Chapter 4001 The Dark Saint As the Battle of Shardeen Fortress reached a new and more intensive phase, the soldiers of both sides were no longer the protagonists. Instead, the gods and heroes dispatched by the Oblivion Empire and the Abyssal Empire attracted all of the attention! Everyone knew that the only way the Oblivion Army could prevail on the battlefield if the Oblivion Empress and her Saintly retainers were both able to repel their godly opposition. Yet how easy was it for them to repel three dark gods at once? None of them were that much weaker than the Lady of the Night! Past confrontations had shown that Lady Nyx was able to defeat a single dark god only after exerting a lot of effort. There were even rare instances where she encountered two of them at once, during which the Oblivion Empress was only able to hold off her powerful enemies long enough to buy time for the Oblivion troops to retreat from the battlefield! This time, the price of running away was much heavier for the Oblivion Army. If the defenders retreated from Shardeen Fortress, the Oblivion Empire would lose an important and vital stronghold and logistical hub! This would profoundly affect the battle readiness of the Oblivion Army in the coming years. Even though the non-core elements of the Abyss Army was not that well-organized, their numbers and constant reinforcements from outside made it hard to repel their constant offenses. Vital bases such as Shardeen Fortress played an essential role in increasing the depth of the Oblivion Army! Without enough defensive and logistical support, it became a lot harder for the Oblivion Empire to maintain their place in the Nyxian Gap. At worst, the Abyssal Empire might actually win the Nyxian War! Not only would this be devastating for the soldiers who pledged their loyalty to the Oblivion Empire, this would also rob Lady Nyx and the Dark Saint of their only form of shelter against their great enemy! Ryncol Larkinson knew more than anyone aside from his wife how important it was to maintain their foothold of the Nyxian Gap. The complex terrain and anomalous conditions were the only reasons why the two Larkinsons had been able to fend off the Compact's hunters for so long. After the ignomous fall of an arrogant Holy Daughter, the Compact clearly wisened up and displayed more caution in fighting against its opponents this time. By using the Abyss Empire as a vessel, the Compact leaders gathered a large number of splinter organizations and other hidden elements under a united banner! For over a year, the Abyssal Army grinded the Oblivion Army and checked its growth. At the same time, the new generation of 'dark gods' frequently showed up in order to clash against the Oblivion Empress! Many ordinary people held the mistaken belief that the Oblivion Empress and the dark gods were all god pilots who were fighting a private battle in the corner of human space for some reason. Despite the fact that no one had ever seen them display anything that remotely resembled a mech, the belief of all of the mech pilots and soldiers who flocked to the Nyxian Gap could not be shaken! This was because god mechs completely surpassed the common definition of mechs! What was amazing right now was that the Devil Tiger was currently able to put up a decent fight against an opponent of this caliber! The giant manifestation of a blue frozen woman made repeated attempts to freeze or cut the gigantic predator cat, yet none of the frozen attacks proved fatal. Just as how the Cold One was able to regenerate her bitten arm by channeling her vast reserves of energy, the Dark Saint's own energy manifestation was able to heal up as well! Even so, the man known to the outside as the Dark Saint struggled to keep up with the Cold One's offensive. "We can do it!" Ryncol Larkinson gritted his teeth. "Alone, we are weak. Together we are strong! Isn't that right?!" A loud roar echoed through his fiery will. Ever since his wife partially merged him with Zeigra, he had grown closer to this design spirit than anyone else. Over the years, Ryncol had gained a huge amount of power from Zeigra, though it had been hard for him to absorb the influx as it threatened to subsume his mind! Fortunately for him, he managed to endure all of the mental torture and rapidly polished his will and spirit as a result. With the occasional help from his wife, his force of will developed at a rapid pace, and he found out that the bottleneck that stopped a huge number of expert pilots from advancing further was no hindrance to him at all! He easily advanced to ace pilot with the help of his son's evolved work. As a masterwork mech, the Devil Tiger not only provided a huge amount of support to Ryncol, but also benefited enormously from its pilot's rapidly rising spiritual feedback! Over time, the new ace pilot found himself surpassing the strength of his other peers who had recently joined the Oblivion Empire as well. Even though Ryncol felt that he was only as strong as a junior ace pilot, the synergies he was able to achieve with both Zeigra and the Devil Tiger allowed him to channel the battle strength of a strong and developed senior ace pilot! It sounded as if there was hardly any difference between these two ranks, but their impact in battle was far apart! A junior ace pilot was more aptly described as an expert pilot that had grown mature. A senior ace pilot was seen as a mech pilot that had come closest to reaching the strength and majesty of a god pilot! Ryncol had learned from more knowledgeable and educated peers that those at the senior ace rank already merged with their ace mechs at least in part! This was an essential requirement for them to be able to complete their last steps to godhood! While Ryncol's resonance strength had not developed that rapidly after his recent breakthrough, his close cooperation with his two feline 'battle partners' allowed him to fight leapfrog battles! This was why he dared to confront the Cold One! Of course, he was one of the few who knew the truth about the dark gods. If the Cold One was an actual manifestation of a god pilot and a god mech, the Dark Saint was absolutely certain that he would stand no chance! However, the Cold One was just a powerful Compact sorceress. No matter how strong she had grown, she was only by herself whereas Ryncol always fought alongside his two battle partners! Pure aggression suffused his mind and will as he continued to maintain the strenuous effort of maintaining total resonance with both Zeigra and the Devil Tiger! The lines between them had already blurred to a large extent. While they hadn't been together for centuries, they grew so close and fought so many battles together that each of them had shared pieces of themselves with each other. There was a bit of Ryncol and the Devil Tiger within Zeigra. There was a bit of Ryncol and Zeigra within the Devil Tiger There was a bit of Zeigra and the Devil Tiger within Ryncol. With the sharing and blending of each other's aspects, they not only understood and trusted each other to an unprecedented degree, but also found it easier to merge themselves together and evoke the legendary state of Unity of Man and Machine on demand! This was currently his capital to resist the Cold One! With the help of the Megara Hex and several other 'normal' ace mechs, Ryncol found that he was only able to contain the Cold One. "You cannot defeat me, infidel." A soft, frozen voice rang through Ryncol's will. "You and your barely helpful lackeys may be able to stop my advance for now, but your so-called empress will not be able to withstand the might of my fellow gods much longer." "THEN I WILL JUST HAVE TO GO THROUGH YOU FIRST!" Ryncol burst as the gigantic manifestation of Zeigra grew more ferocious! The power of frost continually infused its massive limbs, causing it to slow down and freeze at times. Each time this happened, the Crown Cat manifestation surged with power that forcefully dispelled the gripping chill that sought to freeze it to death. Claw after claw battered the Cold One's form, but each time the Compact sorceress was able to block the attacks by conjuring a frozen shield. A massive illusionary ice blade manifested above the giant tiger. It struck with rapid speed, causing the fusion of Zeigra, Ryncol and the Devil Tiger to scream in unison as they felt as if an executioner's blade had cut through half of their necks! "ROAR!" A massive burst of power escaped from the maw of the giant tiger, causing the Cold One's shielded form to shake and become unstable for a moment! "Assist the Dark Saint!" The Megara Hex and other ace mechs quickly attacked and pressured the Cold One, which delayed her from recovering from the roar attack. This bought enough time for Ryncol to recover from the latest strike and reinforce his double resonance. It took an immense amount of focus and concentration to maintain total resonance with two entities! If not for the fact that both Zeigra and the Devil Tiger were willing to cooperate, there was no way that an ace pilot could maintain this state! Even so, Ryncol already felt he was rapidly nearing his limits. Time was not on his side as this was not his own strength. Each second that passed by drained his energy and that of his battle partners further. Each attack they suffered drained their energy as well while also imposing greater strain on their minds. As the giant tiger resumed its attack on the Cold One, it tried to coordinate with the friendly ace mechs in an attempt to overpower the dark god as quickly as possible. Yet no matter what they tried, the Cold One still maintained decisive advantage in power, technique and endurance! As one of the most senior members of the Five Scrolls Compact, the woman who took on the guise of the Cold One displayed an impressive amount of control over her own power. Wherass the fusion of Ryncol and his two battle buddies were largely relying on wielding true resonance as their club, the Cold One efficiently transformed raw power into refined techniques that always frustrated her opponents. In one instance, the Cold One suddenly lifted her giant blue arm and released a cone of frost in the direction of the Megara Hex! The Hexer ace swordsman mech hastily relied on its powerful domain field to block the ice spray, but the Cold One's power was not so easily to break! With Ryncol already occupied with launching another attack, Saint Catara Evern screamed as the freezing cone bit through her Saint Kingdom and froze half of her precious ace mech! The Megara hex almost shut down entirely due to losing half of her systems!𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎 However, Saint Catara summoned all of her willpower in an attempt to regain control of her ace mech! "I… will… not… disappoint the Superior Mother!" She knew that the Superior Mother was fighting above her head at this very moment! Even though she was a powerful halfgod herself, as a descendant of the Evern Matriarchal Dynasty, she had embraced hexism from the moment of her birth. Saint Catara did not hesitate to believe in the Superior Mother once the Valkyrie mechs showed their power in the Komodo War. While she did not have the opportunity to pilot an ace mech that was blessed by the Supreme, she had fought alongside more than enough Valkyrie mechs to recognize that the source of their glows was closer to her than ever before! "WITNESS ME! BY YOUR NAME, I SHALL SLAY THIS ENEMY GOD!" The Megara Hex miraculously seemed to shake off all of the damage it previously incurred while releasing even greater power than before! The strengthened beliefs and conviction of Saint Catara literally fueled her strength as she brought her indomitable will to bear against the frighteningly powerful spirit of a dark god! As long as Ryncol and his fellow ace pilots were able to sustain their explosive state, they were actually capable of pushing the Cold One back, at least for the moment! However, the powerful Compact sorceress did not take her opposition seriously at all. She smirked as she deftly defended against the incoming attacks. The amount of energy in the possession of those that had yet to reach the level of a god was limited! The Cold One knew that as soon as the ace pilots lost their steam, she would be able to wipe them out with ease. In fact, she might not even need to exert any additional effort to achieve victory in this battle. The entire battlefield momentarily shook as a soundless scream tore through the surrounding space! Invisible blood dripped from the giant glowing face of the Oblivion Empress. She had suffered terribly after getting ganged up on by two of the Abyssal Empire's dark gods! The Patient One maintained a serene expression on his face even as the exaggeratingly long and sharp nails of his gnarled hand was dripping with the intangible blood of the Lady of the Night! What was frightening to the soldiers of the Oblivion Army was the fact that this was not the first obvious injury suffered by their god-monarch! The Oblivion Empress had previously suffered a stab wound on her stomach while a gravity wave had crushed one of her feet. Normally, she should have been able to regenerate these wounds by expending her power, but the power of time exerted by the Patient One significantly slowed down her regeneration speed! A secret dialogue took place as the two dark gods readied themselves for their next offensive. "You have run away long enough, apostate." The Patient One conveyed. "Running to the ends of this galaxy will not save you from our pursuit. You may have been able to evade our search long enough, but as long as you still cling to life, we will always be able to grasp it and take back what is ours." Cynthia Larkinson refused to show any weakness towards her hated enemies. Her giant form responded to the Patient One by pulling out the shadow of a giant crown from nowhere. "You mean this little thing?" "RETURN OUR CROWN!" Cynthia snorted! "Over my dead body!" A new round of divine attacks ensued as the Oblivion Empress continued to resist the Patient One and the Massive One! The space above the main battlefield turned into a vision of heaven under siege as attacks that were far beyond the power of technology continued to ravage the godly beings! In some cases, the wide area attacks even struck the mechs and ships fighting in the distance, causing them to get crushed without any chance of resistance!