Chapter 56: The Hidden Guardians

Chapter 56: Chapter 56: The Hidden Guardians

Above the island, figures converged on the sky in a rapid, chaotic display. Some arrived soaring through the air at supersonic speeds, while others used high-tier teleportation magic, materializing directly ahead of those who flew.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

They were the professors from the command center. They had managed to span the distance to the massive, million-kilometer wide island in a matter of a minute while some in mere seconds.

Tharos hovered in mid-air, scanning the terrain below. Wasting no time, he immediately surged toward the island.

Whoosh!

He vanished from his position and reappeared directly before the massive blue barrier encasing the zone. Coating his fist in a dense layer of vibrant green martial cosmic energy, he slammed it straight into the barrier.

BUUUUUUUM!

The sheer hardness and resilience of the barrier pushed back, causing Tharos’s hand to grow slightly numb upon impact. He pulled his fist back and inspected the point of contact. There wasn’t a single crack, nor even a scratch.

Tharos clicked his teeth in annoyance and barked an order to the fellow professors.

"Tsk. This is Annoying. Everyone, strike the exact same spot I just hit! Unleash everything you have. Focus all your power on a single point!"

Flying back into position, he condensed his Martial Cosmic Energy into an array of spectral swords and spears. Alongside the other professors, he unleashed a coordinated barrage on the focal point.

Booooooom! Boooooooom!

The titanic detonations from the professors’ assault echoed across the island, drawing the attention of examinees, cultists, and Eldritches alike.

A wave of profound relief washed over the students as they recognized Tharos and the some professors in the sky. In contrast, panic rippled through the cultists. Desperate to complete their mission before the barrier failed, they launched relentless, reckless attacks on the examinees—only to be utterly cut down by the intervening Nihilborn army.

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Deep within the wilderness, Aeon heard the distant booms, but he didn’t slow his pace. Spotting a nearby cultist, he didn’t give the intruder a single moment to react. He drew his katanas and charged.

Shink! Whooosh!

The cultist caught the sound of approaching footsteps and whipped his head around, but before his eyes could register a silhouette, Aeon’s blades reached him.

Slash! Slice!

Aeon kept moving without breaking his momentum, darting instantly toward his next target. Behind him, the cultist’s body split into clean pieces, bursting into a cloud of blood.

Boooom!

Aside from their SS-rank leader, the rest of the cultists ranged from C-rank to A-rank. Aeon didn’t waste an ounce of effort, executing them with absolute ease. Using his blinding speed and passive telepathy, he pinpointed their exact locations and intercepted them in seconds.

The invaders never stood a chance. They were entirely outmatched, hunted down ruthlessly from all directions without ever realizing what was killing them.

Booooooom! Crack!

Up in the sky, the professors’ concentrated barrage intensified until a sharp, mirror-like fracturing sound echoed across the atmosphere. A small hairline fracture rippled across the blue barrier, making the sky look as though it were shattering.

Seeing this, the examinees beamed with happiness. Even though they felt safe under the protection of the blurry dark figures, a collective sigh of relief swept through them at the sight of the incoming reinforcements.

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In another sector of the wilderness, Sophia, Alex, Anastasia, and Elysaria crossed paths.

Seven minutes prior, Sophia and Elysaria had bumped into each other first. Without warning, Sophia had immediately lunged at Elysaria with clear intent, completely ignoring the fact that she was the princess of the Valthoros Empire.

"Why are you doing this, Sophia? I know I shouldn’t expect special treatment, but why are you attacking me with genuine intent to kill?!" Elysaria demanded, desperately trying to understand Sophia’s hostility.

Sophia offered no explanation, answering only with another strike. The two engaged in a fierce clash, Sophia pressing forward with brutal close-combat strikes while Elysaria used her magic to maintain a long-range attack and defense.

They continued this until their duel was suddenly disrupted by an A-rank cultist. An oppressive, paralyzing dread washed over both girls, completely freezing them in place afterhe released his Aura.

The cultist’s helmet then retracted, exposing a sinister smile as he savored their fear, slowly stepping closer.

"Well, well, what do we have here? Two little cuties. I am going to thoroughly enjoy killing you," the cultist hissed, licking his jagged dagger.

He blurred forward, appearing before Sophia in a millisecond, his dagger slicing down toward her face. But a fraction of millisecond before the blade could connect, two dark figures erupted directly from the girls’ shadows, slicing the A-rank cultist into mincemeat.

Once the lethal pressure vanished, Sophia and Elysaria collapsed to their knees, panting. They couldn’t comprehend who the cultist was, nor did they know the identity of the blurry figures that had saved their lives.

Minutes later, they regrouped with Alex and Anastasia, who recounted similar narrow escapes.

"I think all of the examinees are being targeted," Elysaria deduced, her face turning pale alongside Alex and Sophia’s. "There is only one faction crazy enough to pull this off: the Voidbound Cult."

"The Astral runes are completely dead; we can’t forfeit," Alex noted grimly. "For them to infiltrate with intent to kill means any death here is permanent. Thank the heavens those blurry figures are on our side."

The group sighed in relief. They knew that if the Voidbound Cult had breached the island to assassinate them, they wouldn’t send low-tier fodder. The cultists attacking them were easily at the A and B-rank level. Without their mysterious blurry protectors, they would have been slaughtered long ago.

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In another dark sector of the forest, Seraphina sat under the moonlight, casually talking to her own shadow.

"So, how is my hubby doing?" she asked, crouching down to prop her chin in her hands, tilting her head curiously to the side.

"..."

The shadow remained entirely silent. Seraphina simply chuckled, placing a hand over her mouth. "Hihihi, sorry. I forgot you don’t know me yet at this point in time. I am talking to you, Nihilborn. How is my hubby, Aeon, doing?"

This time, the shadow flared violently. A pair of glowing red eyes manifested within the darkness, and a razor-sharp blade of pure shadow and darkness materialized against her throat.

Then a deep, rumbling voice echoed from the ground beneath her. "Who the hell are you?"

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Elsewhere, Aeon finally reached the hidden cave where the cult leader was stationed. Stepping inside, he spotted the demon sitting casually on a makeshift chair, eyes closed, holding the jamming device.

"This bastard is just relaxing here," Aeon muttered, his masked ominous voice echoing off the cavern walls.

The demon’s eyes snapped open, and he lunged to his feet in an instant. He locked eyes with the dark armored figure walking toward him, noting the predatory purple glare behind the visor.

"Who are you?!" the demon demanded, summoning a massive blade.

Internally, panic was already setting in. ’How did he get in here without me sensing his presence? If he hadn’t spoken, I wouldn’t even know he was standing there. He’s powerful—I need to kill him immediately.’

As the demon maintained his vigilant stance, Aeon’s ominous voice echoed again, precisely answering the demon’s internal thoughts. "Who am I? I’m your doom. Also, I couldn’t help but hear you wondering how I got in here. I just killed the rest of your cultists along the way and walked right through the front door."

The demon’s eyes widened in absolute shock—not because of Aeon’s words, but because the intruder had read his thoughts effortlessly.

"Y-You’re... a Soul Master?!" the demon stammered, his voice shaking.

A faint smile formed beneath Aeon’s helmet as he replied, "Yup. You nailed it. Congratulations! Woohoo!"

Aeon began to clap mockingly, sending a wave of pure terror through the demon. Even as an S-rank warrior, an A-rank soul cultivator could obliterate his mind before he could even swing his blade if he wasn’t careful, let Alone an S-rank and higher ones. Against an opponent like this, his Warrior cultivation rank meant nothing.

Judging by the dense aura and suffocating pressure rolling off Aeon, the demon leader could tell this intruder is an S-rank powerhouse—if not higher.

While the demon was trapped in his paralyzing thoughts, Aeon made his move. With a mere thought, he seized the demon with telekinesis and dragged him forward through the air.

"Ghhk! Grrrgh!"

The demon grunted as the sudden pressure clamped down on his body. Agony flared through his limbs, and he thrashed violently to break free, but not a single finger would budge. Aeon simply scoffed at the pathetic display and fully activated his telepathy. His objective was clear. To harvest the demon’s memories.

He knew his mind would be flooded with repulsive thoughts and memories, but he needed concrete information on the cult’s hierarchy and operations. Instantly, Aeon’s eyes flared under his visor. The demon’s gaze went entirely blank, his body going limp as he hung suspended in mid-air like an obedient slab of meat.

A minute later, Aeon pulled his consciousness back from the demon’s mind, staring at the captive with unadulterated disgust. "Tsk. I was hoping you’d have deeper intelligence, but your head is mostly filled with worthless, repulsive memories."

Despite his disappointment, the sweep hadn’t been entirely fruitless. He had successfully mapped out some of their internal regulations, their ranking structures, their superior officers, and a handful of secret hideouts. He had also unearthed a recurring name: Eternal Void. Judging by the profound dread and reverence stitched into the cultists’ minds, this entity had to be a monumentally powerful figure.

"These bastards certainly know how to safeguard their secrets," Aeon muttered, recalling the intricate mental seals and destructive runes laced into the demon’s brain.

The cult members knew that high-tier soul cultivators could easily pillage their minds, so they had implemented a sinister fail-safe designed to liquefy the brain if anyone attempted a forced intrusion.

"Too bad for him, he ran into me," Aeon added with a smug smile.

The psychic pressure relented slightly, allowing the demon to gasp as his consciousness flickered back into focus.

"Y-You... how am I still alive?" the demon wheezed, his eyes wide with terror and utter confusion. Inwardly, his mind scrambled, frantically searching for an escape. "You couldn’t have bypassed the seal..."

Aeon merely shrugged, offering his captive a final, mocking parting gift. "Who knows? I guess you’ll never find out. Sayonara."

With a simple thought, Aeon amplified his telekinetic grip.

"Arrrrrrrrrrrgh!"

The demon’s agonizing screams echoed off the cave walls as his bones shattered and his flesh compacted. Aeon showed no mercy, slowly and methodically crushing the demon’s physical form until it was folded into a compact, bloody, and mangled sphere of meat. He made sure the cultist felt every single second of the compression.

Before finishing the job, he reached out and snatched the demon’s storage ring.

’Seriously, what is wrong with me?’ Aeon mused inwardly, a wave of confusion washing over him. ’I literally own an entire omniverse brimming with boundless resources, yet I’m still looting storage rings off random fodder. This hoarding instinct has to be a because of my dragon traits.’

He shook his head with a faint chuckle. ’Oh well. Who knows if I’ll find something useful inside? It never hurts to have a little extra.’

With the execution complete, Aeon telekinetically hurled the bloody sphere against the far end of the cavern.

SQUELCH!

The meatball impacted the stone wall heavily. Right on cue, a telepathic transmission from one of his hidden shadows resonated directly within his mind.

’My liege, all remaining hostile forces have been neutralized. None are left standing.’

Aeon nodded in satisfaction, projecting a unified mental command back to his army.

’Excellent work. Return for now. However, I want three SSS-rank Nihilborn to remain stationed near Elysaria, Alex, and Anastasia. Furthermore, assign one EX-rank Nihilborn to Sophia. The rest of you, fall back.’

Though Aeon hadn’t deployed his entire army—utilizing only 1,500 to match the exact number of examinees—the rest of his legion had remained dormant within his shadow. The moment his orders were delivered, a collective chorus of compliance echoed back.

’Yes, Master.’

Within seconds, hundreds of dark streaks glided across the island’s floor, sinking back into Aeon’s boots. Meanwhile, the four designated high-tier Nihilborns slipped away from his shadow, darting across the forest toward their respective targets.

After witnessing tonight’s infiltration, Aeon wasn’t willing to take any chances. While it was crucial for his acquaintances to grow stronger through their own trials, there was nothing wrong with providing them an absolute life insurance policy.

Turning back to face the gory mass plastered against the cavern wall, Aeon smiled coldly.

"Descend."

The moment the command left his lips, a dark mist erupted from the blood. Not only did the demon leader rise as a freshly minted Nihilborn, but the other 199 cultists slain across the island materialized alongside him, joining Aeon’s ever-growing personal arsenal.

With that task finished, Aeon extended his hand. The jamming device hovered over to his palm. With a casual squeeze of his fingers, he pulverized the artifact.

Crack! Boom!

The instant the jamming device shattered, the island’s defensive systems snapped back online. Trapped students who had been frantically spamming their Astral runes suddenly vanished from the island in flashes of light, and some examinees who saw this quickly followed suit.

Simultaneously, up in the sky, the professors finally shattered the last layer of the external barrier, unleashing a monumental, deafening explosion that lit up the night.

CRACK! CRACK! BOOOOOOOOOM!

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