House of Amarin

"Where has Trishula gone?" First Elder Shao asked after Che answered his summons, visiting his master in his abode.

"No idea, Master." He answered, cupping his hands, "He is... not someone I could control. He barely listens to any of the Elders... except the Sect Master and you."

"Please..." Shao whispered, taking a deep breath and looking at his disciple with flashing eyes. "You have been buttering up to him in the past decade, and he counts you as one of his friends... if he goes and does something, he will tell you about his plans."

"That is true," Che answered, letting a small smile creep up onto his face, "But I also know him well enough because I spend time with him. I know when to take a step back and not be part of his... outings. I wouldn't want to end up as some of his other... well... friends.... and if I'm not in, I won't get told nothing."

"Smart. That is why I like you, and that is why the Sect Master asked for you."

"He did?!" Che shuddered as it was something he didn't expect.

"Yes. You have been navigating the rank of Grand Elders well in the past two centuries, so you have been nominated to become the next Supreme Elder if any of us perishes. But... to finalize it, you must be tested by the Sect Master!"

"It is an honor, Master!" He cried out, going to his knees, thanking him. "But I don't think a position will open soon, ahaha!"

"It IS an honor, and stop fooling yourself!" Shao chuckled before turning more serious, "We have seen some clashes with the Immortals in the past few years, and their power varies greatly. No deaths have occurred so far, but how things are going... it is only a question of time. Our preparations were mostly ready, and we gathered two of the other five behind us."

"An alliance? Are they that strong?" Che asked, raising his head and looking surprised.

"They are strong, and we decided to make sure of our victory. Their realm has to be rich with cultivation resources and valuable knowledge. The latter is more important than anything else... There are countless realms around us; we can get resources easily! But developed, tried, and tested knowledge? One that works outside of their realm, in the Cosmos? Something that may push us to a greater height? That is the true treasure."

"That woman with the strange soul."

"Exactly... So the Kodai Clan and the Ravagers will be our hounds this time around. I am telling you this because of your newly appointed position! Don't divulge it further, or I will know who leaked our intel!"

"I wouldn't dare, Master!"

"Now go, we are still in preparation only... If nothing else, we will have a chance to gather some tasty souls in the next few decades, ahaha!"

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Far out in the Cosmos, four figures were flying through the stars, already penetrating deep into the borders of the Immortals. The one leading them was Trishula, while three of his staunch followers were accompanying him on this secret trip. They were all different Grand Elders of different branches within the Sect, and all of them stood at the strength of an Ascendri.

"Are we sure they would come this way?" One of his followers, a woman with an enchanting look and wavy red hair, asked, her voice caressing Trishula's ear.

"I got an excellent tip from the inside! That little girl has sneaked out from home and is exploring by herself!"

"This is why you don't let kids into the Cosmos!" Another follower chuckled, making the others follow suit.

"They think it is safe... it will be a good lesson for them!" Trishula grinned savagely. "We will be quick! I will grab her soul, one of you will catch the body, and we will leave unnoticed!"

"I bet the kid has something on her for defense!" The woman warned him, but Trishula just snorted.

"That is why we came in force! Even if they have something to cultivate the soul, their defenses must be set up against energy attacks! We will be fast before they come and be gone instantly! Four of us against a kid... do you really think we could lose?"

It didn't take long for them, or more precisely for Trishula, to notice the familiar, young girl flying, heading straight towards them... no, it wasn't her flying, she was sitting on a giant black and white bear who carried her onward. That thing... felt and looked weird, but it was no time to think but to act.

The group spread out without any words, operating in tandem. One of them served as the guard, locking down space and preventing the prey from escaping. One, namely the man who joked before, attacked the bear, his soul half-leaving his body, taking up a massive form, and simply sending a fist flying forward. He was sure it would be fatal as it would knock out the opponent's soul from its body, which is a deadly experience in the Cosmos for the untrained.

Trishula himself summoned a unique trident, brimming with the energy of the Cosmos, amplifying his body's strength and piercing forward, aiming at the body of Yue. At the same time, the woman of the group served as his backup if anything went wrong. The ambush came so suddenly and quickly that it caught the bear and the young girl thoroughly off-guard.

"Kyu!" Yue shouted, realizing they were in deep trouble as the attacks that appeared from nowhere were as strong as any master she knew of inside the sect.

"BASTARDS!" The bear roared, throwing Yue off to protect her, and she welcomed Trishula's trident with her body. The three-pronged end of it penetrated even Kyu's unnatural hide and skin, drawing blood, making her roar in anger, missing the horror on Trishula's face.

His spear was something not forged in Meriath but instead, outside, in the Cosmos. It was an artifact that surpassed the limits of his birthplace and unified his special gift in body and spirit. It had the power to pass through any material defenses and not just hurt the body but the soul within anything it struck. With his eyes, he saw both the girl and the beast's main core... He knew where to strike to kill instantly, so when Kyu made her move, he simply changed targets, deciding to get rid of the monster first.

Yet when it made contact, it didn't have the expected effect. It did get through Kyu's defenses, her sturdy body, but when making contact with her core, it met with something that resisted its effects. The beast was not killed... only injured. Yet the true horror came afterward... he could feel being trapped in an invisible field and falling prey to an otherworldy suctioning force.

With a heavy heart, he burst out with his full strength, abandoning his trident and distancing himself from the beast. At that moment, the fist-strike arrived, hitting the trident and sending it deeper into Kyu's stomach.

"Kyu!" Cried Yue, but by then, the woman was upon her, directing a palm strike against her body that suddenly got surrounded by violet lightning.

"Hmph!" She snorted, pressing on as her attack was not material but directly aimed at her opponent's soul. It passed through the protection, just as Trishula predicted before. The strike found its way in, hitting Yue, resulting in a resounding bang, throwing the woman backward, making her cough out blood and turning her dizzy. "W-what?!" She moaned, but there was nobody to answer her about what happened at the last moment.

Whatever it was, something else protected the girl within and made it so she was not dead... She was injured and unconscious, but she wasn't killed, her soul wasn't knocked out of her body... which should be impossible.

"I WILL KILL YOU ALL!" Echoed an enraged, bestial roar, and finally, warning bells were ringing inside Trishula and his friends' minds.

He watched with open mouth as his trident was absorbed into the beast's stomach. It was gone from any vision his eyes gave him access to, swallowed into a black hole that was unknowable, even to Kyu.

"Watch out!" He cried, but it was too late.

With the speed of light, Kyu smacked down at the dizzy female cultivator and blasted her body into a bloody mist as if she were nothing but a worthless mortal. She didn't have time to scream; her body was torn to shreds, and her soul was splintered into thousands of pieces, with no chance of escaping or surviving.

"Retreat!" Trishula ordered, the first to start running, and if not for the unconscious Yue, Kyu would be already on their tail.

The moment they disappeared, Kyu already appeared next to Yue, calling her name, getting into a panic right until the point when a familiar voice echoed in her mind.

"LeiLei is coming; take her to him! It was her soul that got injured and not her body!"

"Mom!" Kyu cried, but the voice soothed her worried mind very quickly.

"Relax... All will be fine... I am already in pursuit... and I'm pretty pissed myself!"

She could see the distant energy of the Cosmos churn and twist right after hearing her. The massive, multicolored clouds were changing, turning deep purple, almost crimson, filled with lighting as they were moving as one, heading forward. It was as if the universe itself was angry and releasing a storm on a scale that was only possible in the vastness of space.

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"What is that?!" Trishula's follower exclaimed as all the remaining three watched in horror as dark clouds started surrounding them from two fronts, cutting their retreat off and stopping them in place. It was the moment they realized the Immortal's territory was not just theirs in speech. Whoever arrived had complete control over it.

"We are-" Trishula shouted, ready to start listing who he was and who his master was, but a cruel laughter cut him off, followed by the boom of thunder and the flash of purple lightning.

"Don't bother introducing yourself! I don't care to learn the names of rabid dogs!"

Along with the voice, a young-looking girl appeared, wearing a black robe with purple highlights and a bolt of lightning decorating her shoulder cape. She had the same white hair as Trishula, tied up in a ponytail, while her amethyst eyes scanned the three, looking at them emotionlessly.

"How do you want to die?" She asked coldly.

"If you dare harm us-" Trishula spat, but then lightning struck from the surrounding, churning and rumbling clouds of cosmic energy.

Their target was not him but the Grand Elder standing to his left. The bolts of energy hit him without any chance to react. There was no scream nor the smell of death... only the racket of thunder and a blinding flash. When they finally managed to look, his figure was no longer present. Not even ash or a fragment of his soul remained. It was all that needed to make them realize the one standing before them was someone they could not stand up to...

"I dare to do much worse than killing you." She continued, letting her lips form a cruel smile.

"Let be bygones be bygones!" A voice cut in, and it was the voice of the Sect Master of the Soulbound Sect, Lumamon, as a part of his spirit emerged from the body of Trishula. "Two died while yours lived. It is your victory; let them go and learn from this."

"And who are you?"

"I am the Sect Master of these two, Lumamon! I am-"

"I only asked for your name so I know who I will be killing next! Listen here, Lumafuck! My name is Ren, and I am coming for you... Start writing your last will because I will stick my hand up your ass, pull your spine out, and beat you to death with it!"

With a wave of her hand, hundreds of lightning bolts came out from the surrounding clouds, sneaking around the Sect Master's projection and tearing it apart. Before they could scream, the lightning bolts acted like sentient snakes, coiling around the remaining follower of Trishula, and right before his unique eyes, they fried him. He could see them destroy his physical body before swallowing up his soul and killing it in the most painful way possible.

"Sssh!" Ren hissed before Trishula could open his mouth, "The moment you attacked my daughter, you forfeited your life. Die with the knowledge that your Realm is now marked as our enemy, and we will grind it down until nothing remains... Everything that is to come... is your fault."

Trishula had nothing to answer with. Not because he didn't want to but because he couldn't. His soul was no longer under his control but under the lightning that surrounded him. Ren wasn't showing any mercy... using the techniques developed by her husband, Leinor, and by their Sect's Master of Souls, Orsi, she dragged out Trishula's essence. Next, she leisurely extracted all his knowledge, going through thousands of years of information in a flash. It was such a painful experience that no living being could imagine the true extent of it, but Ren didn't care. She memorized it all before dissolving Trishula into small, glinting particles and looking toward where Meriath lay in the distance, her eyes flashing with lightning.

"It was long ago since I last felt this angry..."