‘I will put on a good show.’ Tekton said as he was shifted back to the normal layer of space.

  BOOM!

  In the real world the earth groaned with the return of the massive beast. Tekton slammed down into the crater with all the subtlety of a falling meteor.

  Li Yu was then watching Tekton's performance. Tekton was channeling every ounce of his kingly persona. He roared loudly as soon as he returned. It was a sound of manufactured fury that stripped the leaves off the trees in the surrounding area.

  ‘I have returned!’ Tekton’s rough telepathic shout boomed through the minds of the beast tide. ‘My enemies in the void were vast, but I remain! To me, my loyal subjects! The danger has not passed! We must prepare to strike back!’

  It was a clumsy lie, blunt and simple, but it didn’t need to be eloquent. The mutated beasts were programmed to obey the strong. The beasts that weren’t mutated had a similar instinct as well, if summoned by someone stronger, you listen.

  From his vantage point Li Yu watched the reaction. It was instantaneous, better and faster than a lot of the sects and armies he had seen. The elite creatures that had been lingering at the edge of the forest snapped to attention. They had all been waiting for Tekton to take action and had been idle, but they were always ready to go.

  Dark shadows blurred through the trees. Massive four-armed bears, serpents with metallic scales and tigers with bone-spurs, among others, erupted from the treeline. They didn’t hesitate at all. They rushed into the crater, driven by the hive-mind compulsion to follow the strong.

  They clustered around Tekton and were awaiting his command. Where he went, they would follow. It was a pack of high-level monsters. Li Yu counted quickly. Twelve Soul Formation equivalents. Over one hundred Core Formation beasts. It was clear that the mutations have done something to the strength of these beasts. All twelve of the Soul Formation beasts were mutated.

  A force this strong wouldn’t just be naturally clustering here. It was way too powerful to be a random group of beasts that have gathered for a beast tide. Even if they were following a Divine Transformation beast. Tekton didn’t recruit them, so for twelve Soul Formation beasts to randomly follow him made no sense.

  The over one hundred Core Formation beast was more plausible but around half of them were mutated as well. ‘Just what is happening with these beasts and how are they making them stronger so quickly? There is a deeper mystery here and if unsolved, will cause a diaster across this world. It won’t just be isolated here, this is simply the starting point.’ Li Yu thought as he observed them carefully.

  ‘They are here, Li Yu,’ Tekton’s voice came through the link and was sounding a bit nervous. ‘They are very close. Some of them are even touching my legs. It is… uncomfortable. Let’s get this thing going.’

  ‘Hold them steady,’ Li Yu said. ‘Don’t move.’

  Li Yu did as before with Tekton and was bringing them into the first layer of the void. There was no sound of transition. One moment, Tekton was surrounded by a group of monsters. Next, they were in the first layer.

  The sudden shift caused the beasts to stumble. The Soul Formation commanders reacted first, their auras flaring as they realized they were no longer in the forest. They looked around wildly, hissing and growling at the empty grey sky.

  Tekton stood in the center of them, looking massive and imposing.

  Li Yu landed softly a hundred feet in front of the gathered horde. The beasts turned their attention to him immediately. Like Tekton before them, they were mainly confused. A human. Small. Fragile. The source of the spatial disturbance. But they sensed nothing from him, no threat or power at all.

  Even though they felt nothing from him, he was the outsider here and they quickly formed up to attack him. A massive black tiger, its fur bristling with metallic spines let out a roar that shook the air. It was a mid-stage Soul Formation beast, a creature that could rule a mountain range on its own. Behind it, the other commanders fanned out, their killing intent locking onto Li Yu.

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  The tiger lunged. It moved like a blur of shadow and its claws aimed directly at Li Yu’s throat. Li Yu didn’t dodge. His staff appeared in his hands and he stepped forward, swinging it in a simple downward arc.

  The staff didn’t look all that impressive. The beasts couldn’t understand or detect the laws that were involved. The space around the staff collapsed.

  CRACK!

  The staff connected with the tiger’s skull. There was no contest. The beast’s protective Qi shattered like glass. The metallic spines, the reinforced bone, the mutated muscle—it all buckled under the weight of the blow.

  The tiger’s head was driven into the invisible floor with such force that a shockwave rippled out, knocking the nearby Core Formation beasts off their feet. The head was completely destroyed, erased into nothingness.

  The tiger twitched once and went completely still. Its skull was no more but the rest of the body was perfectly intact. An overall clean kill.

  Li Yu exhaled as he looked at the staff in his hands. “The power and destructive force is amazing and I am able to control it well enough to only destroy the head. Yes, this is the way it should be. This seems like the right path forward for using the laws to power my staff. With just this alone, I already feel several times stronger.”

  The other beasts froze but the mutated ones did not. The normal beasts, their instincts were screaming at them. This small human had just one-shot one of their strongest leaders. He was definitely not as he felt, he was a monster in disguise and had tricked them all.

  But the mutated beasts and their hive mind or whatever it was that was controlling them overrode any kind of fear. They didn’t freeze or stop at all. With a collective screech, the remaining eleven Soul Formation beasts continued their charge forward at Li Yu.

  "Tekton! Shield!" Li Yu said.

  Tekton finally made his move. For a creature so massive, he was surprisingly fast when he actually took action. He used his body to create a living wall of iron plating in between Li Yu and the charging beasts, surprising the latter. This was supposed to be their leader and yet their leader was helping the enemy.

  CLANG! CLANG! BOOM!

  Even with the slight surprise they did not stop. It looks like they were created to be unstoppable killing machines. Attacks rained down on Tekton’s armor. Acid spit, lightning breaths, claws capable of tearing through steel. They all smashed against the Divine Transformation carapace of the Scavenger King.

  The effect of their attacks went as expected though. It caused no damage at all to Tekton’s armored plates. There wasn’t even a single scratch on them in fact.

  Li Yu then jumped on top of Tekton. The Fisherman appeared behind him causing his own kind of pressure. In order to keep their bodies mostly intact, Li Yu decided that using a soul attack would be best.

  The Fisherman didn’t need to be told what to do. 11 ethereal hooks flew out from his fishing rod simultaneously and hatched on the souls of each beast there. They didn’t need to be weakened at all like with the Xylarri.

  The Fisherman had gotten stronger, the increase in Soul Formation realms, the long walks in the River of Soul, the shared goals and stronger bond between the Fisherman and Li Yu. He was simply too powerful compared to these beasts now.

  The hooks landed and the Fisherman simply pulled. 11 glowing orbs flew out of the beasts and went into the Fisherman. He gave off a slight grin as though it had a good meal and just as quickly disappeared.

  The 11 beasts went completely still and then quickly fell over. They were now completely lifeless. Li Yu swiped his hand and collected their bodies.

  ‘Tekton, move behind and go as far and fast as you can. This could be dangerous for you but I will try my best to aim it in the correct direction.’ Li Yu told Tekton.

  Unsure why he was being told to do so, he listened and sped off behind Li Yu. As soon as he moved, the Koi Soul came out from behind Li Yu. Li Yu then took a deep breath and the Koi Soul behind him did the same thing. Then he used a technique he hadn’t used in a while. Death’s roar.

  He opened his mouth to roar and the Koi Soul behind him did the same. Its mouth was giant compared to Li Yu’s. No sound came out from either of them but the pressure in the area increased drastically. As he said to Tekton, he did his best to aim it towards the direction of the Core Formation beasts.

  He had gotten better at controlling it and for the most part, the roar went out as a cone in front of him and his Koi Soul. There were still leaks to the sides and behind him but it was minimum. He could still direct it all around him as well if he wanted to but he wanted to be able to direct this attack better.

  It ripped through the beasts and everywhere it went destruction followed. The beast's bodies were blasted in all directions, thrown from the pressure and force but kept mostly undamaged besides from being thrown. Inside, however, the beasts were completely lifeless. With another wave of his hand Li Yu collected the bodies of these beasts as well.

  Within ten minutes from when Tekton left the void and came back, the battle in the void was over.