226. 100 vs. 100

Alistair used [Reality Sense] to gauge the situation from afar. By focusing his perception, he could see things miles away. 

While it wasn’t literally miles, the slums operated in a two-tiered system, with the more luxurious parts of the city near the “oceanline.” They had climbed up the skyscrapers, trying to get the high ground. 

There were seven disciples in the Endless Horizons group, openly walking around in their black-and-white robes as if there wasn’t an ongoing battle. The streets were devoid of people, stretching like an underwater canyon beneath Alistair’s elevated position. 

From thousands of feet up the skyscraper, he observed the western slums’ grid-like layout—a central plaza surrounded by concentric rings of broad alleyways. Easily enough room to fight, with the civilians staying inside. 

A trap? Alistair didn’t understand what they were doing. 

“Arrogance,” Dev'rox explained. “They don’t take the Clear Water Sect seriously. I’m guessing they’re shocked this competition is even a thing. You have to prove to them that you’re worth their time. To be fair, they’ve earned it.”

Alistair snorted, turning to his team, who all looked to him for guidance. Three of them were higher ranked than him, yet they still viewed him as the leader. Norman inspired a certain kind of obedience in the outer disciples. 

“Once we get Norman’s command, we’ll attack at once,” Alistair instructed. “Does anyone have any useful information about their cultivation?”

The 955th-ranked outer disciple stepped forward. If he was about his position being replaced, he didn’t show it. “My name is Kolz Einz Borentall. I follow the Dao of Alignment. If we can keep them cooped up in a certain spot, the battlefield will slowly turn in our favor.”

“Good to know,” Alistair said. “I fight from the vanguard. If you see me go first, don’t worry about me being caught in the crossfire, just go all out anyway.”

Before anyone else could speak, he felt the pull of the gold dust, directing them straight at the enemy disciples. 

[Mindshift] took him right before the jade pendant wearing woman. Alistair’s fist arced toward her face with a [Force Fist]. 

Her pendant came to life, forming a metallic dome. Alistair’s punch connected with an echoing bang that sent her comrades skating backward. 

The next second was filled with too much chaos for even [Reality Sense] to fully perceive. He entered Bodhi Consciousness, lightning streaking through his hair and over his skin. His body unconsciously dodged both his allies’ and enemies’ attacks alike, as he focused on the presumed leader. 

With too little time to inspect her with [Dharmic Gaze], he relied on instincts. 

The woman’s skin rippled, transforming into gleaming steel. Steel wire formed out of thin air, thick as a strand of hair. Alistair countered with [Frozen Claw], ice crystals blunting the impact so the wires shattered against his skin rather than slicing it apart. 

Around them, fighting erupted in violent flashes of color and sound, Mana and Dao energy being sent left and right. A burly squadmate whose name remained unknown to him disappeared into motes of light, impaled by a spear of solid luminance. Another fell to a barrage of poisoned needles, muddying the very air with a corruptive violet tincture. Two of ten down in under a second.

Alistair weaved beneath hundreds of wires, each splitting and growing by the second into an impossibly complex web. A Dao of finality spread throughout, heralding the end. 

Elder Aylesfort’s words echoed through his head, specifically a lecture on Domain warfare: “Melee fighters and those with internal Domains are often underestimated throughout the multiverse. While it is true their Domains tend to be lackluster compared to the great siege masters, always beware the pugilist when up close. As one’s soulcore reverses outward to manifest your Domain, there exists a fraction of a second where one cannot respond to stimuli. A proper melee cultivator will abuse this fact and never let you open your Domain in the first place.”

With that in mind, he refused to let up on the woman. Instead of retreating from the wires, he surged forward into their densest concentration, directly toward the source. 

[Draconic Roar] blew away the Dao energy, leading to a flurry of dozens of [Force Fists]. The Mana cost was difficult to bear, but he needed to front-run for the rest of his squad. 

Riyord’s dream phantoms shimmered into existence around the battlefield, nightmares immanentized via the confluence of dream and his powerful Dao. The distraction bought precious seconds as the 955th-ranked disciple, still on top of the skyscraper, completed his enormous golden encirclement.

The Dao of Alignment, one of the Greater Daos of the Nexus of Mathematics, radiated from the circle. Alistair felt like it might have been similar to William’s [Hypercalculative Induction], as the Skill began providing him with flashes and hints of what to do to achieve victory.

Three more squadmates fell to devastating counterattacks in the meantime. 

Come on Norman, Alistair thought. Just based on the density of her aura and the skill he felt within her Dao, he and the woman were equally matched. For everyone else, despite initially being at a numerical disadvantage, they were proving why Endless Horizons was considered the best sect in the Empire.

Alistair stayed within point-blank range, becoming an impossible target as he [Mindshifted] and swapped with Dev'rox so fast he left afterimages in his wake.

[Force Fist], [Frozen Claw], [Blood Hand], [Lightning of Justice]—he employed his core four Skills constantly, going down to half Mana in just five minutes as he intercepted attacks for his squadmates. 

A concentrated fireball licked his back. The upgraded bones of his [Steel Body] anchored him in place. 35% of the damage was voided from the start, and he tanked the rest with his 1,463 Constitution.

The attacker was shocked at how easily Alistair dismissed his fires, but it was too late for him. Ashendar’s other power kicked in, allowing him to control and concentrate the dissipating flames into a new fireball, this one blessed by a red dragon. 

Alistair swapped with Dev'rox, firing hundreds of ice senbon. The Endless Horizons disciple dodged most of them, but three caught key acupuncture points, disrupting one of the twelve major meridians. 

The man tried to activate a movement Skill, but it sputtered out due to the needle, only dragging him ten feet away. With one solid blast of his own flames combined with true dragonfire, the man burned to nothingness. The defensive Skill he tried using was burned away by the concept of dragonfire itself.

Dev'rox snapped his fingers, and Alistair instantly warped back to the steel lady. Meanwhile, Riyord scored the second kill for their side, unleashing a concentrated magic missile of purple-pink dreamstuff that ate a water cultivator from the inside out. 

Another minute passed. He could feel the frustration from the woman as her Mana supply dwindled. Through Dragorphism Cadence, he adapted to her techniques, allowing him to only use his fists rather than [Force Fist] to conserve Mana. 

The leader of the Endless Horizons disciples fought similarly to Xaden Katronius, with steel instead of bone and solidity instead of organic rearrangement. Her techniques had layers of sophistication that would have been overwhelming if not for Alistair’s experience against body transformers. 

She wove steel wire into defensive patterns that anticipated his movements, sometimes creating geometric grids that formed profound symbols in the Dao. When pressed, she could increase the density of the metal in her body tenfold, making attacking her a double-edged sword.

Most dangerous was her ability to shed metallic scales that exploded into wire traps mid-air, forming garrotes and snares that required constant vigilance to avoid. All the while, her jade pendant pulsed with stored power, occasionally manifesting as a mixed-affinity blast of metal and force. 

As they reached a momentary stalemate, the sky darkened. Looking up, Alistair saw the silhouettes of multiple figures plummeting from above.

Another squad from Team Goldhair had arrived in dramatic fashion.

They struck like meteors, each disciple activating a different Skill as they descended. One trailed fiery wings, another became a gust of air. 

The Endless Horizons disciples were forced to contract their formation, bringing them deeper into the now-strengthening Alignment array. The golden lines had spread to cover sixty percent of the battlefield, their influence obvious in all the Clear Water disciples’ moves.

With the arrival of reinforcements, the wire-wielder became desperate. She attempted to expand her network to ensnare the newcomers, momentarily dividing her attention. That split second was all Alistair needed.

Alistair shot forth with a combo guided by Dragorphism Cadence. A small perturbation in the rhythm of her attacks was exploited, a [Force Fist] filled with the Dao of the Fist shooting forth. 

Over 10% of his Fist-attuned Dao energy powered his punch. Fara’s joint disconnection technique wasn’t enough—he copied Xaden’s skin tearing, imparting so much internal force within his blow that his elbow ripped at the seams. 

That slight range advantage gave him the edge he needed. Freehand lightning affinity Mana arced over the glowing coral outline of the [Force Fist]. This was something that he had practiced over and over, bolstered by his alchemy freehand manipulation exercises. 

The nue component, though minimal and the maximum he could imbue without a Skill, carried a psychic impact that disrupted her concentration for the crucial fraction of a second when her defense was already compromised. 

Lightning conducted through every wire connected to her body, turning her greatest weapon into a network of pain. The fist itself struck her lower stomach, the physical seat of the soulcore, where the physical, mental, and spiritual aspects of cultivation intersected.

Even still, Alistair felt that his attack shouldn’t have worked that well. It was the Dao of Alignment, well, aligning things, that allowed him the opportunity. 

The woman crumpled over, unconscious. He finished her off with a [Blood Hand], savoring her blood essence and bringing his bloodline to 875/1,500 to the next upgrade. 

While Alistair dealt with the wire-wielder, the Alignment effect worked its magic on the others. What was once a five versus five after the deaths on both sides became a fifteen versus five. 

The 246th-ranked disciple, leading the reinforcement squad, spread her arms, and the air turned rustic. It was a tertiary affinity that he had first-hand experience with from Nuevo Invierno—desiccation, the confluence of sun, earth, and fire that eviscerated moisture.

With their leader out of commission, Alistair was also free to assist. In less than five seconds, they wiped out the remaining disciples without suffering another casualty.

The leader nodded at him after they concluded their battle. “Jin Toba. You are Alistair Tan, yes?”

“I am, senior sister. Thank you for your help.”

“It is nothing. I follow orders.”

Norman’s gold dust pulsed with a new command, far more detailed than he had been expecting from the tiny particles. 

They were to secure the area by any means possible, making the terrain a nightmare for any Endless Horizons disciples to tread on, even if they didn’t kill them right away. They were to tend to the wounded.

After that was done, they needed to prepare to move. The disciples who had survived the engagement gathered around, taking stock of their losses. Of Alistair’s original ten-person squad, only five remained standing—himself, Riyord, Borentall the Alignment cultivator, and two other disciples whose names he hadn’t yet learned.

As Riyord applied a healing salve to a Dao-infested cut on his arm, Alistair stretched his own limbs. Dragon’s Blood Master took care of his wounds. He had used more Mana than he would have liked, but he had learned the Dao energy was the more important quintessence for combat effectiveness. He would always have his fists but not his Dao energy.

“I’ve been an outer disciple for twenty-five years,” Jin Toba told him as they began to set up fortifications. Alistair’s main role in that regard was to create ice slopes for the enemy. “I know the Endless Horizons Sect to some degree. That woman wasn’t the caliber of anyone in their top 1,000, Seven Hells, not even their top 2,000. I don’t know what they’re playing at.”

“Have you made contact with any other squads?”

“I have, but don’t expect that to be normal. The western slums of Proctori are the size of a small country. It is only because one person on my squad is an identical twin who shares a dualistic path that I can confirm this intel. Three of our squads near this region have already been eliminated. Those killers are going around hunting, and they won’t be led by someone like her.”

Alistair nodded grimly. 

Over the next few hours, the two squads transformed a two-mile radius of the slums into a veritable fortress. 

Borentall’s Alignment arrays created subtle geometric traps throughout the district. Anyone who stepped on certain patterns would find their Mana flowing in unnatural patterns, making their Skills misfire or fizzle out entirely. 

Jin Toba and Riyord worked together to create volatile desiccation pills at key choke points, where foreign Mana could trigger all moisture to be sucked away in an instant. 

Riyord’s contribution might have been most important. 

First, he possessed a semi-permanent dominion Skill called “[Liminal Dreamscape]”. Once he activated it, the Skill did not use up further Mana or Dao energy until outside forces acted upon it. The Skill created an enormous field of dream Mana that was loosely connected to a powerful dream warren. 

Enemies who entered [Liminal Dreamscape] would be bombarded with their worst nightmares. But that wasn’t all. The physical manifestation of the dreamscape was a thick pink and purple fog that could even block a Skill like [Reality Sense]. That meant they could hide surprises within the midst.

Riyord had another semi-permanent Skill, [Phantasm of the Nightmare], that created constructs out of a horror movie. They shambled with too many limbs and misplaced features, shifting between different phases of matter. That was until touched, whereupon they would violently detonate into shards of crystallized dreamstuff that assaulted the victim’s psyche.

Dozens of these constructs were hidden within the dreamscape, where they would be almost impossible to detect. 

Norman’s gold dust served as both the nervous system and early warning mechanism for their territory. If any other squad detected enemy disciples, they would be alerted in advance.

They established ambush points and emergency escape routes. By nightfall on Selvitari, their region had been fully transformed.

As Alistair observed with [Reality Sense] from afar, something triggered one of their outermost perimeter alarms.

He focused his perception in that direction, expecting perhaps a small scouting party.

Instead, what he perceived made his blood run cold.

A figure strolled casually through the outer perimeter of their territory, making no attempt to conceal their presence. Their aura radiated with the crystallized aura of a Late Adept, yet the sheer strength felt unreal.

Even from this distance, he could feel their weight. His estimate put them over 160, perhaps approaching 170. Such strength would have put the disciple in the top ten of the Clear Water outer sect. Even without their 50 strongest outer sect disciples, the Endless Horizons Sect was no joke.

The figure strolled up to the [Liminal Dreamscape], sighing. 

“Clear Water dogs,” he shouted, his voice ringing for miles. “Listen here and listen well. There is no shame in defeat against your betters. When you face Jaden Erryngton, #56 of the Endless Horizons Sect, you best all come at me at once if you want a noble death!”