The moment the commander ordered his men to attack, multiple regiments among the army began to activate their ethereal attack formations by channeling their ethereal energy together to maximize their power rather than attacking individually.
Multiple large blue circles began to glow among the army, each formation circle consisting of at least a thousand men.
As the formation circles became brighter and brighter, tremors began to spread through the ground because of the sheer power of the ethereal energy that was being channeled through these formation circles.
The Zirians who saw this from inside their base were terrified and frightened by how menacing those ethereal attack formations seemed. They were sure their barrier wouldn't hold for too long once it got under attack.
Meanwhile, Irene, who wanted to ask Damien a lot of questions, especially about the absence of Yohr, decided to ask them later as she grabbed Reva's arm and said, "Reva, you have to get out of here, now! This is an order!"
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"No, grandmother. I will stay and help my people rather than run away in time of need. I don't want to become that kind of leader in the future if that is what you want me to be," Reva resolutely said, making Irene tighten her grip in frustration as she decided to simply knock her out and get her teleported safely.
"If you try to knock me out, then I will just come back here even if you teleport me. But…don't worry, I won't do anything stupid by trying to face his army all on my own. I will try to modify the other teleportation formations in the meanwhile so that more of our people can escape, and I will escape as well once his army enters. And you should come with me as well. Otherwise, I won't go," Reva said as her aura seemed solid with determination.
Irene had a slightly surprised look, realizing that she wanted to stay behind not only to save more of their people but also to make sure she was coming back as well. She felt some warmth in her chest, knowing that her granddaughter did care about her despite how much anger she had towards her. Reva had barely talked to her after her mother died and always seemed cold before her, but only now she realized Reva never stopped caring about her.
"Senior Irene, please don't worry. I can stay along and help as well and make sure Reva gets to safety before the army can get to her," Damien said with full confidence, making Irene take another look at him and sensing his insanely strong aura at his level of cultivation, she subtly smiled seeing how he was, even more, stronger than Reva at this point.
"Then I will put my trust in you once more, Damien. Please don't fail me. Let's go," Irene covered the two of them with her ethereal aura as she used her movement art to quickly reach outside and decided to power up some ethereal defensive formations herself to buy more time for Reva.
Reva had already changed her appearance to her Triton persona since now wasn't a good time to let her people know about her other identity.
However, the two couldn't help but have their hearts freeze for a moment seeing the massive army outside, surrounding them from every side, preparing to crush their barrier and kill them all.
And in the sky, they felt a gaze from far away which was none other than the Xeton Emperor, whose expression was stone-cold, and by how his gaze was focused on Reva who was in disguise, he was sure this emperor knew all along about her true identity.
Reva clenched her fists as she looked at him, remembering Yohr's words about how they were all being played all along like a puppet.
"Reva, forget about him. Now's not the time," Damien said as he grabbed her wrist and pulled her along.
Ruthren narrowed his eyes as he looked at Damien, and it took him a second glance to recognize him, making him wonder what happened to Damien for him to undergo such drastic changes and even get intimate with his daughter.
Just by seeing how Reva was letting him hold her hand, it was obvious that these two were more than just teacher and student. But he didn't seem surprised to see Damien in the Forsaken territory, and Damien could feel a sense of stiffness in his chest just from the Xeton Emperor's gaze, making him wonder why the emperor never killed him as well if he knew about his collusion with the Forsaken.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmBut Damien realized that he no longer could roam around the Xeton Emperor without putting on a disguise since he was surely a wanted man from today, especially when his name would be associated with a terrorist group.
However, he had a feeling that the Xeton Emperor wouldn't expose his daughter's identity yet since it could only serve as a backlash for him.
Irene, along with other Peak Heaven Ethereal Realm cultivators, were powering up the defensive formations themselves while the others were helping their own people escape batch-wise.
Reva immediately began to work on the teleportation formations along with other experts to speed up her work while Damien kept a vigilant eye to make sure he could take Reva with him the moment the barrier seemed like it was going to break down.
*BOOOM!*
A reverberation sound of the barrier being bombed by numerous powerful blue ethereal rays of water echoed throughout the entire region and even caused an effect akin to a small-scale earthquake as some of the Zirians even lost their balance and fell.
This was the attacking power of the Xeton Imperial Army, and cracks already formed on the barrier!
This made Damien's heart tense up since the imperial army had already started to power up their next attack, and even if only a few cracks had formed on the barrier, it was obvious to him that it would only hold for a few more attacks.
"It isn't right if they are the only ones attacking. Shania, activate the duality of the barrier.. Let's attack them while we defend as well," Irene said as she shot daggers with her eyes towards the emperor sitting above in the skies.