"I smell fun," Vesta’s voice fluttered through the air.

Nine glowing white tails behind her gave an air of nobility and ancient sanctity, ruined only by the fiendishness of her expressions.

Ember and Raven wore solemn faces.

And while Zier had a rueful smile, Blaze and Rai seemed to be competing with Vesta’s savage display of teeth and claws.

Sadly for Blaze, an elbow hit him from the side, forcing him out of the thrill and anticipation.

"We’re not here to spill blood for the sake of it."

Ember nodded, agreeing with Raven’s words.

"Don’t be a bore. It might be the last time I can enjoy." Vesta shrugged. Her eyes were darting toward the giant tortoise being pushed back by Kami and one of the 4 Guardians.

"We shouldn’t be too careless," Zier tried to remind her, but his words fell on deaf ears.

While the 6 of them took in the entire situation, Ozul’s focus was on the fissures of space appearing randomly everywhere.

"That’s strange..." Ozul muttered, and a sense of unease took hold.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t waste too much time worrying about the state of the Realm.

On the other side, the Virtues, the Shadows, and the Guardians paused in stunned silence. The presence of the latter two was already unbelievable for some, yet there now stood 6 people exuding an aura no less threatening than them!

Even the Lord of Shadows was taken aback. He stared deeply at Ozul, standing amidst them as if trying to figure out all of his secrets. It was no wonder, he thought, that the kid had offered an alliance and not subordination.

At the same time, a sense of competition took root in his heart. Now more than ever, he thought the possibility of Ozul being the eternal darkness had become likely.

The moment of shock did not last much longer.

"Hurry up," Ozul commanded, realizing that the Realm was on the verge of destruction.

With that, the 6 of them immediately went into action.

Vesta went after Kami and the Guardian, supporting him against the Celestial Tortoise. Ember and Rai both went to support the Shadows against the Guardians, leaving only the trio who stayed with Ozul.

As quickly as Vesta appeared, she transformed into her Beastkin form, becoming taller than most buildings. Still, beside the giant dark beast stomping on the earth, her size was pitiful.

The power behind her claws, however, left no room for Kami to underestimate her.

Ember also transformed into a giant dragon, growing even bigger than Vesta, though her aura fell a little shorter. Only, it was enough to overpower the Guardian when she also had two Shadows who, combined, almost had the same power output.

A few miles away, for the first time, Rai showed his transformation as well, having only recently stepped into the Realm of Empyreans and regaining his true form.

Only his transformation seemed like a partial blend between a hellhound and a man.

The spatial fissures continued to increase. The speed at which they healed soon took over the rate at which they appeared.

Realizing the growing seriousness of the situation, Raven and Zier joined the war as well.

Only Blaze remained by Ozul’s side as they sped in a certain direction, from where the latter could sense the presence of the Lord of Shadows.

The addition of two more individuals at the same power rank only further threw the balance off.

The powerhouses sent by the Heavenly Emperor found themselves on the receiving end of the beating.

Injuries piled up on their bodies, but the destruction of the continent far exceeded their personal loss.

Meanwhile, Ozul finally reached the place used by the Lord of Shadows to spectate the entire battle.

"I must admit, I underestimated you," Yasashii spoke first, his eyes darting toward Blaze, trying to figure out how the young man was able to reinforce their Spiritual pathways.

As far as he knew, the power used by the Celestial Beasts was the only element stable and sturdy enough to reinforce one’s pathways permanently.

And to his knowledge, the four of them had only ever helped him and, previously, the Emperor.

"What do you gain by hiding in here?" Ozul asked, wondering if others were able to figure out the presence of this pocket dimension created amidst their battleground.

...

As their conversation proceeded, the battle between the powerhouses was progressing quickly.

Each attack of theirs was no less than a natural disaster, and worse of all, these ’disasters’ were piling up.

When the hopelessness of the situation finally settled in, Old Gu couldn’t help but reconsider his options.

His resolve was already wavering as he could no longer wait for the Heavenly Emperor.

In the battle between him and the opposing Heavenly Virtue, he had already started to pull back on his punches.

But it came as a surprise to everyone when his limit was finally reached.

At once, he gave up on keeping up the facade.

With a shout, he and the subordinates fighting for him all turned their swords against the people fighting for Yasashii Hito.

Even Old Gu’s enemies couldn’t make sense of his decisions. Switching sides while they had an obvious advantage seemed, at best, absurd and, at worst, plain lunacy.

But the Virtue fighting him had no luxury to question his actions. The fact that they had gained an ally amongst the enemy could only be silently accepted amidst the quickly diverging situation.

On the other hand, when Raven noticed the sudden switch, she smiled darkly.

Finally, there was a chance at revenge against the old man.

Just when everyone thought things couldn’t become any more chaotic, the keen ones noticed yet another variable: a black cat who, despite the heat emitted from the Tortoise’s body, was now brushing her fur against his giant leg.

As her ’meow’ echoed to reach the ears of the Tortoise, he quickly looked down, only to show emotions no one knew the Celestial Beasts were capable of expressing.

Kami and the Guardian found this opportunity to create some distance between them, focusing on keeping Vesta at bay.

Only everyone would occasionally glance to measure the interaction between the Tortoise and the black cat.

"Meow!" Jinx’s voice echoed again.

This time, the Celestial Tortoise showed an expression that they could only assume was frustration.

"They started it first!" his voice bellowed throughout the continent.

"Meow!"

"But-"

"Meow!"

Soon, the Tortoise’s head deflated, and he stopped arguing like a defeated child.

To everyone’s surprise, the giant tortoise and the black cat then proceeded to leave the battlefield through a spatial rift.

No one could make heads or tails of the situation, but everyone knew that the scales had suddenly shifted again. The Celestial Tortoise, who could alone handle two Virtues, had abandoned the battlefield.

The reason he was fighting the battle was revenge, and even that was fulfilled after he had killed one of the assailants.

Once again, the tides were balanced, but with those from the Emperor’s side having suffered more injuries.

Behind the veil, the Lord of Shadows frowned.

The betrayal from Old Gu wasn’t something he had considered in this battle, at least not when things were so much in their favor.

He had always known the distaste Old Gu felt for him, but he didn’t imagine it to be great enough for the man to defy his renowned honor and values.

The betrayal hadn’t even set in yet when the cat appeared out of nowhere and dragged away the Celestial Tortoise like a mother scolding her child for fighting with other children in the backstreets.

From what little information he had on the mysterious black cat, however, he knew that such an incident had also occurred with the other Celestial Beasts.

And one thing common in all those incidents was the presence of the young man before him.

His eyes squinted in suspicion as he asked, "Is that cat with you?"

Ozul shrugged. "She is with me, but she doesn’t listen to me."

"And what is she?"

Ozul eyed him incredulously. His stare seemed to indicate that he was dealing with an old man who was losing touch with reality. Sighing, he nonetheless answered honestly,

"A cat."

Only the Lord of Shadows seemed to think it was a joke. His brows furrowed, but he didn’t press further. There was no other choice but to believe the young man.

Just when Ozul was returning to the battlefield, ready to reap the rewards from this prolonged war, he noticed something that made him fly with haste.

New spatial fissures were forming, but the old ones were not healing anymore!

Even though the Celestial Tortoise had left the Realm, the combined Spiritual Essence emitted by the Virtues, the Shadows, the Guardians, and the Anomalies was still too much.

The Realm had long ago reached its tipping point and had now gone over it.

Other than Ozul, only the Lord of Shadows and the Heavenly Emperor had noticed the oddity.

All three of them realized the seriousness of the situation and began to order their subordinates to retreat immediately.

Only the intensity of the battle delayed any action that could be taken in regards to sudden orders.

Old Gu could only look in severe distress as the climate rapidly shifted, tsunamis took hold of the continent, and while half the land burned, the other half drowned.

Their battle had pushed the Realm Ego beyond its breaking point. The clash of such powerful beings could have only gone on for so long.

In their hubris, they continued to wage war while the Realm bled.

The Realm was dying now and there was no stopping it...