Ashlock let out a sigh as he gazed upon the horizon. The skies were beginning to darken, meaning dusk would soon be upon the land.

Which was bad news for Ashlock. Nox would get a massive power-up once the sun vanished, assuming she had any Qi to fight. But more concerning was that Ashlock's connection to Willow and the Bastion would be cut once the sun went down, significantly reducing his side's chance of victory.

[Time till sundown 2:30]

"Two hours until sundown," Ashlock muttered as he checked on his Qi reserves. They were nearly empty even after he had ceased firing any more spatial bombs an hour ago.

At the moment, all he kept running was the illusion array and the Bastion shields. However, his highest expense was the spatial storm spread out for miles in all directions so that he could continue hunting for corpses to replenish his Qi through {Consuming Abyss} and making portals to help his allies reposition.

It was frustrating to be reduced to the support role, but what could he do? The Bastion was incredibly Qi-intensive to operate, and he had already drained his offspring for more Qi than he was willing to.

Ashlock had tried to offer some support with flying swords through portals, but Nox moved far too fast through the darkness, and ironically, the trees and foliage got in the way.

So now Ashlock had resorted to sitting back and depending on his allies to finish the job. Which was going terribly. Like himself, his allies were also struggling with bottoming out Qi reserves.

As a cultivator rose up the stages within a realm, their total Qi capacity would increase. Spending all the Qi within one's soul wouldn't reduce one's stage, as the stage just reflected the total size of the tank. But that tank would need to be refilled through meditation, and it was impossible to ascend to the next stage without a full tank. So, expending Qi unnecessarily was foolish and dangerous as it opened one's soul to heart demons.

Naturally, in this grand and costly battle, the first to run out of Qi was Elder Margret since she was at the 1st stage and, therefore, had the smallest Star Core within her. The Grand Elder followed an hour later, and now even Khaos and Sol were running out. Ashlock had even resorted to bringing in Larry to join the fight, but he was also unable to lock the woman down despite the hours of fighting.

Ashlock was starting to understand how Nox had survived for possibly hundreds of years until the peak of the Star Core Realm in this brutal world. He felt like a farmer with a shotgun and a flamethrower trying to kill a shadow affinity cockroach in the shape of a human that just refused to die.

"Stella," Ashlock said into the blonde girl's mind.

"Yes, Tree?" Stella looked over her shoulder while still dutifully holding Sol's arm that was shooting out the beam of light at Nox's position. Her blonde hair fell over her face, and she had a cheeky grin. Likely because Stella knew what he was about to ask of her. She had been begging to enter the battle for the last few hours, but it hadn't been time yet.

Stella was his trump card. Her Spatial Step would allow her to match Nox's Shadow Step. But due to the vast difference in cultivation stages, Stella would run out of Qi before she could even land a hit; hence, Ashlock had kept her back here, controlling Sol's arm.

But now that Nox had been worn down over the last few hours, Ashlock could finally see hope in sending Stella to exterminate the human cockroach.

"There's no need to stay here directing that light beam at Nox anymore. Everyone has expended all of their Qi, and Larry's ash only helps to create more shadows for Nox to escape through." Ashlock said. He had debated bringing his other Ents over, but at this point, Stella was the best fit for the job.

"Does that mean it's finally my turn?" Stella excitedly let go of Sol's arm.

"Yes, the time for you to fight has finally arrived." Ashlock replied, "Of course, only if you feel ready and wish to."

Stella nodded, "I'm ready. I have been dreaming of fighting Nox again for weeks."

Ashlock opened a portal, and through the wobbling gateway was the darkened forest illuminated by burning trees. They had been set ablaze by the light beam Stella had been aiming a moment ago, so Nox should be nearby.

Stella summoned her favorite black metal sword that Ashlock had gifted her and reached up to touch her single maple leaf earring with her other hand.

It was one of the first things Ashlock had ever given her. The A-grade artifact had helped Stella to survive her early years while he was still a weak sapling and unable to offer much help.

Stella lowered her hand. Took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled. Ashlock saw her excitement dull, and her grin flattened into seriousness.

Stella's knuckles whitened as her grip tightened on the sword handle, and her gaze hardened as she focused on the portal before her. In a way, she was about to go and face an unkillable demon. Even though Nox had been severely weakened, she was still five stages above Stella and had centuries more battle experience.

"I'll be back, Tree," Stella said as she stepped forward. "Wait for me."

"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. I'm a tree, remember." Ashlock said half-jokingly, "Stay safe and come back soon. The artifact may be important to us, but your life is far more precious."

Stella smiled slightly as the portal seemed to swallow her, "Idiot. Who said trees can't fly." And with those parting words, she was gone. The portal snapped closed, and Ashlock's vision blurred as he used {Eye of the Tree God} to watch the battle from above.

***

Nox came to a stop in the shade of a large tree.

She could see the giant ball of spatial Qi in the sky through the thicket of the forest in the distance. Due to the illusion array distorting space around the floating island, it was impossible to see what was happening onboard.

But a while ago, Nox had noticed that the spatial bombs had ceased firing, and now even the light beam that had been following her relentlessly since the battle started had stopped. Has the Ashfallen Trading Company finally run out of Qi? Nox wondered. It was about darn time. The scale of techniques they had thrown at her was ridiculous, and if not for her going all out and focusing on nothing but running, she would be a corpse by now.

Her gaze scanned the skyline. The Redclaw Elders were in the distance, but without the light beam to guide them, they were looking in the wrong direction. Their backs were turned to her, and the two glanced around in confusion.

Should I take this opportunity to pay them back with a knife through the heart? Nox wondered. These two Redclaw bastards had hurled fire and tried to trap her like some kind of rodent for the whole day. The least they deserved was a quick death.

But my Qi reserves are nearly empty, and I will only be able to recover once the sun fully sets and I get a moment of peace to meditate. Although now seems like a good moment to recover before the light beam starts again.

The Redclaws were lost, and Nox hadn't seen the void monster ever since she landed a solid hit on its chest with a flurry of shadow bolts, so all that was left to worry about was the giant spider lurking somewhere. Thankfully, out of all the foes she faced today, the spider was the least mobile, so outrunning it was a breeze.

Nox's spatial ring flashed with power, and a porcelain pill bottle appeared in her hand. Quietly popping the cork, she raised the bottle to her mouth and gulped down a few floral-tasting pills that were supposed to revitalize her body.

However, accompanying the warm feeling spreading through her body and revitalizing her muscles was a searing hot pain. The pill bottle fell from her hand, smashing on an exposed tree root below. Nox's ears began to ring as she glanced down at the black metal protruding from her chest ablaze with purple soul flames and coated in a sheen of blood. Her blood.

The blade was then twisted while still firmly rooted in her lung, causing Nox to involuntarily cough up a mouthful of blood.

"Tsk," a familiar voice came from behind, "Looks like I just missed your heart by an inch." The sword was then ruthlessly pulled back at a downward angle, drawing even more blood and flesh as it left.

It had all been so sudden that Nox's brain had yet to process the absurd situation, but feeling the hole in her chest woke her body up to the sudden danger. Centuries of battle experience ingrained into her very being happened on instinct.

Her Star Core pulsed and flooded her body with shadow Qi. The surrounding darkness was pulled in with Darkness Absorption, and her near-fatal wound began to knit itself back together. Able to breathe again and startled out of her daze, Nox conjured Shadow Bolts and unleashed them from her back.

An explosion occurred a second later as all the trees behind her were obliterated in a shower of splinters, and the sound of cracking wood was followed by the ground trembling as the felled trees fell to the ground.

Summoning Shadow Armour to protect herself from further attacks, Nox looked over her shoulder while wincing from the burning pain still in her chest and surveyed the destruction. There was no one through the debris cloud and among the fallen trees.

Where did you go?

Narrowing her eyes and spreading her spiritual sense, she quickly felt a presence and looked up. In the canopy of the tree, she saw a girl sitting casually on a branch. A black sword hung lazily from her hand, and on the blade's tip, a drop of blood gathered and then dripped to the ground below in the perfect silence.

The girl, casually resting her head on her knee, smiled at Nox, "Getting stabbed in the back. Hurt, didn't it?" She swung her legs and jumped down from the tree, landing a few meters away. "I apologize that I couldn't make the death of a vermin like you a quick and painless one."

Her words sounded sincere and almost sweet, but the insanity and rage in the girl's gaze said otherwise.

"So you finally decided to show yourself," Nox spat a glob of blood to the side as she felt the terrible pain in her chest slowly subside, "Stella."

A brief flash of surprise appeared on Stella's face at her name, but her smile never faltered. "Yes, I thought I should come and deal with you myself. It's only fair, as I'm the one you stole from, and I have come to take back what belongs to me."

"Such arrogance," Nox snorted, "Do you think you have a chance of victory after making me run around like an animal for a few hours and landing a dirty hit on me?"

Nox stretched her back and stood at her full height. Shadows wreathed around her entire body, and two daggers of darkness materialized in her hands. Through her spiritual sight, she could feel the Redclaws closing in from behind, but that was fine. She would finish this quickly.

"You may have showcased great skills with the sword, but you are still a little lamb compared to me," Nox laughed as she stepped forward, "You're just a 1st stage child with a hardly formed Star Core. Let me show you what true domain over the world looks like."

Nox's Star Core pulsed. Every tree branch for hundreds of meters instantly snapped and rained to the ground, followed by a shower of leaves. Even the thinner trees and stalks bowed before the gravity of Nox's soul as she walked forward.

Stella did not falter.

How is she standing so casually while under my soul's pressure? Nox ground her teeth as she increased and focused the pressure even further to little effect. Stella was entirely unbothered, as if something was shrouding her from the pressure.

Nox glanced up at the setting sun clearly visible through the now non-existent tree cover. The spatial storm still raged overhead, and if she followed the storm of Qi, she could see spatial Qi from the storm flowing down and shrouding Stella. She was being protected by another entity that was even more powerful than her.

Even by pulling in Qi from a storm, she shouldn't be able to withstand the pressure of my soul at the 1st stage of the Star Core Realm. Nox felt something suspicious was afoot here. Has Stella also somehow grown in strength in such a short time?

"Are you done tormenting this weak child?" Stella seemed amused as sunlight streaked across her face. "Then I guess it's my turn."

Nox's body and mind froze as one of Stella's eyes suddenly became a swirling abyss. It was so horrifyingly inhuman compared to her other totally normal eye that it made Nox shudder and want to step away, but she couldn't. Her legs felt locked up.

Stella took one step forward and vanished in a pop of air.

In an instant, Nox regained control of her body just in time to react to the ripple of spatial Qi to her right. Twisting her body, she awkwardly met the black blade coated in spatial soul fire with her daggers conjured from nothing but her shadows.

Yet, instead of blocking the attack, Nox felt a sudden terrible pain. Warm blood showered her face, and her eyes widened in total shock as something slapped her face. Her own hand.

"What?!" Nox gasped out as she stumbled backward, and Stella's sword finished its swing, having cleaved through her conjured dagger and then cleanly through her hand.

Suppressing a scream, she saw Stella vanish again and reappear crouched over her chopped-off hand, laying haphazardly among the blood-stained foliage.

Stella picked up her hand, and while holding it at the wrist, she used it to wave at her while grinning, "Such an un lady-like hand." The many spatial rings adorning the fingers of the hand clinked together, making Nox's skin crawl. "You don't mind if this weakling borrows it, do you?"

"No... give it back" Nox croaked out, but it was already gone. Stella had tossed away her hand into a portal that snapped closed with an audible pop. In an instant, Nox lost much of the wealth she had accumulated over centuries and even her own limb.

"Now, where were we?" Stella tilted her head to the side with a crazed grin. "Maybe I should take your head next?"