Reaper Of The Martial World

River and Ronica continued to defend the cave"s mouth with Ri to their back, having tied down both Lionel and Evelyn. All while the demon generals continued to pincer the desperate Daiyu from the other side.

The demon generals were outnumbered almost ten to one, but their talent and coordination was so far superior that the Daiyu could hardly take advantage of their number difference. This was, of course, because of a tactic Dyon had implemented specifically for non-gate battles.

A major problem found in martial world battles had to do with the proper matching of forces. Often times, those of lower cultivation would be forced to charge in first before those with greater contribution and cultivation came in later. However, this was only feasible for the beginning of the battle. By end game, or even sooner in cases of spontaneous battles like this one, the cultivations of the warriors would mix heavily.

Sometimes, those of higher cultivation wouldn"t bother with those beneath them, keeping with an unspoken moral code. However, the number of shameless individuals in the martial world was on full display for everyone to see – there was no question that for every n.o.ble warrior, there would be three or more sc.u.m.

This would obviously be a problem for many armies and would also result in situations where man power would have to be diverted in order to ensure that promising geniuses weren"t killed before they had time to develop.

In order to solve this problem, Dyon implemented a simple but effective formation. It allowed essence gathering and saint level experts to seamlessly switch battle positions depending on the concentration of experts. This shift would, of course, be manned by the vice commanders.

The army itself was split into five, ten- and hundred-man teams. However, the ratios of experts were expertly balanced using 3:2 ratios. This allowed for either a saint heavy, or essence gathering heavy unit. Each Vice Commander would be aware of what ratio they were responsible for and would thus coordinate to shift the formation according to needs.

In this way, essence gathering experts would never be left exposed to overwhelming odds, and neither would saints divert their power to opponents who were too weak for them, thereby wasting their potential impact on the battle field.

This was known as the Checkered Formation Variation 4: Efficiency.

Within the cave, Ri turned her attention from Lionel and Evelyn. She was much too tempted to try and make use of Lionel to find Dyon, so she had to distract herself. There was no need for her to personally watch Lionel considering he was being monitored by a demon general.

Ri"s eyes flashed with a dense black as she slowly formed the most basic weapon"s h.e.l.l arrays. Sitting cross legged and focusing her senses, they began to manifest at the top of the cave entrance.

Although it was be foolish for her to enter the battle personally, what she could do was cause chaos within the ranks of the Daiyu. Right now they were pincered between the demon general army and the cave entrance, so, Ri had many targets to play with.

The arrays began to slowly spin. As an array that required a lower third stage soul, it was tough for Ri to form them. In fact, she could only sustain two at a time. But, that was enough because Ri had her void will!

River and Ronica smiled as they noticed the arrays appear above them in support and their grins only got wider when the spears of darkness were finally unleashed.

They seemed teleport through the air at blinding speeds, jumping into and out of the void as it crashed into a large cl.u.s.ter of Daiyu.

Cries of pain and agitation rang outward, but Ri paid them no mind as she slowly geared up another.

Loud booms resounded through the Daiyu army. By the time they noticed what was causing it all and tried to destroy the arrays, they also noticed that River and Ronica wouldn"t allow such a thing to happen so easily.

However, a good thing couldn"t never last forever. With Ri"s poor soul talent and strength, after she launched her tenth spear, she was already beginning to feel great fatigue…

But, that was when she felt a delicate hand touch her shoulder, infusing her with the added strength she needed. When Ri noticed it was the shy Kaeda that was helping her, she couldn"t help but smile. Dyon had told her that had it not been for Kaeda"s soul talent, he might have missed the World Tournament entirely.

Just when Ri was about to turn her attention back to the battle, her ring shimmered and Madeleine suddenly appeared by her side.

"Madeleine?" Ri"s brows furrowed, "You"re still fatigued. You"ve done enough, go rest." Ri said sternly.

Although few knew, Ri was right there when it happened. Had it not been for Madeleine"s celestial intent, Dyon"s struggle might have been for nothing. It was no wonder she was tired, she had literally brought their husband back from the brink of death.

Madeleine looked around and sighed when she noticed Lionel being tied up. She shook her head and sat right next to Ri, grasping onto her hand. She was tired, but she couldn"t rest knowing everyone was fighting on without her…

Light purple flames began to dance along her skin, melding together with Ri"s.

Ri felt Madeleine"s soul intertwine with her own, and she felt her shiver when she realized the amount of pain Dyon was in right now. There was nothing Ri could do at that point. After Madeleine realized how hard their husband was struggling, she would never be able to rest easy.

Madeleine"s flames blazed with more fervor, but they weren"t hot like the fire phoenix"s domineering flames, nor were they cold like the elegance of the ice phoenix flames… They were just comfortable, and filled Ri with an endless warmth.

There was no questioning Madeleine"s soul talent. As one of the very few capable of mastering music will, there was no doubt that she had an advantage in this category. But, when Ri felt the effect she had on her, her eyes couldn"t help but widen.

The weapon"s h.e.l.l arrays in the sky multiplied…

Two became four… Then four became eight… Then eight became sixteen…

In the end, almost 50 furiously rotating arrays appeared in the skies coated with gentle purple flames and dark void will.

And together, they rained chaos down upon the Daiyu.