Chapter 395 The Troubles Never End (Part 2)
After Aster closed his eyes, they reached the exit of the dimensional tunnel, and appeared right where they left before.
The ruler of Galatia, Julian, his uncle Egil and the bodyguard Oscar where already waiting for them.
Vivian was happy to see her uncle once again, but as she approached him to tell him how she was now able to somewhat control her body constitution, the illumination on the whole place dimmed down, as a huge shadow was projected from the sky.
"Mm?", everyone raided their heads to look at the sky, and couldn't help but be surprised to what they saw.
A huge red rock gate with twisted faces engraved on it appeared in the sky, then as if the faces were announcing the arrival of someone important, they started crying blood and screaming as the gate opened, to leave a coffin came out of it.
A coffin… of four hundred meters large per one hundred meters wide, black coffin with red formations engraved all over it, to be more accurate.
The lid of the coffin opened and it was then when Aster opened his eyes, because not only him but everyone could feel the ominous sensation coming from inside that coffin.
Kana's little arms unconsciously tightened their grip on Aster's body, to which he simply patted her head to calm her down.
Of course, he could already tell this wasn't part of Julian's plan, given how much he was frowning, so he secretly did some preparations, better safe than sorry after all.
Then under Julian's surprise-stricken face, a few figures left the giant coffin and descended from the sky, until they landed a few dozens of meters from Aster and the others.
Among the newcomers, there were four people who stood out, two Law Integration cultivators, one Sea of Knowledge and someone who he couldn't decide how to classify, Aster's senses told him the last member of the group had put a foot in the Heavenly Realms just like Julian and Egil, but something was off, if he had to say this guy was stronger than them… together.
The Law Integration were wearing white masks, the Sea of knowledge was wearing a gray mask and the one who Aster judged to be a Heavenly Realm sealing its cultivation, had a black mask, their get ups consisted in those masks, robes that made a set with them, pants and a shirt as well as bandages covering all their exposed skin, including their necks, legs and arms.
The others were six Genesis Manifestation cultivators, all wearing red masks with similar outfits to the others.
"Kekeke, look what do we have here, it seems you were right Demon Child of the east, according to our deal you'll get what you asked in exchange for offering us such a "feast", to enjoy", said the black masked guy to the gray masked one.
Julian seemed to connect some points as he said.
"Demon Tomb Sect, you guys are from the maximum evil sect of the Mystic Talisman Heavenly Quadrant, what the hell do you want here… no actually how did you bump into this secluded place in a wasteland?".
Julian had a face which said that he both wanted and didn't want to hear the answer to his question.
The black masked guy laughed as he clapped his hands.
"Demon child of the east, why don't you answer to this poor bastard's question?".
Then the gray masked guy tapped his mask and the left half of it detached, revealing the face of a young man, nothing special if not for the fact that it looked basically like a younger version of Julian.
"Hi, it's been a while father", said the gray masked guy.
Julian's face paled a bit, as he mumbled.
"Joseph… what are you doing with that bunch of psychopaths".
The gray masked young man, who turned to be Julian's son, Joseph Galatia shook his head.
"Psychopaths you say, unlike you who always put a stranger first than your own flesh and blood, regardless of his achievements, talent and desires, here I'm treated fairly, as long as one's isn't a piece of trash who can't use its cultivation, there is no limit to the respect one can get", said Joseph as he stole a gaze at Vivian.
"I travelled for the past 20 years and once day when the spaceship where I was, was attacked by some spirit beasts a senior who was sitting near me killed them all, then he taught me the real prowess a cultivator has, the power to oppress others to deprive them, to fulfill one's desires, then I woke up".
"If I was stronger, then I wouldn't have been received this horrible wound that still feels like a living hell every time I remember it, so I trained until my bones all broke, healed and trained again, all to recover what was stolen from me".
"Luckily unlike you I'm not stupid, so before leaving home I left a little gift in your spaceship which I was sure you would never throw away, you wouldn't have told me where this place was after all".
The more Joseph talked, the darker Julian's expression became, his son who left home with the purpose to atone for his actions and to cultivate until his 30th birthday, where he would gift him a spirit herb that would heal him completely, returned not only earlier but as a member of an evil sect, one of the four which were on par with the rulers of the Heavenly Quadrants.
"Now don't look so angry father, unlike you I'm not so unfilial, hand the treasure that was hidden in this place to me, as well as the one responsible for all my suffering and after you pledge loyalty to the sect, everything will be fine, I'm one of the four Demon Children, so I have a lor of Transcending realms cultivators at my disposition, you can lead them, so you will still be a ruler in that sense", said Joseph with a bright smiling expression.
Julian finally couldn't hold back anymore, the ground cracked under his feet as his peak Law Integration pressure started radiating from him.
"Stop this nonsense now Joseph, I don't know what those guys have told you, but they are just manipulating you using your resentment, it wouldn't be the first time they target the Stellar Systems of the Dragon Legacy Heavenly Quadrant!", shouted Julian.
"It seems senior Demonclaw was right, he can't even see his wrongdoings", said Joseph as he shook his head.
The black masked man laughed as he pointed at the right piece of the mask Joseph still had.
"Show him, what you have achieved using your own fists, claim what's rightfully yours".
Joseph nodded and then he took out the right piece of his mask, to reveal that half of his body was completely bandaged, once he undid the bandages the reactions were varied.
Aster who was preparing for the upcoming battle didn't really care, but even he had to admit, it was a strange sight.
Joseph's right side of his face, was covered in scales, but this weren't like the scales of reptiles, but more a mix between skin and bone plaques, besides that there were large slightly melted patches where there was normal human skin, probably part of what Joseph once looked like, but they were minimal now.
Also, Aster noticed Vivian had an angry expression, and that was a lot to say, considering how she always kept her cool, both of her shoulders had started to show poisonous patterns on them, he noticed that her legs had started to give in so he placed his right hand on her left shoulder.
Vivian whose attention was drew by Aster's action, turned to see him and the patterns on her shoulders slowly faded away, which helped her return to normal.
"Thanks…", she mumbled with a slightly flushed expression.
That little interaction didn't escape the eyes of the group from the Demon Tomb's sect of course, especially Joseph whose eyes were bloodshot right now, the one he wanted to punish and see being miserable was now having a good time, ignoring him, it rubbed him the wrong way, as some memories from the past flashed through his mind.
"Senior no need to waste more time, we used the blood portal to open a temporal breach in the natural division of the Heavenly Quadrant, you can do whatever you want with them, but the white-haired woman is mine… apparently the treasure isn't with her though", said Joseph with a hatred filled voice.
The black masked man nodded.
"Don't worry, I will thoroughly "inspect" all of them, someone will spit the treasure I'm sure, what a shame if I want to lay with those unfortunate witnesses, I will have to deal with the righteous ruler of Galatia", he said with a mocking voice.
Silence fell on the place for a split of a second, then as if someone gave the greenlight all the fights started.
Julian against the black masked guy, the old Egil and the bodyguard Oscar against the two peak Law Integration cultivators, Mylene against three of the Genesis Manifestation red masked guys, Iris's two maids who could fight, against two of the red masked guys, Camila and Iris against the remaining red masked guy.
And lastly Vivian against Joseph, why did Aster didn't participate you ask, first Vivian told him to let her fight Joseph and second because there were more people descending from the coffin which they now knew was a treasure similar to a spaceship, but without any other function than transportation, probably because it needed all the formations to resist the tension of crossing through a breach within the natural barrier that separated two Heavenly Quadrants, instead of using an inter-quadrant space gate, because those were under the control of the ruler families.
And most of them were either Star Tribulations as well as Mortal Transcending realm cultivators, so he couldn't just leave Kana alone.
The strongest fighters knew they would blown away the whole area if they stayed, so they all raised into the sky until they reached the outer space, to continue their battles.
In exchange the Genesis Manifestation level fighters, just took some distance from each other, before they released their Genesis Cores.
Also, for the first time Aster got to see Vivian's cultivation at her prime, now that she didn't have to suppress her own body as much as before, she unleashed her soul cultivation which was at the Spirit Trial realm, while her energy cultivation was also at the Star Tribulation realm, though she couldn't use it as much as she wanted.
Joseph released his Sea Attribute and charged towards Vivian, his weapon was a black Warhammer, while Vivian had a violet silk ribbon, similar to what the dancers of some cultures used to dance back at earth.
The group of "small fries", who were just arriving weren't using masks, and they all had ragged clothes but fierce expressions, apparently belonging to the lowest echelon of the Demon Tomb sect, some were missing an ear, nose, a leg or an arm.
Aster snorted, though his reserves of annihilation were still pretty low, there was something he hasn't done in a long time, which was perfect for this situation where he has to fight a bunch of trash.
"Big brother?", Kana felt Aster dragging her to his side, while he also kept Iris's maid who was wounded and couldn't move much near them, before a golden dazzling sound covered them all.
The mob from the Demon Tomb sect had to close or cover their eyes for a split of a second, but then they all felt the hair of their backs stand on their ends, so they forced themselves to open them.
Something they immediately regretted, these men who at this point would barely be considered human, after all the atrocities they had committed actually felt their legs wobble due the figure that was projecting a large shadow that covered them all.
But who could blame them, what they were experiencing was something engraved deep into every being's genetic code, something that no one can get rid off no matter how strong they become… the fear to the unknown.