Setting the Stage

As Elias completed his magic, the sun behind him began to quake violently, and solar flares blazed across the sky, setting fire to the forest below them. Brent wrapped his wings over himself as he continued to conjure defensive spells in preparation for the incoming attack.

The sun continued to spew flames everywhere, but the most powerful bursts were aimed toward Brent, who was hidden within a blood sphere. The first flare quickly shattered Brent's first defensive layer, a black wall.

Brent's second defensive magic, the dark sphere, was soon broken. Brent's eyes were filled with worry, and his last defensive spell was a dark vortex that sucked the flames towards a small orb that kept absorbing flames and expanding in size.

Brent thrusts his palms forward once the sphere has grown to the size of a head, sending it flying in the direction of Elias. The orb continued to expand in size as it flew towards Elias; once it was quite a distance away from Brent, it began to shatter, and the flames that had been absorbed began to pour out of the fractured orb.

The out-of-control flames blazed about and devoured the surroundings in pure fire, swallowing Elias Sun Flares, but he stayed calm and focused on controlling the spell. The aftershock from such an explosion was so powerful that everyone on the ground was thrown away, resulting in a brief standstill.

Even Thomas was awakened from his stupor; he was mesmerized by Elias and Brent's powers, but even with a single glance, he could tell that this was only the beginning of the battle. Worry flashed through his eyes; it was dangerous for his sect companion to stay here.

Bryson was thinking the same thing, yet he pushed it to the back of his mind and conjured his spell once more. Bryson was an army commander in his youth, so he excelled in supporting and crowd control, and he was certain that he could at least protect soldiers' lives.

Thomas winced as he noticed Bryson's spell activate once again, and as he feared the soldiers stabilized the formation once more, Thomas gritted his teeth and dashed towards Bryson, interlocking his katars that glowed with a bright red light. "Nightbound Slash!"

Bryson raised his axe and a light curtain covered him yet again, Thomas' spell hit the curtain then was instantly repelled, but Thomas did not falter and continued trying to advance towards Bryson, however, when he noticed the aura of Bryson's axe rising constantly, he halted, and it was too late, Thomas was still in range for the attack.

- "Heavenly Clearing Slash, White Deer Arts!" The white aura fluttered gently around the axe blade, but when Bryson swung his axe, the aura rumbled, as if a herd of deer galloped through the forest. Thomas spun as he gathered his blood mist around him. The blood mist began to swirl around Thomas swiftly, forming a cyclone. Knowing he couldn't avoid this attack, he tried to deflect it.

At first, the hurricane barely withstood Bryson's spell, but as time passed, it unleashed more gusts of wind, which strengthened the hurricane. Bryson's spell clashed with the hurricane for a few seconds before dispersing, leaving Thomas relieved, yet Bryson was already on top of him before he could breathe deeply. This was the first time Bryson took the offensive lead, and he decided not to give Thomas a chance to respond. Bryson's barrage of slashes made Thomas start to sweat.

The soldiers in the formation, on the other side, were totally dominating the other three Heigong cultivators; they were too outnumbered to put up a good fight and could only continue to fight the onslaught. Madeline wasn't satisfied with watching from the sidelines and began to strike, delivering a solid blow on one of the Heigong Foudation Establishment cultivators.

While the conflict raged on, the explosion blazed in the sky. Brent conjured a few more barriers before the detonation, but when the first solar flare broke through the explosion, his defensive spells began to falter once more.

Brent couldn't cast the dark vortex again, yet, he began to calm down, Brent felt the power of Elias spell diminishing. After his last barrier was broken Brent covered himself with his wings again, and braced for the next attacks. He only needed to resist a few more flares, as it was clear from Elias face that he wasn't faring too well either.

Philips sat in a lotus position next to Luckas as he felt Byrth approaching. -" Where are the rest?" Philip quickly asked as he looked at Luckas with a pensive gaze.

-" They wanted to reinforce the Eternal Sun Sect group." Byrth gave a short response, he was too worried about his friend to care about courtesy.

Philips nodded as he looked towards the south, chaotic Qi rumbled through the area, quite the big battle was happening there. He wanted to go over, yet, he waited for Luckas to get out of the fire blanket.

-" Is Luckas going to be ok?" Byrth was confused as he saw the fire blanked levitating gently a few meters above the ground.

-" He isn't in any danger, at least not physically." Philips stopped for a moment as he choose his words carefully, he knew how strong the friendship between the two was strong. " We can't do anything else other than stay by his side. This is a hurdle that he must face alone."

Byrth nodded as he faced the floor, he felt useless, since the clashes began he stayed on the sidelines, and now he couldn't even help his friend. He began to ask himself why was he even here? Was he really fit for the army? Not to mention Jeffrey's squire position.

Brtyh clenched his firsts so hard that blood came out, he tried to calm down, yet, he felt so nervous and pathetic that he started to tremble. Philips saw how Byrth was acting and sighed. -" Calm down young man, being consumed by frustration now will not help anything." Philips's voice woke Byrth from his state. " Use this feeling as fuel, and remember, no matter how hard you try or how long you cultivate, we all will feel like this from time to time." Philips had emotions in his eyes as he looked towards the horizon, with a low voice he continued. " There are things that fall out of our control, and all we can do is persevere through it."

Byrth sat down after listening to Philips, he knew that their situation was already dire with Luckas in this state, Byrth losing its head right now would only complicate the matters more. Byrth closed his eyes and began to cultivate.

He was surprised by the density of fire QI next to Luckas, when he felt the fire QI entering his body, another surprise hit him harder, the quality of the fire QI around here was a magnitude higher than anywhere else.

He felt that even the Fire Qi in the core of his gauntlets was inferior, with each breath he took, pure Qi filled his meridians and permeated his body, the Eternal Sun Body technique used Fire Qi to nurture the body of the user, so having a source of high-quality fire QI was essential.

Philips nodded as Byrth began to calm down, he too closed his eyes and observed Byrth cultivation. " Take advantage of this situation, it's rare for such a phenomenon to occur. Even if you cant breakthrough, the fire QI you are absorbing will have a qualitative impact on your overall Fire affinity."

Byrth listened to him attentively, he completely immersed himself in his cultivation, almost forgetting about Luckas plight. Byrth felt like he was back in his mother's womb as warmth filled his entire body.

Philips was grinning at his side, Byrth was lucky of having this opportunity. Elementaryization was already an almost mythical phenomenon, and witnessing a Fire Elementaryization while you cultivate a Fire-based technique was even rarer. Anyone from the Eternal Sun Sect would kill for a chance to just sit by Luckas side right now.

-" If the two of you can persevere through today, your futures paths will be filled with limitless opportunities." Philips had a serious gaze as he looked towards the battle in the distance. " Leave the current woes for us to deal with."

Philips was happy that Jeffrey had recruited the two young men, while Byrth looked ordinary right now, Philips knew that anyone who had interlocked fates with Luckas would have an interesting future. Philips's seriousness faded away as he got up and flew in the sky. -" I just hope that you're safe Elias. You cant die without giving me the chance to brag about Luckas to you." A small grin appeared on Philips's lips, yet, traces of worry were still visible in his eyes as he observed the turbulent state of the Verdant Forest was right now. Philips clenched his firsts, he was sure that this battle would only set the stage for even bigger conflicts.