The Dawn of the New World

"Mercy for the weak!" Matheo bellowed. He was floating 50 meters above the runway as six orbs of bright lights hovered above his body like angels, raining down endless spiritual energy into his armor and weapon.

"Mercy for the poor!" he tightened the grip around the Ax and swung it around in an arc, sending a crescent moon shaped energy towards a gigantic gargoyle of at least 20 meters in size.

The gargoyle let out a sharp screech and opened its mouth, spraying a green mist in response. The mist came into contact with the crescent-shaped energy beam, swallowing it whole. Arcs of green lightning surrounded the crescent energy and started breaking it down, stopping its advance.

Matheo was running out of breath and Qi. The fight had only been going on for less than five minutes but he could barely stay afloat. This creature in front of him was his exact opposite. Its abilities completely countered his own, leaving him no choice but to continue fighting a losing battle.

Matheo looked around and his expression worsened upon seeing the condition of his men. Of the initial 27, only 22 were left alive and almost all of them had serious injuries, yet none of them backed off.

They fought tooth and nail, not even letting the pirates near the last barrier. He let out a deep breath and closed his eyes while holding the Ax in front of his face.

"Mercy for the Rich!"

*Bzzzt*

The size of the Ax suddenly started expanding, stopping at nearly 15 meters. And as it did, the energy that was coming off it multiplied by more than 5 times.

The grotesque gargoyle's pupils shrunk as it stared at the Ax warily. It flapped its massive wings and backed up almost 50 meters, staring at Matheo from afar. Its sharp claws shimmered under the occasional moonlight that escaped the net of thunder clouds surrounding them.

"Hehe, relax, it's not for you," Matheo smiled looking at the cautious beast. The Gargoyle suddenly realized what he meant and let out an ear-splitting scream aimed at the numerous pirates below. Almost all of them looked up at once with questioning gazes but soon got their answer.

The gigantic Ax in Matheo's hand turned upside down, its blades facing the crowd below.

"NOW! GET BACK!" Matheo shouted as he loosened his grasp around the Ax, letting it fall down like a meteor. Almost all of his men knew what that skill was and were ready for it. They all leaped back at once and entered the barrier just before the Ax fell.

The pirates obviously had no idea what was going on and simply stared at the massive Ax with wide eyes. Unlike what they had expected, it didn't explode upon impact but shattered like a mirror. Its thousands of shards turned into dazzling rays of light and shot out in 360 degrees around it, sparing no one.

The gargoyle knew it was something bad so as soon as the Ax started its descent, it flew more than 500 meters away yet even then it wasn't completely safe. A couple of rays of light reached it before it could even blink and passed through its body like butter.

Unfortunately, the injury wasn't life-threatening, only spraying putrid blood all over the ship. The lights vanished and a desolated and bloody runway came into view.

Everyone outside the barrier was dead. There was not a single thing alive. That one attack had killed hundreds of pirates at once but at a great cost.

"COMMANDER!" a couple of cultivators ran out and caught the body falling from the sky. Matheo's face was pale white and he looked a few years older. That last attack had drained every little bit of energy in him.

"Run....go...its....useless.." he said weakly while looking towards the right. The others followed his line of sight and saw more than 26 new ships landing on the other side. Dozens of pirates had already jumped out of the ships before they could even land and were staring at them with bloodthirsty eyes.

"Run..." Matheo repeated but his weak voice was barely audible due to the ship's thrusters.

Of the two cultivators, one was a 20 something-year-old bald man with two black and red maces as his weapons. He stood up and walked a few feet forward, standing between the pirates and Matheo.

"Take the commander into the barrier, I'll hold them off!"

"But dear-" the female cultivator holding Matheo tried to speak up but was cut off.

"GO! This is an order!" he yelled without turning back.

The maces lit up with numerous sigils and faint silhouettes of 8 palaces appeared behind his back, making him look even more imposing.

The female cultivator had tears in her eyes but she gritted her teeth and obeyed. She carried Matheo and started running back towards the barrier. A few pirates saw that and ran to interrupt her before she could reach her destination.

The bald man swung both his maces, bringing them down on the ground. A wind wall erected in front of the pirates, pushing them back as soon as they came into contact with it.

"Around it!" one of them shouted and started running once again. The bald man raised the maces again but before he could bring them down, a shadow appeared above him, blocking off the light.

He looked up and saw the gargoyle staring at him with a toothy maw, about to lunge at him. He gritted his teeth and continued his attack, successfully managing to erect another wind wall.

But now it was too late for him to dodge.. He could feel the air move and a hideous silhouette appear from the corner of his eye.