Chapter 45 Alt POV

The Chasm. 

Liyue had two major points and a few far smaller points in which the Abyss was invading the world of Teyvet with its fell energy and its twisted denizens.

Standing upon the hand of his current partner and conduit of his will. Xiao Yanli watched with dark eyes as the air vibrated with dark mist heralding only one thing as he looked towards the one thousand-mile wide pit that would steadily bring you down into the very Abyss at its bottom level.

His dark eyes stared through the fog of great distance as he looked down with the help of his 'Titan' Warpuppet lifting him up further so he could get the angle to watch as a tidal wave of dark shapes seemingly formed out of the shadows within the depths of the pit.

[Incursion inbound. All formation masters take to your posts, all alchemists breathe life into the Earth Fire tunnels. And squads M through Q are to take to the field to hold the line against the base abyssal fiends.]

Xiao flexed his will and his partner's chest area opened up and then he backflipped into the titan its chest closing around him with its systems coming alive.

The large Ogre Titan then leaned to the side and a loud clattered of shattered stone rang out as the oversized saber that had been stabbed through the ground was ripped out by the large mech even as Xiao's Jade Message Stick powerfully.

[Xiao Yanli, you are in charge of leading the newly formed Warpuppet division at point 17. Hold the line as new munitions created by the same inventor who made the war puppets will be be supporting you.]

He quickly sent affirmation through the jade seal as his titan flexed its mechanical muscles and he could feel his Calvary Intent flowing ever so slowly through the warpuppet even as his Saber Intent flowed much easier through the massive saber his mech was carrying as its sole weapon.

Xiao quickly headed over to the point he was designated to hold and he gave a small smile as the 'communication systems' within the Warpuppet bleeped out with one of his few friends that respected him even as a cripple spoke to him with some excitement.

"Xiao my brother, I am glad to see you have already stabilized yourself even if you cannot wield the same power without draining all your puppets power." His friend Fatty Wang spoke with Xiao chuckling as he retorted.

"Brother Wang, I am just surprised your puppet can even manage to carry your girth."

There was a pause before Fatty Wang snorted and said. "Bah! See if I bring you home to eat my family's famed pig trotters again. No, but did you hear the rumors? Sect Master Morax has sent praise to Master Bariss, there are rumors that he will make even better Warpuppets with how well these one's are already performing!"

The young man looked over to the Ogre titan that Fatty Wang was piloting and saw how across the body of the mech were several formation plates stuck to the mech that would suck in ambient spiritual energy to support the spirit energy cannon it was carrying in its hand.

While its mundane weaponry was on the titans back as a backup weapon once the mech began running low on spirit energy.

And Xiao smiled as he spoke. "I can only hope that Master Bariss refines his puppets and makes them more human-like so more martial artists and the like can use their techniques properly within the puppet." 

But all other words were cut off as more people entered the 'communications channel' that Master Bariss had integrated into the Titans so they could talk to other Titans from any distance that they could find...

Or at least a Titan could speak in real-time with another Titan on the other end of the Chasm and that method of communication was a good deal faster and far more convenient then Jade Messager Sticks.

[All 'Ogres' close the chatter when combat starts. I will relay any orders if needed, also remain on your feet wary as supposedly Master Bariss has a new weapon being used on our front.] Xiao announced and he saw as the icon for people silencing themselves filled the ranks with him remaining the only one unmuted as was befitting his status as their leader.

A couple of tense minutes later the action truly began as large rainbow-colored flames exploded from the many purposefully designed volcanic vents as alchemists poured their alchemical flames to burn away any abyssal energy creeping into the world.

Then thousands of lances of light shot into the pit as the formation users used the stored spirit stones to conjure up countless formation spells that shot into the abyss like an apocalyptic storm of hail that rained upon the tide of endless low-ranked abyssal monsters.

'Abyssal Devil Ape Tribe.' Xiao noted with... Some contentment.

Certainly not happiness as facing an Abyssal tide wasn't anything to be happy with as deaths among humanities defenders was assured.

But the Abyssal Devil Ape Tribe... They were simple, uncomplicated fiends to eradicate.

They had no terrible poison, no terrible curses, no insane defenses some other tribes of Abyssal had.

The Abyssal Devil Ape Tribe had two things that made them dangerous... Their ferocious nature allowed them to ignore lethal wounds until death claimed them, and their extreme physical strength.

But as Xiao was about to tell his fellow Ogres to begin picking out the higher tier Abyssal monsters from a distance via their spirit cannons and the Ogre's armed with massive cannon's called 'Howitzers'.

That the Ogre's carried and used to pick out more high-end targets to fantastic results due to their cultivator and martial artist senses.

A scream of something rang out through the air and from behind the battlements, a couple of miles behind them came white streams following several dozen medium-sized objects that Xiao followed with a confused gaze.

And then the objects broke apart in the air each releasing several dozen fist-sized balls that fell towards the ground that was being crushed under the accursed feet of countless Abyssal monsters.

The moment the balls hit said ground and the abyssal monsters, the balls all exploded violently sending white hot sticky flames everywhere that clung to the ground flesh while belching out dark no doubt choking fumes.

The line of advancing ground-based Abyssal monsters was forced to grind to a halt at the roar of a high-tier Abyssal monster who had realized that the lake of white-hot flames was a good hundred or so meters deep so the low-ranked Abysals wouldn't even be able to bury the flames with their corpses due to hot and sticky the flames were.

That was just the ground troops in this area though.

The higher-ranked Abyssal monsters or likewise the Abyssal Devil Ape Tribe's pureblood members that had reached higher stages were already fighting in the air against the sword cultivators and martial arts.

And Xiao raised an eyebrow as he watched the other new weapon in the airships that Master Bariss had made enter the battlefield.

They were utterly covered in formation shields that protected them from surface sent and other glancing blows. They had a great many number of the 'mundane' chaingun weapons attached to their hulls and it was clear their use as they acted as safe havens in the sky as the chain guns cut lesser ranked demons out of the air en-mass.

While on the bottom hull, there was four beams of light constantly raking over the ground carving through the monsters running across the ground.

'Today will be a good day.' Xiao thought as he swung his saber through a stage three Abyssal Devil Ape that's flesh couldn't stop his saber's thirsty blade.

'Only a couple hundred people may die this time... Truly a day to celebrate!' Xiao thought excitedly!

As with each incursion by the Abyssal hordes... It was considered a good day should only a thousand people die.

That was the cost of holding the Chasm during any sizable incursion that could occur every few weeks.