Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

Clement was understandably confused at a stranger's presence in what was clearly his recovery room but what confused him the most was the feeling that he had to obey whatever came out of this blue-eyed man's mouth.

"Wha-" he began to say when Hal tapped his forehead,

"We don't have time for your many questions. Just know the hierarchy of the Silva Duchy is about to change and you will be instrumental in that change"

With the tap on his forehead, Hal passed all necessary information to the Duke's head before affirming his control over him now that he had been tied to Infinity.

...

Meanwhile,

As the allies of the Silva family arrived to offer a hand in the battle, every Saint and Semi-saint of the Silva family (besides the Elders) who had been involved in the battles with the monsters and the Dystopians turned away from fighting the Danes.

They had all healed enough from the battles one hour ago to be in shape to fight on behalf of their family but the fact that they were all now tied to Infinity was not changed.

That said, it was only now that they received an order front the only higher power that should henceforth matter to them.

They turned away from the Danes and turned their attacks on the incoming allies which created an instant commotion.

The few Silva Saints and Semi-Saints that had not been tied to Infinity were confused and called to their brethren but were ignored as the turned Saints continued their attacks on the allies.

The confusion the allies felt was far more notable though... They had no idea if they should fight back or try to reason with the Silvas that they were on their side... All thoughts of reasoning were tossed out the window though when the turned Silvas killed a few of them.

Meanwhile, Devon yelled to the Danes,

"Ignore them... Fight all who fight us!"

Virtually every powerful family in the Silva Duchy supports the Silvas and those who claim to support Danes actually support them as well as the Silvas and would either remain neutral in times of war or support the most likely winners, the Silvas.

To be fair, the Silvas had down well to keep them on their side either through favors or through intimidation.

It was why the Danes had considered outside help in the form of the Doxons.

Devon found it funny, a little poetic in fact that the allies of the Silva family, who should have been the ones to finally shut down the Danes' attempt at a takeover were now getting held back by the very Silvas they had backed for years.

Anyway, with the reduced load, the Dane Saints and Semi-Saints could double team any of the few Silva Saints and Semi-saints who had not turned and still have enough numbers to join forces with their Cosmic Pagoda and Cosmic Aurora experts to attack the Pagoda and Aurora experts of the Silva family.

Damien, who was in the ranks of Saints, was all smiles and his enthusiasm only seemed to increase the more he fought and the more things looked to be going his family's way.

"A mess- A fucking mess" snarled the Silva Elder who had been facing Isabella.

He could not help but make that statement as he watched the madness that was unfolding.

That moment he spared to gawk at the madness was however enough for Isabella to slam her elbow into him and send him through a rift she opened behind him.

Suddenly, they were in a closed space and its instability began to pressure the Elder from all sides while Isabella was protected by her Spatial Ordinance and was in good shape to sink a blow into his abdomen.

The Elder groaned but it was even more wordless than normal as the space they were in had deformed his mouth with its instability.

*BAM!*

*BANG!!!*

Isabella got a few more hits in and with every hit she delivered, she intensified the instability of the space so that it bore down all the more on her opponent.

This was her big move and very likely the only chance she had of possibly defeating a Cosmic saint two stars ahead of her.

Alas, the Elder let out s storm of cosmic energy that was not aimed at Isabella but rather at the crack in the void... The crack that presented the way out.

His storm of energy ripped the rift open and both he and Isabella were spat out.

The Silva Elder returned his body to its normal shape and form which sapped him of even more cosmic energy but he still had more reserves than Isabella did.

That drag into a spatial rift had been her final move... It was too much of a herculean task for her to defeat the Elder and she knew the only reason she had done as well as she had so far was because of her Abstract Ordinance of Space.

"Ha, it's setting in, isn't it? The reality of just how useless all your cards are against me is finally getting knocked into that head of yours..." the Elder gloated and charged an attack which he sent at Isabella.

Isabella was about to attempt any escape tactic she could when she felt an arm around her shoulder,

"Don't bother, dear mother-in-law" Hal said into her ear as Reality was suddenly warped.

The attack turned around and slammed into the Elder instead.

*BANG!*

He suffered minimal injury seeing as it was his attack but when it cleared up, the reality warper stood before him,

"Clement?" The Elder said in confusion at the Silva Duke who sighed before vanishing to reappear in front of the Elder to slam a knee into his jaw.

The hit sent the Elder higher up in the air and then Clement flew up to meet him to punch him in the face.

"Cle-"

*Bam!*

"Clement!"

*Bam!*

"Stop it!" the Elder yelled finally getting over his confusion enough to catch the next blow.

"What the hell are you doing?" he asked and for an answer, the Duke headbutted him, before grabbing and pile driving him into an empty building down below.

*BANG!!!*

*RUMBLE!!!*

The impact of that slam and the resulting crumbling of that building shook the entire Duchy palace like an earthquake.

Clement stood up and stared down at the Elder to say in a cold voice,

"Stay down!"

"What is going on?" Isabella was confused while she retrieved a mending pill to heal her injuries while also helping her revive a good bit of cosmic energy.

Hal chuckled,

"You're winning," he said and the Dane Patroness finally noticed he was flying with the use of large Devil wings. She might have commented on the fact but just then, the Elder retaliated with a strike at Clement.

Clearly, he was not yet weakened enough and so Clement continued pounding him.

One star of sainthood stood between Clement and the Silva Elder with the Elder being stronger (cultivation-wise) but Clement was also in better condition... Hal had also blessed Clement with Devil energy which he had been sneaking into the Elder's body with every successful hit.

The Elder noticed the foreign and nefarious energy quickly but all attempts to rid himself of it (an already difficult task) were interrupted by his battle with Clement.

The battle only lasted five more minutes and the Devil energy inside the Elder was enough to begin and end the corruption of his mind, tieing him to the higher purpose that was serving Infinity- Serving Hal.

Isabella watched as Clement and the Elder stopped fighting and turn their eyes to the battle in the sky.

"What is this?" she asked.

"As I said before, you're winning. How is your energy recovery?" he asked her.

"It's coming along nicely," Isabella said.

Hal nodded,

"Good, you should get up there then," he said and gestured toward where the battle between Dane Elders and Silva Elders was still going on.

When Clement ans the Elder attacked their fellow Silvas, there was an instant bout of confusion among the Silva Elders as well as the Dane Elders who took as much advantage of the situation as they could.

The Dane Elders were barely holding their own before but could finally consider mounting resistance on account of the turning of Clement and the Elder.

When Isabella got up to their level, she joined hands with her fellow Danes and the situation was quickly turning around in their favor.

Despite fighting back, the Silva Elders were still reluctant to fight against their fellow Elder as well as their Patriarch and they kept wondering why they were against them.

They considered that it might not truly be them but nothing about how they fought, or the general aura they gave off screamed imposter.

It was their actions that were weird.

Attempting to bind them was also unsuccessful especially when they still had to be fighting the Danes.

Hal was planning to replicate what he had done in the Crimson fox clan here.

He had already gotten the Duke and one of the Elders and would now focus on using them against the others to get them tied to Infinity as well.

Once this was done, he would have the complete set with which to harness the faith of all Silvas in the Duchy capital and tie them all to Infinity as well.