As soon as Thorne lept onto the battlefield, he was met with resistance. A group of four earth cultivators strode forward in front of him. In unison, they began to circulate their earthen energy. Preemptively, Thorne held out his swords, and just as they launched four spikes at him, Thorne's Sword Shield erupted in front of him! The earth spikes collided with the amber mass, but Thorne only felt a negligible recoil as the shield absorbed the hits.
Not wasting any time, Thorne pounced on the four cultivators and unleashed his most devastating attack—the Cross Blade Extension Strike! The harsh lines of red flew in the wind right at Thorne’s foes! Brief expressions of fear and panic streaked the four’s faces, but only momentarily. For in the next second, the vast extension of the blade cut through their torsos!
Thorne rushed past the disemboweled corpses without a thought. His mind shifted to autopilot as he searched for new prey for the slaughter. Blood and energy flowed in violent patterns as they attempted to create the best conditions for Thorne’s serial murder habit.
‘There!’
In the distance, Thorne spotted more cultivators, and only after seeing them did he realize what the enemies were doing. ‘They're smart,’ Thorne thought with a stony stare. There’s only one battle formation that would work against us, and they knew it. That’s unfortunate.’
Shaking his head, Thorne bounded his way to the nearest perimeter. It was thin due to the lack of cultivators, but Thorne found a line that was not under any form of assault. He made sure to change that. Still, fifty feet away from the line, Thorne knew that they couldn't see him due to the sand-caused dust. If they couldn’t see him, they couldn’t react to him. Thorne smiled as he led his energy to his bare palm.
Like some old earthen superhero, Thorne thrust his head forward and unleashed destruction, Red Nova Torrent!
The ball of unrestrained energy flew through the air toward the perimeter of the cultivators. As it flew it gained more and more momentum. It fizzled and hissed, but due to the loud clangs and booms of battle, no one heard it. Until they did.
BOOM!
The torrent of energy reached the perimeter with killing intent. No one was able to react as it hit an orange spectrum woman square in the chest. Thorne’s eyes glinted coldly as he watched the resulting explosion—it killed five more and injured three.
‘This technique is incredible.’ Thorne thought before sighing, ‘But the energy expenditure is ridiculous.’ He thought while sprinting. He hadn’t expended so much energy to not reap the benefits. Red and Amber worked simultaneously to propel him to inhuman speeds. He burst through the hole in the perimeter and entered the mass of terrified non-cultivators.
Red, red, red. Thorne’s sword was coated with red runes and red blood. Autopilot took over, and his muscle memory remembered the ones he had killed before. Like a lamb to the slaughter, Thorne easily cut down dozens of non-cultivators. They could not do anything; they shot bullets, only for Thorne to shrug them off. They ran, only for Thorne to be quicker. The wind sang a harmony befitting of the occasion. Harsh screeches of humans and nature rang throughout the battlefield as Thorne, the red demon, was born. The many moons shone with an intense light on his expressionless face. He did not care about the lives he was taking; they had an opportunity to survive, but instead...
Thorne’s blade cut through another and another. His ears were acclimatized to the screaming, yet still, it was uncomfortable. Thus, all he could do was kill them faster.
After nearly a hundred non-cultivator’s limbs were strewn across the battlefield, Thorne finally met resistance. It was a cultivator with a transparent spectrum crystal. ‘So, a wind warrior, and a powerful one at that. This should be a good test to see how far I’ve come.’
Thorne recognized the cultivator from the dozen leading members of the army. Thorne assumed he was one of the strongest, and his energy senses backed him up. The cultivator—a middle-aged white-haired man—was comparable to Thorne in level, even though these people didn’t have the system. ‘His raw power is quite high; definitely an elite.’
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A savage smile crossed Thorne’s face as he stepped close to the man. Around them, the non-cultivators and cultivators made space around them, and a de-facto arena was created for them. Thorne scowled at this; sure, it looked fair, but he knew that if the man appeared to be losing, the whole force of the spectators would be used against him.
Just as the man stopped, Thorne did. They were a dozen paces away, and Thorne felt the man’s energy begin circulating. Thorne didn’t do the same; instead, he bore into the other man's eyes. Red and amber against pure white. The stare-down was intense; swirling sand painted the scene as it danced in front of the two. Standing still, Thorne opted to visibly do nothing. He would move at his own leisure. That message was sent without possible misinterpretation to his foe. Thorne was mocking him—the man was beneath Thorne’s interest.
With his face reddening, the wind cultivator burst forward like a tiger. His body swirled in the wind. It was a pirouetting beast with the raging intent to destroy!
A small smile flicked across Thorne’s face before disappearing as he prepared his defenses. ‘He’s launching a head-to-head attack. So, I use Energy Bubble.’
Thorne had yet to determine where the man would attack. It could be anywhere. His moving speed was simply too fast for Thorne to track. ‘There!’ Thorne blinked as he saw the cultivator dash toward his head, ‘Now!’
He cast the shield just in time. As the man was targeting his head, he made the energy bubble most dense in that area. Of course, that neglected the rest of his body, but Thorne knew it was the right decision- until it wasn't!
Thorne’s breath caught. At the last moment, the cultivator used the wind to assist in a movement that should have been impossible. His body contorted and shot like a bullet to his leg. With a delayed reaction, Thorne tried furiously to alter the makeup of his bubble, but it was too late. Like a hawk, the man pierced the bubble and plunged a dagger into his leg! Luckily, the bubble did absorb some of the damage, but it wasn’t enough.
Blood spurted out from his wound as Thorne leaped backward. A slight wave of dizziness afflicted him, but he pushed it aside instantly. Face hardening, Thorne stalked around the now-standing man with newfound wariness. ‘He’s strong.’
Possible avenues of attack rushed through his head, but before he could decide on one, the man thrust forward in his bird-like attack. He flew through the air with more speed than a bullet train! Unable to dodge or even really block due to his weakness in the amber spectrum, Thorne knew that he had one option: counterattack.
In the most veiled way possible, Thorne threw red energy to his twin sabers. He observed the man with utmost focus and began to notice something strange; ‘He moves in a…zigzag. He can’t curve in the air!’ Thorne realized. Used to his nearly perfect aerodynamic nature, the arrow-like man could only move straight in the air. This limited his methods of attack while also opening up possibilities for Thorne.
Unfortunately for Thorne, his train of thought was forced to break as the wind cultivator shot at his chest. Thorne breathed as he forced his body to relax—he knew what to do. As the man was about to reach his chest, Thorne feigned a defensive stance by releasing bits of amber energy into the air. As Thorne expected, the man changed course as soon as she sensed the defensive energy. ‘There it is.’
The cultivator shot upward diagonally toward Thorne’s shoulder. He almost reached it, but Thorne was faster. Barely moving his blade, Thorne released his stored energy into the Cross-Blade Strike!
No fear appeared on the older man’s face. Due to his quickness, he could switch direction almost instantly, which was much faster than Thorne’s strike. Thorne, however, had accounted for this. He knew there were only two places to go for the man—left or right, and both were full of red energy! The man was trapped.
With his last-ever expression, fear struck his face. Just as the sizzling red energy cut the man, his face morphed. It went from fear to helplessness to calm resignation. The old wind cultivator was finally free.
No shouts or cries came from the man or even the audience. Silence permeated the space as disbelieving soldiers spectated. Silent tears fell—only to be eaten up by the hungry sand. He bowed while others watched blankly.
‘This man must have been a good one.’ Thorne revealed as he gauged the many reactions. As was personal custom, Thorne bowed at the waist to the cut-up corpse. “Thank you.” He whispered, “You were a worthy opponent.”
Disbelief to the extreme crossed over the spectator's faces before all of them—the hundreds of cultivators and non-cultivators were unified in one emotion—rage. Rage that their commander, their leader in arms whom they would die for, was being bowed at. Thorne was mocking him, and he would die for that. Guns were cocked and energy primed as they all rushed toward Thorne. Rage was apparent in their faces; reddened cheeks and popping veins stood out in the moonlight.
Thorne’s eyes widened. Horror grafted itself onto his being as he watched a tidal wave of bodies crash toward him. There was only one option. He activated Phantom Leap.
It only teleported him a dozen feet away, and to the crowd's surprise, he appeared amongst them. To shocked to react, Thorne was able to weasel his way out while also taking out some enemies.
Like a car emerging from a devastating tornado, Thorne emerged from the ocean of enemies, only to be in a new life-or-death battle!
‘Moravian is about to die!’