Armad, Ilias, and Inara mounted their horses and galloped towards the jinzidal army.

The soldiers, on the other hand, unsheathed their swords, awaiting orders from their commander - Uznu Ururu.

A wicked smile played on Uznu's face as he gave his orders, "Take them captive or kill them if they resist. Whoever succeeds shall be promoted seven ranks and will be granted one wish of his."

A tremendous cheer that shook the ground arose from the soldiers. They galloped towards the trio, surrounding them in a wide circle. Then the archers and spearmen among them came forward and fired their weapons. Arrows and spears rained on.

Armad studied the situation calmly and gave his orders. "Ilias, hold the right side. Inara will take care of the left. I shall go through them and face Uznu."

But before that, Armad decided to take care of the troublesome archers and spearmen. He opened his mouth and, like a true dragon, breathed out a blinding flash of lightning. The lightning first cycled around him and his companions to create a wall of lightning before it then expanded outward to attack the archers. It burned the spears and arrows shot towards them like they were candles.

While everyone was blinded by his first attack, Armad made his right hand into a fist, invoking Lightning Arm. A flood of lightning in form of a fist shot out of his hand and engulfed everything on its path. Mere lightning resistance and armors were ignored by the lightning fist. Everything was burnt instantly and the only thing remaining was silence.

Without a word, Ilias ran to the right side while Inara ran to the left.

Two more attacks from Armad cleared the way for them to make their moves. And Armad made use of the chaos to run after Uznu.

The throng of onlookers on the wall was increasing. Among them, in disguise, were princess Nostalgia and Spoon.

They witnessed this historic moment as it unfolded. Wherever Armad went, his victims fell, burnt beyond recognition.

An ember cloud emerged above him.

He slew the soldiers as he aimed for his target - Uznu.

A hundred soldiers roared and attacked Armad from the right, but Inara stopped them using his (lightning Contract)-powered sword. Lightning splashed from the sword and stopped the enemy. It wasn't as flashy as Armad's lightning fist but he could still push the soldiers back and even injure some of them.

Ilias defended Armad from the left using his excellent swordsmanship. He didn't use lightning but he was fast. Sometimes he would suddenly transform into some small animal and disappear, making his opponents wary of what he would do next.

Meanwhile, Armad kept burning his way forward. His opponents didn't fear death. They quickly came forward to replace their fallen comrades. It was a war of attrition. Uznu was trying to overwhelm him with numbers. The man was probably thinking that Armad would run out of pol after using ten or twenty large-scale Bends. But what was the truth? Armad wouldn't be exhausted anytime soon. He would likely kill everyone on the battlefield before he ran out of pol. Why? Because he'd more than eight hundred years of pol available for Bending and his core-collapse compatible with life was over eighty percent, not the usual sixty percent. He would thank Uznu for that. After killing his djinn, Uznu unknowingly helped Armad expand his core beyond ordinary limits.

Besides, Armad had only been using lightning arm so far. The Bend needed to consume a maximum of 100 years to exert its maximum effect, but it could be interrupted at any point to minimize the pol consumption.

1.8% of the lightning arm could easily burn 100 armored soldiers and wound hundreds more. Armors and resistances were useless. The soldiers became meat shields in front of Armad.

All the while, Uznu stood still and simply observed the massacre.

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Armad was about to invoke another lightning arm when he saw the glimmer of a sword from his left. He turned just in time to see Ilias blocked an attack by Uznu. It was meant for him.

Clang.

Ilias' sword broke in half and the broken half flew toward Armad. Armada dodged it easily.

At the same time, Uznu disappeared from his position and reappeared beside Armad, slashing his sword again. Armad drew out his sword for the first time since the fight began. He covered it with lightning and blocked the attack. A deafening sound and a cloud of thick dust rose to the sky. The battlefield fell silent as vibrations swept across the battlefield. All attention fell on the two men.

Armad used a one-handed sword so he used his free hand to launch lightning arm at his opponent. Lightning fist engulfed Uznu, but then dark smoke with yellow streaks emanated from his black eyes. It formed a thin wall of smoke that blocked the lightning. It seemed impossible at first. How could mere smoke block lightning? But when the lightning fist hit the seemingly fragile smoke wall, it released a deafening sound and dissipated.

Armad slashed again but Uznu side-stepped him easily and simultaneously attacked from the side.

The battlefield suddenly became more chaotic than before. Armad and Uznu fought on one side, while Ilias and Inara fought on the other.

Meanwhile, among the onlookers on the wall, Spoon turned to Nostalgia and said, "It seems they aren't doing well. I am going down to help. You are entrusted to me, so please stay here and do not wander."

She nodded her understanding and let him go.

Amidst the ongoing fierce battle, a huge man carrying a book in his hand dropped in the middle of the battlefield. He ignored the surrounding soldiers and just took his pen and wrote as if it was break time.

"Huh? Fatty, who the hell are you?"

"Fatty? Of course, that's not my name." Spoon pretended to be enraged. "Anyway, I'm the one who's going to kill you."

The soldiers sized him up for a moment before they burst out laughing. "Why don't you just die?"

They attacked from all directions.

But then some crazy-big lions emerged from the mysterious book. The lions didn't have a material body at first, but they quickly turned into flesh and blood and crashed into the battlefield.

Ilias turned to Spoon and smiled. "Welcome, first writer."

Inara smiled at both of them with satisfaction.

The battlefield had now become chaos of dust and blood and screaming men. Ravens of Death feast on the souls of fallen men.

The onlookers watched on with bated breath. Their reactions differed. For some, it was Armad's lightning arm that they found the most incredible. For some, it was Spoon's summonings. While for others, it was Ilias' sharp sword and transformations. A few even had their attention on Inara's use of both lightning and fire elements.

"Look, he's using fire as well."

"Oh my, isn't he amazing? He's too young. How can he be this powerful?"

"Just being able to stand in front of so many enemy soldiers is enough."

A few people happened to see Inara using fire element, so for him to use lightning as well, it must be some high-ranking djinn with double attributes.

Armad suddenly stopped his attacks. He observed his opponent with curious eyes. After a while, he said, "I fought you once before, Uznu. I know this is not the extent of your strength. If you want to capture me then you have to try harder."

Uznu smiled but remained silent. After what seemed like a long time, he replied, "You've grown stronger in a short period, just like a Wilberforce. We shall soon fight in a real setting. But for now, I have gotten what I came for. See you later."

Having said this, he clapped his hands in a gesture and said some incantations before disappearing along with his army, including the dead. In just a second, their bodies faded and disappeared. The battlefield became empty as if none of it had ever happened. Something that made everyone spellbound.

From a chaotic battlefield to a silent, empty one. The onlookers didn't know what they preferred.

Armad looked at his friends questioningly, but none of them could explain what just happened. Everyone had the same thought: what just happened?

Several minutes later.

The trio was ushered into the city in a daze. As Damjinu and his army welcomed them, Spoon excused himself in a bid to take Nostalgia home without Armad ever knowing what happened. He went to the place where he'd left her, but she wasn't there. At first, he thought she moved but after an hour of searching, he started frowning and became suspicious. With no other option, he called Ilias and informed him. They later told Armad about it.

"She's somewhere here, I'm sure of it. She's probably just mad at you for making her worry."

It was possible. So the trio searched the entire wall. When they couldn't find her...

"Then she must have gone back to the palace alone? King Bihanzin didn't want her to leave so he might have come and taken her."

It was possible. So they quickly returned to the palace and looked for her. When they couldn't find her...

"She's probably with the King...? She's probably briefing him on what happened on the battlefield. Right?"

It was possible. So they went to the King immediately. But she wasn't with him. The last time he saw her was with Spoon. Now, no sign of her anywhere in the city.

"Uznu told me he got what he came for..." Armad said slowly when everyone was present.

Did that mean the attack was a decoy to take the princess? But how exactly did they take her amid a sea of people and without anyone noticing? Commander Damjinu was there. Armad was also there. And Bihanzin could sense an intruder even from such a distance.

So what happened?