~Two minutes ago

Nostalgia was jogging toward Armad. All her attention was on him. He felt her coming and turned his head in her direction, dazzling her with a smile. That smile urged her on, forgetting where she was.

A few paces before she reached him, Armad crawled toward her and reached out with his hand. She reached out as well. Their hands were only a few inches away from each other. But before that could happen, a black raven descended between them. Dark light shrouded Nostalgia before the raven whisked her away.

Niyashi, who stood on the other side of the battlefield, was similarly snatched away by another raven.

Meanwhile, Daljari and Bihanzin fought fiercely. The image of the seven worlds summoned earlier by Daljari kept Bihanzin from wielding his weapon. His perpetual damage had been rendered useless by a wall of sand.

Bihanzin kept repeating his chant: "LIVE FOR THE SWORD. DIE FOR THE SWORD."

When Bihanzin seemed to be at his limit, Daljari summoned a boomerang and a spear, both of which were made of black sand. He threw both weapons at Bihanzin. Dark-green flame surrounded the weapons as they cut through the air.

Bihanzin produced another sword from his bag of holding and blocked both the two attacks, or at least he thought he did, but at the last moment, the boomerang touched the tip of the spear to change its course. Bihanzin blocked the boomerang but missed the spear.

Being so close to it, Bihanzin couldn't even dodge it.

Hasanu, who had been closely observing the battle, summoned a shield of violent wind to shield his father. Countless wind blades that constituted the shield destroyed anything that came in contact with it. And yet, Daljari's spear passed through the shield unimpeded and impaled Hasanu.

The spear didn't even stop as it ripped Hasanu's muscles and bones and proceeded to Bihanzin.

Before it could reach Bihanzin, death ravens brought Niyashi and Nostalgia. Both were conscious but unable to move or control their bodies.

The raven holding Nostalgia put her directly in front of the spear, and she got impaled by it. The spear, still maintaining its momentum, shot out and impaled Bihanzin. Whereas Niyashi was placed safely between Hasanu and Daljari.

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Daljari, Niyashi, Hasanu, Nostalgia, and Bihanzin. They formed an odd formation in a straight line.

The soldiers from both sides were dumbfounded. Even Daljari had no clue about what Bihanzin just did. Why would Bihanzin bring Niyashi closer to his father? And why bring Nostalgia there?

Everyone focused on Nostalgia. Did Bihanzin just place her in harm's way? Bihanzin waged war because of Nostalgia. He came out to protect her. So why would he do anything to harm her? Everyone just stared at the scene, unsure what to make of it.

Hidaya vanished at that moment and reappeared beside Nostalgia. A yellow light started flooding out of her body. The light exploded and shot toward the sky. Every person on the battlefield felt their pol shook violently. The ones closer to Bihanzin suddenly couldn't feel their pol. When they looked into their core, there was nothing left. All their pol was gone, sucked away by an unseen power.

Damjinu and the two commanders beside Bihanzin found themselves losing several years of pol every second. The pol dissolved in their core and then evaporated into the atmosphere where it would be absorbed by the yellow light coming from Hidaya.

Asifu and Red Rider were smart. They quickly hid behind Daljari and distanced themselves from Hidaya. Any soldier too slow to move would be caught by the wave and lose their pol instantly. The only two people unaffected were Bihanzin and Daljari.

"Black Flame!" Daljari was startled. He'd just noticed her.

Heeda didn't respond to him and went directly for Bihanzin. The air around her split as she lunged forward. A dark cloud formed above her as she sped across the battlefield. A moment later, chains came down from the first world to restrain her. Her casual attack had surpassed the limit of the lower worlds.

Bihanzin roared and, with just a thought, summoned a thousand herd of ravens. They flew above him and released unholy screeches. A human head that looked exactly like Bihanzin grew on the King's left shoulder. Another head grew on the other shoulder. Then another grew on the back. Each head grew three pointed horns that looked like arrows. Bihanzin roared again and his body grew bigger. Each head grew two arms. Blade of the perpetual damage appeared in each hand.

Instead of King Bihanzin, a beast with four heads, eight arms, and twelve horns stood on the battlefield.

The chains from the first world tried to restrain him as well. By now, it was obvious both of them were using powers beyond what was allowed.

Hidaya blinked her left eye in a gesture. In response, a crater so extensive that it covered half of the northern hemisphere appeared behind her. From the crater rose an ancient-looking, gigantic tomahawk. The tomahawk flew to the sky and blocked the chains coming for Hidaya.

Bihanzin waved his hands and his thousand ravens flew up and blocked the chains approaching him.

Each of them had created a distraction against the chains, making a way for them to fight unhindered.

They clashed mid-air.

One sword against eight perpetual damage swords. A woman against a four-headed beast of the Shishirui.