"Not good! We need to flee!" General Christina shouted. However, just as she said that, a blade stabbed through her shoulder, splattering blood everywhere; the pain bringing her to her knees. She never saw it coming!
"Wha-What is the meaning of this?" the other Brigade Commanders yelled. They saw one of their peers take out a blade and stab Christina from behind.
"How noisy!" Throwing out three daggers accurately, he hit all three Brigade Commanders at the same time. He instantly disabled everyone inside the tent and rendered them to their knees! His speed was terrifying!
Although General Christina was racked by pain, she had the willpower to turn around and glare hatefully. "Who are you? What did you do to Brigade Commander Alex?"
"What do you mean? I am Brigade Commander Alex," the man said with an innocent smile. "Or rather, that's what I wanted to say, but by the look in your eyes, I can tell you wouldn't believe me." He smirked and proceeded to remove his disguise, transforming from a proud and proper commander to a sneaky and sneering assassin. General Christina and the other Brigade Commanders could hardly believe their eyes. The man before them had become an entirely different person! "Ah, that's much better," he exhaled. "Oh, that doesn't sound right. Did my voice sound like this? Or like this? I can't remember."
"Where is Brigade Commander Alex?"
"I wouldn't worry about him. Lord Xu Geming, that's my name. I'll be your executioner today."
"Is that so?"
She unsheathed her sword, spun on her hand, and slashed in one quick motion! Throughout this conversation, she had been slowly reaching for her sword. It was simply to gain time. And although she never formally trained in swordsmanship, she did retain some knowledge from her time in the military academy. Her stroke might have been basic, but it was flawless! It left zero time to react! However, as her blade raced towards Lord Xu, he casually stepped backwards and avoided it. Her sword grazed him! The sudden lack of resistance broke her posture, prompting her to fall forward. She tried to brace herself with her other hand, except she ended up stumbling because her shoulder was ruined. Pain surged up while blood spilled out. Lord Xu did not miss this opportunity as he wound his leg back and kicked her right in the gut as she fell, the force of which sent her flying back. General Christina slammed into a pole and saw stars. Her ribs were probably broken too. It was a brutal hit!
"You're an idiot to think a Perception Realm wouldn't notice your killing intent, let alone me," Lord Xu leered. "The only person who might have stood a chance against me isn't here anymore. You're finished!"
The woman cursed between coughs. She knew she could not run nor retaliate anymore. The situation seemed utterly hopeless. Reminiscing about her life, she came to realize how many mistakes she made. Although she came from the preeminent Highguard Family, that was in the capacity of a branch family. Her position was never that great, and being a woman too… It was no wonder her parents wanted to marry her off to another family. That was the problem with nobility. They had no qualms about using everything at their disposal to get ahead, even if it meant sacrificing their child's purity. Of course, she fought against it, but her parents remained steadfast that this was her duty. The result? She ran away from home and enrolled in military academy. When she finally graduated years later, her parents had already passed away, leaving nothing behind but a well of regret in their place. Her last conversation with them was in anger and spite. It was a painful realization, one that made her drown herself in work. Before she knew it, she had become a Brigade Commander and a central figure in the Highguard Family… Looking back at it now, those disputes seemed so small and insignificant. If she had talked with her parents calmly, then maybe… maybe things would not have turned out this way. The rest of her life went much the same way, always making decisions that she would regret in the end. How laughable was that?
Ah… This must be what they call your life flashing before your eyes, she thought somberly. Picking up her sword again, she continued to think, If I'm going to die anyways, then I might as well die on my own terms. She felt sorry for Elizabeth and her subordinates, but she had no interest in becoming someone's plaything! With one determined slash, she planned to commit suicide!
Except… Lord Xu caught her hand mid-swing, preventing the final blow from connecting. He gave her another look of derision. "Like I said, you're an idiot to think a Perception Realm wouldn't notice. You're not dying that easily."
"Damn it…" she muttered before falling unconscious. The other Brigade Commanders were also dealt with in short succession, leaving Lord Xu standing alone, though not for long.
A large group of people soon entered the tent with vast auras. As their weapons dripped with blood and a heavy stench of death surrounded them, they were clearly not reinforcements for the Alzar Kingdom, but the main attackers who killed everyone in the camp! To accomplish such a feat, even when General Christina assigned numerous powerful guards to the vicinity because she knew the odds of an attack were high, hinted at how strong these attackers were. And indeed, their average strength was high, proving capable of defeating Great and Grand Knights of the Realm with relative ease and efficiency. However, there was still a small subset of attackers whose auras were particularly immense. They stood out from the rest like wolves in a flock of sheep! They, along with Lord Xu Geming, were one of the Imperial Council's trump cards!
"Now then, shall we hunt down the rest?" Lord Xu laughed.
Elsewhere, Elizabeth and Freon were resting with the Ten Dawns and the Arcanists. Having fully exhausted their Cores, they were essentially useless until they recovered, but it was not so simple. Magic Energy had a much slower recovery rate than Martial Energy, an issue that was worsened by the external nature of it. After all, Martial Energy could be generated internally through the body, so there was no need to absorb World Energy from the environment. Magic Energy, on the other hand, did have that requirement. An Arcanist needed to siphon the ambient World Energy from around them, convert it into Magic Energy through their Channels, and deposit it into their Core. This process meant that a large group of Arcanists would draw from the same limited pool of energy in the area, making everyone recover that much slower. This could be circumvented by spreading out over a larger area, except this was an active battlefield. Spreading out could be a fatal mistake. The other option was to have a few select individuals recover first, and then let everyone else recover afterwards, which was what they elected to do with Elizabeth, Freon, and the Ten Dawns. Their strength was more than worth it!
Elizabeth sensed the rainbow tendrils of World Energy drawn towards her like a vortex. However, unlike the faint and vaporous threads that a Low Gaseous Fog Arcanist might produce, hers were opaque and near-tangible. This was a sign of her ever-decreasing proximity to Condensed Drop! The same could be said about Freon, who was almost too familiar to the sight of those faint threads. He could hardly believe his progress over the past year. It was almost a dream… Nevertheless, there was still more to learn, more to do, and more to grow. For example, their combat systems remained incomplete. Had they possessed a powerful recovery method like the Sword King or Protector Avin, they could have returned to battle a lot sooner. They would not be sitting around like a bunch of idiots, fighting for scraps between the other Arcanists.
"It's been an hour, yet the fighting hasn't shown any signs of ending," Elizabeth remarked quietly. "Things aren't progressing smoothly at all."
"I don't think that's true," Freon replied. "We were suddenly attacked in the rear, yet we minimized the damage to this extent. I would consider that pretty impressive."
"Except we've exhausted all our methods. If we were attacked at this time…"
"Please don't say anything that would curse us."
The girl gave an awkward smile. "You're right. Sir Winstin, have we received any orders from General Christina?"
"No, Your Highness. General Christina's last orders were delivered twenty minutes ago, five minutes past our appointed time. Should I send a messenger over to investigate?"
"No, that won't be necessary. She's probably too busy to bother with us right now. We shouldn't add to her troubles."
"Understood, Your Highness."