The rest of the month had gone by in the blink of an eye, as Tim tried to acquaint himself with his new class. He now stood on the rooftop of Citadel 701, staring at the empty rectangular arena in front of him.

[Time before Invader's Arrival: 5M 35S]

Tim had a knot in his stomach, slightly palpitating as he nervously thought of just what awaited him from the other side. He had made his preparations, but would they be enough? What the hell had he gotten himself into? Well, it was too late for such thoughts. It was funny, that despite going through so much, Tim could still not help but be afraid of the unknown.

[Time before Invader's Arrival: 1M 24S]

"Too late for regrets now" sighed Tim, and stepped into the arena steeling himself for the fight ahead.

A complex series of concentric circles illuminated by silver light started rotating on the other half of the arena, accompanied with a bright light that forced Tim to close his eyes. The moment had finally come.

As the piercing light finally showed signs of ebbing, Tim groggily opened his eyes. Finally, he would come face to face with these vile invaders.

Tim stared at the group in front of him, his pupil's extremely dilated and his jaw dropped open in stupefication.

"H-Huh? HUH!? No way... " he stuttered out, almost dizzy from this revelation, convinced he was involunatarily part of a massive cosmic fucking prank. How was he suppose to fight........ This..... had to be a mistake. He was completely screwed.

[The duel shall commence in 5 minutes. Combat before that period is forbidden.]

In front of Tim was a young girl, appearing to be no older than eighteen or nineteen years in age. Tim had almost mistaken her for a human, until he saw her enchanting, otherworldy white eyes and the small, silver horn jutting out from her head. Standing at around 5 feet 7 inches, her plump, rosy cheeks accompanied with her fair skin tone, Tim could not help but admit that she was extremely cute. Dressed in a bright yellow robe resembling a Japanese yukata with various flowers engraved on it, with slight modifications made for combat, it only augmented the attractiveness of her light golden hair color even more. She wielded a large wooden staff that stood in contrast with her lithe build, an impressive sight to say the least.

She gazed at Tim with her large, round eyes brimming with innocence in response to Tim's, and for a moment there was silence as the two examined each other with mutual interest.

------------------------------------------------------------

Not too long ago, Lin Shuren held a prestigious position in the Lin clan, much of it having to do with her father's accomplishments. Lin Daijiang had reached peak stage initiate level cultivation at a relatively young age, a fact that Shuren took great pride in. However, two years ago, he was brought back to the clan in a very frail condition, having suffered the ambush of a mysterious assassin. Shuren refused to believe that her father would lose to anyone but a Destiny Forger, and indeed, he was not bested in combat but by an insidious poison that the clan could not establish the origins of. He passed away shortly after.

Shuren was no fool, it was not as if she did not suspect certain elements in the clan that were jealous of her father's meteoric rise. But what could she do, without having any evidence to prove her point? It infuriated her to the point of tears, but what could else could she do? The patriarch would not act without evidence, and if she disclosed her suspicions to the wrong person perhaps she too would be welcomed by an assassin in the middle of the night.

The enemy was too strong, and too terrifying to even dare contemplate resistance. The ability to assassinate a peak grade cultivator brought upon her a sense of deep helplessness, and the only way Shuren would be able to resist would be if she could ascend to the ranks of a Destiny Forger. Ha, if only ascending to a patriarch level existence were that easy.

She had at this point all but resigned herself to the most likely outcome; being used as a political tool, her hand in marriage offered to the scion of a force similar in strength to the Lin clan, without having any say in the matter. All for the 'glory of the clan', a clan that would kill it's own prodigy before rivaling clans had the opportunity to, a clan that ought to be smote down to nothingness.

In the depths of despair however, came salvation. The system offered her, out of the billions of existences in the multiverse, a chance to contest for ownership of a citadel in a Domain Controller level newly integrated planet. She felt goosebumps on her skin as she stared at the plain blue screen that offered her an opportunity to reverse her destiny and reach heights even her father wouldn't dare dream of attaining. Even the patriach would not be able to take a single blow from her if she managed to reach the Domain Controller realm, let alone some puny assassin.

Though she had recieved some guidance from her father, she was not accustomed to duels that would put her at actual risk. Her father could not bear to allow such a thing. Now however, she was up against a cultivator who had trained for a month. She would not allow defeat because of her own softness, this was the last hand she had left to play.

She gazed at the man in front of her, expecting the usual gazes of lust and objectification, one she was quite adept at identifying. After all, it would be no surprise if the man bore her a great deal of hostility after what the system put his kind through, and she was classfied as an invader . Instead, the man dressed in elegant black robes only stared at her with a gaze full of confusion and bewilderment, but she could not detect a single hint of animosity directed towards her.