In the far distance a visible and world-altering change was occurring.
The great purple-black Xylarri rifts which had been a constant, sickening torrent of alien soldiers began to falter. The flow which had been a steady nonstop flood began to stutter. Then, as the ten beasts’ collective aura reached its crescendo, the non-stop torrent of Xylarri slowed... to a trickle... and then one by one they stopped.
The rifts themselves began to visibly shake, as if in agony, their edges wavering and shrinking under the imnse divine pressure. As suddenly as it had co, the crushing pressure was gone. Those stuck to the ground slowly began to get up.
"They've... they've stopped..." a soldier gasped, pointing with a trembling finger.
"The Xylarri... the flow is stemd!" Grand Elder Corvus said, his voice hoarse and stating what monts ago would have been impossible.
Rylan was trembling as he got back up. "The legends... they are true..." he choked out, his voice filled with awe.
"What legends?" Theron grunted, his gaze fixed on the ten now silent beasts in the sky.
"Legends within the Gate Keepers... a tale from the founding of the Keepers," Rylan panted. "That the world itself had guardians. Protectors that would co in tis of desperate need. I've lived a very, very long ti and thought it was a myth!”
“A story of hope to keep those in desperate tis going! But they said they would only awaken when the world itself was threatened with extinction. I've never... never dread... and yet here they are. Summoned by those three things that ca here."
Theron continued to look at the beasts in the sky, a new understanding of a story he had never heard from the Gate Keepers before. "The Forest, too," he said, his voice low and intense. "One of our greatest warriors long ago... he was found half-dead at the edge of the Cursed Bog. He claid he was saved by a beast."
Li Yu's gaze locked on the Qilin as he heard those words.
"He could say no more," Theron continued. "A seal was placed upon his soul, preventing him from speaking of it. All he could tell our ancestors was that a 'beast' had saved him, and that... in our darkest hour, we should not despair, for help would co. I thought that was simply a fae story used to keep morale high during tough tis. But… it looks like he was... he was telling the truth."
As this new world-shattering event settled over them a new terror appeared.
From the direction of the now-quivering Xylarri rifts, a massive surge of purple aura flared. It was not a swarm but a concentrated and horrifyingly potent wave of energy that shot across the sky towards them.
"To arms!" Theron roared, his voice cracking like a whip. This ti, the army stood. They ready their weapons for the battle to co. It was a forest of steel and fear as the purple wave bore down on them. Arrays and formations blared into life as everyone got ready.
The beasts in the sky and the three things did absolutely nothing. They simply waited there for the wave to arrive, as if they were expecting such a turn of events.
After a long while, the purple wave arrived. To the surprise of those below it was not an army. It was thirty-three purple Xylarri.
They stopped a good distance away from the circle of divine beasts and were hovering in the air. Li Yu’s blood ran cold. He knew this type. They were like the leader of the ambusher. The one with the soul-attack.
Almost each one of the Xylarri was distinct, a unique tapestry of horror. One was a behemoth of black-purple chitin and blades, its form like a living executioner. Another was slender, a wisp of purple shadow with dozens of glowing insidious eyes. A third was a living fortress, a great blubbery mass of armor and tentacles. Only a few were alike while most were distinctively different looking than the other.
Li Yu’s eyes locked onto the one that looked sowhat similar to his ambushers. He was readying himself for a cruel and possibly last battle against these thirty-three. If the beasts do not stop them, this could an the death of everyone here today.
Despite coming in a hurry and with their auras flaring, the thirty-three Xylarri leaders did not attack after they arrived. They hovered and their leaders began to... gesture. Their multi-jointed arms and mandibles clicked and whirred, not in nace but in what looked, impossibly, like a conversation with the beasts and the Anti-Duplex.
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The cultivators on the ground watched, their hands white-knuckled on their weapons, their minds completely unable to process the scene. The Xylarri, thought to first be a mindless, screaming and xenocidal swarm was found to be organized and had leadership. Then now they were witnessing another sight that would have been impossible just a month ago. The Xylarri looked to be parleying with the gods.
After a long mont of this silent gesticulation, one of the beasts finally spoke. It was the Vermilion Phoenix, its voice a symphony of feminine, fiery song that was nonetheless laced with cold annoyance.
"Begone from this land and this world. If you stay for any longer, I will not be polite."
Another voice joined, this one from the Twelve-Tailed Fox. It was a lilting, lodic and dangerously playful female tone. "I agree with my sister," she sang, though she was clearly not its sister. "Your presence here has made us wake from our sleep and it is a big pain. Leave, before I get angry and kill every last one of you!"
The other eight beasts roared in clear agreent, a wave of sound that sent fresh shudders through the defensive walls.
In response the three beings that were thought to be the Anti-Duplex, moved as one. They raised their hands and each one produced a small clear crystal. The crystals began to glow, humming with a power that made Li Yu feel incredibly small and weak.
This finally triggered the Xylarri. The lead Xylarri, the great chitinous behemoth, screeched and all thirty-three charged at once.
They didn't make it very far. They slamd full-speed into so kind of invisible barrier, bouncing off it like insects hitting a wall.
The lead Anti-Duplex figure, its dual-toned voice now flat and cold as the void, finally spoke again. Its overlapping, male-female words echoed in every mind.
"Begone from this world. I am giving you a chance to leave alive and not further the wars any further. Push this anymore and I will sacrifice and pay the heavy price. But all of you... will die today."
The threat was absolute. The implication of a "heavy price" made it clear that even for this being, destroying them would be costly. Which made the threat they were facing even more terrifying. It wasn’t clear what the “heavy price” would be but no one, on any of the sides, wanted to find out.
The thirty-three Xylarri leaders slowly backed away from the invisible wall. They seem to understand what that being was referring to.
They began to turn, their forms crackling with frustrated energy as they prepared to retreat to their dying rifts. But as they did, one of them stopped.
It was the one. The one that looked similar to Li Yu’s ambusher.
It turned its purple multifaceted eyes and was scanning the army of standing cultivators below. It pointed one of its long arms down at the crowd. It was impossible to tell from this distance but its arm seed to be aid... in the general direction of where Li Yu was standing.
The Xylarri leader then turned back to the Anti-Duplex and began to gesture, clicking its mandibles, clearly making so kind of request. How they were talking to one another no one below knew but they everyone was curious to what was going on.
The Anti-Duplex leader paused as everyone held their breath. As though they were waiting for divine judgent to co down, one way or another.
Then, the dual-toned voice echoed again, this ti with a note of... curiosity.
"Okay. I will allow it. You can go with your 'traditions.' However, try anything... and you and all your kind will be buried here today. You should understand that tricks will not work here."
The purple Xylarri leader bobbed its head in what looked like a nod. Then, as the invisible barrier seed to open just for it, it angled its body and shot downward. It was like a purple cot heading straight for the First Defensive Line.
The army tensed up with their weapons raised. ‘Could it be that those beings are letting this one fight us?!’ Everyone thought all at once but the Anti-Duplex leader spoke again, its voice now directed at one person.
"Young boy, down there."
Li Yu’s heart stopped. Every eye on the defensive line—human, demon, and cultivator—seed to naturally swivel towards him. It was as though there wasn’t a doubt in anyone’s mind about the “young boy” in question. Who could it be but Little Crab whose fa had long spread among everyone present.
"You will be presented with a gift," the Anti-Duplex leader’s voice echoed. "That one... it says it can sense the aura of its kind on you. The only one of them that ca here is now missing... was its... in your terms... a 'sworn sister.'"
Li Yu's blood turned to ice realizing what he ant. The ambusher...
"As per their tradition, you are to be rewarded for your... 'kill.' However, it also ans you have been targeted for death by all others of their kind. Refusing this ‘gift’ will not make any difference in that regard. You can accept the gift. There is no harm or tracking to it. I have checked. And I will keep my eye on it until you receive it."
The Xylarri leader was now hovering just a hundred yards away, its multifaceted eyes locked on Li Yu.
But it wasn't the only one.
This entire, bizarre, personal interaction had drawn the attention of one of the divine beasts. The Qilin had been watching the Xylarri. Now, its head swiveled to the young boy. Its ancient erald-green eyes, deep as the first spring, passed over the army... and locked onto Li Yu.
A flicker of recognition. A jolt of surprise.
'So,' It thought to itself. 'The little one that interrupted my sleep a few tis. He has made it this far. Impressive indeed. He is truly... not normal.'
And as the Xylarri leader began its slow, ceremonial descent towards Li Yu, the Qilin also broke from the circle and began to descend. Its hooves of green light treading the air, coming to et the boy it had helped a few tis for their first official eting.
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