72 Heavenly Lizard Pavilion
Point out any errors I made in the chapters, as I'm very lazy and sometimes can't be bothered to reread them. Also give your opinions on something I should change or add.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Standing on the street that overlooked Zero Wing's Guild Residence, Nine Dragons Emperor swept a glance over the army before him. In the next moment, he waved his hand and pointed at the target Guild Residence. Very calmly, he said, "Go! Leave none alive!"
Under Nine Dragons Emperor's command, the members of the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion charged towards Zero Wing's Guild Residence.
The Pavilion's army's attack was organized. A majority of the Pavilion's elite players were positioned in the front of the army, whereas the War Dragon Legion occupied the middle, and the remaining elite players took up the rear.
These players were further separated into groups. However, unlike Guild wars that usually involved thousands of players, the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion had grouped its members into parties of six. Each party consisted of MTs, healers, and ranged and melee damage dealers: the standard compositions of a Dungeon party.
Although this militaristic configuration was not suited for a large battlefield, it was perfect for battles in narrow terrains such as a city. The army could react to all sorts of problems in a timely manner.
"It has finally begun. Purple, did you order those Assassins under you to record this battle?" Galaxy Past, who sat comfortably in a third-floor private room of the high-class bar, asked. Smiling, he stated, "This is a good opportunity to collect data on the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion, particularly the experts from the War Dragon Legion. Every member of the legion is worth noting. It might come in handy in the future."
This high-class bar offered an excellent vantage point. He could see practically everything that occurred around Zero Wing's Residence. However, Galaxy Past was still not satisfied with this. He had positioned Assassins under his command in several other buildings in order to record the battle from the closest distance possible.
Just how strong was the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion?
Particularly, how was the Pavilion's strength after joining God's Domain?
Other than a few upper managers of the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion, nobody knew the answer to these questions.
Now that the Pavilion launched an assault on Zero Wing's Residence, it was clear to see that their strength was nothing to scoff at. Otherwise, every large Guild would have already attacked Guild Residences that they found to be an eyesore instead of letting those Guilds with little strength live this long.
Just the patrolling guards were enough trouble. The hired guards were no trivial matter either; they all were Level 50 NPCs. To current players, these Level 50 NPCs were still too powerful to handle.
However, the truly troublesome issue was the players of the Guild itself.
Zero Wing had definitely taken some precautionary measures. It was normal for around twenty to thirty thousand players to defend the Guild Residence at all times.
Even if the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion had deployed the War Dragon Legion, Zero Wing's Guild Residence would not be so easily destroyed.
The Pavilion would have to reveal some of its true capabilities, and this was precisely what Galaxy Past, and all of the other large Guilds watching, wanted to witness.
As God's Domain was still in its early stages, there had yet to be any major conflicts between the various first-rate Guilds, Super Guilds, and the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion. However, that would not necessarily remain the case in the future. It was better to prepare ahead of time.
Hence, the Star Alliance wasn't the only Guild to send a large group of Assassins to record the battle. Many other Guilds had also dispatched their Assassins, all of them hoping to uncover even the smallest detail about the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion's background.
---
Meanwhile, inside Zero Wing's Residence, the Guild's members had long since prepared for the upcoming war. Well, for the restored members, if you could call them just chilling and waiting for night time as getting ready for a fight, then yes, they have been preparing. Now, every one of them stood inside the Guild Residence and waited as they observed the incoming opponents.
"Guild Leader, they've arrived. Initial estimates put their number somewhere over 10,000, with the weakest among them being elite players. Their equipment is greatly inferior to our elite members', though." Aqua Rose reported to Black Flame, not seeing much of a change in the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion's forces from the time they had attempted to destroy Zero Wing's Guild Residence in the previous timeline.
The majority of the equipment worn by the Pavilion's elite members was Level 20 Secret-Silver Equipment, with the weakest being Level 20 Mysterious-Iron Equipment, and the strongest being Level 20 Fine-Gold Equipment. As for the members of the War Dragon Legion, all the equipment they wore was Level 25, with the majority being Level 25 Fine-Gold Equipment, and the weakest being Level 25 Secret-Silver Equipment. A few legionnaires even had Level 25 Dark-Gold Equipment; while the majority of Martial Dragon's equipment consisted of Level 25 Dark-Gold Equipment.
Zero Wing's elite members, on the other hand, were all at least Level 28 and had mostly full sets of Level 25 Dark-Gold Equipment as well as wielding Level 25 Dark-Gold Weapons, while a large number of the party leaders were Tier 1 Level 30 players fully equipped with Level 30 Dark-Gold items. As for the core members, who were all people whose memories have been restored by this point, all of them were Tier 1 players with absurdly high levels, especially the Main Force members, but they've used the Party Growth System and temporarily lowered their levels to the elite members' level.
After all, it would be no fun if any of their accidental moves would turn the opposing ants into dust, so, in order to be able to properly make use of the combat standards they have been hiding, they decided to use Zero Wing's other members as a way to balance themselves in the fight; level wise at least. Even so, the weakest piece of equipment worn by the restored members was Epic rank, with some of the high ranking ones have Fragmented Legendary equipment in the midst, while the members of Zero Wing's Main Force were fully equipped with Fragmented Legendary stuff.
Naturally, the attribute difference between them and the attackers was insurmountable, so a massacre was unavoidable, but even without such a disparity between them, the gap in combat standards that existed made it impossible for the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion's members to put up a fight against the restored members, as by now, Feng had brought back players with varying attainments in the Realms of Refinement and the Realms of Truth, with the Main Force being mostly made up of Domain Realm and Void Realm experts, while the other core members were all at the Flowing Water Realm and Refinement Realm standard.
Elite members of Zero Wing, aside from being far better equipped, also weren't worse than the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion's elite members by much in terms of techniques, as, with many of them receiving guidance from the restored members during Dungeon raids and such guild excursions, even the previously regular and noob players had rapidly gotten better, with some talented and experienced ones even reaching the Half-step Refinement Realm standard.
All in all, Zero Wing's elite players were vastly superior in terms of levels and equipment to the attacking players, as well as partially technique wise, with some of the elite players being comparable or superior to some of the War Dragon Legion's members.
Everyone became slightly stunned upon hearing Aqua Rose's report and finding out the details of the strength which the opposing force wielded.
It was kind of less than they had expected.
Although the members of Zero Wing knew that their equipment standards were much greater than any other guild in the Star-Moon Kingdom, the current players attacking them were one of the strongest forces belonging to a guild comparable to Super Guilds.
One would think such a powerful origin would be more capable of equipping its main combatants than a small guild like theirs.
Finally, in a 'ohhh' moment, the elite members of Zero Wing came to a realization.
Their guild was fucking awesome!
At the same time, the players' excitement at the prospect of being a part of such a powerful and mysterious guild skyrocketed, along with their loyalty towards Zero Wing, as they prepared to fight and win against a massive existence like the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion, which no one else thinks they stand a chance at defeating.
Of the 50,000 or so Zero Wing members, around 15,000 of them were elites, or, at least, elites by Zero Wing's standards, with only 5,000 of them actually on the level of the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion's elites, while the remaining ones were superior. Yet, the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion had casually mustered a force of 10,000 elite players. This was impressive considering they were currently in White River City, but not really enough to threaten Zero Wing even without the restored members if not for those among the War Dragon Legion who had attainments in the Realms of Refinement.
"Move out, then. Use this opportunity to test out your recent improvements on the enemies. Core members, kill whoever the elites can't handle." Black Flame spoke out, his words mostly directed at Zero Wing's unrestored members, before speaking to the core members through a private guild chat "You have five minutes to kill to your hearts content, after that, or if they try to run away before the time limit, I'll wrap this up. Though, try to leave some of the fun to the regular ones for training purposes."
"Yes, sir!"
Everyone from Zero Wing responded as they unsheathed their weapons as a single unit, preparing to meet the oncoming threat. The core members, however, seemed a bit uninterested in the working together thing, preparing to move out on their own.
This time, Black Flame did not bother to send for many members to defend the Guild Residence. The defending players consisted only of Zero Wing's elite and core members with a total just over 15,000 players. It was not just because Black Flame did not want more people defending the Residence, since there would be less prey for everyone else, but having more people was not necessarily a good thing.
A normal member of the Guild would only find their death by joining this battle. Moreover, the battlefield was very cramped. There was simply no way to display the advantage of numbers here. On the contrary, having too many members in the battle would only obstruct the elite members.
As the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion's army was about to charge through the Residence's entrance, the ranged classes of Zero Wing got ready to launch their spells and arrows.
If an outsider barged into the Residence without explicit permission, Guild members were allowed to kill said outsider without needing to fear any repercussions. The city guards would not take action against the Guild members. On the contrary, if an outsider attacked people inside the Residence, the city guards would rush towards the Residence to apprehend them.
As elemental mana began to gather above Zero Wing's Residence and patrolling city guards began to charge over...
Nine Dragons Emperor suddenly shouted, "Activate the scrolls!"
Suddenly, several MTs at the forefront of the army revealed black magic scrolls that they had kept hidden for quite some time now. The MTs immediately unfurled the scrolls and activated them.
In the next moment, the elemental mana filing the space above Zero Wing's Residence started going berserk.
The Curse Scrolls wouldn't be difficult to recognize for the restored members even if they didn't know they were coming, but they did nothing to prevent their activation despite having been aware the raiders would be using them.
Magic scrolls fit into various categories. However, the rarest had to be ones that carried Curses. This was a type of forbidden spell. All Curses possessed an astonishing might, and it was not easy to turn it into a magic scroll. Hence, it was extremely difficult to obtain even one Curse Scroll.
Yet, the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion had actually managed to reveal four such scrolls. It was simply inconceivable.
At this moment, however, even Nine Dragons Emperor's face twitched slightly.
Four Curse Scrolls... He had only managed to obtain these four scrolls after gathering the entirety of the Heavenly Dragon Pavilion's power. Now that he was using all of them in one go, and on a small, nameless Guild no less, even he felt the sting of the loss.
"Four Curse Scrolls. Consider this your burial, Zero Wing," Nine Dragons Emperor smiled faintly at the dark clouds gathering in the sky.
Suddenly, black rain began to fall. As if these black raindrops had lives of their own, they attached themselves to all players caught within the spell's vicinity.
Dark God's Descent, the thing used by the Heavenly Dragon Pavilion, was a Silencing Curse. With four of these Curse Scrolls being used simultaneously, the forbidden spell's effective radius and duration increased significantly. It was definitely an efficient weapon for team battles.
At this moment, a Dark God status imperceptibly appeared in everyone's status window, the duration lasting for one full hour.
In other words, within the next hour, any players within the Curse's effective radius were unable to use any of their spells. They could not even use the tools they had inside their bags. To put it simply, players could only participate in melee combat.
The Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion had obviously prepared these Curses as a countermeasure for large-scale destruction spells and NPCs.
"Blood Dragon, lead some elites to pin down the patrolling guards and let Martial Dragon handle the rest," Nine Dragons Emperor ordered. He then turned to look at Chaos Dancer, saying, "Let's go; we'll watch the show from upstairs."
After receiving the command, Blood Dragon led the elite players, who were positioned at the rear line and remained unaffected by the Dark God, and charged towards the ten Level 150 patrolling guards.
At the same time, Martial Dragon shouted, "Kill! Annihilate Zero Wing! Leave not a single player alive!"
The War Dragon Legion suddenly charged into Zero Wing's Residence. As for the other elite players, they were tasked to delay the Residence's NPC guards.
However, the Residence's NPC guards next unexpected actions, or to be more precise, their lack of any actions, caused the elite members of the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion to stop in their tracks.
Unlike what they had anticipated, the Residence's NPC guards didn't charge out to face the incoming threats, but simply remained standing in their positions like they couldn't see the army of intruders rushing towards the Guild Residence.
For a moment, the Heavenly Dragon Pavilion's members wondered if Zero Wing had forgotten to command the guards, or if the game was bugging, while the spectating players thought this was some trick the attacking Super-first-rate Guild was utilizing to avoid the NPCs' detection.
No one from Zero Wing seemed surprised when they noticed the guards standing still, though, and they proceeded to charge towards the attacking players.
Such a development was naturally due to Black Flame, as he had decided there was a limited amount of opponents for the Zero Wing members anyway, and that there would be even less if the Pavilion's elites were to be preoccupied with stalling NPCs, so, being a responsible Guild Leader who cared about his guild members' development, Black Flame had the guards not get involved in the fight and left the players to fight for themselves.
Seeing Zero Wing's reaction to their NPCs not assisting them in the fight, while no one else seemed to know what was going on, it didn't take long for everyone to realize the NPCs' inactivity was Zero Wing's doing, and both the Heavenly Dragon Pavilion's members and the spectating players couldn't help but wonder if Zero Wing's management had few screws loose.
Even though they were obviously outmatched by the Pavilion, the arrogant guild still chose to fight the stronger force head-on without using its NPC advantage.
Nine Dragons Emperor frowned as he considered if Zero Wing had some sort of trap or trick planned which was why it didn't call any of its NPC guards to action, not believing there would be anyone stupid enough to try and face his army without some sort of plan.
He sneered a moment later, ordering "All elites, change targets to Zero Wing players and ignore the NPCs. Wipe out these blind fools." Nine Dragons Emperor no longer cared about the possibility of any scheme being in place.
In front of absolute strength, all manner of tricks were useless.
Whatever Zero Wing had cooked up, he'd simply smash it with his overwhelming forces, so he had all of the elite players that weren't busy pinning down the city guards join the War Dragon Legion in annihilating Zero Wing and destroying its Guild Residence.
The elite players of the Heavenly Dragon Pavilion followed their new directive and switched to charging at the Zero Wing members, following after Martial Dragon, causing the numbers of opposing players to get more evened out.
When Silenced, an expert's strength stepped into the spotlight.
When the War Dragon Legion's 1,000 members charged into Zero Wing's 10,000-plus elite members, a battle of epic proportions erupted. To the spectating players surprise, the fight wasn't as one-sided as everyone had expected it would be.
While the War Dragon Legion's members did have greater techniques, attributes possessed by Zero Wing's members seemed much superior than their opponents', forcing the War Dragon Legion's members to stumble back multiple steps with each hit, while the elite members were sent flying dozens of yards with every attack from a Zero Wing member.
Suddenly, the attribute difference between both guilds' fighters became apparent, causing the spectating players to stare with mouths agape.
Nine Dragons Emperor wasn't any better, his original arrogant expression warping into one of pure disbelief, his bulging eyes glued to the legionnair who was forced to retreat several yards after attempting to block an attack from one of Zero Wing's party leaders, which were among the first ones to collide and the one Nine Dragons Emperor noticed first.
For a moment, he wondered if he was seeing things correctly and rubbed his eyes, but upon the same scene greeting him, his mind stagnated for a moment.
A suspicion that the Zero Wing member was simply a hidden expert who had remained unknown in the small guild came to his mind, only for that theory to be instantly disputed as more players from Zero Wing displayed such impossible attributes.
Nevertheless, being a Pavilion Master of the Heavenly Dragon Pavilion, Nine Dragons Emperor remained placidly calm, his face seemingly at peace as he closed his eyes.
'I'm simply seeing things. The War Dragon Legion is currently slaughtering those ignorant ants, and everything is going as expected. My eyes are simply playing tricks on me due to rage.' Having regained his inner peace, Nine Dragons Emperor took a deep breath, and opened his eyes that had crystal clear clarity in them.
Though, he was unable to continue his delusional thoughts for much longer, as the sight of his subordinates getting massacred, two hundred of his elite members having been slain in the time he hadn't been watching, forced Nine Dragons Emperor to jump from his seat.
"What the fuck is going on!?" His bloodshot eyes scanned the battlefield, his rage and confusion bubbling while the Heavenly Dragon Pavilion's members got culled.
Like wolves entering a flock of sheep, the elite members of Zero Wing ripped apart the opposing elites. Except for those members of the War Dragon Legion, all the other Heavenly Dragon Pavilion's members stood no chance of resisting.
Meanwhile, inside Zero Wing's Residence, a melee battle had broken out. The scene in the Residence looked just like a battlefield from ancient times.
Currently, the magical classes, who boasted the highest power, could only fight using their staffs...
The magical classes in God's Domain were different from other virtual reality games. They were not completely incapable of participating in melee combat, but they were not specialized in it. They possessed very few skills that could be used in a melee battle. In addition, their classes mainly focused on Intelligence and Vitality, making them even more inferior in melee combat.
At this moment, however, nobody could care less. Even the healers of either side fought each other, not to mention the other magical classes.
Compared to the one-on-one fights between the magical classes, the battles between the physical classes were intense.
Currently, none of them could use any skills or tools and had to rely solely on their combat techniques.
This was heavily true for the War Dragon Legion. A majority of the War Dragon Legion members consisted of physical classes, and every one was an expert among experts. Normally, they were capable of soloing a Special Elite of the same level, and some were even capable of putting up a good fight against a Chieftain of the same level.
Elite players could become elites in the first place not solely because of their Levels being above average; it was more due to the fact that they could solo an Elite monster of the same level. Hence, they were called elite players. Meanwhile, in the eyes of God's Domain's ordinary players, experts were individuals capable of soloing a Special Elite of the same level.
As for top-tier experts, in the eyes of ordinary players, they were individuals who could contend with a Chieftain of the same level. Chieftains were normally Bosses in Party Dungeons.
Every member of the War Dragon Legion, at the barest minimum, was capable of confronting a Chieftain of the same level by themselves. Some were even capable of killing a Chieftain of the same level.
Having these experts deal with four or five elite players simultaneously was a trivial matter.
They might even be able to defeat four or five elite players without losing a single HP. It was just like how a Chieftain could easily defeat four or five Elite monsters.
But this was only the case for regular elite players.
Of the 15,000 or so elites of Zero Wing, over 10,000 of them could easily fight a Special Elite monster of the same level, while a part of them could hold their own against a Chieftain, with a few being able to kill one.
Even though the average strength of the War Dragon Legion was a bit higher than Zero Wing's elite players, there was a ten times difference in quantity. Of course, that was only considering techniques, while the Pavilion's goons got stomped on in terms of attributes. As for the Heavenly Dragon Pavilion's elites, they weren't worth a mention, and only qualified to be practice dummies for Zero Wing's elites.
Nine Dragons Emperor turned to the intelligence agent beside him, livid. He was so angry he couldn't even speak, simply glaring at the man before him with bloodshot eyes full of murderous intent.
Suddenly, cold sweat appeared on the forehead of the reconnaissance unit's leader. He was so frightened he could not utter a single word. Originally, he had tried to think of an excuse to save himself. However, he knew full well what kind of personality the Nine Dragons Emperor had. The more he tried to justify himself, the graver the consequences would be.
But the silence made his heart nearly beat out of his chest. Whenever Nine Dragons Emperor was enraged, he'd yell out with a murderous tone that made everybody shiver... but now he was staying dead silent. Honestly, he'd much rather Nine Dragons Emperor screamed at him than just quietly glare like that.
"I-i'll see myself out, P-pavilion Master." The recon leader excused himself out of the building and even voluntarily left the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion. After his penetrating gaze followed the intelligence leader out of the room and returned to the Zero Wing Guild Residence, Nine Dragons Emperor's rage bubbled once more.
"Damn it! Chaos, instruct the Blood Legion to send help." At this moment, Nine Dragons couldn't care less about how Zero Wing had managed to have so many members with such high attributes. He had no choice but to involve the originally inactive Blood Legion in the battle and hope they could pull the odds in their favor.
"Understood. This subordinate will lead them over now." Chaos Dancer nodded with a grim expression and headed out.
A short moment later, the thousand-strong Blood Legion, which had been on standby, charged into Zero Wing's Guild Residence.
Only, nothing much changed by the Blood Legion's addition.
And that was when Zero Wing's core members entered the fray.
While the elite members of Zero Wing and them easily fighting and killing the enemy guild members was one thing, the core members were another.
Even with holding back their attributes in order to make it a bit more fair, against the Refinement Realm and Flowing Water Realm experts of Zero Wing who also had experience in the Realms of Truth, as well as there simply being a world of difference in combat experience between them, the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion's prided War Dragon Legion was no different than grass getting shredded as the restored players passed through.
An even more tragic scene played out when the Void Realm and Domain Realm players got involved. Facing Zero Wing's Main Force, even the War Dragon Legion's members who had stepped into the Realms of Refinement couldn't react, having no idea how they had died, much less the others.
Massacres being conducted by the restored members were easily noticeable, but the players themselves were nearly impossible to spot due to how fast they were moving.
One the opposite side, the only one who could attract the spectators' attention was the War Dragon Legion's captain, Martial Dragon, compared to who these ordinary members of the War Dragon Legion were nothing.
In spite of their superior attributes to even the War Dragon Legion's captain, the elite members of Zero Wing were unable to resist at all when faced with such a mighty force of a Domain Realm expert, only serving to slow Martial Dragon slightly down due to the large HP gained from their high quality equipment.
Those party leaders who were two or more levels higher than Martial Dragon and had much superior equipment than him, as well as possessing decent techniques, weren't able to contend against the War Dragon Legion's captain either, getting slaughtered just the same as the other elites.
Nevertheless, Martial Dragon didn't seem all that happy by his show of power, having noticed how his comrades were being butchered without being able to resist, and that over 3,000 of the elite members and 250 War Dragon Legion members have been killed already.
Although Martial Dragon wanted to help and push the balance of the fight, he was only one man. Not to mention, even he needed to expand a decent amount of effort to kill these Zero Wing members, despite how easy it looked like he was doing it, and he'd run out of Stamina within a short span of time if he continued going at it with this intensity. However, being the Legion's captain, he had to give his subordinates courage and continue fighting ferociously no matter the situation, so Martial Dragon could only put in the maximum effort into the fight.
Martial Dragon was like a silver storm. Everywhere he passed, a rain of blood would follow. When half a dozen elite members of Zero Wing dashed up to Martial Dragon, they were instantly struck by Martial Dragon's bone-chilling and immeasurably heavy aura, but, to Martial Dragon's surprise, they only slowed for a moment before continuing their charge. Regardless of the elites' ability to withstand his pressure, though, multiple red streaks of light weaved across their bodies immediately after, sending them flying into the air. In the next moment, blood poured out like a fountain from multiple wounds. When these elites returned to the ground, a piece of equipment dropped beside them. Their bodies were no longer capable of movement.
However, no matter how incredible and bewildering Martial Dragon's display was, barely anyone actually noticed it; even his own brothers in arms. Everyone was too stupefied by the ongoing one-sided beat down the Heavenly Dragon Pavilion was currently receiving.
Spectating players questioned their vision and turned to the people around them to ask if they were seeing the same thing, while thoughts of whether they were dreaming appeared in the War Dragon Legion's members' minds, but the pain from getting their asses whooped was clear evidence of the reality before them.
Unconsciously, the members of the Heavenly Dragon Pavilion started retreating in face of the strength wielded by Zero Wing's members, wanting to run away from these human-shaped monsters with attributes too high for the current players.
This was especially so when one of Zero Wing's core members appeared near them, not caring about saving face in the least as they distanced themselves, with some even turning around and directly running away.
Nine Dragons Emperor, who overlooked all this, could feel his expression darkening by the second while watching his prided warriors avoiding the core members of Zero Wing like the plague, and still getting brutality murdered without having the chance to so much as put up a meager defense attempt.
But there was nothing he could do about this. With the obvious attribute difference between the two parties, it was only a matter of time before his forces get wiped out, not to mention that he had spotted many players who exhibited Void Realm standards, and managed to catch a glimpse of a few he believed might have awakened a Domain; but they moved too fast for him to properly scrutinize and confirm.
At this point, defeat was pretty much inevitable, so retreating would be the optimal choice, but there was no way Nine Dragons Emperor could run away now.
That would humiliate not only himself, but the entire Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion, which was something Nine Dragons Emperor could not afford to do during the Pavilion's first show of power that was supposed to show they were as strong as a Super Guild, and especially not after the Great Pavilion Master had told him to show the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion's might to the entirety of God's Domain.
If he truly failed that miserably, even his position as a Pavilion Master would be questioned.
Thus, Nine Dragons Emperor could only grit his teeth and order the Heavenly Dragon Pavilion's members to continue fighting while he called for reinforcements to come from the Black Dragon Empire as soon as possible.
Now, Nine Dragons Emperor regretted not preparing any backup plans due to how confident he was in his army, which forced him to hurriedly improvise and call for help while hoping the remaining elites and the War Dragon Legion's members, whose numbers have been decreased by nearly 5,000 and around 400 respectively by now, could survive for long enough, or that Martial Dragon could create a miracle and somehow stall for time.
That seemed very unlikely, though.
By this point, the core members of Zero Wing were starting to grow bored, no longer interested in bullying these weaklings after getting a chance to stop holding back and let loose, the strength they have been hiding becoming apparent.
They only wanted this unamusing massacre to come to an end now, so that they could go back to grinding and growing stronger. Though, since this was a good chance for the unrestored members to get some practice in and gain experience, the core members only walked around casually and killed whoever came close to them, not bothering to run around and chase after any prey.
Among them, Blackie's actions and movements remained the same, as he hadn't bothered to act flamboyantly while slaughtering the Heavenly Dragon Pavilion's members from the start, finding no point in doing such things.
His attention and focus has only been on getting stronger ever since his memories have been restored, while these opponents were simply too weak for Blackie, there being no hope of him improving by fighting them, and the small amount of Guild Contribution Points for killing the Pavilion's members, which weren't enough for Blackie to increase his strength and could only bring a slight bonus to his savings, being the only possible benefit for him.
As he stabbed the end of his Fragmented Legendary Staff through the throat of one the War Dragon Legion's members who had reached the Refinement Realm and casually pulled it out, the ant before him turning into particles of light, Blackie suddenly sensed danger.
Calmly sidestepping, Blackie managed to avoid the blood-red greatsword that was about to slash him. Backing away, Blackie lifted his Staff and parried another slash, expertly offsetting the force behind it and causing the greatsword to harmlessly brush past him.
Martial Dragon, the person who had just tried to kill him, stared incredulously at Blackie. Being the captain of the War Dragon Legion, Martial Dragon was extremely confident in his strength, and felt that, even if the opponent had higher attributes than him by a bit, he'd still be able to quickly eliminate Blackie, having sensed that he was only at the Void Realm standard.
After all, the difference between people at the Void Realm and people who had reached the Domain Realm was very vast, much greater than the gap at lower realms, and not something an advantage of attributes could bridge. Not to mention his target was a magical class player.
How wrong Martial Dragon's assumptions were is something he'd learn in a moment.
Though, aside from having an advantage in attributes that Martial Dragon couldn't even imagine, even though he was only a Cursemancer whose main attribute was Intelligence and that he hardly placed any Attribution Points into Strength, with his Fragmented Legendary equipment being the source of his high Strength that surpassed Martial Dragon's by a certain amount, Blackie's combat standards also allowed him to contend with the Legion captain.
Although having only reached the Void Realm in his previous life, Blackie still possessed vast experience in all forms of battle against experts stronger than himself, having fought thousands upon thousands of people who had deep attainment in the Realms of Refinement, with many being at the Domain Realm's third step.
Against Martial Dragon, who had only reached the first step of the Domain Realm in recent times and had spent a small amount of time engaging in fights with God's Domain's environment, still being very inexperienced, Blackie, who was close to awakening a Domain himself and had reached the Truth Realms in the Realms of Truth, could easily predict his movements and respond appropriately.
Still, Martial Dragon was a Domain Realm expert, and wasn't someone he could easily defeat while being Silenced and unable to use any Spells, having no choice but to fight a Berserker in close quarters.
As he deflected a flurry of attacks from Martial Dragon, who sought to quickly end this fight, thinking it wouldn't be difficult to defeat a mere magical player in melee combat, Blackie looked for a chance to strike, seizing an opportunity when Martial Dragon's greatsword slid off his Staff and unable to defend its wielder to slam his Fragmented Legendary Weapon at Martial Dragon's chest.
Originally having thought a magical player wouldn't dare to try attacking a top-tier Berserker like himself directly through physical means, Martial Dragon, even with being a Domain Realm expert, was unable to react in time with how fast and unexpectedly Blackie had swung his Staff to attack, only being able to stare on with slight panic as the Staff landed on his chest.
His calm returning within a split second, Martial Dragon stopped caring about Blackie's attack, not believing a mage could possess the Strength to threaten him, and quickly changed his greatsword's trajectory to slash at Blackie while he revealed an opening due to the Staff attack.
Pain from his chest told Martial Dragon that his previous assumption had been wrong, though, the power carried in Blackie's strike sending him flying over a dozen yards.
Quickly regaining his footing, Martial Dragon stared up at Blackie, fear now coloring his eyes. Who would have thought there would be a monster with such Strength here.
The players spectating from the sides also couldn't help their mouths dropping to the floor after seeing a Cursemancer push Martial Dragon so much with a simple melee strike.
Their fight had already attracted plenty of watchful gazes due to Martial Dragon's involvement and there finally being a battle which wasn't completely one-sided, becoming entranced by the moves of the two people exchanging blows and having a chance to see such a fight between great experts, but everyone's attention was completely drawn to it after Blackie forced Martial Dragon back.
It was also what managed to awaken the spectators' from their stupor, having been bewildered by the war's progression from the very beginning and unable to even comment, the unexplainable situation and Martial Dragon's pause causing everyone's minds to finally snap back to reality as they entered a heated discussion concerning the current situation and everything impossible that had happened.
But no one on the battlefield payed them any mind as the fights and slaughters continued.
Martial Dragon was able to slightly regain his composure fairly quickly, having noticed that, although the blow he had suffered contained plenty of strength and sent him flying off the ground, his HP hadn't actually decreased by much.
Even with high Strength that greatly surpassed Martial Dragon's, Blackie's physical Attack Power was still incredibly low, and with his Staff being a blunt weapon unlike most other melee weapons, the Damage his attacks could do to a player with decent equipment and Defense was very small.
Having concluded this, and knowing Blackie wasn't capable of killing him while Silenced, Martial Dragon charged at the Cursemancer without hesitation and went back to fiercely slashing his blood-red greatsword.
Another round of exchanging moves, this time with much greater intensity than before, instantly erupted between Blackie and War Dragon Legion's captain, continuing for some time and forcing the members of both guilds to distance themselves from the two fighters.
Throughout the entire endeavor, Blackie grew frustrated, knowing it was impossible for him to kill Martial Dragon from the first time he had struck the Berserker, as the Damage he did wasn't adequate to quickly finish him off, while it was beyond Blackie's capability to continuously land attacks on a Domain expert in a melee battle even at his current standard after having decreased his level to match the surrounding players.
Seeing as there was no hope of him killing Martial Dragon, at least not without investing a lot of time and effort into it, Blackie decided that continuing things like this was pointless, so, after forcing his opponent back by a few yards one more time, Blackie decisively turned around and calmly walked away; no longer bothering with the Legion captain and switching to other prey.
Blinking at Blackie's departing back as he wordlessly and so causally disengaged from their fight, Martial Dragon quickly grew enraged. He had originally expected this to be a fairly easy task, eradicating some small guild, with the only threat and his main target being the the guild's Void Realm Guild Leader, the remaining ants being secondary targets that would just take a bit of effort to wipe out.
His naive thoughts had been quickly corrected right from the battle's start, and he faced one impossible scenario after another, unable to do anything but watch as his subordinates got slaughtered like lambs.
After finally coming across an opponent to vent his anger on and engage in a meaningful fight, his anger actually only increasing during the fight due to not being able to kill a random, unheard of Cursemancer in melee combat, said opponent had just turned around and began leaving, showing him, the War Dragon Legion's captain, zero regard and not taking him the least bit seriously as he just walked away.
Just as Martial Dragon was about to roar and chase after Blackie, an incredibly thick killing intent suddenly locked onto him, paralyzing Martial Dragon in fear for a second.
"Oi, Martial Lizard, don't you feel ashamed picking on someone with lower combat standards than yourself? If you want to fight someone that badly, I'll gladly send you to your grave." An alluring figure fitted in tight Leather Armor appeared out of the crowd as Fire walked towards the place Blackie and Martial Dragon had just been fighting at.
She had noticed the stalemate between the two a while later, but chose not to interfere in someone else's battle. Now, however, since her boyfriend's brother no longer intended to engage Martial Dragon in a fight and was walking away, Fire naturally wasn't going to allow the lizard to chase after.
Thus, wanting to settle a grudge from getting beat up helpless in front of Feng during this war in the previous timeline as well, Fire, who had just told Martial Dragon off for fighting an opponent with lower combat standards, but didn't mind being a hypocrite, turned into an afterimage as she charged at the frightened Martial Dragon.
The man himself had hurriedly taken a defensive stance as he turned to look at Fire after hearing her voice and identifying the source of the powerful killing intent that made his instincts scream at him to run, quickly recognizing the young woman from the reports to be the Main Force Commander of Zero Wing's Main Combat Force.
But upon remembering the reports stating Fire Dance was merely a decent expert and suspected to be in the Refinement Realm, Martial Dragon's heart burned with rage as he wished he could murder the person responsible for conducting the investigation on Zero Wing's members.
A mere expert? Refinement Realm?
The boundless aura and murderous intent Martial Dragon was currently feeling from the human-shaped monster approaching him was world's beyond anything he had ever felt from the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion's elders or any of those old monsters, or actually from anyone throughout his entire life.
Before he could settle his thoughts, though, Fire had already moved.
Being a Domain Realm expert, Martial Dragon could perfectly sense everything within ten yards of himself, and could even count the number of raindrops within his Domain, so he thought he'd still be able to defend against Fire to a certain extent no matter how strong she was.
Suddenly, Martial Dragon's vision changed, as he felt like he was upside down.
Feeling himself collide with a hard surface, Martial Dragon only then noticed the headless body next to him, and his eyes widened when he recognized it, only for him to transform into light particles without being able to utter a sound or knowing what had just happened.
Once again, silence rang out among the spectators, who had watched everything transpire, but neither knew what had actually happened, or could believe it.
One moment, Fire was slowly approaching Martial Dragon, who looked incredibly tense as he prepared to defend against a powerful adversary, and in the next moment, as Fire disappeared from her spot, the War Dragon Legion's captain's head disconnected from his neck and fell to the ground, his HP having dropped to zero at some point.
No one saw or knew who, how or when had attacked, only the result of the deadly, undetectable move.
It was only then that the spectating players were able to take notice of Fire, who was calmly walking away from the murder scene like she had never been there in the first place.
Martial Dragon was one of the strongest combatants that the Heavenly Dragon Pavilion had to offer. He was also a rare talent that only appeared once a decade.
The virtual gaming world changed by the day, and every year, the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion would recruit a large number of players with potential. Meanwhile, the fact that Martial Dragon was known as a genius that only appeared once every ten years in the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion showed just how much talent he possessed. And yet...
"He actually died, just like that..."
"That's Martial Dragon! How could someone possibly kill him so easily without him even being able to react?!"
Even now, the upper managers of the various Guilds spectating the battle were stupefied.
"Commander!"
Martial Dragon's abrupt death shattered the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion's already low player morale.
As the Commander of the War Dragon Legion, Martial Dragon had never died, not even once, ever since he entered God's Domain. Not even Hell Mode Team Dungeons could end his life.
The elites of the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion and the members of the War Dragon Legion all admired Martial Dragon greatly, using him as their role model.
One could say that Martial Dragon was the symbol of the War Dragon Legion, as well as the legion's backbone.
Now that their backbone suddenly disappeared, even the members of the War Dragon Legion were dumbfounded.
They had never once thought that Martial Dragon would die. As if adding insult to injury, he was a casualty in a war of annihilation against a small Guild.
Even Nine Dragons Emperor stood there with a blank expression as he overlooked the battlefield.
Martial Dragon was renowned throughout the entire virtual gaming world. He was practically synonymous with the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion and was also the proof of the Heavenly Dragon Pavilion's strength.
Yet, now, Martial Dragon had actually been killed in a war with a minor Guild like Zero Wing. Of course, Zero Wing obviously wasn't some weak, insignificant guild, but not only does the public not know that, even if it did, it would still be devastating.
If news of this matter were to spread, the damage to the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion's reputation would be severe.
At this moment, the only way to redeem the Pavilion's reputation was to thoroughly consign Zero Wing to history and have everyone know what the consequences were for angering the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion.
...But that was not possible for the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion to achieve even at the Super-first-rate full power, and most likely impossible for nearly any other guild in God's Domain according to what he had seen.
"Retreat! All of you, retreat!" Trembling, Nine Dragons Emperor sent a command to the members of the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion, no longer able to stomach this battle.
No one complained or thought twice about following the order, more than eager to get as far away from this place as possible. From the beginning, they had grown terrified after so many of them got massacred, and had even thought about fleeing mid battle, so Nine Dragons Emperor's newest order was like a blessing from god.
However...
"Alright, that's enough playing around." A cold, low voice suddenly sounded. Although the words were fairly quiet, and should have been impossible to hear amidst all the chaos, they echoed throughout the streets near Zero Wing's Guild Residence.
Everyone momentarily stopped whatever they were doing for some reason as soon as they heard it and switched their gazes to the voice's source, only to see a plain-looking middle-aged man in armor, who had at some point appeared in front of the battlefield that was now littered with loot.
Black Flame scanned the players who still remained alive, noticing that over 80% of the forces from the Heavenly Dragon Pavilion had already been slain, while only around three to four thousand of Zero Wing's players had died, and they were naturally all regular elites.
His elites' performance in this battle was fairly satisfying, and his curiosity over it and how much they had improved was the reason he had chosen to have the restored members not go all out to quickly wipe out the enemy forces, and why he hadn't gotten involved himself until now. But since he had already seen what he had wanted to find out, and the Heavenly Dragon Pavilion's members had given up, choosing to run away, it was time to end this little farce.
When Black Flame's cold eyes scrutinized the opposing players, they all felt like running away right at that moment, but before any of them could even take a single step, Black Flame disappeared, while all of the Heavenly Dragon Pavilion members started collapsing to the floor, even the ones holding off the city guards, having all been split into halves, with their HP bars bottoming out.
The spectating players became shocked for the umptieth time today, marveling at the scene, when they suddenly noticed Black Flame's presence once again as he walked out of Zero Wing's Guild Residence.
It was now the turn for all of the players in the streets nearby which overlooked Zero Wing's Guild Residence, both the independent players and various higherups of guilds in the Restaurants and bars, to grow afraid as, like a god among mortals, Black Flame glanced at each establishment.
He continued looking across all of the surroundings, until his gaze finally landed on a particular building at a street closest to the residence.
As Nine Dragons Emperor locked eyes with Black Flame's, he instantly felt an overwhelming sense of dread, and before he could snap out of it, like a ghost, Black Flame had disappeared from where he had been standing.
"Pavilion Master, quickly return to the Black Dragon Empire! I'll slow him down!" Nine Dragons Emperor's butler, Uncle Chen, quickly said when he noticed Black Flame was no longer in sight, while the gaze with which he had looked at Nine Dragons Emperor with was a telling sign of his intentions.
From an outsider's point of view, this Uncle Chen was only a butler of Nine Dragons Emperor. However, every upper manager in the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion knew that this old man with a head full of white hair was not just Nine Dragons Emperor's butler. He was the third person to command the War Dragon Legion, Dust Dragon. However, this detail was something in the annals of history.
Currently, most people had long since forgotten that this elderly man named Uncle Chen was the almighty Dust Dragon of the past.
Dust Dragon's words awakened Nine Dragons Emperor from the fear he had been under, hurriedly nodding and unfurling a Guild Transfer Scroll that was meant for the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion's Guild Residence in Black Dragon City.
Unfortunately, the Guild Transfer Scroll suddenly split in half before it could fully activate.
At the same time, Nine Dragoons Emperor and the Dust Dragon, being Void Realm experts, were quick to notice the new presence in the room they were in. The two of them hastily drew their respective weapons and spun around, the other subordinates of the Pavilion Master that were currently in the room following their lead even without knowing what the reason for their sudden actions was.
They all immediately noticed the unfamiliar yet familiar man who had somehow soundlessly appeared in their room, and was currently calmly sitting on the chair Nine Dragons Emperor had just been seated in.
Completely unthreatened by their weapons and burning killing intent, Black Flame calmly sat in the main seat and grabbed the cup filled with expensive wine that was meant for Nine Dragons Emperor, but remained untouched during all this time due to him not having a chance to relax from the moment the siege on Zero Wing's Guild Residence had began.
Under the dumbfounded gazes of the room's other occupants, Black Flame brought the cup to his lips and took a sip. A moment later though, he moved it away and stretched out the hand holding the cup of fine wine away from himself, before turning his hand and spilling out the expensive liquid on the floor.
"Tastes like shit. You actually drink this stuff?" Black Flame looked at Nine Dragons Emperor with the gaze a rich person gives to someone poor upon finding out what the peasant consumes.
To no one's surprise, Nine Dragons Emperor became livid as a result of Black Flame's behavior, but did his best to remain calm, knowing this person is extremely dangerous. Setting aside how he commands so many unknown experts, just him being in the Domain Realm, and seemingly having a deep attainment in it as well, was enough to put Nine Dragons Emperor on edge.
In fact, the Pavilion Master was fairly certain that they would already be dead if Black Flame wanted it to be so, and that the only reason they had managed to notice him sitting there in the first place was because he had let them.
Taking a deep breath, Nine Dragons Emperor spoke out "Guild Leader Black Flame, this time there seems to have been a misunderstanding between us. I suggest we call it a day and go on about out business."
Now that the situation had already come to this, Nine Dragons Emperor could no longer afford to care about the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion's reputation, and had to work on escaping to the Black Dragon Empire alive. At the very least, Zero Wing had been forced to show its hand and revealed the powerful combatants it has been hiding, so this wasn't a complete waste.
There definitely must be some big secret behind the scenes, seeing as none of the Void Realm or Domain Realms experts, or any of that guild's experts at all, had ever appeared before according to Nine Dragons Emperor's knowledge.
A few hidden experts might be possible, but around two dozen Domain Realm experts and nearly a hundred Void Realm experts, not to mention those below that and the unexplainably high attributes all of Zero Wing's members possess?
Something else must be at play here, and it would surely interest all of God's Domain's powers to find out the source of this sudden emergence of so many never-before-heard, powerful players.
If he could inform the Great Pavilion Master first and make a move to investigate sooner, the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion would get a lead advantage, so he must do whatever it takes to bring this news quickly before it spreads out and it becomes too late.
Though, Black Flame had other plans.
"I don't think you attacking my Guild Residence can be classified as a misunderstanding in any way or form. But tell ya what," Black Flame paused as he pointed downwards with a cold expression "If you want this to be settled, little lizard, then all you have to do is get on your knees and beg for forgiveness, and I'll consider the matter done with."
Nine Dragon Emperor's face contorted, about to become unable to endure it all any more and explode in anger which had built up from the moment he had stepped into the Candlelight Trading Firm, but Black Flame suddenly appeared in front of him with a speed he was unable to follow.
Grabbing the arrogant Pavilion Master by the hair, Black Flame brought his face down and planted it on the floor, saying "Here, I'll help you."
Before Nine Dragons Emperor could rise from his position, an armored boot stepped down on his head and buried his face into the ground with such force the sturdy floor cracked a bit, while Nine Dragons Emperor's HP decreased by a large amount.
Seeing this and what the enemy had done to their Pavilion Master, Nine Dragons Emperor's subordinates who were with them in the room exploded into action.
"Damn you!"
"Release the Pavilion Master!"
Such shouts sounded from them as they charged at Black Flame with their weapons at the ready, Dust Dragon having responded first and activating Charge the moment he sensed Black Flame's actions, now less than a yard away from his target as his greatsword was about to cut into Black Flame.
Black Flame was completely calm in spite of being surrounded and attacked by multiple experts, merely sending the offenders a casual glance as he placed a hand on the golden hilt of the sword hanging by his left side.
In the next moment, Dust Dragon, along with his slashing Fine-Gold greatsword, as well as the rest of Nine Dragons Emperor's goons, were cut horizontally in halves which fell to the ground, a serene atmosphere filling the air as the players turned into light and disappeared, while Nine Dragons Emperor forgot to struggle when he saw the quick deaths of his guards and subordinates.
"No apology then? Well," An icy blue flame appeared on Feng's Boots as his tone turned sinister "That's fine with me as well."
The Ice-Blue Devil Flame spread across Nine Dragons Emperor's body, a sizzling noise, followed by a pained scream, sounding out.
Of course, Black Flame could have used the Argent Burning Flame in the same manner, but he chose not to, as the Tier 4 Mysterious Flame would have instantly disintegrated a weakling like Nine Dragons Emperor, while Black Flame wasn't satisfied with giving the pest such a merciful and painless death.
Naturally, he wasn't simply humiliating and acting like this towards Nine Dragons Emperor for no reason, but as a form of revenge for the trouble he had caused Feng in the previous timeline.
The stuff in this Elementary God's Domain was one thing, as the entire competition between the various powers was merely for resources and power, and Feng didn't mind Nine Dragons Emperor's actions against him at the time at all, actually finding it mostly reasonable.
But the actions of Nine Dragons Emperor afterwards and after getting to the Greater God's Domain and the Greater World were ones Feng could not and would not forgive.
So, knowing Nine Dragons Emperor values his pride and reputation more than his own life, Black Flame had decided the best way to properly get revenge this time around was to completely humiliate and make a joke out of Nine Dragons Emperor.
A ruthless glint flashed in Black Flame's eyes as the heat and power of the Ice-Blue Devil Flame intensified, quickly silencing Nine Dragons Emperor's screams and turning his body into ash.
Not bothering to pick up the items dropped by the people he had just killed, Black Flame sent a final glance at the surrounding spectating players, many of whose faces had grown pale after seeing Black Flame's actions.
His gaze caused the players to retreat in fear, but Black Flame disappeared a moment later, leaving everybody around in shock and disbelief.
---
Meanwhile, on the battlefield, the elite members of Zero Wing started cheering loudly one after another upon realizing the fight was over.
"Won!"
"We won!"
Throughout this entire war, nobody had expected them to win. Even the large Guilds watching from afar had long since made preparations to take advantage of Zero Wing's misfortune.
Originally, other than Super Guilds, nobody else dared to oppose the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion. However, they had dared.
Moreover, they had even defeated the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion.
They had achieved a feat that no Guild had ever imagined was possible.
"The Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion was actually defeated, just like that..."
The various large Guilds spectating this battle fell silent.
Other than shock, everyone felt amazement.
Despite the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion's overwhelming power, in the end, all those elite players and frightening top-tier experts suffered an overwhelming defeat at the hands of Zero Wing's members.
Galaxy Past had an excited expression on his face as he watched the loot left behind by members of the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion and the celebrating Zero Wing members.
The true strength of a Super Guild was something no ordinary Guild could ever hope to comprehend. Only first-rate Guilds like them would know some secrets about Super Guilds.
Although the opponent Zero Wing had defeated this time was not a Super Guild, the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion's strength was already on a par with those Super Guilds'. Since Zero Wing could repel the attack of the Pavilion, it could naturally repel the attacks of Super Guilds as well.
Most likely, nobody in the entire God's Domain had thought that...
The first Guild capable of going toe-to-toe with the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion would not be a first-rate Guild but a recently established Guild like Zero Wing, instead.
---
White River City, Candlelight Trading Firm, Special Forging Room
Black Flame walked into the Forging Room and saw Feng in the midst of making an Intermediate Mana Armor Kit.
"So how'd it go?" Feng asked as he glanced slightly at Black Flame without stopping his work.
"Good. Its capabilities are even greater than we expected." Pulling out the sword with a golden hilt and guard from his sheath, Black Flame casually commented. "Though it's only this effective on weak opponents."
The blade currently being held by Black Flame was none other than the Destroyer of Immortality, the Blade Saint Legacy's Legacy Weapon.
In order to test out its power, Feng had Black Flame bring it along for the fight against the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion and give it a test run, a very satisfactory result showing itself.
Feng didn't actually need to ask Black Flame anything about how the Tier 1 Destroyer of Immortality had performed in battle, as their minds were connected and Feng could experience whatever Black Flame was experiencing at any moment he wanted, or tap into the memories he had made as if they were his own.
When Black Flame had finally gotten involved in the fight and instantly slaughtered the remaining members of the Heavenly Dragon Pavilion, he hadn't actually run around and slashed each of them to death, but merely dashed around and used Slashing Domain's thirty yard radius to kill anyone within range, spamming the skill nonstop and slicing all of his targets in half.
With his current attributes, even after lowering his level through the party's Growth System enough so that he could collect the Immortal Souls of his victims, Black Flame's Movement and Attack Speed was too fast for the current players to follow, so the swordlights of Slashing Domain had gone unnoticed by all of the players, and even most of the restored members.
After all, aside from being fully equipped with great Fragmented Legendary Equipment that was superior to most of the rest's and wielding a top-tier Fragmented Legendary Weapon, Feng also possessed an Epic Throwing Weapon, a Fragmented Legendary Necklace, two Epic and one Fragmented Legendary Ornaments, five of both Epic rank and Fragmented Legendary rank Rings, a Legendary rank Cape, and not to mention a Full Blessing from a powerful Ancient God.
Along with his other sources of extra attributes and power, even on the same level, most of his restored guild members were far inferior in terms of attributes to him.
Having settled the battle, Black Flame no longer seemed interest in the matter and aftermath, already losing interest in the entire thing and going back to forging Intermediate Mana Amor Kits.
Seeing that, Feng left the forging to him while he ventured to Zero Wing's Guild Residence.
---
After the war ended, Zero Wing's members also began collecting their spoils of war.
Both Guilds had suffered loses in this war, with the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion's obviously being much grater since they were wiped out, while only a few thousand of Zero Wing's elite members had died. However, during the intense battle, nobody had the time to pick up loot. Hence, plenty of equipment littered the ground right now.
This sight stirred greed and jealousy in many of the spectating Guilds. However, not a single Guild player dared to steal some equipment for themselves. The same held true even for the Assassins who were in Stealth.
The Zero Wing's players' horrifying strength and being capable of easily defeating a Super-first-rate Guild's top fighters, along with Black Flame's unfathomable might, stopped them from doing anything foolish.
At the same time, word of the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion's defeat spread at the speed of light.
Practically all the discussions on the official forums mentioned this incident.
"It can't be, right? The Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion actually lost?"
"You must be joking!"
"The Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion really lost. I have firsthand video documentation here, and you can have it for just 50 Credits!"
A majority of the players in God's Domain was incredulous of the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion's defeat.
The Pavilion, which had remained unshakable all this time, had actually been defeated. It was a complete rout. Even the Pavilion's most powerful War Dragon Legion had been annihilated. The damage the Pavilion had suffered this time was simply incalculable.
---
Star-Moon City, inside Ouroboros's Guild Residence:
"Snow, Zero Wing actually won against the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion, just like you guessed it would." Zhao Yueru's unblemished face was full of surprise when she received the latest news regarding the war between Zero Wing and the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion.
"There's nothing surprising about this," Gentle Snow said, a bright smile appearing on her face. "Black Flame is no fool. Moreover, he has never done anything he was not confident about. Since he dared to pick a fight with the Pavilion, he naturally had basis for his confidence. Only, I never imagined that the source of his confidence would be so powerful."
Even though she had known Zero Wing possessed a large number of hidden experts, she had never expected there would so many incredibly powerful fighters.
"We're in luck this time. Since we're allies with Zero Wing, those Elders whom Cao Chenghua is planning to pull to his side will have to carefully reconsider their actions," Zhao Yueru laughed.
Moments after Zhao Yueru said these words, the doors to the meeting room opened, and a few gorgeously dressed middle-aged men and women entered.
Seeing the arrival of these few people, Gentle Snow could not help but smile bitterly as she shook her head.
"Fate truly knows how to toy with people."
These men and women were none other than Ouroboros's few highly skilled and influential Elders. Normally, these Elders paid little heed to the matters of the Guild, focusing only on grinding, leveling up, and raiding Dungeons. Even Cao Chenghua dared not offend these Elders casually.
Previously, Gentle Snow had tried inviting these Elders for a discussion on some matters. However, they had simply ignored her overtures.
Now, without even requiring her invitation, these people had taken the initiative to come looking for her.
This situation left Gentle Snow speechless. Back then, she had only decided to become Zero Wing's ally to repay her debt to Black Flame. Now, however, it would seem that she was growing even more beholden to him, instead.
"Guild Leader Snow, we truly apologize for before. The few of us have been busy raiding Dungeons all this time, so we failed to meet up with you. Now, however, we are already clear on the Guild's situation. The few of us here have unanimously decided to support you fully. If Cao Chenghua dares to try to split up Ouroboros, he will have to go through us first before he can do so," the leading Shield Warrior declared, chuckling.
Now that Zero Wing had defeated the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion, a super-first-rate Guild, its fame and status in God's Domain were naturally far different from before.
Prior to Zero Wing's appearance, the upper managers of various large Guilds were secretly doing their best to forge connections with Super Guilds to increase their authority inside their own Guilds.
Many large Guilds had even taken the initiative to curry favor with Super Guilds to obtain the protection of these Super Guilds. That way, if other Guilds wanted to make a move on them, these Guilds would have to think twice before taking action against them. After all, nobody wished to incur the anger of a Super Guild.
Meanwhile, now that Zero Wing had defeated the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion, the consequences were obvious.
In the future, Zero Wing might very well become another super-first-rate Guild.
When a man became powerful, those near him could ride on his coattails to success as well.
Since Gentle Snow was an ally of Zero Wing, that meant that Gentle Snow had the support of what amounted to a super-first-rate Guild. As long as one was not a fool, they would know which side they should choose.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
