Mad God

The Sect of Dawn's headquarters was in a valley where red-leaved birch trees grew everywhere the eye could see. Their spirituality was filled with fire essence to the brim, artificially halted by men, stopping them at the brink of gaining intelligence. They were highly sought-after resources, especially for those who had fire affinity. When the Sect of Dawn made their base here, they did not build it up from the ground but simply conquered the previous owners. Before them, another middle-sized sect ruled the area, calling itself the Fireleaf Sect. When the Sect of Dawn appeared, they were only a small group of cultivators, quickly joining under the banner of the Fireleaf Sect. What they did not know, they took a snake into their embrace. They only played along so they could grow stronger, and finally, in a violent coup, they took their position, even growing twice their size, becoming one of the heavyweight sects in the region.

"So, they should have only three demigods left?" Ren asked as they flew forward, heading towards the Sect of Dawn.

"Yes." Lycosa nodded, one of the demigods who came and also the Disciplinary Bureau's current leader. He was accompanied by Abrosa, his second in command, and Gent, a guest elder in the Lotus Mandala Sect. All of them were watching Ren as they flew forward, wanting to see why she was personally entertained by the Lightbringer.

"Do you know their strengths?" Ren looked back over her shoulder at the two men and one woman.

"The one who escaped, you already know about. Then there is a woman amongst their ranks, Jozel, she was previously part of the Fireleaf Sect, but later on, she switched sides and played a key part in the success of their coup. Back then, she was only a 3rd stage Harmony expert but had access to their defensive formation, being the daughter of the previous Sect Head. She should be the weakest amongst them as she only advanced recently. Then the last one is their leader, Ortus. He should be the one we have to look out for. We don't know his age, but the first recorded information about him already put him in the Demigod Realm! Still, we have four on our side; we should be okay!" Abrosa replied.

"Don't forget this is their territory!" Lycosa warned.

"Every sect, be it the smallest or any medium-sized ones, ought to have something to defend their land! They took down Fireleaf without them activating theirs… so it should still be usable!" Gent agreed; the other female demigod besides Ren, "I roamed the land for a long time; I saw multiple treasures, defending their holy lands! Usually, when you want to demolish one's home, you need ten times the strength, unlike when you try to defend it!"

"That is true." Abrosa smiled, "But don't forget who we are!"

"Confidence is abundant here, it seems~" Ren chuckled, "But I can't blame you! Anyway, I am not here to eradicate the whole sect! I'm just going to prove to you all that they are Skoorn's little minions! Albeit, I am sure, Skoorn does not even know about them!" She chuckled with a bit of sarcasm.

"If they turn out to be puppets of the God of War, their future is axed." Gent shook her head, "Those sects are mortal enemies of anyone who is in our camp! They would be immediately targeted by all the other sects around them, greedily cutting their territories apart and looting the whole place!"

"Like throwing a bleeding, injured animal into a lake filled with piranhas." Abrosa agreed.

"So you all go and exterminate those sects whenever they pop up?" Ariana asked curiously, who, alongside Trestan and Kyu, were also coming with them.

"Not at all." Lycosa shook his head, "But we never met with a sect that follows any of the four Gods to be peaceful neighbors! Their people sooner or later find trouble with ours. On the one hand, they spread their 'faith,' or at least try to do that, and when it falls on deaf ears, they get aggressive about it. One good example is the followers of the God of War. Their philosophy is that only the fittest are designed to survive; if you die by their hands, you simply aren't fit enough to live. Those who may be slow at the body refinement realm and only find their footings when reaching Harmony have zero chance of survival in a sect like that!" he explained thoroughly, seeing that Ariana was unfamiliar with the prospects and workings of the many sects here.

"They are the worst! Not even other God-worshiping sects like them have their people around!" Abrosa laughed, continuing where Lycosa left off, "Until wartime, of course! The second worst of them are the twin Gods followers; one part they are a freakish sex cult, obsessed with birthing new souls; on the other hand, they worship the dead, raising them up."

"How do those two even mix?" Ariana furrowed her brows.

"Necrophilia. That is how." Ren laughed at the front, shaking Ariana up while the rest nodded, agreeing with her words.

"The followers of the Goddess of Purity are at least somewhat mellow." Gent said, "I, too, was once a follower of hers."

"Really?" Ren looked back at her, visibly surprised.

"Yes, but I left the sect I was part of when I realized borrowing power is not my way. If I am stuck, so be it; I'll deal with it my way and not rely on a God's blessing! It is only a drug for the mind, and I do not aspire to be an addict! Still, those who follow her are usually not overtly aggressive…."

"But?" Ariana watched her, waiting for her to continue.

"The women there are usually very zealous. Won't listen to explanations if it is done by a man."

"The priests we encountered were all men…." Ariana replied, furrowing her brows.

"I did not say there were only women amongst her followers!" Gent laughed, "There are plenty of males! The females are called Maidens, and the men are called Priests. The latter ones are usually the meat of any sect following the Goddess! They are the laborers, warriors, caretakers, you name it. It is just… There are too many rules and emphasis on rituals and how to conduct yourself, and I could go on for hours! It was suffocating, so I left. I was mostly a vagabond cultivator for centuries before joining up with the Lotus! I like it here; we have way more freedom to live our lives!"

"Say that again when you become an official elder!" Lycosa laughed, "Haahh… anyway, we need to be on high alert! We are closing in! Gent, you keep an eye out for the rest, protecting them; Abrosa, you can take on the injured Nubes and Jozel. With the former's loss, it should not be a problem."

"Sure." He nodded without fear.

"I'll help you fight their leader." Lycosa finished, watching Ren's back.

"First, let me bring out their true colors~" She smiled in answer while the Sect of Dawn's headquarters finally appeared on the horizon. They were only closing in when suddenly the reddish forest below them shook, and a humongous curtain of fire rose up in the distance, quickly surrounding the whole area in crimson flames. "Oh my!" Ren looked up, watching the fire that soon started to rain downwards, burning the air and suppressing every other element that was not fire.

"That is… suspicious enough!" Abrosa snorted while Gent took out three talismans, sticking them to the foreheads of Trestan, Ariana, and Kyu.

"This smells yummy!" Kyu laughed, her pink tongue already reaching upwards to only being zapped by Ren.

"Eat it, and I'll send you back home!"

"Hauh!" She slurped back her tongue immediately, even placing her hands behind her back.

"This should let you help ignore the raining fire and filter out the wild energies so you can sustain yourselves!" Gent nodded at them. "Stay close to me!"

"Yes!" Trestan and Ariana agreed; They were trapped inside a giant formation.

"Well… That looks like trouble!" Ren's voice came again and looking towards the Sect of Dawn's headquarters, they saw a flame giant emerging, taking shape from the 'rain' around them, roaring towards the sky before rushing forward.

"It… is." Lycosa nodded, "I feel the trio inside…."

"Their cooperation is lacking; the whole thing feels rushed…" Abrosa clicked his tongue, "Amateurs."

"We need to separate them first, so… we just need to extinguish the fire!" Ren smiled, already flying forward.

"I like her!" Abrosa laughed, following suit.

"Stay back and watch our backs!" Lycosa nodded at Gent before catching up with them.

By then, the fire giant was also moving towards them; the first to meet it was Ren. Her body spewed lightning like a sparkler, and every strand quickly formed into another Ren. Soon, hundreds of them were assaulting the giant, flying around it like flies. Even when it waved its hand and swatted a multitude of her clones, they just exploded violently, blasting off flaming chunks from its body. Next came a loud shout as Abrosa arrived, his whole body surrounded in crystalline armor, reflecting the light of the flames as he flew through the giant's chest, blasting a massive hole in the middle of it.

"It is fed by the flames!" Lycosa shouted, standing high above them, his hands constantly drawing in the air, leaving symbols that disappeared from before him as soon as they formed.

"We can see that!" Abrosa replied as his small-looking, crystalline fist met with the giant's, resulting in a stalemate as a ring of fire exploded outwards, sweeping away everything. Yet every damage it sustained was quickly repaired; even the hole he made was nowhere to be seen. "When will you be ready?" He asked his superior in voice transmission.

"Soon!" Lycosa replied hurriedly.

"Let's see if they can repair this!" Ren laughed in the meanwhile, flying upwards, right above its head. She stretched out one arm towards the sky, blocked by the fiery curtain, while her other hand was aimed at the giant. Her fingers were stretched wide, and arcs of lightning were dancing between them.

"What is she doing?" Abrosa asked himself, feeling something weird, backing off by reflex.

"Hey!" Ren shouted, her voice echoing like thunder, "If you ain't ready to ask your God to help you out, then it is going to be late!"

What they could not see was that the moment they were trapped outside, black clouds gathered above them, ready to rumble. Literally. The heat that the Sect of Dawn's formation produced increased the violent force that nature was about to release, drawn precisely towards Ren. When she raised her arm, from the sky, thick, deep, purple-colored lightning fell, aiming directly at her, drawn down as she acted as a lightning rod. When nature's wrath met with the flaming shield, the resulting blast shook up the area below them as everything flickered for a moment, even the fire giant, revealing the trio's position inside of it for a brief moment. All of them were sitting cross-legged, focusing on working together as one entity.

"Again!" Ren shouted as a second bolt came crashing down in quick succession, then a third, fourth, and when the fifth came, it came in hard. The shielding could not keep up, and it was blown apart, leaving behind a big hole that could not regenerate. The invading lightning formed a circle around it, preventing the flames from pulling themselves together. As soon as the hole appeared, the sixth bolt came down, landing on Ren's stretched-out hand, going through her and out on the other arm, now wholly focused into a needle-like, thin strand, hitting the giant in the left side of its chest.

"Geez, she is a menace!" Abrosa whistled, watching it all playing out.

The flaming body soon stopped moving and started disintegrating quickly as two flashes jumped out of it, trying to distance themselves. One was the female demigod, Jozel, while the other was their leader, Ortus. Both of them had sparks around their bodies, but besides that, they were not really injured. This could not be said about the third body, quickly revealing itself as the flames died down and the giant disappeared. Nubes was floating there, already lifeless, his core stabbed through and exploded into multiple parts inside his body by Ren's precise attack.

"I told you. You are going to die~" She chuckled in the air, letting her voice carry downwards with the noise of thunder as rain fell down from the sky, turning into mist, being burnt up when hitting the dome of flames.

"Done!" Lycosa shouted as he formed the last symbol. Just as it disappeared, hundreds of similar runes lit up everywhere where the curtain of fire touched the ground. They immediately assimilated into it, and before Ortus or Jozel could react, their sect-protecting formation simply turned off. Like switching the light off with a snap of a finger. The fire disappeared like it never was there, and the rain found its way in, soaking everything and everybody. The temperatures that were like in an oven soon returned to normal as Ortus just floated there, eyes twitching. He was helplessly watching as their enemy took control of their own formation. They were standing before them in the rain as constant lightning rumbled high up in the air. It was like night had come, clouds blocking out the sun, and for Jozel, this was even worse than the bloody battle back then, behind closed doors, feeling like her retribution had just arrived for betraying her own family centuries ago.

"That was quick!" Ren laughed, looking at Lycosa.

"If someone wants to play with formation, they should not challenge us!" He smiled and answered her, "We are the number one Sect when it comes to that!"

"Now…" Abrosa appeared next to them, "Will you two come with us so we can deal with this like civilized people, or do we need to beat you into submission?"

"Hmf…" Ortus snorted, stripping himself half-naked as the tattoo on his body lit up, drawing energy from the sect itself. "It is not yet over!" He summoned a giant, flaming scythe. As he did so, the eyes of Lycosa and Abrosa turned cold as they felt how the tattoo on his body siphoned the life force of his own disciples away right at that moment, feeding him with power.

"See…?" Ren crossed her arms, "I told you I'll bring it out of them!"