Angelica's face twisted with a mixture of disbelief, unwillingness and anger. This couldn't end like this! She had come personally! How could something with her name attached to it end in such failure?!
If anyone heard Angelica's thoughts, they might assume she was a little mad. From the moment she had stepped onto the battlefield, little more than ten minutes had passed. So what if she came? The outcome was set the moment Egan underestimated Delia. The two of them had too little wisdom in controlling a battlefield. In fact, controlling a battlefield was something very few young geniuses were good at, even when the Gods were taken into account.
There was a reason the eleven most elite God geniuses were chosen based on their ranking for the third, fourth and fifth trials, but not the first and second. Dyon was the only one who managed to perform outstandingly on all five, which was why despite not having displayed his power for all to see like the other ten, his name was still able to instill fear into the Flame Rebirth Sect geniuses.
The frustration wasn't Angelica's alone. Rina and Vale who had been fighting Madeleine on a backfoot this entire time also felt like all hope was lost. They were first ranked geniuses, yet they could do nothing to change the outcome. All they'd managed to do was lose their cool in such embarrassing fashion.
Suddenly, their expressions became even worse. This entire time they hadn't needed to worry about the poison, but the tower arrays magically whirred to life, completing its calculations in a moment and shifting its momentum as the defending and attacking armies switched places.
Instantly, an already unfavorable battle fell into even worse straits. It was almost as though they had stepped into a universe that wasn't their own and their battle power dramatically dropped.
Because most of the armies were made of essence gatherers, but the poison was tailored toward saints considering this was a Saint Gate, they were immediately hit, losing as much as 80% of their battle power in the blink of an eye.
The saints were slightly better off, but still lost anywhere from 10-20% of their battle power as exactly that amount of their energy went toward warding off the poison.
A bloody slaughter ensued. Unlike the Flaming Lily Sect army, the former defending army didn't have any solid plans for retreat, and with Angelica brewing in anger and their commanders either encased in ice or embroiled in battle, there was no one to give them any direction!
Angelica's eyes became more and more cold. She didn't care about the deaths happening around her, even though many of them were Golden Crow Sect disciples, they were far too lowly for her to spare care for. As for those of their allied sects? She cared even less. Considering their first ranked disciples were so useless, how could their canon fodder be any better.
'You.' Angelica looked up into the skies at Madeleine's beautiful figure. If she could kill Madeleine, wouldn't this all be solved? 'No. Killing her will just bring down the wrath of God Sacharro. If I capture her though, we can exchange her life for God Sacharro to stop interfering.'
Although others didn't know, Angelica knew why their Key Wielder hadn't used his key wielder abilities to unilaterally change the cultivation cap of the gate. One could imagine how devastating their surprise attack would have been had they suddenly changed this saint gate to a celestial gate and sent experts in for a swift attack.
Usually, key wielders wouldn't do this for fear of garnering the rage of the combined attack of the other sects and clans in their quadrant. Plus, conquering a gate didn't necessarily mean you would conquer the universe at the other side. However, obviously this wasn't the reason that held the Golden Crow Sect back, after all, they had allied with the other notable existences in their quadrant.
It was because Angelica knew this hidden reason that she was so worried about Dyon showing up. The God of their sect had already become a celestial, and even if he hadn't, Dyon's status as a God was obviously far above of his. Dyon was one of the eleven most lauded Gods, while the God of the Golden Crow Sect wasn't.
Either way, if Dyon appeared personally in a Saint Gate, they wouldn't have anyone capable of stopping him. Even if they sent their top ten ranked disciples to fight him at once, it was impossible. That didn't even mention how powerful his Demon Generals were. For all Angelica knew, he had even more powerful Demon Generals he hadn't bothered to send.
If the Golden Crow Sect had known about Dyon's relationship with Madeleine first, they might have prepared a few more years before acting, or maybe they would have even decided to share the spoils of their discovery with the Flaming Lily Sect. This was the level of prestige a God had.
Unfortunately, what was done was done. The Flaming Lily Sect didn't reveal this trump card of theirs until it was already too late, and now they could even use this as an opportunity to switch the key wielder of their quadrant.
To say the situation was bad was an understatement. With the foothold the Purple Flame Tower provided, attacking the Epistemic Tower was a hundred times easier. If they managed to also conquer Rainbow Flame Tower, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Almost as if designed by the heavens, the moment Angelica thought this she received a letter that burned into existence.
'Senior Apprentice Sister Crow! They're attacking Rainbow Flame Tower! We can't hold on!'
Angelica completely trusted these words. The distance from here to the Epistemic Tower and further toward the Rainbow tower was too far for normal communication devices. But, these burning letter were the secret communication method the Golden Crow Sect. They wouldn't be used unless there was an absolute emergency.
Suddenly, Angelica felt torn. But, she made her decision immediately. Even if she went, the result would likely be the same as it was today. However, if she captured Madeleine, there was still a chance to reverse all of this. In fact, God Sacharro might become angered enough to aim his rage at the Flaming Lily Sect for not protecting his wife properly.
'It's her. This all starts and ends with her.' Angelica's eyes frosted over, deepening to a level of cold even they hadn't reached before. Despite her state of mind, her face returned to its usual expressionless nature. 'Why would a quadrant so powerful send the first wife of their most outstanding genius here? We don't have enough information on the Celestial Deer Quadrant… Even the Sapientia Branches there have long since lost communication with the main branch.'
There were too many things that were unknown. Could it really be as simple as the Celestial Deer Quadrant not having a strong fire-based core teaching? If that was the case, the Flaming Lily Sect really would be the best choice for Madeleine…
It was impossible for the fourth quadrant to travel to the current 51st. Without the easy travel provided by the towers, such a trip would cost an astronomical price and take an inconceivable amount of time. The only reason the kitsune could make this trip was because they were in the adjacent quadrant.
For reference, the first saint son of the Uidah and Loki's fiancée, now widow, Hela, left the Celestial Deer Quadrant hundreds of years ago. If they tried to re-enter it now, even if they started from the closest adjacent quadrant, it would take them decades of travel time at a minimum.
Under normal circumstances, because the first saint son and Hela were at least of the Duke level, they should be able to enter the fog and invite others at will, which would greatly reduce their travel time. However, as the key wielder, Dyon obviously had the power to block this from happening.
At the same time, first saint son and Hela had a vested interest in making sure the truths of the Celestial Deer Quadrant did not come out. If the martial world came to know that even they as the strongest clans in their quadrant had no idea where their Epistemic Tower was, that would give possible enemies a chance to take advantage.
In the end, Angelica still wasn't clever enough to come to the right answer. Even if she was a thousand times more intelligent, it wouldn't matter. All she could do was focus on the task at hand, and that meant capturing Madeleine!
With a flick of her wrist, a blindingly gold, 3-meter-long flexible spear appeared in her hand. Its body almost functioned like a whip, snaking through the air as though it was made of fabric instead of tough metal.
Madeleine didn't even need to look over to know that Angelica was flying toward her at break-neck speeds. Why? Because she had long since unlocked her divine sense.
In that moment, a formless pressure enveloped the battlefield. Vale and Rina who were still being beaten back by the second variation of [Peacock's Dance] paled considerably when they felt what was happening. It felt as though a Celestial had descended from the skies!
'Divine sense!'
