Fhesiah dumped numerous purifying herbs into the cauldron, the cursed blood being refined by her mixing. She almost wanted to sing a song and dance while she cooked, but had to keep the appearance that she was determined and distressed instead.

The captain was catching onto her game, at least slightly. He was becoming increasingly suspicious about how she hadn’t fully succumbed to the curse yet, but only her usefulness as an alchemist stayed his hand. 

In all, she thought it was kinda funny. Skilled alchemists were truly a privileged sort even for the unorthodox cultivators, and she was running roughshod all over these jerks.

Several pill furnaces worked and she finished yet another batch of blood essence pills. This game was nearly over, though it had been an interesting few weeks. Fhesiah had hopefully made a bunch of allies, reducing their suffering with her pills and preparing for her escape.

She had finally created a true antidote to the curse. Well, at least when caught early enough, or combined with her Torch or draconic flames to heal them. Secretly, she had already saved a few from the pits of despair. Unfortunately, she could not save them all.

This camp was just too big. Supposedly, there were a total of twenty-four spines heading to the base of the main mountain. This enemy sect actually comprised of half, or nearly half of them with the Alliance taking up the other half. In addition to that, they had succeeded in merging four groups of their larger sect into one, with a fifth on the way here to join them, containing one of their elite members.

The Tartarus unorthodox sect members had the advantage of all working together, in that they were from the same sect. Nearly each spine the Alliance was on was mixed between representatives of different worlds, whether cultivators or Framework members.

Which led to some infighting and doubting of allies, and greed besides. Thus, when the Bloodbeast Sect reached the base of the mountain, they attacked other groups–and had won three out of the four. The loss forced them to retreat, but they were gathering up for revenge, a renewed assault when the man known as the second in command, returned.

Revenge Fhesiah would not allow to be carried out. In all, her best chance for rescue of those enslaved was before this second in command arrived.

She walked over to the blood urns and removed the lid. Peering inside with her divine sense, she monitored the creatures within the unique condensed space within. Two creatures covered in tainted blood battled for dominance, one a sort of scorpion and the other some kind of frenzied mole rat. Its claws were large and vicious, and seemed strong for both offense and defense. 

But not good enough. The scorpion’s stinger pierced over the mole’s guard, sinking deep into its skull and killing it. 

The scorpion won the battle, and drank the mole rat’s blood into itself. It became empowered, and the ritual inside the urn completed. Blood from all over the urn, the many fallen creatures, rushed inside the scorpion, strange heretical glyphs within the urn’s lining brightening with a sickly red light.

A weight bore down onto the scorpion, and it began screeching in agony. The creature was crushed and torn apart as the blood within the urn swirled, leaving nothing but a single drop of concentrated blood.

Her corrupted heart screamed to consume the tainted blood, but she covered the heart with her flames and ignored the annoying curse in her chest. With her Qi she grabbed onto the droplet of blood, and added it to one of the many cauldrons for additional refinement–before she would add it to one of her furnaces along with dozens of other materials. 

Carrying over the beast urn, she dumped a new set of creatures inside, and then sent a new drop of tainted blood into each of the creatures from the sect’s blood pool. Once again, her body screamed to consume more of this blood, wanting this essence to fuel its power.

The monsters began their struggle for dominance as they were filled with rage, and she closed the lid, moving onto the next. She then walked to the end of the line of urns to check on her favorite project.

Opening the lid, she found a terrifying beast of blood facing off against another. It was enormous and was a storm of claws, teeth, tails and even spines.

It was up against a more familiar, beloved figure. It had a scaled back that deflected the storm of claws, and it chuckled darkly at its enemy’s futile violence. Four front arms of its own countered the creature’s assault, claws that were long knives of terror that inflicted punishment against its foe. Some kind of bloodbeast badgerdillo with mutated limbs, that she had ensured to only provide cleansed, condensed blood essence.

The blood essence for the others was from a tainted beast. A sort of blood parasite that was likely in the fourth Tier, its blood alone empowered the sect members and beasts alike. The creature would give off its blood, and just a little of it would infect nearly any amount of it, even from the smallest drop thanks to a powerful Intent of the near-divine-level creature. 

The cultivators could use it and become more like this blood beast, getting various advantages–so long as they continued to feed it more blood essence. 

After a cultivator used the tainted blood essence, it altered themselves. They could then consume enemy cultivator’s blood and improve their own cultivation, stealing their fates. But there was a downside–the original blood beast would slowly wear down their minds and souls, taking control of the members to eventually bring them back to the original beast for consumption.

At the top of the sect was not the blood beast itself. It was merely sect members using the beast’s blood essence for power and control–or at least, that’s what they believed. Perhaps their patriarch was nothing more than a puppet for the blood beast itself to control, to fool these cultivators into becoming food for its own strength. 

Because it was inevitable–once tainted by the blood, they would kill and consume until the curse eventually took over, and brought them back to be devoured. Whatever they fed the corrupted heart would no longer be enough at some point.

The badgerdillo won, and the ritual was completed. It roared in triumph and satisfaction, consuming the blood from the ritual, though Fhesiah had certainly made sure to alter it. The beast absorbed the blood, and changes began to occur as it purified its bloodline, and advanced to near the peak of the first Tier. Gem-like protrusions began to grow on its body, the same color of red blood like its body. 

Fhesiah made sure nobody was watching once more with her divine sense, and stowed away the urn in her Storage Ring. Finally, she had it. A purified, nine times refined blood badgerdillo for Jake. Of course, it wasn’t the same exact thing as the ones they met, and it took her nearly twenty tries, but she finally had it.

It was strong, and she had an inkling that what she had done was likely what the bloodbeast sect members might do. She simply noticed that if she changed a few glyphs, she had a powerful beast that she could control using the blood essence.

And it was a female, for… reasons. Why shut down possibilities before they even become one?

Between the creature, the antidote, and her plan to come to fruition, she only had a couple of requirements left. She would destroy this army dealing a devastating blow to the bloodbeast sect, and save a bunch of nice people. Also, to take all the loot–that was important, too. Fhesiah was such a good multitasker.

Suddenly, the curse energy within her began to boil, the blood through her veins raging against her flesh. Her muscles tightened and cramped, and she let out a grunt of pain. Fhesiah nearly rolled her eyes, but instead, let the pain wash over her, pretending to be in agony with her face scrunched up. She could just turn off the feeling of pain, but it was easier to act the part with it being real.

Black and red filled her veins as her corrupted heart beat, visible under her pale skin. Some blood even pierced her flesh, as if wanting to escape her body. It encroached on her dantian, and she made an appearance of fighting off the curse, barely holding on with light amounts of Qi as she stumbled to the ground.

A man entered her tent, the captain of the blood beast sect–and the one that had made the beast’s blood within her body begin boiling just from his proximity. His name was Arcus, and he was some kind of demon like herself, a son of a demonic beast lion that had reached the nascent soul level.

His fur had been stained red from the blood, and the man was pure wickedness. Fhesiah learned that like these very same urns, he had been baptized in battle against his brethren multiple times before reaching the Foundation Establishment realm. He was an elite of their sect, a chosen to become one of the strongest within the battleground. 

Fhesiah wouldn’t be surprised if these so-called captains would just consume all the participants if Tartarus succeeded, to go onto bigger and better things–after promising them all glory.

“Do you have it? The pill you promised.” 

She began getting up, as she tried to restore her Qi with a crystal. Fhesiah was doing her best to appear weak, and the only reason she was allotted any of the Qi crystals at all was to perform her alchemy in the first place.  “I…yes. One moment please.”

“Now!” Arcus roared.

Fhesiah retrieved the pill from the sack they provided her, and once again, her cursed heart screamed at her to consume it–even more than the drop of blood from previously. Blood spears grew from her veins out of her fingers in an attempt for her corrupted heart to grab it, but the captain just snorted and took it from her fingers out of the air with Qi.

“Yes, I can feel it. With this, I can solidify my breakthrough and challenge for second in command.” He laughed as he looked over Fhesiah’s efforts across the room once more. Dozens of cauldrons were simmering, pill furnaces were slowly working at a slow burn, and the many urns were all functioning at full capacity.

“Who knew we would find someone with such talent.”

He scanned her with his divine sense, his eyes narrowing. “Why do you still fight it?”

Of course, this was a difficult point for her to overcome. If she were to be loyal to the sect, she needed for the curse to take over her dantian–to discard her path. Her Qi would be taken over by blood Qi, and its compatibility with creating flames was low.

Thankfully, she was a kitsune demoness, and also an alchemist. In order to form a proper flame from blood to continue her alchemy at the best proficiency, she would need a special environment. 

“I’m not confident in forming a flame of blood on my own. I’m building merit for time in the blood pits. It’s a much better start that will make up for how I was cursed, besides.”

“I promised you plenty of essence to maintain the curse, and surely, you don’t need perfect flames to continue your alchemy? You won’t have to suffer like the chattel outside, and this place is a tremendous opportunity for us. This is what you can accomplish now, at Foundation Establishment. Forming your Core, you should be able to exceed what you can do now, even without the blood flame.” The man’s smile grew wide, as he looked her body up and down. “I already told you how you could get the most blood essence.”

Fhesiah nearly scorched him where he stood, but knew her plan would result in that soon enough. Especially if he took that pill. She just stared impassively, pretending to focus on recovering her insides–the damage from the man’s entry, his flex of power over her tainted blood.

Arcus sneered. “Fine. Suffer a little more. If you wait too long, even I cannot protect you from the second in command when he arrives. It’ll be a lot more painful and the result not as good if it is…forced.”

He was referring to how the blood curse took over the body and invaded the dantian. If he covered her in his blood and encroached her dantian himself, it would damage her spiritual temple significantly. 

This was what happened to the many blood slaves, being cursed during combat. Those that were strong enough to let the curse in willingly would receive the benefit of a more intact dantian.

Of course, what Fhesiah did now to protect herself was not perfect. The spiritual temple was a metaphysical representation of the body. And how could the body be well when the heart and the blood within was cursed? Still, she kept things at acceptable levels, for when she took the antidote herself, this minor tribulation would have tempered her, instead.

“Did you finally prepare the essence awakening pills? We need to be able to move soon, and I would rather the rest be awakened sooner rather than later.”

Fhesiah nodded, and showed him the pill. “That’s right. Thanks to my efficiency, these extra–”

Arcus snorted as he swept it, and her sack in his divine sense. “Whatever. I should just force you to take this, and get it over with. Just hand them out so we can move against the enemy soon. We need more blood.”

The awakening pills she devised at their request were not much different from the blood essence pills the sect members were meant to take, to improve the power of their blood curse. 

The corruption levels were simply higher, and it would empower the corrupted heart even further to encroach their dantians and end their struggles nearly immediately. A decent start for them in truth, but she hadn’t actually made the pill she promised.

He left the tent, leaving Fhesiah alone inside. She stealthily used her divine sense to monitor his activities as she continued healing her body and her work, but like the brutish oaf he was, he merely beelined for his tent to consume the precious pill.

It would take him some time to absorb, and she was able to sense his aura fluctuating heavily as he began. Thus, she would begin the final stage of her plan. Fhesiah waited a few minutes and gathered her things and left the alchemy tent.

They were currently on another floating island, but this one was anchored to the mountain below. It did not orbit or drift, just swayed in the breeze like a mountain-shaped balloon.

Nearly a thousand tents stood on this plateau, near the peak of the floating mountain. It was for this reason that Fhesiah bade her time, preparing her means of defeating this portion of the sect. 

While the Radiant Flame Sect was around forty strong, and their Adventurers another fifty, their losses would just be too substantial taking on these sect members. Plus, until she had concocted the antidote, it would require way too much effort to purge the adventurers and cultivators of the tainted blood.

Lastly, those infected by the curse were like hostages. Until she removed the curse from them, they could be slain with little more than an order from the many squad leader’s talismans, converted into blood-fuel for their abilities and defense. In order to save them, she allowed this situation to continue.

From her understanding, this was nearly a quarter to a third of their overall forces–assuming the others hadn’t been even more successful. If their leader was just as successful in converting others, perhaps they were winning. This would be a significant blow to them, but the battle was only beginning.

She entered each tent, forcing each occupant to eat her antidote–or poison, in the case of sect members. Luckily, it was easy to identify the blood bags and blood slaves that were forced to join them, and she would only save those that she could within them.

Many of those shackled within their tents had their dantians encroached, and didn’t have enough heavenly energy to fight off the curse. With her scribe, she secretly marked each shackle with the other end of a formation, preparing for when she activated her array to break them during their prison break.

For curing themselves, many had no way of destroying their own heart, purging all of their blood and rebuilding it from scratch. If even a single drop of the tainted blood remained, they would become infected yet again, starting the battle all over–and now even weaker and less energy to fight back than before. 

In other words, it was hopeless to escape the curse for most, the power of a fourth Tier beast’s blood too impossible for them to defeat. While Fhesiah was unshackled, it was because she was a favored individual. 

Those that fought against the curse’s progression were still tied down with chains to prevent their escape or suicide. There might be hope for them if they found a healer or similar capable of purging all the tainted blood.

The sect members thought they were receiving their allotted blood essence and were happy to take Fhesiah’s pill. Her refinement of the blood into a pill was powerful enough to advance them, rather than simply keep the curse at bay. In truth, her pills could bring the bloodbeast sect to a whole new level. 

Even though they stole people’s cultivations and stole fate from countless creatures, the amount of wastage of the essence was tremendous. Her pills eliminated most of this, while providing pure essence that the members could safely consume. Their auras would stabilize thanks to her efforts, and they would become much stronger in the long run.

If she hadn’t just poisoned them all, anyway. 

Having stopped at nearly every tent, she entered the last and a woman’s desperate voice rung out. “You again… I told you…please, just kill me!”

Fhesiah gave a disappointed look as she walked slowly into the tent. “Hm? I thought you wanted to stick around a bit longer to protect your clan.”

“What’s the point? They have all either turned into, or are all turning in to this…thing.” She spat.

Fhesiah observed the poor woman named Xara, an odd reptilian that reminded her of Roxo, the raptor parentage beastkin. Her body was thin and sinuous, and blue scales covered her from head to tail. Her face looked like that of a snake, her serpentine eyes gazing at the entrance of the tent where Fhesiah stood. 

What was odd was that despite being a reptile, she cultivated ice, and wielded a sword–like the rest of the members in her clan. Over a hundred of them were chained in similar tents, Xara given special treatment. After all, she had reached the second Tier, and had a lot more fight in her. Odds were, the bloodbeast sect hoped she would exceed most of the squad leaders once turned, a valuable asset.

There were two more sects with members within the tents, but they hadn’t been as compatible with the blood beast’s aura, and most were simply slain. Others were used as blood bags while facing the other army, and now only fifty of them were left–mostly human cultivators. Still, she would value gaining a hundred and fifty more allies, while killing hundreds of the enemy.

“Maybe there is another option?”

“What option? My choices are either to discard my path and become this… blood beast follower, or die.”

Breaking the paths of those infected was one of the larger sins committed by the blood beast sect. Killing others for resources? This was just heavenly law. To cultivate was to defy the heavens, and all were using limited resources to accomplish this. War was as common as breathing, and even righteous sects would fight others for the same. 

Stealing cultivation and sacrificing others was usually the limit. There were various means that bordered unorthodox for these, and in the end the difference between orthodox and unorthodox was nuanced. There were various cultivation techniques that would gain through savage combat with others, or that could steal a portion of the enemy’s cultivation. These were not immediately considered outright evil.

However, the blood beast sect clearly was stealing and defying fate to accomplish these two items with their heretical rituals, so they would be judged to be so. Then, the breaking of people’s paths was like forcing people to change their values, religion, and dreams, in a way. 

In truth, Fhesiah had worried the Framework might do that to her, if she joined it and used it wholeheartedly. She learned that it only aided her on her own path instead, but many feared it for its potential in breaking or altering their paths. 

Fhesiah covered the tent in mana, casting a runic spell of silence. She was mostly ready, but she didn’t want the game given up before the pills had the full time to do their work.

“Do you trust me, Xara?”

Xara hesitated. “I… do appreciate what you have done for my clan. While many still languish in pain, you healed so many. It’s clear that their outcome is better, their days less painful and their potential higher… thanks to you. I know you didn’t need to help them, but you worked hard to improve their conditions. I do trust you, but my clan and our world is likely lost, falling so early in the Battleground. I was so proud for being the first in my Clan’s history to form my core, but now… There’s nothing I have left to lose…”

Fhesiah was allowed to heal those harmed in battle. The captain and others allowed it merely because when they eventually lost to the curse, they would still need to heal. Having improved health of their bodies meant more control over the curse when they succumbed, a stronger stock of warriors going into the next battles. 

Many would have been written off as ‘blood bags’ and would be little more than slaves driven by the talismans, controlling their blood and only meant to be absorbed by someone else–once again, a tremendous waste of resources. Thanks to Fhesiah’s efforts, many of them would become true sect members–if they finished their transformation.

Fhesiah withdrew two pills, and held each in her hands out to her. One blue, and one red–and Xara looked at them with confusion.

“If you take the blue pill, your story ends. You die, and this beast growing inside your chest dies along with you. You’ll leave your clan alone, fending for themselves within this horrible sect.”

“If you take the red pill, you get one more fight for your fate. You will gain the strength you need to guide your clan once more, to protect them from more horrifying fates. While the pain they suffer from right now is bad, it is nothing compared to what might happen to them if someone doesn’t protect them in the future. This Battleground is just the beginning of their terrifying fate.”

Xara eyed the blue pill with longing, pain filling her eyes. She mulled it over for a moment. 

Fhesiah knew the pain was substantial–she had been feeling it too. But she had plenty of Qi to fight off the curse, and did not allow it to encroach her dantian. She even had infinite mana from her hearth over time to slowly heal it, and her body was reinforced by the Framework. 

Xara was in an endless struggle both within her body, but also within her core–what her Dantian became. When it overwhelmed over half of her Core, that was likely the end for her. Fhesiah didn’t allow it to even enter, so shutting off the pain within her body was simple enough. 

“So which is it, Xara? Will you take the easy way out, or will you protect your clan? What’s left of your family?”  

Xara looked over to the red pill, a look of fear at first. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them, her gaze was replaced with determination. Her tongue lashed out and grabbed the red pill out of Fhesiah’s hand, and swallowed it immediately.

The pill’s energy surged within her stomach, and spread into her bloodstream. It consumed the curse and propagated, using the curse’s own powers against itself as it cleansed the blood within her body. It continued into the heart, and consumed the corruption as well, just like Fhesiah’s kitsune flames. 

Using the corruption it ate to fuel itself, the pill continued to release mild healing energy and Qi into the cultivator’s bodies as it tore the corruption away. This was an engineered predator that Fhesiah had released into the bloodstream, and it had no problem defeating the tainted blood.

She had used a combination of her own blood and the beast’s purified corruption. Refining it using the alchemy techniques she learned, she transformed it all for her own purpose. Once the blood was all consumed and the corruption healed, the essence dispersed. 

In dozens of the surrounding tents, the same was happening. For Xara, it actually took the longest–since she was a Core cultivator.

“I…I’m healed! Not only am I healed, but everything I lost… Much of it has been returned to me.” Tears filled her eyes. “To be clean again, it feels wonderful. Even if it’s only for a few moments before they…”

Fhesiah snorted. “You think I would go through the trouble of healing you, only for us to get captured again right away? We’re going to fight it out. All your brethren are being healed, I just made sure they… stayed asleep for a bit, so they didn’t clue the enemy into what was happening before it was too late.” 

“You cured us all?! I thank you, Senior. For saving my clan, you have my blade–er, if I had one.”

Fhesiah winked and threw her some Qi crystals and a sword,  “Good. Because we’re soon going to need it. I’ll rely on you to protect your brethren as they recover, and the other blood slaves. We’re rescuing them all.”

Xara looked over her blade, happy with what Fhesiah had pilfered, even if it wasn’t her original. She shattered her shackles holding her leg, smiling. “You… are truly amazing, Senior. What… did the blue pill really do?”

Fhesiah smiled. “This?” She made a show of holding it up, before she swallowed it. Xara looked on with shock and worry. 

The energy rumbled inside her, transforming the curse into pure energy. She no longer had any reason to hide, so she retrieved her Torch of Hestia and accelerated the healing process even as her hearth burned through the curse, destroying it in just a few moments. 

Fhesiah sighed in happiness, as her body was finally restored. Her aura filled the tent, and she shivered in contentment as the terrible thing was removed from her as if it were a dream. 

“I was hoping you wouldn’t ask, but it did the same thing as yours. But your conflict, your resolve, they mattered to you, didn’t they? Ah–hold on, and get ready. Things are about to become dangerous.” 

She activated her talisman, signaling the Radiant Flame Sect that she was ready, and triggered her array. The shackles on all the captive cultivators shattered, the many cultivators beginning to wake up.

A roar filled with rage reached Fhesiah’s ears, so she burned away the tent around them with a smile, revealing the camp. Dozens of bloodbeast sect warriors were throwing up, their bodies covered in purple blisters and their Qi completely unstable.

Arcus was the same, his red fur covered in purple pustules. He stood a significant distance away, in front of his command tent. “You!”

“Me?” Controlling it with her Qi, a cosmos sack flew to Fhesiah, and she retrieved her fan with a smile. There wasn’t much she cared about in her sack she had originally handed over, but she did want this back, at least.

“You’ll pay for this.” The captain’s aura surged, his power rising as his anger did. He reached for his talisman, wanting to trigger its control runes. Holding it up, he pointed it at Fhesiah–and nothing happened.

Fhesiah made herself look confused, tilting her head. “Huh, that was scary. With how dramatic you moved, I thought something would happen?” In the end, she was buying as little time as she could. Every moment she spent talking, her allies were recovering or making their moves.

“You… What happened? How is this possible?!”

Xara was busy restoring some of her Qi, and her core spun and spit out cold Qi into her body. While consuming the antidote helped restore some, she was still dry from fighting the curse for so long. In all, most of the cultivators Fhesiah freed would not be of much use for the fight to come. 

In fact, they only really stood a chance to escape rather than being killed outright because of her poison on the bloodbeast sect members.

Arcus watched the many Blizzardblade Clan sect members stepping out of their tents, ready for battle. Some even cut immediately into their captors, or began forming into ranks. It appeared many of them could form blades out of pure ice, or simply used their own claws. 

“You…cured them? This…”

Fhesiah’s own energy surged, her might mostly restored. However, her reserves of Qi were a bit low, under 40 percent–unless she used her dragon flames. She would only use them if she had to, but she’d rather not until she really had the lay of the land. 

Clearly, Tartarus wasn’t able to communicate with this Sect about who she was, and what she might be capable of, unlike the Champions they fought previously who arrived knowing all about her. 

It was entirely possible they had a means of transmitting information to their leaders if she went all out here. Fhesiah wasn’t the only one capable of creating a recording on an information crystal, and there were many means of transmitting this nearly instantly.

Arcus narrowed his eyes at Fhesiah. “You cannot be allowed to live, having an antidote for our beast blood. You think you’ve won, but you haven’t been made aware of all of our tools.”

Several urns landed in front of him, and the lids opened. Blood rushed from Arcus and into the urns, before dozens of powerful beasts surged out of each and toward Fhesiah, each at the peak of Tier 1. 

Most likely, they used these and even earned them while opening the seals. Facing the spawned enemies, they gained additional fodder in every battle, even as they unraveled the seals.

In truth, Fhesiah was somewhat shocked at the numbers released. Nearly a hundred beasts filled with blood rage charged toward her, the talisman Arcus held having some control over them. It was a good thing she was prepared.

Still, Fhesiah gave a wide smile. “Look at all your friends! I brought some too.”

With a flourish, Hestia’s Torch, her pill furnace, the blood badgerdillo and the fire lantern appeared around her.

Now she finally understood Jake and why he liked this so much. Summoning a bunch of creatures to do your bidding was a ton of fun!

The sky above them brightened, a giant flame forming like a sun in the sky. The opulent shuttle appeared, and the dozens of Radiant Flame Sect members were working together to create a singular, powerful attack. 

It began falling down toward the oncoming horde of beasts and near the center of the bloodbeast sect cultivators, though it looked like some friendly fire may occur.

Fhesiah used one of Jake’s many prepared scrolls from her storage ring, creating a barrier over the recovering cultivators.

The ball of flames exploded within the camp, enveloping the beasts in an immense wave of fire. While it didn’t kill all of them, the dozens of fire spirits were next to fly out of her lantern, sending beams of flames into the enemies. They swarmed the oncoming beasts, both sending flames into the blood beasts and drinking up the flames from the downed creatures. 

Fhesiah looked over to the blood badgerdillo with a smile. Its extra set of forelegs made its upper body sit more upright during movement, almost like a humanoid or centaur might. Its scales almost looked draconic rather than just simple scales, but its draconic bloodline was weak–she had only given it a few drops of her own blood before the creature had been refined.

“Your first feast awaits, Ruby. Consume and crush those with tainted hearts. Stick with my Clan, and you will never want for food or combat.” 

Ruby nodded, able to understand Fhesiah’s meaning at least somewhat, thanks to her intelligence and the Framework–the dragon blood paying dividends. She chuckled, her eyes narrowed on the oncoming enemy. Ruby leaped into battle with her claws shredding the enemies with ease, the blood of the beasts boiling as she neared. 

While the curse was not within her veins, bloodline superiority enabled an innate control over their blood. Combined with the superior dragon blood Fhesiah provided it, the blood badgerdillo was truly fierce. 

The frenzied badger slashed and ripped apart beasts with its many claws as it bathed and drank the blood from its enemies. The tainted blood was cleansed as it was consumed, its power over blood crushing the encroaching curse and devouring it as fuel. 

Tribal warriors leaped down from the shuttle, the shaman-like women adding a means of landing safely onto the ground and supporting them with spells. They took on the remaining creatures and the oncoming sect members in their formations, while the Radiant Flame sect members began their bombardment–sending beams of flames and fireballs down onto the poisoned sect members.

Arcus roared, and pointed his talisman at several of his own allies. They exploded in a shower of gore, their blood gathering into a large spear of it. However, despite Arcus being even more powerful than the previous squad leaders, the purple, infected blood moved sluggishly. He growled in frustration, and added even more of his own blood.

The much larger fire spirit emerged from the pill furnace, her smile beaming. She had only been nourished for a few weeks inside, but she had already grown from the size of a toddler to an older child. Fhesiah had named her Sati, and she now began to match the flames of Fhesiah’s path somewhat, though it was only a slight amount.

The heaven and earth formation had filtered the transformed energies of the various treasures in the formation, two nascent soul cultivator’s energies, Fhesiah’s bloodline flames and even Clan Hart’s hearth fire, into pure, completely new flames of each. 

The fire spirit looked at her expectantly with a smile, though seemed a little confused about everything going on. “Sati. Evil threatens us.” 

Sati nodded, and Hestia’s Torch released stored flames into the elemental. Fhesiah raised her fan with it spread open, several foxfires flickering into existence behind her as her tails danced. Adding the Curse of the Moon to Arcus, she imbued the flames with the power of her path, and directed the small elemental to meet the giant spear of blood.

Happy to obey Fhesiah’s guidance of flames, the elemental shot toward the spear with the foxfires, an immense aura of flame surrounding her. Crashing into the spear as it had only began to move forward, the flames both consumed but also shredded the spear into pieces.

Fhesiah covered herself in her armor, the storage ring allowing her to instantly protect her body. Filling the runes with mana, she dashed at Arcus.

He roared with rage, as he formed his claw and slashed at Fhesiah even as her curse burned away at the blood energy surrounding him. Despite having spent a lot of energy he was probably several levels into the second Tier, while Fhesiah had little to work with. 

Meeting his claw with her gauntleted fist, several foxfires slammed into him, and her torch and the fire elemental blasted him from the sides. The bloodred aura covered him, dispelling the flames and keeping him from burning significantly.

In the distance, Fhesiah could see Xara dashing in with her blade, cutting various bloodbeast sect members down. The previous Core cultivator that found Fhesiah clashed with her, but weakened as he was, his core was frozen as he was stabbed in his chest.

Arcus met Fhesiah’s fists with his claws, before a raging Ruby came after him with a storm of claws. Ruby’s eyes shone with a sanguine light, wanting to face this stronger enemy. While Ruby was only near the peak of Tier 1, the blood within her hungered for the superior blood within his veins.   

Fhesiah used this moment to gather more flames with her fan and torch, spinning in place.

Arcus growled. “What is this thing, how can it resist my control over blood?” He appeared to gaze over the battlefield, and come to a decision. Clearly, his sect was losing as things were. The Blizzardblade Clan and Radiant Flame members, along with the many Adventurers, had already overcome most of the warriors of the bloodbeast sect. 

The many fire spirits began to gather around Fhesiah, and she smiled as Sati began to direct them, to prepare a large attack of their own.

The remaining bloodbeast sect members exploded, and streams of blood headed toward and covered him. An apparition of a massive, terrifying beast replaced him with countless maws, claws, and stingers, poising to strike. A powerful, sickly domain was created of the tainted beast, its power weighing down on reality. Many of those who had blood, including the badgerdillo, groaned as they were inhibited.

It looked like it would attack even the downed cultivators, still in recovery.

Xara covered her blade with ice forming a larger sword over her head, preparing to meet the attack. Meanwhile, Fhesiah drew up the remains of her Qi, the elemental and torch adding the flames into her attack. In all, it didn’t look like their efforts would be enough, and many would die against this giant beast.

It was then that Xu Weiyan and Elder Wang arrived with their fiery attacks, the halo’d angel of flames and fiery cauldron joining the assault. The many attacks met the giant apparition, they struggled against his terrible attack, but shoved it back as its size was expended. 

Ruby even consumed much of the blood it sheared away with its claws, continuing its pursuit of Arcus.  

It lashed out at a few cultivators, but the flaming sprites surprisingly shielded some with their flames, while tribal warriors and Radiant Flame sect members protected others.

The giant apparition was dispelled, leaving Arcus floating in the air with a large pool of blood around him. He activated a treasure, and the blood itself began to boil, before he shot at Fhesiah in a fierce rage.

Sati waved her hand, and the flames from her fire spirit brethren blasted into the oncoming attack slowing him, and Fhesiah snorted as she removed a shield from her storage ring. Shoving mana into the runes, she blocked his oncoming claw, despite his impressive speed and power–before her own flames slammed into him.

Fhesiah and Sati caused the flames to spread, consuming and burning away the barrier surrounding his body. It was then that Ruby’s blade-like claws pierced into his lower spine and kidneys from behind, her jaws biting around his shoulder and neck. Blood drained from his body as he wailed in agony, and Fhesiah was a little shocked by the violent end.

Ruby shook the lion man’s body, snapping his neck as she continued to drink. Her aura rose as the blood energy was drained, and for an instant, it looked like she might actually be cursed. So Fhesiah used Hestia’s torch, purging the curse as she went.

Fhesiah smiled at Ruby’s chirps of gratitude as she continued her feast. Her scales became a more lustrous red, and the blood-like gem structures on her claws even fiercer.

Looking over the battlefield, there was only some minor cleanup left. The Blizzardblade Clan had been freed, and now her forces had grown significantly. 

It would take some time to meet up with more Alliance forces, but armed with her antidotes and new allies, she was liking how things were headed. After all, it was time to collect the many treasures for her victory.