Silence.
Absolute silence fell over the place.
The soldiers around the area stared at Kael, absolutely horrified by the gory scene they had just witnessed. So with weaker stomachs began puking when Kael pulled apart Reed’s head together with his spine. So of the flesh and muscle had fallen on their faces, instantly making them lose themselves.
Yes, these were soldiers, and yes, every single one of them had seen more blood than most beings in the world, but...
Gore and blood were two entirely different things. No matter how strong their stomachs were, they couldn’t possibly watch sothing like this and not react at all.
The soldiers remained frozen, not moving even when the enemy was right in front of them.
But the enemy wasn’t the sa—he moved.
With his entire body now covered in Reed’s blood and Reed’s head in his right hand, he turned towards them.
"You brought this on yourself."
He spoke, the pressure in his voice felt like it had just announced their fates.
The worst part?
Instead of retaliating, the Sky Kingdom soldiers... flinched.
Kael stared at them with next to no change in his expression until suddenly—
"KKRRRRIIIEEEEKKKKKKK!!!"
A loud, angry screech was heard.
It was Reed’s Tempest Roc.
The Roc scread, a storm of lightning crackling around its huge wings as it charged at Kael with blind rage.
Everything happened too quickly. Just a second ago, Kael was standing on the ground, still warning and talking to Reed, but in just that second, not only had this monster managed to cover the distance, it had also watched its master die.
There was absolutely no way it would let the hateful man go, and that was what it did—it gathered all its strength, and with its eyes shining with intense hatred and anger, it moved to attack Kael, ready to tear off the hand that had killed its master.
And Kael...
Seeing the beast twisting midair, trying to make him fall while it itself charged forward toward him, he sighed inwardly and prepared his heart—
Then, he threw Reed’s head and extended his scaled arm towards the Roc. The Roc, uncaring of his action, continued to charge forward. Kael too extended his arm forward and then—
BOOOOM
He punched.
The impact hit like thunder. Kael’s scaled fist slamd into the Roc’s chest with an absurdly strong force. The bird’s body folded in on itself, its ribs shattered into a hundred pieces, bones exploding outward in a spray of blood and feathers. The beak snapped clean off, flying through the air like a broken spear. The Roc’s head whipped back so fast its neck broke with a loud CRACK, spine torn in half.
Its chest caved in, organs bursting out in a wet, red ss. Blood and guts splattered everywhere, raining down in thick, hot drops.
The Roc didn’t even cry out. It died the second the punch landed, its body flying backward and crashing into the ground. It slid, leaving a long trail of blood, crushed flesh, and broken bones.
Dust and feathers floated in the air, the entire battlefield turning silent at the bloodied sight.
Kael hovered in the air, his eyes still emotionless while his scaled fist continued dripping red. He didn’t even glance at the dead Roc; he had already seen its condition—its body was twisted and ruined, no different than a massive, broken heap of feathers, blood, and shattered bone.
It was dead.
The impact wasn’t sothing its body could survive.
In the end, the bloodied Kael once again turned towards the soldiers. He could see it—they were scared.
And it was only natural for them to be. Seeing what they saw today would definitely have an impact on them.
Heck, it wasn’t just them, even Kael himself was shaken inwardly. His own actions had taken a toll on his mind; he knew what he saw today would keep him up for days but...
But as Lavinia used to say—Kael understood its necessity.
This was the only way out, the only way to deal with this situation with a minimal number of casualties.
Fear.
He needed to overwhelm these people with fear, just like how the soldiers in front of him currently were.
For a mont, Kael even considered stopping.
They were already scared. If he asked them to surrender, they would, but...
Only these few soldiers, who had seen everything with their own eyes, would.
Kael stared at the soldiers standing afar, who hadn’t seen everything up close or were distracted by Igni.
Those would not surrender.
So if Kael wanted complete surrender, he needed to be more ruthless.
This wasn’t cruelty, this was...
This was what he had to do.
"Fight well."
Kael spoke.
"And die without regret."
Announcing the result of the battle before it ended.
His words ignited sothing within the soldiers, pulling them out of their reverie. They all realized that this couldn’t go on. No matter how overwhelmingly strong the enemy was, their mission was to bring him back, and that was what they were going to do—no matter what it took.
"STAY IN FORMATION!!!
CHARGE!!"
Suddenly, another shout was heard.
Kael and the soldiers turned towards the voice, and their expressions changed when they saw one of the squads rushing towards Kael, preparing to end this.
"The enemy has fought the General and the Vice General one after another, he is bound to be tired.
Do not falter!
Do not feel fear!
We can win this!
CHARGE!!!"
The commander scread again, breaking the silence with a thunderous roar, and together with him—
"CHARGE!!!"
His squad mbers scread, charging towards the enemy. Their numbers were nearing a hundred—twenty humans and about seventy beasts. They moved in formation, or whatever was left of the broken Heaven’s Net Formation.
Their movents were no longer perfect, but they were desperate, wild, filled with rage and fear all at once.
It was... strong.
Kael exhaled slowly, his muscles tightening as the air around him shimred.
Both his [Draconic Surge] and [Draconic Strike] were still activated, his body too had recovered most of the stamina he had spent fighting Aurelia. Currently, he was at his strongest.
And at a mont like this, that was what he needed.
His eyes hardened.
The first group reached him—a single soldier together with four flying beasts diving from above. Kael leaped upward, twisting midair, his scaled fist smashing into the rider’s chest.
BOOOOM
The man didn’t even scream—his ribs caved in, and his body folded around Kael’s fist before being thrown away like a ragdoll.
But this ti, his movents did not stop the man’s beasts. Instead, it angered them even further, making them frenzy.
One beast, a Frostveil Serpent, ca from behind, but it didn’t matter. Kael was faster and stronger; he had all the ti in the world to react to its movents. In the end, he grabbed the beast’s head and crushed it like a waterlon.
Blood sprayed, the serpent’s body lifelessly tumbling down.
Two more beasts ca from the right—Kael ducked under one’s claw and punched upward. The blow broke the beast’s spine, snapping its body in two. More blood sprayed into the air like a red mist.
The battle continued.
Kael didn’t stop, he didn’t think, he didn’t plan, he just... attacked.
With his strength, every single one of his strikes broke sothing, every single step crushed soone.
His punches turned armors into scrap and bodies into twisted shapes no living thing could survive.
But as the seconds passed, his strength began to fade. The fiery red scales on his arm began to disappear, his movent speed began to slow down.
Yes, both his abilities were deactivated.
But this didn’t spell the end of his charge. He was only beginning. Kael gritted his teeth and leaped back, using one of the beasts around him as a stepping stone. A single jump allowed him to create distance, giving him a slight mont to breathe as he stared at the approaching army.
His breathing grew heavier as he stared at enemies coming from all directions, then suddenly—
Shhhhrrrkkkkk
A portal of swirling light opened beside him, and from that portal—
"Father!"
—ca a small, absolutely adorable white figure.
It was Cirri.
The Sky Dragon’s voice echoed across the battlefield as she stared at the approaching enemies, her ember eyes showing solemnity beyond her age.
"You are here."
Kael smiled lightly, his exhaustion montarily fading away as he saw his daughter.
Because of his battle with Aurelia, he had sent the dragon back to Sanctuary, but now that the rules were broken—
It was ti to go all out.
"Let’s do this together."
Kael requested.
"Yes, Father!"
And Cirri—
She nodded as her tiny body stretched, disappearing into the air as she activated her Sky Form. In an instant, the battlefield that was clear just now was now covered in mist—mist where only Kael could move however he wanted.
"Father!"
Cirri called, signaling her father that she was prepared. The dragon had prepared countless small circles of shimring ’wind platforms’ Kael could step on and move however he wished.
And Kael moved.
Now, he no longer needed to depend on stepping off the beasts to stay in the air. Now that his daughter was here, he no longer needed to hold back.
"Two coming from above!"
Cirri warned, and Kael’s eyes beca determined as he took out his sword.
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