The entire battle line had devolved into porridge.
The Tower of Logic was no punching bag. Upon discovering their ally's betrayal, countless scholars cursed [Order]'s narrow-mindedness and bias while launching a ferocious counter-attack against the Grand Tribunal.
Of course, they hadn't forgotten their original target — the War Legion that had been ravaging their borders for so long. So in an instant, numberless War Machine Pawns were released from their shackles, sweeping toward both their flanks and front like a tide of steel.
Simultaneously, countless defensive formations rose in succession. Overlapping incantations rolled across the sky like crashing waves as the scholars deployed [Truth]'s power to erect towering walls that blocked the teor fire rain. And after the fires had spread across the entire field, they drew from the river valley below the highlands, summoning a torrent of rain to cool the scorched earth.
The situation spiraled beyond control, and the battle itself slipped free of any commander's grasp.
Listening to the dense, whistling barrage of teor after teor, Cheng Shi and Sun Miao had no choice but to pour every ounce of energy into dodging.
Under this kind of indiscriminate bombardnt, Keinlaur's defeat suddenly seed far less baffling. The real mystery was how the man called King Delvo had managed to win.
The War Legion certainly hadn't been watching from the sidelines. The mont the teors started falling, they charged straight into the encirclent and clashed with both nations' alliance — no, there was no alliance anymore. It was a three-way lee.
The teor fire rain from the Elental Judge formations didn't look like the Grand Tribunal's weapon at all. It looked more like the War Legion's rallying call.
Strange. Suprely strange. If Delvo had delayed his order by even one minute, he could have watched tens of thousands of enemies get blasted to ash. So why had he insisted on charging at this exact mont?
It wasn't just Cheng Shi who was puzzled. Sun Miao was practically clawing at his own heart with curiosity. He desperately wanted to understand the decisive factor in this battle's outco. The two exchanged a look and, so long as their own safety was assured, imdiately pivoted toward the sa destination:
The War Legion's command banner!
Since Delvo ultimately won the war, staying near him would be the safest bet. They moved without hesitation. What they didn't know was that in this chaotic battlefield, more than one group shared the sa idea.
Fate, like a deft seamstress, had woven countless threads of destiny together.
When the two of them stripped armor from a pile of corpses, disguised themselves as [War] soldiers, and raced through a gauntlet of attacks to reach the War Legion's central camp, they spotted an elite squad of knights cutting in from the Grand Tribunal's side at a pace matching their own.
And the knight leading the charge, his white hair dyed crimson with blood, was none other than the Grand Tribunal's commander: Keinlaur!
The Supre Inquisitor had truly co. Just as Cheng Shi had predicted, he intended to carry out an audacious decapitation strike amid this "surgical" battle, using the enemy commander's bones as the foundation for a new order!
The Iron Law Knights who'd fought their way through beside him were undoubtedly the Grand Tribunal's most valorous. Lance tips thrust forward, they charged relentlessly, a blade cutting straight into the War Legion's heart.
Even when surrounded by forces several tis their number, this lightning-fast squad showed not a hint of disorder in their formation.
Their morale was like a rainbow, their fighting spirit burning high. It seed they would pin the [War] soldiers to this blood-and-fire-baptized earth for good.
Seeing such "divine soldiers" among the Grand Tribunal's forces, Sun Miao's pupils shrank. He frowned slightly:
"Has the trial been altered?
Delvo's [War] soldier bodyguards clearly can't match this knight squad. If Keinlaur charges to close range at this pace...
Unless this Delvo is a Favored One blessed by [War] with extraordinary martial prowess, how can he possibly win?"
Sun Miao scanned the surroundings for variables in this localized engagent, but no matter how many tis he looked, he couldn't see a single opening for Delvo to turn things around.
Even with the [Corruption] container absorbing emotions nearby, his ntal strings drew taut.
But right then, Cheng Shi went rigid. He seized Sun Miao, who was still advancing, and asked with a frown:
"Which one is Delvo?"
Sun Miao's gaze sharpened. He pointed to the figure at the very front of the War Legion's command post, clad in blood-red armor and wearing a helt engraved with fla motifs.
"That should be him. His aura is unremarkable, but true dragons always lurk in the deep. Perhaps when Keinlaur fights his way to him, he'll give us the surprise of a lifeti!"
Sure enough, within a few breaths, amid the combined encirclent of the [War] soldiers and even so Tower of Logic War Machine Pawns, Keinlaur used his bow as a spear, led his Iron Law Knights through the siege, and killed his way straight to Delvo's position.
This "red-haired" old man was drenched in blood, his expression iron-hard. When his gaze t Delvo's, he reined in his horse, its hooves rearing high. He raised the great bow, drew the string, and loosed three arrows in rapid succession at the enemy commander — arrows bearing the century-long vision of the Shared Law Faction, arrows of [Order].
Watching this blood-pumping scene unfold, Sun Miao held his breath, his mind focused on recording every detail. But Cheng Shi's pupils contracted sharply. Sothing was wrong.
'Wrong. Completely wrong!'
The great bow in Keinlaur's hands looked similar to the Startled Bow, but it was entirely different from the one he'd seen beneath the Mother Tree of Fear.
The shapes were roughly seventy percent alike. The blood-red patterns were nearly identical. But the bow Keinlaur now held lacked the uncanny, flowing radiance that had danced ceaselessly across the Startled Bow. At a glance, it didn't seem like a creation born from the Mother Tree of Fear at all.
Soone who'd never seen the original might not notice the difference, but Cheng Shi had watched Keinlaur draw that bow with his own eyes. He spotted the discrepancy instantly.
'Why?!'
'Keinlaur has fought his way to the enemy's doorstep. He can't still be hiding his strength!'
'If he's not holding back, why isn't he using the bow strung with Lid Yara's blood of [Order] to fire this final arrow?'
'Could this be the reason he failed?'
Cheng Shi's mind was in turmoil. He couldn't figure it out. But the next second, the battlefield before his eyes delivered the most unbelievable answer.
At the critical mont, the hitherto motionless Delvo suddenly burst into action. This supre commander of the War Legion, who had risen from the Tower of Logic, snorted coldly. He shoved his bodyguards aside to clear space, picked up a great bow from the ground at his feet, and stepped forward. Bow stance like an arrow, he nocked fear itself as his string, drew the bow into a full moon, and—
WHOOSH!
An arrow nad "Fear" howled from the string with terrifying force, splitting apart Keinlaur's triple volley and pinning the blood-soaked, death-resolved Inquisitor straight through to the scorched earth!
In that instant, the once-unstoppable Iron Law Knight squad tumbled from their horses, clutching the Supre Inquisitor's corpse and wailing in anguish. But the surrounding [War] soldiers grew even more electrified, erupting in thunderous cheers at the sa mont.
"How shall we survive!"
Delvo raised high the great bow in his hand, its surface alive with relentless, bewitching radiance. His voice rang out with absolute conviction:
"Through blood, and fire!"
...
Reviews
All reviews (0)