In less than a minute, the 25 profound wielders were reduced to less than ten men, and Mane and Abelard didn't even look exhausted. They breezed their way through the battlefield as though it was an amusement park and felt no pity for their enemies. But Mane had his brows furrowed. After he killed another wielder, he flung his sword towards an approaching profound wielder and ended the man's life. However once he flung his sword, he ducked to avoid the sneaky blow that was heading his way. He leapt backwards and sent his elbow crashing into the midsection of the shadowy figure that thought it could reap some benefits from the chaotic battlefield. He then held the arm of the assassin and pried the strange looking dagger out of his hand. He expressionlessly stabbed the dagger into the man's shoulder and then held him by the neck.
"You should wait your turn" he stated coldly and threw the assassin deeper into the forest. The unfortunate man struck several trees before coming to a stop. Although he was still conscious, he was injured and had lost much of his battle capacity.
"He failed" the leader of the team remarked as he witnessed the entire ordeal. He very much dreaded the strength of their enemies. Initially he assumed that with their large force they would be able to take of the two kids. They were wrong. Not only had the two boys almost wiped out their entire team, they didn't look drained in any way. The leader was using the crowd of profound wielders as cannon fodders. They were expected to tire their enemies out, so the earth wielders could easily deal with them. It was selfish, but they didn't care. The leader of the team assessed his own strength. It wouldn't be difficult to replicate the same thing. After all, he was at the peak of the earth realm. Even his colleagues who were only in the initial stages of the earth realm would be able to take care of so many profound wielders on their own. So he wasn't fazed by the one sided slaughter. However he hoped that the assassin of the team would be able to take one of them out before the slaughter ended. That way it would be easier to handle the one who remained.
The team's assassin wasn't an amateur. Even the leader would have to be cautious when battling him. He was great at bidding his time and choosing the right time to attack. Even the leader would have a headache facing him. Yet he had been dealt with so easily. The assassin had already left the team before their enemies arrived. However, that didn't instill the element of surprise they thought it would. It seemed that the enemy wasn't fooled by the assassin's absence. It came as no shock however, since they were able to sense their auras from afar and approach the team and intercept them midway.
"It seems the profound wielders are nothing but Death Warriors" Mane calmly analysed as he lobbed off the head of another profound wielder. Due to his and Abe's wanton slaughter of the group, there were only about seven profound wielders left. Yet even seeing their comrades chopped down ruthlessly right before their eyes, the remaining wielders had no fear in their eyes. Their expressions were cold and unfeeling; nothing like what a person facing a life or death situation should have. So he drew the only logical conclusion he could reach. They were Death Warriors.
Death Warriors, Suicide Warriors, Sacrificial Fighters, etc. There were many names for them. But they all meant one thing – someone whose life is worth nothing to their master. Death Warriors were warriors raised up and groomed all for the purpose of giving their lives for the 'greater good'. They were meant to slow people down, and weaken stronger foes so that others can garner all the praise that came with conquering their enemies. That was what these profound wielders were doing. They didn't fear death. They didn't care about their lives at all. All they wanted to do was to inflict some sort of damage before dying so that Mane and Abe would be weakened sufficiently for the earth wielders who remained to take care of them. And from the nonchalant reaction of the earth wielders, Mane knew his conjecture was plausible. Unfortunately for these Death Warriors, they weren't doing any harm. All they were doing was wasting Mane and Abe's time.
Mane looked at Abe. The young prince was unleashing his fury on the unfortunate Death Warriors, and from the scowl on his face, he had probably realised that the profound wielders were being used as cannon fodder. Mane ducked as Abe hammer came flying towards him, and crushed the Death Warrior who was closing in on Mane. Mane's face was expressionless. It wasn't that he hadn't sensed the incoming Death Warrior. Rather he didn't care enough about that weakling to pay any attention to him. He would have killed him anyway. But on a brighter note, that was the last profound wielder remaining. This meant that they were done with the weak crew.
Abe smirked at Mane as if to say 'You owe me one.' Although Abe knew his help was not needed, he just wanted to annoy his friend. However his smile didn't last for long. In his distracted state he didn't sense the approach of the earth wielder who used the rod. He tried ducking to avoid the blow but that was only a short term solution. The earth wielder skillfully manipulated the misfiring weapon and swung it powerfully towards the crouched Abe.
"Bloodied Blade: Crazed Cut of the Blade King."
A golden blade light struck the assaulting earth wielder, who quickly chose to protect himself than to continue with his assault. The man was pushed back several metres due to the attack and finally steadied himself next to his leader.
"So?" his leader questioned
"He is strong – very strong" he replied; his arms still stinging from the power of the blade light. He watched Mane walk steadily to the location of his sword and pick it up. The young boy cleaned the weapon with the clothes of a fallen Death Warrior and summoned a sheath. The sword was returned to the sheath and strapped onto his back. He summoned another scabbard, into which he returned his blade. It was also strapped to his back. Although the earth wielder didn't know how Mane had summoned the scabbards, he had seen many strange things in the past few months. In comparison, this was nothing much.
"I'll handle the peak earth realmer. You should deal with the other one" the earth wielder heard the blond haired boy say to the brown haired one. Although he was a bit relieved that he wasn't targeted by the boy who had just terrified him with only a blade light, he was annoyed that he was being referred to as the 'other one'. It seemed the blond boy didn't regard him as a threat to him.
"And the assassin" Abe asked? Although he was ashamed that he had allowed an enemy to get close to him even though he was a scholar, he got over it quickly.
"We need him to answer some questions" Mane answered. That was the only reason he left the assassin alive. But to be safe, he had injured him severely to prevent him from being a factor in the upcoming fight.
"We should get a move on if we want to avoid Mom's nagging" Mane reminded with a smile as he walked towards his opponent. The battle had helped blow off some steam. Abe smiled too. He wasn't so concerned about Mane's earlier conduct now. Especially after his captain had avoided taunting him over his loss of concentration.
"Yeah" he replied and dashed towards the 3rd stage earth wielder.