The 3 remaining mystic soldiers loyal to Jinzha was preparing the ritual while waiting for their sacrifices and Lord Jinzha. They sat around at 3 equal distance points in the shape of a triangle. The shape itself was big enough to house a small army. They muster the strength within themselves as light teal markings began to sear into the earth as they started to shine brightly and start to slowly create a wall of light that started to rise from the edges. However, they were quickly dropped once the mystics heard horses galloping in the distance, they thought it was Jinzha with their sacrifices. They all stood up and waited for them however they were confused as they saw only a few human cavalry riders with him, they wondered what was going on. They started to gather and as the horses were close enough, they stopped and dismounted. Jinzha dismounted while his loyalists bowed respectfully on one knee. Jinzha allowed them to stand up.

'My lord? Where are the soldiers? And what's with your…escort.' Grus asked. One of the guards shot him a glare but he was not fazed by simple intimidation tactics.

'It seems Zhang Yan would like me to remain by his side.' Jinzha stated, the venom still present in his voice.

'What? But why?'

'It is a rather complicated situation to be sure, so suffice to say I will not be able to participate in the siege.' He announced sadly. The others looked shocked.

'But my lord without you the…we need you with us.' Lyra replied. Luna stayed silent and lurked behind the two loyalist and couldn't help but feel a sense of…satisfaction seeing lord Jinzha have a regretful look in his eyes. Part of her knew it was wrong to feel this way, however her sense of morality was slowly dwindling. If only she could've been there when Zhang yan gave him the news, oh it would've been a sight to behold.

'I know, but alas I am needed elsewhere, I leave this matter to you. Good luck.' He extended his hand to Lyra who looked at it oddly and hesitated before shaking his hand. They felt something being handed to them as the hands met. They quickly hid their arm behind their back, thinking it was a secret message or something.

'Ok that's enough, lets go.' One of the guards stated bluntly, angering Grus and Lyra.

'How dare you address him-'

'Its alright Grus, do not worry.' Jinzha interrupted before facing his guard.

'Ok I am ready, lets go.' The guard all nodded in unison as they made their way to their mounts. As Jinzha mounted his horse he glanced back at them one last time before riding off. Lyra quickly turned her back to them and looked at her hand which seemed to have a scroll.

'What's that?' Grus asked.

'Its coal, what do you think it is?' Luna asked sarcastically. Grus was taken aback at Luna's sudden remark, she was not known for those. Lyra ignored them and opened the paper which seemed to be a scroll of some kind. Lyra opened up the scroll to find it was a letter from Jinzha.

To my loyal subjects, that fool Zhang Yan has found out about the mystic realm. I do not know how and as a result he wishes to pick my brains about it. And if I refuse his request then he will not besiege the settlement and we need that to happen. We do not have the soldiers necessary to do that ourselves or do an infiltration mission so I will entertain him…for now. I know I need to be the one to slay her to be the emperor so I will ask this of you. If you cannot capture the serpent and bring her back here to me make sure the siege fails. Use that as a last resort and do your best to bring her to me alive and as quick as possible. Continue the ritual and capture the serpent or entice her back here. I am counting on you. Jinzha.

They finished reading the notes and Grus tightened his grip around his spear in anger.

'How dare he hold lord Jinzha hostage like that for his own malicious purposes! Does he not know who he's dealing with?'

'Of course not, he's a human what do you expect? Either way its not like there's anything we can do except continue to follow his orders and make prepare the ritual for this amalgamation.' Luna stated as she started to walk away, smirking. However, she was stopped by Grus as he put his hand on her shoulder.

'You're acting suspiciously calm. Its almost as if you do not care about lord Jinzha…or our objective.' Luna turned around and feigned a shocked expression on her face which turned into anger.

'You dare say that!? What do you want me to do, bitch and moan like you? I'm just saying we have a task to do and we should do it so we should stop complaining.'

'There's a difference between doing your task and complete indifference. You didn't seem so indifferent before, you changed.'

'And you also changed, I never took you for someone who would let a fellow brother in arms die, yet here we are.' Luna replied. Grus became infuriated with the accusation that Luna made.

'Why you!'

'Enough both of you!' Lyra put a stop to both of their bickering.

'This is what the serpent and the other mystic sects want, don't you see? We can't afford infighting amongst ourselves. Not now. No matter what you think about Luna Grus, she is right. We need to complete our objective. We'll do the ritual and continue with the siege as planned, we may just need to make sure the serpent is contained securely. Though the amalgamation should take care of that we cannot let our guard down either.' Lyra stated.

'I agree, we need to work together to complete our goal.' Luna quickly agreed as she walked away, unable to stop smirking as she returned to her position in the ritual. Grus groaned exasperatingly at this but sighed and returned to his post, realising the futile nature of it all. As they returned to their positions they immediately resumed their progress of the ritual as the seared markings in the ground and grass became more clear while the thin rainbow light, almost looking like a veil of sorts began to rise to the sky as if ascending to heaven. Shortly after their sacrifices arrived, armed and ready. The markings in the ground have been seared completely, like a branding of some sort. No one could see the actual symbol from what it was, but it did look like it was of significance. The mystics were surprised to see the soldiers to be as many as a thousand. That should do nicely.

'Oi we're here. I assume you were the ones that wanted us?' The leader of the troops asked.

'Yeah, good job I was beginning to think you weren't going to come here.' Luna yelled, making sure they all could her them.

'Trust me, it wasn't exactly our decision to make so what do you want from us?' He questioned, preferring to get this trivial matter dealt with as quick as possible.

'if you could just stand in the markings please if you don't mind.' Lyra stated. The soldiers looked at each other worryingly, the leader of the troops hesitated as he walked forward seeing this thin veil of light. He puts his hand through it and cringed in anticipation for any kind of pain or something. There was nothing. He put it through a couple of times before he walked through it all. He gave the all clear as he walked through while nothing happened giving the other soldiers the heads up it was ok. They all walked through the thin veil, filling up the inside of the symbol to the fullest. They were packed inside, but they all fit which was the main concern of the mystics.

'Ok now what?'

'If you can drop your weapons and hold hands please, this is an important part of the ritual as it requires you all to have some sort of physical connection.' Lyra answered. Whispers amongst the troops in the unit could be heard however they all complied. They all dropped their weapons and held their hands together. They formed several layers from the most inner one with a few people to the most outer layer with many more as they all faced outwards.

'So, what will this do to us?'

'It will make you all strong, be patient you'll feel the effects of it soon.' Grus responded to their question as three of the mystics closed their eyes and started to chant something peculiar in an alien language to these common soldiers. They saw the perimeter of the veil of light become more visible more and more but so far, they don't feel any different. This went on for at least 5 minutes and yet...nothing, they do not feel any different.

'Hey how long does this take!?' The leader of the unit shouted, getting impatient at the length of time it is taking.

'It should be taking effect now. You should give us a wave to check.' Luna chuckled.

'That's not funny Luna.' Grus stated, staring at her position disapprovingly.

'Well its not like we can stop it now, besides I heard humans like humour like that.'

'What are you…argh!' The leader of unit started to wonder what they were on about until they looked at their hands. Their hands…they're melding with each other!

'WHAT THE!? WHATS GOING ON!?' he frantically yelled, causing the other soldiers to realise what's going on, creating an uproar of panic. They tried to escape or sever the connection by pulling away form each other or running away but it was futile. Only the most outer layer could run and even then, the veil that separated them from the rest of the world suddenly became a wall with various attempts to flee from the outer layer quickly halted in place by the veil.

'My apologies for this however you are not worth enough individually, but together you will be what we need to slay the serpent. Do not worry you will not feel any pain after this, neither will any of you have any memory of this.' Lyra informed. The soldiers didn't take this very well as they frantically screamed and tried to separate themselves even more but to no avail. Some try to shatter the veil with their own skulls, trying anything to break it…though it was futile.

'Stop this! Release us now!'

'Please I'll do anything, just stop!'

'I'll kill you all!'

Most soldiers stated phases like that in a variety of emotions, some pleaded for their lives, some threatened, some just give up and accept their demise. The mystics paid no heed to their words. The ritual cannot be reversed and they needed a behemoth not simply more soldiers to fight the serpent. The inner most layer had all but their flesh completely merged together. No longer able to feel anything. Their facial features such as their lips and noses slowly started to be absorbed into their very flesh. They screamed the most until their mouths were completely swallowed. Soon there was only a wall of bubbling flesh that quickly turned milk white. A few soldiers witnessed this from the corners of their eyes and quickly screamed in even more terror. They shouted to move and try to escape however the white wall sprouted several appendages with no defining features and stuck itself to the next layer and dragged them into it. Some members of the next layer witnessed this and while panicking demanded the soldiers on the outskirts to hurry and escape. The mystics saw this white wall of flesh began to ascend much like the veil during the process of the ritual. Though as it began to ascend the colour started to become increasingly dull. The sacrifices were prepared as well as their prison. It was only a matter of time until their demise as they know it.

'Look at them squirm, they should just embrace it if nothing else. Nothing else they can do but to wait their turn.' Luna stated, watching in glee as they try to do everything in their power to escape.

'Its human nature to struggle against the inevitable. Why else do you think they're so stubborn?' Grus questioned.

'The flames of rebellion burning inside them instinctually? Their ignorance? Their arrogance?'

'it was a rhetorical question you know.' As the two mystics were conversing the next set of warriors were started to become consumed by the wall of flesh which grew thicker with each warriors that it consumed. The pulsations started to move upwards as it eventually stopped at a certain point. The leader of the unit knew their time was limited if they could not find a way to escape their death sentence. He wondered why Zhang Yan would send them here? Did he know this would happen? Why was he so trusting to these strangers? Did he not care about those that were loyal to him? Thoughts like these occupied his mind as he heard the screams of agony of his men followed by grotesque squelching.

Suddenly the wall which has now formed into a blob of sorts grew several longer appendages though instead of the sacrifices they latched themselves onto the veil as high as it could. It looked like the blob hoisted itself up with the appendages and hovered in the air and started to form in the shape of a cocoon of some kind. The appendages that latched on to the veil start to drip downwards down the veil. Noticing this all the soldiers took a step back, frantically looking in all the directions possible looking for any other way to escape, something they missed. Their frightened screams were at their loudest as the dull white flesh covered the inside of the veil. All they saw was a wall that was bubbling and pulsating making grotesque squelching sounds before it suddenly started to close in on them ever so slowly. They screamed as loud as they could before the wall silenced them. Soon that wall started to move in closer to the cocoon after it covered the entire ground inside the veil. The two parts of it started to mould and become one. A lot of human shapes quickly emerged as if it was tightening all around them. Their screams now muffled, the only sound the mystics could hear is the pulsations and squelches alongside the cool breeze slowly whispering in their ears as it crashes against their faces. Though soon from the cocoon crunching noises could be heard, like bones that were purposefully being snapped. The outer layer of the cocoon tightened around so much some areas of the human shape burst open revealing them midway the amalgamation process. Only one though had his skull free as he could see and speak.

'H-help…please w-we'll do an-anything.' One announced weakly, his groaned weakly. He couldn't feel anything anymore. He didn't know where he starts and someone else begins. There was no escape.

'The voices…I hear…their cries of agony. Have…mercy.' He pleaded.

'You'll do anything?' Luna asked.

'Yes…anything…just help.'

'Then accept your fate.' She responded with a wicked smirk as she saw one human with his torso exposed begin to get swallowed back up. Soon the human skeletal shapes started to eventually disappear. Eventually the freed human head started to gurgle as the white melds its way into his own body and poured out his mouth and drips down his chin before claiming his forehead. His eyes flickered with panic and fear as he darted his eyes all around before even they were consumed. All that remained was the pulsating cocoon hovering in the air in the prison surrounded by the veil. The mystics though did not move though eventually the appendages clutching to the veil started to break underneath the newfound weight after 10 minutes of perpetual hanging. As the last one broke the cocoon dropped to the ground with a loud squelch though it still pulsates. The light of the marking on the ground began to die, almost as if the cocoon is absorbing the light as it started to glow a faint teal colour from the inside and grew larger. As the last bit of light was absorbed the cocoon towered over our mystics and the pulsations started to slow down.

When the pulsations died down the veil was shattered like glass. The mystics all stood up and waited in anticipation for the cocoon. Suddenly out of nowhere a gigantic hand burst forth from the cocoon. As it did, blood coloured mucus splattered all around it. Emerging from the cocoon was their behemoth, an amalgamation. As it stands up it steps out of the cocoon revealing its true form. With four flat hooved feet each step was a mighty thud which shook the very ground slightly. Two acting as the front legs and two acting as the rear legs like half of an arachnid. Its ankles have green rings on them with a blue jewel in the middle of them. Its top half was humanoid shape with a torso and two arms as it is equipped with a large double-bladed teal trident with a gold polearm. Its head was monstrous with no normal human features, it was completely flat. There were no lips, no nose and no eyes. Instead their eyes are replaced with black holes that are more akin to the abyss rather than normal eye sockets. As it opens its mouth there are no teeth, no tongue of any description. Instead it's the just black abyss again inside with only a few strands of its flesh spaced out evenly to connect it. It roars deeply as if it was a war cry.

'Excellent, looks like we have what we need. Come let's meet up with the rest of the human army. Today the serpent will be obliterated, all hail Lord Jinzha, the new yellow emperor!' Lyra announced loudly as the amalgamation roars even louder this time as they all march to the location.

Meanwhile as the rendezvous point, Yu Du and the rest of the soldiers hear that roar in the distance.

'My lord…what was that?' One of his soldiers asked.

'I believe that is our war machine.'