Chapter 404: Through the Sunfire

Cassian smiled at the blade protruding through the shield.

"Prepare to enter," he said in the Domain Channel.

Heaven’s Judgment swept sideways.

A kilometer-long gash opened across the barrier. Seven or eight ships caught in the blade’s path exploded in succession, weakening the formation still further. The breach could no longer close quickly enough.

More than a thousand figures rushed through.

Rhea, Aurelia, Celia, the Crystal Maidens, Dain, and all seven Valcrests entered the formation with the assault force.

"Blossom Tide."

Celia’s voice was soft.

Petals formed in the empty air, beautiful and deadly. They swept through the enemy in a whirling cloud. Thousands of Covenant troops were pierced, blood spraying from their wounds.

Blossom Tide had reached Transcendence.

After Sword Energy, another of her sword arts had crossed that threshold. This one was a powerful Grade-B skill.

Rhea and the others attacked the ships.

The Nation Fortune taken from dozens of War Marshals had strengthened Cassian’s office bonuses even further. Under his command, Legendary Nine-Star Extreme troops could truly fight like Mythics.

They tore through the defense.

In moments, dozens more flying ships were destroyed.

"Stop them!" Evander shouted. "Whatever it costs, stop them!"

The other Ascendants led millions of troops, all Epic or higher, toward the breach. Powerful as Rhea and her companions were, without help they could hold against such numbers for only a few minutes.

Then Ilyse screamed from above.

"The top! It’s breaking through the top!"

Evander looked up.

The enormous crystal woman had changed her method of attack. Her arms had become blades dozens of meters long, both driven deep into the shield.

Heaven’s Judgment had drawn most of the formation’s power toward the lower breach. Nearly a hundred ships had been destroyed as well. With its energy divided and its nodes broken, the array could no longer stop the Crystal Princess.

"Open."

One pulled her arms apart.

A narrow slit appeared between them. An inch became a foot, then a meter. The opening kept growing.

Ilyse abandoned the ritual with a scream.

The black beam from her Water Root vanished. She turned and fled without another glance at the Temple.

Above the energy orb, the capture progress had reached seventy-one percent. It stopped at once, then slowly faded.

[Five Elements Temple capture failed.]

"No!"

Evander’s roar shook the air.

All that Aether. All those armies. He had even let Fivefold Heaven bear the disgrace of breaking its word.

And they had still failed.

If Ilyse had not been his own ancestress, he might have hurled Darktide Thunder at her himself.

They had possessed every advantage and still failed to seize the Temple. There would be little hope of doing it a second time.

The other four Elemental Root Lords understood the danger just as quickly. Almost together, they released their spells and fled downward at full speed.

For once, Ilyse’s fear of death saved all five of them.

They had traveled less than a kilometer when One squeezed her entire body through the opening.

She paid no attention to the fleeing Lords.

Her arms lengthened again, forming giant blades hundreds of meters long. She swung at the nearest ship.

The Legendary vessel, itself several hundred meters in length, parted cleanly in two. Its cut surfaces shone as smooth as mirrors.

Ranged attacks from hundreds of Legendary troops struck One at almost the same moment. Sharp ringing sounds filled the air around her.

Not one left so much as a pale mark on her body.

Even the Legendary Nine-Star troops could not scratch her.

One ignored them and swung again.

The ships were fixed into the formation’s network. They could not move freely without disrupting it, leaving them no room to evade her enormous blades.

In a few seconds, more than a dozen ships fell.

"What is that monster?"

"That other physical fighter couldn’t ignore this many attacks!"

"She has to be Mythic Four-Star or higher. An Extreme troop too!"

Panic spread among the Covenant’s Lords.

Then white fire erupted around One.

A hundred-meter stretch of sky vanished in incandescent flame. Even a kilometer away, the heat struck faces like an open furnace.

"Sunfire!"

"That’s the Solar Ascendant’s Grade-S skill!"

"I heard his Sunfire has reached Mastery. It can burn through anything!"

"With the Ascendant attacking, that monster is finished!"

Cheers broke out across the Covenant’s force. To those Lords, Ascendants were the strongest beings on the field. Armed with a Mythic skill, how could one fail?

Even Evander felt a flicker of hope.

Tens of kilometers away, Cassian’s brows rose.

"Sunfire?"

Then his expression eased.

"A Mythic skill is powerful. But with a gap in attributes that large, one skill won’t be enough. Not unless it’s at Lesser Perfection or above."

At this stage, fighting One head-on was a poor choice. A Lord would need control troops such as Faerie Dragons or Kinetic Mechs to restrict her movements first, then slowly wear her down.

Cassian considered the situation and turned to Lyra.

"Lyra. Your turn."

She understood at once and reached for the Five Elements Temple’s controls.

With the takeover ritual abandoned, its interference was gone. The Temple responded to Cassian’s authority again.

Almost every other eye remained fixed on the fire.

One did not leave them waiting long.

Gold appeared within the white flames. A moment later, the Crystal Princess walked out, her steps slow and unhurried.

Unharmed.

Under the glare of Sunfire, her golden body seemed brighter than ever.

The Covenant’s Lords knew exactly how fearsome that flame should have been. Now none of them could speak.

Across the Homeworld, Cassian’s allies and enemies alike struggled to contain their shock.

"She withstood it!"

"She’s walking through an upper Realm’s army as if no one can touch her!"

"The Crystal Maiden corps was already terrifying. Beside her, even they seem ordinary."

"If Fivefold Heaven hadn’t tried to steal the Temple, how much longer would Cassian have kept her hidden?"

Only a few minutes had passed since One’s plunge from the sky. Lysette had broken inside, Heaven’s Judgment had cut open the shield, and now the Crystal Princess had walked unharmed through Mythic fire.

In those few minutes, a battle that had seemed evenly matched had turned into a crisis for the Elemental Covenant.

Ten billion Homeworld Lords watched the change unfold.

And in that gleaming crystal figure, they saw a strength so overwhelming that an enemy could scarcely imagine how to fight it.

Even the three Crown rulers were silent.