Chapter 1004 Fatal
When Alidor saw the placement of the massive crater Madeleine formed, his eyes shone with realization and admiration. Only now did he understand that Dyon hadn't given him command because Madeleine wasn't capable. Instead, he gave him command because he wanted to temper him for the future, slowly weeding out his overly cautious tendencies to make him the most effective commander he could be.
Dyon had placed a strict ban on any of the Demon Generals speaking of Madeleine's past as a Sapientia because of the trouble it could cause. But, at this moment, Alidor couldn't help but remember that Madeleine wasn't just a pretty face, there was a good argument to be made that she was far more intelligent than even he.
Almost on cue, the rumbling sounds of a third approaching filled the battlefield. However, it wasn't long before they noticed that their advancement forward had been completely cut off by a massive crater.
If it was a normal crater, there would be a problem. After all, even the weakest warriors here were essence gatherers, they could fly. The problem was that the ground beneath the Purple Flame Tower wasn't normal. Beneath its surface was a reserve of a poison abyssal core that could kill even the strongest amongst them here!
With Madeleine's attack, a dam had been broken and a geyser of poison fog erupted into the skies.
While the Flaming Lily Sect army was still immune to this level of poison gas, it had to be remembered that the defending army wasn't. Their advantage wasn't that the poison wouldn't effect them, but rather it would be easier for them to deal with. However, with Clara's pills, this advantage had been completely destroyed.
Now, the third army approaching from the Epistemic Tower's direction had ugly expressions on their faces as the saw the wall of purple, greens and disgusting browns before them. Even if they were tens of times braver, they wouldn't dare to cross. Only their strongest geniuses could, but then wouldn't their three-pronged pincer attack fall flat here?
'It's time Delia, go!'
The black dressed Delia immediately gripped her sword and charged forward, not toward the geyser, but toward the tower!
In the distance, above the third approaching army, the first ranked disciples of the Flame Rebirth and Fiery Lotus Sect dove forward with ugly expressions. They had no time to worry about Delia's actions because they had to save their ranked disciples!
While everyone's eyes were focused on the geyser, they had completely forgotten about the four geniuses buried underneath, taking the full brunt of the poison directly.
Egan Goldeen grit his teeth. Was he really going to fail like this?
"No!" Egan raged. "Apprentice Brother Gaea, Apprentice Sister Vermillion, with me!"
The two first ranked disciples looked at each other with complicated expressions, each with their two juniors in their arms.
Vale looked up, averting his gaze to see his little brother Gale still fighting in the skies against Arios. He could see that it was only a matter of time before he lost, in fact, it was fairly clear by now that Arios was just stalling for time. Although he wasn't powerful enough to defeat Gale outright, he definitely had the upper hand.
Rina Vermillion followed Vale's gaze to see yet another one of her juniors of the verge of losing.
At this point, what other choice did they have but to fight?
Their eyes reddened with rage. In all likelihood, the four geniuses that fought Madeleine would die, and even if they didn't, their talent would definitely be crippled.
"You've gone too far!" They roared into the skies.
Madeleine didn't bother to respond. How many of her fellow apprentice sisters had died because their three sects so shamelessly colluded to wipe them out? Did they deserve to talk about what was too far? Did they deserve to survive simply because they were the geniuses of their sects? These same two couldn't be bothered to care about the normal disciples dying for them even as they spoke, but somehow their third and fourth ranked disciples were worth more? How disgusting.
Seeing that Madeleine disdained to answer them only drew their anger to new heights. As first ranked disciples, even if their sects were below that of Madeleine's, they were still much more powerful than their 3rd and 4th ranked disciples. In fact, they had already stepped into the 12th saint stage, just like Madeleine!
Rina Vermillion brandished a sword that looked to be forged of red gems and pointed it toward Madeleine.
"Do you think that just because you're the first ranked inner disciple of the Flaming Lily Sect that you can look down on us?!"
"No." Madeleine suddenly spoke. "I look down on you because you're shameless."
"YOU –!" Rina roared.
"Do you think that your Flame Rebirth Sect is very clever? That I don't know that you've only joined this war to steal my faith seed and blood essence? And you want to speak of what's too far?"
Rina froze, her words becoming stuck in her throat.
Her body trembled violently, unwilling to accept that she had been seen through so easily. "First disdain… Then slander! What a good Flaming Lily Sect disciple you are. And you wonder why three sects have decided to end your cruel reign?!"
Egan watched on coldly. This is exactly what he needed. He couldn't care less about the optics of the situation, the true King and the writer of history was always the victor. What he needed was for both Rina and Vale to attack with everything they had and support him well without thought of retreat. He needed them to be as invested as he was.
From his perspective, Madeleine revealing this now was quite stupid of her. Now that the Flame Rebirth Sect knew that she was aware of their plans, they couldn't back out no matter what. As for the matter of the Fiery Lotus Sect, they'd have to join out of necessity, because they were already inextricably tied to his Golden Crow Sect!
"I see…" Madeleine spoke. "I wonder how your elder sister feels about the words you just spoke."
Rina's eyes reddened when she heard Madeleine's words. "How dare you!"
"And how about your elder sister?" Madeleine's eyes shifted from Rina to Vale who seemed about to implode himself.
There was hardly an explanation needed for Madeleine's words. Both Vale and Rina's elder sisters were taken and married into the Goldeen family through the top core disciple and key wielder of Golden Crow Sect. However, this in itself wasn't the story.
Although there was no solid evidence found, it was almost certain that both elder sisters were raped against their wills. Because of the conservative views of the martial world, their elders felt they had no choice but to accept the marriage proposal of the Goldeens. The problem was that they were slapped in the face in the end… At first, the Goldeens made it seem that it was their intention to allow Sister Vermillion and Sister Gaea to become official wives, but at the very last moment, they were conferred as concubines, disgracing both the Gaea and Vermillion families.
But now, their younger brother and sister stood here speaking of the high moral character of the Golden Crow Sect? Wasn't that too hypocritical? Too disgusting?
Madeleine wasn't one to listen to rumors. However, just a decade or so ago when she was still a top ranked outer disciple of the Flaming Lily Sect, she had witnessed this very same thing almost happen to the former first ranked inner disciple of their sect, and now a member of their core disciples, within the 4th Quadrant's shared Mystical World.
Thanks to Madeleine's supreme law level Celestial Will, she was able to purify her senior sister of the effects of the poison and allow her to fight back against the lackies of God Goldeen who had schemed to take her away.
After that day, she became absolutely certain that the stories were true and she felt even more deeply disgusted by this supposed God Goldeen. He truly brought shame to the title.
Egan smile faded. He hadn't seen things going this way… At this point, he couldn't tell if the two first ranked disciples were more angered by Madeleine or him. After all, God Goldeen was his elder cousin!
The two first ranked disciples grit their teeth.
"You can slander me and even my sect, but not my elder sister!" Vale roared, charging into the skies with Rina on his tail.
By now the 5hr mark that Alidor had set had already passed. In fact, there was only 50 or so minutes until the effects of their pill wore out and their armies had no choice but to fight off the poison with their own energy.
Of course, none of this mattered because as Madeleine had been speaking, the two first ranked disciples along with Egan completely missed a very important point: Delia.
Truth be told, to say they missed it was misleading. It was more accurate to say that they saw and ignored Delia. From their eyes and what they could see of Delia's Presence, she was a mere Duke. In their sects, even their 100th ranked inner disciple was that at a bare minimum. As for their top ten disciples? They were all Kings at worst. How could they be worried about a mere Duke?
However, this would be their fatal mistake. In a battle of this scale, just a single such thing could gain momentum and quickly rolling out of control, starting from a small point until it was towering mountain.