Master, let's fucking kill the future Mingyin and capture the past one! Master, are you listening?""
Shut the heck up, you stupid monkey!" Odin Shin snapped, his anger matching Anguished's impatience. "
Your rage is the least of my worries right now. We've lost track of both Mingyin and Po Ming!""
But Master, Mingyin was somehow able to control his own spirit realm!""Wait... what is that?""
Shut the heck up! We need to find a spatial ripple in this space and kill Mingyin. If we fail to do that, our entire lives will have been for nothing!" Odin Shin hissed, his jaw clenched. "We hail from the Nine Heavens and possess immense power, but we wouldn't be this strong without our sect!""
Huh?
But Master—""Stop bothering me with 'Master this' and 'Master that'!" Odin Shin barked. "
Go and—huh?"Odin Shin abruptly spun around.
Every ounce of colour drained from his face, leaving him deathly pale."Six Heavenly Faunus!"Suddenly, looming far in the distance, stood an unknown entity of beyond-unparalleled power.There stood a massive woman whose towering height completely dwarfed Anguished, who stood an imposing seven feet tall.
She made Odin Shin, at five-foot-eleven, look utterly minuscule. The woman wore a beautiful, vibrant fabric cloth wrapped around a celestial body embroidered with radiant emeralds. Her long hair cascaded down her back, whipped into a frenzy by a sudden wave of wind.Without warning, she brought her hand crashing downward with unbelievable speed.
The strike was so fast it tore reality itself apart, forcing spatial ripples to tear open across the sky.Anguished's face hardened into a cold glare. He instantly summoned a colossal whip, its massive form resembling four giant jungle serpents bound together. Pouring his soul force energy into the weapon, the surrounding air shattered under the pressure.
Though he couldn't force the sky to ripple, the sheer output of energy caused a massive heatwave to warp the horizon. Countless shadowy faces materialized in the air, peering down at her.Bam!Suddenly, Anguished's eyes flared with an eerie, out-of-nowhere glow."Wait... he's using that explicit whip artifact?" Odin Shin muttered, horror dawning on him. Using such a powerful artifact required the user to sacrifice something precious
. "Don't tell me you chose to—!""I had to! I need to defend us!" Anguished roared.The whip lashed forward. The woman standing before them simply held two fingers wide open, her voice echoing as she began to recite a poem:
"I swim upward in the Heavenly Carp River,
Swimming alongside serpent, dragon, tiger, and lion.
Yet the goal is not the competition,
But who can swiftest become the carp—
Who can remain at the peak of the food chain,
Adapt, and show the world their true domain!
"A violent wave of flame erupted from the vacuum of space. With a sharp twist of her fingers, the heat intensified to a blinding degree. She thrust her hand forward
.[Artifact: Flame of Realignment]A massive fist of pure fire erupted from the inferno. Odin Shin's eyes turned mercilessly cold.That artifact... she can manifest flames hotter than a heavenly sun, manipulate them, and unleash devastating stances!
Her body isn't even human—it's made of clouds!The flame fist shot toward them just as the whip lashed forward.The two forces collided. The vacuum of space shattered from the impact, tossing both Odin Shin and Anguished violently aside. The woman, however, remained entirely unfazed."
Shit! Mingyin!" Anguished spat, coughing up dust."Wait, do you mean the future Mingyin?
The one who was destroyed by the other Mingyin?""Yeah. It seems we are trapped inside his spirit realm!""That makes sense... the last time we fought him was in the Seventh Heaven," Odin Shin realized, narrowing his eyes at the towering figure.
"I remember this lady. She is Mingyin's most trusted ally. She seems to roam the flip side of his soul realm. Surely she knows of an opening where Mingyin is hiding!"Odin Shin spoke with renewed confidence, and Anguished managed a dark smile.
But that smile froze instantly when the tip of Anguished's whip snapped back to him. It was completely incinerated.Odin Shin's gaze locked onto the ruined weapon. "That is his third strongest artifact... how did she destroy it so easily?!"Suddenly, the Six Heavenly Faunus turned her gaze directly toward them.
Behind her, something majestic, beautiful, and entirely unnatural to this world began to rise.A colossal dragon, covered in breathtaking silver scales with eyes that shone like twin moons, glided through the air with impossible speed. Radiating a mad, oppressive strength, it opened its maw as thick smoke billowed from its throat."That's... Long Kued!" Anguished gasped. "
How did he survive? Didn't we burn him to ashes a long time ago?!""What is happening?!"The dragon wheeled around, driving its massive head and body forward. A cataclysmic wave of ripples followed its movement, carving thousands of jagged marks into the air.
Seizing the moment, Odin Shin grabbed Anguished by the shoulder. Spotting a tear in the fabric of space, he dove straight into one of the collapsing ripples.Looking back over his shoulder, Odin Shin saw the dragon open its maw wide. A blinding blast of destructive energy erupted from its throat, surging directly toward their closing exit.
Bammmm!
The blast closed in on the ripple. Reacting on pure instinct, Odin Shin shoved Anguished out of the way and summoned his own defensive artifact
.[Long Shined!]
An enormous shield the size of an elephant materialized in front of him. Odin Shin braced his left hand against it, planting his feet.
Bam!
The blast slammed into the shield.
The sheer force deflected the energy, but the kinetic impact punched him clean out of the spatial ripple. Behind them, the ripple snapped shut, sealing reality back together. Left behind in the void, the dragon threw its head back, roaring furiously.Roaaar!Odin Shin and Anguished tumbled out, collapsing into a vast, endless field covered in white grass.
The grass was beautiful but strangely long, its blades reflecting light like polished glass. If one were to bend down, they would see their own perfect reflection staring back at them from the crystalline stalks.Odin Shin and Anguished quickly got to their feet, scanning their new surroundings with tense vigilance.
The beautiful, reflective blades mirrored their every move. Anguished took a cautious step forward, his heavy boot crushing the brittle grass beneath him.To their shock, their entire beings shuddered. The grass beneath their feet didn't just bend—it shattered into thousands of tiny glass shards, grinding against the dirt.
They walked forward on high guard, well aware of what was to come. Anything that threatened their lives here would face a grim predicament: a crusty death, falling straight into the arms of a walking skeleton.Suddenly, Odin Shin froze on his fifth step. His eyes widened in absolute shock.
No—the correct word for what gripped him was fear. True, unadulterated fear.Rising far beyond the horizon stood a colossal castle, towering over them as if they were mere ants. The fortress walls were constructed from a pristine mix of dark stone, river pebbles, and smooth marble, looking paradoxically pitch-black and blindingly white at the same time.
High atop the walls sat sharply defined merlons and embrasures, overlooking a massive, elevated walkway.Towering spires supported the heavy pillars, locking the architecture together. There were five spires in total, each positioned perfectly at one of the castle's five structural angles.
Inside the courtyard floated multiple elongated orbs made of crystal glass, hovering silently over a ground composed entirely of human skeletons.
Suddenly, the entire realm began to vibrate violently. A booming, echoing rumble shook the earth.The castle detached from the ground, floating high into the air and casting a massive, sweeping shadow over the white field.
Behind it, multiple identical castles rose into the sky at terrifying speed. The ground convulsed, kicking up clouds of dust and sending sharp blades of glass grass whipping through the wind.The floating castles shifted in mid-air, locking into a perfect, unified formation.
Together, they fused to form a vast, mechanical body made entirely of fortresses. As the colossal entity solidified, two blinding lights erupted from the central castle's chest.Two massive weapons materialized in its grasp: a towering spear and a colossal shield.
Bam!
The construct caught both weapons cleanly. Above them, violent forks of lightning struck the earth, blasting deep craters into the glass field.Anguished's face turned dead cold, while Odin Shin shook his head in a mixture of rage and terror."The Battle of Fate hasn't been destroyed!"