Destiny in Cinders

As the fiend stepped forth, the entire canyon trembled in its wake.

"It's working." An Jing breathed out slowly in relief as the anxiety in his heart began to ease.

Among the sword soul's many techniques, none was more fitting than this. By harnessing the power of the Olden Heavenly Father, one could condense the fiendish miasma into a phantom of the fiend.

The Imperial Sky Starslaying Grand Ritual was more than just a tool for sacrifice. It could bend demonic and divine forces to its will, turning them into weapons against his foes. However, this facet of the ritual hadn't been used for decades, being long forgotten.

As the sword soul's host, An Jing was able to use it because the ritual drew upon its power. Otherwise, that power would have remained beyond his reach even if he possessed the demonic cult’s ritual tome itself.

"We've lost control of the ritual!"

"It's the terrorfiend! Get into formation at once! Cast out your fear, or it will feast upon it to grow stronger!"

At the sight of the terrorfiend, the instructors and lecturers immediately recognized its true form. Shouting in panic, they scrambled to get into combat formation. Though the threat loomed over them, they couldn't show a hint of fear. If they did...

With a single rumbling stride, the fiend let out a soundless roar as it sent out a mental shockwave, instantly paralyzing a frightened lecturer who had been slow to join the combat formation. In that moment, it was as if he had suffered the most horrific tortures known to man. Howling and wailing like a child, he turned to flee.

From afar, the fiend’s hand reached out to snatch the lecturer. As it withdrew, the man's flesh was left intact, but a translucent soul was torn from his body and pulled into its palm. The soul struggled frantically to no avail before being thrown into the fiend’s mouth, where it was crushed.

The soulless husk flopped to the ground, his eyes empty and his autonomy gone. He wasn't dead yet, but he was nothing more than a mindless hunk of flesh.

"A fiend... It's a fiend..."

Witnessing this horrific spectacle, the cultists and even the children in the rear shook uncontrollably. They had never laid eyes on such gargantuan terror. The instructors were at least armed with real blades while the disciples had nothing but their blunt wooden practice swords and spears. Though they were trained in the exact same battle formations as their instructors, tactics specifically used to counter this heavenly fiend's phantom, they were too afraid to attack. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Driven by their rising fear, the black mist surged, and the fiend roared at the sky, growing even further in size. Sensing that the vital source of its power originated from the trembling children behind, it reached out to grab them.

However, a figure stood in front of the fiend, blocking its path.

"Back down!" Wielding only a wooden sword, An Jing faced the towering fiend. His courage appeared entirely irrational, yet he stood tall and straight as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

In fact, he was ready to manifest the broken sword if the worst were to happen. He would harness the sword soul’s lingering sword qi to strike the fiend.

Locking eyes with it, An Jing spat, "Your enemy is over there!"

He turned back to the others in his group.

"Don't be afraid. Reassemble the battle array!" After getting them to synchronize their efforts, he took a resolute step forward. "This is a terrorfiend. It feasts on fear to grow stronger, but it's under our control! Those with courage, follow me!"

As An Jing advanced, the terrorfiend recoiled, its face fearful.

Hearing his words, the children instinctively looked up, even if they felt it was a lost cause. Such was An Jing’s influence. When he spoke, they listened. To their utter shock, the massive terrorfiend didn't crush An Jing like a bug but was driven backward instead.

So even fiends can feel fear...

"What's there to be afraid of?!"

"Yeah!"

A surge of heroic fervor swept through them. As An Jing’s most steadfast ally, Gu Yeqi was the first to charge, with Cang Linzu following suit without a second thought. The others in An Jing's group, Star Chronicle, quickly followed.

"Sister Qinghan?"

At that moment, every group turned to their group leaders for direction, including the third group. Most of the children were watching Bai Qinghan as well. Like An Jing, she possessed a miracle arc, and everyone was waiting to see where the "number two" stood.

"Let's go," the girl with the cascading hair murmured softly as she looked down, eyes fixed on An Jing. Then she stepped forward, taking her place at An Jing’s side to face the terrorfiend. "I’m with him on this one."

With the initial turmoil subsided and a commander to lead them, the disaster children took a step forward, instilled with a reckless courage characteristic of the young, naive and bold.

Exactly! Death is the worst that could happen! So what's left to fear?

Summoning their courage, they followed An Jing with weapons in hand. An invisible, surging wave pushed the terrorfiend back. The will of dozens merged into a single force under their commander's lead. They all got to their stations within the formation. As long as An Jing stood his ground, the terrorfiend's influence couldn't touch the boys and girls within the array.

Suppressed by the combat formation and bound by the ritual formation, the terrorfiend reluctantly turned its head in submission. Even a phantom like it could recognize that the adults posed a far greater threat. Nevertheless, it roared, lunging headlong toward the cult's ranks.

The earth shook as the terrorfiend and cultists collided. The impact sent a storm of sand and stone into the air amidst a whirlwind of black fog.

"Stop! Stop at once!"

The one-eyed Instructor Li was still trying to stop them. He shouted at An Jing and the other children, "Insolent brats! Is this a rebellion? Stand down at once!"

He had assumed his past authority would intimidate the children, but the boys and girls remained unfazed and An Jing ignored him entirely.

Despite being the most powerful person present, the manor lord stayed out of the fight to take down the terrorfiend. Even after An Jing took the role of spearheading the children's revolt and bafflingly took control over the ritual, the manor lord didn't try to capture him right away and instead looked toward Direlife Manor, appearing distracted.

"Damn it!" he muttered. "We've been breached."

Right then, the sharp peal of a warning gong echoed from the distant manor, sweeping across the canyon, vibrating with a force that rattled the soul.

An intruder in Direlife Manor?

Tense and vigilant, An Jing glanced toward the manor from the corner of his eye without ever losing sight of the increasingly dangerous old man. Even so, he was shocked by what he saw. A squad of well-armed martialists in crimson armor appeared halfway up the mountain, dropping down like soldiers from heaven and storming the manor.

An Jing saw the manor's hidden defenses flare to life as iridescent fiendish miasma filled the air, only for a ferocious red-blue fire to sweep through, burning everything in its path and sending plumes of black smoke billowing into the sky.

Suddenly, the air was filled with intermingling sword and blade qi. The flames bled into the miasma as deafening battle cries and the sounds of close-quarters combat reverberated throughout the manor.