A massive retreat was taking place by southern Bran. In the middle of such an intense war, their troops suddenly started going back incurring some losses due to this. This odd move was something no one could've expected but since they were too far in they couldn't back off.
Based on their numerical disadvantage, it would've made sense but their side still had Butch, a person who is more than enough to shift the tides of war. There was also that person on the cliff who was able to completely nullify the King Alliance's army by himself, siphoning the mana in the entire battlefield to come to him.
Meanwhile, Adam was standing in front of Butch who was biting a gigantic chunk out of the meat in front of him with one bite. After Butch was finished eating, a messenger came along to deliver news regarding the battlefield.
He was slightly out of breath but was still able to his message clearly, "Sir, everyone finally reached the backline, in a few more minutes everyone will be gathered here."
Butch then looked over to Adam and stared at him. The sun was starting to set as everything on the battlefield started to slowly glow a shade of orange.
Adam responded, "A grand show is about to begin. Let's get started."
Adam walked over to where Eve was sitting at. She had her eyes closed and calmly breathing through her mouth. Her daggers were placed in front of her that had dried blood on it.
"You don't need to kill a lot, you just need to make them afraid enough to retreat. I'll be right beside you so let loose."
Both of them started walking towards the battlefield at a pace that could be considered slow. As they walked forward, a visible point could be seen where everyone started to avoid them, letting them pass through with ease.
The person behind the veiled screen then questioned his retainers, "What's that guy doing?"
Seeing a man and an old woman walk to the battlefield while everyone else was retreating was enough to make someone question who they were. In that instant of doubt, the person behind the veiled screen suddenly realized who it was.
"True Underworld King, you're finally showing yourself. Let's see what you're capable of."
Pure interest sparked up within his eyes as he intensely looked at the battlefield.
Eventually, they reached the frontline where enemy soldiers finally started showing up. Eve made quick work of them, how many came was how many heads fell down. They stood their ground, standing there looking down at the enemy army.
At last, the southern Bran army retreated fully, and the only people in front were Adam and Eve. With her skill, she would've been able to get past through them without anyone noticing but it wasn't time to do that. Instead, it was time to be center stage to act as the sole driving force to drive them away.
"Eve, it's time to take off your mask."
Eve slowly did so. From the King Alliance's army's view, an old woman was removing her face to only show that woman to turn into a child with straight flowing red hair and eerily creepy but captivating golden eyes.
The knights in front saw this even more clearly than the others and felt a slight change in their perspective. Those in front who were gripping their weapons tightly slowly went limp as their swords started to drop.
They started walking closer to Eve completely captivated. Though there were a few who weren't affected by her Trait, they were in the minority.
Eve hid her daggers behind her and asked, "What are you willing to do for me?"
Those were who affected had an adverse effect within their nature as they started to run forward towards her. . They just kept their slow pace and stopped. While a few others then started running towards her obviously blinded by their desires.
Adam retrained those who ran towards her with a single gesture creating a cage surrounding them. Those trapped within tried to break out but to no avail, each time the cage was damaged it took mana from its surroundings to repair itself.
"So without issuing any orders, they resort to a few states. Interestingly enough its potency and range is inversely proportional, now that's enough experimentation for now. Let's get this over with."
Eve nodded and ordered who was affected by her Trait, "Kill them all."
Those who were trapped within the cage didn't respond to her orders at all but those who stopped then followed her orders. They picked up their weapons and slashed those nearby them.
This sudden turn of events was extremely unexpected for the King Alliance's army. Outbursts resounded within the army.
"Bastard! You traitors!"
"Joseph! What are you doing?! Stand down!"
"I'll kill you, you traitor- huh?"
Those soldiers who looked at Eve and heard her voice suddenly instigated something within themselves and turned against the army. Though there were still exceptions within their ranks, it was a number completely insignificant to those that were turning.
There were around fifty people who were fighting against their own men while Adam and Eve were just casually standing behind them. Adam moved the people who he captured to behind him while studying them trying to see what was different about them.
As soon as the first round of fifty people died, they managed to take down around thirty men causing a total of eighty deaths by essentially speaking a single phrase.
Eve then spoke once more, "Anymore willing to obey me?"
A sudden change once again sparked within a few more soldiers and they started fighting again. This time a few more people who were ignoring her orders came at her. Adam once again dealt with those who were coming at her at full speed, increasing the number of prisoners he had.
This cycle continued until the enemy soldiers finally had enough of it and started charging at Eve directly instead of dealing with the people she bewitched. Having a few hundred people charging at them all at once would've been a problem if Adam wasn't there.
"Absolute Barrier."
A smaller-scale barrier appeared between Adam and the incoming soldiers. As the soldiers bashed the barrier with their weapons, they managed to nick the mana sustaining the barrier but as time went on it repaired itself by siphoning mana from its surroundings.
Eve then ordered people all around, "Listen to me and... kill them all."
The slow cut off made those near her followed her tune to a terrifying degree. Those who heard this attacked relentlessly without fear of getting struck back. Even as their bodies were slashed and cut apart, the zeal in following her was still there.
Adam commented. "Huh, attraction really does matter. It seems you need to practice on Zane, right?"
Eve's face didn't change and just kept observing the battlefield and testing out the limits of her Trait. Learning what she can and can't do will aid her in the future, something she learned from Adam.
Seeing that their futile attempts at fighting back were useless, they started to initiate a strategic retreat. Continuing this fight was useless since they were only losing men.
"Retreat! Everyone fall back!"
This little show ended the lives of three hundred men and causing roughly a hundred people captured. With how they focused on defense, there was no point in trying to follow them.
Eve then closed her eyes and calmed down. Her Trait requires her to intentionally activate it and it usually doesn't take too much mental strength but considering the number of people she used this on, her exhaustion was justified.
"This is enough people for testing, let's go, we have a show to watch."
As Adam was walking back, Eve didn't and asked a question, "How were you unaffected? I can't control who my Trait effects, only the range, so how were you unaffected?"
Adam didn't turn back but just kept on walking so Eve tapped him on the shoulder. Adam turned back to her with a questioning look.
"Nevermind."
With this single tap, she understood what Adam did, preventing the full effects of her Trait from activating. The change from soldiers in the cages died down after some time and returned to their normal selves, retaining the memories of what they did.
When Adam and Eve finally managed to get back. Butch was laughing and started congratulating Adam. He expected to lose more men if this fight continued so the initial loss when retreating was worth it. They could now formulate a better plan for the upcoming fight since this new ten thousand army was unexpected.
"Good job! We can reorganize our troops and prepare for tomorrow! I'm sure you can think of another plan with this!"
Butch then finally noticed a hundred men in cages behind Adam. This made him laugh even harder, having so many of the enemy captured would be sure demoralizing for them.
"Even those bastards are captured! We'll definitely have some fun with them! A few of our men are pretty angry, you unlucky bastards."
"Tomorrow? What do you mean?"
Butch realized something amiss when Adam questioned him.
"You're also wrong about unlucky, in fact, I can say that this saved them."
"What are you talking about? We can't do anything about them retreating, right?"
Adam conjured a 3D map in mid-air showing a few locations highlighted in red. There was a visual of some small scale figures running about, this seemed to be the King Alliance's army retreating. Such delicate and precise details within that map were frightening. The control one would need and mana sense is something that sorcerors could create.
"Here Butch, have fun. Just know that I implanted a few bombs in your men's bodies. Don't accidentally blow up living people."
Butch looked at this odd map in his hands and tapped on a sole red dot and an explosion appeared on the battlefield in real-time. A few figures on the map fell down and assumed to be dead. Now that he realized what this thing in his hands was capable of, he immediately set off a lot in a single line.
The person behind the veiled screen was about to leave when he saw that mana explosion that killed ten men. Though this would've been barely anything in the grand scheme of things, considering a body controls this much explosive power then-
A sudden line of explosions appeared cutting of the King Alliance's army in half, killing countless. This was a mana explosion that was easily created and weaponized by many but required concentration and skill to be created.
The person behind the veiled screen suddenly intensely focused his mana sense and saw countless bodies connected to a single point in the southern Bran camp.
"All of the explosions were already pre-reacted, this is something I never knew he would've actually done. One mistake was enough to kill someone yet he did this for every single person on his side."
The retainers on his side were slightly fearful of the abilities that was shown to them. Although they were already briefed on the skills and Trait of the True Underworld King, actually seeing it themselves is something completely unbelievable.
"This just confirms it, his Trait really is Mana Manipulation, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to do this."
Having confirmed this, in his eyes, is something worth the lives of ten thousand men. Understanding that there's nothing else to do here, he decided to leave and report back to his superiors.
The King Alliance army, meanwhile, was completely out of their minds running at all costs. They diverged from their initial path into somewhere there weren't any bodies at. The only problem with their plan was that they were in the middle of a battlefield where countless bodies lay.
As the screams of the men getting drowned out by the sound of explosions sound out from the battlefield, those who were already behind their ranks were sweating, imagining what would've happened if they joined them.
While they were thinking of this, Butch saw a few bigger red dots where they were staying. Butch clicked on all of them and an eruptive force greater than what happened exploded before appeared. It wiped out three thousand men in an instant completely crippling the enemy. What's worse was an extremely terrifying aftermath, the explosion wasn't the only thing that appeared from that but Kiss of Death also appeared.
Everyone else who didn't die from the initial explosion had an even worse fate, they had to suffer their bodies' mana being corrupted, causing them an inhumane amount of pain. Though there were a few mages who could alleviate some of the pain, it was barely enough to do anything. Normal humans aren't able to do anything against someone of Adam's caliber.
From atop a cliff, three kids were sitting there watching a show.