Heaven, Earth, Me

The woman on the throne looked at the ground with a faintly surprised expression. The faint expression was extraordinary for someone like her who barely showed emotions. "Oh? You actually made it."

Yasenia looked over, while a certain Phoenix Woman was squished between her arms and almost suffocated by her. "We did."

While Yasenia was speaking seriously, her current actions, which looked as if she wanted to assimilate Cecile into her own body, didn't really give her the usual impact. Angel blinked and poked Cecile's arm. "Are you… alive?"

Cecile lifted her head with a lot of trouble from the two large white mountains that were surrounding her head and managed to mutter. "I am."

The Moon Goddess looked at that situation with a strange look for a second. However, she quickly ignored it and spoke with Yasenia. "Now that the ritual is starting, I need your help to liberate me from my prison."

Looking at her expression, the dragoness asked. "Senior… Are you a Soul Strand of the Moon Goddess?"

The woman paused and looked at Yasenia for a few seconds. "... Depends."

Evelyn almost rolled her eyes. 'Depends? Either you are or aren't!'

The woman spoke softly. "There are many Moon Goddesses. I don't know if the one you are speaking about is me."

"Many…?" Yasenia was confused. "How can there be more than one God representing a single element? Shouldn't each element have a single and most powerful creature as a God?"

The woman answered, leaning on her palm at the side. "Does it matter? I am a soul strand of a woman who called herself Moon Goddess. That's my real identity, and more than this is irrelevant." The woman stood up from her throne and slowly walked down the staircase in front of it. "Now, the [Descent Of Luna Nova] will happen soon. Once it does, the chains that are tying my soul here will appear, and I need you to break them."

Yasenia shook her head, making the Moon Goddess pause her steps. "Why are you shaking your head?"

Yasenia asked. "This is a trial. I want the rewards of the trial that we deserve before we help you."

The Moon Goddess frowned and asked. "Is that more important than helping me? The ritual will start soon, and we have no time for it. Not to mention, you all have improved your armor and other pieces of equipment, right? That should be enough."

"Well, it's not enough." Yasenia smiled and waved her tail in front of herself. "I am a dragon, and you should know what my traits are. So… I want what we deserve."

The woman couldn't help but look skyward. There was a circular hole in the middle of the ceiling that showed an endless night sky. Peeking from the side, the Moon could be seen. 'It's almost here… I can't be arguing and greedy with these juniors.' Looking at Cecile, she internally smiled. 'I have what I need here, so why not give it?'

The Moon Goddess nodded. "Okay. Since you insist, here it is." 

Waving her hand, the dragoness saw a single silver jade crystal appear in front of her. 

"Take it." The Moon Goddess Strand spoke. "That's the inheritance left behind in this place for those who manage to defeat the beast."

The dragoness took it and looked inside. There, three names appeared. 

"[Eternal Moonlight Physique Body Technique], [Divine Moonveil Ascension Spiritual Technique], [Eclipsing Lunar Darkness Soul Technique]..." Yasenia's eyes widened slightly. "Soul Technique?"

The Moon Goddess Strand saw her surprise and asked, confused. "What's wrong? Is a Soul Technique so rare?" For her, Soul, Body, and Spiritual techniques were similarly common. They were the three main paths of cultivation, which also separated geniuses from the rest. After all, someone who couldn't practice the three paths would be at a tremendous disadvantage.

Yasenia looked at her and shook her head. "It is rare, but it doesn't matter much, right?" She pointed upward. 

Looking up, the Moon Goddess saw that the moon was already filling half the hole in the ceiling with its figure. "Indeed. It matters not." She descended the stairs and walked to the middle of the throne room. There, she explained. "The [Descent Of Luna Nova] is a ritual that happens when the trial is successfully overcome. It resets this trial world and turns everything back to how it was when you arrived."

She further explained. "During this reset, I, as the one guiding the trials, have slight authority to stop the process for a few moments. However, I have no power to completely stop it. In the first place, I was given the power to stop it for a few moments so that I could send those who completed the trial back without accidents."

The Moon Goddess continued, her cold and elegant voice having a hint of mockery. "Sadly, I am but a puppet of this place and can do nothing about it." Looking at the group, she continued. "But you can. Once I try to go over the limit of the time given to me, several [Soul Chains] will appear from nothing and tie me down, preventing me from using any technique or power and allowing the ritual, [Descent Of Luna Nova], to be completed."

Yasenia spoke at this time, her eyes looking up. "And what you want from us is to stop or break these chains so that you can continue your skill and escape this place?"

The Moon Goddess nodded. "Exactly."

"Oh…" The dragoness blinked and asked with a smile. "What will happen to us?"

The Moon Goddess looked at Yasenia and spoke. "Nothing. If this place collapses, you'll be ejected back to where you entered without a single injury."

Yasenia had her doubts, but when she looked at Tatyana and the other seniors, she could see they were not too worried. They all looked at her and nodded back, telling her not to worry.

With that in mind, the dragoness spoke aloud. "Protect the Moon Goddess!"

Hearing those words, the Moon Goddess's lips arched faintly. "That's great."

With everything spoken, everyone moved to action. Meanwhile, the Moon Goddess began gathering the energy of the trial world around her. Her energy surged, and from feeling like a mortal in terms of strength, her level grew exponentially.

First Realm… Second Realm… Third Realm…

Each time her realm increased, a powerful wave of chilling Moon Energy would surround the place, and the space around them would distort. Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Fourth Realm… Fifth Realm…

Her aura reached the peak of the fifth realm, and as the Moon was about to fill the entirety of the hole in the ceiling, her aura burst once more.

BOOM!

Her strength skyrocketed, reaching the Sixth Realm. Once she did so, the Moon Goddess muttered softly. "[Moon Intent Domain]."

The surroundings changed and were instantly swallowed by her Intent domain. All the energy fell under her overwhelming presence, making everyone in the room feel powerless and weak for the few seconds that they were affected. Not to mention, just the few moments they were affected by it were enough to feel as if their very souls were about to freeze. 

Yasenia couldn't help but feel her heart tremble as she gazed at the Moon Goddess Soul Strand. 'Intent Domains are truly terrifying…'

Of course, the Moon Goddess didn't want to hurt them. Therefore, she singled them out from her Intent Domain's influence. "Prepare yourselves, Juniors."

As she said so, the Moon reached the highest point in the sky and completely filled the ceiling's hole. The moonlight that fell from the hole poured into the room, and a hidden formation activated around them instantly. Its crazy strength was something that left everyone feeling like the world was about to end.

Space trembled, reality started to shift, and their own consciences felt as if they were being distorted. This made everyone's hearts rise to their throats. However, as the powerful formation was about to reset the trial world activated, the Moon Goddess's voice echoed. "Halt."

The collapsing world stopped, and everyone returned to normal. Yasenia looked around carefully at the cracked walls and floor. The formation had been activated for less than a second, and yet Yasenia felt as if her existence was about to be erased. 

The Moon Goddess spoke to them. "Now, I can stop this formation for around thirty more seconds. I am currently gathering energy to escape this place now that the trial world's structure is semi-collapsed, creating fissures in the walls of this otherwise perfect prison."

Her words were relatively reassuring, but Evelyn was quick to ask. "Senior, what then? Will space start collapsing as it did? I am warning that if it does so, forget about protecting you. We will be unable even to move. That sensation is too overwhelming."

The Moon Goddess answered, her tone as cold and elegant as ever. "Worry not. That sensation is the trial forcefully ejecting you from the trial word. That's why you felt as if your soul was about to be thrown out."

Evelyn decided to place some trust in the Moon Goddess, but she really didn't want to feel that sensation again. 'That was too scary…'

"Here they are."

With her words, everyone saw space around them open as several silver chains appeared. They were hovering in mid-air, anchored to space itself, and like snakes ready to strike, the several dozen chains were pointing at the Moon Goddess. Looking at the things that have kept her locked for so long, the Moon Goddess's lips arched downward. "Damned things, today is the last day I see you, so I hope you take a good look before I disappear."

Even someone as cool, calm, and collected as the Moon Goddess would feel frustrated after being tied down for millions of years by the same items.

Yasenia's pupils shrunk slightly as one of the chains flinched and suddenly shot forward at tremendous speed. "[Pegasus Gallop]."

Yasenia's body flickered, and she appeared before the chain, slashing at it with her sword.

CLANG~!

'HM!?' The weight behind the chain made Yasenia feel like a giant had punched her, and her body was hurled through the air until she slammed against a distant wall. Still, her strike managed to fling the chain backward in a similar manner, effectively protecting the Moon Goddess. 

The Moon Goddess warned. "Be careful. Their strength is superior to the average peak-level Fifth Realm cultivator. Remember, I can't help you because I am stopping this damned ritual… It starts now."

The second she said that, all the chains rushed forward and tried to coil around the Moon Goddess. Our girls, prepared for these attacks now, rushed at the chains and started fighting them off.

The place was instantly filled by the sounds of chains and weapons clashing with each other. The battle with the chains was frantic, and it would've been too difficult if it were not for one detail. Instead of their Heaven-Ranked equipment, they were currently all wearing Transcendent-Ranked equipment.

Armed to the teeth with them, defending against the chains proved complicated but not impossible. With their combined efforts, the Moon Goddess completed her skill, and then they all disappeared from the trial world.

Once they left, the trial world collapsed. The Soul Strand was its anchor, so its disappearance meant its total collapse.