“I must give it to you, I didn’t think you would still be standing after that one, but…”

Zhang Dong rubbed his neck where he was grazed by the enemy's longsword. The gash was quite deep but not something deadly for a cultivator like him that defied human physiology. While his wound was now healing at a rapid rate the one he delivered to the knight commander was not.

The man was surrounded by magic armor and various relics of power. He was not naturally resistant to damage, if the magic behind his items was broken he was at around the level of an early foundation establishment practitioner. This was already above the other golden knights but at a large disadvantage when going against Zhang Dong.

By how one achieved victory in the high leveled battles in this world was not really by causing injuries to the flesh. Instead, it was by inserting a large amount of spiritual energy or mana into that wound to not allow it to heal itself. Lucius’ body was now being invaded by Zhang Dong’s Qi that was ripping it apart. The difference between was too high for the man to be able to contend with it after it got past the armor, the battle was over.

“No, this is impossible, h-how could I lose to a barbarian…”

Lucius’ shield had been slashed in half along with his upper chest that was behind it. The wound was radiating golden energy that did not belong to the knight but to his adversary Zhang Dong. It was slowly eating away at his vitality and soon the man would succumb to this wound.

“Perhaps if you listened to your Wizard friend you would have survived.”

He started approaching his enemy that was trying to stand up. His legs were shaking, the body and magical energy the man was so proud of was not helping him out. Even when he tried to activate his damaged armor it was not able to dispel this spiritual energy that was of a higher caliber.

“N-no this can’t end like this, I need to complete my mission… e-everyone is waiting for me…”

The man soon collapsed on the ground while speaking out loudly. At first, Zhang Dong thought that Lucius would just continue to lash out at him but instead, he started talking about his own kingdom. It seemed that he also had people that he wanted to protect and that were waiting for him back home.

“C-celestine…”

This name was unknown to him, perhaps it was his beloved or child. It did not bring joy to Zhang Dong to kill this man but it was a war that they decided to go through with. Perhaps if the times were different he could afford to let this man go but as it stood he was too dangerous. If he recovered many more people would die, the only thing he could not do was to send this warrior off to the great beyond.

Thus he approached him with his sword raised in the air. The energies that he inserted into the wound would keep eating away at the man’s vitality for a while. His death would be long and painful as his body fought to stay alive.

“Commander!”

“GUOHhhh!”

The cavalry in the background was shaken by what they had witnessed. Even when their commander was tossed from his horse no one expected him to lose so quickly. They expected him to at most be equally challenged with the savage he was fighting. Instead after one fast exchange, it was already over and he was slowly fading away.

All of them started panicking as they threw themselves toward the ground. Even with the large dragon in their way they wanted to risk being injured to help their leader. Bahamut wouldn’t let them as he was adept at large-scaled energy attacks and was able to stall them long enough for his master to deliver the finishing blow.

Yet the master in question was hesitating, his sword arm was already raised. He only needed to quickly slice downward to finish what he started but he was hesitating. The shouts of the men behind him combined with the last words Lucius was spouting was making this difficult.

This was not the same as killing one of the evil cultivators that never showed any remorse. But he had no choice, just as he tried to shape this world into what he believed was right, so was this world doing the same to him. The man that didn’t take lives was being drowned out the longer he continued to battle for his sect and family.

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“I wish there was another way but you left me no choice…”

Finally, the decision was made, the time his familiar gave him was up and the other knights were getting closer. If he didn’t deliver the final blow the difficult enemy that was standing in his way could escape. With how good these people were at long-range teleportation he would probably not be able to chase after them, he needed to act now.

With his mind made up, he went for the kill, at least he could give his enemy a swift death. However, as his sword was ready to go for the kill he noticed something.

“Please I beg you, stop!”

“Everyone stop, if you move a muscle your commander will die instantly…”

Instead of decapitating the man, his blade halted against his neck. Some of the other knights had managed to get past his dragon but when they saw the blade at Lucius’ neck they instantly stopped. In front of him appeared an illusory image of the Wizard’s head, it was clearly a long-ranged spell that was being performed.

“What do you want Argus, I gave this man a chance but he refused…”

“I am aware of that but if you kill him now there will never be a chance for a peaceful resolution. Unless we foster good relations now it will be too late to go back! I implore you, I can see that you are a good man, let this not be the beginning of the end.”

Argus continued to shout while focusing on Zhang Dong’s good-natured self. It was true that if he could then this type of act would be below him. Killing was not something that he enjoyed and he had tried to convince the other cultivators that there were other ways.

“Hm…Celestine was it, is that your wife? Fiance maybe?”

“Ugh…F-fiance…”

Zhang Dong asked Lucius’ that was fading in and out of consciousness. The sword of his remained at the man’s neck for a while before he finally pulled it back.

“Tell your fiance that she saved your life on this day.”

This man had been through many things to arrive at this moment. He had others that he cherished and even people like this Argus here were willing to speak up for him. Would he be any different than the other power-hungry people if he killed him here? Perhaps he would regret this decision down the line, but what if there really was a way to go around this problem from another angle.

Lucius was taken aback by the sword being pulled back, even Argus that had come in the form of an illusion was surprised that Zhang Dong listened to his words. He did not know that the silver-haired cultivator was already on the fence here. With a little shove in the right direction, he was more than willing to spare the life of this man.

Thus after the sword was gone what only remained was to tap Lucius on the forehead to remove his Qi from the wound. Instead, he even caused it to heal up enough for the knight commander to stand up. Without knowing what was going on the golden knight quickly jumped back while examining his chest wound that was now being slowly healed up.

“Why did you…”

“What do you mean, didn’t you hear the old man’s monologue?”

Zhang Dong pointed towards Argus that was floating to the side.

“I told you that this man was not our enemy but an ally, I hope this is enough for you to understand Lord Lucius.”

He nodded while the two continued to converse but as he expected a problem arose. Four of the nine knights had managed to appear around them and the other five weren’t far behind. The technique he used took out a lot from him, the large chasm that was created behind them was the proof. He had put everything into the attack to finish the fight early and if this continued further he would probably not be able to recreate the clash.

“No, this must be some kind of trick…”

“What trick? Do you think I wasted my chance to kill you just for some grander con? Don’t flatter yourself, the only reason you are alive is that I do not wish this war to continue. Do you really want us to go at each other as mindless berserkers? Who is the savage here now?”

Lucius had taken the sword back into his hand but even he started thinking hard. Zhang Dong had won the exchange, there was no reason for him to be alive now. It made no sense to this knight commander to leave an enemy alive that is unless he really wanted a less bloody resolution. The possibility of this being a trick was there but it would be immensely hard to pull off.

“Lord Lucius!”

The knights jumped off their horses while switching from lances to longswords. They were clearly not thinking about ending this battle just yet. Probably if their leader decided to continue with the struggle they would.

“Put your swords away.”

“Commander?”

“I will not repeat myself, do as you were ordered.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Surprisingly Lucius decided to stop, he even put his holy sword away into its sheath while ordering everyone to stand down. The knights were confused at first but after hearing the stern words they were quick to back away.

“Behemoth you too, come back.”

It seemed that the situation was being resolved, without a need to battle the knights in the air the large dragon returned to its master. The large form turned into many tiny bubbles of holy energy as it transformed into the small cute baby version instead. Soon both parties were facing each other with the wizard’s illusion being in the middle.

“Do you trust this man Argus?”

“I do my lord, I’m sure you can feel it too.”

Holy energy was a measure of divinity in this world and also for righteousness. There was no one above Zhang Dong when it came to this type of energy. The proof was before him and his actions also showed them that he was willing to talk. Now it was up to his diplomatic skills again to see if he could convince this thickheaded knight that they could work together.