Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

Before Executioner's blade could make contact and sate her curiosity, however, the monster reacted with incredible speed and would have probably caught Karmen had she not immediately taken to the air.

In the process, she thought back to how she had considered her flight a huge advantage and a definite way to escape and came to rethink it all mere seconds later.

You see, the moment Karmen was in the air, the monster leaped at the hall wall and from there, it propelled itself into the air... Right to the same level Karmen was.

The leap had been so sudden but even more sudden was how propelling off the wall made the huge monster even faster.

It was clawing at Karmen before he could complete any thought of attempting an escape or a counterattack.

Karmen crossed her arms in front of her face and a large shield formed out of her state-changing fog formed in front of her.

Intercepting the monster's claw strike and then immediately retaliating with an explosion that sent the monster rocketing back onto the ground.

*KLINK*

*KLINK*

*BANG!!!*

Kamen followed up quickly by diving towards the ground and swinging her sword at the monster's hard exterior and unlike the first time she had tried, this time she was actually successful.

In more ways than one...

Not only did her sword make contact, but it also cut through.

Executioner cut through the monster's thick exterior.

Karmen had a feeling that Executioner being capable of cutting through the monster's exterior was because she had powered up which had inadvertently powered the weapon up as well.

The monster staggered backward but Karmen had no intentions of letting up...

Neither, for that matter did any of the other two.

While Karmen kept the monster busy, Olivia had succeeded in pulling Harold out of the region nullifying cosmic energy.

Now the both of them charged up powerful attacks with Olivia mixing in her fiendish attacks with her Cosmic attacks and with Karmen leading, the three prepared a definitive strike.

But first, Olivia and Harold held back until she had cut the monster with Executioner's blade multiple times and in multiple places.

Moving faster than the monster could follow.

She did not fly too high and instead hovered above the ground to remove any possibility of the monster leaping at the wall to get at her.

That was one attack style the monster had that she was sure would be devastating if it was allowed to use frequently. 

That as well as the suction force.

Speaking of suction, the monster finally caught Karmen and pulled her closer.

Unlike before, Karmen resisted the pull and slowed it down long enough to yell at the other two,

"Now!"

Her commanding tone and commanding word were followed by the two letting loose their charged attacks at the monster. Focusing on parts of its body Karmen had cut open with Executioner.

Getting their attacks to better hit the interior which they hoped would be much more vulnerable than the exterior while also being glad the monster did not seem capable of regenerating.

At least, not speedy regeneration like that of the statue warrior.

The attacks cut off the monster's suction and allowed Karmen to first off, fire spikes into the monster's gullet, (you would think after Karmen shot an exploding spike into its mouth earlier, it would have learned to simply keep its mouth shut) and then take to the air...

... Creating more spikes that she shot down to stab into the holes she had cut on the monster's body.

The spikes became anchored in the holes and detonated along with the one in its throat...

... Ripping the monster apart from the insides...

*BOOOMMMMMM!!!*

When the dust cleared, the monster's limbs which were still attached to its body were splayed awkwardly to the sides while bending in awkward positions that definitely looked to be evidence of lasting damage.

The body had been ripped open and now resembled a piece of junk that could not possibly perform as it was meant to.

And now that it was open, the trio, especially Karmen could view their reward.

Past the gullet, which Karmen had shot spikes into many times, was what resembled a chest that was without a lid. It looked unaffected by the explosion that had wrecked the monster's body.

Impressed on that chest was a golden key.

Karmen reached in and pulled the key out to observe it from all angles and with as much light as she could get in a tomb hallway eerily lit with green Rune lamps.

As she reverted to her normal form and dispersed Executioner, she looked ahead into the hall, thinking the same thing the other two were thinking at that moment,

'I have no idea what this key opens but I have a feeling I'm about to find out'

***

The group of Rita, Lillian, and Jared already had problems when those in front of the double doors stared at them with hostility and had no need for things to get any worse...

Alas, worse they got.

Out of the teleportation circle that appeared in front of the double doors following the trembling of the tomb floor, came a golden key.

Teleported from Devil knows where, the key floated in mid-air and was regular sized for the doors it was clearly meant to open and would cause chaos soon enough.

First, the trembling stopped just as an Array semi-dome extended from the wall the double doors were on to cover all those present within it.

Suddenly, everyone within that semi-dome was filled with selfishness and a will to only be after their own success.

To kill everyone else and have the key and all that was behind the double doors for themselves.

A buff and heavily bearded man was the first to act on this impulse and charge at the area where the key was still floating in mid-air.

He had almost closed his hand around it when someone in his own group stabbed him in the sides with a spear cosmic Armament.

The man groaned, but with his mind muddled and thinking only for himself, he pulled away from the spear stab, summoned a large hammer cosmic Armament, and swung it to bash his attacker's head in...

*BANG!!*

... Absolutely damaging it to an extent that the smaller (in size as well as cultivation) man could not withstand or heal from.

And thus, had their first death in this impromptu battle royale that promised to get very bloody and was filled with those who had no interest in holding back one bit.

The Array had muddied their mind that much.

So you see, it was bad enough that the groups they met had already banded together and derived no pleasure in the thoughts of sharing whatever was behind the doors any further, but now, any inhibition they might have had before was totally gone.

Rita and Lillian, while trapped alongside the rest within the array were immune to the mind muddling as their minds were securely protected by their connection to Hal who, by contract, owned them. Body, soul, and mind.

This particular Array effect that was meant to turn the two and anyone else against one another was useless against them but was not useless against Jared who, rather than charge towards the key like the buff man, summoned his Cosmic Armament and attacked Rita.

Instantly, her eyes turned violet and she imbued herself with lust flames to significantly improve her speed and leap away from his reach.

Lillian was quick to leap into action and strike at Jared with her broad sword Cosmic Armament which he deflected and managed to push her back.

Rita frowned as she realized things were escalating and there were still many more within the tomb that they would have to fight off...

If she wished to stop his mindless attacks on her and Lillian, all she needed to do was to touch Jared and through impressive cunning and agility coupled with the support she received from Lillian, she succeeded.

Succeeding even faster because most were focused on stopping each other from getting the key while at the same time trying to get it themselves and ignored the battling trio who had so far made no move towards the key.

She grabbed Jared's shoulder and forced him to his knees as her eyes burned an even brighter shade of violet as she passed lust flames into the man's body... Imposing her will on him.

His body reacted to having felt like the feeling before although not as intense as this, and soon, he was under Rita's suggestion and ordered to fight by their sides.

The fact that she had succeeded in doing so to Jared had Rita thinking of the possibility of doing it to all those within the semi-dome and getting the key in a much more calm and less bloody manner but that was surely not the way she would go.

When she looked at those within the some, she did not see people... She saw an opportunity to reap a large amount of essence and looking over at Lillian, she knew the Blood knight was seeing an opportunity to reap a lot of blood essence and further her cultivation.

Even now, she was already siphoning the essence of all those who had fallen to this impromptu battle royale.

Sure, there were those at the Cosmic Aurora and Cosmic Pagoda realms but with Jared by their side, neither Rita nor Lillian were that worried.

They did not have time to think and smile at the possibility of their success at the moment though as a couple of those within the semi-dome finally noticed their group of three standing apart...

Seemingly waiting the battle out and they were not having it...

After all, since the directive every individual had been given by the Array was to act as selfishly as possible and kill every other person until they were the only ones left, the fact that the trio of Rita, Lillian, and Jared had not yet gone after the key could not exempt them forever....