Lightning Is the Only Way

As the door opened, three people exited. Joyce was shielding her eyes from the blinding light with a smile. Manuel had spotted the elders from his Sect and gave them a thumbs-up, and Nero looked with vigilance at the surroundings.

Nero saw about 17 people looking at them. Eleven of these people were elders from the Elemental Sects, while the other six had no element. Those were probably parents or teachers from the loose cultivators.

The reason why there were eleven elders from the Elemental Sects present was because every Sect, except the Darkness Sect, sent two elders, while the Lightning Sect was completely missing. Even the Earth Sect had sent two elders, even though they knew that their group had died even before entering the Heaven's Trial. They were probably looking for a chance to rob the winners.

Eight of the elders and everyone without elements looked crestfallen at the exiting group. The fact that those three exited meant that everyone else had died. The two elders from the Wind Sect smiled but also sighed. Their group had died, but at least Manuel was still alive.

Meanwhile, the elder from the Darkness Sect had a glimmer in his eyes. If he played it right, he could become rich. If he and the darkness disciple in the group backstabbed the others, they could get all the rewards.

As for the potential repercussions from the other Sects? Fuck them! So what if the Darkness Sect was attacked by people in the Tree Stage? If his plan worked, he wouldn't go back to the Darkness Sect. What did his Sect's demise have to do with him? He was only there for himself.

Some other elders started watching the group with greed in their eyes. The Darkness Sect was selfish, and the elder wouldn't risk his life for one of his disciples. The only people they had to fight were the Wind Sect elders. The Water Sect, Earth Sect, and Light Sect were very interested in the treasures. The Fire Sect wouldn't care since they wouldn't attack people weaker than them. They would probably just watch in interest.

Slowly, the six elders started talking to each other. They had to iron out their plan's details and how to fight the two elders from the Wind Sect with the least amount of casualties.

"Is the monster dead?" the darkness elder transmitted to Nero.

Nero showed a slight smirk. "Yes," he answered.

The darkness elder's eyes shone with greed. "How about we claim their two portions for the Darkness Sect?" he transmitted to Nero, obviously meaning Joyce and Manuel.

"Sure," Nero answered coldly. "You take out the Life Lightning cultivator while I take out Manuel. He would expect an attack from you, but not from me. That's why it's better that I take him out."

present concentrated on planning their attack, while the loose cultivators started

Nero transmitted to

then suddenly felt a mortal danger. Out of reflex,

PUCHI! WHOOSH! PUCHI!

the back, while the other barely missed her head. Yet,

the darkness element, and there was no way that she would survive such an

BZZZ!

the elder was two Stages above her. Joyce had to fully heal herself six times to outlast the darkness element inside her. Yet, she managed to stay alive. All of this happened in

The elder's eyes widened.

SHING!

to survive, so he hadn't been prepared for her counterattack. On top of

ultimate counter to the darkness element. On top of that, she had seen Gravis fight against someone with a way more powerful body. He had used this same move to kill

managed to kill someone two whole Stages above her. Under normal circumstances, she would probably

immediately retrieved her sword and kicked the body of the elder away. Meanwhile, everyone was watching this with widened eyes. Someone at the initial Stage had just killed

saw how Nero only smiled. Manuel quickly connected the dots

he sent

of the darkness elder. She

been soulless puppets. That's why this was her first time killing an actual human. Her mind went wild as her emotions rampaged inside her. Her body had moved before her mind could even process what was happening. She had killed

shocked gaze from her. "You need to jump over that barrier at some point. I thought, since he was planning on killing us anyway, this would be a

but with a deep breath, she calmed down. "I understand," she transmitted back.

Nero transmitted