CHAPTER 237: THE ATTACK 2

The Divas turned to her in shock. "Impossible," Seraphine said quickly. "To sustain three separate cultivators at once without losing control of one’s own energy...no one could do that."

"Yet he does," the Empress replied calmly. "It must be because of that foreign soul of his. It bends the rules of our world in ways even I have not seen before."

Lucas, though he couldn’t hear their exact words, felt the Empress’s eyes on him. He kept his composure, neither confirming nor denying anything. Inside, however, he could feel the steady stream of energy flowing from his core into the three women’s dantians through the invisible thread of their bond. It was effortless, natural, as though his Qi existed in abundance far beyond his own body.

He could feel their fatigue before it even appeared. He could feel their injuries before they manifested. When Selene’s pulse stuttered, his Qi surged to fill the gap. When Lira’s breath shortened, his energy replenished her. When Nyx pushed her ice affinity further than usual, his Qi stabilized her balance instantly.

The guide, standing beside Lucas, shivered and muttered under his breath, "They’re fighting like wild spirits... and they don’t stop. How do they still have that much energy left?"

Lucas said nothing. His eyes remained forward, his aura steady. "Because they’re not alone," he whispered quietly, more to himself than anyone else.

The Empress, still observing him, let the faintest chuckle escape her lips. "You hide your depth well," she said softly, just enough for him to hear.

Lucas turned his head slightly toward her but said nothing. The cold wind howled between them, carrying the echo of dying beasts. The snow was thick with the remains of the fallen, yet the battle wasn’t over.

The Empress finally turned away from the spectacle, her tone quiet but commanding as she addressed her Divas. "Do not move until I say. Let them handle what they can. The stronger ones are waiting. They will strike once the weaker are spent, and then we act."

The Divas nodded immediately.

The Empress’s gaze returned to Lucas one more time, her voice lowering just above a whisper. "I see now why your soul feels so foreign," she said. "You bend Qi itself to your will... as if it obeys you by nature."

Lucas met her eyes for a brief moment. "Or perhaps," he said quietly, "it’s because I learned to embrace it."

The Empress tilted her head slightly, a faint, intrigued smile forming on her lips. Then she looked back at the battlefield, where the three ladies fought with untamed, radiant power...driven, unstoppable, and endlessly supplied by the one man who stood silent behind them.

The battle raged on with unrelenting fury, the snow around them dyed crimson beneath the cold moonlight. Another wave of beasts emerged from the mist...larger, more vicious than the ones before....but the girls didn’t falter. They stood firm, shoulder to shoulder, their breaths visible in the icy air, eyes burning with determination.

Lira and Selene moved like twin storms, their wind elements blending into a seamless dance. Lira’s wind blades cut through the air, sharp currents slicing at the advancing beasts, while Selene’s control sent gusts spiraling upward, lifting the beasts off the ground before crashing them back into the snow with bone-shattering force. Their movements were so precise that not even a strand of each other’s hair was caught in the crossfire.

"Left flank!" Lira shouted sharply, and Selene already moved before the words even finished leaving her lips.

On the other side, Nyx raised her hand, her ice affinity resonating deeply with the cold of the mountain. Blue frost erupted from her palm, spreading in intricate, crystalline patterns that trapped several beasts mid-charge. The creatures roared and twisted, but her power only grew denser, her eyes glowing faintly like the heart of winter itself. The air around her dropped further in temperature, forming a deadly aura that turned snowflakes into blades.

Behind them, Mirielle was fighting too...her hands trembling at first, but her strikes growing bolder with every passing moment. She was no longer the quiet village girl, the fear that had once clouded her eyes was gone, replaced by something fierce and raw.

She struck an incoming beast with her ice spear, the weapon shattering upon impact but freezing the creature solid before it could take another step. Her chest heaved, but she didn’t stop...she conjured another spear, her hands steady this time.

"Good one, Mirielle!" Nyx called, her voice firm and proud as she deflected a wolf lunging toward the girl. "Don’t stop. Keep your focus."

Mirielle nodded quickly, her breath forming white mist in the air. "I won’t!" she yelled back, her voice filled with more strength than anyone had ever heard from her.

Lira cast her a quick glance and smirked. "Seems someone’s finally awake," she said before slicing through another charging beast with a crescent arc of wind.

Selene chuckled, her eyes never leaving the fight. "It’s in her blood now. Once the adrenaline hits, there’s no going back."

Lucas stood behind them, his cloak billowing in the biting wind, his gaze steady as he watched the synchronization unfold before him. Their formation had become natural...instinctive even. He could feel their energy through the bond, their Qi flowing like rivers connected to the same sea. Whenever one faltered, his energy surged to stabilize them; when one overexerted, his Qi soothed and replenished.

The Empress, watching from behind the flickering aura of her protective Qi barrier, folded her arms. Her Divas, too, were watching in awe.

"Look at them," Seraphine whispered, her tone laced with disbelief. "They move as though they’ve trained together for decades."

Aeloria nodded slowly. "No hesitation, no missteps... even that girl, Mirielle, who could barely hold her ground when we met her, now strikes like she was born on a battlefield....the adrenaline is coursing through her."

The Empress said nothing, her gaze cold yet contemplative. Her mind turned over what she was witnessing, reading the invisible strings that bound their movements together. "Their souls are in rhythm," she said finally, her voice quiet but sharp. "It’s as if they’re not separate beings but extensions of one will."

Lucas could feel the Empress’s eyes on him again, but he didn’t turn. His attention was on the girls, his senses extending through them like invisible threads. Every heartbeat, every breath, every surge of Qi...they were all in sync. The rhythm of battle itself had become a kind of melody, one that only they could hear.

Mirielle shouted as she spun, releasing a burst of ice that froze three beasts mid-leap. "Ha!" she exclaimed, her voice echoing across the frozen slope. Her excitement was contagious....Selene laughed under her breath, and even Nyx smiled faintly as she unleashed another wave of frost.

"Not bad at all," Lira teased, her tone playful even in the chaos. "You might actually survive this, Mirielle."

"I intend to," Mirielle shot back, surprising even herself with the confidence in her tone.

The girls moved faster, stronger, more precise. Their coordination became so refined that not even the beasts’ overwhelming numbers could breach their defenses.

From afar, the Empress watched the scene unfold, her expression unreadable but her eyes filled with quiet intrigue. "So this is the strength of one who carries a soul not of this time," she murmured.

Lucas exhaled slowly, a faint smile crossing his lips. "They’ve come a long way," he said quietly, more to himself than anyone else.

The Empress heard him and turned slightly toward him. "Indeed," she said. "Perhaps further than even they realize."

As the last of the current wave fell, silence returned briefly, only broken by the sound of heavy breathing and the distant wind howling across the frozen cliffs. The girls stood together in the snow, their weapons still glowing faintly, their breaths steady.

Then, from deep within the mountain’s shadow, another growl echoed...deeper, older, more menacing than the rest. The snow trembled beneath their feet again, and Lucas looked up toward the dark expanse above.

The next wave was coming.

And this one would not be so easily defeated.