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"Tree, I can't make a portal out of the ash, my spiritual sight only spreads so far, and I can't even tell which way is up or down right now. Can you make me a way out?" Stella said through their telepathic link.

Ashlock realized he had been so focused on securing Kassandra's corpse that he had forgotten to make a portal for Stella to leave the swirling ash. Mobilizing his spatial Qi by using his Progeny as a proxy, Ashlock could materialize a stable portal within the dense ash.

Stella seemed to have a lot on her mind as she absentmindedly walked through the ash toward the portal leading her back to Red Vine Peak. She was about to enter when Ashlock noticed something emerge from the ash.

"Watch out!" Ashlock shouted in Stella's mind.

She was snapped awake from her stupor just in time to notice a spear of pure void Qi cleaving through the ash and rapidly losing size as it deleted the ash from existence.

Stella's eyes widened as she threw herself to the bloodied sand below and barely managed to avoid the deathly silent attack.

It narrowly passed over her head, tore straight through the portal, and eventually fizzled out as it cleaved a few more meters through the ash. The portal naturally collapsed on itself with a hole carved through the middle, leaving Stella facing Elder Lilian Voidmind, who had been searching the ashen storm for her.

Lilian's eyes narrowed as they traced Stella's black thorn tattoos.

Without even saying a word, like a grim reaper, Lilian coated herself in void Qi that made her look like she was covered in liquid shadows, and stepped forward.

She vanished.

"Void step," Ashlock warned Stella, "Cover your flanks."

Ashlock debated creating another portal to help Stella escape. But if the Voidmind Elder followed her before he could snap the portal closed, then Stella's chances of survival would drop drastically. She had the best fighting chance in the ashen storm that was drenched in his spatial Qi and near his Progeny.

"Shit, where is she?" Stella panicked through their link as her soul fire flared up, and she tightened her grip around the bloodied dagger.

"I don't know," Ashlock cursed. Even with their environmental advantage, this was a void affinity Star Core cultivator with the sole goal of capturing Stella, "I overheard Dante's conversation with Elder Lilian, and her orders are nonfatal capture, so she is unlikely to use lethal attacks."

"That doesn't fill me with much confidence," Stella snapped back as she desperately glanced around, "Can't you do anything? One wrong move, and she could kill me."

"Not while she is hiding in the void," Ashlock replied. When the Elder showed herself, he could attack her with {Consuming Abyss} or his spatial Qi. But for now, all they could do was wait.

"Larry get over here," Ashlock called through their tether, "We need your help."

A few tense moments passed, with Stella flinching at every little movement within the ash. Her eyes darted as she kept moving, ensuring she never exposed her back in one direction for too long.

Suddenly a pocket of ash right behind Stella vanished, and in its place was a void Qi-coated woman. Stella didn't even have time to react before the Elder tried to reach forward and grab the back of her neck.

Ashlock's mind kicked into gear as he did three things simultaneously. Multiple badly formed Qi-dense portals that led to nowhere formed between Stella and the Elder. Each shattered as the Elder punched through them, but each shaved off a layer of the void Qi coating the Elder's hand.

By the time the Elder managed to grip Stella's neck, Stella could flare her soul flame to make the Elder reel back. The ground cracked open, and a black vine coated in thorns and ending in a spike shot out toward the Voidmind Elder alongside a surge of void tendrils.

Ashlock also attempted to cast {Abyssal Whispers} on the Elder, but the void Qi surrounding her consciousness was impossible to penetrate. However, that didn't matter. His objective had been achieved.

Stella stumbled forward while gasping for air because her neck was briefly grabbed, and Lilian was left fighting against Ashlock's onslaught.

"Agh!" Ashlock winced as the Elder grabbed his aflame black vine with void-coated hands and ripped it apart, tossing the decapitated spike to the sand.

"Void Qi is so overpowered," Ashlock cursed as he decided to fight fire with fire and sent in his own void Qi attack, only to be left bewildered as the Elder easily grabbed the tendrils sent out to kill her and began absorbing his void Qi.

In the corner of his eye, he saw his sacrificial credits begin to drain. "Shit, how can she do that?!" Ashlock canceled the skill to stop giving her more precious void Qi to work with, but that left him with a problem.

Within a few seconds, the Elder had ruthlessly ignored or overpowered his attacks, leaving Stella defenseless.

The Elder surged forward like a haunted shadow—Stella didn't have time to conjure up a portal to escape, so she brought up her hands, and when the Elder was but a hair width away, she unleashed a barrage of purple lightning she had absorbed from Kassandra.

Superheated ash pushed forward by a bust of spatial flames and lightning gave Stella a second of space to stumble backward.

Ashlock didn't waste time and opened a portal above the dazed Elder. Before she could react and void step away, Ashlock commanded Bob, the slime Ent to fall through the rift and land on top of the Elder.

Lilian seemed to sense the imminent threat a moment too late as she glanced up to see Bob's giant foot descend upon her. She punched it to the side with a void-coated fist, but rather than deleting or exploding the threat as she was likely expecting, the grey slime's leg was only smacked out of the way and began to take on a black hue.

Remembering how Lilian had absorbed his void Qi tendrils, Ashlock cast {Consuming Abyss} on Bob and watched his sacrificial credits rapidly drain as hundreds of tendrils emerged from the black lake and linked up to Bob, pumping him full of void Qi.

When Ashlock deemed enough void Qi had been exchanged with Bob, he withdrew the void lake to prevent the Elder from stealing any more void Qi from him, as one of the best ways to deal with void cultivators was to force them to waste their precious Qi reserves.

Bob uttered a strange cry as the grey slime with a slight lilac hue rapidly transitioned into a titan of looming darkness.

Lilian seemed baffled as she stepped back from the strange monster she had encountered in the ashen storm that still violently swirled around her.

"Bob, I'm about to create a portal to evacuate Stella, don't let that void lady anywhere near it," Ashlock commanded as his spatial Qi rippled through the area and tore open a rift right beside Stella.

His only concern was getting Stella the hell out of there.

Bob honored the order by lowering his body and encircling the suddenly formed portal—Stella dashed through, and the second the tips of her aflame hair had gotten through, Ashlock closed the rift, only to see it become corrupted with void Qi and notice the Elder was missing.

"Shit." Ashlock cursed. His fears of the Elder following Stella through a portal came true despite his best efforts to hold her back for just a brief second.

***

Stella stumbled out of the portal with fear she hadn't felt in a long time. She felt capable of facing most cultivators within the Star Core Realm, but something about the void element and its indisputable lethality sent shivers down her spine.

Gathering herself, she noticed the portal had led her to the tunnel entrance just behind the demonic tree that Ashlock was currently inhabiting. The ashen storm was just as prevalent here as it violently rustled the tree's leaves. Stella gave the tree a brief nod before turning her sights to inside the dark tunnel where she could see the Redclaw Grand Elder, Sebastian, and Ryker staring at her.

They all went wide-eyed simultaneously, and Stella heard Ashlock shout into her mind, "Behind you!"

Stella didn't even need to turn to feel the immense gravity of the Elder baring down on her. Without thought, she threw herself to the ground and, shifting her body, glanced up at the Voidmind Elder standing over her.

"The Young Lord wishes to ask you some questions," Elder Lilian said calmly as she reached down, "So I will need you to come with me."

Stella watched Lilian grab at her with inhuman speed, but a blast of crimson flames pushed her back and ate away at the void Qi rippling across her skin.

Lilian conjured a javelin of void and hurled it at the Redclaw Grand Elder assisting Stella, forcing him to cancel his flamethrower attack and dodge to the side.

"Stop getting in my way!" Lilian seemed genuinely frustrated as she reached down and grabbed Stella's arm. The void Qi burned through the purple flames protecting her, searing her skin. As the two met eyes, Stella held back her screams of pain and activated her earrings as a last-ditch effort—her eyes became swirling abysses, but Lilian just sneered in response.

"Little girl, I stare into the abyss every day in hopes it will stare back." Lilian's eyes dimmed, and Stella felt a terrifying chill spread throughout her body, distracting her from the burning pain, "You think anything you can do or know would scare me?"

Stella was about to give up hope as the Elder pulled on her arm to try and force her to stand when she saw the void-corrupted portal behind Lilian collapse and then reopen—through the unstable rift, Stella could see many red eyes.

"Mistress!" Larry roared in the ancient tongue as his giant body emerged from the portal, and immense pressure bared down on everyone. The ash orbiting his crown of horns spun so fast it generated its own gale.

Lilian collapsed to one knee under the pressure, and Stella found herself totally floored on her back and unable to lift her head. Since when had Larry been this strong?

The surrounding ashen storm seemed to obey the will of its master as tons of dense ash smashed into Lilian, sending her tumbling to the side with a groan.

Stella strained her neck and managed to catch the enormous back of Larry as he crawled through the storm toward Lilian, who was struggling to stand under the surge of ash and immense pressure.

"Stay back!" Lilian shouted as she failed to stand on two feet, "My master will know of my death! Spirit beast, you would do well not to anger him."

"I only fear one master," Larry said.

"Spirit beast, I don't understand—" Lilian screamed as Larry opened his maw and dragged her inside with the furry pincers on either side of his mouth. There was a brief struggle as Lilian attempted to escape death, but the thick ash coating Larry easily absorbed the void Qi.

Stella's eyes widened—there was a sickening crunch, and the chilling scream abruptly stopped. A moment of silence passed as the storm calmed and the pressure subsided.

Larry slowly rotated to face Stella and the Redclaw Grand Elder, dragging Lilian's limp feet across the stone steps of the colosseum as he moved.

Stella gulped as she saw the Voidmind Elder that had terrorized her with a giant fang impaling her skull. Dead.

***

Dante Voidmind frowned at the void crystal in his hand.

Cracks had suddenly formed on its surface, and he could feel its power dimming.

I can't imagine an artifact my father gave me would be so cheap to break on me like this?

"Elder Lucian, do you know what's wrong with the Void Caller?" Dante asked the man standing on the floating sword beside him. The two of them were observing the chaotic ash storm from overhead and keeping an eye out to make sure nobody important escaped the vicinity.

"Mhm?" Elder Lucian had been using his superior cultivation to blanket half the city in his spiritual sense in search of anything interesting. Reeling it back in, he turned to look at Dante and then at the crystal.

He blinked in disbelief, "Young Lord, what is the status of the other Elders?"

"How would I know? They are within that darn ashen storm that blocks out everything."

Elder Lucian shook his head, "Dante, do you know how the Void Caller works?"

Dante frowned, "Father explained it briefly. All I had to do was insert some void Qi to call forth any who would answer the call."

"As you well know, void Qi allows us to cross great distances in a mere moment by traversing the void that lies beyond the physical realm," Elder Lucian explained, "The Void Caller allows you to call upon us from anywhere over any distance, but it has a catch."

"Which is?" Dante began to grow irritated. It was clear these cracks were a bad sign.

"We have to return to our point of call," Elder Lucian raised his hand and brought attention to a faint tether of void Qi between his fingers and the crystal, "For the price of instant movement, we can only remain here for so long and must pay our debt back to the void."

"So, the cracks?" Dante insisted, "What do they mean?"

"One of the Elders has perished, and the artifact took on damage as the void forcefully took back its debt." Elder Lucian said coldly, "If another Elder dies, the artifact may shatter."

Dante clicked his tongue, "Incompetent fools. How can a carefully raised Elder of our great family perish in this backwater city?"

"Perhaps it was your uncle's doing?" Elder Lucian suggested. His tone was as cold as the Void Caller in Dante's palm.

Dante paused.

It's possible, but all of this is strange. The void tendrils that killed Theron Skyrend were beyond my father's capabilities, so it could only belong to a void cultivator in the Nascent Soul Realm. So if it is truly Uncle, why has he not come to greet me? And what hatred could he possibly bare against the Skyrend family to waste so much precious void Qi on eliminating their heir?

Dante narrowed his eyes at the swirling ash. Something on this level also didn't belong to this realm. Had Uncle teamed up with someone to hunt down the Skyrend family?

Let's think... the only things the Skyrend family are known and regarded for are their arrogance and capability to defy the heavens.

Dante's eyes widened as he murmured, "Defy the heavens..."

"Young Lord?" Elder Lucian asked, "Is something the matter?"

Dante waved the Elder off, "Nothing, just keep an eye out for any more Skyrend family members."

Elder Lucian gave him an odd look but returned to his spiritual sight.

For Uncle to triumph over the curse on our noble blood and break the shackles that bind him to this realm, there would be no better family to ask than the Skyrends. Is Uncle murdering them so the secret doesn't reach Father's ears?

Dante understood it might be a leap in logic, but he couldn't fathom another reason for this nonchalant display of power against a random family like the Skyrends.

Just what is his angle—

The Void Caller in Dante's hand exploded, devouring his hand and sucking in Elder Lucian.

Dante blinked at his stump and watched the sword Elder Lucian had been standing on fall down into the ashen storm below. His mind was totally frozen in shock.

What had just happened? Are all the Elders dead? And where the hell did his hand go?