Blake Stone

The hug did not last long. Seeing that blades did not work, Dagger retracted his while Brom threw the pen knives at the two vice heads. The two easily dodged the oncoming miniature missiles which did not crash into the ground behind them but instead, cut into it.

The battle was at a standstill.

Eir was a healer and she had little fighting capability at close quarters. When she realized the three did not intend to harm her, she stopped fighting altogether and went to sit beside her son. She reached out to grab a handful of popcorn from Blake but the latest cheese flavor was not to her liking so she produced an enormous bag of potato crisps for herself. The salty kind.

Eir had quite the amount of long ranged and AoE (Area of Effect) spells at her disposal which made sure that the group of three vice heads did not sneak away to help Dagger.

It was not boring when a fight between Grandmasters was going on in front of you. Blake quietly watched as he studied the battle. His face did not reveal any expression whatsoever but his sparkling eyes could be seen from a mile away.

"Just admit defeat! This ain't going to anywhere like this!" Dagger was panting heavily.

"Yeah! Just get outta my way. You go your way and lemme go mine. Just that simple!" Brom retorted. With hands on his knees, he competed with Dagger on who could pant faster and more heavily.

The two vice heads were sprawled on the ground nearby, all bloody and miserable.

"Sorry but all the flights were reserved at the last minute. Nothing is available but that plane which goes to the HQ!" Dagger pointed in a direction but lowered his finger when he realized he was the only one who was not affected by the formation. Except him, everyone else, including his subordinates, could only see a white wall with a lightly glowing sheen.

It was not hard to guess that Brom and Dagger had some differences and clashed a lot in the past. And by looking at their attitudes towards each other, they must have spent a lot of time quarreling together. A perfect example of extremely close enemies.

Suddenly, Brom straightened up, his face was lit with sudden enlightenment. "Lemme confirm some things", he flashed a dazzling smile.

"Huh?" Dagger followed suit and stood straight like a ramrod, he could not possibly be panting while Brom was standing straight, right?

"There are 81 voids?" Brom started counting with his thumb on the boxes of his fingers. Right now, the thumb rested on the tip oh his index finger. Extremely tiny specks of energy started to gather under the place where his thumb pressed on his index finger. The energy was being continuously being supplied but vanished when it leaked out from his finger.

Dagger subconsciously nodded in response.

"You've only been able to open twelve of 'em?" The thumb slid down to the second box on his index finger. The energy being sourced and the energy vanishing upped by a notch, quantity vise.

It seemed Dagger was trapped into a daze as he mumbled some incomprehensible words as he nodded again. His three subordinates which were 'entrapping' Eir and Blake had ugly expressions as one held back Eir's barrage of attacks, allowing the other two to rush towards Brom to interrupt him.

"The voids refer to fake dimensions with limited space, right? Something like the spatial rings just that they are more... open? Can't find the right word", Brom's smile shone ever so dazzlingly, enough to blind people. His thumb slid down once again as it reached the base of his index finger, the third box. The energy gathered in his finger kept rushing out at extreme speeds but disappeared into nothingness immediately after exiting the last layer of his skin.

This time, Dagger was about to mindlessly nod again when he finally snapped out of it. Cursing loudly, he lunged at Brom to stop him but in the end, was too late.

Crack!

A huge crack appeared on the dome above their heads. It felt like a portal ripping through space because the dark patch was surrounded by a mass of white.

Crumble!

Loud noises could be heard as the formation crumbled. The broken white shards rained down. The dome was not an illusion neither made of light.

Blake reached out to grab a falling shard. "White Glass Marble?" Blake instantly recognized the material used. It was not a common yet not a rare material in the cultivation world. It had mediocre ability to contain spiritual energy as its main function was to let the energy pass through. It was extremely similar to glass which is transparent. The only difference being that ordinary glass lets light through it while White Glass Marble lets spiritual energy pass through it instead. This held little use for cultivators and the only thing which kept the thing in market was its smooth texture and alluring appearance. Since it came in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors after the manufacturing process in the factory, many women loved to buy them as collection pieces.

To think that Dagger used this thing to create the boundary... The only reason Blake could come up with was that he used it to strengthen the link between the voids he spoke of and the formation. The 'transparent' function was very useful in broadening the links, the channels which transported the energy to the voids. Without this material, the vast amounts of energy Brom had been releasing would not be sucked inside the voids as soon as it exited from his body.

Dagger was indeed qualified to be hailed as a rare genius in regards to his profession as a Formation Master and he certainly possessed more than enough qualifications to hold the title of School Master of the School of Formations and Inscriptions.

But to think that his meticulous hard work would be his downfall today. He had stated before that the voids would temporarily hold on Brom's energy which meant that the energy was being disposed somewhere else slowly, in short amounts. No matter how much energy Brom released at a time, it would be transported to the void almost instantly under the guidance from the White Glass Marble.

Quick question. What happens to the reservoir if the water coming from the source river suddenly increases by a huge margin but the dam can not allow any more water out at the same rate? The reservoir overflows and the water floods of course.

The same thing happened in the twelve voids, just that there was no space for the energy to overflow to. The voids could only explode from the pressure the compressed energy gave them. Just like when you pump more air in a balloon than it can handle, the balloon bursts.