Defiance of the Fall

Chapter 911: Crooked Schemes

Nothing was ever easy in the Multiverse, at least not for those without strength or backing. And in a chaotic scene like the one they found themselves in, Zac wasn’t surprised to hear there were some roadblocks to Billy’s ambitious plan.“What will happen when this array is turned on?” Zac asked Billy, who clearly wasn’t keeping up with the conversation.

“Ah,” Billy hesitated. “Gemmy will come with Billy and leave?”

“It’s not quite that easy,” Leyara added from the side. “This array will break off most of the mass of this Mystic Realm before forming a true subspace that will be stored inside the Realm Spirit’s avatar. We would stay inside, but the controller could simply take us out like it was a Spatial Treasure.”

“What!” Vai exclaimed as she looked down at the array. “How is that possible? The energy consumption alone…”

“It normally wouldn’t be possible without an extremely powerful energy source, but we have a unique advantage; a sapient World Spirit who is willing to fuel the process. I doubt even my master could accomplish this without Gemmy’s aid,” Leyara said as she nodded at Billy. “Of course, I can neither confirm nor deny any of this - this array is far beyond my understanding. We are only drawing it according to King Billy’s specifications.”

“So, what’s the problem?”

“First of all, we’re cutting it extremely close,” Pretty said. “Those people outside have figured out we can’t replenish our energy, so they are content with gradually whittling us down. Now, it looks even worse, unless the two of you are skilled at formations and energy control?”

“Uh,” Zac said while Ogras studiously looked away.

“Thought as much,” Pretty snorted.

“Can’t we just go out and slow them down?” Zac asked.

“That was our plan in case things started to go south,” Pretty nodded. “We have simply waited since the Templar Hegemons are needed to draw the most complicated pathways. Apart from them, only Leyara can do it. But with Senior Lioress and you two here, we finally have the opportunity to strike back.”

Zac blanked out for a second, wondering if the Void Priestess had appeared as well. A second later, Zac realized Pretty was talking about Vai when she said Senior Lioress. It was easy to forget she was over a thousand years old when she almost looked like a teenager. The little re

“Aren’t you supposed to be a big shot with a wealthy master? Surely you have something better?” Ogras asked.

“Even if my master had better items, what good does it do me?” Leyara said with a roll of her eyes. “I’m just Peak E-grade; how am I supposed to activate a treasure that can blast us straight through dozens of spatial layers? These anchors are as good as they get for an E-grade cultivator.”

Zac nodded in agreement. Even his [Flashfire Flourish] wouldn’t manage to cross such a vast distance. But thinking of his escape item, a plan slowly started to form in Zac’s mind.

“One of the anchors would go to the assault group who dealt with the tainted energy,” Leyara continued. “The moment this realm collapsed, they would use the anchor to get dragged back outside. The other would go to Billy.”

“To Billy?” Zac said curiously.

“If everything worked out, Gemmy should be able to send Billy outside into the Void as well, where he could activate the treasure and take Gemmy with him. Once outside the Void Star, he could extract us and send in our armies to deal with any remnant infiltrators.”

“This is not just about us either,” Pretty added with determination. “We cannot just flee and leave these people to their own devices. Even if we fail, we must drag them with us down to the underworld. We cannot let them seize the Stellar Ladder.”

“Are you crazy?” Ogras said with raised brows.

“War will always have sacrifices,” Pretty shrugged. “If they seize this springboard into Zecia, we’re done for when the real powerhouses arrive. Trading a few juniors, even talented ones, for the safety of the whole sector is a no-brainer. We cannot let them get their hands on this realm.”

“That’s not the only thing we can’t let them get their hands on,” Ogras added with a low voice to Zac.

Zac slowly nodded in agreement as he looked down at the huge array. After reading the lipless Hegemon’s reports, they had initially thought there were more pieces of rubble hidden in the ruins of the Ra’Lashar Kingdom. But what if that wasn’t it? What if the Kan’Tanu were actually aiming for the source – the Lost Plane?

The Lipless Cultivator had mentioned selling him off to some powerful faction. Was this their plan? To mine and extract opportunities and sell to powerful bidders. And with a prize like Ultom and the Left Imperial Palace, there would be no shortage of powerful factions willing to buy in. The whole sector might be crawling with powerful forces from the Multiverse Heartlands if the pathway to the Lost Plane wasn’t closed.

The demon had evidently arrived at the same conclusion, and there was genuine fear on his face.

“We cannot let them continue,” Zac agreed. “Otherwise, the invasion will become the least of our worries.”

“Fate is gathering,” Leyara sighed.

“I hate this,” Pretty spat to the side. “You two clearly know something, and so does the Void Gate. Even the invaders know, while Zecia fumbles in the dark. What the hell is going on? It’s related to these, isn’t it?”

Zac looked on as Pretty took out a familiar piece of cloth next – the ones all the infiltrators carried around. Zac glanced at Leyara, who looked a bit conflicted. The scene was a bit odd. Leyara knew, but Pretty didn’t? Ogras looked inquisitively at Zac, who didn’t know what to say either.

He didn’t have any reason to distrust Pretty Peak, but he adamantly believed that the fewer people knew the truth, the better. What if she reported back to her elders, who then forwarded it to the leaders of the Allbright Empire?

Only one person with loose lips was needed to create a disaster. The Kan’Tanu seemed to be the same. The lowest members only knew to look for the sigils, while a few others, like the Lipless Hegemon, knew a few more details. But Zac doubted that Aural Cultivator knew anything concrete except that his mission was related to an opportunity the Kan’Tanu were planning to sell.

Even then, they were playing a dangerous game, to the point Zac suspected they had something to rely on. Otherwise, why wouldn’t the powerful factions just annihilate the Kan’Tanu instead of bartering with them?

“I don’t know all the details either,” Zac eventually said, which got him an exaggerated eye-roll from Pretty Peak. “Suffice to say, the Kan’Tanu are looking for something, and it’ll be bad if they find it.”

“Whatever,” Pretty shrugged. “Keep it to yourselves. The truth will come out sooner or later with so many people involved. And you better pray that your secrecy won’t harm the war efforts.”

“Since when were cultivators required to share their secrets? Hoarding resources and intelligence is Heaven’s Path,” Ogras grinned. “I doubt your esteemed factions are handing out cultivation resources and manuals left and right even when barbarians are knocking at the gate.”

“Alright, that’s enough,” Zac sighed. “I have an escape treasure that can probably send me all the way to the Ra’Lashar Kingdom in one go, but I’m not sure how well I can steer it. I should manage to land within a few days’ travel, though, and it won’t waste any of Gemmy’s energy.”

This was the idea Zac had come up with when discussing the escape anchors. He didn’t relish the thought of storming an infiltrator base to blow up a dimensional portal somehow, but it definitely beat their original scheme. The less energy Gemmy was forced to use, the longer they would be able to maintain the shields and work on the array. And while it was dangerous, it beat sitting around in this failing barrier, hoping for the best.

“Really?” Leyara said as her eyes lit up. “It should work. You’d have to teleport from outside the barrier, though. Maybe use it during a raid?”

“The Kan’Tanu have locked down space as well,” Pretty said from the side. “You would have to properly break out of the encirclement to avoid any mishaps.”

“We’ll figure something out,” Zac nodded as he glanced at Ogras.

“Good luck,” the demon said while giving a thumbs up. “I’ll be rooting for you.”

“What are you talking about?” Zac smiled. “Obviously, you’re coming with me.”

Ogras only scoffed in return, but his eyes slowly thinned when he realized Zac was serious. “You’re joking.”

“Like you said, you’ve been there for almost a year. And you even have a ghost guide to help us out,” Zac shrugged. “You obviously have to come.”

“That was why Billy opened the path for Horny guy,” Billy nodded as he glared at Ogras. “If Horny Guy doesn’t go, Gemmy will throw him out again.”

“Bah, fine,” Ogras swore. “I guess the safest place is by your side anyway. If we fall into the Void, perhaps some beauties in a Cosmic Vessel will come to pick us up.”

“Perhaps,” Zac laughed.

Truthfully, it wasn’t only because of his need for a guide that he wanted Ogras to come with. Another reason was the ruins. Perhaps the Kan’Tanu had already unearthed another set if they were digging into the Lost Plane. And if either of them managed to get another piece, it might trigger a second pillar and drain this world of more tainted energy.

Secondly, it would be good to have the demon by his side if everything fell apart and they needed to escape. Billy would be safe since the plan required him to have one of the escape anchors, while Leyara would no doubt sort out Vai. That left him and Ogras, who would be taken care of as part of the strike group.

This way, they wouldn’t be as reliant on Leyara’s generosity when disaster struck. She clearly didn’t have enough anchors for everyone since the plan was to leave most people inside Gemmy. And it was unreasonable to expect Leyara to save him and Ogras over her own people. After all, they had only met for two short encounters before.

“How many can your escape treasure take?” Pretty asked.

“Not sure,” Zac said. “But probably not too many. One or two maximum. It’s also a bit dangerous to use for non-fire cultivators. It will damage your foundations.”

“Are you trying to get me killed?!” Ogras scowled.

“You’re part shadows, so you should be fine,” Zac nodded.

“One or two?” Pretty frowned. “Is that enough? There should be some powerful enemies guarding that place as well.”

“Our goal isn’t to take them all out but sabotage,” Zac said. “A smaller group might work even better.”

“What do you think?” Pretty said as she turned to Leyara.

“Well, it’s a better plan than we have,” Leyara slowly said. “Besides, we have a few weeks to refine the plan.”

“Alright, I need to rest up a bit after that dash,” Zac said. “We’ll talk later.”

With that, everyone went their way. Leyara and Pretty once more brought Vai away, while Zac headed off with Ogras and Billy. Apparently, they didn’t need to do anything with Gemmy maintaining the barrier. They couldn’t even counter-attack because the barrier was a true spatial divide. Just as the invaders couldn’t attack from the outside, they couldn’t attack from within like you could with a conventional City Defense Array.

Billy was over the moon from hearing that his actions in the Mystic Realm had helped save Earth. However, he was surprisingly ambivalent about there being quite a few statues of him erected across the planet, including one in Port Atwood.

Billy also told him about what had happened since Ogras left, which wasn’t much, really. He had spent most of his time fighting the beast tides or cultivating. Weirdly enough, Billy had occasionally fallen asleep for months at a time while Gemmy guarded his body. Seeing how he cultivated and made breakthroughs in his sleep, Zac guessed his bloodline was related to dreams or dreamworlds.

It wasn’t exactly what Zac expected from a Titanic bloodline. Then again, he knew nothing about real Titans.

With only Earthlings around, and Gemmy who was floating inside a brazier, Zac also told them of what had happened to Earth since they were swallowed by the Dimensional Seed. Billy was a great audience, audibly gasping or boisterously laughing as Zac narrated his exploits from the Big Axe Coliseum to the Twilight Ascent.

The three spent a few hours catching up, with Zac providing some of the delicacies he kept inside his Spatial Ring. Unfortunately, the evening was only a brief respite, with Pretty Peak coming to discuss a surprise raid a few hours later. She wanted to strike while the iron was hot and the outsiders were still a bit disorganized from the spatial mayhem.

“Alright, let’s get to work,” Zac grunted as [Verun’s Bite] appeared in his hand.