The Artisanship Commission was in ruins — not that it wasn't in ruins already. Massive claw marks stretched around the earth like great canyons, cargo containers crushed or thrown dozens of meters from their original position. Sparks of lightning that hadn't fully dissipated lingered around, jolting between short distances.
The booming sound of thunder echoed like a Divine declaration, as the violent clangor of glass — or perhaps ice — against keratin and steel rang throughout the battlefield in an unpredictably distorted rhythm.
Sunny twirled two spears around him at magnificent speeds, parrying and deflecting each and every one of the deadly blows coming his way. He weaved between wild bolts of lightning, relying on his shadow sense to react to the sudden birth of light. He was in no way able to dodge lightning, but within the short amount of time that Jing Yuan spent creating it, he was at least able to predict where it'd fire and dodge accordingly.
Even so, things weren't looking too good.
Throughout the fight, Sunny collected multiple wounds, having decided to stop using the Silent Mist's defensive enchantment unless he wanted to run out of Essence. Multiple cuts and bruises could be seen across his body, creating a gruesome image that was immediately countered by the elegant blooming of lightning scars. They crossed and weaved together, forming beautiful patterns along the pale contour of Sunny's skin.
Too bad it came with a heavy price.
With each shock Sunny received, not only was he put closer to death, but his senses would begin to dull. His vision has started to blur, his sense of smell had began to dull, and his hearing was not what it used to be. The insidious effects of Jing Yuan's Ascended Ability were beginning to show, and he hadn't even been struck by any direct attacks yet.
Hell, even his shadow sense's range was beginning to lessen!
Far away, Fu Xuan was distracting Jing Yuan's weapons, here mere existence forcing the possessed man to fight two battles at one. Occasionally, she would snap her fingers, swapping positions with Sunny and forcing the General to switch up his approach. She managed to avoid the onslaught of lethality, but it was clear that she was struggling to keep up.
The jian managed slip in behind her, aiming for her delicate back with its deadly blade—
When a javelin of aureate energy crashed into it from the sky, sending out a quake of force through the earth and sky. Golden cracks spread across the jian blade, expanding outwards until...
It shattered, breaking off into sparks of white light.
Fu Xuan, having predicted this outcome, suddenly experienced a sense of freedom. Holding back the magnetically controlled weapons was much like battling another human — a testament to Jing Yuan's sophisticated usage of his Aspect.
However, just like battling other Awakened, one rule remained the same. The difficulty of survival increased exponentially with each opponent added.
The inverse was true, as well.
But now... it was too late for that. Jing Yuan was an exceptionally powerful foe. As a Transcendent Emanator of The Hunt — though, he couldn't use the Lightning Lord when possessed by a Denizen of Abundance — a single mistake could have been irreversibly fatal for either Sunny or Fu Xuan.
The latter was a diviner first, combatant second. She fared better than most noncombatants would, since her Aspect did have some applications in battle, but the amount of violence she could reasonably release upon an enemy who has survived countless warzones, was... not anything exceptional. Sunny surpassed her in that regard.
But what Fu Xuan had wasn't her fists, which she slammed into Jing Yuan's flesh a few times to no avail. No, it was information.
Very, very dangerous information.
Like how at this very moment, sixty seconds after Sunny stabbed Jing Yuan for the first time... the General's strength plummeted.
And Sunny felt it, because of course he would. The tiger limped slightly for a short moment, as if unprepared for the fact that he needed to apply more force to stay standing.
That was Jing Yuan's Flaw. Once he was wounded in battle, he had sixty seconds before his strength began to drop. In order to defy this, he had to kill the one who wounded him within those sixty seconds. If he fails to do so, he would continuously grow weaker and weaker, before eventually falling down to the level of an Ascended.
Naturally, the Flaw wasn't a permanent one. If Jing Yuan disengaged from combat, his strength would slowly return, but it still took time, which left him vulnerable.
It was a Flaw that forced Jing Yuan to end his enemies as swiftly and efficiently as possible, ideally before they even noticed he was there.
...The moment the Heliobus comprehended that their strongest vessel was losing strength, it stopped playing around.
Holding nothing back, the damned ghost unleashed all of Jing Yuan's power in its full glory.
'What the—'
Lightning drowned out his vision. Thunder deafened his ears. Energy danced around the battlefield violently, released without restraint from the depths of Jing Yuan's soul. Sunny tried to dodge as best he could, which meant that he was constantly being grazed and assaulted by dreadful pain every time a bolt so much as brushed past him. At the same time, he was wary of turning into a shadow, as his soul was far more susceptible to attacks than his body.
Sunny's footsteps carried the silent grace of a killer as he flexibly avoided the worst of the damage. His twin spears — one the original, and one the shadow of the original — met Jing Yuan's guandao, Starfall Reverie, in a clash of ultraviolence. Sunny staggered against the Saint's disastrous might, but found himself grinning.
He would have collapsed if he blocked that directly just a bit earlier.
Which meant the Flaw was working.
***
Cirrus wanted to possess these two lunatics. Truly, they did. Unfortunately, they just wouldn't be able to receive the chance.
Possession was a process that required the target to be caught off guard. Moreover, if they revealed even a hint of resistance during the process, a Heliobus could easily be forced out. That was why targeting humans when they were asleep, or simply when they felt safe, was the best option.
Unlike with Jing Yuan, neither of those conditions could be met with the Master Diviner and Starkiller.
So, Cirrus found themselves having to kill them. Losing Jing Yuan's body would be very wasteful...
Which was why Yanqing was being sent out to back the General up.
Or, at least, he was. Until a blindfolded woman came up, stabbed the eerily tenacious boy a dozen times, then muttered vague words about the healing factor of Yaoshi's 'Son.'
She left, leaving Yanqing lying in his own blood, very much alive.
...Cirrus was growing tired of all this nonsense. All they wanted to do was wage war against the Sovereign, but no, because all of these extra side characters felt the need to start taking down their bodies!
Then, they decided... that was it. They were going to take a nap. And once they woke up, everything would be as they wish it to be.
***
'Did... did he die?'
Fu Xuan stared hesitantly with closed eyes at the slumbering body of Jing Yuan. The white tiger breathed deeply as he peacefully curled up on the ground, acting as if he wasn't just trying to kill Sunny and Fu Xuan.
Her consciousness brushed over the unmoving Transcendent. She turned her attention to the head for a moment, before turning away.
"H—Hey! Don't ignore me! I'm stuck!"
The elegant Master Diviner breathed out a deeply irritated sigh, before sharply turning back.
"You are. And what do you expect me to do about it? Do you really believe a lady of my standing would stoop so low as to pull you out of the tiger's very literal mouth?"
"...Yeah, pretty much."
Sunny's head, which was poking out of Jing Yuan's mouth, suddenly shook.
"I mean, it isn't like I got stuck here on purpose. King Yuan was about to eat me, but suddenly went to sleep! See? I almost died, so you need to help!"
Fu Xuan scowled in response, before gently hopping over the slumbering tiger's paws. Then, she grabbed Sunny by the neck. He paled, realizing that she was going to remove him from the maw in the most painful way she could.
"Woah, woah, that's going to hur— argh! My neck!"