The Invincible Hero

The entire maze morphed with new paths constantly shifting. Previously, Lorne could zip through the maze quickly and find people, now, it wasn"t so easy. The Maze was changing almost as fast as his top speed. Even worse, the range of his Ridarn vision was severely restricted.

No longer able to find where Tower, B"riri and Paneneko were, Lorne was forced to travel fast and constantly back track. He tried busting through the walls but their strength increased exponentially. There was an energy which seemed to strengthen the previously fragile walls.

Adding onto his difficulties, Lorne kept finding members of the sects who needed rescuing. Lorne found himself constantly dropping out of his fastest speed to capture Fiends and take the cultivator into his Samsara Pod.

BS42 had his hands full between restraining the newly captured Fiends, addressing the needs of the guests of the Samsara Pod, and converting the Fiends into Warboxes.

He decided to send all of the captured Fiends into the newly finished Warship Samsara Pod and have the crews there convert the weaker Fiends. The cultivators were arranged on Lorne"s original Samsara Pod. Those who were injured were healed.

As soon as Su Ming arrived, she began helping BS42 take care of logistics. Knowing more of the cultivators than she did, she was able to efficiently a.s.sign people to different tasks and organize the remaining cultivators.

She was amazed by the facilities they were in. There were some cultivators who were nearly dead, they were even on their last breath. Those people were taken to a special room, she didn"t know where and given treatment.

Minutes after departing these people would come back completely healed! They even seemed much stronger than before. This was astonishing given most of these people were missing limbs and even organs. It seemed like so long as there was a breath of life in them they could be saved.

What she didn"t know was some of these people actually died before treatment, but do to the special facilities on the Samsara Pod, new bodies were created for them based on their original DNA along with some improvements.

The Three-Five Paths cultivation technique everyone from both the Water Rock Supreme Sect and the Endless Heavens Sect cultivated prepared them to help with the repairs still being made to Lorne"s original Samsara Pod. BS42 was happy to have some free labor to continue the repairs. Up to this point BS42 focused most of his efforts finishing the new Warship.

Su Ming and the Elders of the sects guided the students in their tasks freeing BS42 to focus on the development of the new Warboxes on the new Warship. He wanted to create some Elite Troops to help back up Lorne if he needed them. BS42 had a bad feeling about the battle taking place. For some reason he dreaded this General the large Fiend referred to earlier.

Lorne continued on his path through the maze growing more and more nervous as he did so. The big Fiend he previously defeated claimed he was sent to slow Lorne down, but this maze was proving far more effective than the Fiend.

The longer it took the more nervous he became, and the more nervous he became the angrier he became.

"Where are they?" he asked to no one in particular.

Continuing to rush forward he finally realized he had saved the remaining cultivators and captured all of the Fiends in the maze. However, he was no closer to finding Tower, B"riri, and Paneneko.

"Lorne, I"ve managed to create a mapping algorithm to help you find your friends," BS42 spoke to Lorne through their mental link.

Appearing before Lorne was a rectangular device with a large screen. Grabbing the device, Lorne relaxed a little. The device had a map that overlay the current look of the maze. As the maze changed the map on the device remained the same. There were instructions on the direction to turn to follow certain paths. Lorne noticed there was a red circle with a ring around it, it was the waypoint and the likely location of his friends and the Fiend General.

Lorne gratefully thanked BS42 and took off at his fastest speed. It turned out Lorne was in a very sophisticated illusion formation. It was so powerful even his senses couldn"t determine true from false! This was technology of a higher plain! He became even more worried after this realization.

"If the formation was this powerful then how strong is this Fiend General?" He wondered to himself.

Lorne followed the map forward and eventually found he was approaching the right location. His super hearing and Ridarn vision were now capable of locking onto the position of his enemy and friends. He put away the mapping device increasing his speed and finally arriving before the Fiend General.

Tower, B"riri, and Paneneko were unconscious on the ground. Even though they were unable to resist any further, the Fiend General didn"t make any move against them. He just smiled smugly at the unconscious people.

It was at this time Lorne arrived seeing the situation. Landing near his friends, Lorne was about to transport them into his Samsara Pod when a wind blade sliced a line in the floor right in front of Lorne.

"You got past Ahm Lett, he lead me to believe you weren"t a problem for him. I had high hopes for recruiting him into my service, but if he can"t even take care of a shrimp like you; I guess I really don"t need him," General Maek said.

"He wasn"t bad, compared to all of the other Fiends I"ve come across. He claimed you were a thousand times stronger than him," replied Lorne,

"A thousand times, ha! He really did overestimate himself. I"m more than a thousand times stronger than you. From what I can tell, you"re about a thousand times stronger than him. It"s funny you didn"t seem this strong earlier," said General Maek.

"Who are you?" Lorne was getting tire of the conversation.

He could sense how powerful this Fiend was. His strength was unbelievable, but Lorne still had some confidence. He had never felt this powerful before in his life.

"I am General Maek, I am much more powerful than you. I would rank you at around a Major General in my army. It"s pretty impressive for the cultivators of this world. The strongest elder I"ve sensed among your people is only ranked at a Major," said the General.

"The last time I fought Fiends they didn"t seem as organized as an army," said Lorne.

"Not all of our invading forces come from our armies. Just like you cultivators we have schools, sects, families, and rogue warriors. It"s just, unlike you cultivators we are far more united," said General Maek.

"I"ve defeated all of your forces, you"re the only one left. Surrender, I can save you from the Fiend Fate," Lorne said.

"The Fiend Fate? I can"t remember the last time I"ve happened upon a cultivator who knew about the Fiend Fate. That"s just more reason for me to kill you!" said General Maek.

"You really don"t want to be freed from the Fiend Fate?" asked Lorne.

"You know a little about the Fiends and think you can bargain with me? Ha! There"s more to us Fiends than the Fiend Fate. Only the lowest soldiers would give into the psychological pressure of the Fiend Fate.

It is true, the Fiend Fate is fearsome, but you don"t know about the benefits. If you only understood the benefits of being a Fiend you would beg me to make you a Fiend. Being a Fiend you risk the Fiend Fate, but that"s only a small part of it. With great risk comes great reward. This is what we Fiends live by. We embrace the fear of the Fiend Fate to attain everything!" General Maek said as his eyes grew red.

The nature of the Fiends and what they pursued was an utter mystery to cultivators. All cultivators knew about the Fates was they were insane about conquering every universe int he multiverse.

The Fiends never explained themselves. Even when it came to recruiting new Fiends, the Fiends only hinted at some grand prize. It was a mystery to everyone who wasn"t a Fiend what the Fiends thought they could get by making all peoples in the multiverses Fiends.

"I don"t understand your fanaticism, but I know being a Fiend is nothing more than fear and cruelty. There isn"t a prize worth suffering the fate of being a Fiend, said Lorne.

"You sound very confident about that, I wonder why?" said General Maek.

"Because a Great Fiend told me as much when I helped free him from the Fiend Fate," said Lorne.

"You helped a Great Fiend? Impossible!" barked General Maek.

"Why do you think it"s impossible?" asked Lorne.

"If you were strong enough to help a Great Fiend break free of the Fiend Fate, then killing me would be as easy as stepping on an ant. It"s impossible!" said General Maek.

"Not only have I freed a Great Fiend from the Fiend Fate, I killed him first!" said Lorne.

"Impossible, if what you"re saying is true, then why don"t you show me your strength!" General Maek yelled these words and viciously attacked Lorne.

Lorne looked seriously at General Maek and rushed forward to meet him. Neither one held a weapon in their hand they were determined to fight hand to hand.

As the two smashed into each other, a sudden BOOM was heard. The entire areas was shaken and a dust storm sprang up with the two men as the epicenter.

The final battle had begun.