Chapter 273 - A Prelude
The festive aura that had colored the atmosphere of the various powers that were gathered in sh.i.p.s around the door of the First Hell slowly began to dwindle as more and more powers knew of the deaths of their disciples or trainees.
Many of these powers had various ways to keep track of the status of their disciple, the number of those facing death quickly becoming known as murmurs began to spread throughout. They could all feel it- something was different about the Infernal Hunt currently taking place!
"Too many of our disciples are losing their lives, and too quickly at that!"
"Something is wrong, our Core Disciples would never be taken down this easily. We need to send others in to investigate."
Various interstellar sh.i.p.s were sending communications back and forth as disorder continued to increase, with no answers in sight as the being responsible, the Infernal Aberration, reaped the lives of trainees and disciples so fast that not a single one had been able to come out alive from the encounter.
This was true, until just recently!
A distraught disciple from a Sect in the World of Cultivation was teleported back to their ship, and they returned with great fear in their faces, their body being greatly injured.
After they were healed, terrifying words came out of their mouths that allowed for the observers around to finally get a grasp of what changes had occurred in the First Realm of Hell.
"A-...An Infernal with power much higher than the Void Fimmerment realm is in the First Hell!"
"What!"
"Impossible!"
Unbelievable shouts were released from those that heard the words from the distraught disciple, as they directly violated the one rule all of them understood about the Infernal Hell- the fact that any being higher than the Void Fimmerment rank would be rejected from the First Realm of Hell.
The Saint Realm disciple shook their head despondently as they released defeated words.
"I- I watched my fellow disciple ripped apart in less than a second, the only reason it did not get to me too was because I cowardly activated my medallion the moment Senior Sister Judy died in front of me."
The Void Realm Elders of this organization listened to the account of their disciple as their gazes hardened, sharing this information with the other powers surrounding them as they quickly began to move.
Though it seemed unbelievable and against established knowledge they knew, they quickly acted as the organizations that could contact their disciples through unique ways sent messages for them to use their teleportation tools to quickly return.
Those that did not have ways could only look on anxiously as they felt the lives of more and more disciples quickly snuffed out. Unease began to spread amongst the various powers gathered around the door of the First Hell as they did not know exactly what to do!
If the information was true, this meant that even if the Elders of the various powers at the Void Firmament Realm entered to try and save their disciples, they would be facing a similar situation of battling a terrible infernal that was a rank above them. Hesitation filled their faces as they did not know how to proceed, but this did not last long as an oppressive aura could suddenly be felt rushing towards them from a certain direction.
The various powers turned to a particular direction as they felt the aura of a ridiculous level of power they normally never came across rush towards them. Only a second passed before this aura became visible to the n.a.k.e.d eye, arriving with grandiose fashion it shimmered gold.
It felt like a blazing being had torn through space and arrived near the door leading to the First Hell as they stood valiantly in space, their aura wildly pulsating out and making many of those nearby feel and oppressive force pushing down on them.
The light slightly dimmed as those watching finally saw the image of a wizened old man serenely standing in space. The gaze of the old man glanced at the door of hell briefly before it turned towards the Interstellar Sh.i.p.s around it, peering through all the layers as it honed in on the figureheads of the powerful forces lying within.
Soon after, multiple figures at the Void Rank could be seen coming from their sh.i.p.s as they gathered around this powerful old man. Their gazes were those of tension and slight fear as they came closer and closer to him, hearing a resounding voice traveling through space and into their ears.
"An Aberration has appeared in this Infernal Realm, one that the disciples will not be able to handle."
The tense gazes of the Void Rank finally gained some understanding as they connected the dots with the words of the frightened disciples, with one of the Void Rank figures, Elder Spacewarp of the Profound Astral Sect, taking the initiative to ask.
"What can we do?"
The gaze of the powerful Celestial Grandmaster landed on him as he craned back, hearing a reply soon after.
"The Aberration cannot be left alive, while the disciples still in the First Hell need to be saved. You all..."
His gaze pointed towards each of the Void Rank figureheads as he continued.
"...will be going in personally to help take down this Aberration."
The expressions of the powerful beings became tenser as they heard this, one of them voicing out with a low tone,
"Esteemed Sir, we would sadly just be fuel for this Aberration to grow stronger. Our power isn’t-"
"Hush."
A simple word caused utter silence in the surroundings as the Celestial Grandmaster raised his hands, multiple golden lights releasing from his fingers as they descended into the bodies of the Void Rank Elders and Leaders of various powers.
OOOM
A holy golden light descended onto the bodies of the figureheads as golden runes became etched into their bodies, feeling an overflowing abundance of strength overflowing through them as they looked at their own bodies in shock.
"You are now acting as my Incarnations, capable of descending into the First Realm of Hell because of your levels of power, yet being able to use much more with your temporary status."
The figureheads at the Void Realm felt tremendous strength flowing through them as they looked towards the Celestial Grandmaster with shaking hearts.
"Quickly go in and meet up with Athena. She will guide you all as you face the Aberration. Failure will not be an option."
The figureheads of multiple powers nodded their heads as they became accustomed to this new feeling of strength, their figures turning into streaks of light as the golden light covering them pulled them towards a certain direction.
A slight wrinkle appeared on the Celestial Grandmaster after he used a tremendous amount of essence to descend some of his will and power to create the Incarnations, but this wrinkle was quickly wiped away as his body returned to its vigorous power in less than a second.
His gaze now went back towards the doorway leading to the First Hell as it peered through the various layers and tried to discern what was happening inside.
---
In the Infernal Realm that was the First Hell, Noah had his eyes closed in the Spiritual Land as he was actively using [Insight] once again. Working in conjunction with the Vampyre Prince, they had successfully taken down another two Celestial Disciples, which would only leave two more, Athena and Drax.
He wanted to see if he could decipher their location by observing multiple possible pathways when he came across a particular pathway that made him open his eyes in shock.
The Skeleton Knight that was conversing with the Vampyre Prince about their next direction adopted a difficult expression as the golden flames danced in its eye sockets, the undead surrounding it coming to a halt as Prince Cassius peeked out of his blood bubble and asked.
"What’s wrong?"
His question was only met with a rapid movement of essence as he spread out his senses to discover the Undead Legion around him slowly fading away as the Abhorred Lich Emperor waved its golden Skull Staff and sucked them into an unseen space.
Noah’s voice contained a tone of somberness as it rang out again while this process was occurring.
"Huge change of plans. Multiple Void Realm beings are soon entering the First Hell, and each of their bodies holds a sort of power that resembles a technique of Celestials."
"What?!"
Prince Cassius asked with surprise as the Undead around him all but disappeared as if they never existed, with the Lich turning into a streak of light and disappearing soon after, only the bloody bubble that he was in remaining in the air.
His senses perked up as in the next instant, the figure of a being that was somewhat famous in the World of Cultivation, the well known wastrel of the Profound Astral Sect, Crixus, appeared in the air next to him.
"You?"
...