The Strength of Her Master

At the same time as the symbol glowed on Lily's palm, the same symbol revealed itself on Shui's palm. This symbol represented their pact and the strong bond between them.

'It's time.'

The fact that the symbol lit up meant that one of the powers granted by the pact was activating. With this ability, known as Belief, Lily would be able to borrow power from her master based on his pro and how strong their bond was. Unfortunately, since Shui didn't have full control over his body cultivation, he could only push her strength up to mid Earth Realm and unlike with the ones she just defeated, her skills wouldn't be enough to overcome the gap in cultivation that remained.

"Will she be okay?" asked Henry.

"It's still under control," replied Shui as he glanced at him and secretly created an invisible barrier around himself with 'Protect', 'Alarm' and 'Hide'. Since the first ability wasn't enough, Shui knew he had to use the second one, which would drastically lower his defenses. He didn't think the mayor would do anything to him, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

'Now then...'

Shui closed his eyes and focused on the bond that connected him to Lily. Soon, he felt his mind drift before stabilizing in an odd sensation. When his eyes opened again, he saw a man with a moustache above him with a stern expression.

'Lily, you there?'

'Yes, Master.'

Although this was the first time they had done this, Lily felt nothing besides a tiny bit of surprise at the feeling of being a spectator in her own body. From the moment that their pact formed, she knew all of the abilities granted to her as well as how they worked. This ability was known as Incarnate and unlike Belief, there was no distance limit, but the farther apart they were, the more energy they would consume and the shorter the duration. All this ability did was allow Shui to take over her body, but with Belief activated, it was just what they needed to fill the gap.

'Watch closely.'

As Shui took control of Lily's body, everybody could tell that something was different about her. If she was a graceful hunter before, then now she was a simple, sharpened blade. Even the man hovering in the sky flinched due to this change. It would be the perfect time to launch an attack, but since they hesitated Shui took this moment to become familiar with the body he was in. With his strong soul, all he needed was a few moments, and their indecisiveness had bought him that time. Besides the weight on Lily's shoulders due to her chest, he was fully accustomed to the body.

'Well, this is uncomfortable.'

'Um, well, that's...'

'No, it's fine. I'm not blaming you or anything. I just have another reason to get this over with quickly.'

Since Lily would use up energy at a faster rate than him in this state, Shui prepared himself to finish the battle quickly. When the man with a moustache saw Lily point her spear at him, the anger he felt from this disrespect and the surprise that his mental control was no longer working, returned his focus to the battle.

"Impudent."

The man swung his hand and several translucent blue snakes shot out to attack Lily. Each of them was easily capable of piercing through her body, but Shui wouldn't allow them to even touch her. Since he was the one in control, he could manifest martial intent in Lily's body and use it to execute harmonic trinity. With soul, body and energy together, Shui swung the spear, unleashing spells in the form of spear blades that accurately collided with each of the snakes.

Under the cover of the explosion caused by the collisions, Shui jumped into the air and swung down at the man but a barrier formed with one hand was enough to stop him. Shui then jumped back and flung the spear at the man.

'Burst.'x4

With a quadruple layering of Burst, the spear moved faster than he could blink, but the man's barrier was still up so the spear couldn't reach him. However, it took his full effort to stop it. During this period, everyone seemingly forgot about Lily. While everyone was concentrated on the spear, Lily's presence had faded on top of the roof of a building. After throwing the spear, Shui dispersed Lily's aura and faded into the background while reaching for her bow.

'Still Heart.'

Shui had practiced hard since leaving the Primordial Library, so he could now easily enter the Still Heart state with the support of martial intent even without the pressure of death.

Shui drew back the bowstring and created an arrow of nature energy that was aimed at the man. Warriors at his level would normally be able to sense a threat to their life, but this arrow, without any killing intent or intense emotion behind it, didn't even tickle his senses. Like a phantom, once released from the bow, no one noticed the arrow until it slipped through the man's barrier like air and sunk itself into his chest.

The arrow did little damage, but with this unexpected injury, the man's concentration was broken. This allowed the spear that he was holding back to break through his guard and smash him into the ground. Shui was sure this would result in a grievous wound, but it wouldn't kill him, so he took a step forward before stopping. Out of nowhere, several Earth Realm auras appeared in the sky above the academy. They came in two groups, with one wearing red, black and green robes, while the other group was dressed in plain light red jackets that exposed their well-defined abs and chest muscles.

'Lily, I'll need to handle this myself. Prepare to escape with the kids.'

'Yes, Master.'

Despite the oppressive atmosphere, Lily's faith in Shui didn't waver. She allowed fatigue to replace the surge of power that was in her. As the light from his palm died down, Shui opened his eyes and sighed.

"They sure came out of the woodwork."

Shui could tell that the two groups were from Reich and Pemacreba, the two cities he had many scuffles with. With those from Silver City eliminated, these people were the only forces from which he had killed people.

"Shall I lend a hand?"

Surprisingly, Henry offered his help so Shui gave him a look of surprise.

"You would really help me with this?"

"Well, I can't afford to stop them completely, but I should be able to capture your people by saying that I want to personally judge them."

"That doesn't sound bad. But why are you so willing to help me?"

"If we are to be friends, then isn't it natural to offer aid when possible?"

"I see your age hasn't dulled your mind. Thank you for the offer, but I'll handle this myself."

Since he seemed useful, Shui decided to trust the mayor for now. Naturally, he would leave countermeasures before he left, but there was nothing wrong with more allies.

"By the way, where's the headmaster?"

"Oh, I sent him on an errand. Otherwise he would have at least stopped the situation from reaching this far."

"Hmm..."

Shui didn't say anything about the deputy headmasters that should still be in the academy. Regardless of whether they wanted to help Sia and the twins or not, the fact that they didn't remained.

'I'll need to make them quit school after this.'

With his invisible barrier still up, Shui activated harmonic trinity. The last time he used this power, it went out of control, but this time he also entered the Still Heart state. It wouldn't last long, but it was perfect for intimidation.

"Now then, time to clean up."