Stomping down with unparalleled force, the man broke his toes, fractured his bones, and tore his tendons. Although it seemed 'light', these injuries would probably be permanent at his age. He was basically crippling himself! However, in exchange, he generated incredible force, deforming the ground under his wake, and accelerating himself at ridiculous speeds! Boom! He resembled a bolt of lightning, as he tore across the battlefield. He was so fast that he briefly surpassed Benedict's top speed using Martial Energy. That was how fast he was moving! His opponents were naturally startled by the sudden development, and moved to raise their defenses, but it was too late. His glaive followed like a thunderclap. He cleaved through the remaining Tiuxan couple, sword and all, killing the man instantly. A Perception Realm Adept could not resist at all!
Fresh blood poured from his wounds, and the pain intensified to almost make him faint, yet Sir Winstin suppressed everything through pure force of will alone. His willpower was monstrous! He immediately pivoted on his foot, breaking it in the process, and charged at his next opponent. He could not waste any time. A normal person had a quarter-second of reaction time. Fundamental Realm Masters could lower that to a tenth, while Perception Realms could lower that even further. He had to go faster! Faster still! Boom! Sir Winstin pushed his body to the absolute limit, briefly transcending the bounds of Perception Realm Master to Half-Instinct Realm. His glaive turned into a mere line, as he sliced through three Perception Realm soldiers in quick succession. They died without knowing what happened!
He then descended on Lord Xu with tremendous killing intent, paralyzing this powerful warrior. Sir Winstin seemed to grow to a giant in his mind, capable of towering over mountains and clouds. He alone dominated the heavens! The mental suppression of a pseudo-Half-Instinct Realm was unfathomable! Although Lord Xu had become a Perception Realm Expert, a figure strong enough to roam the Xingyuu Empire almost unhindered… Although he had dominated every battlefield thus far with overwhelming force… For the first time ever, he felt genuine fear! Was this the true power of the strongest Royal Guard, a man who stood at the pinnacle of legends, Sir Winstin Mormont? Was this a monster? It was terrifying! That incredible burst of killing intent from Sir Winstin halted his movements for an instant, but it was more than enough for Sir Winstin to step in. His glaive came whipping around with the blood from the previous strikes still sticking on it. It looked like death's weapon! He aimed to disembowel Lord Xu!
This was still a prodigy amongst Perception Realm Experts though. Lord Xu regained his clarity right before the glaive arrived, and immediately realized it was impossible to dodge. Therefore, he decided on something crazy and stretched out his left arm to defend. He would block the blade with his bare flesh! The glaive then chopped through his arm, rending blood everywhere, and would have ripped open his chest, except the arm bones deviated the weapon's trajectory, every so slightly. Furthermore, by using the momentum imparted by that strike, Lord Xu redirected that energy into moving back. Both effects were small, but they combined to be just enough for him to survive. Sir Winstin's glaive missed his chest by the tiniest margin! Fighting through the pain, he grabbed a dagger with his right arm and slashed at Sir Winstin. He would not go down without a fight! However, Sir Winstin had already seen and predicted everything, since his Martial Perception was that much better. By breaking his second ankle, he forcefully twisted his body and executed another strike. Whoosh! Lord Xu's right arm flew, following his head. This time, a Perception Realm Expert was killed! Sir Winstin was unstoppable!
He quickly raised his glaive as a shadow slammed down on him. Boom! The meteoric impact fractured the ground from underneath Sir Winstin, sinking him into the hard earth and sending a large shockwave out. The force was terrifying! However, Sentinel Kong was shocked. Despite ambushing the knight and attacking with his full strength… Despite Sir Winstin being tired, wounded, and far from his peak strength with one arm missing… His glaive did not budge! It felt like Sentinel Kong was attacking a wall… No, a mountain! Sir Winstin was insurmountable! To kill five Perception Realms in the blink of an eye, fear crept up on Sentinel Kong's face. Was the gap between them this vast? In battle, mentality was extremely important. Once someone envisioned themselves losing, then they would lose, even if they were stronger! Sentinel Kong had already concluded that Sir Winstin was superior, so he held back. He wanted to conserve his strength in the event of a counterattack. That was a mistake though. Had he committed his full power into striking Sir Winstin down here, then he might have won. Instead, all he did was give Sir Winstin a chance, and a tiny chance was all he needed!
Sir Winstin loosened his grip, which made Sentinel Kong's glaive slide up. Next, he hooked his shaft under his opponent's blade, locking it into position. Finally, with a slight twist, he pulled Sentinel Kong forward. This was a classic disarming technique, performed in an instant. It gave the sentinel no time to react! After all, Sentinel Kong might have been a Perception Realm Expert, but Sir Winstin was a Perception Realm Master, currently at the pseudo-Half-Instinct Realm! That gap reflected in their reaction speed, something that Sir Winstin masterfully used. He wound back his head and slammed it forward. Bang! He directly headbutted the unsuspecting sentinel, breaking his nose and sending stars flying. It completely disoriented him! Sir Winstin continued by tripping Sentinel Kong, dislodging his glaive, and smoothly transitioning into a downward strike. The entire chain of events from start to finish took less than three seconds! As the glaive flew down, Sentinel Kong recovered in the nick of time and rolled out of the way. Although Sir Winstin saw this and wanted to redirect his attack, the sudden pain from his injuries made him flinch. His glaive barely missed the sentinel.
Unwilling to stop, the man was about to strike a second time, when his instincts screamed out! The next instant, something slammed into his back with tremendous force, denting his plate armor and sending the man tumbling through the air! Sir Winstin was not a light man by any means, doubly-so when he was wearing his full set of plate armor. It would be hard to make him budge under normal circumstances. Thus, to make him move, much less fly, it required a ridiculous amount of force! The sudden assailant was clearly not normal, except they frowned. They had not expected to do this much damage. Rather, at the moment of impact, Sir Winstin had shifted his weight forward to soften the blow. That was why he 'flew' despite the relatively weaker attack.
The knight flipped in the air and landed on his feet, causing another round of pain to surface. Despite his incredible pain tolerance, he still had to falter. It felt like a thousand tiny blades dug into his skin with every movement! This was not an exaggeration either, because his bones, muscles, and tendons really were broken. His body had already gone past the point of no return. There was no turning back anymore. His life would end here. That was guaranteed! And yet, that was not enough! He still had something to do! He could not let Elizabeth down here! That was his pride as a knight, a Royal Guard, a Protector, and most importantly, as King Harth and Lord Korogin's friend! Forcefully clawing away the darkness, he tore through the pain and stabilized his condition. He surpassed his limits through willpower alone! It was incredible! No one could believe it.
Sentinel Kong was helped to his feet by the mysterious helper. As it turned out, it was that bald man, a powerful Perception Realm Expert, who struck Sir Winstin from behind. He had just finished killing Sir Logan, and judging from his lack of injuries, he must have done so one-sidedly too. This made Sir Winstin's expression turn ugly. He lost the initiative, and it became a two versus one. Moreover, one was a Perception Realm Expert, and the other… Sir Winstin could vaguely sense that the mysterious bald man was hiding his true strength. Otherwise, how could the man slip through his Martial Perception so easily, and ambush him? It was not something that anyone could do. This bald man might be a Perception Realm Master in disguise! Now that he exhausted most of his strength, he could not fight against a Perception Realm Expert and a Master at their peak. It was the worst possible situation!