Ch 881 - The Citadel

One by one, Alex's allies turned their backs on him, and the disciples of the Snow Palace eyed him with suspicion. Some of them would have summoned their weapons and attacked if they had thought they could defeat him.

Alex found himself alone, except for Maya.

"I feel like a leper," he said with a rueful chuckle.

"I prefer it this way," she told him. "It's more honest. The whole world could turn its back on you, but I won't. No matter what happens, I'll stay by your side. You never have to fight alone."

"The entire divine realm wants to take me down," he said. "The moment I step out of the palace, I'm a target. You need to know the risk you're taking. Assassination attempts, ambushes, sieges—being around me is dangerous. I'm from a whole different world than they are, so I don't know for sure what they'll throw at me. At us. It could get ugly."

"I'm willing to take that risk," she said firmly, with a glint of steel in her eyes. She meant what she had said. She would fight by his side through the end of the world. The sun and the moon could fall from the sky for all she cared, but she would not budge.

Alex smiled. "Okay then," he said, taking her hand in his. He felt a surge of fierce pride as he looked up at the sky. He felt like he could take on the entire divine realm and tear down the sky with one hand tied behind his back.

**

"We need to take this seriously, my lord," said an immortal from the Purple sect, his voice echoing throughout the room. "He has no respect for my sect or our ways. We can't let this insult go unanswered, but we can't do it alone. If we don't join forces, he will pick us off one by one."

There was a murmur of agreement among the gathered immortals. All of them waited to see what the master of the High sect would do. After all, he was one of the most powerful beings in the divine realm.

There were over a hundred immortals gathered at the High sect's citadel to address the growing problem of the Great One. His rise to power was a clear and present danger, and keeping him from attaining divinity was a priority. He was still human for the time being, and that meant he could be beaten. It meant he could be killed.

The divine immortals were not convinced, though. They had never bothered to worry about a human being before, no matter how powerful, and they had never been more confident of their own strength.

"He is an irritant," the master of the High sect said with a snort. "He excels in making a pest of himself, but he's only human. Against the power of the divine realm, his strength is insignificant."

Kaden watched the debate and drank, letting his bitterness and rage build. He wanted revenge, and he could feel the hated in his heart like a killing frost. His eyes shone with spite as the room filled with the chatter of immortals.

His reverie was interrupted by a rumbling outside the hall, which was soon drowned out by shouts and screams. The immortals from earth grew fearful—they knew the Great One had arrived.

Alex stood on the back of the water dragon with Maya at his side, just outside the citadel. The building itself was a floating fortress surrounded by fields of clouds. It glowed with its own light, and he could feel its terrifying power.

Below the citadel was an enormous city, larger than any on Earth. It looked like it went on for miles. The appearance of the water dragon was causing chaos on the streets, and even from the sky, he could hear the cries of alarm down below.

"My name is Alex Ambrose," he called, his voice louder than thunder. "I'm here to see the master of the High sect." Each word was like the blast of a cannon, shaking the earth. He pushed his power into his voice, and inside the citadel, dozens of protective talismans flared to life and protection spells were cast. The citizens of the city, who did not have any magic to protect themselves, fled and cried out even more. Alex wasn't even using any magic. His voice alone could shake mountains and change the course of rivers.

Verity, Agatha, and Fern looked up at the water dragon apprehensively.

"You are most welcome, Great One," rang a voice from the citadel. It spread like a wave over the city, calming the terror the water dragon had caused. The spell protecting the High sect wavered, and the water dragon brought Alex and Maya to a courtyard lined with more than a hundred immortals from Earth. In the center of the courtyard stood ten people, their auras blazing with power.

Stepping off the water dragon's back, Alex and Maya waited patiently for someone to make a move. Maya tightened her grip on Alex's hand, and the water dragon retreated in fear. Alex knew he was taking a tremendous risk in facing so many masters at once, and he understood how little he knew about the dangers of the divine realm. He was about to step onto the Celestial Road, and there could be no turning back. If he stumbled, the divine masters could aim their vengeance at the people of Earth. No country on the planet would be able to withstand an attack by these masters, so Alex had to win this fight to keep his world safe.

"You forget yourself, Great One," the master of the High sect said with a sneer. "You may have broken the barrier between our world and yours, but you're not powerful enough to command the obedience of the sects. You are no king, this is not your world, and we are not your subjects." He gestured haughtily, and the master of the Great World sect nodded and stepped forward.

He rose into the air, supported by nine golden serpents that coiled around his body. "This is the man you're all so afraid of?" he said to the assembled immortals. "This barbarian from an insignificant speck of a world? He's obviously a madman—killing him would almost be a mercy." He turned back to Alex and regarded him with pitiless eyes. "You found a little power through blind luck, but you have yet to learn some respect for the divine realm."

"You were born on that insignificant speck, too," Maya pointed out. "You forget yourself." She had never forgotten the cruelties she had endured at the hands of the Snow Palace sect.

The Great World master ignored her. Like most immortals, he was incredibly arrogant, so Maya was nothing to him—she was a nuisance, an ant. He spread his arms, and several dozen multicolored spheres appeared in the air before him. Alex watched them spin and saw that each one was a tiny planet. They spun toward him until they surrounded him in a whirling cage.

Maya tentatively took a step back. "He is the master of a thousand worlds, Alex," she said. "Don't underestimate him."

Alex's eyes glowed like embers as he gathered his power. "Let me show them how barbaric I can be," he said. A blast of power shot from his hand in the form of a bolt of lightning. It sizzled through the air, striking sphere after sphere, shattering them into dust.

The master of a thousand worlds grunted and staggered as each tiny planet was annihilated. Blood trickled from his nose and his left ear. The power he had poured into his spell had been lost, and it was impossible to guess how long it would take to recover his strength. He was weak, injured, and enraged. "The Great World sect won't rest until you are dead," he said, almost spitting the words.

Alex didn't have a chance to answer the threat—one of the lords of the Purple sect tried to sucker punch him with magical energy. Alex felt the spell coalesce a moment before a divine fist swung toward him. He shaped his power into a shield, and the fist shattered into sparks. Alex reached out, and the sparks flew toward his hand, spinning themselves into the shape of a whip. His new weapon hummed as the tip spread into five barbed lashes that buzzed like angry hornets.

He swung the whip in a tight arc, and the barbed ends wrapped themselves around the blade of a sword whistling toward his neck. There was a shriek as magic and steel clashed, and Alex found himself face to face with Kaden, who struggled to pull his sword free of the whip. The blade was made of pure magic channeled through the jeweled hilt in Kaden's hand, and it began to tear itself apart as Alex's whip began to disrupt the spell that created it. Before it could shatter, Kaden cut the flow of power to the hilt, and the blade winked out of existence with a flare of crimson light. Warily, both he and the lord of the Purple sect retreated.

Alex had a moment to catch his breath. He had just outmaneuvered three powerful enemies, but it had cost him. He was breathing hard, and his legs threatened to give out. Sensing his weakness, the master of the High sect chose that moment to attack. He waved his arms in a sinuous pattern, and silver light began to flow from his hands.

There was a muted rumble as the light shaped itself into the form of an enormous dragon that reared on its hind legs and roared. The entire courtyard shook with the sound of the dragon's rage.