Maiden Of The Splitting Moon

Rallying her troops, everyone's morale had risen as they shouted and readied themselves for another attack. 

"Come on, let's try again!" Xuan Yin called out to Ming Yue but her mind was elsewhere. 

On one end, she knew that an attack of such caliber could just end the same way. But on the other hand, could the Idol of Chaos protect itself against another attack?

She looked at her friend, locking eyes with each other before building up her power. She burned through it quickly, watching as the Idol of Chaos rose up into the air and began throwing lightning bolts down at the camp. 

On their side, cannon shots and various techniques soared through the air, bombarding their enemy. 

When she could barely keep her energy together, Ming Yue attacked, creating an arc of energy even larger than the last. Xuan Yin followed with another shot but it was different from her last technique. 

"Carp Dragon Dance!" 

The arrow soon transformed into a fish with a dragon's head, roaring out loud as it rode on Ming Yue's attack. 

The Idol of Chaos had long noticed the strike and moved its hands forward. It crackled and zapped before a ray of lightning shot out from his hands, taking on the combined technique. They clashed for a few moments but just like before, Ming Yue's attack dispersed before the dragon-headed fish was destroyed. 

And the ray of lightning came down, striking the barrier with a resounding ring. 

"It's not working... we need to try something else!" Xuan Yin thought quickly. 

Out of all the techniques she knew, which one had the best chance of injuring the Idol of Chaos?

All the while Ming Yue's mind replayed that scene several times over in the span of seconds. It was as if she regressed as she could no longer injure it. She knew something was wrong in her attack, there was something missing from it. 

But what?

Power wasn't the issue, it couldn't be. She used even more this time than the last few times, she attacked the Idol of Chaos. 

What was the problem? What was she missing?

"Think, in order to master "Return to Simplicity", I have to be able to perfectly merge all of the different forces within myself. To send out a casual strike equal to a finishing move. Think, think!"

Ming Yue wracked her mind over this, a wall that she could not climb over. 

She had the power and the technique down, what was she missing?

"What about the attack itself?" she thought. 

In her past attempts, she had always drawn out as much power as possible merging them together to release a powerful strike. But that was the wrong way to approach it. The core of this stage is to make a casual strike equate to a finishing move. 

But she had treated it as a finishing move.

It was flashy, powerful, magnificent, but was it simple? Was it something she could bring out casually? 

"That's it, isn't it? The execution... I need to refine it."

Suddenly, she understood what needed to be done. But, how could she do such a thing at a time like this? In the middle of all of this mayhem?

There were thundering booms and explosions all around the camp as the Idol of Chaos continued to summon more lightning. Everything but the camp had been turned to ash. Even the marshes seemed to smoke as the waters evaporated, leaving behind the dead corpses of animals. 

And out from the shadows of remains was a hooded figure, quietly watching the battle from afar. 

"Nearly there. So long as they do not notice, I can awaken the body, I can reclaim it from eh Hundun Clan. It just needs to be weakened."

Enshrouded by his hood, Ling Hun's red eyes glimmered for a moment as he quickly made his way towards the battle. 

And at this time, it was a stalemate. 

The camp suffered no casualties through the help of the barrier but they could not injure the Hundun Clan's Idol. Neither side had a method of dealing with the other. Even Commander Yu Zhen could only knock the Idol of Chaos back several steps. Injuring it was a much different story. 

Everyone attacked, everyone but Ming Yue, trying to think of a way to improve her technique. 

"A casual strike... it won't work unless I'm up close. But with that barrier, I'd turn to ash before I could even reach it. That barrier has to be dealt with first."

She then formed a Blasting Gale, shooting it right at the Idol of Chaos. But like the others, it was destroyed by the barrier. 

Narrowing her eyes, Ming Yue distanced herself from the others before creating several wind needles. They were both small and thin, almost as thin as a strand of hair but not so fragile. 

"How about this?"

With the flick of her wrist, she shot them, aiming for the neck but nothing happened. Trying again, even more wind needles were created, a dozen of them this time and they shot off. 

As they flew through the air, some were destroyed by the shockwaves while others were taken care of by the barrier. But then, one of them made it through, nicking the enemy in the neck. Lightning sparked out as the Idol of Chaos clutched the wound. 

"You dare!"

With its other hand, a massive bolt of lightning shot down from the clouds, slamming into the barrier. 

But it was too late, everyone had seen the wound. 

"We're doing it! Its defenses are weakening! Don't let that thing recover!"

Yu Zhen continued to bark out orders as she swung her saber again and again. Wind blasted at the Idol of Chaos, battering it around. She had long since left the barrier's protection, keeping the Idol occupied. 

She was extremely quick, evading every attack of her opponent. Each lightning strike missed her by just a few steps. 

"Insignificant heathens! Do not prolong what has been ordained by chaos! Perish and rejoice!"

The Idol of Chaos had found itself in a dire situation. No matter how powerful it was, it was impossible to endure all of this damage, not when it couldn't retaliate. But at the very least, it would kill Yu Zhen. 

"Hurry, load the cannons! And... FIRE!"

When the bombardment seemed to come to a pause, all one hundred cannons shot at once, producing a sound equal to that of a hundred thunderclaps. One hundred rays of destruction all aimed at the Idol of Chaos. 

This time it tried to dodge, flying to the left. 

"Oh no, you don't! You're staying right there!"

Unfortunately for it, Yu Zhen, the Windy Saber, wasn't going to let it escape so easily. She flew towards the Idol of Chaos before swinging her blade, smacking it right into its body, and throwing it back into the crossfire. 

Before it could even react, all one hundred shots landed squarely on its body, smashing it to the ground and into one of the swamps. Water and steam erupted as the swamp slowly disappeared, burning up through the Idol's body.

"Load the cannons again and wait for my mark!" 

Yu Zhen shouted as she floated in the air, closely watching where the Idol had landed. Everyone did as she told and soon a hundred cannons began to hum with power. 

"I'm going out to check."

Ming Yue muttered to Xuan Yin as her armor shifted to its second form and ran off. 

"Wait, what? Hey, wait, I'm coming too!"

The both of them along with their pets all left the camp and headed towards where the Idol of Chaos's body was. Running through the devastation, their eyes stayed on the steaming swamp before seeing bolts of lightning shooting out. 

With the steam quickly dispersed, they saw the Idol on its knees with another figure standing over it. Their heads were on its head, turning black from touching it. However, strange energy flowed out of his body as Ming Yue quickly realized who it was. 

"The disciple!"