"Look, the beasts are retreating!"

"The seniors managed to kill the two horde controllers."

"Finally. I almost died just now."

The transcendents watched as the chaotic beasts retreated into the mountain range. The higher-ups had finally managed to deal with the large tortoise and the polar bear after another week of intense battle. Very soon, no beast remained on the battlefield. The only thing left was the presence of transcendents and principle fragments floating across the place.

Several glints flashed through several eyes. Chaos ensued.

Those with the same principle started rushing towards principle fragments that had their principle. Each one of them wanted to be the first to form a connection with the principle fragment first. Principle attacks ensued. Even those from the same organization attacked one another. These were principle fragments we were talking about. Why the fuck should they care about whether or not they were from the same organization?

It was bloody. These people had joined together to fight chaotic beasts. To think right when it ended, they would turn on one another. Several still watching the stream found it quite unsettling. But they were transcendents too. They understood that they would behave the same way in the face of principle fragments. They understood the ruthless nature of the universe: the strong is the right one and makes the rules; the weak cower and bow and perish.

On the battlefield, some died. Even the novice-stage light transcendents joined in. The chaotic beast tide was over. They didn’t have to heal anyone anymore. They used their principle for a different purpose rather than to heal now. They used it to burn. Light was a form of heat energy, after all. This is one thing that made light transcendents very valuable: they could heal and they could kill.

The battlefield had divulged into pure anarchy.

Kailen melded with the void and reappeared before the principle fragment the mouse had left behind. Just when he was about to activate the Principle of Space and form a connection with the fragment, he saw someone in his line of vision launching an attack towards him.

Several spatial-like ropes shot towards Kailen. A glint of coldness flashed through his eyes. Kailen simply pointed his hand forward. The void twisted, rippled, and folded into something. A spatial staff formed out of the void.

The staff came down on the spatial ropes. The spatial staff cleaved through the spatial ropes and disintegrated the spatial ropes. The spatial staff blinked, melded with the void, and reappeared before the figure of the person who launched the attack towards Kailen.

The spatial staff came down, connecting with the person’s figure. The person’s figure twisted and bent unnaturally as the spatial staff cleaved through her figure. She felt like every space in her being was being manipulated unnaturally. Sometimes it was being pulled apart; at other times it was being compressed together. It was a very painful feeling. Then, her figure cracked; the upper and lower parts separated from one another, both parts bent and twisted at unnatural angles. She had a lifeless expression in her eyes.

She was dead. Kailen had killed someone from a mercenary organization in the district. Another person revealed a cold glint at Kailen from a different direction. Then another... then another... they were all space principle transcendents, some from the guild and some from the other organizations. They wanted the principle fragment of the mouse Kailen had killed. They were all Rank 1 novice-stage transcendents.

"Seems I will have to deal with all these fellows before I form a connection to the principle fragment. They don’t want to give me a chance to form a connection to the fragment. They want to kill me before I even initiate the process so they can take my place."

Kailen waved his hand simply.

The first one: he felt at his core being, something was being pulled apart from one another. His atoms were being cleaved apart from one another. The feeling spread to every part of his being. An expression of terror appeared on his face. Realization that his greed had clouded his judgment, and he had offended someone he knew well was now one of the powerful members of the guild, dawned on him, but it was too late. His atoms were separated into extremely minute components, so much so that it was as if he had been erased at a fundamental level. He simply vanished. Kailen had deleted him.

The others realized this fellow was not someone to offend. They turned around to leave. However, Kailen didn’t like to leave loose ends. They also met the same fate as the other person they came with. There were about 50 of them. Some from the Dawnseer Guild and others from the other organizations.

Deleted. Kailen Darkhaven had deleted them. It was a very chilling sight. Several watching the stream ingrained it in their heads. This Kailen Darkhaven was really ruthless.

Even on the battlefield, after what Kailen had just done, no Rank 1 novice-stage space transcendents approached him anymore. They were not stupid. With fear in their eyes, they went to other places on the battlefield.

"I should get this done before more trouble comes."

Kailen quickly sat in a meditative, focused position and directed his activated space principle towards the space principle fragment. The connection was finally made. Kailen relaxed. No one would see the need to attack him anymore, now that the connection with the fragment had been made. Kailen heard the whispers of the principle fragment. It became clearer and clearer with time. The principle fragment was also weathering away at the same time.

Several watching the stream observed Kailen Darkhaven. What sort of principle comprehension speed was this? For transcendents, time was mostly irrelevant to them. Some could cultivate for as long as 100 years in the blink of an eye. It made sense that they were able to sit and watch the stream as several transcendents were comprehending principles.

Kailen kept comprehending the profundities in the principle fragment. Very soon, the principle fragment weathered away. A year had gone by in a flash.

Kailen opened his eyes.

"Look, it’s The Reaper!"

"He’s done? How can his principle comprehension speed be this fast?"

"Heh. This guy is something else."

"Yeah. Even if he has a high principle comprehension speed, to comprehend a principle fragment in a year is too fast, especially for that mouse-like creature! One could tell from its attacks that its principle comprehension at the Rank 1 novice stage was very deep. Naturally, the principle fragment it would leave behind would have more complex profundities. To think he would still breeze through it so easily."

"This fellow is literally something else."

Kailen did not concern himself with the whispers about him. He was currently in thought.

"With a few more principle fragments, I will break into the Rank 2 novice-stage transcendent level," Kailen estimated. He felt he was close to a breakthrough. It was a natural feeling one had when they were close to a breakthrough at the transcendent level.

He scanned his surroundings. Several transcendents had already secured principle fragments and had already started comprehending insights of their principles. Kailen even saw the first-ranked on the guild premium ranking list and a couple of others in the guild with their eyes closed, as they were comprehending the profundities of their principle fragments. Others were still duking it out. Some were also laying dead on the ground, alongside the chaotic beasts that were slain in the chaotic beast tide.

Kailen even saw the corpses of the couple who sat close to him in the guild hall when the emergency meeting was called. They were dead. Kailen’s calm gaze left their dead bodies. He wanted to secure other space principle fragments. However, he realized they had all been secured. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"Seems my time on this battlefield is over," Kailen thought.

At this point even the higher-ups had left. They had returned to the district to resume their duties. It meant the guild was back in full operation. He melded with the void and disappeared. He needed to get some rest and relax for a few hours. He may be diligent, but he was not a robot.

After that, resting for a while, he would return to the guild to check out his location on the premium ranking list he was certain he was on now. Then, he would enter the principle fragment tower of the guild.