Skyfire Avenue

Moments after Monarch’s avatar realized something was amiss, a hailstorm of light descended on its absent companion. Before the beast could react, one of its allies was gone.

In the moments after the strongest of the avatars broke encirclement, its three companions also sought to follow. The first two succeeded, but the third was cut off by two searing lights that blocked its escape.

The first was turquoise – Ultus, the greatest of godblades. It was joined by the white and murderous blaze of Occisus. They were wielded by the Harbinger Faerie and the Peerless Light Emperor of Middle Heaven. What chance did this single Nirvana-level creature have?

The two columns of light closed out a vast swath of area. Next the almost pitiful beast was put down by the collective ire of the Paragons. None of the humans in that crowd had achieved Nirvana, but they were Paragons nonetheless! What’s more, the deadly power wielded by Lan Qing and the Pharmacist was no less than a Nirvana-level warrior.

Beneath the hail of protogenia, assailed by the cutting power of Ultus and Occisus murderous will, the monster could only watch death come. It took no longer than a single breath and one of the alien elite was torn to pieces. Its vital crystal was extricated and captured.

Ten seconds had passed since Lan Qing joined in their battle. Already one Nirvana-level monster was dead. Could the addition of a single Paragon really make such a dramatic difference? The answer, of course, was no. The difference was tactics.

Monarch’s Infinite-level avatar watched the scene unfold. It wanted to flee, but the will of Monarch was steadfast. Desperate for the sword, the distant home world forced its representative on, charging at Lan Qing.

Radiant golden-purple light burned around it. The beast was ready to risk its life for the cause, for recovering Ultus was worth all they’d lost and more. Its task would be complete.

But once the Paragons destroyed the avatar they scattered like leaves on an autumn wind. They fled in all different directions. On a planet their choices were limited, but out here in space they were given free range. The remaining three were each mighty in their own right, but in the end were but three against many. They were limited in the area they could cover.

Lan Qing made his way toward Lan Jue and Zhou Qianlin. The Pharmacist chose a path that brought her toward the Violet Prince and Luo Xianni. The remaining Paragons had no readily discernible target.

Monarch’s avatar stuck to Lan Qing without thought. Its dogged pursuit for Ultus was an obsession.

Lan Qing arrived at La Jue’s side quickly, his brother’s Boundless Starlight Domain opened to let him in. In a blink of pink light the Pharmacist also appeared. She’d raced toward Luo Xianni and right into a portal of her making that conveyed the Harbinger Faerie here.

Turquoise, white, red and blue; incisive, savage, controlling and nimble. The four Banishing Blades were raised in unison. Each of them gleamed their tell-tale light and as they turned upon the three headed six armed abomination, the monster felt as though its soul was being torn asunder.

Lan Qing was only a Reflection of Heaven and Earth. However his appearance on the field was more than just the addition of another Paragon, he brought with him the final piece of the Banishing Blades.

Back on Middle Heaven the four weapons were gathered, but Ultus did not have a living master. Even then the power they released shocked the whole fleet. Now the swords and their bearers were together to create a cacophonous rhapsody, calling forth tremendous power and supplementing one another’s strength.

This was not the Banishing Strategy, but a glimpse of what it could achieve. When these godblades were together the pillars of heaven shook and its denizens reduced to bones. This was not the Banishing Strategy, but they were frightening enough as it was.

For the first time the alien avatars could see what the blades were capable of. Time slowed to an ominous crawl as the hydra watched Lan Qing, Lan Jue, the Pharmacist, and Zhou Qianlin point at it with their swords. Pressure mounted as the lights collected at their tips.

Run! It was the only thought in the monster’s brain. It had to protect its life if it wanted to get those swords. This logic seemed to agree with it and the alien lurched backward to flee – anything to get out of the blades’ path.

Much to the monster’s surprise it felt freed. The Boundless Starlight Domain and the ethereal lightning that had weakened it were gone. All the tension vanished and suddenly it was filled with a sense of comfort and confidence. Risking a moment to turn back and look, it saw that the swords’ lights had turned away. Captus’ red glare led them in an entirely different direction.

Captus’ power was turned through the power of Taiji’s Deflect and Punch technique. Its altered course brought the others in tow toward a new target – Monarch’s strongest avatar.

At Infinite-level the avatar was superior to its fellows. It was faster as well as stronger, and had reacted before any of the others in its pursuit of Lan Qing. The two remaining Nirvana-level companions were yet to catch up. As such this single avatar was forced to stand alone against the Middle Heaven Great Emperor of the North Pole Star of Purple Subtlety, The Queen of Heaven Guanyin, the Harbinger Faerie and the Peerless Light Emperor of Middle Heaven.

They were the apex of humanity’s next generation, wielding the power of the Banishing Blades. In addition Lan Jue and Qianlin had already achieved Nirvana. The Violet Prince would struggle against the two of them. This avatar was racing headlong toward four.

As the four beams of light carved a path, Lan Jue and Qianlin’s attack combined. The brilliant light of the Harmonious Swords created a rainbow of light pointed at the chest of the avatar. The power of Ultus and Occisus passed on either side.

Lan Jue was shocked to find another secret revealed as they launched their attack. Working in unison something new appeared within each of them, something bestowed by the swords. It felt like an invisible vein connecting him to Captus. It created a network spreading through his entire body, guiding his energy and protogenia through the channels.

The sparkling light of the Harmonious Swords vanished as Captus became red once more. But this time it was different, for the blades’ red glow was strange and profound. It was as though the sword itself was the border of a thousand fissures in space-time. Layer upon layer of dimensional collapse was contained within, like a portal to the depths of reality.

His was not the only weapon to change. Qianlin sensed it too as their link broke and Demortus’ blue light burst forth. Its diffused capacity coalesced into a single beam that stuck close to the light of Captus. Meanwhile the deep red trench it carved in space spat out errant gusts of power. These rings were like the event horizons of black holes, cast out in all directions.

Ultus and Occisus were slower, but only slightly. A murderous sense pervaded the air as Occisus’ itself became a gust of sword qi. It slipped into the guiding ray of Captus and was quickly spat out. Manifestations of Occisus’ power were different from those of Demortus. It made the whirling bands that were cast out all the more lethal. The Pharmacist’s Slaughter Discipline empowered the combined attack even further. The power Lan Jue sensed surpassed almost anything he’d felt before. Only Monarch’s avatar, encountered on the home world itself, was stronger.

The last to add its might was Ultus, delivered in several shafts of turquoise light. As it poured into the path cut by Captus it became a protective screen around Demortus’ orbs, a shell of impossibly sharp power.

The four Banishing Blades... combined?

All four of them had the same thought. It felt as though the swords they bore were an inseparable part of themselves, an extension of their meridians. More than that, they were extensions of each other.