Chapter 483: Advance

Ashlock retreated from Astralis's ruined mind as requested.

The dragon had undoubtedly suffered from some intense mental manipulation. Despite his outwardly egotistical persona, his mind was a complete mess. If he had to give a metaphor, usually the consciousness of a cultivator or monster on Astralis's level would be an impregnable fortress. Yet, in Astralis's case, the front gate had been blown off, walls were missing, things were on fire, and the ground was littered with potholes where memories had likely once been. The mental manipulation had not been surgical or pretty; it had been rampant destruction.

However, Astralis seemed to be oblivious to the destruction of his mind, which made it all the more terrifying. Ig'Zal's title, "The Mind Eater," was very fitting after what he had just witnessed. While Ashlock had retreated for now, he'd planted the seed of his Abyssal Whispers skill in one of Astralis's mental potholes, meaning he could reappear in Astralis's consciousness whenever he pleased, so long as the dragon was near his roots.

Watching from Moros, Ashlock saw Astralis look up at the stars. Inspecting the sky closely, he noticed how they pulsed unnaturally in sync, almost like a massive array of lights.

"Did he make an array out of the stars?" Ashlock muttered to himself in disbelief. No wonder the dragon had requested they do something for him first in exchange for his help if he needed to use this array to speak with or locate Zephyrine.

"Ash," Stella called out.

He focused on his daughter as she stepped closer to Erebus. "What is it, Stella?"

The conversation switched to telepathy, meaning whatever Stella was about to share was for nobody's ears except his own... not that he had ears.

"Astralis is panicked about something," Stella said, a smile tugging at the edge of her lips.

Ashlock glanced at Astralis floating in the sky. He seemed utterly stone-faced.

"Really?" he asked Stella with a hint of doubt in his voice. "How can you tell?"

"Do you think I played chess with that dragon for hours on end for amusement despite it pushing my bloodline to its limits?" Stella raised a brow as if questioning his intelligence.

"No... I thought you did it to keep him occupied."

Stella shook her head. "I was curious and wanted to learn more about him."

"Learn more about him? Through chess?"

"Yeah, high-level cultivators all develop unbreakable facades so you can never tell what they are thinking, as displaying emotions, especially during a fight or negotiations, is a weakness that can be exploited. I find that quite annoying, but I've discovered that when playing chess with people and presenting it as a fun game, they relax their facade a little," Stella said and gestured to Astralis with her chin. "You see the slight stiffness in his wings? Whenever I cornered him and went for checkmate, he would do that."

Ashlock looked closer, and sure enough, he could see it. Astralis's wings, which were usually relaxed, had indeed stiffened.

"Either Ig'Zal has somehow gotten a lot stronger all of a sudden, he can't locate him, or Zephyrine is in trouble," Stella tapped her chin in thought. "Those are my guesses, and all three put us in an advantageous position. Despite our pressing situation, we should take things slowly."

Ashlock looked at his daughter for a moment and felt like he didn't recognize her. "Who are you and what did you do with my daughter?" he joked. "Since when did you become so crafty like this?"

Stella crossed her arms, acting annoyed. "Are you suggesting something?"

"No, no... nothing at all," Ashlock chuckled. Stella really had grown up in recent months. While she still made mistakes and had a slightly psychopathic view of the world due to her childhood, she was making progress.

Their conversation ended as Astralis seemed to conclude whatever he was doing with the stars and floated down toward Moros, the air bending around him due to his immense soul pressure. The shields opened, letting him land on the surface. Larry moved to stand beside Stella, his crown of ash spinning slowly but threateningly.

Astralis wasn't an enemy, but he was far from an ally.

"I have found Ig'Zal's location," Astralis declared, pointing toward the north. "We should leave now—"

Stella loudly yawned. "I'm sleepy after playing so much chess, we can leave tomorrow."

"He might move—we should leave now," Astralis said, a hint of impatience in his tone.

Stella ignored Astralis and slothfully sat down against Erebus's trunk.

"Are you listening to me? We need to go now," Astralis insisted, stepping closer. Larry answered in kind by spinning his crown of ash, increasing his soul pressure.

Grand Elder Redclaw and Elysia seemed to find Stella's actions odd, but neither spoke up about it. Instead, they quietly watched from the sidelines. Whether that was from a place of respect for Stella or from assuming she had gone mad, Ashlock wasn't sure.

"If he moves, you can find him again," Stella waved him off. "We aren't in a rush or anything. Ig'Zal is a Monarch Realm opponent. Everyone needs to be in their top form, and Moros needs time to recharge its Qi."

That was a total lie—Ashlock had absorbed a substantial amount of Qi from Veylorak and even gained a few hundred sacrificial credits. The only factor actually holding him back was that his roots didn't extend further north than Veylorak's territory, meaning to advance any further, Moros would be slowed, and his only way to assist in the battle would be through Erebus via his {Progeny Dominion [S]} skill.

Not ideal, but they could definitely still advance right now. Not that Astralis knew that...

As Stella anticipated, Astralis's stone-faced facade began to crack, and his growing impatience became apparent.

"I will assist in the battle if we leave now," Astralis tried to reason, but Stella wasn't having it.

"How nice of you to offer, but no thanks. We can deal with Ig'Zal ourselves. Tomorrow."

Astralis's face tensed ever so slightly. "Tomorrow is too late."

Stella tilted her head, "And why is that, Astralis? Is there a pressing matter we aren't aware of? If not, we can wait until tomorrow."

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Every time Stella said the word 'tomorrow,' Ashlock saw Astralis's eye twitch. Clearly, whatever he had learned really was a pressing matter.

"Fine," Astralis snarled, "I'll tell you. Zephyrine is currently in the process of being mind-controlled by Ig'Zal."

That got Stella's attention. "What do you mean by 'currently in the process?'"

"Ig'Zal is floating before her, looking into her eyes and using his Mind Eating domain to slowly work his way into Zephyrine's consciousness. It seems he's only managed to remove Zephyrine's ability to remember his existence for now."

Ashlock found that explanation strange, so he asked through Abyssal Whispers, "Why doesn't Zephyrine just kill Ig'Zal herself if he's right before her?"

Astralis winced at the sound of Ashlock's voice echoing throughout his broken mind. "Like I said, he's actively forcing Zephyrine to forget his existence. Despite me telling her about who Ig'Zal is and the fact that he is floating right before her, she immediately forgot about him a second later," Astralis explained quickly. "It's only a matter of time before he manages to infiltrate deeper into her mind, and if he gains complete control of Zephyrine, then it's over. Ig'Zal will have won."

Ashlock could agree with that—time really was of the essence. He also had no complaints now as they would be led directly to Zephyrine, and Ig'Zal just happened to be there.

"How did Ig'Zal get to Zephyrine in the first place?" Stella asked.

Astralis frowned. "While I don't know for sure, Zephyrine mentioned expending an immense amount of Qi and mental control to manage the storm and push the beast tide forward. I believe Ig'Zal must have struck at an opportune moment. As a pathetic little creature, that moth can sneak around like a phantom." His facial expression twisted. "He's also in the Monarch Realm, which means if he releases his domain and Zephyrine doesn't fight back with hers, he is far more likely to succeed."

That was true. Ashlock had seen firsthand how much destruction Astralis could unleash with his peak Nascent Soul Realm cosmic cultivation. It wasn't unthinkable that someone of Zephyrine's strength could fall to Ig'Zal's mental manipulation, considering that's what the moth specialized in. It also backed up his system's claims that his current repertoire of skills designed to combat mental intrusions was not of a high enough grade to guarantee protection.

A silence fell over Moros as everyone mulled over Astralis's words and what they should do next.

"This is actually a good thing," Stella said after some thought, drawing everyone's attention. "Astralis," she said, meeting the dragons' eyes, "you claimed Ig'Zal was locking eyes with Zephyrine, right? If that's the case, it suggests he needs to maintain eye contact to keep his mind control. If he were to lose control, Zephyrine could easily kill Ig'Zal—meaning he is locked in place and cannot deal with a second opponent."

Astralis slowly nodded. "That sounds correct. Zephyrine also mentioned that all the Primal Overlords under Ig'Zal's control were surrounding her area, likely as guards to prevent Ig'Zal from being interrupted. That's ten Primal Overlords, all at or near the peak of the Nascent Soul Realm. While I could take on one or maybe two of them for some time, this is going to be difficult and incredibly costly to our Qi reserves."

Everything Ashlock was hearing sounded perfect to him. All of the most powerful enemies of the beast tide were gathered in one place and would fight to the death to protect Ig'Zal? The strongest of them, the moth, was too focused on trying to control Zephyrine, and if he looked away to deal with Ashlock, then Zephyrine would kill him. Yes, the fight would likely be long and brutal, but if he could get a few Ents and a load of credits out of this, it would be worth it.

"Stella, I greatly appreciate your insights thus far. Because of them, I think I have come up with a suitable plan."

His daughter beamed.

"However, I'm going to need you to return to Red Vine Peak."

Her expression changed instantly from one of happiness to one of despair. "Why me?"

"I'm going to sneak up on Ig'Zal by having Moros approach through the aether. While he is occupied with Zephyrine, there's still a chance he manages to unleash his domain and corrupt your mind. As the weakest one present, you're most at risk..."

Stella simply stared straight ahead, as if her whole world were crumbling from his words. It broke Ashlock's non-existent heart, but he had to put his roots down once in a while. They had put plenty of measures in place to prevent Stella from dying—Maple, Larry's domain, and she was linked with multiple Soul Anchors—but he couldn't even prevent Ig'Zal from infiltrating his own mind, let alone Stella's.

The difference was that he had his system, which had shown a tendency in the past to level up his defensive skills when necessary to keep him safe. Stella didn't have access to that, and she also knew too much about him—things she hadn't even told, like what type of origin he was.

It just wasn't worth the risk of bringing her along, as she wouldn't be able to stand up against any of the Primal Overlords in a fight anyway. A realm difference wasn't something easily overcome, and Stella was the only one present in the Star Core Realm.

"I—" Stella started, yet words seemed to escape her. She slowly closed her mouth and stayed deathly silent for a moment. While under the stares of everyone, she stood, her gaze was unfocused and distant.

"Sorry, Stella. I really am," Ashlock said as he opened a portal for her back to Red Vine Peak. He made sure Larry was standing before it so Astralis couldn't dive through and cause problems.

"It's okay," Stella said in a defeated voice. "I understand why I shouldn't be here."

With that, she silently walked through the portal and was gone. Nymeria also took the hint and left. Ashlock snapped the portal closed behind them, a guilty feeling brewing in his consciousness. He could have turned a blind eye, let Stella come, and just hoped everything would work out fine. But he had done that too much in the past, and enough was enough.

They were going up against a Monarch Realm mind manipulator and ten Primal Overlords. This was a battle he had been working toward conquering since the day he learned of the beast tide. It had been an inevitable obstacle looming on the horizon for his whole life, and now it was time to confront it—and there was no way he was going to lose Stella in the process.

Sometimes, a parent has to make tough decisions to protect their loved ones. This was one such time.

Ashlock sighed as he surveyed the remaining members. While they were all in the Nascent Soul Realm or above, he didn't have a lot of confidence in many of their abilities to rival a Primal Overlord, mainly the Redclaw Grand Elder and Elysia. But with Larry around, he believed they would at least survive long enough to serve as distractions for the stronger members.

"Alright, everyone," Ashlock addressed the group through Anubis. "Gather around and listen closely. This is going to be the plan, and it's going to have to be executed quickly and perfectly if we want to win."

***

Meanwhile, deep in the beast tide, Ig'Zal stared into Zephyrine's eyes. It had been a moment of pure luck to capture her in this trance. The great leader of the Primal Overlords had been distracted while communicating with someone, allowing him to sneak behind her within range of his domain.

Psychic Qi had several drawbacks, with the most annoying one being its limited range. That's why he had baited Astralis to land before him when he invaded the dragon's territory. But once he was close enough and able to capture the attention of his target, breaking their minds was only a matter of time within his Domain of Starwoven Delirium.

Or so he had thought—Zephyrine was proving quite the challenge. After a whole night of bombarding her consciousness with psychic Qi, all he had achieved thus far was to mask his presence, erase his existence from her short-term and long-term memory, and stop her from killing him. Pushing any further than that was like trying to fly through a blizzard. In fact, Zephyrine's ego looked calm and ethereal from the outside, but trying to infiltrate it was like diving into the heart of a storm and being shredded into pieces.

Ig'Zal felt his twin Star Cores and his own mind reaching their limits. Perhaps he had been too confident in his capabilities after enslaving the minds of every Primal Overlord he encountered, including Astralis the Celestial Star Dragon. He knew Zephyrine would be more challenging, but he hadn't expected anything like this.

He searched around with his spiritual senses. All ten of the Primal Overlords he had taken control of, minus Astralis as the dragon's ego had been too tricky to completely enslave, were nearby, waiting for his command to strike.

All he wanted was to put Zephyrine to sleep for a single moment, long enough for every one of the gathered Primal Overlords to tear her to pieces. Yet not once had the ethereal white stag before him so much as flinched despite his efforts. She simply stared into his eyes and looked past him, as if he wasn't even worth looking at.

"Moros," Zephyrine suddenly muttered, her head tilting to the side.

Ig'Zal had no idea what that meant. Yet soon enough, the other Primal Overlords began muttering the same name as Zephyrine. Like a chant, they said the name over and over.

"Moros, moros, moros..."

"Who the hell is Moros—" Ig'Zal paused as a sudden feeling of impending doom washed over him the moment he said the name. Whoever Moros was, it was here in the skies above.