At the start of their battle, Tark opened with conversation.
"My my, I hadn't expected to face off against you in this state, Reinhart. Perhaps the heavens are kinder than I thought."
"Is that the face you have to wear now? From a fox to a jester, you've fallen far, Tark."
"And whose fault do you think-?! Whoops, almost got heated there."
Considering how seriously Tark was committed to the act, it seemed that this was part of the punishment for his recent failures. Reinhart felt no sympathy for him, but it was a sad sight. Nonetheless, he knew better than to underestimate his opponent. He revealed the Cloud Swallow Sword and held it firmly in his right hand. Although he couldn't use the Dancing Storm technique, the sword would allow him to bring out the most of his abilities.
Tark knew Reinhart wouldn't be careless, but he was confident that he could find a gap in his defenses.
"Woah!"
While pretending to fall, Tark threw an assortment of hidden weapons at Reinhart. Some were as big as a head, while others were smaller than a hair. Tark planned several follow-ups that would allow him to lure Reinhart into moving as he imagined, but Reinhart regarded him more highly than he thought. Reinhart believed that giving Tark too much time would be dangerous, so he resolved to finish this fight as quickly as possible. Reinhart didn't bother thinking about how to avoid the thrown weapons. He simply entered a thrust stance and plunged forward with the intensity of a storm.
That was how he ended up dealing a serious blow to Tark in one exchange.
"Damn, you!"
The sword itself had only grazed his chest, but the wind surrounding the sword left Tark with severe internal injuries. The match had already been decided, but Tark knew what fate awaited him if he bent the knee here. Even if Reinhart spared him, Mater would not do the same. He struggled to his feet and prepared his most desperate measures to confront Reinhart. Reinhart shifted his stance, ready to strike once more, but upon noticing something, he quickly evacuated the area. Tark's pain dulled his perception and by the time he noticed the danger, it was too late to evade.
Kate's cultivation was limited to the peak of the Mortal Realm, but this didn't affect her talent and comprehension. Using her insights into the natural laws of wind and her astonishing wind affinity, Kate gathered the wind and used it to produce a powerful fist that devastated the area in front of her. The other fighting pairs managed to get out of the way, with the exception of one person. Tark was only hit by the residual force, but that was enough to send him flying into the palace wreckage.
"I knew she had already touched on the natural laws, but it seems that her comprehension is even deeper than mine," Reinhart admitted.
The Sky Realm was where cultivators were expected to make contact with the natural laws, but there were always geniuses who started in the Earth Realm. Insights into the natural laws allowed them to use special powers without the need to cast spells, but the depth of their comprehension still limited them. Kate's fist was on par with a spell from a peak Earth Realm cultivator, but even then Mater remained standing.
With his glowing blue hair waving in the breeze, he lowered the hands that had been raised to guard his face. He wasn't able to completely avoid injuries, but the damage Kate did was minor. Nonetheless, the look in his eyes had changed. He was still furious, but he knew that he couldn't take Kate lightly after that attack.
'To think she had already reached this far. If only I had taken care of her earlier. Tark's useless and Pon is still watching, which means this could easily become three against one.'
At first, Mater had been confident that he could come out the victor even if he had to fight Pon and Kate together, but Kate had shown that she wasn't to be treated lightly. With Tark down for the count, Reinhart would be free to aid his allies, so Kate and Pon might also hold him back while their allies defeated his. Victory was rapidly slipping out of his hands, so Mater took the best option available to him.
He swiftly reached for his token and began activating it. At first, Kate's unbothered reaction confused him, but it soon made sense.
"Ha, so that's how it is. Now all the pieces come together. So this really was just to buy time."
Just like Kate's group, his token failed to activate, and that crucial hint was enough for him to realize that they were trapped inside the Spirit Nest. Thinking further allowed him to make a hypothesis that Kate's group knew of a way to leave the Spirit Nest and was trying to defeat him before using that method. If he had more time, he would likely be able to figure out how Kate's group planned to leave, but Kate cut his contemplation short.
"You seem to have figured some things out, but that doesn't matter. Avoiding your death is the only concern you need to have right now."
"You speak bold words, but coming to kill me just because of a personal grudge; how does that make you any better than me?"
"Shut up, you traitor. I already know the designs you and your filthy clan have for the manor, and I won't allow it to pass while I'm here."
Mater's expression became grave once he heard Kate's words and sensed the hatred that lived within them.
"It seems you know more than I expected. Very well. I can assure you that at least one of us will die here."
"To think I would agree with you on something, how surprising."
Kate silently gathered the wind for her next attack, but suddenly the ground tremors rapidly increased in intensity. The earth creaked, and the sky seemed to waver as all creatures ran as far from this region as they could go.
"It's coming!"
Even without using their spiritual sense, everyone could sense the catastrophic danger approaching from the underground. A few moments after they moved away from the palace wreckage, an enormous flame devoured the area. It was like the eruption of a volcano, but none of the flame scattered from the blast zone. Even the heat didn't reach them from the column of fire, but the melting palace ruin made it clear that the flame was anything but weak. Shui believed that the attack was from the red spirit, but despite how powerful it was, the threat of disaster hadn't completely disappeared.
Outside the Spirit Nest, the emergency had reached a level where even the manor lord had to make an appearance. Even if the progenitor of Storm Sky Manor was here, he would still be helpless in forcing open the entrance to the Spirit Nest, but the manor lord would be able to save face. Soon after he appeared on the scene, the door began shaking and cracks appeared on its surface. From these cracks, the manor lord was able to sense the turbulence of space inside the Spirit Nest, so he acted immediately.
"The Spirit Nest is collapsing! I'll open a gap and I want everyone else to pull the disciples out of it."
"Yes, lord!"
Although he could now interfere with the Spirit Nest, that was thanks to him being a Master. Unless they had deep insights into the laws of space, no one below the Master Realm could aid him. He thought it was better this way as well, since he would have to tear apart one of the oldest pieces of the manor's heritage with his own hands.
"Please forgive me, ancestors. This is the only choice."