Chapter 438: A Nice Tyrant

Stella gradually calmed the raging storm within her Star Core, reining in the white aether soul flames that had engulfed her body, blazed in a pillar, and touched the golden barrier above. As the white brilliance receded, she exhaled slowly, her breath carrying the last remnants of her rage.

"Feeling better?" Nyxalia asked.

Stella stared at the bloody mess at her feet with a frown, "No, the Skyrend family really piss me off." She said as she used aether Qi to lift the bastard's blood off her sword and purged it. "Why would anyone want to worship the heavens of all things? It's just a tyrant hellbent on causing suffering to those beneath it."

Nyxalia looked at the sky, "Because it gives them power and whispers sweet promises in their ear."

Stella sighed as some more of the built-up tension lessened. Perhaps she had acted a little rashly to cut this Skyrend Elder in half, but who the hell was this guy to say such ridiculous things. Inform the heavens of Ashlock and work with them to kill him?

What a joke. Ash has been defying the heavens from the moment he became a spirit tree. The overlord this guy was so obsessed with isn't all it's chalked up to be. Phew, I really got mad there for a second. Stella kicked the corpse. What a dumbass. You know what? I don't even want this guy to enter the cycle of reincarnation.

She dismissed her sword back into her spatial ring and closed her eyes.

Where is his soul hiding so I can cut it in two as well—what the hell is this?!

Having switched to looking at reality via the spatial plane, Stella's heart almost jumped out of her chest at what she saw. Beneath Nyxalia stretched a vast rift, a chasm of swirling darkness that yawned like a gateway to a shadowy hell. Within its abyssal depths, tormented souls writhed and wailed, their anguished cries echoing through the darkness. Among them, a lone untouched soul—one she could only assume belonged to the Skyrend Elder—slowly sank into the darkness, dragged downward by an unseen force. Narrowing her eyes, she followed its descent toward an immense shadowed tree, its vast canopy looming over the shadowy abyss.

That must be Nox. Stella thought. Meaning this fissure leads to Tartarus, the pocket dimension that Nox rules over.

"You can see it?" Nyxalia asked.

Stella met the mythical monster's glowing white eyes, and despite knowing Nyxalia was an ally created by Ash, she couldn't help but feel a tinge of fear.

"Are you sending his soul to Tartarus?" She asked, looking back down at the abyss.

Nyxalia nodded, "A fitting prison for souls like his. I send the ones I can't or don't want to eat to Nox for her to deal with. Since she has shadow law, she can trap their souls in living shadows and create monsters for challengers of Tartarus to fight."

"That's awesome," Stella said as she continued to observe the Elder's soul. It had reached Nox and was being deformed into a shadow monster. It somehow looked far more painful than when Ash made Ents. Perhaps because Ash used the remnant of souls left inside corpses rather than a captured soul like Nox did. Watching the process to completion and appreciating the sheer number of beings infesting Tartarus, Stella got an idea.

"Could these monsters leave Tartarus and fight the beast tide?"

"I don't think so." Nyxalia replied, "The souls are trapped in bodies of shadow made by Nox. Should they leave Tartarus, Nox would lose her control over them, and they would likely return to being free souls."

Stella nodded, "So, unlike Ash, she isn't making new beings that can stand independently. It's more like a temporary soul-trapping shadow technique using her Qi, but because it's in Tartarus where her power is absolute, she can keep them like that."

"Something like that," Nyxalia agreed. "We—I mean I, have always been talented when it comes to soul-based shadow techniques."

Stella nodded in agreement. Even before turning into a spirit tree, Nox had managed to jump up to the Nascent Soul Ream and almost turn the tables on Ashlock due to a powerful soul technique she knew.

"How come you can access Tartarus like this?"

"During my insanity caused by this body's hunger, I had to foster a strong link with Nox to stabilize my consciousness. We are still two separate beings, but we share a connection." Nyxalia looked down at Nox, "I send Nox the souls that were poisoning me before, and I also offload some of the burden of my hunger onto her. Spirit trees are quite good at handling mental strain, as it turns out. Their emotions are incredibly dulled."

Stella hummed in agreement. "That's true. Even Ash can feel a little emotionally distant sometimes. But when he gets angry," she looked up at Nyxalia, "Empires topple from his wrath."

Nyxalia grinned, "Sounds tasty."

"If so, you should come to Argentum," Stella suggested, "I bet there will be a slaughter after they kidnapped Ryker's mother. There's also a Monarch Realm Councilman from the Celestial Empire there who kidnapped the sword I gifted Ash for his birthday. I was hoping you could help us."

Nyxalia closed her eyes and seemed deep in thought. Only the constant hum of the golden barrier formation accompanied the silence. Eventually, Nyxalia opened her eyes and shook her head, "I'm sorry, but I can't help."

"Why not? You're a spiritual being able to feast on souls, and aren't Netherworld Wraiths supposed to be above Monarch Realm in strength? Just appear behind him and pull out his soul."

Nyxalia chuckled, "Believe it or not, souls dislike being pulled from their vessels and have a habit of fighting back. The stronger the cultivator, the more intense the resistance. It's why I usually kill cultivators with other means first and then pluck the now vesselless soul from their corpse." She shrugged, "While I could theoretically pull a Monarch Realm cultivator's soul from their body, it would take some time, and the amount of energy I would consume in the process would undoubtedly send me into madness."

"Mhm," Stella crossed her arms, "But let's say, as a last resort, could you do it?"

"What affinity does this Monarch Realm have?" Nyxalia asked.

"Spatial, I believe."

"Ah, that's a tricky one." Nyxalia mused, "The moment I try to touch his soul, they would likely teleport away from me. Something like an earth cultivator would be easier to deal with as I could simply phase through their attacks and target them directly. Opponents with high mobility or soul-attacking affinities are my weakness."

"What if Ash locked him in place?" Stella suggested.

"If he can really lock a Monarch Realm spatial cultivator in place, then yes, it could be possible." Nyxalia nodded, "But I'm serious. I will lose control and devour everyone else there, and there's no promise I will ever regain my sanity. You have to understand that I'm like a tiny parasite trying to control a dragon from within. When things are calm and managed, I can remain in control. But should this body absorb too many souls at once or get too hungry, the balance is thrown off, and I lose control. That's why the beast tide, being an all-you-can-eat feast, is actually not ideal for me until I get a higher cultivation level."

Stella drummed her fingers on her arm. Nyxalia was, in theory, the sect's strongest trump card. But it seemed she would be too unreliable to depend on until her soul reached at least the Monarch Realm.

"How close are you to the Monarch Realm right now?"

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Nyxalia licked her lips, "Another family or two, and I should reach it."

Stella cast a sharp glance at the remnants of the Skyrend family, who lingered beyond the golden barrier overhead, their gazes wary as they looked between Stella and their dead Elder. Without looking, she reached out to the side and clenched her fist. Reality rippled at her command—warping, bending, then violently shuddering. In an instant, the colossal marble statues, each brimming with power and serving as nodes for the formation, detonated in a cascade of destruction with her as the epicenter. The dust of shattered stone and crackle of dissipating energy filled the air as the golden barrier overhead flickered violently—before vanishing into nothingness.

The youths fell to the ground below with nothing left to stand on. They stared up at Stella, frozen in fear.

Stella stepped into the aether and reappeared before them with a single step. Some of these Skyrend youths looked close to normal humans, while others had marble-like skin and were between two and three meters tall. However, all of their eyes had a faint golden hue—a sign that the heavens had tainted them, and she also saw hatred in their eyes.

Raising her hand, her Star Core hummed, and she prepared to kill them all.

"Show them mercy, Stella." Ash's voice rumbled through her mind.

Stella paused, but she did not lower her hand. "Why should I show these heaven-loving freaks any mercy?" she hissed through her teeth.

"What does killing them achieve? They will submit to our rule after seeing your and Nyxalia's power. Worst case, why not raise them up only to turn them into Ents later?"

Stella paused. For a moment, she had thought Ash was being lenient to the cultivators, who embodied everything she hated. Instead, as expected of Ash, he had come up with a far more fitting fate for the remanents of the Skyrend family. Servitude with the inevitable fate of becoming Ents. Truly a plan befitting an evil god.

"Will you submit to the rule of Ashfallen?" Stella asked the youths, her hand still raised and white soul flames flickering down her fingers.

The girl who Stella had seen hitting the golden shield earlier stepped forward, "Forgive our ignorance. Who is Ashfallen?"

Stella tilted her head but then remembered. "Oh, your family didn't send a representative to the summit. Then your ignorance is understandable." Lowering her hand, Stella straightened up and introduced herself. "My name is Stella Crestfallen, one of the Grand Elders of the Ashfallen Sect. We recently exterminated the Nightrose family, including Vincent Nightrose, and took over the wilderness."

The youths exchanged a glance.

Summoning her Eternal Pursuit Pavilion pendant encrusted in gemstones to show her VIP status, she flicked it toward the girl.

The Skyrend girl representing her group caught it and stared at the object with confusion. "What is this?"

Stella furrowed her brows, "How ignorant can one family be of everything going on around them? This is a pendant from the Eternal Pursuit Pavilion, an information guild controlled by the Celestial Empire. Insert some Qi and navigate to the section listing all known sects and their relative cultivation levels."

The girl did as instructed as the rest of the youths gathered around and peered curiously over her shoulder.

They are just a bunch of kids. Stella relaxed her posture as the hatred she had faded. That Elder had gone too far, and she had almost carried over her rage and taken it out on these clueless kids.

"Ashfallen sect is listed here as a divine level sect alongside the Celestial Empire," the girl said in disbelief, "and it's above the Blood Lotus Sect at the Nascent Soul Realm. Is Vincent Nightrose really dead?"

"Check the recently claimed bounty section," Stella said casually.

The girl's eyes danced as she switched between menus until she found the one she sought. "No way... Vincent Nightrose's bounty has really been claimed."

Stella reached out and ripped the pendant out of the girl's hand before pocketing it. "Frankly, I have a bone to pick with the Skyrend family. But since I'm feeling benevolent, I will give you two options," she raised two fingers. "One, you submit to the Ashfallen sect as slaves and will likely be tasked with keeping Mount Thunderhold running and converting the citizens of your city to our cult," she lowered a finger, "or you die. In fact, you won't just die. Your soul will be devoured by Nyxalia here. You will never enter the cycle of reincarnation. "

The youths glanced at the smiling Nyxalia before they made their choice. In unison, they kneeled.

"We will submit to you," the girl said.

Stella nodded, "Good choice, but I see that defiance in your eyes. I would advise coming to peace with your fate. Your downfall will be far more painless that way."

The girl lowered her head but didn't say anything more.

Weirdly, this reminded Stella of when she bullied the Redclaw family into submission by having Larry munch on a few of their members first. Yet this time, the prestige of the Ashfallen Sect and its own power were enough to make people submit. It was a weird feeling, in a way.

Who told them to be heaven-loving bastards anyway. They brought this upon themselves. Stella thought before shaking her head.

"Since Kaida is still evolving, I won't be able to give them a heaven-bound loyalty contract just yet. What do you think we should do with them in the meantime?" Ashlock asked in her mind.

"Make them wait in the library's waiting room with the statues of the sect members," Stella suggested. "That's what it was built for, right?"

"Good idea," Ash said, and a new desolation rift began to form between Stella and the youths. Its presence made the youths tremble as it devoured reality.

Stella gestured to the rift once it was formed, "Go through here and await an audience with Kaida. He will turn you into slaves of Ashfallen."

The youths stood and eyed the rift as if it were a gate to hell. None of them dared to take a step forward.

Nyxalia moved to Stella's side on a mass of squirming black roots, "Is something the matter?"

The youths took one look at Nyxalia's glowing eyes and smile before suddenly being filled with motivation and quickly stepping through. Once they had all left and the rift closed, Stella was left with Nyxalia alone on Mount Thunderhold. What had once been a temple to self-proclaimed gods was now a ruin.

Power radiated out of Stella, and the rubble levitated from the ground and moved aside as she strode toward the edge. As with any noble cultivator's palace atop a mountain, there was a place to view the vast city of mortals below.

Nyxalia stayed silent beside Stella as she gazed upon the vast city.

"I've become what I once hated," Stella said after a while, breaking the silence.

"I know," Nyxalia surprisingly replied, "Nobody likes a tyrant."

Stella crossed her arms, contemplating. "Whenever I see children being ordered around, I can't help but superimpose myself into their situation."

"I'm surprised you have empathy," Nyxalia chuckled. "Well, it's for only a certain group, I suppose."

Stella hummed as she stared at the endless city. "What if I was that Skyrend girl? Some powerful cultivator shows up out of the blue, kills the last Elder of my family, destroys my home, and then forces me to be a slave or die? I'd hate that person. I'd hate me."

"But that's also why you chase power so much, is it not? It's quite the conundrum. Be nice, and you get taken advantage of. If you don't pursue absolute power, someone who has will come along one day and take everything from you." Nyxalia turned to look at her, "That's why we fight—cultivate and defy the heavens. To try and stop our lives and loved ones from being torn from us. It's either them or us."

"What should I do?"

Nyxalia shrugged. "Continue being a nice tyrant."

"A... nice tyrant?" Stella raised a brow, "What is that?"

"You're already doing it subconsciously. How many people have you enslaved into the Ashfallen Sect or called your "pet" only to take care of them and assist their cultivation in soaring higher than ever." Nyxalia chuckled, "In a way, it's the best of both worlds. They fear you, get stronger for you and eventually become truly loyal."

"I somehow don't like the title of the nice tyrant," Stella grumbled.

"You're really a kid sometimes, you know?" Nyxalia turned and seemed to be leaving.

"Where are you heading now?" Stella asked without turning around.

"To feast on the Azurecrest family before they can flee," Nyxalia said casually.

Stella hummed in acknowledgment. "After that, you will only need to devour a few more families to reach the Monarch Realm, right?"

"Hopefully, unless the Azurecrest family turns out weaker than expected."

Stella turned around and, with a flash of her spatial ring, presented Nyxalia with an artifact.

Nyxalia picked the offered jade from Stella's palm. When her finger touched Stella's palm, Stella saw a flash of primal hunger on Nyxalia's face like a shark that had smelled blood in the water.

Stella didn't hesitate—she jumped back and recalled her hand close to her chest. The two stared at each other for an intense moment before Nyxalia seemed to regain control of herself. The feral look faded, and her glowing white eyes dimmed ever so slightly.

"I see why you dared to visit me now," Nyxalia eyed the pendant hanging from her neck, "That artifact has been hiding the succulent smell of your soul from me." She licked her lips, "You smelled good."

"Thanks?" Stella said, unsure how to respond to being told she smelled good by a soul-eating monster.

"Anyway," Nyxalia said, switching topic back to the artifact in her hand, "What is this?"

"It broadcasts my location. If I activate this, I expect you to come straight away," Stella said, "Despite your tendencies, you are Ashfallen's greatest trump card. I can't have you off feasting while our sect falls."

Nyxalia nodded and stored the artifact away, "I will come at your call. That I promise."

"Good," Stella said, but Nyxalia was already gone. She had faded out of reality like a phantom. Stella surveyed the ruined peak, her lips thinning into a frown. "A nice tyrant, huh. I wonder how the meeting with the Silverspires will go." Stella muttered as the sky shuddered and Moros made its appearance. Standing on its bow was a concerned-looking Diana. "I suspect the mountain will run red with rivers of blood."

Stella stepped into the aether and reappeared before Diana.

"Ready to go?" She asked.

"It looks like I was worried about nothing," Diana said, looking her up and down. "Yes, I'm ready to go to Argentum."

"That's not what I was talking about," Stella smirked and rolled her shoulders, "It's time for me to beat your secrets out of you, or have you forgotten about our little agreement for a duel?"

"Oh, I didn't forget at all," Diana grinned, showing her fangs.