Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

Despite the Aurora having been shot out in what resembled a hasty and frustrated move, it was still backed by Ergo (the shirtless man's) Pagoda realm cultivation.

This bit of detail caused Hal to raise a brow...

The last time he had met Ergo, at which point he had been wearing a mask to conceal his identity, the ripped man had been at the Cosmic Aurora realm. At the mid-stage in fact.

And now he was radiating cultivational pressure that was at the mid-stage of the Cosmic Pagosa realm.

Meaning he had advanced an entire realm... In two months.

Hal paused and his eyes narrowed while he realized that the ripped man was showcasing the sort of unreal cultivation speed that had him (Hal) tagged a cultivation monster.

That was not all...

The simple Aurora grade Artifact Ax that Ergo had wielded back then and was still wielding right now wasn't so simple anymore.

It now had a red gem set right in the center of the large Ax blade and from what Hal could sense from the Ax, the gem had raised its grade from Aurora to Pagoda.

Anyway,

Lucile chuckled,

"No I won't!" she said before sort of sensing the presence of newcomers; or more accurately, she sensed the presence of a particular newcomer.

Sparing Hal a glance but still keeping her guard up against Ergo who was frowning deeply and staring at Lucile's closed fist.

The sight of Hal here caused Lucile to raise a brow in surprise before her lips formed a slight smile.

Hal hid his contemplating and brooding look to smile naturally and step forward towards the battling duo,

"Nice to see you again Lucile, what seems to be the problem?" he asked.

Only when Hal addressed Lucile did Ergo acknowledge his presence to glare at him.

"This does not concern you..." He began but Hal looked at him and sneered,

"Excuse me but did I mention your name? Do you really think I have the patience to actually converse with an ugly muck such as yourself?" he asked as he placed a hand on Lucile's shoulder.

Ergo smiled grotesquely, seemingly unbothered by Hal's insults.

Feeling his hand on her, Lucile felt the familiar tingle of attraction but kept herself from reacting according to how she felt and instead smiled lightly as she replied to him,

"Simple... We fought a giant puppet guardian, I ripped out the key fair and square and now he can't stand the idea that it's in my possession.

Also, everyone else is just waiting for the outcome of our combat" she said in a matter-of-fact sort of tone.

Indeed they were.

In fact, they were waiting for the two to take each other out and reduce the competition there was bound to be for the sake of loot that had not yet been seen.

At this point, Cirk stepped closer to Ergo's side but was avoiding eye contact with Hal.

As soon as he stepped forward, two others, one male and one female, stepped forward so that they were right behind Lucile.

Hal took that as a sign that they had come along with Lucile. Most likely the guards she had brought along all through her many expeditions.

Emily walked closer to Hal as well but her move was not to show that she was with him but to get a closer look at Lucile and then smile, walk past, and over to the thick metallic double doors to observe them.

"Where are my manners? This is Emily and the man back there is her brother, Andrei" Hal said to Lucile and gestured toward Emily and Andrei while Ergo's face twisted in disgust.

"What is this, a get-together?

I think this is actually quite simple... Whosoever has the key controls the outcome. In a case where those allowed through the doors are limited, the keyholder has the upper hand.

I want that Key and I am not asking... I'm demanding it."

Lucile scoffed and flashed the claws of her Armament with a taunting grin,

"Taunt all you want, you're not getting it. I will open those doors. I will control the 'Outcome'" she said.

Ergo's frown deepened and he gripped his ax even tighter while he looked ready to continue their paused battle when Emily sighed and spoke from in front of the doors.

"Be sensible. All these idiots (gestures, to the tomb raiders waiting for the battle outcome) will probably stand by and watch you tear each other apart, hell, even this lady's guards (gestures to the guards she considered essentially useless) would probably not 'interfere',

But Hal probably will and if he does, then I definitely will as well, and if I do, my brother definitely will as well... Are you really confident that you can get the key from her with all four of us actively fighting against you?"

Ergo frowned and took a look around, spending an especially long time looking at Andrei who was comfortably flexing his cultivation at the Early stage of the Semi-saint realm and definitely not on the shirtless ax wielder's level.

Ergo backed down and looked quite unhappy to do so, allowing Lucile to step towards the door, slot in the key, and witness the key get absorbed into the door which creaked open soon enough.

The room the door led into was as large and contained multiple large heaps of gold coins and Blue gems but what actually caught Emily's eye was the door on the other side it the room.

There were three doors in the room (excluding the one they just came through); two of the doors looked exactly like the one they had just opened (Silver and metallic double doors) which she suspected were other entrances into this large room...

... The one right ahead of them was noticeably different and was an obsidian black color and looked to be made of crystal rather than shiny metal

Sure, the gold and gems were quite precious and a good resource and would most likely add to her personal coffers as well as the coffers of the Antonov family but she was not actually in want for such material wealth.

Hell, constantly cultivating with Hal had her gaining more than all the cultivational virile pills and potions she could get with her family's wealth.

She was here for the sort of resource that would be hard or even possibly quite frankly impossible to get with her family's wealth.

Resources that she believed would be available just through those doors.

Hal looked over at Ergo and Cirk whose attention was also on those doors. Not once did either of the two glance at the gold and blue gems in the room.

The tomb raiders who had been silent thus far were silent no longer.

They dashed through the doors to gather as much of the gold and gems as they could.

Soon, only Hal, Ergo, Cirk, Emily, Andrei, and Lucile were left outside.

Lucile's guards were outside with her after she had instructed them not to make a move just yet and instead they watched on with cautious eyes.

Hal did not care as he saw the raiders grab as much as they could and occasionally battle one another over dominance on a certain mound of gold or blue gems... But that was not really because he did not want blue gems which he did.

The cultivation of his forces that were bound to get larger through techniques from the Primordial Cosmic Grimoire was not cheap after all.

He wanted wealth.

The reason he did not join the gathering of blue gems and gold was that he was not too eager to brave the traps that would attempt to strike down the overly hasty... At least not without proper analysis of the situation.

*Rumble*

The room floor trembled, disturbing the gold and blue gem piles before walls opened and puppet guardians quite like the one outside the door whose chest had been ripped open for the key to the room stepped out of them.

They outnumbered the raiders and wasted no time going for the plunderers.

However, while the raiders had been quiet all through the Ergo-Lucile battle, it did not mean they were not capable and they took on the challenge.

Their plan was simple...

Since they were here with support, they would separate to take on separate tasks.

Some would battle and attempt to keep the puppets at bay while the others would continue to gather.

When it seemed the fighters were almost at their limit, there would either be a switch of tasks or simply an abandonment of the very idea of plundering tomb any further...

... At which point, they would make their way out of the tomb in however manner they had previously planned.

The plan was solid (sort of) but not foolproof.

For one thing, even before the decision to separate and handle separate tasks, they were outnumbered.

Second, the puppets were incredibly capable.

Unlike the statue warriors Hal, Emily, and Andrei faced, none of the puppets were inactive and were not against fighting against the raiders two or three on one.

Hal looked away from what was quickly becoming a massacre as the raiders tried and failed to defeat the puppets.

*Bang!*

*Boom!!!*

The raiders' attacks seemed to not affect the puppets who shrugged it all off, with minor damages to their overall structures, and then retaliated with life-reaping intensity.

Instead of looking at the raiders who he felt were surely doomed to die, Hal looked towards the two other doors leading into this room and could not help but think that his ladies would most likely eventually come through them...

... That was much more important a matter than the fact that the raiders finally got the memo and decided to get out of the room before they were struck down by the relentless puppets...