Heaven, Earth, Me

Chapter 817: Cecile and Kali's struggle.

The following fight was registered as Kali and Cecile. After all, fight participants needed to be registered first.

Cecile and Kali looked at each other and saw in their eyes that they had no chance.

Individually, Kali and Cecile were no match for their opponents. Despite their strong synergy, it was clear that their combined strength was not enough to bridge the gap against two Level 5 Intent bearers as Yasenia did while wielding her Celestial Skills with ease.

Things would be different if they were at the same level, but you must remember that not only were these two more skillful, but the undead were similar to a powerful Level 6 Dantian Spiritualization Realm cultivator.

Their chances of winning without using Valeria were null. However, this didn't discourage them. Fighting a battle that you know is lost is often foolish, but in the current situation, not fighting it would be a shame.

The other side had only shown friendly vibes, so worrying about what might happen was not something they needed to do now. What they needed to do instead was fight, fight, and try their best.

Once they arrived, the judge appeared and presented both sides, starting the countdown right after.

Cecile and Kali looked at the two opponents, their eyes moving toward the waist of the two undeads. Seeing the swords hanging there radiating Death energy, they couldn't help but become wary.

Kali didn't dare hold back a single bit and used all her summoning skills, including her innate skill.

Around 900 creatures appeared around her in an impressive spectacle of strength. Her auras similarly unfolded, creating a world of flowers that surrounded everything.

Unlike other times, most flowers were white and blue in nature. The reason was Kali's slight tweaking to the skills to create ice-resistant flowers. Flowers in cold environments usually had that variety of colors for survival reasons and much more.

As soon as the flower field was unleashed, Cecile's auras also spread out, covering the place in a blizzard and a torrent of ashes. While you would think this impeded Kali's actions, they didn't affect her as much as they did to the opponents.

The plant creatures had other senses, which allowed them to see through the ash domain that was not aiming at them. Domains were mostly indiscriminate skills, but the cultivator had quite a lot of control over them. That's why they were used without fear during wars, as damaging allies with them was actually exceptionally unusual.

When the countdown dropped to zero, all the plant creatures rushed forward while the two undead recreated Yasenia's and Andrea's scene.

With extreme precision, their swords flashed one after another, creating flashes of light as plant creatures were sliced into pieces.

Cecile rained several powerful arrows toward them in hopes of slowing them down. However, they didn't do as much as she wanted.

Still, her attacks were not something that could be ignored, especially after Cecile used all her strength-increase skills and threw a barrage of what one would call meteors rather than arrows.

Powerful blasts spread while Kali and Cecile communicated and interlocked their auras. This time, Kali decided to step forward rather than be in the background, just buffing her army.

Against powerful single-target cultivators, an army could do two things. It either overran them, or it was not a big enough threat. In this situation, her summons were not strong enough or had enough lethality to pose a significant threat. Only the summons that she personally buffed with her single-target skills could somewhat resist the sword strikes.

When Kali mixed with the army and started using her skills, several large roots, stronger than the ones that had been summoned until now, started attacking. Not only that, her flower field gained an added thorn field while wooden walls were erected in the way of some of their attacks.

This slowed down their advance toward her, but rushing forward meant that she was closer. So,

Even then, they were not able to breach the defenses of the two Undead. Some attacks landed on them by luck, but the damage they did was not significant enough, making the Phoenix and Fox look at them while pondering.

One of the undead cackled. "Not bad, not bad! Continue! Attack more! I'm just starting to have fun!"

The other said coldly. "Focus. We need to finish quickly, or they might be able to surprise us like they did to Senior Brother and Junior Sister."

The first undead clicked his tongue. "Sure. Let's up our attack a notch, then."

Accompanied by dreadful winds, their aura surged and became sharper and deadlier. Their swords glowed with black death energy, and then, as they swung the weapons, trails of energy were left behind.

The second another plant was cut, a large part of their body was rotted away, giving a clear example of what happened when their attacks landed successfully.

Cecile frowned and used [Astral shift] aggressively, appearing at tricky angles while attacking with her most powerful skills. Her high mobility was used to the limits as her bow continuously tensed, sending a barrage of arrows per second that would look like a laser for a mortal looking.

This proved to be somewhat effective, as the two attacking Undead restrained themselves as they switched to a defensive battle.

Still, Cecile looked at the plant army that had been sliced in more than half in no more than 5 minutes with a large frown. 'At this pace, we will lose quickly.'

Kali who had been struggling to keep herself safe asked. 'Any ideas?'

Cecile's lips arched in a wry smile. 'How about using Valeria?'

Kali laughed. 'If you have enough energy to joke around, you are not pumping arrows fast enough!'

Cecile wanted to roll her eyes as she sent 20 consecutive arrows that curved through the air to aim for their feet, hands, and head.

The undead she aimed at moved, his quick reflexes kicking in. With a flash of his sword and ten quick slashes, the 20 arrows got deflected with incredible efficiency. He used the power behind the arrows to sometimes bounce his strike and hit other arrows in an incredible display of swordsmanship.

Cecile couldn't help but admire. 'Strong.'

The fight continued, and Cecile decided to transform into her phoenix form at the same time as Kali turned into her fox form.

Their bodies changed, and they became gargantuan creatures.

QYA~!

ROAR!

Now, in their beast forms, their strength increases exponentially. Although it was riskier because of their size, the reason Cecile avoided becoming a Phoenix in her one-against-one duel was the lack of support.

With the plant army, Cecile thought that it should be possible to take this form and attack.

She was right.

With both of them taking their beast forms and the remaining plant army holding the two swordsmen back, a rain of white fire and countless roots and wooden projectiles were thrown at them.

The fight quickly changed directions. The Phoenix circling above and the fox attacking from the ground combined into a powerful combo that become effective even on these high-level Undead.

The one with the cold voice spoke. "We need to close the distance. I'll cover you, don't miss."

The other undead nodded.

While attacks rained on them, the undead's eyes moved around as his spiritual sense covered everything. Every attack, every movement, every skill, and every breath appeared in his mind as the world slowed down.

Kali, who had a close link with life, felt a chill, and her muscles tensed.

The undead's sword glowed as his body exploded in an eruption of energy. "[Corpse King Death Slash]."

A black line appeared, crossing the army and rushing toward Kali's fox body. However, having felt it coming, the giant fox jumped sideways and avoided it. 'That was close-Huh!?'

Kali quickly wrapped her body in wooden armor, increasing her resilience as much as she could in the small time frame she felt she had.

Then, the other undead that had rushed through the void created by that slash appeared by Kali's side "[Corpse King Slaughter Strike]."

BOOM!

The giant fox's body was blown away several hundred meters until she collided with the side of the arena. Because of her size, she tipped over and fell on the other side of the wall.

Cecile's face became solemn. Seeing a fox as large as Kali flying was quite an impacting sight. Her keen eyesight caught the undead that attacked Kali, quickly moving toward her, and she dove down.

However, she realized too late that the undead's lips had arched the moment she descended to help Kali. A whisper entered Cecile's ears. "Gotcha."

The other undead appeared right above her, making Cecile's eyes quiver once. 'When?'

BANG!

The enormous phoenix was slammed downward, and the Undead that hit Kali appeared by Cecile's side, his sword touching the feathers on her neck.

Cecile's giant phoenix eyes looked at the petite creature, and she spoke while munching her words. "We lost."

The other undead landed by Cecile's head side and showed a slight smile. "Well fought. I think you should've transformed earlier. The domains and auras got stronger in your beast forms."

Cecile slowly stood up with the help of her wings, the large cut on her back quickly regenerating. "I agree."

The Undead who hit Kali laughed. "A woman of few words."

They all heard a few heavy steps and saw Kali slowly approaching, still in her fox form. On her side, there was a large cut that was similarly healing. "Well fought, seniors."

The two nodded and spoke a bit more with the two giant beasts. They were kind enough to let them know what they found challenging and what they found easy to deal with.

Cecile and Kali gained a few insights, and they both bowed their heads in respect. "Thank you for the guidance, seniors."

After acknowledging their thanks, they turned around and left.

Cecile looked at the fox, and Kali smiled. "Well. This makes it 1-4, right?"

Cecile nodded, her beak moving up and down. "We lost."

Kali approached and used her head to rub on her feathers. "Don't be so sad. We made it to the top 64. That's really good."

"Hm. I agree. If we found them earlier, we would've lost."

Kali blinked. "Actually, we might've not. Yasenia wanted to gain a respectable place, even if the top positions weren't in her sight. So, Eira and Valeria would've probably participated."

Cecile blinked. "Fair point."

Kali smirked. "So, don't worry. First, let's heal these wounds before we turn back into our human forms. Then, we need to prepare for what's about to come."

Cecile blinked. "Meaning?"

Kali snorted. "What Yasenia has been doing in the background. Haven't you noticed that she has been building up everything?"

Cecile laughed. "Have you forgotten what I am to Yasenia?"

Kali paused and laughed. "Right."