Chapter 121: Five Against Five II

Chapter 121: Five Against Five II

Arvessa crossed her sword before her chest, taking the brunt of the blast and skidding backward with scorched boots.

Ambiel’s whip wrapped tightly around a stone pillar to anchor herself, yet the shockwave still dragged her boots across the floor.

The five young cultivators stumbled backward, regrouping in a tight circle.

Their expressions had darkened completely. The initial skirmish had been tough, but manageable. This was entirely different.

The five enemies were no longer fighting as individuals. They moved with a hive-mind precision.

The moment Asher attacked—the heavy swordsman blocked.

The moment Jules attempted a flank—the assassin intercepted him.

When Arvessa accelerated—the speed swordsman mirrored her.

When Annelle tried to strike from above—the formation master redirected her trajectory.

And whenever Ambiel tried to bind a target—another blade severed the whip’s path before it could anchor.

CLANG! BOOM! SHING!

They were being systematically dismantled.

Jules spat a mouthful of dark blood, wiping his chin with a trembling hand. "They’re... they’re reading every move we make."

"Not exactly," Annelle said, shaking her sore arm as she stared at the black-robed entities. "They aren’t reading us. They’re reading each other."

Ambiel’s eyes sharpened. "Exactly."

She stared at the pulsating black formation beneath their feet. "Every attack one of them makes automatically creates the defensive opening for another. It’s an autonomous loop."

Asher’s gaze swept rapidly across the moving formations. The heavy striker attacked; the defensive guardian covered; the assassin waited; the speedster repositioned; the master controlled the flow.

Five bodies. One combat system.

Asher tightened his grip until his knuckles turned white. "We can’t beat them individually anymore."

Jules glanced at him, panting heavily. "So what do you suggest, Blackwood?"

Asher looked toward the Argon sisters.

Ambiel’s lips curved into a sharp, confident smirk. "Finally."

Jules scowled. "What are you smiling about, Argon?"

"You’ve finally realized something obvious," Ambiel replied dryly.

"I don’t need lectures from you—"

"Then listen to the plan," Ambiel interrupted, pointing her whip toward the front. "Arvessa. Draw the speed swordsman toward the center."

The youngest sister nodded instantly, her fiery eyes locking onto her target.

"Annelle?"

"I’ll disrupt their foundational movement."

"Jules."

Jules raised an eyebrow, his lightning sparking angrily. "What?"

"Your lightning. I want you to overload their outer nodes."

"Hh, fine."

Ambiel finally turned her gaze to Asher. "And you?"

Asher stared down the heavy swordsman. "I’ll break the front."

Ambiel’s whip uncoiled, wrapping around her forearm with a lethal snap. "Then I’ll control the rhythm of the battlefield."

Jules sneered, though the tension in his shoulders eased slightly. "Who knew the great Argon sisters actually knew how to cooperate?"

Ambiel didn’t blink. "We’ve coordinated our lives since we could hold weapons, Drackar. Try not to slow us down."

Arvessa let out a brief, sharp laugh. "You’re the one who needs to keep up, Jules."

Jules’s face flushed dark. "Watch your mouth—"

"Save it," Annelle smiled faintly. "They’re resetting."

For the first time since entering Sector Three, the five young cultivators stood shoulder-to-shoulder. Not as five arrogant, isolated heirs of rival factions, but as a singular, cohesive unit.

Across the chamber, the black-robed swordsmen raised their weapons once more.

The dark formation pulsed beneath them.

THUMP.

A wave of suffocating Sword Qi flooded the hall.

Asher stepped forward, golden Metal Qi roaring around his blade like a wildfire. Ambiel’s whip coiled behind her like a striking serpent. Annelle’s wind currents whipped into a localized gale. Arvessa’s crimson flames ignited along her steel. Jules’s silver lightning engulfed both arms.

Five against five.

The next exchange erupted.

BOOM!

Arvessa shot forward first. True to prediction, the speed swordsman immediately lunged to intercept her.

"Now!" Ambiel shouted.

Annelle released her concentrated Wind Qi. WHOOSH! Instead of attacking the enemy, she slammed the wind current directly into the stone floor beneath the combatants, altering the local atmospheric pressure.

Arvessa’s momentum doubled instantly, while the speed swordsman was unexpectedly thrown off balance, stumbling toward the center of the room.

"Got you!" Jules roared, slamming his palms into the ground.

CRACKLE!

A torrent of silver lightning slammed into the formation node beneath the speed swordsman’s feet. The node overloaded in a shower of sparks, causing the black-robed network to stutter.

For a fraction of a second, the five enemies became physically isolated from one another.

"Now, Asher!" Ambiel commanded.

BOOM!

Asher closed the distance in a single heartbeat, his golden sword colliding head-on with the heavy swordsman’s blade. But this time, instead of being pushed back, Asher channeled the collective kinetic feedback through his newly mastered Armament-Array Integration principles.

He twisted his wrist. CLANG!

The heavy sword was violently batted aside.

Before the defensive swordsman could move to cover, Ambiel’s whip lashed out, wrapping tightly around the heavy swordsman’s wrist and yanking him completely out of position.

The entire formation stuttered.

"Arvessa!"

BOOOOM!

Arvessa’s flaming sword descended like a meteor, combining Wind and Fire Qi in a devastating shockwave that crashed directly into the heart of the enemy formation.

The five black-robed figures were forcefully hurled backward, sliding across the stone.

Jules let out a triumphant laugh. "That’s more like it!"

But the celebration was cut short.

The formation master slowly raised his head from the dust. His black sword began glowing with a sickly, iridescent light. The broken nodes on the floor didn’t shatter—they aggressively reconnected, spitting black sparks.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five.

Ambiel’s smile vanished instantly. "No..."

The formation wasn’t collapsing.

It was learning.

The fifth swordsman drove his blade deep into the flagstones. KRRRRR...

Brand-new, blood-red runic lines overlaid the black ones, turning the formation denser, faster, and infinitely more complex.

Asher’s pupils contracted to pinpricks. "It adapted to our counter-attack."

The five black swords rose simultaneously. And this time, the killing intent suffocating the chamber multiplied tenfold.

Jules swallowed hard, the color draining from his face. "Okay... that is officially cheating."

Annelle’s expression turned grim. Ambiel gripped her whip until her fingers ached.

"Then we adapt faster," Ambiel hissed.

The five young cultivators surged forward once more as the black-robed executioners moved as one.

And far beneath their feet—

THUMP.

A heavy crimson pulse ripped through the palace walls. The Ancient Palace was actively observing their battle, rewriting the parameters of the trial in real-time.

THUMP.

The formation shifted again.

And from the absolute darkness of the deepest sector, something else finally answered the call.​