A clash of unprecedented proportions was taking place above this once desolate land of lightning. The once cloudy sky above was pushed back by the shockwaves that reached all up towards the earth below. With each wave of energy, the once mirror-like ground started to crack until it finally shattered into many smaller stones.

“We must escape!”

“Don’t get caught in the fight, flee!”

At first, the onlookers remained in place, for them, it was a chance to see two strong parties fight each other. Soon after the clash started they realized that a mistake was made. They didn’t know what was worse, the huge golden dragon that could melt them with one breath or the mounted knights that could compete with it.

‘Some idiots have stayed behind but that’s not my problem anymore.’

Zhang Dong was riding on his new dragon companion that he named Bahamut. The experience was not the same as with his soul beast. This being was not a part of him as the soul beast before it. Bahamut was a sentient creature with its own thought pattern. Its soul was very similar to Zhang Dong’s but he could not control the familiar directly.

This made the battle a bit harder at the start but slowly he was getting used to his new companion. While there were cons to Bahamut not being his soul beast as he could not direct it personally, there were some pros as well. The main reason was that he didn’t need to concentrate on giving orders, it just reacted of its own accord.

The original soul beast was still a part of him and there was always a little pause before it carried out orders. This delay was minuscule but during combat could cost the cultivator dearly. The user always had to concentrate at least a bit to control their soul beast to do their biddings which could affect their own response times. Now without that problem, he could fully concentrate on the battle without spreading his mind thin.

It took the two a bit of time to click at first but the longer the battle continued the easier it was to foresee what their partner would do. Probably after a few more fights Zhang Dong and Bahamut could iron things out but for now, they would probably need to approach things a bit more independently.

“Hey partner, can you take care of those guys while I go for the leader?”

Bahamut roared out in anticipation while glowing in bright golden light. In a fraction of a second many bolts of energy appeared around his body that quickly rocketed towards the mounted knights. They were like heat-seeking missiles but much faster, their flight paths were erratic and seemingly random which caused the targets to spread apart.

Zhang Dong used this chance to push himself off his dragon. While occupying his back gave him free rein to fire of ranged techniques as well, it was not getting him anywhere. The opponents were far too fast if this battle continued like this his spiritual energy would be drained fast. Thus he needed to bring the knight commander down towards the ground where he could face him in a more direct battle.

With so many of them buzzing around like flies around them this was a hard task. It was clear that these knights had fought in a group for a long time. Whenever one was in a bad position there was another to help them out, only if he could block part of that teamwork would he be victorious.

Even now with so many golden projectiles flying around towards everyone they were keeping each other safe. If one was in danger of getting his then another swooped in with a glowing shield of light to repel the projectile. But there still remained some space to improve, these people were not without fault and some openings were there.

There was a difference in power between the knight commander Lucius and the rest. Which made them easier targets for Zhang Dong. Thus instead of doing the obvious thing and going for their leader, he propelled himself towards one that was defending a stray golden bolt from Bahamut.

“I have you…”

Zhang Dong shouted while holding a white sword above his head. The timing was calculated in his brain to hit the man from behind when the rest were busy with their own evasive maneuvers. None of the nine would be able to react in time but there was one that could and this was what he was aiming for.

On his steed, Lucius appeared from Zhang Dong’s left flank. The knight commander had a long silver spear in his hand and a shield in the other. It was radiating massive amounts of energy and if it actually landed Zhang Dong would be pierced through. Even his body refining would not be able to take this attack without receiving any damage.

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But he observed his enemies for a long time to plan this clash out. The position that Lucius would be forced to take was one of them. As the lance of light drilled towards him instead of attacking the other gold knight, he turned to face the charge.

With a quick shift of his body, he evaded a hit towards his torso. This made the attack graze his right side on which he was already clamping down with his arm. This arm quickly clamped down on this spear that was only able to slide in halfway before coming to an abrupt stop.

“Urgh…”

Pain was felt by him, this holy based attack was not something he could just shrug off. His whole right side was on fire as his robe was ripped apart and flesh was scraped. Without his core formation cores, he was unable to just absorb these energy attacks anymore but he did gain some strength in return.

Lucius clearly was not prepared for the abrupt stop in mid-air and neither was his mount. The arm he was holding the spear with was jolted back and almost instantly dislocated. While the knight on top of the horse was pushed back the horse he was sitting on flew further. Finally, after sacrificing some of his flesh he was successful in dismounting this man.

Yet even with a dislocated shoulder, the knight continued to hold onto his weapon. This allowed Zhang Dong to chuck it towards the ground along with the man holding onto it. Lucius shouted out some profanities while being forced off his horse but was unable to call it back. The moment the pegasus attempted to go back to its master it made contact with some dragon claws.

“That’s it, keep them busy.”

Zhang Dong on the other hand had been assaulted by a few other knights but was quick to evade their now more obvious flight patterns. While they were fast there was a limit to what they could do while riding large flying horses and throwing spears of light at him.

“Protect the commander!”

“How about you worry about yourself first.”

While Lucius was recovering in mid-air his men panicked. They clearly never saw their strongest warrior ever being forcibly dismounted like this. Thanks to this they were open to some well-placed kicks and palm attacks that Zhang Dong unloaded on them while also descending toward his intended target.

“Don’t worry about me, I am more than enough to defeat this savage.”

Lucius on the other hand was still confident in his victory. Even though his horse was unable to come back to him, this didn’t mean that he was unable to fly. Just like the other golden knights, he was able to produce wings of light to allow him flight. There was a small change though as this man actually had double the number.

“Four wings huh? I guess you aren’t the leader for nothing but maybe if you listened we could still resolve this without anyone getting hurt.”

“Silence you swine, that Wizard might have believed your lies but I won’t.”

After popping his hand back into place Lucius’ lance started shifting in shape. It was replaced by a legendary-looking sword that could only belong to a paladin. With the sword in his right hand and a glorious-looking kite shield in his left the man charged. The ensuing clash between the two holy energy users caused a resounding explosion.

They were finally embroiled in a proper one-on-one battle. On one side was Zhang Dong using a very attack-heavy twin sword stance. On the other side, Lucius with his shield was very hard to damage. Even when the flurry of fast attacks came his way, he could just turtle up to take them. Just as fast as the clash started it was over and the two enemies flew past each other to land on the ground below.

“Not bad for a posh little prince.”

“Hmph.”

Zhang Dong’s landing was accompanied by a large crater that blew up some dust. Even though he taunted his opponent his words didn’t seem to go through. While this man seemed to be a spoiled brat he knew how to fight. Any attempts to shake his concentration, make him rage out, and seize victory after he made more mistakes didn’t bore any fruit.

“I guess trash-talking won’t work on you but… I won’t need something like that to win this fight. If you don’t want to see reason then I can only answer you with violence.”

For a moment he had believed that there might still be a chance to work together. Yet the man was proving himself to be very stern, he clearly did not believe that this savage could offer him anything of worth. Zhang Dong was holding himself back slightly but now was the time to let loose.

Thus he called upon his swordsmanship, his opponent was not someone he could defeat by large-scale attacks. Instead, he would only utilize his sword arm to outperform his opponent. His aim would be the left side that Lucius was protecting with his shield. He would slice it apart with all of his might before the counter came.

Zhang Dong dropped the sword that he was holding in his left hand. When the weapon was free it turned into a myriad of glowing lights that combined themselves with the sword in his right palm. This sword he held above his head in a cleaving position that was quite easy to read.

“I’m sorry but I can’t afford to lose here, there are too many people at stake.”

“...”

His opponent didn’t reply, he was also a seasoned warrior and he knew that something big was coming. Time seemed like it stopped for the two warriors, they just looked into each other's eyes as if for an eternity.

Soon the sword started falling without making a sound. It was as if the air around them was being split apart as the attack took shape and the two clashed with each other for one last time. Would the sword split apart the shield along with the person behind it, or would it fail to give the knight a great chance to plunge their weapon into his opponent's chest? No one knew but the exchange would be decided in a fraction of a second…