Though the hawk crashed into the Sage and did very little.
A follow-up slash from Red Faith’s claws breached the gap in Eithan’s armor and split open the skin of his chest. Only Eithan’s reflexes kept that from including his rib cage.
He Forged his armor again and continued adding another star to the crown over his head. When the Hollow King’s Crown was complete, he would have a further weapon against the Sage.
But he was exhausted and bleeding, while the Sage looked fresh as a…well, the Sage always somewhat resembled a skeleton with skin, but he was uninjured.
Despite the best efforts of Eithan’s scissors.
“You know I’m not going to kill the children myself,” the Blood Sage said. “You will have worked that out because I transported them here instead of killing them on the rooftop.”
“Unless my children beat yours,” Eithan pointed out. “You’re here in case something goes wrong.”
“That isn’t what’s happening.”
That was true.
Other than the Overlord Eithan had ruined with so much spiritual damage that even his Remnant had been destroyed, there were no deaths on the Blood Sage’s team.
All the blood drawn had been on Eithan’s side.
Then Eithan saw something behind him. A flare of blue. The Blood Sage sensed it at the same time he did, but Eithan was closer.
Someone was trying to drill through.
And Eithan knew who.
As the Blood Sage tried to force the rift shut, Eithan joined his will to Lindon’s.
The hole in space tore open.
From the roof of the Sky’s Edge fortress, Lindon suddenly stumbled into a wide, dusty basement.
It was filled with chaotic clashes of spirit, and Lindon didn’t feel like he had gone through a portal. It felt like he alone had been drawn through.
Sure enough, there was no portal behind him. No exit.
And the Blood Sage was standing opposite a bleeding, grinning Eithan. Who was an Archlord.
Somehow, that was the least surprising part of all this.
Lindon cycled his madra to its limit and focused on the Blood Sage, but when he leaped, Eithan struck at him with his scissors.
The scissors inflated to ten times their size, trailing gray mist that felt almost like destruction aura.
The Sage flipped to avoid the attack, launching a Striker technique as he did, but Eithan swept it aside with the Hollow King’s Mantle.
“Stop,” the Blood Sage commanded, and Lindon froze.
For a moment. Then Eithan threw a Hollow Spear at the Sage, who took a glancing blow. His concentration had been shaken enough that Lindon could push his way free.
And up the stairs.
He could tell what was going on, and Eithan could take care of himself.
“Good work!” Eithan called. “I’ll just—”
His voice was cut off by an explosion of madra, but Lindon was already dashing upstairs.
There was a body on the stairs. Akura Courage, his swords spilled around him and mouth open in surprise.
A black-and-silver Remnant lurked on the next stair, staring at Lindon with wide, accusing eyes, but Lindon didn’t stop for it.
Lindon dashed past the spirit and into the wide, open room at the top of the staircase. There was more abandoned furniture here, covered in dust and many hidden behind sheets. The air was thick with dust, and most of the furniture had been crushed.
A Seishen Kingdom Underlord that Lindon had never seen before lay in several pieces on the floor, blood soaking the floor. His face was twisted around to face upward. A dead gray Remnant slowly dissolved around him.
Naru Saeya landed on the corpse, rolling over it, and she was so covered in injuries that Lindon couldn’t tell how much of the blood was hers and how much came from the corpse.
He ran over to her, sweeping his spiritual perception through her. She choked out a word, but he couldn’t tell what it was.
[She’ll live,] Dross said. [At least, I think she will. But we have a slightly bigger problem.]
Lindon knew what he was referring to.
The man who had beaten everyone on this floor was there with one eye in his mask glowing, pulling together shards of stone with earth madra into a destructive ball between his palms. He was preparing his technique to finish off Naru Saeya, and he wouldn’t mind if Lindon was caught up in it.
Brother Aekin, Uncrowned of Abyssal Palace, launched his Striker technique.
[Yes sir, our slightly bigger problem is waiting upstairs.]
Lindon had trained against Brother Aekin’s projection seventy-five times.
Information requested: destroying Brother Aekin in as little time as possible.
Beginning report…
In the blue light of the Hollow Domain, Brother Aekin’s technique falls apart. The Ruler component continues for a moment, spraying Lindon with pebbles.
Lindon dashes up with the Soul Cloak, carrying the Hollow Domain in an orb around him. When he gets close enough, even Aekin’s Enforcer technique falters.
They clash hand-to-hand for a moment, but Aekin is no match for Lindon.
Lindon drops his Hollow Domain and drives dragon’s breath through the cultist’s chest, continuing up the stairs at a sprint.
Report complete.
As Lindon saw the report, he acted.
Aekin was dead in seconds.
It was strangely easy to switch from pure madra to Blackflame and back. Easier than it ever had been before, as though he no longer had to cycle differently. As though the madra obeyed him directly.
That was a thought for later.
He intended to turn around and annihilate the Remnant with another Striker technique, but he saw something around the bear-like yellow monster that rose from Aekin’s body: a white ring.
Lindon stopped and ran back, grabbing the ring with his Remnant arm. It was hard to separate, but with a little touch of the Consume technique, he sucked away a measure of the Remnant’s strength.
The ring came off, and Lindon casually annihilated the spirit before examining the ring.
It unfolded into a white crown.
Lindon would love to examine the Broken Crown construct closer, but Overlords were clashing upstairs, so he opened his void key and tossed the Divine Treasure inside, summoning his flying sword as he did so.
Then he ran upwards.
He felt the situation before he saw it. Calan Archer’s dragon was feeding on a crackling purple lightning spirit. Akura Douji’s Remnant.
Another dead member of Lindon’s team.
The dragon was growing fat, but Calan had sensed Lindon coming. His seven Jadeclaw Rings were arranged in the sky above him, and the muscular blond man waited for Lindon with a stony expression. As soon as Lindon appeared at the top of the stairs, blue-gold light rained down, the storm dragon turned on him, and Calan Archer’s rings swarmed him.
Lindon had trained against Calan Archer’s projection thirty-eight times.
With a generous portion of soulfire, the Hollow Domain wiped everything out.
Wavedancer soared out from behind Lindon. Before Calan Archer recovered from his astonishment, the flying sword had pierced him all the way through.
He looked down at himself, eyes wide in surprise, but Lindon didn’t have time to waste waiting on a Remnant.
He seized the top of Calan’s head in his right hand, Consuming his power.
Energy flooded into Lindon, and he sorted it with the Heart of Twin Stars. Most he vented, some he added back to his pure core, and the rest went into his body. It wasn’t much to him now, but every bit helped. This was like receiving a little jolt of energy that fought his exhaustion.
Dross held onto any memories, but Lindon wrestled down Calan’s remaining willpower. He received one brief impression of Calan’s last moments.
He’d sensed the Hollow Domain. To him, it had felt like absolute emptiness. Like the death of the spirit.
In his case, he was correct.