276 Terrible Angel
[POV : Gu Jie]
It was dark. She waited. Gu Jie’s palms rested on her knees, and she could feel her heartbeat quicken despite her cultivation. She knew why she was here, but that did little to calm the nerves twisting in her stomach. At last, the Ghost Soul’s voice resonated within the darkness, deep and steady.
“It is time.”
Light surged around her, a flood of warmth and power coursing through her body. Slowly, she felt herself drawn in, her will settling into the waiting vessel. Inside the Phantom, a hidden mechanism unfolded, embracing her into its heart. Formation arrays flared to life, runes crawling with brilliance, until vision and control were shared seamlessly between her and the Ghost Soul.
Gu Jie’s breath caught as she beheld the figure standing before them. A Tenth Realm cultivator, masked, clad in flowing pink, and holding an umbrella while balanced atop a grotesque floating eyeball. The very presence of this enemy warped the air itself. Her Destiny Seeking Eyes opened, and dozens of futures unraveled before her. She saw what could happen… victory, defeat, devastation… but one thing was certain: the Ghost Soul could match this enemy alone. Yet, today they were here not merely to survive, but to crush the opposition beyond recovery. Together, she and the Ghost Soul were unstoppable.
The masked woman raised her umbrella, blossoms blooming unnaturally in the void around her. Each flower tore open, transforming into blazing birds, their shrieks ripping through the qi field like hooks in flesh. They came from every direction, each bird carrying a mind of its own, swift and merciless. The Phantom dodged with minimal, surgical movements as Gu Jie directed its motions, while the Ghost Soul responded with volleys of Holy Smites, tearing the birds apart in radiant explosions.
But their foe was relentless. The umbrella twirled, and space split. A rift bloomed, and the woman stepped through, vanishing, only to reappear at their flank in less than a blink. Yet even that speed faltered against their unity. The Phantom’s hand shot out and closed around her form, crushing with immense force. She burst, not into blood, but into cascading petals that scattered and ignited, each turning into another shrieking bird that circled and dove.
Gu Jie’s vision tightened. Her Destiny Seeking Eyes showed the aftermath should those birds strike: the technique was laced with anti-qi properties, meant to unravel formations and cripple spells. The Phantom, brimming with runic enchantments and divine blessings, would suffer heavily.
But she had foreseen it. She had not been merely a Warlock, but a Paladin walking her own path. Her voice was cold as she invoked the spell. “Shield of Faith, entwined with Curse.”
The silver dome that blossomed over the Phantom ignited with black veining, twisting into feathery flames as the birds struck. Screeches filled the air as their power was devoured and reflected back in bursts of dark light.
Her eyes blazed brighter. With the Ghost Soul’s Divine Sense layered over her Destiny Seeking Eyes, the world peeled open. She saw not only the battlefield, but the enemy’s very core. Her hands moved the Phantom’s arm, sword rising high. Words whispered in her chest as the blessings layered one upon another.
“Cursed Weapon. Blessed Weapon. Holy Wrath. Repentance.”
The Phantom’s blade erupted with black and gold radiance. Gu Jie swung. The Radiant Arc split the sky itself, severing the masked woman and the massive eyeball in a single stroke. A shriek split the air, her form torn in half, yet the eye twisted into ectoplasm, dragging her into its mass in a desperate escape.
Gu Jie’s jaw tightened. Her vision blurred at the edges, the strain of using her eyes, of forcing herself against the might of a Tenth Realm opponent, was gnawing at her soul. She could not prolong this.
The delayed damage of Radiant Arc rippled, and the ectoplasm detonated into fragments of shrieking mist. Seizing the opening, Gu Jie and the Ghost Soul propelled the Phantom forward. Wings of silver bone and radiant feathers spread wide, every beat shattering the air as they accelerated with Zealot’s Stride, speed bordering on divine.
Her lips curved into a cold smile as she spoke with the Ghost Soul’s voice layered over her own.
“Dark Smite.”
And with that, the Phantom swung, unleashing the strike.
Black light wrapped in searing radiance cascaded outward, splitting the world in a pillar that roared through heaven and earth. The masked woman screamed, her umbrella flaring with thousands of talismans that ignited in succession. Blossoms bloomed in desperate defense, exploding into storms of birds that tore at the strike, but none of it held.
The Dark Smite pierced through everything. The umbrella shattered first, fragments scattering like falling petals. Her mask cracked, revealing only a fleeting glimpse of pale lips twisted in disbelief before the light consumed her. The giant eyeball under her feet bulged grotesquely, veins splitting before it too dissolved into smoke. With a final shriek, both cultivator and vessel disintegrated into motes, swallowed whole by the surging light.
Silence followed. Then the backlash struck. The sky above New Willow rippled like broken glass, clouds scattering in the wake of the Smite’s devastation. A crater formed in the plains below, smoking and charred, and the mercenary fleet that had once pressed toward the city was in tatters. Shattered soaring boats lay strewn across the sea, burning or sinking into the ruined earth.
Gu Jie panted inside the Phantom, sweat dripping as the strain of her Destiny Seeking Eyes weighed heavy. Even with the Ghost Soul’s strength woven through her, holding her ground against a Tenth Realm had taxed her body to its limit. Yet victory was undeniable.
The defenders of New Willow had shown the world their answer. A single mech, wielded by two souls, had erased an army and its champion.
“How are you doing?” asked the Ghost Soul.
“I am fine.”
Gu Jie’s cultivation realm remained unchanged within the Phantom. In truth, she was just as vulnerable as if she had been standing outside, yet the Ghost Soul radiated a steady confidence. He seemed certain that with their combined strength, nothing on this battlefield could overturn their victory. Gu Jie’s heart, however, did not share the same calm. Inside this armor of miracles, her fate still felt frighteningly fragile.
The city of New Willow erupted in thunderous cheer. From every home and hidden shelter, voices rang together, citizens crying out for their champion. Even without hearing them directly, Gu Jie’s Destiny Seeking Eyes showed her fragments of their joy from families embracing in relief, children pointing from rooftops, and elders weeping into clasped hands.
The Ghost Soul’s voice cut into her thoughts, steady and sharp. “Do not lose focus. The job is not yet finished. Military victory is only the first step. Now comes the true battle… diplomacy. We must ensure the world knows this was not luck or chance, but design. We must expose the hand that guided these fools.”
Gu Jie shut her eyes briefly, her thoughts steadying. He was right, but he lacked the one piece only she could provide. The Ghost Soul, for all his mastery, could not discern the single voice among the attackers that truly mattered, the one that had whispered in the dark, gathered fleets, and lit the spark of this assault. He could list every faction involved, dissect their motives, even predict their tactics, but the root inciter remained hidden to him.
“I am not perfect,” admitted the Ghost Soul. “Yes, I manipulated this situation, but it still lacks that final touch, one that you would provide. Now, let’s get this over.”
Even if the Night Blades multiplied their spies tenfold, they could not hope to rival what her eyes revealed. It was this very power of hers that once fueled the Grand Ascension Empire’s rise. Through the visions, Emperor Nongmin had carved political victories out of chaos and driven their technological leaps forward. And now, she would bend that same gift toward New Willow’s survival.
The Phantom shifted, wings of silver light unfurling. The formations within thrummed like a living heart, preparing to move once more. Gu Jie steadied herself, her nausea fading beneath resolve. The Ghost Soul whispered, “Then let us conclude this strategy once and for all.”
The Phantom burst forward, tearing across the sky at incredible speed, streaking northeast toward the perpetrator they planned to make an example of.
Mountains and rivers blurred into flowing shadows below, their majesty insignificant before the speed of its passage. Gu Jie sat within the heart of the construct, her breath steady yet her thoughts storming as fragments of possible futures flickered before her eyes. The Ghost Soul whispered strategies between pauses of silence, his voice echoing like a calm tide against her nerves. They cut across borders, scattering clouds with their wake, until the plains of the Wooden Spear came into sight, a kingdom small in territory but swollen with ambition, a perfect nest for vipers who believed themselves hidden from consequences just because New Willow was far from them..
The Phantom slowed down upon the Kingdom of Wooden Spear, its capital sprawling below. Its fortifications and banners stood proud, guarded by cultivators of considerable strength… Seventh and even Eighth Realm experts whose auras bristled with suspicion at the descending titan. Yet Gu Jie knew the truth. The Ghost Soul had played them like pieces on a board, nudging them into opposition, ensuring they committed themselves to probing New Willow. Now, the mask would be torn away.
The formations hummed within the Phantom as Gu Jie rose, her voice carried through Qi Speech and amplified a thousandfold by the mech’s runic arrays. Her words thundered across the capital, rattling tiles and echoing into every ear.
“People of the Wooden Spear! You dared to collude with mercenaries, pirates, and assassins. You dared to lend strength to a coward’s plot against New Willow. For your malice, you will be judged! A manifesto exposing your schemes will be made public. It will bear New Willow’s sanction. And from this day forward, you are barred from every tool, every craft, every invention born of New Willow’s technology!”
Her voice carried an unyielding edge, one born of certainty. Gasps and shouts erupted in the streets, cultivators whispering in disbelief, while the rulers of the small kingdom turned pale with fury. Gu Jie ignored them.
The Phantom drew its blade, silver wings flaring. With a single sweeping motion, she cast Radiant Arc. A golden crescent of destruction cleaved through the air, striking the colossal statue of the Wooden Spear’s ruler. The stone giant shuddered, cracked, and then collapsed into rubble, smoke and dust rising into the noon sky. The demonstration was deliberate, brutal, and undeniable.
Before the dust settled, the Phantom raised one palm, halos of silver light blooming behind it. Gu Jie’s voice was firm, almost cold as she whispered, “Holy Smite.”
Dozens of silver beams fell from the heavens, each striking the assembled of Seventh Realm and above around the Capital. Explosions of holy light carved trenches across the square, scorching banners and shattering tiles, while the targeted experts reeled under the force. They gasped in pain, blood rising to their lips, yet none were slain. However, their injuries were grave enough to remind them that the Phantom could have ended them in an instant.
Gu Jie saw there reaction from her Destiny Seeking Eyes.
“Mercy of the heavens… she could have killed us all!” a trembling cultivator cried, clutching his scorched arm.
“She spared us?” another whispered, disbelief breaking through his fear.
Civilians wailed from behind shuttered doors, their voices rising in panicked chorus: “The heavenly giant’s wrath! Wooden Spear is finished!”
An Eighth Realm master, refusing to bow to fear, rose above the rooftops, his aura surging like a storm as he bellowed, “Enough! I will not allow this humiliation upon our kingdom!” He thrust forward with his spear, qi blazing to engulf the Phantom.
Gu Jie’s gaze sharpened, her hand lifted without hesitation. A War Smite descended, chains of light binding the man in midair with a Halo of Restriction before she followed with a single slap delivered through the Phantom’s colossal arm. The blow landed with deafening force, sending the proud cultivator hurtling across the plaza like a broken doll, crashing into the far wall in a cloud of rubble.
A hush fell. The cultivators who had been so bold a moment ago dared not move, and the civilians’ frightened cries turned to whispers of awe and dread. The Phantom’s sword still glowed with unspent judgment, promising that Wooden Spear’s reckoning.
“Citizens of Wooden Spear, hear me. I am Gu Jie of New Willow. We did not come to slaughter your people, nor to plunder your land. We came to end the schemes woven against us in shadow, to reveal the hand that guided aggression to our peaceful land.” Her tone sharpened, as unyielding as the blade she wielded. “New Willow desires peace. We desire trade. We desire harmony with the realms. Yet know this truth, should you provoke us again, should you seek to strike our people under another banner of deception, we will not merely send a single warrior or a single weapon.”
The Phantom’s sword lifted, gleaming with faint arcs of golden light. Gu Jie’s Destiny Seeking Eyes showed her the fearful faces peering from windows and trembling in the streets. She pressed forward with her final words, the Ghost Soul lending weight to every syllable.
“We will bring the bulk of our city. We will demand compensation for every life lost, every home destroyed, every tear shed. And when New Willow comes in full, none shall be spared the reckoning of their choices.”
As the Phantom vanished into the horizon in a streak of golden light, a trembling civilian clutched his chest and whispered, almost in disbelief, “A terrible angel came… and we never even had the chance.”