Emma gently dropped her Ice Bow, allowing the elements to freely fall from its body. Her sharp eyes activated, the master sniper could view the fight between Isadore and Seymour Fielder quite clearly. In theory, the Sword Baron should be capable of taking down Isadore with a couple of swings from his claymore. However, with Elrin’s support and the Immortal Army that came with the Spirit of Himmel, the battle had tipped heavily in Isadore’s favour.

The Sword Baron attempted to take Isadore down quickly, but each time he moved, dozen-odd soldiers would bar his path. Annoyed, the Sword Baron made use of all his years of experience plus the superior combat abilities that he’d honed to slice down the astral warriors. Alas, it was to no avail. No matter how many times he cut, bludgeoned or pierced the enemies, they would come back stronger and fresher than ever.

To make matters worse, Isadore wasn’t the type of general to sit still while his soldier fought his war. Swinging the Spear of Himmel with the flair of a master dancer, the silver-haired man waltzed across the sandy dunes as if they were made out of ice reaching a dexterity that was unheard of even by the Sword Baron’s standard. Elrin was supporting him from the back, so there was no need to worry about the gap between the Spirit Venerate and himself. Furthermore, if Isadore really was to get injured, Lady Seph was waiting next to Kanari, ready to patch anyone who got mortally wounded.

In the end, the balance in power had shifted towards Isadore’s side, and it was now the Sword Baron who was under threat. If all went as planned, Isadore would most certainly defeat the Sword Baron within ten minutes, as long as his mana was able to withstand the pressure.

Being the sniper of the team, Emma’s job was to support her teammates from afar. If the Sword Baron was the only enemy that Guardian Sword had to face, she would continue to shoot her Ice Bow with a vengeance, ensuring that the Brahmin would fall before any.

Emma gazed to the left, watching the battle unfold between Meijing Xuenkai and Meijing Bingying. Just like Isadore’s bout, it was supposedly a one-sided affair. In his heyday, Meijing Xuenkai was one of the candidates to inherit the entire Meijing Clan and if not for his variant Spirit… There was a high likelihood that the man could have become Bingying’s Clan Master. In truth, Bingying had little confidence that she could fight against the Meijing Clan’s betrayer and come out on top.

Fortunately, there was a ferocious beast that controlled ice just as good as any Meijing Clan Master by her side. Bingbing, still in her human form, summoned out her crystal ice wings in total defiance to Meijing Xuenkai’s own power. As a Tier 9 Spirit Beast, Bingbing could directly manipulate the elements far better than the average human cultivator, allowing her to summon out heaps of ice even though the Water-Element was severely lacking within this desert.

Bingying was no slouch either. Flashing her sword, the future Meijing Clan Head charged fearlessly towards Meijing Xuenkai. The combination of Bing One and Bing Two turned out to be an exemplary one. Both of them were of the Ice-Element, and their techniques complemented one another to an astonishing degree. Bingbing would freeze the sandy plains with her immense mana pool, leaving Bingying the terrain to do as she pleased. Her sword dances which even mesmerised the Dalgeom Sect’s genius Haeun were on full display.

Meijing Xuenkai wasn’t a close-combat oriented warrior like his partner the Sword Baron. He was used to summoning his Killer Whale Spirit and dominating the battlefield with his astral projections. Alas, there was no way that the two Bings would let him have his way. In the end, just like the Sword Baron bout, it turned out that Guardian Sword’s members held the distinct advantage.

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“Don’t lose, you guys...” Emma pleaded. She was the master sniper of the group, and her task was to oversee the entire battlefield. Since the two Spirit Venerates were currently tied down, Emma had the luxury to look around for easier prey to snipe.

Emma’s hawk eyes scoured the battlefield. All of the respective battles that were taking place came into her field of view. The Guardian Sword members that were struggling, the Black Masks that were waiting in ambush… Basically, if anything had a pulse and moved… Emma was able to accurately determine its position.

And thus, by sheer coincidence, she spotted one distinct mana signature.

“This is-!”

There was a Spirit Emperor Brahmin that hid silently under the sands, not willing to leak a single fraction of his mana into the atmosphere. Shockingly, he wasn’t even exuded killing intent! It was as if that Black Mask had no intention to battle at all! Naturally, Emma found it weird, but there was something else that was bugging her.

“Where have I sensed this mana signature before?” Emma swore that she’d felt that presence before. Though the Brahmin was just a Spirit Emperor, Emma felt a surge of anxiousness and fear overwhelm her brittle heart. Facing that mana signature, the seasoned archer felt like she was transported back in time… Back to the time where she was a teenager that feared anything and everything.

For someone like Emma, it was a strange feeling. It was as if… she was transported back to the day she felt the most helpless. The day she lost two of her most treasured friends… The day…

“THIS MANA SIGNATURE!!!”

In a fit, Emma jerked. She realised whose mana signature it belonged to. She remembers. Ella would remember. All the orphans would remember. And in particular… Shin would remember.

“ELLA, FIONN, ELYSE! COME HERE NOW!!!” Emma screamed into the intercoms, calling out her fellow orphans.

“What? What happened?!” Ella, her twin sister, was the first to answer the call. Flying over from her other vantage point, the master archer carried the two young girls over in a jiffy. “Did you get hurt?”

“No… Look there,” Emma didn’t bother to explain much. All of the orphans present were master scouts of their own right. They could easily pinpoint the hidden existence that laid deep within the sand. And well… It didn’t take long for them to share Emma’s astonishment.

“That fucker! He’s actually here!” Ella cursed with fury. “He actually dares to show his face after all he’d done!”

“Coming to the same place that Brother Shin is… That guy has balls.” Elyse folded her arms, snorting at the stupidity of the Brahmin’s decision. Elyse knew better than anyone else how much Shin suffered that night. She remembered watching Shin grieve in her arms, crying while trying to hold back his emotions. “No, he knows that Shin is here, that’s why he’s hiding. If Shin were to spot him, that ass would be dead in a second.”

“... Malgen Chaxrala”

“Fionn?”

“Finally… I finally get to get revenge on the guy who caused Linus’ death.”

“Ah… Right.” Ella nodded, just remembering the history that Fionn had with that Spirit Emperor. On that day, Ariel died while trying to save Elyse. Lily died because she threw herself to save Max. And finally, Linus, the Second Elder’s grandson, sacrificed his life for the sake of Fionn’s.

Even though they weren’t that close when Linus was alive, Linus’ death had placed a significant mental scar on Fionn’s mind.

“Brother Shin may be disappointed, but let’s take him on for ourselves.” Fionn appealed to the rest of the orphans. “We’re no longer the weakling kids that needed to hide in the burning huts from him. Let’s show him that.”

“Haha, I like the way you think sister!” Ella spun her Ice Bow around, and a frosty domain enveloped everyone that stood within ten-metres.

The three other orphans smiled at Ella’s resolute thinking. Of all of them, Ella was by far the most independent and brash orphan. Normally, that would be the cause of multiple headaches for Shin and the other poor members of Guardian Sword but in these circumstances…

“Let’s avenge Sister Lily and all those that perished that day!”