"Look, how about both sides take a step back before things go too far," Yasha suggested as he tried to suppress the fear he felt when his eyes made contact with the eyes of the mystery man before him. "We're here on official business for the dragon's pit. One of our unhatched young was stolen by a human, and we're simply looking to bring them back. We don't wish to offe-"
Wukong's mysterious senior brother didn't seem all that interested in listening to Yasha's explanation.
Before the dragon could finish his sentence, he appeared directly in front of the dragon-scaled bear. His axe descended with unparalleled momentum as it cleaved the magical beast in two, leaving a giant scar in the ground below that was over 20 meters deep.
"You…
Who are you?!" Yasha asked fearfully as he looked fearfully at the man who calmly turned to face him.
As soon as he saw the look in the man's eyes, Yasha released another dragon's breath. It was unclear whether he held back slightly when using it previously or if the fear of death looming over his head allowed him to tap into his unlocked potential, but the power behind this one was almost double his last one.
He didn't even stay to see if his attack did any damage. As soon as the black flames left his mouth, Yasha turned, and with a flap of his giant wings, turned into a bullet as it fled the scene.
As the black flames approached, the dark-haired man calmly raised his axe and casually chopped downwards in the direction of the fleeing dragon. "Sundering Decimation."
His voice was soft enough to be classed as a whisper, and yet, despite having traversed several hundred meters already, that whisper entered Yasha's ears as if he were right beside him, and to him, it sounded no different than a death sentence.
A grey crescent-shaped beam shot out of his axe and tore straight through the flames chasing the escaping dragon.
As the flames were split apart, they began to magically dissipate, unable to do any damage to the intended target.
On the other hand, the crescent-shaped axe-light, though weakened slightly, continued on its path, chasing after Yasha as though it were alive. Whenever he turned, so too did it.
"NOOOO!" Yasha roared when he realised there was no evading this one.
At that moment, he couldn't help but feel an intense regret well up inside him as he wished more than anything that he could go back in time and agree to Wukong's initial suggestion to go around Silverlight City.
At the time, he saw them all as a bunch of ants whom he could destroy with little effort, but time and time again, those same ants showed that humans weren't to be looked down upon. Still, as a mid-ranked saint, he believed that he still had everything under complete control, but now…
As the man's attack made contact with the dragon's back, there was no explosion or shockwave like one would expect. Instead, the former obsidian scales began to grey, seemingly weakening until they became a brittle excuse of their former form.
And just like that, the seemingly unbreakable scales turned to dust, allowing what was left of the attack to tear straight through the dragon's back, which proceeded to devastate Yasha from the inside.
"AAARRRGGGHHHH!"
Yasha released a deafening painfilled roar, but Wukong's senior brother didn't care in the slightest as he calmly flew through the sky, aiming to finish the dragon once and for all.
He raised his axe and was just about to behead the beast that almost killed his Junior Brother when he suddenly froze and diverted his strike, swinging his gigantic axe to his left.
As he did, a giant crimson dragon claw twice his size came out of nowhere, clashing violently against his axe.
A pained grunt escaped his lips as he was sent flying through the air, only managing to come to a stop mere meters from Wukong's injured body.
"I was beginning to wonder if the almighty king of the dragons was just going to sit back and watch as I killed one of his subordinates," The axe-wielder said indifferently as he looked up at the monstrous crimson dragon blocking half the sky.
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After becoming one with his glaive during his fight with the fourth-rank magma hound, Ace became the biggest contributing factor in gradually turning the war around. He had become even faster than before when assassinating each beast, and he could even assassinate some of the weaker fourth-rank beasts without getting tied down.
Despite their lack of intelligence, even the beasts understood that Ace was a problem that needed to be stopped. Unfortunately, no matter what they tried, it proved impossible for the stronger beasts to get near enough to stop him.
Upon realising the impact of Ace's presence, Kulen, one of the few remaining Silverlight generals, ordered his troops to keep the beasts away from Ace, no matter what.
There were only a few humans in the fifth rank, but each of them made sure to hold up the stronger beasts whenever they got too close to Ace. As did the mages and archers on the walls, and on the off chance any beasts did get past the humans protecting him, Ace, who seemed to have eyes on the back of his head, would quickly use [Soru] to escape their assaults.
After monitoring Ace for long enough, Leilani realised that Ace no longer needed so much of her attention and began to actively re-engage the beasts, mainly focusing on the more powerful beasts that attempted to close in on Ace.
With the tides turning in their favour, the morale of the humans reached an all-time high, but unfortunately, the beasts refused to go down without a fight.
It was at that moment, though, that the soldiers of Silverlight witnessed a sight they would never be able to forget.
Whilst her partner was taking on the two saint-level magical beasts that put their junior brother through the wringer, the burning-winged beauty just arrived at the main battlefield only to see the decimated corpses of hundreds and beasts and humans alike.
Whether it was Wukong, her, or her partner, they were all very close to Venerin and his people. Her heart ached to see so many of the soldiers of Silverlight City dead. That pain quickly turned into a burning fury, and as if the world was subject to her emotions, the battlefield quickly began to heat up.
Ace, who constantly had his [Observation] active, was the first to notice the violet-haired woman in the sky, only for her presence to suddenly vanish, or rather merge with nature. He didn't know who she was, but judging by the smouldering fury as her eyes looked at the beasts, he understood she had to be a friend – something that was more than welcomed, considering his current condition.
Even though he had no actual injuries to speak of, Ace had long since passed his limits. Whether it was his prolonged use of his haki, constant use of [Soru], or one with the glaive, Ace was thoroughly drained. It was his incredible willpower that allowed him to keep going as he had, but even he knew that he couldn't keep it up for much longer.
As the temperature rose, the beasts and humans stopped as they subconsciously looked around for the source. They all understood that it was undoubtedly the cause of a hidden powerhouse, but they wanted to know whose side this mystery powerhouse was on.
Venerin, who was also on his last legs from battling the armoured razorback wyrm, used the beast's sudden distraction to put some distance between him and the terrifying beast. As he did, he looked up only to see the enchanting violet-haired mage in the sky.
"Haha, Lauriella, you're finally here?" The city lord said, a relaxed smile suffusing his dried lips as he looked into the eyes of their saviour. "What about Kong? He's figh-"
"Don't worry about anything else," Lauriella said as she looked at the beasts, who were now terrified, as they found the winged goddess floating above them. "Tell your people to retreat; leave the rest to Mathias and I!"
"Haha, Mathias is here too? Good, very good! I can rest easy." Venerin said as he glanced mockingly at Sartius, who was staring up at Laurielle fearfully. "SILVERLIGHT RETREAT!"
The Silverlight Soldiers didn't need to be told twice. As soon as their orders were delivered, they all began to return to the walls. The beasts made absolutely no effort to stop them. In fact, as soon as they heard Laurielle's instructions for the humans, the beasts all turned to escape back into the forest.
Even Sartius, a dragon in the 9th rank, was no exception. It should've been impossible, but the threat this woman gave off was no less than Yasha. And after witnessing Wukong in action first-hand, he understood that there were some humans who couldn't be explained using common logic.
Ace used his glaive as a crutch as he retreated back to the city walls while intermittently turning back to watch what Laurielle planned to do next.
The beasts hurried away, with Sartius being the fastest of the lot. Unfortunately for them, they could run, but there was no hiding.
As soon as the two forces had completely separated, Laurielle slowly raised her hand, indifferently pointing toward the escaping beasts. "On behalf of all the humans who died today, I sentence you all to a fiery death. [Heavenly Fire – Burning Fields!]"
As the sound of her voice waned, a wave of violet fire suddenly shot forth. As the former fire logia from his last world, Ace was very much used to the power of fire, but never in his life had he seen flames like that.
"That's Laurielle Hyde, little Kong's senior martial sister. She may not be quite as talented as Kong, but she's still a genius amongst geniuses in her own right," Venerin explained as he approached the gobsmacked Ace. "She's a pure-blooded descendant of the Hyde family, also known as the Violetflame warriors – one of the four supreme warrior bloodlines.
Those violet flames allow her to jump ranks, but her incredible comprehension of the laws of fire is what makes her virtually invincible in the ninth rank. It's how she's able to use a forbidden spell, which should only be useable by saints despite only being in the ninth rank."
Ace watched, unable to pick up his jaw, as every single magical beast was instantly incinerated by the violet flame wave. Even Sartius, a dragon that boasted incredible defences, was left without a corpse – his body unwillingly reduced to ashes.
Venerin looked up at the fiery goddess in the skies in undisguised awe as he continued. "Whether it's Wukong, Laurielle, Mathias or the rest of their martial siblings, every single one of that woman's disciples is a monster amongst monsters!"