[Edge of the Dark Forest, Miles Away From Mythorus Academy...]:
In a dark corner of the dark forest, many miles away from the students of Mythorus Academy, a gathering of cloaked, masked individuals wearing red, horned demon masks, were having a most unholy meeting.
There were 9 masked individuals in total, all of them giving off various stages of cultivation, between Low level Legendary and Peak level legendary rank, with one even being at cosmic level in cultivation power.
This was the Infernal Guild, occultic believers of the devils and their hellish ways!
"The time to strike approaches," said one figure, hidden in darkness.
"But, first, the higher ups want a few targets taken out first. They and their families are threats to the Great One's plans — We must get rid of them today, before the sun sets."
"The Sleeping Prince and Hades' Champion may prove a serious problem," another masked figure stated, pointing out.
"Which is why 3 of you will be going," said the first. "#5, #6 and #7 will head to the forest of their little game while #7 will go after Hypnos' heir. May the way of the Infernal flame burn bright."
"And may its hell-ish lights guide our path!" the others said in unison, before all 9 vanished into the darkness of the surrounding forests.
[Corven Umbrovante]:
'I have eyes on the twins, Dwayne and Tyler,' Corven soul-whispered to his team, subtly nodding in the direction of his targets. 'If we move before either alliance wipes the other out, we can still follow through with the plan—there's still a chance at victory.'
'What do you suggest? Do you have a plan, Umbrovante?' Durian asked, both he and J.C. fixing Corven with their full, undivided attention.
Even beneath the shadowed cover of the trees, Corven could still feel the Sun's irritating brightness minutely siphoning at his energy, a side effect of both his sensitivity and natural aversion to it. Thankfully, the shadows dulled most of the effect. And even if he had stood out in the open, Corven's reserves as a demigod son of Erebus and a noble-blooded heir were so immense that whatever energy the Sun drained would have amounted to little more than a drop in a vast ocean.
'If either of those alliances defeats the other, then our chances of victory disappear with them,' Corven stated through soul whispering. 'We strike the Heavenly and Infernis factions instead—help the Nature, Mystic, and Psychic Alliance hold their ground.'
'But will they actually see us as helping them?' J.C. questioned through his own soul whisper. 'Or will they see us as enemies closing in on them… temporary allies simply waiting for the right moment to betray them?'
'It doesn't matter if they know we'll betray them after the other two are finished,' Corven said, his smirk deviously sharp. 'They hate those other two factions so much more than any of others that ensuring they don't win will be more than enough of a victory for those two factions. If we capitalize on this now, at least before either is decided, then, by the time Jabari's squad arrives as backup, the games will have been won.
'As for whether they'll see us as allies during the fight? Well, as saying go, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, no?'
'No disrespect meant, but how do we make up for lack of numbers?' J.C asked, pointing out the three of them with his gesture. 'We can't hold off two of the most powerful factions in the academy by ourselves, can we?'
'We're in the Dark Forest,' Blake smirked, sending chills down J.C's spine. 'Beasts are naturally occurring.'
Willing the shadow of a tree far ahead, past the clashing of the student factions, to extend, Corven willed forth his shadow undead to attack the nobleborn of the Heavenly Faction and Infernis Faction. He didn't utilize his Tainted, because A), his undead were more than enough to challenge even the elite of the nobleborn and B), he didn't want anyone knowing about his ability to Taint living beings with his darkness affinity… At least, not yet, anyway.
Eclipse took to the skies, diving down upon the student factions and chomping on the limbs of unsuspecting students, careful not to kill. Flicker and the shadow werewolves charged at the same target as one, insurmountable unit. Even the Tier S shadow wolf alpha made his appearance alongside his own pack of wolves, disorienting the enemy students and causing absolute chaos in their ranks.
Corven still held back his complete army. He didn't want to reveal all his trumpcards, but he knew revealing this much would be enough anyway.
J.C and Durian meanwhile, fixed Corven with surprised expressions. They hadn't know Corven was a summoner of the undead. And, though his summons seemed more like shadows than actual undead summons, they could sense the energy of death coming off them, more purer than most liches in the Underworld. But it was mixed something else — A darkness so pure, so vast, just being near it sent shivers down the sons of Hades' backs.
With them being children of the Underworld, they were extra sensitive to dark elements. Death energy. Shadow elements. Darkness affinities. Curses. Soul magicks. But Corven's shadow undead held a much higher level of shadow power than they were used to finding in the mortal world.
'This kind of shadow power is almost as great in purity as the everpresent shadows of the underworld,' Durian noted, impressed by the aura radiating off both Corven and his shadow undead. 'Is this the power of a son of Erebus?'
They could both sense it but neither decided to comment on it.
'Ok, then,' Durian said through a soul whisper, noticing how the shadow beasts were only attacking the Infernis and Heavenly Factions. 'Looks like my target has changed from Matilda Lorens to Eugene Vex, then…Alright. Shouldn't be too much of a difference in strength…'.
He was hyping himself, Corven noticed.
Corven, tracking Durian's line of sight, found Matilda Lorens — a beautiful redhead with a green dress dotted with flowers and red sandals; she had rosy cheeks and, while she wore no armor, she did have a harvesting scythe that was made of enchanted silver. Plants danced beautifully in her presence and vines rose to defend her at will as she faced Eugene Vex in combat.
Eugene Vex was a dark skinned, athletic individual with spiky orange hair and wore dark black, metal armor that was both mildly heavy and highly imposing. He wore black pants and black leather boots with steel tips. His orange burning coal-like eyes and imposing presence would make even Corven hesitate to face him alone. In his hands was his great longsword — Soul Slayer — a great longsword with a blade as dark as his armor and hilt. Even from where Corven stood. His blade was a Tier SS, or Legendary, ranked and a weapon capable of bringing down anyone at below its tier of power while challenging weapons of even greater tier, such as Tier SSS+ or Cosmic rank. He could feel the chaotic aura of someone at the Peak level of Legendary rank in cultivation power; it radiated off him in heatwaves.
'Good luck,' J.C commented dryly. 'You're gonna need it.'
'Yes, well, they're doubleteaming her,' Durian commented, briefly shifting his gaze from his target elsewhere before returning back to his target.
By 'they' Corven knew who he was referring to — He meant the other guy joining Eugene Vexx — He was a handsome blond and radiated a peak Legendary rank power as a cultivator. He had piercing blue eyes, a muscular build and a noble aura despite doing the least noble thing right then and there. He had a golden lance — Sky Striker — which was a Legendary ranked weapon.
'Oscar Sky…ranked second third amongst the Heavenly Faction student 2nd years. His control over the wind and lightning is so refined that even the instructors and faction heads respect him. Apparently, his ability to fly, swift and for long periods of time, is much more highly mastered than everyone of his generation who descends from the Sky bloodline. His power is comparable to Durian's; some say it's even superior,' Corven thought to himself, turning to Durian. 'You sure you don't want me to back you up?'
The trio watched as Matilda used a thick vine to block Eugene from getting any closer to her. She knew she herself was a low Legendary ranked cultivator, but she was a nature nymph sorceress; not a warrior by nature. She was hardly even a match to the warriors around her. The only thing keeping her alive were her plant magic and home terrain of forests. She knew if she let Eugene or that blasted Oscar in close, she'll lose what ground she still possessed as well as any chance her allies had of victory.
Between the three factions' alliance, she was the strongest student they had. All hope relied on her holding her own against the tide like a tree in the midst of a Beast Tide. She's held her own this long. She had no intentions of falling down now.
Unfortunately, vines were weak to lightning, though and whatever vines she managed to arise to keep at Eugene, the monstrous man sliced apart with his brute strength insane slicing ability and unmatched blademanship — That, and Oscar Sky had the aerial advantage, calling down thunder and lightning upon her and the vines she used to protect herself.
'I've got my task; you get yours. And who knows, maybe, if we succeed, we can rub the arrogant, holier than thou smirks off the Heavenly Faction students' faces for weeks to come,' Durian stated, unsheathing his own gladius, Sapphire Obsidian, as he made his way forward, his aura already beginning to flare his impressive Peak Legendary rank power. 'Hold fast your tenacity and show these bastards the pride of the Shadow Faction! You have your targets. Go kick their arses!'
As Durian charged forward, Corven eyed he and J.C's own targets — the twins. Tyler and Dwayne Lobane were mixed skinned boys with wiry builds, toned with lean muscles and seemed to be around Corven's age. They were armed with spears and boy were Peak level Demigod rank cultivators. One was unleashing fireballs and water blasts upon his foes while the other utilized ice blades ad lightning ball blasts upon theirs — Both used their abilities in perfect conjunction with their spear usage and superspeed abilities. And they were fast, too, spear dancing across the battlefield at high. Blurring velocities, spearing holes in the defences of their opponents before finishing them with lightning, fire, water or ice blasts, leaving only dust in their wake. Their opponents were down and out of the fight before they even realized what hit them.
'A most perfect technique that has no doubt served the twins well in combat against others even a tier above themselves,' Corven noted, his thoughts more observant than anything else. 'But it won't be enough to take me on.'
Nodding to himself, Corven already began hatching a plan. When it was completely developed, he issued an order to J.C. 'Let's go.'
Then, suddenly willing the shadows of Tyler — the one with the ice and lightning affinities — to bund the guy still in an inescapable webbing of inky shadows, before sinking into his own shadow and coming out the shadow belonging to the nearest tree to Tyler, his Greenfangg blades in hand and at the ready.
Just as he was about to cut into the speedster's gut, the other speedster suddenly appeared directly in Corven's path, spear in hand, about to strike.
Thankfully, J.C was close by and following the plan as laid out prior, appearing from the shadows, his own sword in hand as he collided his blade with the speedster's spear tip just as Corven's shadow swallowed him, depositing him behind Dwayne.
Then, rushing towards Tyler once again, who, in that short amount of time, had managed to break from his bonds using his lightning affinity to mostly break himself free from Corven's trap, using his phasing ability to help break through the rest of it.
"You'll pay for that," Tyler smirked, eyes glowing a brilliant white-blue icy hue. "No one traps the Tyler Lobane! NO ONE! YAA!"
Willing ice to form ten, jagged spikes and orbit his body in an unrefined but surprisingly powerful display of elemental ability, Tyler thrusted both hands towards Corven's direction and all ten of the spikes followed his will, launching like missiles towards Corven.
But COrven didn't panic. He moved.
Sliding across the ground on his feet, he ducked low, dodging the first 3 spikes, then, without hesitance, he kept moving forward, leaning to the right as another spike flew past him. Then, backflipping twice more, he dodged a fifth spike as well as a seventh, before dashing forward once again. Front flipping, he managed to dodge the eighth as it skimmed past his head mid front flip below him.
BOOM!
BOOM!
Landing on his two feet, Corven coated his hand in shadow energy, giving it a violet-black almost flame-like appearance, before punching the ninth ice shard into a million different pieces and repeating the same move with his left hand on the final ice shard. The shockwaves these two collisions caused created a sonic boom to reverberate through the clearing as a white, icy mist clung the areas of impacts, blurring the view of Corven's figure even as he was dashing forward.
"You're powerful, If you had faced anyone lesser, you'd have won this encounter," Tyler murmured, smirking deviously, capable of sensing Corven even through the fog of the ice mist. "Unfortunately, you won't win this, for I have already won."
Then, just as Corven had exited the mist — or attempted to — he realised too late the converging mist being absorbed into the ground, creating a layer of frost which, with surprising speed, traverse the ground, entangling Corven's feet in place up to his ankle, which caused Corven to be temporarily be unable to move, if only just for a second.
That second was all Tyler needed.
He had already vanished from the spot even before the mist had stopped Corven and, by the time Corven had turned in his direction, a sudden and great pain exploded from his jaw, causing a sonic boom to echo the clearing.
BOOOM!
The force of the punch had been great enough to send Corven flying in a tall, sturdy great oak with a thick THUD 5 meters away, his vision swimming even as he attempted to gather himself.
'Master!' Flicker's thoughts were, on some level of Corven's consciousness, registered, as the teleporting werewolf appeared directly behind Tyler, kicking the speedster in the side with such force the kick sent to the boy flying 25 meters away.
Groaning, Corven felt humiliated and hot in unbridled rage. He wasn't used to dealing with speedsters. He had no experience with it. He thought he could use his usual tactics of pre-planning but what he had planned didn't matter when it was time to actually execute the plan. And the fact that this speedster had 2 different affinities and the battle experience of a seasoned veteran almost, it made facing him difficult.
'Fucking speedster!'' COrven shook off the irritation, completely ignoring the pain spreading across his jaw, then, suddenly appearing from Tyler's own shadow, he brought the hilt of his blade down on the back of the speedster's head with maybe a little bit too much strength then advised, hearing a loud CRUNCH at the sound of broken bones at the area of impact.
The speedster, who had begun to get up from Flicker's kick, had crumpled to the ground listlessly at Corven's own hit, completely unconscious. The boy was completely knocked out.
Turning around, Corven noticed that J.C had finished his own opponent — specifically, Dwayne. Dwayne laid unconscious on the ground, the rise and fall of his chest steady but slow. He didn't even look much out of breath, either. Even though it wasn't without injury, the only injuries J.C sustained from his fight with Dwayne was only a few cuts and scrapes — Outside of that, he mostly remained untouched by his opponent, even as black lightning and shadowy smoke swirled and billowed around his body in a menacing aura.
'Makes sense. Bastardborn or not, he's still a member of the mortal House of Hades—an old and noble lineage that supposedly maintains contact with its immortal branch within the Ascended Realm. Naturally, he'd possess far better training than I do. I've only known about this world for a short time, while he's likely had over a decade of preparation and combat experience. Something as seemingly trivial as countering a speedster is probably standard training within a lineage as prestigious and widespread as House Hades,' Corven acknowledged mentally, forcing down the irritation simmering beneath the surface at being outshone by his friend. 'All this proves is that I still need to grow stronger. My cultivation speed may be monstrous—perhaps even unmatched—but that means nothing if I can't properly harness my abilities against opponents with superior experience and training.'
Corven clenched his fists, silently making a vow to get even stronger and much more skilled than he is now. For his future demanded it. And that was something he was determined to ensure.
Exchanging a nod with the electric son of Hades and descendant of Zeus, Corven turned in the direction that Durian went towards to battle Oscar Sky and Eugene Vex alongside Matilda Lorens. And, from what he could see, between Matilda's plant magic and ability with her scythe blades and Durian's necromancy, shadow and necrotic black flame abilities and ability with the sword, the pair was a decent match against Oscar and Eugene.
While Oscar attacked Matilda from above, summoning great winds and thunder from the skies above to battle against Matilda's endless vines and roots and treant summons, Durian's undead skeletons he summoned from the Underworld teamed up with Matilda's own monsters fend off the aerial assault, even using bone archers numbered in the hundreds to counter Oscar's aerial superiority. It brought that battle to more of a stalemate somehow, working in Matilda's favor.
Meanwhile, Durian faced off against Eugene Vexx alongside the strongest undead soldier he had revealed thus far—a Mid Legendary-rank Death Knight clad in black-and-silver armor, its face concealed behind a horned helmet that revealed only two pale-blue glowing orbs through the visor. In its grasp rested a massive greatsword forged from silver and blackened, death-infused metal, a weapon capable of igniting its blade in black-grey deathflame.
Together, backed by his undead Death Knight summon, Durian was holding his ground against the strongest Infernis Faction student currently on campus surprisingly well. He blocked where he could, pressed the offensive whenever openings appeared, and endured only minor to moderate injuries in the process.
'That duo is currently unmatchable in power for me at my level. That undead death knight is insanely powerful and likely on par with my Skyron or even Night Viper…,' Corven admired, taking note of their efficiency and admiring the necromantic synchronomics between Durian's bladework and that Death Knight. 'But something is definitely wrong here… Eugene Vexx… It feels like he's playing with Durian…Why do I sense something bad is about to happen…?'
As a demigod, Corven's battle instincts were greater than the average cultivator by entire margins. Its what has kept him alive for the longest now. And they were screaming at Corven to…either step in and finish Eugene quickly or retreat swiftly to safe distance.
He didn't plan on ignoring it. He never did. He wouldn't start today.
Deciding to step in to help Durian quickly finish off Vexx, Corven began to take a step forward. He had only just taken a step towards the combating duo when he felt a sudden sense of wrongful dread crawl up his spine, as if something big and bad wasn't just coming. It was already here.
No sooner had he felt this sense then the clouds above darkened suddenly to a sudden orange crimson and the metallic scent of iron and sour scent of sulfur descended upon the forests around the fighting students below. The collective sense of dread seemed to have reached all the students in the forests at that exact moment, and, as the students all over the forests looked at the source in ponderance and terror, an orange swirling vortex the size of an entire cityblock had appeared a few hundred feet in the air above them — And out of this vortex came two figures, both radiating Legendary rank aura; specifically, a High level Legendary rank and a Peak level Legendary rank cultivation power. And both wore demonic masks…
The Infernal Guild had arrived.
"Infernal Subjugation!" the Peak Legendary-ranked figure roared, his voice booming through the forest like a war horn. Instantly, a blazing orange infernal barrier erupted into existence, stretching across nearly twenty kilometers and completely sealing off the entire Dark Forest battleground. In a single moment, the horror-stricken students were completely isolated from the instructors of Mythorus Academy, who surged forward in alarm only to find their own power unable to breach the hellish barrier. Many students attempted to use their emergency crystals but they seemed completely unresponsive, likely interference from the barrier.
"Welcome all!" came the voice of the Peak level Legendary ranked, demon masked bastard, his voice ricocheting off everywhere. "You have become sacrifices for our great, infernal lord. Know that your useless lives now serve the purpose of feeding forth a great change unto the Mythos Star System.
"As you are helplessly slaughtered, know that your sacrifices shall not be for naught. Know that it shall bring forth a new era — An infernal Era.
"For we are the Infernal Guild. Long may the Infernal reign!"
"And, to our planted agents, it is now time," came the High level legendary ranked demon masked individual. "Arise. Join your brothers and sisters in the dawning slaughter of your former associates."
Almost immediately, a number of cultivators ascended to the skies, devious expressions overtaking their faces and their auras exploding high with infernal energy. They began attacking their own fellow students, slaughtering their brethren in droves.
And, while Corven was still mentally processing everything, he watched in dawning horror as Eugene – one of the top three strongest students on campus — and a large number of other Infernis Faction students as well as students from the Heavenly Faction turned on their fellow man and began their slaughter of students. Within mere moments, the kill count had boltshot itself into 30 kills from Eugene Vexx alone.
And the worst part? Things were only just getting started.
"Well, shit," Corven thought, aloud. "You have got to be fucking kidding me."
Meanwhile, back on campus of Mythorus Academy, in the medical bay, a mid-level Legendary ranked shadow radiating demonic energy crept towards a slumbering Cimon Morpheus's medical bed…