FAMILY ABOVE ALL: BATTLING AGAINST GODS

Eight little kids who had the potential to shine like a sun no matter the cluster of stars they were placed in, were all brought together directly or indirectly by one person.

Arlo.

Finally stepping into the third zone, Arlo and the others were greeted by a sight they didn't expect.

It was a sight of a shower of falling meteors covering the skies far in the distance.

However, this sight wasn't what brought the aghast look the eight of them shared.

Arianne and Ella were the first to have a change in expression as a flame of anger burned visibly within their eyes, with the latter being more intense than the former.

While, Arianne didn't consider herself close to the third-year vampires, as members of the same race, especially one that was still relatively few, she considered the life of each and every member of her race very important.

However, Arianne's reaction couldn't be compared at all to Ella's.

As the tears spilled uncontrollably down her usually droopy eyes that shone with sadness, Ella took in with a cloudy vision, the sight of her senior's corpses. Unlike before, their dignified aura was long gone, as their bodies were covered in green veins, causing a sick air to surround them.

The werewolves were one of the ancient races, unlike the vampires. After living for thousands of years, the number of their members could simply not be counted, as they could even be sighted in many outer worlds. However, one thing the wolves shared in common, even more than the newly appeared vampires, was a very close relationship. Their unique bloodline brought them closer together as they lived in packs, and their bonds could be said to be far tighter than any other race's. Even though Brandon and the others were not among the most talented among their batches, as the more excellent ones had already broken past the grandmaster realm making them ineligible to enter the secret realm, they had still treated Ella not only as their princess but even as their little sister.

The huge snake-like image showed signs of movement, however, it soon stopped after Rose's cute voice resounded in the area.

"Stop!"

Rose wondered whether the huge snake image understood her, but after noticing the pitch-black snake nestling at its head region turn to her, she quickly shook her head as her spinning eyes locked with the starry eyes of the latter.

The pitch-black snake watched her intently for a moment, before un-summoning the huge snake-like image.

Rook's eyes shone with surprise.

While he appeared confident outwardly, the truth was that he had been alarmed after seeing the huge snake image, but when he noticed it wanted to move, he secretly sneered as he planned to detonate his poisonous mana that was still lingering inside the corpses around him. No matter how unusual the snake could be, once it was swallowed unprotected by the mist of poison, it would fall eventually just like the others. However, his plan failed before it could even start.

Arlo and the others fell lightly on the ground after the huge snake-like image disappeared abruptly. The pitch-black snake turned into a black light that moved in Joe's direction before coiling around his snake. However, before Arlo and Rook's group could respond to this development, Ella's low voice dripping with hatred and filled with anger drifted into all their ears.

"Judgment!"

*Rumble!*

The skies shook and an instant later, a large black cloud gathered above Rook's party head before a rain of purple lightning poured down on them.

"Humph..." Rook harrumphed while his cousins had smiles of derision on their faces. Without even needing to act by themselves, the downpour of lightning wasn't able to come close to them as the other seven members of their party defended against the attack effortlessly.

Seeing that her attack had failed, Ella wanted to charge forward, but she was quickly held down by Arianne who drew her into her embrace.

Even though Arianne felt pained to see her seniors die, she knew that what she was feeling couldn't come close to how Ella felt. Besides, she didn't see the corpses of all her seniors, but only two, so she still hoped that they were still alive somewhere within the third realm. However, all the members of the werewolf's team were confirmed dead before their eyes, and even their tainted corpses appeared to have been desecrated after their deaths.

"Ah!" Ella screamed in anger from within Arianne's embrace. Because Arianne was far taller than her, and because she didn't also use her full strength, she wasn't able to break out easily from Arianne's clutches.

The air around Arlo noticeably changed, garnering the attention of Rook and his party who were watching Ella and Arianne like they were enjoying a show.

Rook narrowed his eyes at Arlo and when he noticed the lack of mana from the golden-haired boy, he was about to speak when...

*Booooom!*

*Boooooom!*

*Booooooom!*

*Boooooooom!*

From deep within the third zone, several massive hands made from red-scorching lava rose high into the sky before colliding with the falling meteors.

The attention of Arlo, Rook, and their parties was once again stolen as they gazed in the direction of the lava hands that were struggling to stop the descent of the falling meteors.

Even though the hands made from lava seemed to be the same size as the meteors, they were still pushed down ever so slightly by the latter.

*Boooom!*

*Boooooom!*

*Boooooooom!*

Several more hands rose into the sky before pairing with the previous ones and successfully stopping the meteors in their path.

As for the meteors outside the coverage of the hands, they descended unrestrained, and in a few moments would collide with the ground.

Rook and the others didn't dare to guess the level of destruction and mayhem that would result from such a collision.

A pressing look appeared on Rook's face. He had been thinking of enjoying his time with the little kids especially his little cousin, who with unknown methods was able to cross the second zone and arrive at the third. Of course, he could already guess that it must have had something to do with that unusual snake image.

But now that the fourth zone seemed to be accessible and the third zone was about to be half destroyed, he wanted nothing but to leave this place.

'Besides, I must leave fast so that I don't cross paths with those monsters.' Rook was sure the Asuras had a hand in the fight that was raging on in the distance.

He shifted his eyes toward Arlo's group, and he couldn't help but notice that they seemed to be communicating.

However, he didn't care about what plan they were devising, as he commanded in a light voice:

"Kill them fast. As for the boy with the snake coiled around his snake, I will handle him myself."

"Hehe!" Rook's female cousin chuckled in understanding, "Can we also join in? It has been a while since I had time to spend with my cute little Joe after all."

The last male among the trio seemed to share the same thought. Without any hesitation, Rook nodded readily to their request, "Sure."

The other seven members of the magical beast's team charged toward Arlo and his group, however, something they didn't expect soon happened.

.....

Two minutes earlier.

Seeing the pain flashing within Arianne's eyes even as she tried to soothe the angry Ella, Arlo felt something snap within him.

However, his mature and intelligent mind told him this wasn't the time to act, as he could sense the cultivation of the people in front of him.

His mind spun quickly as many plans hatched within it.

In the end, he arrived at the same conclusion...

'We will all die.'

He was able to formulate a plan on the spot and include the strength of people he barely associated with to deal with someone as powerful as the ant queen.

But in the presence of overbearing power, all plans would be crushed.

Rook's party was completely comprised of grandmaster mages. Just two of them would be able to handle the ant queen, not to mention they numbered almost a dozen. Besides, Rook and two others seemed to be more dangerous than the others, and the resemblance they shared with Joe didn't skip Arlo's eyes.

It was then that several huge hands rose into the sky, gathering the attention of all the figures present.

However, Arlo was quickly pulled away from watching the display of might from the clash between some otherworldly beings, as Rose snuck beside him and tugged at his suit.

Locking eyes with Rose's quickly spinning eyes, Arlo's eyes widened as something clicked within his mind.

He gathered his spiritual energy to secretly send a message to her, but Rose beat him to it.

"Yes." Her voice was drowned by the sounds of explosion coming from afar, but Arlo was still able to hear her clearly, causing his heart to beat faster as the snuffed hope started lighting up again.

A plan quickly brewed up within Arlo's mind, and when he tried to ask for confirmation, Rose's voice interrupted him once again:

"It will work."

Arlo clenched his hands tightly.

That was all the confirmation he needed.

He couldn't help but look at Rose in a new light, and subconsciously, he started developing a liking for this girl who insulted him in their first meeting.

Quickly and while Rook's Party was still distracted by the clash between the red hands and the falling meteors, Arlo gathered his spiritual energy and tried to do something he had never done before.

Sending his spiritual energy into his party's head, Arlo communicated differently with each of them. He had come up with this method at the spur of the moment and because he was pressed for time. Thankfully, he was able to succeed.

What Arlo didn't know was that what he just accomplished was something even the current Arianne was not able to do. Communicating simultaneously with many people was a feat not too hard for genius vampires, especially those from Evangeline and Rosaline's clan, but to have different conversations simultaneously with several people was something very few among the vampires could accomplish, as it involved dividing their consciousness.

However, Arlo was able to achieve it on his first try.

The enraged Ella slowly calmed down as she listened to Arlo's voice ringing within her mind.

Arianne loosened her arms around Ella as Arlo shared his plan with her.

Kai gripped his katana tightly as an intense thirst for battle shone within his usually indifferent eyes.

Tina and Miller listened attentively to Arlo's words, as they became aware of the dangerous situation they were in.

Arlo's brows furrowed greatly, and a displeased look soon covered his face, as he received a reaction he didn't expect from one person. Rather than saying he didn't expect it, it was more apt to say that he wasn't in the mood to condone such behavior.

Joe trembled greatly as he covered his wrapped his arms around his neck, not caring about how he made his life-beast uncomfortable.

No matter how Arlo called out to him within his mind, he just kept shaking his neck as he muttered under his breath:

"No, please don't kill me..."

"Please, don't kill me..."

Arlo who was pressed for time felt anger toward Joe after a long time since they became friends, and as he was about to shout at him telepathically, his expression suddenly changed greatly as he felt Rook shift his eyes away from the clashing meteor and lava hands, unto them.

At the same time that Rook commanded his party members to attack, Arlo shouted hurriedly within the minds of Ella, Arianne, Rose, Kai, Tina, and Miller as he ignored the frightened Joe:

"Now!"

The delicious scent of fresh roses permeated the area as countless rose petals fluttered in the area, before forming a wall that obstructed the eyes of Rook and his members who were charging forward.

At the same time, Ella's enraged voice echoed from the other side of the walls of petals.

"Lightning pack!"

*Rumble!*

The ground shook greatly, and as the Rose petals parted aside, the eyes of Rook and his members widened when they saw the four massive wolves made from pure lightning and standing grandly at the height of eight meters. At the center of these four wolves was the small body of the transformed Ella, her purple eyes glaring in their direction.

However, that wasn't really what shook Rook greatly. As he shifted his eyes around, he realized that the dark-haired kid who appeared to be the youngest in the group was now missing.

The thought of what happened here spreading outside sent shivers down his spine, however before he could react, another change occurred.

"Anita!" Arlo's shout pulled his eyes like a magnet, and the subsequent firebird that appeared all of a sudden as it released a fierce cry, momentarily caused him to forget about the missing boy.

As if that wasn't enough, a sword cry drifted into his ears, as he saw countless silver energy surround the boy holding a katana, and as he held his blade in a pulling posture, Rook couldn't help but feel a feeling of threat.

Just when he was about to shout at his team not to underestimate these kids any longer, as he was starting to feel anxious for some reason, his body stumbled uncontrollably due to the gravity around him that had increased by at least three times. He saw from the corner of his eyes that his team was also experiencing the same fate, as even some of them fell completely to the ground.

A feeling of anger welled up within him at being treated in such a manner by little kids not only younger than him but also with far weaker cultivation. Just when Rook was about to lose his mind, a deep animalistic roar drifted into their ears, causing his mind and that of his team to blank out and their eyes to appear listless.

*ROOOOOOOOOAAAAAR!*

With Arianne transformed into her true form, with the turned Ella before her and surrounded by four eight-meter lightning wolves, Arlo rode together with Rose atop the head of Anita in her bird's form, while Kai and Tina stood at opposite ends of the group.

"Charge!" Arlo commanded with a deep voice, with the fluttering sounds of the red rose petals as a background.

It was all or nothing!

AN: Thanks to all those who are following the novel.