Chapter 97: The World Trembled  

The fiends, a tempest dark and foul,

A shining pillar paints the sky,

The Ogre guards and elite fighters howled in desperation as they struggled to unleash more attacks. At the same time, the Demon Emperor desperately snarled, “Vortegan’s Whirling Catastrophe!”

Yet again, a black vortex swept through the square, and yet, it was powerless against the defensive energies of the spell formation, and did little more than toss debris here and there.

With each member of the sect that joined Bao and Sunan, more energy pulsed out in all directions.

With Sunan and Bao as the focal points, the resonance formed from the combined Qi flow was locked tight onto the Demon Emperor. Even after casting his Immolation magic and Vortegan’s Whirling Catastrophe, he was powerless to break free.

As the flames and winds faded away, and he began to cast another spell in the hopes of freeing himself.

But then, Sunan and Bao both took a step forward, and the entire square shuddered as the power of the formation intensified.

The light on Bao’s side was pure white, and the light on Sunan’s side was golden. However, the white part of the light only served to brighten the golden side, and in the end, it was pure, golden light that began to rise up into the sky.

High above in what had once been a clear, blue sky, clouds had suddenly begun to form, and when the light from below touched them, they also turned golden.

By this point, twenty people were in formation, with more members of the sect leaping in with each second that ticked by.

As they did, the vibrations which filled the air began to spread out, causing the fortress itself to shudder.

“Fools!” the Demon Emperor bellowed. “I can just create a portal and step away from this place!” However, no portal appeared.

Golden droplets spin and howl,

The sun, the moon, two stars ally.

It was at that point that a golden drop of water splashed down onto the paved surface of the square, only a few paces away from the Demon Emperor. Then another drop fell, and another, as rain began to fall. Strangely, when the rain touched the skin of the people in the square, it felt hot, not enough to burn, but enough to make the rain seem like something from a different world.

From the moment that Bao and Sunan had first taken their places at the front of the formation, to the moment when the rain began to fall, not even a minute had passed.

By this point, it was obvious to the Demon Emperor’s forces that something very dangerous was unfolding, and as such, the Ogre guards began to shout orders to the elite fighters, in an attempt to lead a charge against the formation itself. The first group, consisting of four Ogres and ten elite fighters, tried to charge toward Bao, unleashing projectile weapons and Qi attacks as they closed in.

However, the defensive energies of the formation itself crushed all the attacks before they could even get close to Bao. Furthermore, the Ogres and elite fighters couldn’t approach within ten paces of her because of powerful fluctuations rolling out.

As the golden rain began to fall in ernest, the formation grew, and the Demon Emperor struggle and howled.

Soon, the energy vibrations had spread out to shake the surrounding mountains, all the way down to their roots.

Some distance away, the tree Hui stood on had begun to sway back and forth, forcing her to reach back and grab ahold of the trunk to steady herself. At the same time, a faint smile had appeared on her face.

By this point, the resonance between Bao and Sunan had become visible. It was like undulating bands of gold and white waves, flowing back and forth between them, with the Demon Emperor trapped in the middle.

They both took another step forward, and then another, the formations moving with them. As the vibrations grew more intense, many of the Demon Emperor’s soldiers began to flee in terror, and even some of the elite fighters had lost their nerve and were trying to escape.

Meanwhile, something else was happening that no one near Yao Gong Palace could see, not even Hui. High up in the heavens, far above the roiling, golden clouds, two bright stars appeared on opposite ends of the sky. At the same time, the dawn sun and setting full moon were also opposite of each other.

It was an astral phenomenon the likes of which had never been witnessed before.

The two stars, one red, one blue, linked together with the sun and the moon to create a perfect square.

Astrologers from Naqan to Nangu to the Yangu Plains all looked up and marveled at what they were witnessing.

Within the empire, golden clouds were rapidly spreading out from the Banyan Mountains, and therefore, many of the astrologers there were oblivious to what was happening, at least for the moment.

By now, more than 200 members of the Dragon-Phoenix Sect were in formation, and the energy fluctuations rolling out from Yao Gong Palace were causing the earth to quake as far north as the Chezou River, and as far south as Zun Valley. At the same time, the golden clouds were also churning out in all directions.

Slowly but surely, Bao and Sunan were advancing forward, getting closer and closer to the Demon Emperor, until they were so close they could almost touch him. His eyes were bloodshot, and his mouth twisted into a snarl, although only Bao could see that.

“How are you doing this?” he grated. “Who are you? Where are you from? What Sertori is backing you?”

“I am Bao of the Dragon-Phoenix Sect. I don’t know what a Sertori is, but I can tell you that the only person backing me is the Enlightened Goddess.”

The Demon Emperor seemed inclined to spit on the ground, but could barely move his mouth to speak. “Xian Nu Shen? She is nothing! A fractured mirror, a broken vase! Even that bitch Hen-Shi and the worm Gushan are nothing!”

Ignoring his words, Bao said, “Your days have come to an end, Demon Emperor. How does it feel?”

With that, she stepped past him, while Sunan took a step forward, placing him within the Demon Emperor’s field of vision.

“How dare you call me the Demon Emperor! I am Gar-El! I am Yaum alu-Bukhra! I was the first Sertori ever to perform Thauma! I am the reincarnation of the god Senga! I shook the entire world of Gamandria! Ants like you don’t even deserve to look at me!”

Sunan didn’t understand even half of the terms the Demon Emperor had just used. “Babble however you wish,” he said. “You can do nothing to stop us, Demon Emperor.”

Then he took another step forward, this time moving away from Bao.

If the Demon Emperor had been able to move, he would have leaped forward and torn Sunan limb from limb, then used his shattered body to beat Bao into a bloody pulp. But he couldn’t move.

“I killed Rashan of Shandee. I slaughtered a thousand Sertori, and they were powerless to stop me! I even fought the dragon Tanoor to a standstill! You call yourself a dragon? That was a real dragon, you puny bug! You don’t stand a chance against me!”

Sunan ignored him and took another step forward.

“Immolation!” the Demon Emperor wheezed. Once again, flames appeared around him.

However, the resonance between Bao and Sunan grew stronger with each step they took, and this time, the flames danced as weakly as a dying candle before winking out.

Meanwhile, more and more members of the sect were pouring in to join the formation. As of this moment, the formation was powered by more than 600 of them. Virtually all of the Demon Emperor’s followers had fled, leaving behind only the Ogre guards, and a few of the most fanatical expert fighters, who were struggling uselessly to try to attack the spell formation.

Heaven and Earth turned inside out,

The crash and clash of night and day,

Even as Bao and Sunan took another step forward, pulling each half of the formation with them, the Demon Emperor’s left hand twitched. Although he couldn’t move his arms or legs, or even his head, he still was capable of very small movements. His hand trembled as he reached toward a ring on his left index finger which was crafted from white jade and inlaid with a black pearl. It took supreme effort, but he managed to push his thumb against the ring, which instantly caused a black lightning bolt to shoot up into the sky toward the golden clouds.

Moments later, another lightning bolt shot up, then another, causing intense crashing sounds to join the rumbling from the spell formation.

At the same time, the Demon Emperor began to laugh. “You see? My resources are deep and powerful! This ring was a gift from the Five Ghosts!”

More black lightning erupted from the ring, crashing upward instead of downward as it bombarded the golden clouds.

For the first time, Bao and Sunan’s steps faltered momentarily as both of them felt bursts of pain stabbing into them from the resonance.

However, a bit of pain wasn’t enough to stop them. Gritting their teeth, they both took another step forward. Instantly, one of the black bolts of lighting faded away, and then another.

“Impossible,” the Demon Emperor murmured, his bloodshot eyes widening.

Winds began to swirl in the square, causing the golden rain to become a blur that swirled round and round without cease.

With each step Bao and Sunan took forward, the black lightning grew weaker and weaker until it faded away completely.

Bao and Sunan walked forward resolutely, taking the spell formation with them. By this point, they had both reached the spot previously occupied by the other. As for the formation, it was powered by over 900 members of the sect, and stretched across the entire square from north to south and east to west. The only members who were not in the formation were the hendful who had fallen in the fighting, or were too injured to participate.

If anyone had been able to view the formation from high in the sky, it would look like a circle with a sinuous line running through it, one side bright white, the other side golden. Furthermore, it resembled the basic design of the symbol of the Dragon-Phoenix Sect!

Meanwhile, up the heavens, the sun, the moon, and the two stars on the horizon began to shine more brightly as ever, piercing through the layers of clouds until they were visible to everyone on the earth below.

Four bright spots of light up above created a perfect square that shone with such brilliance that soon, no one could even look up, but were forced to bow their heads and close their eyes.

All the lands were shaking, even Nangu and Naqan.

The entire world trembled under the power of the Dragon-Phoenix Sect.

As for the Demon Emperor, he was screaming in his mind, trying to call upon ancient magics, desperately attempting to use other powerful items on his person. But he was rooted in place, and all such efforts failed.

The spell formation was completed.

And yet, things weren’t over yet.

The final blow had yet to be delivered.

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Check out the newly-created, official game stats for the Demon Emperor, plus information about his background, at the Bedrock Blog! For a behind-the-scenes look at what went into the creation of the character stats, check out this short podcast.