?2023 Feathers

Its feathers didn't seem as metallic or glistening, but this was only because its body seemed to shift from solid to a fiery flicker on a whim. It was almost impossible to tell whether this was truly a living creature or a sea of flames

It had a beautiful body of blue, its oppressive cold counterbalancing the Golden Crow. Its long, slender neck stretched into the skies, making it the most reserved of the beasts.

This creature was none other than the long since thought to be existent Phoenix!

"Why are you looking at me? You annoying mut. See if I don't lop one of your heads off." The cyclops growled.

"Do you think a Clan like the Centaurs can just disappear on a whim? Obviously one of you made a move."

"Who care about a damned centaur clan? What do they have that my Cyclops Race could possibly need? If you're going to speak, use one of your more intelligent heads before I leave you with no choice but to!"

"Stop bickering." The Medusa stopped them coldly. "None of us are foolish enough to destroy perfectly good canon fodder when the second phase is so quickly approaching. Obviously, this was the work of someone else."

"Could it be those fake angels?" The Minotaur pondered.

"Even though they are the strongest just below us, even they don't have the strength to wipe out the centaurs so quickly and without us noticing. Plus, they're located to the South, how could they attack the centaurs which are in the East?"

"But if we're using that logic, the only ones strong enough to wipe out the centaurs are the dwarves, but there've been no large movements from them. Even though they had three Overlords to the centaur's one, Overlords don't have time to muck around with mundane things, and they definitely wouldn't do something as foolish as painting a target on their back like this."

Though the green-haired elder told Dyon that the centaurs were their rival, this was only in so much their lower tier warriors were concerned. With 3 Overlords, the dwarves could destroy the Centaur Clan whenever they wanted. It was just that there was no real point.

They were all in this prison together, having 'ambitions' outside of breaking these chains and ascending to the transcendent plane was foolish. In that case, their youths and middle tier warriors needed rivals to hone themselves against.

"Plus, since the centaurs and dwarves were in the same general area, they would descend in about the same place for the second phase. Why would the dwarves get rid of a perfectly good buffer for themselves? No matter how weak the mortal plane has become now, they won't just roll over and die."

"You all are missing quite an important piece to this puzzle." The Undead beauty spoke in a light and airy voice. "How could you all forget about such a handsome little boy?"

Her words didn't hide the desire in her voice in the slightest.

"What the hell does a boy have to do with anything?" The Cerberus growled.

"If he was a normal boy, maybe it would be meaningless to speak about him. But He was an elf. Don't you think that counts for something?"

"You're saying?"

"If the dwarves suddenly got confirmation about backing they'd receive once the second phase began, what would they need the centaurs for? If the Elvin Clan is waiting below to take them in, they don't need to worry about us at all." The Undead beauty said lightly.

"They sure have a lot of nerve." The Cerberus growled.

"It's just speculation. I have no way of knowing for sure. Plus, it isn't as though the elves are to be feared any longer. Since the dwarves are here, their ending couldn't have been very good either."

"Underestimating the elves is foolish." A voice as cold as an endless winter froze the words of everyone who spoke. Many of them couldn't help but shiver as they looked toward the majestic Ice Phoenix.

This race hardly ever talked In fact, though they sent a representative to every meeting They always sent someone who was hardly worthy of being an elder of their Clan Yet, even then, the atmosphere was so stifling.

"The elves have many secrets, especially in combination with the Celestial Deer Sect. Amethyst is only one reason our race has fallen to this state, the other is them!" The Ice Phoenix spoke emotionlessly, but it was obvious that the Undead female's words had enraged him.

"For this problem, it's best if they're wiped out as soon as possible. I expect there to be no dwarves remaining in this prison by the end of the month."

With a single flap of his wings, the Ice Phoenix vanished from its mountain peak and the horizon.

...

Dyon blankly stared out into space. It had already been several days, but he had yet to move from this pile of corpses.

The smell in the air was unlike one might think. The body of cultivators, especially body cultivators, didn't rot so easily. Instead, the metallic smell of blood was what hung in the air, constantly grating on one's olfactory senses as though to eradicate all other scents.

At that moment, the sound of a person sucking in a cold breath broke the quiet atmosphere. Dyon didn't need to look up to know that the green-haired elder had arrived.

Lord Clerebold looked at the scene with a trembling heart. Those four corpses at the top of the mountain of dead Dyon sat on Those were four men and women he would lower his head respectfully to. They could take his life with a single finger, yet Dyon was sitting on their dead bodies as though they weren't worth much of anything.

'This is bad I expected him to cause some trouble, maybe kill off their younger generation completely and ruin their future, but I never thought he would be able to kill of their Higher Existences as well. The only one who doesn't seem to be here is their Overlord Those Clans won't let this go'