She shouted again to flee! Her Formless Step activated at full strength, as did Freon's Three-Pointed Barrier! Their coordination was near-seamless and instant, owing to their long time working together. They could communicate without words! Normally, to cast their spells, everyone would have needed to group up, but they had come prepared. Before they had departed, they had used their spells on everyone with the lowest energy output possible. Elizabeth and Freon then maintained them throughout the journey. This meant that when the time came, they could explosively increase their flow of Magic Energy, reignite their spells, and activate it on everyone at once! It was a creative solution only possible due to their double-casting and high Core Levels. No one else could copy it! Wind swirled around everyone's feet, as multiple translucent barriers materialized. While the light from Elizabeth's Luminous Sky blinded their enemies, it would have been the perfect time to flee, except no one moved. Elizabeth almost wanted to scream. What were they doing? Were they asking to die?
However, Sir Winstin, the Royal Guards, and the Grand Knights knew that her trick would never work. A Perception Realm could selectively isolate and control their senses to a supernatural degree. Although it may work on those fake Perception Realms, those ten Perception Realm Experts would never be fooled! Whoosh! As expected, those ten charged through without stopping, prompting Sir Winstin and the Royal Guards to draw their weapons. Boom! Multiple shockwaves resounded throughout the forest, showing how fierce the fighting was. Sentinel Kong, Lord Xu, and the Tiuxan couple clashed with Sir Winstin, while Little Sword, the bald man, Lady Lanfeng, Lord Xiaobo, and Lord Ru dealt with the rest. The situation was somehow worse than before!
Elizabeth was about to step in when Sir Winstin shouted, "Go! We'll hold them back!" His sharp eyes and tone brokered no rejection. He was prepared to fight to the death!
"You must be dreaming, old man! Just die already!" Lord Xu roared, as he threw his daggers again, this time using two.
An imminent sense of crisis arose in Sir Winstin as he recalled his first encounter with them. These daggers were dangerous! He could not let them hit him. At the same time, the Tiuxan couple charged across the battlefield side-by-side in a manner that was both elegant and refined. Like water and fire, both complementary and opposing, their strengths and weaknesses could combine and transform into something more spectacular! This was the power of the Tiuxan School's famous dual combat style! Sir Winstin felt the pressure. Using his Martial Perception and Elizabeth's Formless Step, he narrowly dodged Lord Xu's daggers, as they skimmed over his armor, leaving deep grooves where they passed. Their cutting potential was many times greater than a normal flying strike. It was comparable to Benedict or Shirley's martial techniques!
Then, during Sir Winstin's dodge, the Tiuxan couple arrived and slashed out. Their timing was perfect. On the left and on the right, Sir Winstin could not react in time. Their swords flashed with killing intent. They would kill this legendary knight here! However, Sir Winstin revealed a calm face. Crash! Freon's Three-Pointed Barriers materialized and promptly shattered under the pressure. This slowed their swords by a fraction of a second, a delay that Sir Winstin accounted for. He stabilized his posture and slammed his glaive deep into the Tiuxan couple, blasting them back. It was clear why he was considered the largest threat here. His power, skill, and experience remained ever formidable. As a Perception Realm Master and the leader of the Royal Guards, he stood at the top of the Alzar Kingdom. At his absolute peak, he could even battle against the Xingyuu Empire's Four Cardinals! He was truly legendary…
Sadly, that was a thing of the past. After losing his arm in the Battle of Liguang, his strength had more than halved. He was no longer the 'mighty' Sir Winstin. He concentrated on the Tiuxan couple again. Despite his flashy counterattack, he could tell they were barely injured, if at all. It was not enough! Sentinel Kong then jumped in and hacked down with his glaive, as Sir Winstin raised his own. Boom! The ground fractured and exploded under the tremendous force released by their clash. It was honestly unbelievable that Sir Winstin could keep up, despite being given no time to rest nor think, except… blood began to trickle down from his mouth, nose, and ears. He could not fully mitigate the force! And worse yet, his injuries from earlier were beginning to act up again. Freon's Verdant Apathy might have solved his sense of pain, but not his actual injuries. Sentinel Kong narrowed his eyes and pressed the assault on the side with Sir Winstin's missing arm. Lord Xu used his remaining four daggers, and the Tiuxan couple rebounded. The knight fell into a dangerous predicament!
"Sir Winstin!" Elizabeth yelled. She would never say it out loud, but she saw him like half a father. He would encourage her, scold her, and protect her. Under his protection, she felt safe. She could relax. He was like a towering tree that gave her shelter from the winds. Sir Winstin had already become an irreplaceable part of her life. That was why she could never accept leaving him here. She raised her bow and prepared another spell. Unlike Freon, she had not double-casted anything. This time, she would kill!
Her Magic Energy stirred when Shirley suddenly turned around and apologized. The girl then grabbed Elizabeth and catapulted away! Likewise, Benedict did the same with Freon. They aimed to flee from the battlefield at the maximum possible speed! Their sudden behaviour stunned Elizabeth and Freon, who thought they would stay and fight. Since when did Benedict and Shirley change their attitude? It was baffling. However, this was hardly surprising. Benedict and Shirley almost died in the previous battle, leading them to realize how limited their abilities really were. Had someone not stepped in and saved them at the last second, then they would have reunited in the afterlife. It was a sobering thought. Although they had climbed to great heights and finally arrived at the grand stage of Rank 2 Lords, it was still not enough! They needed to become stronger! Therefore, until that happened, they would listen to Sir Winstin's orders. They would flee!
"Stop!" Sentinel Mao screamed, as she stomped off the ground to give chase. She would not let them get away that easily!
Similarly, everyone reacted to the new development. The enemy Perception Realms unleashed flying strikes and the Grand Knights moved to intercept, while the Royal Guards continued to battle against the Perception Realm Experts. The fighting immediately intensified! Sir Winstin wanted to stop Sentinel Mao, but he was tied down by Lord Xu, the Tiuxan couple, and Sentinel Kong. He could not slip past them. More than ten Perception Realms joined Sentinel Mao in pursuit, sending a flurry of flying strikes in Benedict and Shirley's direction. Their killing intent threatened to drown everything in sight! Freon pushed his Three-Pointed Barrier to the limit, but it ultimately shattered under a third strike. It was designed for quantity in mind, not quality. It could not resist a focused assault. Benedict and Shirley had to dodge everything instead, which slowed them down significantly and allowed their enemies to catch up. They gritted their teeth and reached for their weapons. They had to fight!
A giant curtain of wind suddenly arose to divide the battlefield. It was Ten Dawn Iris! Everyone realized that the other Ten Dawns were conjuring Magic Circles too. They were beginning to make their move! The auras of Ten Dawn Yvonne and Rosemary erupted to monstrous heights. Their Bloodline Abilities, Celestial Inversion and Myriad Manifestations, activated! A large Magic Circle extended from Ten Dawn Rosemary with her at the center. As Ten Dawn Iris removed her spell, Ten Dawn Rosemary summoned hers, a grand wall of water that shimmered and morphed into a million plants. It was the defensive spell, Mist Shroud Battlefield! Ten Dawn Yvonne pointed her wand to the sky and manifested multiple Magic Circles in the sky. Under her command, a golden butterfly slowly formed and released a blinding light. This was her offensive spell, Solar Butterfly Wing! They had refrained from using these spells since the Battle of Liguang, because of how large scale and indiscriminate they were. Too many allies would get caught up in their range. However, the great thing about these spells was that they could not trigger a landslide. It was ideal for this battle.