As they were about to leave, the ground split in half with a roar. What looked like hundreds, if not thousands, of undead, though weak, were rushing to their direction, or more, towards the Empire, even when there wasn't a reason it should've been going that way, as if they were guided. An emergency message from the Empire arrived at Tellus.
"There has been a rift that has formed, one that reaches the level of Heavenly Realization. Though these starting enemies are weak, they will become stronger. Hold them off as much as you can before the Military arrives."
Tellus listened to this and nodded, seeing Caelus hear it as well, he only nodded along with her, the other cultivators stopped their fighting to see what was going on, some of them talking amongst each other as they also got messages from whatever place the followed, some from birds in the sky, others from Mana creating a scroll which arrives in their hand.
Going back to Focus on the undead, he watched those closest at Foundation Establishment and at Virtuoso rush over, swinging their hands and blades, and even music flowing through the battlefield. The few with shadowy figures behind them released blasts of Mana. However, their Mana was automatically a darkish purple and maroon. The undead that were hit by it instantly eviscerated, despite the Arcane Path humans doing decent damage to the weaker ones, yet even for this one, they destroyed the undead that were stronger with ease.
Caelus and Tellus rushed forward, and Sol arrived a Minute later alongside Arjuna, who were there to help but not near to both of them. Caelus rushed right, jumped, and fell onto a single skeleton, using it as a launching pad. Caelus thought this would be a good place to use his final attack to help.
Once in the sky, Caelus's staff pointed down, facing farther away so no cultivator actually got it, a flaming arrow, larger and denser than what he used with Sol. "Burning Temptation!" Caelus spoke, a smile on his face as the arrow was sent flying, down. On the other hand, he enhanced it slightly, as if it made it able to do more than just burning and destroying the enemies; no, he had it pull in more undead only, at least those without Mana into it. As it fell, the other Cultivators watched it.
"What the hell is that!?" One spoke, still punching the undead, sending it flying towards the area the arrow would reach, though it was already dead by then due to the sheer force destroying its heart.
As the flaming arrow touched the ground, it took a second to expand outward, almost reaching Caelus. This gigantic sphere absorbed most of the battlefield, but still left a large number of undead and skeletons, which were being fought off by the other cultivators fairly easily.
As the explosion became smaller, it pulled in everything still alive inside the explosion, the undead, which were at the Virtuoso stage, and flew into a beam heading up into the sky, like a beam of judgment from the Heavens. Only now realizing this, Caelus chuckled, finding it ironic. The last of the Virtuoso undead and Skeletons eviscerated as more poured out from the rift it was from, only for that rift to be protected by what looked like a barrier.
"A Dragon did that? No wonder they're called Dangerous but... I guess we should let him help, after all, he didn't even try going even near us, so he's clearly on our side." One of the Cultivators spoke, older but still young, maybe in his thirties. "I wonder when the Army will arrive." He said to himself.
"Probably in a few hours, they are still preparing and getting a way to deal with this while we're holding them off, though that giant explosion was powerful and helped; that only gave more space for some stronger enemies to come. While powerful, it isn't efficient." One of the Martial Artists spoke, charging a punch with Mana, launching it forward as a mana-formed hand flew out, smashing into the undead, destroying a large amount of them, giving him a bit of time to relax.
As more Virtuoso-level undead and skeletons poured out, with no more Foundation-level creatures, it was going to be harder to fight back, but with the few Soul Formation-level Cultivators, they were able to be pushed back; the Foundation-level Cultivators simply went back, releasing blasts and using Mana only in small amounts to conserve.
Caelus landed on the ground next to Tellus, whom he was about to ask, only to be interrupted as Tellus's blade faced downwards, her eyes open, only to glow a darker yellow, with black dripping-
[Tellus has reached 100% of Virtuoso IX. She will reach Soul Formation during this attack. Do not disturb her; she will be transported to the Soul Mirror. But she can still hear you.]
Caelus heard Aphro say this and widened his eyes. He didn't expect her to reach it this quickly, but she was at the last stage of Virtuoso, so it wasn't surprising; he just wished it was with Kiana or someone, because his existence literally shook her faith. But since she was going to be gone for whatever the Soul Mirror was... "Good luck, Tellus. I hope you reach Soul Formation with ease."
Caelus watched her face shift slightly, a pinkish red barely visible, only for a smile to appear, her blade now lifted up above her head as she swung down, cutting into one of the undead, and each undead and skeleton behind it, in a line also cut, reaching the rift, even when her blade didn't go that far.
Only then did he hear another voice, Sol. "That's not a move Church following Cultivators have, it seems she's grown, making her own technique is a feat in itself." He spoke smiling, going back to holding his flute as he began playing it, though Caelus didn't focus on the tune, or what it sounded like, he saw the other undead and skeletons moving as if controlled, only for their insides to explode out, causing them to collapse onto another after they died.
"Oh, holy shit, okay, I'm gonna make sure not to make him mad." Caelus thought to himself while also realizing that Sol was only showing very little of his own abilities. And he should've been doing that himself.
Caelus moved Tellus back, giving her extra room between her and the undead, who began sending out a flurry of slashes, not just three like he could before, but tens of them, cutting through each undead efficiently, wasting no time, and even cutting more as it went past until it dissipated, holding the ones in front of him off as much as he could.
As soon as he was about to turn, he saw a blinding light as Tellus disappeared, probably going to the Soul Mirror, and since no one, like Arjuna or Sol, was panicking from her just disappearing even when seeing it, he found it normal.
As he sent out more slashes, the stronger enemies began approaching, those at the same Realm as him, but he had some ease because he wasn't fighting something out of his league, especially being way stronger than he should've been due to the Draconic body, pointing his staff forward, he sent out the wave like attack he used against Tellus once more, this time at the gigantic mass of undead, along with larger undead who were stronger, the wave flew out, pushing them back, and cutting through many, as it moved further covering the most space it could, spreading out the farther away it went.
And then, Caelus activated the second effect, Congruence, which connected the gaps, forming a full wave and exploding, though it launched many cultivators back; it killed many and heavily damaged the stronger undead, but they were still alive and quickly regenerated.
"The Military will arrive in about twenty minutes," Sol spoke, his fan still covering his face, though Caelus saw the change in his face showing a hint of a smile. "Though we still have to hold them off, an hour or so has passed after all." He continued.
"An hour?" Caelus didn't know that much time had already passed, but he wasn't focused on it, so maybe that was why, at least from what he thought. Caelus continued to release slashes after the wave, flying towards the larger enemies, who began at least trying to dodge, not being completely mindless, so they were way stronger than the few he was fighting.
[Virtuoso III ---> IV, You have killed over 200,000 Undead, a new title, just from me, though you would've gotten Monster Slayer after killing 2,000, and Enemy of Undead at 20,000, now you get Fear of the Undead, the first title you've gained!]
"A title? Why even is that a thing?" Caelus tried to ask Aphro before it continued, but he was interrupted.
[Fear of the Undead - A title given to those who hunt the Undead or Monsters in general, they have killed so many that every undead will begin fearing anyone with this title, alongside this, your attacks are double the strength when against undead, and a fifty percent increase against any kind of monster, alongside this, you've been given immunity from the undeads infection, which makes you fall into the hivemind.]
"...Never mind, not complaining, that helps me a lot in whatever type of thing these rifts are."
[Update on Status]
[Name: Caelus
Species: Archidraconis
Path: Arcane
Auxiliary: [Unlocked] - Pick between Martial, Valoria, Hunter, Undead, Literature, or Resonant
Realm: Virtuoso IV
Progress: 2% to V
Affinity: Spatial
Status: Enhanced (Mana)
Techniques: Simple Cut, Advanced Simple Cut, Mana Barrier, Horizon Step, Burning Temptation, Disjunction and Congruence, THINK FAST]
"Okay, did you really have to put Think Fast there? I only did that in a rush." Caelus felt embarrassed thinking about it, with an unnoticeable flush of red on his cheeks, as he shook his head, focusing on the enemies, but the fact that he could now go to another path was good, or at least follow it.
"Alright, I guess I'll pick... No, not Valoria, Tellus is doing that, and I'm not going to try and get into a sword fight with her and lose miserably." He was already sidetracked while sending out a flurry of slashes towards the zombies, which were dying slowly, trying to dodge, only for the slashes to follow as well, a counter that existed before he even knew the undead existed. But they were surviving for a lot longer.
"Literature, it is then. I want to see what it does, since I haven't seen anyone use anything from that path. It must be hard to cultivate... And I like a challenge."
[Literature Path as Auxiliary has been chosen, any words you speak which is enhanced with Mana will release as either an abstract attack or as something which happens, it can work as both for support and attack, but is limited to the speed of sound right now, the Auxiliary Path starts at Awakening, and will have to reach your Main Realm if you want it to be useful. Only at Soul Formation will it surpass Sound in Speed.]
"Cool.. So basically cultivating from the start, maybe that's why I don't see an Auxiliary much, but whatever." Caelus thought to himself, but he was new to this world, seeing people move back and hearing the sound of thousands of footsteps; the army was close. Jumping up, his wings sprang out as he noticed Tellus wasn't back yet, so he'd wait here while the army fights, just to get her.
Floating in the sky, the Military passed, covered in Armor, and even the food soldiers were Soul Formation, with most of those in the front at Heavenly Realization. This army wasn't weak or disorganized; he only wondered whether the Church was also this strong.