Erza's sword in its regular speed could make a Mid King flustered in three moves, and then bring them to a standstill in five moves. If she were to go all out, then as proven before, even a Mid King would be killed. Currently, right in front of her were only men at the late and peak Knight Realm, there would be no way for them to dodge or even defend against her sword.
"How arrogant of you. Then allow me to come and test just how much power a girl like you have." A burly dark skinned man suddenly leapt from within the crowd and brandished his large axe.
"Make your move then!" Erza exclaimed with a smile toward the man. At the same time, Melforce appeared in her hand.
Seeing the thin black sword in Erza's hand, the man did not feel threatened at all. Taking a deep breath, he began to shout before charging at Erza to chop her down.
Against the incoming axe, Erza did not bother to dodge or defend at all. Just before the axe could make contact with her, a flash of lightning came into view of the man's eye while the axe simultaneously pierced through Erza's chest.
From a distance, the group of people gasped in surprise. They did not think that such an arrogant person like Erza was nothing more than a thin stick in the wind and had lost her life that easily.
However, the people who had joined the Blaze of the Heroes from the Naga Clan did not have a change in their expression at all. They had clearly seen Erza's strength for themselves, and there was no way that such a simple attack like this would be able to make a claim on Erza's life.
"How queer, that was actually a phantom image."
"How queer, that was just a phantom image."
Following that surprised shout, Erza's figure began to slowly change before disappearing into the air. Afterward, Erza suddenly appeared out of nowhere five meters away.
In that one brief moment, only the King Realm experts had seen Erza move to make a phantom image. Everyone else had been unable to follow her movements.
The man who had struck at Erza was shocked, but since he had been through hundreds of battles, he forced his emotions back down and tried to slash at Erza once more with even faster speed than before. The sharp side of the axe made a loud "Swish!" sound as it flew through the air down onto Erza.
Erza stood emotionlessly as she waited for the man to reach her. The Melforce had already long disappeared from her hand. She looked at the man and spoke gently, "You've already lost."
The man looked at Erza blankly. At Erza's words, he could not help but to stop for a moment as he asked with a perplexed look, "I've lost? How did I lose?"
Smiling at the man's words, Erza continued to look at him with a cheerful expression, "Take a look at your neck."
At this, the man touched his neck carefully with his fingertips only to feel quite clearly a small sliver of a wound on his neck. He did not know when that wound had appeared, but he did know that it was not there before. The wound had only cut open the top most layer of his skin so that he could not feel any blood leaking out or even any pain.
Instantly, the man's face paled as a layer of sweat began to appear on his forehead, "Did…did you do that?" He asked astonished. The man did not know how he was not even able to feel the cut when it was made or when it happened. He did know however, that if the wound was any deeper, then he would not be standing alive on his feet.
Laughing, Erza nodded her head, "Do you still wish to continue fighting me?"
"Mike, just give up, you're no match for Young Lady. If Young Lady wanted you to die, then you'd be dead where you stood." Tristan spoke out. In his eyes, there was a rarely seen huge amount of admiration. Although he did not use a sword, Tristan fully understood that Erza's mastery of the sword had reached an unbelievable height.
"Yes!" The man was an ex-member of the Cold Blooded Mercenaries and Tristan was his previous captain. The words of Tristan would surely be the same as imperial law to him, plus, the wound on his neck was already proving enough that if Erza had wanted him dead, then he would be dead.
Erza looked around at the other men, "Is there anyone else who wishes to challenge me? My words still stand, if anyone can beat me, then the leader position will be given to him, as per my pledge."
The entire courtyard descended into a deafening silence as the previously chattering group of men stopped talking. The man that had just challenged Erza was a Peak Knight which could be considered one of the more decent levelled expert amongst the hundred men. If an expert of that level could not go against Erza who had only struck out once, then the vast majority of the group would not be able to do any better. Therefore, the whole group began to approve of Erza.
With one final look around at everyone, Erza revealed a victorious smile and said, "Since no one is speaking up, then starting today, you are all members of the Blaze of the Heroes, and I will be the guild master. Are there any complaints?" Erza exclaimed.
"I've no objection. I, Daniel, pledge myself to you." Daniel of the Blue Dragon Mercenaries declared.
"I too have no objection. I, Tristan, will obey Young Lady's orders unconditionally!" Tristan of the Cold Blooded Mercenaries followed up.
After that, the rest of the mercenaries began to pledge themselves to the Blaze of the Heroes. If their old captains had acknowledged Erza, then naturally they would follow suit and try to appease their new leader.
Erza then brought Tristan, Daniel and the rest of the mercenaries to the Mercenary Union.
Once they had officially joined her Blaze of the Heroes, they would be able to accomplish missions for the sake of the guild and increase their ranking.
A group of a hundred men along with five of Mirage City's reputable members had quickly caused a disturbance in the streets. Each and every bystander looked at the group with shock, and when they made out the figures of Tristan and the other Mid Kings, they could not help but feel excited as they talked among themselves.
Tristan and the other Mid Kings were undoubtedly the top experts of Mirage City. Each one of them was a leader of a hundred man strong mercenary group which could be considered quite powerful within the city.
Although they were not often seen on the streets, since the five of them had shown their faces at the same time, such a thing would naturally cause everyone to look at them. Erza leading at the front was the focal point of the attention as everyone began to wonder who she was. Some had an idea who she was, while others were clueless.
The thing was, very few people knew that Tristan and the others had already disbanded their mercenary groups.
After a long time of handling the official procedures, by the time Erza and the rest walked out of the Mercenary Union, their statuses had already changed. From the captains of several different mercenary groups, they were now mere C ranked members.
At the same time, the Blaze of the Heroes were now almost 200 members strong. Aside from Erza, there were seven Mid Kings and four Early Kings. Although this number was not big, they could already be considered the strongest power in Mirage City. At this point, only the city lord of Mirage City with his troops of 200,000 soldiers would be able to contend against the Blaze of the Heroes.
Soon, the news that Tristan and the other four men joined an unknown guild spread like a wildfire from the Mercenary Union to the whole city. In a flash, this piece of information had caused the entirety of Mirage City to be shocked. As for the never before heard of Blaze of the Heroes, their name had quickly made its way around the entire city.
Erza had not cared at all when the whole of Mirage City went into an uproar over this sudden development, since she had long since anticipated a reaction like this.
After the procedures were done, Erza and the group had immediately returned back to the Mole Clan's courtyards.
In the expansive courtyard, everyone was sitting down as Erza began to explain a few things. Holding a storage ring, she held it towards Kay and said, "There are a few beast cores, pills and herbs inside. Distribute a few to everyone and cancel any activities for now. Have everyone carefully increase their strength and make sure they are at their optimal state for the beast wave."
Kay took the storage ring from Erza and proceeded to distribute the inside items to everyone.
Erza then took out seven rare pills from her storage ring and handed them over to the seven Mid Kings. "For the next two days, you should also try to improve your own strength. This next wild beast wave will have a Peak Level Beast King."
The seven Mid Kings took the rare pills, but the moment they heard the news of a Peak Level Beast King, Elyan could not help but gasp, "What? There's going to be a Peak Level Beast King?"
Erza nodded her head seriously, "That's right, there will be a Peak Level Beast King. It seems that this incoming beast wave won't be easy to defend."
Everyone looked at Erza with a serious expression as they digested her words, some had even gone deathly pale at the very mention of a Peak Level Beast King.
"Young Lady, a Peak Level Beast King is indeed hard to defend against. I'm afraid that this time Mirage City will have a disaster. I can't even say that Mirage City will be able to be saved this time. I suggest that we immediately leave the city." A petite looking man spoke with a tremble in his voice. The threat of a Peak Level Beast King had left a fearful effect on his heart.
Hearing this, Erza furrowed her eyebrows and spoke, "What are you afraid of? It's not as if the heavens are crashing down upon us. There isn't a need for everyone to worry about this Peak Level Beast King. I will find a way to deal with it."
Erza's confident words made everyone to look at her in astonishment; some even stared at her in disbelief. Erza's words seemed to imply that what she had displayed so far was not the limit of her strength. Even then, because of her age, some people were still very skeptical of her strength.
Of course, there were also some members who suddenly become excited. They were the ones who put their absolute trusts in Erza's words. A Peak King Realm expert was undoubtedly one of the higher level experts in the Northern Continent.
For them to have an expert of that level of strength within their guild, caused some people to have the same thought; If they were to stay in this guild, then they would definitely be able to achieve greatness in the future.