A Life and Death Gamble

Ice crystals quickly appeared by his side. The added strain made purple blood flow at the corners of his mouth as his complexion became duller. Originally, he wouldn't be able to exert anymore energy for other purpose. Strangely, while connected to Mom, he felt like he had additional power in his personal reservoir. It was very strange, but he didn't have time to analyze it at the moment. He needed to put it to good use to increase their chances of success. Shiro's lovely white fluffy fur progressively turned the shade of purple. Since Hana knew of Shiro's unique blood color, she knew he was bleeding out progressively from his whole body.

[Shi-chan!]

The frantic call of concern reverberated within the Soul Hall Domain. Everyone connected to the Mistress within the Hall now knew how dire Shiro's condition was.

[I'm alright. Trust my judgment this time, Mom.]

Shiro assured his Mistress telepathically. Shiro didn't spill what he wanted to say, but his determined gaze could be felt by Hana. Shiro never questioned his Mistress' decision or instruction from day one, and he believed in Hana 100%. Now, he was asking for the same level of trust to be given to him.

Although Hana wanted to say something to stop Shiro from continuing, she gritted her teeth and clamped down hard. She understood what was asked of her; absolute trust towards Shiro's judgment. Hana forced herself to stop doing anything and focused on Shiro's efforts to give him her full support.

As the congregation of ice crystals built in size, connected with each other, and rapidly increased in length and weight into the shape of a thick and long ice pole, Shiro informed Hana to let the avian team use it to penetrate the Silver-banded Eagle's heart. With enough force to achieve a clean hit, it will be a sure-fire way to send the Eagle Boss to the heavens above. Shiro took two whole seconds to completely reinforce the intricately shaped six-meter ice pole trice to make it as sturdy as possible.

The gigantic ice pole was the lance with a specialized twisted feature at the tip; the upgraded ice lance attack taught by Hana. It was typically used during implementing the Ten-thousand Helicoid Ice Lance technique.

As only a half-step Lord, he also knew he did not have enough power to bypass the eagle's defenses if no one was able to seal its movement and defenses. They will be at a deadlock; losing will only be a matter of time. Once they lose the gamble, their whole group will be annihilated.

Now, he did not have the strength to use the full technique in tandem with maintaining the Mirage Storm seal; Mirage Storm simply took all he had to be implemented. He knew he would be gravely injured and wouldn't be fit for combat once the one-minute restriction time was over.

At the same time, under Hana's command, hundreds of the highest-level Elemental Fiends crawled over every inch of the Silver-banded Eagle Monarch, hoping to find a weak point. They tried many methods to hurt the eagle to no avail; biting, slashing, and scorching the eagle with their personal elemental attacks. The feathers were simply too sturdy!

Some finally managed to pull the silver-enforced wing feathers of the eagle when they worked together! This gave Hana a great idea! If they couldn't kill the bird outright due to its insane defense, at least deprived it of its weapons; the feathers!

More and more Elemental Fiends worked together, plucking off the dangerous feathers away efficiently. In just a few seconds, all of the silver-coated brown feathers covering the Monarch's wings were gone, leaving a chicken-like uncooked B-grade broken and bruised wing. They started to pluck the feathers on the chest area, nape, and tail, while slowly etched upwards to bare the Monarch whole. The savage-looking Monarch was turning fast into a gigantic, cleaned supermarket whole chicken! Thank goodness, the Boss Eagle was just standing still with a blank look during the entire process. It was practically 'naked' save for a few stray feathers on its face!

In this dire situation where everyone's wellbeing was tethering on life and death, it hadn't stopped them from feeling funny. Especially the aunty; she was trying hard to suppress herself from laughing outright. She tried her best to maintain 100% seriousness to uphold her dignity.

"Move!"

At the 37th second, Suria and her subordinate dove down from above.

"Gale Spike!"

Thick debris was swirling in the air like waves, as the Tricolor Worldtree Sanctuary's avian brought with them a ravaging horizontal cyclone-like storm. They were flying at the eye of the cyclone, flapping their enormous wings in synchronization to gain momentum and build up power. The birds had accumulated enough and were zeroing on the reinforced ice lance created by Lord Shiro.

Gale Spike was a popular wind attribute technique within the Sanctuary's group focusing on pinpoint mid-level horizontal attacks. The power produced was moderate and was quite useful on various occasions. Unlike the exclusive forbidden art Eye of Windstorm from Suria's bloodline memory, Gale Spike didn't really need spiritual energy build up as it could be powered up by the caster alone if need be. Its other advantage was the ability to stack more power within a single attack, which was perfect for this situation.

The whole group casted the technique together by merging their powers into a single 'pike'. The resulting Gale Spike generated by the power stack enhanced by added momentum was magnificent; it was more like a typhoon rather than a gale now. The accumulated strength nearly reached Lord-leveled! The gigantic pike-like storm pierced through the air at high speed with a high-pitched whistling sound.

This was their last chance before the crazy eagle woke up from its stupor.

The ice lance was levitating not more than a meter away, accurately pointing towards the gigantic Silver-banded Eagle's chest at a 30 degrees angle. Upon closer inspection, a tiny inconspicuous mud-colored crab was holding its pincer up! It was using Micro-control all by itself to control the ice lance!

It was the newly advanced Nipah crab!

If one observed properly, a slight tremor could be discerned from both of its pincers. The crab was having difficulties maintaining the levitation, but the gigantic ice lance was positioned correctly without a single flaw. After all, it just learned the technique that morning. It showed how great was its willpower in addition to its personal talent in Micro Control. The Nipah crab was just a simple-minded spiritual crustacean who believed it owed the Serpent's Lair a great deal. Hence, it expended all its ability to genuinely help by enlisting.

Suria was triggered by the crab's ability to master Micro-control enough to be selected to perform such an important task. This crab was the same crab who sniggered at her when she attempted the said technique previously and failed miserably, losing face. Seeing the crab's prowess stoked Suria's competitive spirits. She was even more motivated to see through her part properly.

The Tricolor Worldtree Sanctuary group shoot off the wind spike and retreated to a higher elevation. The cyclone-like storm flew over rapidly carrying a strong momentum. It accurately hit the blunt side of the ice lance. The ice lance zoomed forward in a twisting motion and drilled the Silver-banded Eagle's chest! Without the presence of the armor-like feathers, the lance managed to penetrate three feet deep! Blood gushed out from the wound and splashed about as the eagle remained defenseless without moving.

The gigantic Silver-banded Eagle coughed out blood once its chest was injured, but his eyes were still blank, indicating that Mirage Storm was still in full effect. To a spiritual avian of such size, a three feet deep injury wasn't fatal enough. The expected blood pouring out from the lance entry point was a bit too little, which meant that the injury miraculously hadn't severed any of the main arteries yet. They soon realized that the wound was too shallow. The Silver-banded Eagle Monarch was as big as a house after all.

"Again!" Suria shouted as she entered a newly prepped cyclone with her teammates. Her subordinates had prepared a bunch efficiently up above beforehand. She knew one Gale Spike wouldn't be enough. If one was not enough, she'll make sure to let the stupid bird eat ten! If ten was not enough, she'd make it eat a hundred!

Everyone scurried away hurriedly as the avian launched themselves again. Gale Spike bombarded the exposed blunt end of the reinforced lance repeatedly like a rocket launcher. The spinning effect from the spike in tandem with the unique structure of the ice lance had made the tear twist deeper in progressively.

"Again!"

"Again!"

…

After the sixth hit, everyone could see the eyes of the Silver-banded Eagle Monarch fluttered slightly, showing signs of waking up.

Everyone did not stop for a second as they worked together to kill the eagle by whatever means possible! Suria did not stop bombarding the exposed end of the ice lance with as much force as she could muster again and again. Her other subordinates helped relay more energy to their Leader's attack continuously. The Elemental Fiends pitched in too. They focused on assaulting the bird's eyes and rear end, though their attacks were nearly negligible. At the same time, Kuro kept on injecting potent poison into the wound on the bird's neck while ravaging it brutally with a mind of tearing the bird's head off.

[Come one, guys! You can do it!]

Hana encouraged them telepathically while she tried to think about other options. She knew Shiro couldn't hold out any longer. The one-minute mark was fast approaching!

The eagle shivered and finally gained clarity!

…

Upon waking up from his stupor, Lord Fearsilver realized that a large ice pole was sticking out from his chest as he kept on coughing out blood with bits of flesh. More than three meters of the reinforced lance had penetrated deep, piercing his heart. The twisting motion nearly destroyed it altogether. Blood was leaking out from the edges of the chest wound and was drenching the spiritual beasts who were attacking him. He knew if the lance was pulled out, blood will definitely spew like a fountain. He might risk bleeding out completely before he managed to heal up enough.

The Silver-banded Eagle Monarch did not have the time to think about the incongruity of his dream-like memories with reality. What he knew was he was in grave danger. The presence of the ice lance within his chest had prevented it from healing! However, removing it now will make him meet with certain demise. He needed to flee first and find a solution later! His eyes glinted with a hard light, full of savagery and resentment.

[I need to flee now! I will return again and kill off everything that breathes from the heavens until the earth on this cursed swath of land!]

The Silver-banded Eagle started to trash hard to break free from the black snake's constriction! Many courageous Elemental Fiends were trampled in between his talons. He flapped his wings hard and tried to lift off in the direction of his lair. However, he wasn't lifting off at all! He just noticed he was bare! There wasn't a single feather to support his flight! Dang it!

The worm dragged him back to the platform and pinned him down!

…