The dissolved light pillars formed light curtains that merged as they spread throughout the city, creating a layer of light over the basic defensive formation that is currently placed on a lot of stress due to the constant energy beams being fired from the bird puppets.
As soon as the energy beams struck this light curtain it was being diffused into a pure concentrated cloud of energy.
Even though the energy being light is a bit dangerous for people as that might lead to energy corrosion of the bodies, it is still better than being hit by the energy beams and anyway, the barrier formation is protecting them from these energy clouds.
As everyone watched, the whole city is being covered with energy clouds, but they are still feeling excited. They believed that as long as the energy explosions are being countered, they could overcome everything that the energy threw at them. Even though many of the disciples don't know what these energy beams are, they felt that they are related to the energy explosions, so they are still happy.
The elders and the branch leaders, who knew more than normal are a bit more excited than the rest.
But the excitement soon turned into despair when an attendant ran inside.
Looking at the same lack of etiquette and urgency the branch leader frowned.
"Branch leader, we need your urgent attention on an important matter."
With that he looked at an entrance and two guards carried an injured person. When the branch leader saw the person, he instantly recognized him. Because he is none other than the cunning subordinate of the second young master.
He is in an extremely weak and pathetic state and he seemed to have been hit by the stray beams that managed to slip through the cracks before the formation was activated.
"Why did you bring him here? He should be taken to the healers." The branch leader said with a frown.
"He said that it is a matter of utmost importance and he should meet you right away."
The attendant replied nervously as he looked at the branch leader who in turn looked at the severely injured young man.
"Branch Leader. There is something wrong with the formation. Second young master did something terrible."
With that, he hurriedly took out a recording crystal and gave it to the branch leader.
The branch leader looked at the footage of the second young master tampering with the formation the night before.
"I followed the second young master the night before after observing some suspicious movements and managed to capture it, the second young master spotted me, but he doesn't know I was recording, so he just captured me and imprisoned me in a house at outskirts.
But the stray energy beam hit me now and freed me. I immediately came running to you. I also found some documents in the house I was imprisoned. Even though there are not many and most of them are destroyed, I think they would be helpful."
With that he took out a bunch of documents which are broken blueprints the second young master used to mark the tampering he did to the formation and the puppets.
The branch leader looked at half-damaged scrolls and was stunned when he noticed a few crucial points that were marked.
He then looked at the light curtain and as if it was on cue, it started wavering and the energy beams landed back on the formation barrier. But that is just the start of the nightmare.
At this moment, the second young master was stunned as he looked at the light curtain disappearing. At first, he was rather relieved when the light curtain was working properly. He felt like he was worried over nothing, or maybe his tampering didn't even affect the formation at all.
But as soon as he thought so, his mind went blank instantly as the light curtain disappeared. He was stunned for a second and he wanted to go and take a look at the pillar.
"What the fuck happened?" The first young master beat him to it though, he started checking the inscriptions on the pillar.
The second young master looked at the first young master's expression and hesitated a bit before going there and acting like he is checking something.
"Why is the inscription like this? I think it should be different according to the design." He spoke with genuine confused laced in his voice.
The first young master looked at the inscription and his eyes widened in shock.
"let me change it." Seeing that the first young master didn't do anything, the second young master is eager to rectify his mistake and he tampered with the inscription again.
"No.." The first young master was about to stop him, but he was too late. As soon as the second young master touched the metal pillar with his inscription brush, a wave of energy suddenly blew him away and that wave continued to spread in all directions like a ripple and all of a sudden, the formations in the city stopped working.
That included the main defensive formation which is the only thing that is stopping the energy beams from destroying the city and as soon as the formation disappeared, the bird puppets swooped in like they are waiting for it and they directly crashed into the infrastructure while they released the metal elemental energy beams, the energy clouds that are hovering over the formation also slowly made their way down.
All the troops that are neatly stationed became extremely panicky.
The branch leader looked at the scene and knew something might have happened due to the pillar.
He looked at the elders and ordered.
"Go after the bird puppets, destroy them instantly and make sure that the troops escaped from the place of destruction before you did so.
I will go and check what happened to the formations."
He immediately took off on his own bird puppet as he zoomed towards the pillar in the center and on his way, he managed to block a couple of energy beams sacrificing two of his weapons, but saving a lot of city area and troops.
When he reached the pillar, he saw the first young master and the second young master groaning in pain as they tried to stand up.
The blow from the energy ripple is too strong.
When they saw the branch leader, both of them had different expressions. The first young master had an expression of pain and regret while the second young master had an expression of panic.
The branch leader didn't even bother to ask any explanation and just captured the second young master before speaking to the first young master.
"Please, fix the formation as fast as you can. The casualties are severe, we cannot fight without that formation."
With that, he left the spot. The first young master just sighed and sat there without moving. The plan was executed perfectly. Even though he played a big part of it and now he is a part of Sam's troops, he is a bit guilty of doing all of this.
As the branch leader took the second young master, he placed a seal on him and threw him into the main estate leaving him to the guards to place him in arrest while he joined the elders to destroy the puppets.
The elders are dealing with the puppets as fast as they can and the destruction they brought is completely unprecedented.
Even though they are the ones destroying the puppets, there are either facing some damage due to the explosion or some troops are dying. The infrastructural damage is collateral at best.
At this moment, Sam and the rest of the team along with the escaped prisoners all appeared out of nowhere at the city gate and easily entered the city.
The direct clash is finally about to happen.
"I am in," Sam spoke into the communication device as soon as he entered the city on harbinger. Dozens of puppets both in the air and on land followed the team as they destroyed everything in the city. They didn't care about the infrastructure, city wall and the formation nodes, they destroyed everything that came in their way.
Arkiv, the first young master, and Kiran all heard him speaking and they immediately started working.
Arkiv who is in the middle of the disciples of the first organization started killing them one by one and Kiran who is in the healing quarters also took out his sword and started killing the guards and the healers.
The first young master just walked to the pillar and started adjusting the inscriptions.
As they proceeded to do their tasks, they took out some tokens in the middle and started detonating them.
Every token they detonated destroyed some of the nodes of various formations and also disrupted the order of the troops of the puppet organization.
And in the middle of all this commotion, Sam slipped through everything and arrived at the core area in a few minutes and Kiran who is nearest also came along with him as he killed the guards. He and Sam went into the core area and reached the furnace.