William looked at the unreasonable Azure Wyrm with a calm expression. The peak Magical Beast clearly had no intention of letting him go, even if the other three weren't as bloodthirsty.
System, can you inform Atticus to come up here and show himself? William asked mentally.
-Request requires 2 Potential Points due to distance. Yes/No?
Confirm.
Atticus, who was only a few kilometers away and swimming through the ground with his Illusion Territory active, suddenly received the System's message and flew over to William's position, right through the Four Divine Beasts Formation as if it didn't exist at all.
The snake retracted his Illusion Territory into the level of a Domain, revealing himself enough to be seen by the four Magical Beasts but still hidden from the Heavens. His figure was fully expanded to the size of eight hundred meters, almost twice the size of the other four creatures.
The sudden appearance of something much larger than them startled the Black Turtle Hatchling and the other three, leaving them stunned as a majestic purple snake appeared before their very eyes and looked down on them as if they were mere ants.
Its Cultivation was only in the peak of the Soul Formation Realm, but Atticus' Illusion Domain and his terrifying bloodline suppressed them with little room for resistance. Despite being of different species, the Azure Wyrm was pressed flat to the ground as if it was facing the mighty King of the Dragons.
"W-When... did you get here?" the Juvenile Vermillion Pheonix looked at the snake with unconcealed shock. It didn't even recognize Atticus' bloodline, which seemed to predate its own.
A snake with a bloodline superior to mine? I'm from the Vermillion Pheonix Clan, how can this be? the Pheonix started to doubt its own origins for a moment.
I'm almost a full-blood dragon, but this... scaly wannabee can press me to the ground like this? This is impossible! the Azure Wyrm wanted to shout out loud, but it couldn't even open its mouth.
The other two Magical Beasts looked at Atticus with the same expression, then back to William who seemed to be its Master. Could this new person be trying to take over their Providence Zone?
The White Tiger Cub felt that something was wrong. It was too easy.
How can a powerful Cultivator be sliced apart with such ease? It didn't even feel anything!
The White Tiger Cub inspected William to find that it was only an afterimage, and the real person was nowhere to be seen!
Instead, a shadow loomed overhead, forcing all four Beasts to look up to the sky and see a massive purple tail that blotted out the sun. They could sense the insane power from the Mythical Rat Snake's strike, which even threatened the Black Turtle Hatchling that had incredible natural defense.
It was Earth-shattering, Heaven-rending, indomitable!
The tail, strengthened by the Illusion Domain to strike fear in its enemies, landed on the White Tiger with a crash and sent the peak Magical Beast flying backward into its own Divine Beast Formation. The White Tiger Cub was severely injured in a single strike, forced to retreat from the fight temporarily to recover from its injuries.
The other three Magical Beasts, temporarily stunned by the illusory tail strike, couldn't believe what they were seeing. A mere Soul Formation Magical Beast had already injured one of them!
They started to think that William wasn't the true enemy, rather the Mythical Rat Snake was the true master in disguise. It made much more sense if explained that way, since how could such a powerful being possibly bow its head to a lowly human?
That said, they couldn't just back down now. The Juvenile Vermillion Pheonix and Black Turtle Hatchling flew to opposite sides of Atticus and opened their Domains.
The Pheonix flapped its wings and prepared a massive wave of flames that threatened to burn down everything in sight, while the Turtle spat water from its mouth, forming a tsunami that would collide with the flames and Atticus at the center.
Even for Atticus, these two attacks combined surpassed what he could handle by himself with the Illusion Domain, but he wasn't afraid. Instead, he expanded the Illusion Domain into his Territory, subtly redirecting both of their attacks while escaping to another part of the Divine Beasts Formation.
The Illusion Territory convinced both Magical Beasts that their attacks were still on target, but when they reached the figure in the center, the fake Atticus turned into a cloud of purple smoke while the real one was already behind the Juvenile Vermillion Pheonix.
With a wide smile on his face, Atticus looked at his two astonished opponents and said, "This is fun. Are you having fun?"