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Many things are revealed this Chapter and many things also conclude so I hope you enjoy!

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Chapter 62: Might of a Commander

Showing an ugly frown, Bharfas looked into the other man's eyes for a long time before spitting before his feet with utter disgust visible on his face.

"Well look who it is, Galenwelth the dog of Sarachec.

Since when did your Masters allow you to walk on two legs instead of four?"

These words alone, filled with so much malice that it physically hurt, made nearly all of the Asurian Soldiers go ghostly pale.

Many had the same thought.

Was it really a good idea to anger the enemy Commander when they were already fighting for their very lives to protect the path into the Stronghold?

Seemingly completely unfazed by the harsh words, Galenwelth only showed a small smile before responding with a deep and rumbling voice.

"I see you are still as sharp tongued and full of hate for my race as before, and here I thought old age would make a fool grow wise.

Must be really frustrating to know that you are still weaker than this 'dog' after all this time."

Both Commanders showed a small smile on their faces while exchanging words but their eyes had already turned blood red and an immense killing intent was washing over their respective men behind them.

"Do you really think level is everything? Unlike you I trained my Skills and perfected them over the years instead of mindlessly trying to only increase my level you stinking mutt."

Bharfas responded with a frosty voice as sharp winds howled around him although no one could even feel a breeze in the air.

"And still I am stronger and probably more skilled too as I actually perfected mine in battle and not with a wooden training pole, too scared to face real dangers like a certain someone."

Galenwelth still showed the same smile and his voice had a happy tone but his eyes spoke a different language.

Gripping the glaive on his shoulder with as much strength as he could he slowly got into a fighting style as did Bharfas, murder seeping out from them in cold and chilling waves.

Without even having to be asked to, both Sarachec and Asurian forces took big steps back and formed a ring around the Commanders, no one daring to even breath loudly while staring at the inevitable fight that would conclude the siege in one last battle.

"Have you already said your farewells to your wife and children old fool?"

Galenwelth asked and Bharfas only snorted once before responding.

"I would ask the same but I don't think the 12 year old girl in your tent would count as a 'wife'."

Clearly feeling the words, the Sarachec Commander's smile finally vanished and with a short movement he instantly appeared before Bharfas.

Not even giving him time to say anything else the gigantic glaive in his hands swung in a wide arc, the air itself trembled from the power behind the blow before finally hitting against the blade of a sword.

Cracks formed in the black stone beneath Bharfas' feet as he took the attack without any problem and counterattacked by rotating his sharp sword many times until it looked like his arm would pop out of his shoulder.

Together with the strong and bizarre rotation, immense winds suddenly appeared out of nowhere and with a low shout he smashed his blade against the glaive which had changed to a defensive position in the blink of an eye.

"Storm Edge!"

Together with the shout, a translucent wave went through the glaive and everyone behind the Sarachec commander, knocking over 1 thousand Soldiers in one swoop and some of the ones at the front even spat out a mouthful of blood while holding their stomach.

This clearly was an incredibly high leveled Skill and even though it was being deflected and 90% had been directed at the enemy Commander, 10% was enough to get over a thousand Soldiers out of commission for a few minutes.

Monster.

This one word echoed in each and everyone's mind as they watched the battle unfold.

It had to be mentioned that unlike his soldiers, Galanewelth had not taken any damage from the attack, although he had clearly received the brunt of it all.

Once again the difference between a normal Soldier and an 'Elite NPC Boss' had been outlined with this short but incredible exchange.

Makoto's blood was boiling in his veins and the beast inside of him for once stayed just as stunned as him while he watched this incredible battle between the elites that would never be possible in Real Life.

Soon enough the two men were circling each other with measured steps and gauging eyes.

No longer was there any trace of taking it easy or showing off, both clearly felt the danger coming from the other and were on high alert.

With a quick and aggressive step, Bharfas traveled nearly 10 feet and once again the wind itself seemed to lend him strength.

"Demon Scythe!"

A thunderous roar exploded from the Commander's slash and a visible translucent current flew towards Galenwelth who quickly used his glaive to block the attack.

Unable to endure it as easily as last time he retreated a few steps back and a deep gash was visible on his chest.

The man himself seemed to be surprised about the wound and with a snarl for the first time put both of his hands on the handle of his weapon.

It must be noted that until now he had swung it around with just one hand which was quite ridiculous in itself as the thing was nearly 7 feet long and easily weighed over a hundred pounds.

Anyone who is rather involved in weapons will be able to tell you that the difference of using 1 hand or 2 was gigantic.

Strength and technique could both be pushed to the utter limit when using two hands and this only showed that the enemy lvl 55 Commander was finally getting serious.

Accompanied by his deep voice, a sudden heatwave clashed against Makoto who was standing not too far away from the enemy Commander and he had to cover half of his face to follow what happened next.

A bright blue flame, in the same translucent manner that he had seen before with the Commander appeared on Galenwelth's glaive.

"Skyfire Howl!"

His weapon completely covered in the bright blue flame, Galenwelth lashed out only once with it but that was appearently enough as a stream of flame shot towards Bharfas.

Faced with this Jetstream of fire that hurt the surrounding Soldiers who where nearly 40 feet away from it, the middle aged man quickly utilized yet another Skill as his sword flew around him in a bizarre pattern, creating a translucent wall around his sides and front.

"Void Protection!"

The moment the flame touched the translucent barrier of wind it surprisngly enough disappeared without a trace and Galenwelth visibly frowned after seeing that.

"Creating a void with the power of wind to shield yourself.

It seems you spoke true when you told me that you mastered your element."

"I have to admit I never before saw an attack with a flame as hot as yours. Did your owner throw you into a campfire when you were a whelp or is your affinity so strong without even mastering your element?"

"I really don't feel like telling and old fool like you."

Galenwelth said with a chuckle and once again got into a battle stance.

Spitting on the ground without any manners, Bharfas also put both hands around his sword for the first time and silence fell in the ring.

No one moved for more than half a minute and some of the surrounding Soldiers were starting to grow uncomfortable before a sudden flash of light and a mighty wind exploded forth, seemingly out of nowhere.

Most of the Soldiers were unable to follow the incredibly fast exchange between both Commanders that continued for many minutes, only Makoto after having his senses heightened by going through so many life and death battles in the game was vaguely able to follow them with his eyes and what he saw left him flabbergasted.

Having never trained in any martial arts, all of his attacks were an original from him, derived from many encounters and sharpened to be an effective and most importnatly, efficient way of dealing with any creature.

If you cant pierce it, bleed it to death, if you cant bleed it slow it down and hack it to death.

All of his attacks and strategies were incredibly crude and without any grace or technique that he was witnessing from both of these NPCs right now.

It was as if you compared the skillful swordplay of a fencer with the cleaving ability of a butcher.

Simply put, his fighting style was incredibly crude and without much thought put into it.

Until now he had been left with the belief that what he was doing was the best of his ability and a certain arrogance that was derived from continued success with his crude fighting style had kept him from noticing the flaws and also kep him from improving all this time.

This single exchange opened Makoto's eyes and showed him that he was only at the start of a very far road.

He never really had a goal in the game, because let's be honest, would anyone really have a deeper goal than just enjoying every single second in a Virtual Reality where you could be who you wanted to be?

He highly doubted it.

Witnessing this high-speed exchange beyond the limit of the human body and showing so much technique and grace in every movement was simply mindboggling for Makoto and made him question if he actually ever really tested the limits of his virtual body inside Azalon.

After all, even if those Elite NPC Bosses had stats that far outstripped a normal level 55 player, they were in the end still stat points which could be attained by everyone in the end.

It could very well be that at level 70 he would be able to move just as fast and with as much strength as these two monsters but he knew that without the actual Skill to back it up he would still be utterly destroyed.

Just thinking about his previous experience with Veronica who had clearly been training in a Martial Art showed him that she had to be at a rather early stage but it still made it easy for her to dominate the average opponent by strictly following the basics.

With such a shortcut in the power of a player inside the game, Makoto felt a cold shiver running down his spine just imagining a high leveled player who was also a Real Life Champion in a Martial Art.

Unlike Makoto who was relying on instinct and his body's Agility stat to dodge, those kinds of players might as well be able to walk inside an enemy army without being touched at all.

With a roaring wind blast, he was once again reminded of the current situation and intently followed the chaotic battle.

Despite the level difference, Bharfas had less injuries on his body while Galenwelth was already bleeding heavily from multiple wounds.

This clearly had something to do with his Commander already having mastered his 'element', whatever that was.

Having been put in a rather tight spot, the Sarachec Commander let out a long sigh and closed his eyes.

Bharfas watched the whole scene with a raised eybrow and was about to say something when a visible change appeared on Galenwelth's body.

Together with a blinding blue flame that enveloped his entire body, a layer of stone was slowly being pushed out from his body and covered the enemy Commander like a protective shell.

"Duo Element Affinity?!"

Bharfas shouted with an agape mouth and Galenwelth who now looked like a living statue at this point once again chuckled and his rather deep voice resounded.

"That's right, my progress with Earth is many times slower than with Fire and I can not master one without the other which is why my flame affinity has been at a peak for many years now.

Let's see if you can still win in a full out exchange shall we, old fool?"

Clearly unhappy about the developments in this fight, Bharfas only let out a shallow growl and an air current made his short hair fly around as if he was standing in the middle of a hurricane.

No longer even letting out any rude comments he completely focused on channeling his strength for one final and decisive exchange.

Wielding his sword with a might that could split apart the heavens themselves, a gust of wind lifted all the surrounding 10 thousand men from the ground and with an inhuman scream he unleashed his strongest Skill.

"Dragonwing Typhoon!"

Following his old enemy's example, Galenwelth too put every once of strength into this one attack and strengthened his own defense while at the same time using his ultimate Skill and piercing forward with his Glaive as a storm of fire engulfed the two men in a split second.

"Phoenix Goldflame!"

Fire and Wind clashed in an explosive exchange and the black stone beneath them instantly split apart while the surrounding walls crumbled as if crushed by a giant's fist.

Every Soldier of both armies had already stepped back a great distance after that last exchange and Makoto was one of the closest, about 150 feet away but it was appearently not enough as all of them still got affected in some way or another.

Both Skills seemed to fuel each others strength and with a bang that made the earth tremble, followed by a seething hot wind that sent everyone flying through the air, silence soon enough followed.

Crashing down with a breakneck speed, Makoto was able to roll off most of his momentum and soon enough stood up with shaky legs.

He saw that nearly half of his health had disappeared in a flash and was already quickly regenerating thanks to his 'Blood Rejuvenation'.

Others had not been as lucky.

Because the surrounding two walls had practically turned into rubble, there had been more than a dozen boulders that flew into every which direction, killing everyone they as much as grazed and still possessing enough power to once again be imbedded into the ground or a nearby wall.

Where both Commanders had clashed before, only a 5 foot deep crater in the black stone was left now.

First he thought that they had disintigrated into ash but a moan from both sides of the destroyed walls showed that there was more to it.

After a bit of stumbling and patting away the ash like dust from the black stone, Bharfas appeared on the right rubble wall, clearly having seen better days with a nasty injury on his forehead.

A few seconds later, Galenwelth showed up at the left rubble wall, clutching an arm at his side and limping on one leg but clearly worse off than Makoto's Commander.

Only now did it click that these sturdy black stone walls probably didn't even crack from the actual exchange but had been completely destroyed by the two bodies that flew into them.

Looking at both Commanders as if he was seeing Behemoth like monsters, Makoto could even feel the Beast inside of him shudder with fear.

Not saying a single word, both men stared at each other for a long time, stances at the ready even if they were missing their weapons now.

Only after 2 very long minutes did Galenwelth finally lower his gaze and Bharfas' expression instantly lit up.

"Seems a dog will always be a dog."

Once again feeling an incredible killing intent coming his way, Makoto's Commander put his arms up and quickly added with a smile.

"I was only kidding old friend, I see you are still struggling with taking a joke."

The tone in his voice had changed and Galenwelth too had the same honest smile on his face as he looked at the middle aged human before him.

"Even if I pump myself up to hate every human there is and swear to eradicate them all, I just can't hate you Bharfas.

Are you sure you can't just disguise yourself and join me just like in the old days?"

"Are you willing to cut off your ears and clip away your tail?

We are who we are, even if some of us are born as mutts like you.

Can't help it if the previous King suddenly goes mad after growing old and sentences every Sarachec citizen who crosses the border to death.

The past is the past but it sure has a habit of following us into the future, even now we are nearly constantly at war even though only 35 years ago we had a deep bond and were at peace.

Should have slit that Mad king's throat back then when I had the chance but I was so foolishly loyal..."

Sighing deeply, Bharfas turned around and sent one last glance towards the wounded Galenwelth before helping his men.

The Sarachec Commander stood at the same spot for quite a while before also returing to his men, only Makoto remained at the same location, utterly speechless to what he had just seen and heard...

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And there we have it, this will foreshadow quite a lot of what will happen in the future and I am sure most of you are already speculating without rest!

As always, comment below and I will try to upload next Chapter tomorrow but no promises, busy Abbadon is busy. :P