She had manifested her true physical body, her skin glowing against the dark sky. She floated between Li Yu and the descending hand.

  Li Yu stood frozen. ‘Was she... betraying him? Returning to her kind now that the Demon Lord was here? He probably has the means to break soul contracts…’ Li Yu thought but just as quickly…

  "Please stop, Lord!" Vespera yelled. "Lord Balor! Stay your hand!"

  The massive hand stopped. The wind pressure alone flattened the remaining structures of the fortress. It still devastated the entire area.

  The Demon Lord, Balor, leaned forward. His white hot eyes narrowed.

  "A Charm Demon?" Balor rumbled. "You carry the scent of the Royal Lineage. Vespera?"

  "It is I," Vespera said while bowing deeply in the air. Her voice was trembling. "Daughter of the Night Queen. I have secured this sector as planned!"

  She gestured frantically to Li Yu.

  "This human... he is my host! My vessel! I have spent months preparing him! He is the key to the infiltration of the human command structure!"

  "Do not destroy him, Lord Balor." Vespera pleaded. "He is a body of immense potential. If you kill him, you destroy my work and my vessel."

  Balor paused. The head tilted.

  "Was this the vassal that you captured after coming here?" Balor mused.

  "Yes, Lord." Vespera said. "He is under my control and charms. Look at him. He stands still because I command it."

  Balor opened his spiritual sense.

  A wave of psychic pressure, thick and invasive, washed over them. It was like being submerged in boiling oil. Balor probed Li Yu first.

  He hit a wall. Li Yu’s soul was obscured by a strange grey fog. Balor frowned. He couldn't see the depth of this human. It was like looking into a clouded mirror. This was unexpected and extremely strange.

  So he turned his gaze to Vespera. There was no fog there.

  At his level, he saw her soul clearly. He saw the binding marks. He saw the chains wrapped around her very essence.

  The Demon Lord’s expression didn't change but the air grew infinitely heavier.

  "You lie," Balor stated calmly.

  "Lord, I—"

  "You are bound to him." Balor said. "You are nothing more than a slave. You have disgraced your blood."

  Snap.

  Balor didn't use a technique. He just flicked a finger of his lower right arm. It was faster than thought.

  Li Yu didn't even see it move.

  Crack.

  Vespera screamed. The invisible energy from the flick hit her mid-air. It shattered her left arm and tore her left leg clean off her physical body. But the physical damage was secondary. The strike carried a Law of Ruin that drove straight into her source.

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  Her soul was scarred. A jagged, burning wound ripped across her essence.

  Vespera was flung backward and crashed into Li Yu. They both tumbled across the melted pavement.

  "Vespera," Balor thundered. "I do not kill you only out of respect for your mother. She is a useful ally."

  He raised his foot, a massive hoof, over them.

  "But if you stand with vermin, you will be crushed with vermin. If you can still step aside after that attack, I will let you live. That is as much respect as I can give in accordance to your mother."

  Li Yu held Vespera. She was critically injured. Her physical form flickering like a dying candle. The scar on her soul was leaking precious essence.

  She looked up at him. Her black eyes filled with pain and fear.

  "I tried," she whispered as she was coughing up silver blood. "Li Yu... I tried."

  Li Yu felt a surge of emotion he hadn't expected.

  She didn't have to do that. The contract prevented her from harming him but it didn't force her to jump in front of the blow. It didn't force her to lie to a Demon Lord. She had risked her existence for him.

  He pulled her into his embrace.

  Absorb.

  He drew her broken form back into his Ocean of Qi.

  Inside the Ocean of Qi, Vespera materialized on her island. She was already collapsed in the ruins of her villa. Her spiritual body mirrored the damage of her physical one but was even more severe. Her subjects went to her immediately and began channeling their soul power into her. To try to stabilize her condition.

  The sky turned gold.

  The Koi descended. It opened its mouth and breathed a stream of vitality onto the dying demon. The Fisherman on the nearby island stood up. He waved his hand. The crushing pressure of the injury on her body vanished and was replaced by a soothing calm.

  The scar on Vespera's soul stopped bleeding. The burning Law of Ruin was neutralized by the Fisherman. She wasn't healed though. They had only stopped the damage. It would take time and resources for her injuries to heal. Her physical body would need special pills to heal the arm and leg as well.

  In the physical world, Li Yu stood up. He was all alone. He was furious but half of that fury was directed at himself. His own powerlessness!

  Above him the massive hoof of General Balor was descending. The shadow consumed him. Li Yu gripped his staff. He knew it was futile. He knew he couldn't stop this. But he wouldn't die on his knees.

  "Come on then you ugly thing!" Li Yu roared as his aura surged to its max. The hoof was just moments away.

  BOOM.

  The sky broke. It wasn't the Rift. It was the atmosphere of the world itself screaming in protest.

  Three immense presences forced their way into reality at the exact same moment. They didn't arrive one by one. They arrived as a trinity, as if they had been waiting for this to occur.

  A beam of black light slammed into the side of Balor’s hoof and knocked the massive limb off course.

  Crash.

  The hoof slammed into the ground to Li Yu’s left. It sent a shockwave that threw him into the air. He rolled, recovered his footing and looked up.

  The pressure of the Demon Lord vanished and was replaced by three distinct, overwhelming auras that felt ancient and terrestrial. He had felt these auras before.

  From the clouds to Li Yu’s right a mountain descended. It was the Black Tortoise.

  Coiled around the mountainous body was a Great Black Watery Serpent. Its scales glistened like wet oil. The serpent’s head rested near the tortoise's, their twin gazes radiating an aura of absolute defense and the unplumbed depths of the ocean.

  From another direction the temperature plummeted. The Abyssal Leviathan snaked through the air as if it were swimming in water.

  And from another direction came the sound of judgement.

  Kra-koom.

  A colossal Thunderbird tore through the clouds. Its cry was the sound of a thunderclap that shook the very defensive line and shattered what was left of the stone of the fortress walls.

  The Three Guardian Beasts of the World had arrived.

  Demon Lord Balor stepped back, his four arms raising in a defensive posture. For the first time, the arrogance in his white hot eyes was replaced by caution.

  "Guardians. Weak pathetic fools that follow a master that is no more." Balor hissed at them. His voice vibrated with hate.

  The Black Serpent coiled around the Tortoise hissed back. It sounded like a tsunami crashing against a cliff.

  The Leviathan circled around and was preparing for a fight. The Thunderbird hovered above with its lightning locking onto Balor’s head.