While most of the members of the Tempest Branch Alliance were under extreme pressure, pushing themselves to their limits as they tried to raise their strength as much as possible...
A situation that greatly contrasted what was happening in the Tempest Branch Alliance was currently occuring within a certain part of the Tempest Cliff.
This part of the Tempest Cliff was filled to the brim with flowers. Of course, ordinary flowers don't fill this part, but instead, flowers that were the size of trees.
In the center of this humongous flower field, there existed a wide building made out of the stems of these humongous flowers, which was the base of the Blossom Breeze Alliance.
At this moment, a great chunk of the Blossom Breeze Alliance was currently burning due to the material that made up the building being flammable.
"Aghhh!!!" Of course, since a huge part of the Blossom Breeze Alliance was burnt, it was inevitable that some members of the Blossom Breeze Alliance would get caught on fire and be burned alive.
Since many of the Blossom Breeze's members greatly focused on the illusory arts, their weak defenses brought their early downfall, only leaving their strongest and most tanky members surviving as they left the building, looking at the culprit that did it.
"How is the battle going?" While these members stared at the culprit, the culprit, on the other hand, was nonchalantly asking one of its servants for the current condition of the fight.
Of course, the servant could not help but respectfully answer, "Master, the battle is leaning towards our favor, with most of our combat power still alive. Out of the 50 people we have, 2 have only been lightly injured. Judging by our current state, we would be able to wipe the Blossom Breeze Alliance pretty soon."
"That's great," the culprit could not help but smile, revealing its fangs as it decided to focus its attention on the remaining members of the Blossom Breeze Alliance.
This culprit was none other than Chonk, the instigator of the fight between the late Verdant Nut Alliance, and the current instigator of the fight between his group and the Blossom Breeze Alliance.
"After this, we also have to fight against the Tempest Branch Alliance. Tell the others to not get injured as much as possible." Although Chonk was looking at the remaining Blossom Breeze members that were seething in rage, it still decided to pass on orders to the servant beside him.
"Hey!" As the servant beside Chonk respectfully bowed before leaving, one of the remaining members of the Blossom Breeze Alliance could not help but shout at Chonk, catching his attention.
Chonk slowly turned his head to look at the member who shouted. He then released the full extent of his Rank 1 Animate aura before saying, "What is it?"
As Chonk released his full aura, the remaining members could not help but roll back in fear, knowing very well that they could not fight against someone at the Animate level, let alone an Animate that has transitioned to a Rank 1 class.
So, with only their pride holding them, that same member asked Chonk in a loud voice, "Why are you doing this? What did the Blossom Breeze Alliance do to you?"
"Why am I doing this?" Chonk repeated the question softly before laughing. "What a stupid question, but I'll entertain you."
Whoosh!
In an instant, Chonk dashed towards that member at a speed that the member could not perceive, appearing behind it as he said, "Well...the three alliances are a hindrance to my path towards controlling the whole Tempest Cliff."
"Is that a sufficient answer?" Chonk asked the member, who was deeply rooted in place from fear while the other remaining members ran away, all for the safety of their lives. Unfortunately, they were killed by Chonk's people, leaving the member that asked the question alive.
Swish!
As the member still stood there, Chonk raised his right paw as multiple particles of Wind energy coalesced around it before swiping down on the member, effectively cutting the sole member into multiple parts.
"And with that..."
"How about you die for my path?"
...
While the war between Chonk's people and the Blossom Breeze Alliance was happening...
Within the Tempest Branch Alliance, the Tower of Seclusion.
A notification resounded throughout Aurus' mind, causing him to sigh in disbelief at the speed at which he was training his skills.
"Within an hour, I already got all of the Ruler skills to X-grade Mortal level," Aurus said to himself as he evolved the last Ruler skill that was still not at X-grade Mortal level, the S-grade form of [Will of the Void], [Nihility's Voice].
'[Nihility's Voice] has been evolved to [Serenade of the Universe].'
Whoosh!
Not long after, from a place unknown, a rift in space appeared above Aurus' head, releasing a dark yet powerful energy that could make the hairs of multiple Animates stand up in fear.
Although Aurus could sense this energy, Fenrir and Charisa could not, engrossed in their grinding spree. As for the reason why this was the case, Aurus did not know, moving this question at the back of his mind as the dark yet powerful gradually enveloped his body and seeped in through the pores, melding with each and every Anima and Flux that made up his body.
Not long after, an aura started to be released from his body, giving anyone the feeling that Aurus was the embodiment of the void. Of course, this was just a transient feeling as a notification appeared in front of his field of vision.
Ding!
'Your title has been upgraded.'
'[Substitute Ruler of the Void] has been upgraded to [Assistant Ruler of the Void].'
After reading this notification, Aurus could not help but exude a cheerful aura as he had done what he wanted to do. In fact, he was quite surprised that he had done so within the span of an hour, raising 4 skills from C-grade Mortal to X-grade Mortal.
Within an hour, he had...
Upgraded [Wrath of the Void] to its X-grade form, [Dark Universal Blade]...
Upgraded [Protection of the Void] to its X-grade form, [Impenetrable Shield of Nil]...
Upgraded [Formless Void] to its X-grade form, [All-encompassing Nothingness] and...
Just recently, upgraded [Void's Grace] to its X-grade form, [Serenade of the Universe].
Just from that, he had a feeling that he would be able to raise almost all of his skills to C-grade Transcendent level in less than 4 days, which was the minimum goal he set within these 4 days. If that were the case, he would of course aim higher. B-grade Transcendent, A-grade Transcendent and so on, if he could achieve it, then it was more assurance for the inevitable battle.
As he was about to move onto the other skills he was going to level up, a familiar voice resounded in his mind. This voice could not help but make him remember the Area 52 Inheritance he had just got out of. It was the voice of the Ruler of the Void he had chosen to learn under.
"Congratulations for rising a rank above the rest," the Void Ruler said to Aurus. Aurus did not know whether he would say thank you or something else to this ruler as it continued to speak.
"At your current rank, you are an Earthbound Ruler, but there are still three more ranks to progress until you become the same level as me, a Voidbound rank Ruler," the Void Ruler continued to talk.
"In order to ascend to the next rank of becoming a Ruler, you must take the skills you have expounded upon and make them transcend mortality and go further, becoming a decently strong skill amongst the multiple transcended skills out there."
After that, the voice of the Void Ruler dissipated one more time, with a notification appearing in exchange.
Ding!
'To raise your rank, please upgrade all of your Ruler skills to A-grade Transcendent.'
"Oh, the Ruler shouldn't have to go and use all of those flowery words if he just wanted me to achieve this," Aurus could not help but say to himself. "A-grade Transcendent, huh. I'll set the Ruler skills aside as I've already leveled them up."
"For now though, it's time to focus on my other skills," Aurus said in a cheerful tone, proceeding to dive down his massive list of skills and grind them out to C-grade Transcendent level.