The sentinels suddenly shifted in the darkness, their saber-like blades accumulating the cold qi in the surroundings. While it alleviated the stress on the numbered warriors, Ten felt a terrible premonition as his Perception throbbed.
"Focus!"
Ten's voice shook the four, their senses reaching out to their peak.
The attack of the three puppets he was facing grew fiercer. In that moment, a puppet suddenly separated from Eleven.
Trapped between two puppets, Eleven's lovely brows could only widen. "Ten, your back!"
'So it's me this time, huh?' Ten sneered.
All this time, he had been roaring out commands at the most opportune time. He wanted the enemy to focus on him, he wanted them to understand that he was the leader, the core of this team.
Dyon inexplicably released his arrow. It didn't seem to have any sort of purpose. If anything, it seemed far too early.
The senses of the five numbered warriors tingled. They could feel that same overwhelming danger they had before. Another arrow was coming!
In that instant, the crackling of lightning set the ocean waters ablaze with blinding blue lights. Everything for miles seemed completely visible as an uncomfortable feeling raised the hair on the back of their necks.
Ten felt he was prepared. Using the same trick against him twice? Never.
A roar escaped his lips. His bloodline surged, causing scales of silver to coat his body. As he expected, the cold qi wouldn't react to purely bodily changes. What lightning? It would have to cross his defenses first!
The barbaric Ten grew even more so. But, his silver scales seemed to be alive. They lifted up and vibrated before settling back down and repeating. They acted more like the feathers of a bird than the scales of a dragon.
Split moments later, the lightning struck.
'Huh?' Ten brows immediately furrowed. This lightning… It wasn't anywhere near as stronger as the previous two strikes! How was that possible? He wasn't a fool. Even with his silver scales, the difference shouldn't be so drastic. It felt like nothing more than a tickle. The neurotoxin couldn't even seep into his skin.
At that moment, the strike of the fourth immortal puppet struck Ten's back, sending him flying toward the three he was already fighting. His focus had been trained on expelling the lightning as quickly as possible so he had planned to directly withstand the blow, but what he didn't expect was for this blow to pull him out of the encirclement of his warriors. Fifteen was exposed!
The five warriors thought this truth simultaneously. The moment Ten was pulled away, their encirclement of Fifteen was shattered.
Ten immediately reacted. The puppet's strike wasn't enough to cut through his defenses in this state. He tried to surge backward, the thoughts of the black arrow playing on his mind once more. Fifteen was extremely talented, but she was also the weakest of them. If she was forced to take on the arrow, she'd have no choice but to react like Twelve had. In that case, she would be in danger.
However, just when he went to move, a sentinel suddenly appeared in his way. He was absolutely shocked. This time, his senses hadn't been numbed by the lightning, he had definitely been paying the utmost attention, but… it didn't feel as though this puppet had teleported here, it felt like he had been here the whole time!
The blade of cold qi descended with an added viciousness. Even if Ten's defense had skyrocketed, this cold qi was on a completely different level. It was as though all the ice from several hundred miles had accumulated in this very spot.
The arcs of blue lightning, the eerie dropping blade, the turbulent ocean currents… they filled the perfect backdrop for an apocalyptic event.
Ten could only cross his arms in that moment, a roar bubbling forth from his lips as the blade of qi descended.
BOOM!
A tornado of air spiraled upward. The blow was so severe that it carried its moment several miles above, causing an uproar in the underwater landscape.
Ten was sent flying downward, careening through the water, only to be blasted into the ocean's bed and for a roar of pain to escape his lips as the four immortal puppets followed afterward without hesitation.
"Ten!" Eleven's eyes reddened, but she didn't have the time react.
'[Qi Line]!' Dyon's eyes flashed.
The puppet who had struck down Ten suddenly spun toward Fifteen, its large hand stretching outward in as though to send a palm strike forward.
Qi began to surge, circles of agitated waters spiraling outward from his palm.
In that instant, Eleven's eyes widened in shock. This surge of qi… It was dangerous! What was happening?!
Fifteen trembled. An overwhelming sense of danger overcoming her. Even after becoming a King, her bestial instincts still shook her. It wanted her to turn and run, to run immediately.
A blinding light overwhelmed the weakly crackling blue lightning. The palm of the sentinel pulsed, ballooning outward to form a sphere of light before concentrating into such a small point that it was hardly visible at all.
Suddenly, Dyon's pupils constricted. 'Now!' he roared out in his mind.
He didn't waste any time at all. An arrow of swirling black and white flames appeared in his hand. Its presence was so heavy that it pulled the waters around toward it. Though Dyon didn't notice it, a sink formed above his head, lowering the ocean levels in and around himself.
Without hesitation, his focus reached its peak. And then, he pulled and released.
As though following the timing of its owner, [Qi Line] activated. Thirteen and Fourteen were tied down by two puppets of their own. Only Ten and Eleven had the strength to fight three of them at once, so only Eleven was in a place where she could move after one of her puppets ran to lock down Ten.
Eleven appeared between Fifteen, the beam of Qi and the flying black arrow.
