The blue light expanded, only to stop at the beginning of the inscriptions on the ground. The heroic assets of the three invading forces had already escaped from the central regions of the Empire and were staring at the sudden event with curious expressions.
As the experts of the Elbas family had predicted, that formation didn't have offensive properties. It was different from the blue pillars in the new continent. That blue light was denser, and it didn't seem able to harm the attackers even when they tried to touch it.
The blue light worked as a barrier, but it didn't have only a simple protective layer. It was a large dome that covered the entirety of the central regions and the floating structure and its insides. It was as if a solid substance had enveloped that area of the world.
The retreating troops of the Empire eventually reached that area and crossed the blue dome without any problem. Yet, the human cultivators of the invading forces slammed into that protection.
The cultivators of the Empire appeared able to move freely inside that blue world. The dome didn't even block the passage of "Breath", which meant that those regions wouldn't be affected by the formation.
The invaders weren't interested in the nature of that defensive method. After all, the formation was relatively simple, and Andrew Elbas even described some of the features that he could understand with an inspection of his consciousness.
The problem was in its power. The blue light radiated an aura that seemed to surpass the world of the heroic cultivators and stepped inside the divine ranks, even if only by a little.
'A quasi-rank 7 barrier,' Noah thought as he suppressed a curse from escaping his mouth. He didn't expect the Empire to have something like that, and he could predict how troublesome it would be in their strategy.
Andrew Elbas and the other experts of the Royal family started to launch attacks and use inscribed items to study the blue dome. The more tests they performed, the uglier their expressions became.
The mood of the invaders dropped when they saw the changes in the faces of the Royals. The other organizations wouldn't have any chance against that defensive method if they could worry even the most advanced force in the inscription field.
After a series of long and extensive tests, Andrew Elbas made a summary of the properties of the dome. "This light has no offensive features, but it's different from most barriers. Its insides are filled with light too. Every part of the dome has the same sturdiness as the external layer."
Andrew's last words confirmed the fears of his allies. The fact that even the insides of the dome were part of the defenses made the formation far more challenging to handle. It meant that they would have to slowly dig through the light if they wanted to reach the regions inside it.
However, the dome radiated a quasi-rank 7 aura. Even making a crack on its external layer would require the help of the powerhouses. Digging through it in a short period would require an actual god.
"The Empire has triggered the formation with the lives of powerful cultivators too," Andrew Elbas continued. "This makes it far harder to find a countermeasure. Unorthodox techniques usually have other unorthodox techniques as a weakness. We would need to sacrifice lives to create something capable of destroying this blue light."
At those words, the mood of the invaders plummeted. They had enough assets to match those sacrificed by the Empire during the activation of the formation, but none of them would be willing to give their life for the task.
"What about King Elbas?" Elder Regina asked, without even minding if the Royals find her words disrespectful.
She couldn't see any way out of that situation. The citizens of the Empire could walk freely inside the blue substance, while all the other cultivators couldn't even scratch it with their strongest attack.
Only the maximum expert in the inscription field with a rank 6 cultivation level could find a solution. There was no one else inside the entirety of those Mortal Lands with enough knowledge and power to defeat a defense that neared the divine ranks.
Andrew shook his head at her question and replied after heaving a sigh. "I'm afraid the Patriarch can't cancel this formation unless he spends enough time and resources for the task. Even the testing phase would require sacrifices."
Elder Regina went silent after Andrew's explanation. No force would be willing to give away their precious heroic assets, and they didn't even have that kind of power over them.
It was one thing for them to die in battle. Yet, giving their lives for experiments that would only lead to the destruction of a formation was a waste.
The Empire was cornered, and it had isolated itself in a small area of the old continent. It was still a threat since it had managed to salvage most of its powerful assets, but it had decided to seclude itself to save its domain.
Its surrender would have led to a similar outcome. The only problem was that the invaders had lost their advantage over their enemy. Their impossibility to breach that formation made the Empire impossible to bully into submission. It could even decide not to have any negotiation at all.
Of course, that would lead it to a slow but constant weakening since it had isolated itself to such a small area. The invaders didn't know how many resources the Empire had accumulated through the years, but they were sure that it wouldn't keep the formation up to see its power declining incessantly.
After all, the Royals were confident that the formation would require resources every once in a while. Protections with power in the divine ranks had to have a steep cost when it came to the energy necessary to function.
"What do we do now?" Elder Julia asked, even if she knew the answer to that already. She felt annoyed that the blue dome would stop the Hive from seizing the most significant share of the rewards, but she still wanted to hear the opinion of her allies.
"I think it's time to start negotiating the Empire's surrender," Andrew Elbas said while wearing an ugly expression. That event was supposed to be a good thing. Still, he couldn't help but think how hard the Empire would make it for them since it owned such an excellent defensive method.
Elder Julia, Andrew, and Elder Regina stepped forward and sent a few mental messages in the blue light. A passage soon opened in the dome, and the three leaders stepped forward, uncaring that the light solidified behind their back as they moved toward the floating structure.
The war had come to an end, but there was anxiety on the invaders' side. The Empire had lost a lot and was bound to lose more. Yet, it had managed to play its enemies when their victory was so close.
Now they could only hope that the fear of a prolonged siege would force the Empire to give in to their requests.