Skyfire Avenue

From the beetle’s perspective, reality collapsed in front of it, creating a powerful vacuum. It immediately reacted by retracting its wings and trying to get free, but the pull was too strong. Its body was surrounded by a crimson light.

The red aura flickered and flared. The alien had no control over itself, and the strange power caused it to pitch wildly from side to side. Lan Jue appeared suddenly on top of it, and as he pressed his hands to its back a dim blue light joined the red. Flecks of silver light hung in an orb around the beast.

There wasn’t a single sound. The beetle writhed and raged until, suddenly, it stopped. It hung limply in the darkness. From start to finish, the exchange had lasted no more than a few seconds. Captus locked it down, Lan Jue’s All-Heaven lightning suppressed it. Together it was enough to overwhelm the beast and knock it out. Perfectly executed.

The alien’s agility was counteracted by Captus’ power, as well as its psychic projection. It couldn’t even call for help.

Wavering blue light brightened the area for a moment as Lan Jue deposited the creature into Thor’s Promise. He waved to the Pharmacist to let her know it was done. He began to head back where they’d come from as a beam of light.

As he headed back to the ship, the Pharmacist was silently impressed with her companion. Lan Jue was no less capable than she was now. It’d take her ten years to reach a level of understanding with Occisus. How long had Lan Jue had his Blade? Yet it seemed there was nothing preventing him from a deeper comprehension of the sword’s power. Part of it was his innate talent, but a fair bit was also hard work and determination.

She opened her mouth and spat forth the seven-star blade. She stood atop it and let the weapon bring her back to Zeus-1.

Their mission had ended, it was time to return and share the story of what had happened. Who knew how much news of this clash would affect the human worlds.

The Pharmacist and Lan Jue raced back side by side. Both of them knew how dangerous it was to stay any longer than they had to.

Suddenly, Lan Jue sensed something and quickly turned toward the Pharmacist by his side. Her reactions were quick, and she turned the blade beneath her feet like a surfboard to change course.

Ting! A pretty crystalline sound arose while simultaneously the universe contracted in upon them. To the humans it felt like an enormous hand caught them in its grip and was trying to squish them into paste.

The Pharmacist’s eyes flashed, and the sword beneath her feet erupted into a hundred thousand cutting lights. They blasted out from her in all directions. Lan Jue proceeded to swing his arms around in a circle, and the black-white power of Taiji appeared before him. Crackling sky-blue manifestations of All-Heaven lightning roiled within.

A strange and disconcerting dizziness swept passed, like the universe was rotating on an invisible axis. It cut Lan Jue and the Pharmacist off from the crushing pressure.

A violet figure appeared in space before them.

When they saw her, the expression on Lan Jue and the Pharmacist’s faces fell. They knew who she was, a familiar face they’d encountered several times before. The Violet Princess.

Jue Di had told Lan Jue that the Princess was a part of the Infinite, just as he was. She was new to the level of power, but nonetheless was even more powerful than Luo Xianni. Lan Jue and the Pharmacist weren’t even Paragons yet. One could imagine their trepidation.

The universe had been painted violet. Although Lan Jue had managed to separate them from the Princess’ power, they were still trapped.

Two swords descended from the darkness of space, one red and one white. Their light was cast upon the two humans; Captus and Occisus, respectfully.

IT was clear the Violet Princess had been ready to attack, but when the swords appeared and she felt their aura it gave her pause. Fear painted her eyes.

Lan Jue’s greatest worry had been realized. He thought he was quick, but clearly the Princess was quicker.

“I felt you long ago but I couldn’t tell precisely where. I didn’t think you would deliver yourself to me. Come, let’s return.” The Violet Princess spoke calmly, and her eyes never left Lan Jue.

Lan Jue looked defeated. “Violet Princess!” This was clearly not his day. The Wine Master couldn’t sense them here, but even if he could it was hopeless. Even together they were no match for this creature! What’s more they were far too close to the planets, and even if they didn’t get involved the Violet Prince was not far away.

“Let her go. I’ll go back with you.” Lan Jue spoke softly, like he was narrating someone else’s misfortune.

A light flashed in the monster’s eyes. “Why should I? You both can come with me. She is also suitable for mating and giving birth to the next generation!”

The Pharmacist’s pupils contracted to two angry black dots. She looked back at the Princess with a terribly cold glare.

“Answer my question. Many years ago there was a man who bore a sword like ours. You captured him. Does he still live?” The Pharmacist’s words were chilly and firm. They had no way of learning what went on inside those planets, but there was a chance they could learn something from the Princess herself.

The alien leader paused, and she looked at the human woman with a deep curiosity. Then her attention turned to the weapon suspended by her side, and for a moment she looked like she recognized it. “That human? He refused to couple with our Queen and took his own life. Our Queen felt it was a terrible waste. He would have given her very powerful offspring.”

Took his own life!

When she heard the words, the Pharmacist felt like she was frozen solid. Tears welled up in her eyes. Scenes of the past raced through her mind, days when they were young and growing up together. He’d been older than she was and carried her on his back to go play. They studied together, trained together, pushing one another to be better. They’d been together when the trove of Celestial Master Qian’s teachings had been uncovered. They were together when they obtained the Banishing Blades.

As time went on they had a child together. Shortly after he left on that fateful mission and never returned. At the time he was a rising star in the Eastern army, a future Paragon! He was supposed to get a promotion to general when he got back.

At the time he had been praised as a contemporary to the An Lun super soldier – no less talented and capable. Together they were the bright future of the Eastern military. He had even more potential than Lan Qing.

He had been a man of integrity, and gentle as water to her. A perfect man, a perfect husband. Just when she thought he’d make a perfect father, he vanished. All of that was gone now, as she finally learned of her partner’s fate.

Her body began to sway, as did the sword beside her. A stifling, murderous aura bloomed from Occisus. It poured with a blinding light that made the violet realm around them begin to crack. Even the Princess’ powers didn’t seem capable of restricting this unparalleled bloodlust.

The Pharmacist’s eyes had turned crimson and waves of power from her flooded the area – more than ever before. A wave of sword light cut right through the Violet Princess’ Domain.

The creature stood in shock, frightened of the power Occisus and Captus bore. When the savage force of Occisus was released that fear grew, freezing her in place.

Mystical lotuses appeared in tiered layers around the Pharmacist, each one white as polished jade. Set against her beautiful figure she looked like an immortal returned to the universe.

Occisus – the deadliest of the Banishing Blades – blazed as though it were on fire. Beams of white light issued from it and poured into the Pharmacist, pushing her daunting aura to even greater heights. Meanwhile the surreal lotus flowers spread out around her, and though they were beautiful to behold their deadly sharp power was palpable.

Domain... this was her Domain.

Lan Jue knew what was happening, but how? Breaking through and immediately summoning one’s Domain? This was true talent!

Like him, the Pharmacist had been constraining her powers, delaying her breakthrough for the chance to advance farther with time. But facing the Princess and hearing of her lover’s fate caused her brutality to explode beyond her control. It awakened the blade, and the two together joined as one terrible presence, thrusting her into the realm of the Paragons and calling forth her Domain.

It had been Occisus’ hidden dangers that made her most reticent to breaking through. She and her husband had been hasty, and joined with the Banishing blades before they were ready. They were scoured by the limitless power of the weapons. She feared these dangers would impede her progress when becoming a Paragon.

This was not a problem for Lan Jue. This was due to the fact that Captus’ sword spirit was strong, as was Lan Jue at the time of joining. With a good foundation and the help of the thunder essence’s immortal qi, he had been able to assimilate the gentler Captus without issue.