Adam tumbled over the ground from Iris's violent push, coming to a stop only a few dozen yards later. The ground where he had been standing now was cleaved apart, and a sharp trench was carved for hundreds of yards. Adam stood up as quickly as possible and returned to Iris's side, unsure of what was going on. His wary gaze shifted in all directions, although he was unable to see ayone.
"Who are you?" Iris asked warily with a grim expression on her face. She could tell that the attack had meant to take Adam's life, with no mercy at all. Her gaze lingered on two youths who were standing a short distance away, who stepped out from behind a large boulder and made themselves visible. It was two human cultivators, one male and one female.
They both wore blood red robes with white designs, the designs depicting human skeletons drowing in blood. Malicious smiles lingered on both their faces, as if they were staring at prey to be slaughtered at their whim. She did not recognize the designs, and Iris's gaze became even more grim as she noticed both of their cultivations; Late Heaven Tribulation.
"Hehehehe, your attack actually failed to hit a Meridian Forging youth," the female sneered at the male, who had apparently been the one to attack.
"Tch, he got lucky is all," the male replied with great displeasure, his gaze locking onto Iris. "It was her who helped him dodge it. She somehow managed to notice my attack immediately…not bad," he continued as he eyed her up and down.
"And she's quite beautiful as well. It would be a pity to kill her right away," he said while staring directly at Iris and licking his lips, his actions completely perverse and unashamed.
"If you won't kill her, I will," the girl harrumphed, "but first I'll scar that pretty little face of hers," she continued, clearly displeased that Iris's beauty eclipsed her own.
"I'll ask again, who are you?" Iris asked, her tone cold and grim.
The two youths ignored Iris as their gaze shifted towards Adam, who stood next to her. Their malicious smiles turned into amused one's as they noticed his demeanor of trembling fear.
"Look at him. He's trembling so hard that I'm surprised he's still able to stand," the girl mocked.
"The Honorable Alliance sure is beyond pathetic," the boy scoffed, "not only do they send a Meridian Forging weakling into these lands, but this one trembles in fear at the mere sight of us. How pathetic."
Iris's eyes narrowed as she glanced sideways at Adam, who had pure fear on his face. Clearly he knew something.
"What is it?" Iris asked.
"For…Forbidden Alliance," Adam barely managed to mumble out. He was well studied about the Divine Martial Continent due to his time in the Starforge Clan, and recognized the robe insignia's as one of the sects that belonged to the Forbidden Alliance.
"What?" Iris exclaimed in shock. She knew the two before her were enemies, but did not expect such a frightening origin. Two daggers suddenly appeared in her hands as she stared at the two Forbidden Alliance youths.
"Run," she whispered gravely to Adam without looking at him. "I'll hold them off for as long as I can."
Adam stood there in place, as if he didn't hear her commands. His body continued to quiver and tremble in pure fear, as if just standing was all he was capable of. Iris's expression turned grim as she noticed him not leave.
"I know you're afraid, but you need to gather some courage and ru-" her voice cut off as she gazed at Adam, and her eyes widened slightly. A formation disk had appeared in his trembling hands, almost as if he was preparing to fight alongside her.
"What are you doing?" Iris asked with great agitation.
"I…won't…leave you to fight these two alone," Adam managed to reply through chattering teeth.
Iris's eyes went wide, as despite his obvious fear, Adam was willing to stay behind with her despite the sure-death odds. It was a far cry from what he had been doing previously, and his actions shocked Iris to her core. Normally she would be happy to see him regain some of his courage like this, but all she felt was sorrow, as Adam would be throwing his life away. She could tell why the change had happened within Adam, but still wanted him to run. With him running, there was at least a chance she could buy enough time for him to escape.
She was about to chastise Adam, when her eyes shifted slightly as she stared off into the distance for a brief moment as an almost imperceivable shimmer appeared behind the two Forbidden Alliance youths.
Che!
Che!
Without warning, two flashes of light seemed to pierce out from nowhere. The two attacks happened almost simultaneously, and carried an incredible sharpness, as if it could cleave through anything. The eyes of the two Forbidden Alliance youths went wide for a moment, but lost focus as their head's tumbled from their bodies and fell to the ground below.
"Ahhh!" Adam cried out in shock at the sudden sight of the two being decapitated, as he had no idea what was going on.
Iris's gaze lingered on the imperceptible shimmer of space behind the now dead youths.
"You!" she exclaimed.
The shimmer slowly coalesced into the figure of a black robed youth, who made his presence visible to the two of them.
Number One's calm eyes stared at the two dead Forbidden Alliance youths at his feet for a moment, before they shifted towards Adam and Iris. His gaze lingered on Adam for a moment, and he shook his head as if he couldn't understand his actions.
"Moronic," he chastised, as if speaking to a child, "you could do nothing in that fight, and all your presence did was hold back your friend. You should have left when she told you to."
"What are you going to do here?" Iris interjected before Adam could reply, as while Number One was right, they were now safe. Adam had finally regained some courage, and she didn't want it to shatter once more after hearing Number One's words.
"And thank you for the help," she quickly followed up after realizing her words had been confrontational after Number One had saved their lives.
"Why did you enter this final area?" Number One asked, ignoring Iris's question and asking his own.
"What? Why wouldn't we?" Iris asked in confusion, but her gaze shifted towards the two dead Forbidden Alliance youths, and she quickly realized something terrible was going on.
"The top geniuses from the Forbidden Alliance, Monster Race, and Barbarian Race have invaded this final realm area," Number One replied, getting straight to the point.
His words caused both Iris and Adam to cry out in shocked unison.
"What?"
"How is that possible?"
"No one knows how it happened," Number One replied, his voice quite monotone as if the dangerous invasion did not concern him greatly, "only that it did. Thankfully these two were some of the weakest of that bunch, or their deaths would not have been so easy to ensure."
His gaze shifted to the corpses for a moment and then quickly stored them away, before he looked at Adam and Iris once more.
"The Heaven Scrying Sect replaced the Jade Dragon List with warnings of their invasion, and for those who have yet to enter this final area to stay away. Why did you not heed the warning?" he asked.
Iris quickly took out her Jade Dragon List jade piece, and inspected it. As Number One mentioned, it now contained only a warning of the dangers, and to stay away if at all possible. Those who had yet to enter the final trial area were the weakest of the bunch, and no amount of their numbers would be able to help. They would only be throwing their lives away.
"You never read the warning," Number One said as he realized what was going on.
"I…." Iris muttered, almost too ashamed to reply.
"You were afraid that if you read the list, you would find out your friend has died," Number One quickly put two and two together.
"Yes," Iris replied, her voice and face downcast after realizing the situation, as well as bringing up John.
"Wait…why are you still protecting us?" Iris asked as she thought of something. She knew John had planted a soul-slave contract on Number One, and had most likely instructed him to protect them at all costs, but soul-slave contracts would vanish if the one who had planted it had perished.
"Does that mean…?" Iris asked, unable to finish her sentence.
"Yes, your friend still lives," Number One replied, "and the soul-contract has become even stronger. I can tell he's broken through to the Heaven Tribulation Realm as well."
Iris felt pure relief flood throughout her body after hearing that not only was John still alive, but had also become much stronger. Her relief washed away as she heard a confused voice sound out.
"Still alive? Are you talking about John? I thought John was safe?" Adam asked with complete confusion. He could immediately tell that things were not how Iris had described them.
