A Second Eruption

From the earth, a handsome young man with crystal clear hazelnut eyes and long brown hair appeared. He said "Hope I'm not late for the party~" A familiar and warm voice hit Kirin, Rina, and Arnold. Of course, Jam already knew who it was. "About time you got here~" Jam said, though he was immediately taken aback by the dozen or so new Saint God auras that were about to appear. "So you brought friends too~"

The Halberd was replaced with a Lance and Shield and Alex arrive to fill in for Cynthia at just the right moment. Furthermore, he arrived with the Whirls and Red Hawks Tribe. Their arrival brought up the total Saint God on Jam's side to 20 — Xie Xinyi was discounted after she was forced to retired from her wound.

Jam turned back to the enemy, whose faces were ashend by this point. He continued speaking, a sarcastic edge now present in his voice "Give up?"

The annoyance in Wang Bo's eyes were radiating out with ever present menace, but he quickly calmed down. His enemies just gained twelve Saint Gods while they lost five… Still, the outcome wasn't certain, especially with the trump cards he had prepared… He looked at Jam's very "punchable" face and said "Don't think you've won yet..." He turned to Dai Mingzi and said "Bring them out..." a painful sigh escaped Wang Bo's mouth as he gave that final command.

"You sure?" Dai Mingzi said. His cold face gave birth to a slight smile. Wang Bo responded by tagging himself with a reddish-black talisman. He said "Am I sure?" while pointing at the place the talisman marked his skin on his forearm.

"A-alright..." From Dai Mingzi's hands, a black ray shot into the ground below. Upon making contact, a portal was created. From within, two beasts came out. One went to Dai Mingzi's side, much like Danger Noodle, it was a serpentine demonic beast which prefered being coiled onto its master. The other Demonic Beast flew over to Wang Bo's side, it was a black owl with green eyes; a Soulsevering Owl.

Wang Bo's aura changed completely when he came in contact with his owl companion beast. However, Jam could tell that the change occured because of the talisman used. Much like Wang Bo's transformation, Dai Mingzi similarly had his disposition and level of threat escalate; though his augmentations were a bit more subtle, which made him more dangerous — at least in Jam's eyes.

As Jam was prepared to resume the fight, seeing as how the enemies still felt like they had a chance, his expression turned sour when he felt even more demonic beasts started appearing from the portal Dai Mingzi created.

Jam sighed as he watched a couple hundred Saint Lord level tamed Demonic Beasts come out of the portal "Time for another massacre?" He really didn't want to do this again… Jam replaced his Stellar Yang Bow with his Peak Gauntlets and re-manifested the headpiece of his Lesser Demon Form's armor.

Jam prepared several beams and points, aiming to end this pointless farce. Dai Mingzi though, didn't let Jam have his way. He teleported mere meters away from him, prompting Danger Noodle to teleport over to Jam side and even out the playing field. "You're up with me..." those were Dai Mingzi's final words before he and his serpentine companion rushed at Jam.

"Hmph! You along with eleven Saint God helpers could just about threaten me… What could you possibly accomplish with one extra Saint God beast?" Though Jam rebutted, he understood fully well that the previous fight he had been involved in was almost entirely revolved around him and Dai Mingzi. The eleven Saint Gods were there more as support for Dai Mingzi...

Danger Noodle was still bleeding out seemingly infinite power as the Bloodsent Lotus was just barely halfway through digestion; it was part of the reason why Jam could separate from her without her going insane. She could support Jam with the same power as before or perhaps even greater power, as Jam needed less and less strenght allocated to controlling the overwhelming Demon Dao influences as time passed.

SHING! Beams collided with spear lights as Jam and Dai Mingzi fought. Jam's change from Bow to Beam was the same as going from defensive to offensive. Thus, his already high consumption of energy further escalated. Points on Jam's fingertips fought the melee portion of the battle for him as the beams and support beams danced around the world surrounding him; posing a deadly threat to everything.

Jam's fight with Dai Mingzi got the gears of war moving and others all around him fought with new rounds with old enemies. Wang Bo's odd talisman and Owl Beast made him as much of a threat as Dai Mingzi, he was comparable to an entire Clan's formation by himself. He wished to help his Munchie Clan end the Junkies as soon as possible, but Kirin's formation prevented him.

Though Cynthia leaving was a letdown, Alex more than made up for her part in the formation. He traded Cynthia's position for Rina's at the southern end of the Cardinal Formation and became an invulnerable tank. Arnold also moved back down to the ground from where Jam had teleported him.

The Junkies losing their head, Wang Bo, put them exactly even with the Junkies — after Xinyi could no longer continue. However, just because they were even didn't mean the fight would end in a draw… With Xie Ming's current unstable emotions, no one knew just what he would do to see the Munchies burn to ashes.

The Li Clan and Nova Tribe that had previously been fighting Jam split off to each take on the two new tribes that had come in response to the Junkie's Code Black signal. The Red Hawks Tribe took on the Nova Tribe, while the Whirls fought with the Li Clan.

Overall, the situation devolved to be more chaotic with the new arrivals. More Saint Gods, more Saint Lords, an endless horde of demonic Saint Lords… the initially calm and cool Wind Plain was nowhere to be seen. Only endless ruin and scarred terrained remained.

…

Everyone fought with all they had as this battle would only end with one side dying outright, while the other got to stay as the rulers of the center of the pocket dimension. Jam and the rest of the core disciples couldn't care less about being rulers of this small place; they had only come to help their Junkie Allies. However, as the time passed, this excursion that could have been cancelled at a moments notice, should they feel like it, became a matter they couldn't ignore.

The enemy had already disfigured and mutilated one of their close companions and caused yet another to almost kill herself. On their own, the core disciples of the Cultivation Academy might not stand a chance against the army of Saint Gods before them, but with the cooperation of their allies, their common goal had a good chance of being realized.

Now, after half an hour into the second phase of this war began, an eruption from Xie Ming shifted the balance once more. In this time, trump cards from all the various clans and tribes were thrown around, but it was the Junkies last resort that brought about the end of the war. A storm of translucent shards of metal surrounded him as he carved a bloody path through the Munchie Saint Gods.

Xie Fang sighed, but he didn't disagree with Xie Ming's decision to use the Silver Blood Pill. It truly was a godly pill for Xie Ming as he was a cultivator of the Dao of Metal. Though, it would have been better if he had chosen to use the pill after manifesting a Sage Domain…

Jam looked out over his shoulder and could see a demon, much like his current form, made out of silver metal shooting through the skies and killing two Junkie Saint Gods with the flick of his wrists; sending what looked to be makeshift throwing knives, out of his metal shards. Those unfortunate enough to be struck were gutted, disemboweled, beheaded, carved, flayed, and just plain cut up, countless times.

In that demonic state, Xie Ming seemed to become more animalistic as he gave out a saddened roar; all of his frustrations were being vented... Jam could almost feel the intense emotions held within that roar, conveying an absolute hatred for something or someone else. This Xie Ming… though he only erupted now, Jam could easily tell from the sorrowful roar that he only did so after holding in these emotions for longer than any man should. The enemy had provoked him, taunted him, insulted him, tortured him, and even harmed his Dao Companion. The first four actions might have angered him, but that last one? Almost killing his wife? That was the final straw! It made their stances irreconcilable and worthy of immediate punishment. Regardless of the cost!

Jam looked at the unrecognizable monster that now made up Xie Ming and thought about many things. 'Is this what being a Dao Companion means? This is quite literally a textbook representation of what a Dao Companion is supposed to be like, right? To give up everything for another. To have absolute love and care for another...' His thoughts were disrupted by a spear attack from Dai Mingzi. Jam lost a couple pieces of hair, but he quickly focused back on task.