wasn't enough to face a peak Earth Realm expert after all. But that was okay.

"Please forgive me, Master. I need your strength!"

As she stood still, a mystical symbol glowed on her right palm.