Chapter 229: War Against Shadows

The notification caused Kyros to shout and exclaim, alerting everyone.

It was at that exact moment that the Temple finally left its dormant state. And as if led by Fate or Destiny, the marriage occurred, and the power of Curse transferred.

"Limit Breached!" Kyros shouted.

"WHAT?!" Aron and Branze exclaimed in surprise.

Mezal was also startled. He had heard of how Fate moved on the great trial that sent everyone.

Kyros quickly read the various notifications to search for any vital information.

---

Success and Fate Limit Breached! 

Fate Intervening...

Temple will be transported into the battleground.

Steele Family and Coven members will be teleported...

Shade Level 2-3 Tribulation activated.

Destiny taking control...

---

Kyros immediately ran.

"Martha! Hold on to Mechiel!" Kyros ordered as he rushed towards the gathered crowd.

Everyone was confused at Kyros's sudden declaration.

Kyros activated Pronto and used his best speed to cross the distance, and rushed towards the most important object they acquired. 

There were several other caravans and carriages, but Kyros went for the carriage that contained all the herbs and items missing to create the Library was at the side. 

"Group hug!" Kyros suddenly shouted."

"Group hug?" The male Champion asked in confusion.

Mezal, Branze, Aron, and Diana, suddenly understood Kyros's intention.

"Group hug!" The remarried couple and the officiator suddenly moved and hugged the five confused Champions. Aron rushed and tackled the male champion who was standing some distance from the female champions.

And then... it happened.

KZZZZZTTTTT!

A bright light suddenly flashed, and everyone suddenly disappeared.

In the very far north of the strange world, far past the Scaled Kingdoms of Alph Draconi, and further north up the Undead kingdoms, was a secret zone.

This empty zone stood inside the boundary of the Life and Death Containing Field. 

In this zone, the Temple warped out. The Temple and the grounds around it floated in the dark nothingness of this zone. The plot of land was the entire area of the Temple Grounds, but it had no walls, and even the entrance that opened to the secret password was not brought along.

Kyros was the first to arrive. 

He appeared right inside the Temple, under the same platform where he was once sealed.

"Made it time...!" He rejoiced as he landed. Right before he was teleported, he managed to touch the carriage and sent it into the Temple.

He immediately went to his notifications and saw it.

[All required items to build the Library of the Nephilim detected. Assimilate to the Temple and build the room?] 

Kyros immediately selected yes, and a bright light enveloped the Temple. 

But Kyros had no time to wait for the Library, and he rushed out of the Temple. He had noticed that they were not in the same place where the Temple was. He also checked the notification.

[Shade Attack will commence in 00:59:57]

"A Shade attack? So it really is a Shade Tribulation..." Kyros took note.

KZZZZZTTTTT! KZZZZZTTTTT! KZZZZZTTTTT!

The members of the Steele Family, the Coven, the slaves that Martha brought, and even Mechiel appeared.

Myas stood up and drew her bow faster than Martha.

Hunter, Scarlet, Avary, and Gregory ran and encircled the slaves near them.

KZZZZTT!

The newly remarried couple, Mezal, Aron, and the five Champions, appeared and stumbled down. 

The sudden rush to perform a group hug caused everyone to fall down, and the Champions were complaining and cursing as they began to stand up.

While everyone else was confused and distracted, Kyros continued to survey the surroundings.

The back area of the Temple grew brighter, and this light expanded more and more, and as it died down, another chamber at the back of the Temple was created. Kyros was relieved that the many rocks and stones that the Steele family mined crafted and added on the main Temple areas defensive structures were not removed at the changing form of the Temple.

Around the Temple were trenches and walls that the Steele family created.

"At least the defenses were brought here. So the Temple carries the ground itself... At the very least, those things can still help us fight." Kyros looked around and realized that there was something strange. The entire Temple ground was floating in a dark abyss.

"Or not. It seems that we will be fighting aerial creatures..." Kyros noticed the surroundings.

"Fragment! Why are Fate and Destiny working together?" Kyros recalled the notification that was displayed.

The group looked around and was horrified at what they saw.

"Where are we?!" One of the Champions immediately noticed that they were in a different place.

"What happened?" Martha asked as she turned to Kyros.

"I don't know. That marriage somehow broke the Limitations of Fate!"

"The marriage?!" Many voices chorused at Kyros's answer.

Diana and Branze glanced at each other.

"Are you two really that strong because you finally are honest with each other?" Aron wondered.

"Champion Mezal! What happened here?"

"A curse. The curse of the Steele family has destined us to die. Forgive us, Champions. But right now, you have no choice. We would have died in there, and so we recklessly involved you in this." Mezal explained.

"What?! How dare you!" The male Champion grumbled.

"Relax. This place will reward you." Kyros stepped in and stopped the fight.

"And who are you, boy, to intrude in the conversation among Champions?!" The mage shouted and invoked his Magic energy that rippled into a shockwave attack.

"ROAR!" Gojirrah and Reptilia stood in front of Kyros.

BANG!

Their Force energy attacked the magic force, destroyed it, and continued to attack the Male Champion.

The nearby female Champions, including Faye Emberdon, suddenly launched a defensive spell to withstand the Force attack.

BANG!

"This boy is our lord. So speak respectfully to him, Champion." Gojirrah shouted.

"Champions. Let me formally introduce you to Kyros Steele. My adopted son and kord of this Temple." Branze stepped forward and introduced.

"I'd appreciate it if you don't throw my nephew a magic shockwave attack." Aron also frowned.

The Champion raged and harnessed powerful fire energy that blasted out of his scepter.

"Please." Aron shook his head and slashed out.

SLASH!

Martha and Puff felt a tremendous fear in their heart as they saw the slash.

The power of True Cut slashed out and halved the fire energy.

The force of the cut carried on, and the Champions made a defensive stance once more.

BOOM!

"Argh! I'll kill you-"

"Shut up, Brother! Are you blind?! That power required three Champions to block! That man is in equal power to those two Lizard Champions!"

Kyros was shocked. His uncle performed an attack that took him years to master in his former life. But this version of Force Slash was far stronger.

"He harnessed the power of the Code of Hyperion and created an attack of great sharpness. What he lacked in power, he made up in sharpness." Calaminus was amazed.

"That's the Sword expert?" Reptilia asked Gojirrah.

"Yes. He's even stronger now. That doesn't make sense! As expected of the uncle of Lord Kyros!"

"Champions. Be at ease and don't waste your energy. Look around you! This place is not far from the original place we have been. And an army of Shade will soon come here."

"An army of Shade?!"

"The last tribulation forced me to fight with these creatures." So Kyros summoned the Shadow Ghouls.

"Wha-what?!"

"I defeated it and gained this sword which allows me to summon some of them. I'm assuming that we will be facing creatures that can wield these artifacts in this area. But for you, five Champions, I recognize that you cannot trust us. So instead, we will hire you."

"Hire us?" Faye asked.

"For your service, we will allow you to read a book."

"Read a book?! What nonsense is this?!"

Suddenly, a book materialized in Kyros's hand. 

"True Basic Magic Theories." Kyros read the title of the book.

As he had created the Library of the Nephilim, he could sense and access all the books and summon them at will. The power in his control over the library was so precise that he could even determine who would read the books and even the pages of the books!

Kyros tossed the book to Champion Faye.

Faye caught it and frowned.

"Read it and get back to me. See for yourself if this value is important to you." Kyros then turned to Mezal and the gathering team. He frowned as he noticed that even the slaves that accompanied Martha were there.

"So even the slaves were sent here! I was hoping that they could stay there and avoid this tribulation, but it seems they are counted as part of our team." Kyros sighed.

"With what we went through in that battle against those dragons, please consider all the slaves here to be true, loyal, and worthy members of the Steele family, lord Kyros." Hunter spoke.

"Hunter... There are thousands of words that I want to say to you guys. But war is coming. We have an hour to prepare for a war against shadows. This trial is bizarre. It's not being handled by Fate, but Destiny is controlling this!"

"How can Destiny control this?"

"I don't know. But before we talk about that, let's just focus on defending ourselves. It seems that the many renovations I made our knights do will do little to aid us. From the looks of it, we will be fighting flying creatures, and the Temple will only be our sanctuary." Kyros deduced.

"Shadows? Like those things you summon that are immune to physical attacks?" Branze asked.

"Yes. But these things will be much more powerful than the ones I can summon."

"Bring it on. This is the first time that all of the Steele family will fight. Let's make it an awesome battle!" Mezal laughed.

Martha stood at the back but could not help but worry. The orders of Kyros were strange, and she couldn't comprehend why Kyros ordered her to hold on to Mechiel. She was even surprised that Kyros knew her name. 

"Is it possible to send him a message directly?" Martha wondered and accessed her Dark link.

She then realized that her ability to communicate with the Coven returned.

"Lord Kyros. It's about this young girl, Mechiel."

"I know. The Blood Calamity is in her, isn't she?" Kyros responded as he was talking with Mezal, Branze, and Aron.

"Yes. How do you know her?"

"It's a long story. But if you're curious why I brought her here. It's safer to bring her here where she can't do any harm rather than leave her back to where we were where she can kill and absorb Champions." Kyros answered.

"Coven. Listen up..." Kyros then began to give them secret instructions.