Having discussed an ideal infiltration spot with Eleanora, Theodore stealthily arrived there with Vigdis and Cheong Suhyeon in tow. Naturally, he was prepared to step into a trap at any moment, but it didn't seem that his associate was planning to stab him in the back this time.
However, this didn't mean that he could let his guard down. Just in case of anything unforeseen, he had still disguised himself a little. His Improved Threat Perception immediately warned him of a considerable danger to his life the moment that his shoes met the Longxin World's soil. Unfortunately, he wasn't lucky enough to trigger a prophetic vision, which would have allowed him to better prepare himself for what was to come, but he hadn't planned to rely on a chance occurrence anyway.
Without altering his facial expression, he kept his casual, relaxed look, whilst utilizing Kiran's network to inform his two companions. Apparently, both of them had experienced an extremely minute sense of unease, yet it had been so minor that they had subconsciously brushed it aside. Due to him mentioning it, their minds began to actively register it, alarming them as a result.
Nonetheless, as fellow experienced 'old monsters', they didn't let this change show either. Internally, the two of them had already prepared to suffer a 'death', yet they still followed Theodore's lead without a single complaint. Whilst hidden by the same Array Disk which he had used when taking over the Yulong State, the three of them joyfully chattered away, seemingly oblivious to any potential perils.
Due to being confident in weathering this storm, Theodore chose to wait until their foe stepped into the limelight before deciding how to carry on from there. Running away now that they had already arrived would be seen as a sign of weakness and draw more attention to them instead. If they proceeded in the same way as they had been so far, though, then there was at least a slight chance that a hint of an element of surprise would remain on their side.
Confirming that the local conditions were exactly as Eleanora had stated, Theodore led the others to sneak into one of the many provincial capitals of this world, then found an inconspicuous spot from which to alter its city-spanning Array.
Within moments, the takeover had succeeded. Seeing that the Observation Arrays which would showcase his associate's duel were just being started up, he utilized the worldwide connections between Energy Veins to infiltrate more and more cities' Arrays, carefully linking them all up into a greater whole.
A feat like this was solely possible in worlds with a high Energy Vein density, because if the distance between individual veins was too vast, then such a manoeuvre would be far more difficult to successfully employ–if not outright impossible. Naturally, most competent forces would have Array Formation masters of their own at hand, who would be guarding against scenarios like this–but this Han Empire was clearly incapable of doing so.
By the time that he was finished with everything and had blocked all Teleportation Arrays' functions, Han Xintian's life had only just come to an end. With their emperor dead, the hysteria that spread could not be contained for long, and everyone soon wanted to run away from their certain demise. Yet how could they possibly succeed if their most vital escape routes had been cut off?
Whilst Eleanora began to blissfully eliminate the inhabitants of the imperial capital at a rapid speed, Theodore started to blatantly reinforce the worldwide Array which he was controlling, slowly transforming it into a terrifying Compound Array.
He did so for two reasons. Firstly, should he manage to complete it, the power at his disposal would be sufficient to deal with any and all opponents. But secondly and more importantly, he wanted to pressure the one watching them into making a move. The time until he was done had become that someone's countdown. The clock was ticking, and rash, hasty actions would often lead to suboptimal results.
Of course, this foe was well aware of that, yet they couldn't simply sit back and let him achieve his goal either. Although they at first didn't think him capable of manipulating Arrays this aptly, as the minutes went by, they came to realize that he could truly endanger their life and limb. From that point onward, the feedback from his Improved Threat Perception rapidly increased in intensity, desperately warning him that he was about to be retaliated against.
All of a sudden, seemingly out of nowhere, a dark red, bestial wolf's maw made purely out of Energy enveloped his entire range of perception, ready to bite down and obliterate everything.
Upon noticing this, he rapidly pulled Vigdis and Cheong Suhyeon close, then wrapped them into an embrace and tried his best to shield them with his body. All three of them had grown pale, the two girls even having yet-unshed tears shimmering in their eyes.
Naturally, all of this was merely an act. Internally, Theodore felt excited to test whether his Absolute Reflection Talent would be capable of nullifying this attack. He had forcefully turned off his Near Miss Talent just now and was prepared to teleport them all to another part of this world at a moment's notice should the wolf's head be too powerful for this card of his to handle.
'Come on already! Attack faster!'
Cheering on his foe, he and the girls awaited their move with their bodies shivering in fear. Then, the maw snapped shut.
-----
Unbeknownst to the Imperial Han Family, at the beginning of the Heavenly Succession Sverre Úlfr had appeared in a corner of the Longxin State. Originating from one of the Supreme Pillars, he quickly adapted to his surroundings and cautiously gathered intel. Due to how careful he was, nobody ever discovered him.
As he was slowly but unstoppably growing more powerful, he picked up that a Dragon Family member had wreaked havoc nearby. This both surprised but also delighted him. On the one hand, starting off so close to someone on his level was extremely uncommon, and on the other hand, one of his Talents allowed him to grow stronger whenever he defeated a Heaven's Chosen in battle.
Contrary to most of his peers, even if he couldn't kill his foes and merely got them to waste their single use life-saving items, he would still benefit a lot. Therefore, having heard about Eleanora challenging the Imperial Han Family's emperor to a duel, he chose to become more powerful in the shadows and ambush her here.
It was during his wait that he learned about quite a few of the Hans' states losing contact with their court, making him suspect that an impressive Pillar descendant was at work. Obviously, he also considered that it might be another Supreme Pillar heir, but what were the chances of that?
Over the months, he covertly infiltrated most Arrays in this world, yet he didn't actually try to gain control of them, as detecting that such a thing had happened was far too easy. Instead, he merely utilized them to spy on everyone and stay informed.
When this Han Empire sent out their Fire Seeds, he didn't interfere. It didn't matter to him if those people escaped his grasp, as none of them were mighty competitors of his–and the few that at least had a Heaven's Chosen Level were not worthy of him exposing his existence prematurely.
From the very beginning, he never made a single move, solely focusing on improving his power in silence and waiting for the day on which he could have a showdown with his Dragon Family neighbour. Just like this, by the time that the highly anticipated day rolled around, he had long since broken through to the Dawning Numen Stage's Resolve Realm.
But not everything went according to plan. An unfamiliar trio got picked up by his surveillance means. Unfortunately, due to the Array Disk that the male amongst them was carrying, he was unable to ascertain their specific cultivation stages and realms. However, he was confident in what he had achieved so far, and convinced that he didn't need to sell himself short. No matter who these three were, they would ultimately lose to him!
Initially, he was merely a bit impressed by the guy's Array Formation mastery, yet he didn't feel all too bothered. Only once this man attempted to create something that could significantly disadvantage him did Sverre pay Theodore any serious mind. At that point, there wasn't much time left for him to intervene, so he altered his original plan a little.
At first, he had intended to focus all of his power on overwhelming Eleanora in one fell swoop, but this unfamiliar Array Formation expert couldn't be overlooked or underestimated. Therefore, he chose to send out two separate, equally powerful attacks at once. By overexerting himself slightly, he could momentarily go beyond his usual limits, ensuring that both blows would be sufficiently strong to deal some serious damage to their intended targets.
When he saw Theodore and the girls cowering, Sverre couldn't help but furrow his brows, a faint hint of unease cropping up within his heart for the first time since the competition had begun.
'... what's going on? Did I miscalculate? But even if anyone finds my location, I should still be capable of dealing with the backlash that would ensue. Is there something that I've overlooked? ... I'd best brace myself.'
Despite feeling a bit of an alarm ring within him, he nonetheless had both of the wolf maws which he had conjured up in different parts of the Longxin World go through with their attacks.
On Eleanora's side, it went mostly like he had expected, as he got met with an extremely powerful resistance. Even with a one realm advantage, he could do nothing more but significantly crack it, leaving the Dragon Family heiress in a bit of a dishevelled and battered state when she was revealed to the world once again.
But after rejoicing a smidgen at taking note that his blow had shown an effect, Sverre suddenly froze and turned his attention to the other spot which he had targeted. There, his wolf maw had completely disappeared as well, but for decidedly different reasons.
Before he could even have a closer look at the trio, his elusive location grew dim and appeared as if it had been shrouded in a dark red veil of Energy. Then, the head of a wolf with its maw opened wide took shape, before chowing down, irrespective of its original creator being about to be implicated.
'Curses, what rotten luck! I can't believe that one of them has a Reflection-type Talent!!'
His expression turning sour and solemn, he hastily activated his best defensive measures, employing all the Energy which he had recovered in the past few seconds to resist. Knowing very well that such Talents would ensure that he couldn't simply escape from the retaliation that they had triggered, he had to take this blow head on.
Amidst a terrifying clash, a rather remote, yet extensive mountain range got levelled in an instant. The hidden ruin underneath couldn't withstand the colliding forces either, getting pulverized not by the merciless tides of time, but as a side effect of a violent clash.
As the dust settled, Sverre coughed up a few mouthfuls of blood, then showed a vicious grin. Although he excelled at surprise attacks, he had never been one to shy away from a direct confrontation. To be honest, those were far more to his liking!
"Not bad, not bad. You better be prepared."
Cracking his neck and ripping off what remained of his shirt, he rose out of the massive crater which had formed around him, his provocative words resounding throughout the entire world. Staying in place, he witnessed his connection to all of the Arrays being cut off, yet patiently bode his time.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting."
Accompanied by the light of a successful teleportation–no doubt making use of the worldwide network of Arrays which he had just taken over–a now no longer disguised Theodore materialized nearby, bringing along the two girls who had been with him.
At exactly the same time, Eleanora also arrived, at the opposite side of Sverre. Yet, surrounded by the two of them–as well as the two small fries–and finally aware of who it was that he was facing, the corners of his mouth merely rose further.
The likely final major confrontation between the Heaven's Chosen who had started out in this Han Empire was about to begin.