Chapter 18: Chapter 18: Winterwrath

Despite his numerous murders and consumption of human flesh, Ashlock couldn't help but feel outraged when he witnessed someone so indifferent to the death of an innocent stall owner. The sudden change in the attitude of the elderly man, who had previously disrespected cultivators, only served to highlight the backstabbing nature among the individuals of this world.

"Would Stella backstab me like that at the first opportunity?" Ashlock wondered as he curiously followed the green flame cultivator with his skill. The man's flames had died down, and he wore a permanent scowl as he sauntered down the street. As if he was parting the red sea, people scrambled to get out of his way, and he snorted as a mortal tripped and fell, spilling everything they were carrying on the sidewalk.

The man was about to pass by the store Diana was currently shopping in, but he paused mid-step, and his neck practically snapped in the direction of the store, and his eyes lit up as if he was trying to look through the building's walls. "There you are." The cultivator muttered and strode toward the door.

Before the cultivator could open the door, the shop owner ran out, "Esteemed Cultivator, welcome to my humble store. May you please wait out here for a moment..." The round man with the comical mustache was practically bowing to his feet, and sweat dripped from his forehead. "There is another patron already inside."

The man paid the store owner as much attention as one would a barking dog, and despite the round man's pleas, he tried to step past the large man.

"Esteemed Cultivator! It is store policy that only one cultivator can be present in the store at any given time! We do this to avoid fights and damage to the store..."

The cultivator scowled and looked down at the store owner. Despite being a rather large man himself, the store owner shrunk under the cultivator's intense glare. "Mortal, you dare order me around?" Green flames flickered to life across the cultivator's broad shoulders—he was easily over two meters tall, and his arms, thick as tree trunks, were on display since the white cloak was sleeveless.

"N-no, I wouldn't dare." The store owner balled his fists at his side and clenched his teeth but refused to move.

The cultivator furrowed his brows, "Then step aside. I have business with your patron."

The shop owner stumbled as he was pulled backward, and from his aerial view, Ashlock saw Diana emerge from the shop and stand in the doorway. Her arms were crossed under her chest, and her cold grey eyes glared at the cultivator.

"Diana Ravenborne!" The cultivator spread his arms wide and wore an overly fake smile, "Just the person I have been looking for."

Diana tilted her head, "Wayne Evergreen, this is Ravenborne territory. You better have a great explanation for being here and threatening one of our taxpayers."

Wayne's mysterious smile made Diana frown, "Diana, your family has flaunted the wealth of their spirit stone mines for far too long." Wayne clicked his fingers and crossed his arms as two green flame cultivators lept from the roof and landed beside him, leaving cracks in the pavement.

Blue flames shrouded Diana, and she took a step back, "Wayne have you thought this through? Attacking the scion of a family on their own territory is a declaration of war."

Wayne grinned, "You must not have heard the great news!" He spread his arms wide as his grin widened, "My sister has married the scion of Winterwrath."

Diana's face instantly fell. "So Evergreen and Winterwrath have allied."

"That's right." Wayne nodded, "And with our combined strength, the elders believe it's time to—" A loud bell chimed across the city, followed by screams. Wayne looked over his shoulder and pursed his lips at the smoke-filled sky, "Appears they started without me." Wayne looked down at Diana with a crooked smile, "Now come with me..."

Diana summoned a silver blade and coated it in blue flames, quickly rolling to the side to avoid Wayne's green flame-empowered fist. The shockwave from the punch obliterated the shopfront behind her, but Diana's short stature allowed her to easily avoid the homing fists of the Evergreen cultivators. She stayed low to the ground, taking advantage of her agility and quick reflexes to evade their relentless attacks. As she moved, Diana searched for an opening to strike back.

Ashlock watched the chaos from the sky. He could see cultivators with green and white flames destroying everything in the city. In the distance, he could see five balls of blue fire rocketing down the Ravenborne peak toward the town—but they would arrive too late. Diana was surrounded on all sides.

Diana and Wayne were evenly matched, both seemingly in the advanced stages of the Soul Fire realm. Wayne slammed his fists into the ground, causing the cultivators' Qi to surge into the dirt beneath the paved street.

Diana was agile and quick, using her techniques to evade and counterattack. She moved like water, slipping past the Evergreen cultivators' brutal attacks and attempting to strike back. Despite her efforts, the Evergreen cultivators' techniques seemed to shrug off all her attacks—their focus on hand-to-hand combat and defense, making them formidable opponents. The two sides fought fiercely, neither able to gain the upper hand despite the difference in number.

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As the battle raged on, Ashlock couldn't help but notice the Evergreen cultivators' disorganized and chaotic fighting style. They were more of a hindrance to each other than a cohesive unit.

Diana was making her way through the fray, her glowing blade a blur of silver as she aimed for the neck of an Evergreen cultivator. Suddenly, a thick vine shot up from the ground, entangling Diana's leg and pulling her to the ground. Diana tried to swing her sword at the vine in a desperate attempt to break free, but a well-timed punch from an Evergreen cultivator sent her blade off course and uselessly struck the ground.

A second punch hit Diana square in the jaw, causing her head to rebound off the pavement, causing her to groan. But considering the impact left a dent in the stone, the fact Diana wasn't even bleeding was a testament to how strong a cultivator's body was. More vines sprung from the ground and wrapped around all four of Diana's limbs.

Wayne Evergreen had a ruthless grin with his hands still in the hole. Ashlock almost didn't want to watch anymore—the situation seemed hopeless. Diana's blue flames flared up and began to burn the vines, but her concentration wavered as two more punches hit her head from the two other Evergreen cultivators. There didn't appear to be much force behind the cultivator's attacks, as if they weren't trying to kill her.

"Do they want to take Diana as a hostage?" Ashlock wondered as he watched. Is this how gods felt? Watching the mortals fight over petty matters? The skill did have god in the name... so maybe he was a god? A tree god. That was a funny thought, which certainly didn't match the situation. Ashlock was silently rooting for Diana, the Evergreen guy seemed like an asshole, and a small part of Ashlock hoped Diana might be better than these other cultivators.

Maybe it was just a pipe dream—perhaps all cultivators were the same, but until Ashlock saw proof, he held onto his belief that there were some good seeds among the bad apples.

Punches kept raining down on Diana, and she screamed as she lashed around, trying to sever the roots or one of the cultivator's limbs. Blood leaked from her broken nose, and black bruises appeared all over her body.

Ashlock wished he could help and at least make it a fair fight—this was too painful to watch. Ashlock debated leaving the scene to examine another area of the city where he could see smoke rising and people rushing away from burning buildings.

"You bastard!" A voice Ashlock recognized as the store owner cried out, and Ashlock watched in amazement as the chubby man charged at Wayne Evergreen with a... frying pan. He held it high over his head in a two-handed grip and, with a holler, brought it down with all his might upon Wayne's head.

There was a resounding thud, but Wayne seemed entirely unaffected. Instead, he slowly turned to look at the chubby man with an angry expression. "You insect!" Wayne snarled and spat at the chubby man.

The man exploded.

Ashlock blinked. What just happened? Was that ball of spit empowered with Qi? Was the difference between a Soul Fire cultivator and a mortal so great that they could die from being spat on?

However, in that brief moment when Wayne had been distracted by the shopkeeper, Diana had managed to summon a dagger from her storage ring. Her grip was awkward, but she managed to throw it at Wayne's face with surprising speed and accuracy.

Wayne's eyes widened when he saw the dagger coming for his face, and he instinctively canceled out his technique that seemed to require his hands to remain in the ground and raised them to block. Luckily, he was too slow, and the blade sunk into his cheek, causing him to stumble back while howling in pain.

The vines lost their strength and burned instantly to Diana's flames without Wayne's Qi powering them. Diana lept to her feet and charged at one of the Evergreens. He had similar features to Wayne, so they were clearly related, but he was a bit shorter and had a more square face. He raised his two hands and stood like a boxer with green flames flaring to life on his fists.

The two exchanged a flurry of attacks, Diana spun around with her silver blade empowered with blue flames, but every slash she made was reflected with a well-timed punch. Diana breathed heavily and used her sword to keep herself upright as she clutched her broken nose.

As the two Evergreen cultivators closed in on the exhausted and bruised Diana, they both paused. Ashlock felt it too—the ground trembled. Something big was coming.

Ashlock cast his attention to the far distance, it was just at the edge of his perception range, but once it appeared, he felt a chill down his nonexistent spine, despite being so far away.

An ice golem, a thousand meters tall, emerged from the darkness of his vision range like a final boss taking center stage—perched upon its shoulder was an albino man with scarlet eyes. He stood perfectly still like a statue, with a face unmoving. However, that wasn't all. A violent snowstorm of cataclysmic proportions flanked the ice golem and blocked out the sunlight for many miles. With every step the golem took, the ground trembled, and houses collapsed.

Ashlock had no clue who the guy was, but he could make an educated guess. A higher-up of the Winterwrath family had arrived.