Suddenly, she dropped her weapon, stomped on the ground, and fearlessly charged forward! Her enemies were momentarily dumbfounded. As Perception Realms themselves, they saw her every action, which was why they were confused. What was the point in surrendering her weapon? Was this a strange form of suicide? Their weapons never stopped though, as they continued. They would pierce her right through! Everything next happened in the fraction of a second. Shirley dodged the thrown dagger from her first opponent and snatched it out of the air! The risk of failure was so large that it would be nigh-impossible for a normal person and even a Perception Realm might struggle here. Once again, it showed how ridiculous Shirley's combat instincts and concentration! Then, without pausing, Shirley took a deep breath and concentrated. It was now or never! Power exploded from within like a tidal wave.
Throughout the battle, the Imperial Council operated with the assumption that only they knew about Martial Energy. Not everyone was paying attention to Benedict's battle, and if they did, they would think he was an anomaly. The Imperial Council also knew that the news would leak sooner or later, just like information about the Featherwind Sect did. It was only a matter of time. However, sensing, grasping, and mastering Martial Energy required a lot of time, talent, energy, and effort. The reason why the Phoenix, Qilin, and Kun Divisions accomplished this much was because of the Featherwind Sect's assistance. Without that, it would have been hard to produce over ten thousand soldiers that could use Martial Energy. Therefore, no one would have expected that Shirley could do the same. Martial Energy! Flying strike! A flying strike shot out from her dagger!
Light flashed as a horizontal burst of compressed air shot out. She was the same as Benedict because she failed to properly externalize Martial Energy. It was nothing more than wind pressure than a 'true' flying strike. Nevertheless, it flew at lightning speeds, far faster than any attack thus far! Coupled with their surprise, the three opponents in front of her could not react in time. All three were hit simultaneously! The two on her left and right suffered light injuries, since they were on the peripheries, and nothing fatal. The person in the middle though, the one that Shirley was originally fighting with, was cut in half. They instantly died! Her flying strike continued to travel and hit two more enemies before it vanished. She felt drained. Using Martial Energy like that, when her ability was still lacking, took more out of her than she expected. She was about to exhale when her instincts urged her to dive to the side. Her final enemy, the person behind her, nearly skewered her from behind. The battle was not over yet!
At a similar time, Elizabeth was in the rear, the most well-guarded location. Aside from her, there were numerous non-combatants, like Imperian Qiang, or the wounded, like the Imperial Princesses. Because she was in the rear, she saw everything, and it was a total mess. The Imperial Council succeeded in reducing this battle to a simple melee, and when they had the overwhelming numerical advantage, any strategy or tactics that the Alzar Kingdom could come up with would be pointless. Everywhere she looked, her allies were being cornered and cut down like livestock to the butcher. It was horrific to look at! Even the top combatants were struggling too. Sir Winstin, Mingyu Loon, the Ten Dawns, the various experts from the Li Family, and the Royal Guards… Everyone fought their hardest to stay alive. However, if all they tried to do was 'survive' then they would never 'escape'. They needed to win. Miracles did not come cheaply though. In that case, she should…
"Can you keep up, Freon?" she asked.
Currently, Freon was standing next to her and suppressing his backlash. His knuckles were white, his forehead was wet, and his eyes were bloodshot. The Arcellius Family's Bloodline Ability: Thousand Core Resonance. This was the price he had to pay for abusing it without becoming a full-fledged Condensed Drop Arcanist. The training with his uncle helped awaken his Bloodline and Magic Potential, but it did not treat the root problem. As a High Gaseous Fog Arcanist, he should not be able to use his Bloodline Ability, plain and simple. But it was not like he could hold back in this dire situation. It was do or die! However, it also gave him the problem of restricting his spells to one: Infernal Dragon. How was he supposed to use his large-scale destruction spell in this complex battlefield?
"…I can, but what do you want me to do? Do you have a plan?"
"Yes. This might be a bit risky but…" After explaining herself, Elizabeth thought that Freon would rebuttal with his usual snarky criticisms, but he remained strangely silent. "Are you really okay?" she asked worriedly.
"We don't have the time to second guess ourselves," Freon remarked grimly. As he said, the interference strength in Liguang was continuing to grow, and this growth was accelerating. It had already grown to restrict up to three-fifths of his strength and more importantly, his Bloodline Ability had a time limit. He would lose the ability to contribute to the battle before long.
"Understood," Elizabeth nodded. He was right. This was not the time to fuss about the details. It was prudent to act while they still had the chance! "Ten Dawn Iris and Krogan, can you two handle it?"
She could not ask Ten Dawn Yvonne and Rosemary since they were hard at work, trying to break the Featherwind Sect's beguilement array. In other words, they were the key to breaking out of this hopeless situation and surviving. They could not be interrupted at any cost. Ten Dawn Iris should be in good fighting condition still, but the same could not be said about her partner. Ten Dawn Krogan protected everyone from the Featherwind Sect's attacks which overexerted his Core. Forcing him to continue would become life-threatening. Elizabeth was not about to make that cruel decision for him, so she decided to leave it in his hands.
Ten Dawn Iris understood her good intentions and smiled wryly. Elizabeth was too soft, and it had no place on a battlefield where a split-second hesitation meant life or death. Despite that, she did not find that a bad thing. People were living, breathing human beings, not cold mindless objects. For a Ten Dawn, this was especially true. She despised the thought of sacrificing themselves for the sake of the greater good, so it was endearing that Elizabeth still worried about them, especially at this stage. However, the answer was obvious.
"You don't have to worry about me. I will perform my duties," Ten Dawn Krogan stated, his eyes firm with resolve.
Elizabeth felt sad but replied regardless, "Then we'll leave it in your hands."
Before long, two large Magic Auras at the Condensed Drop Core Level emerged on the battlefield. Everyone raised their guard and glanced over, but what they saw dumbfounded them instead. Elizabeth and Freon were currently hovering in the skies and releasing those large Magic Auras. Up here, nothing blocked their line of sight. They could unleash their spells as they pleased! Elizabeth held her bow in one hand and drew the bowstring with the other. Dual Core Rending Technique! Massive amounts of Magic Energy poured into her bow again as a pair of translucent angelic wings manifested. Freon held up his wand and concentrated on his Bloodline Ability again. Thousand Core Resonance! Blue flames manifested into the shape of an oversized sword. Droplets of World Energy swirled around them with hypnotic rainbow allure. They were making their move! Countless flying strikes, crossbow bolts, and arrows rained on Elizabeth and Freon as the Phoenix Division tried to stop them; however, Ten Dawn Krogan maintained a barrier around them, and no attacks could go though. Elizabeth and Freon soon activated their spells. Eclipsing Theatre! Infernal Dragon!