Ian rested the blade of his broadsword upon his right shoulder, chest rising and falling as his flushed face stared menacingly at the people before him. Be it the demonic beasts in the forests around Three-River Valley or those that populated the precarious trails of the Dragon’s Tail, the young outcast of the Varai clan had never shied away in the face of a fight. During the Battle of the Square back in his homeland’s capital of Lowen, he’d personally led the younger generation of the family that had cast him out against the warriors of the Towering Eaves clan with courage and bravery that Nolan hadn’t seen in someone his age until the Interspatial Migration had dropped him off in Venara.

Amidst the quiet the enemy leader pointed his long sword at the two of them and yelled out to his men. “They are strong, but they will run out of energy soon. I am going to rush to the west where my cousins are currently awaiting our signal. Hold out for one minute and I shall return with the lot of them, and then we shall kill these vermin once and for all!”

Without waiting for his men to respond he took three rapid steps and then jumped over the entirety of the gathered people only to land on the western side of the battlefield with a skilled tumble that almost immediately transitioned into a full on sprint.

The soldiers that he left behind shirked back as they watched their leader flee without any shame, though most of them held their ground in hesitant stances. Over a hundred and fifty people lay quietly throughout their blood-sodden surroundings, most of them unmoving within the mess of shredded armour and discarded weaponry. Those that Ian had killed presented a perturbing image to even the most stoic eye, as the majority of his victims lay in separate halves, often in large clusters where his martial skill had done its murderous work en masse.

Nolan glanced at his friend after a quick five count. “Head back to the village. I doubt they’ll follow you.”

“I’m not leaving you here alone.”

“I’m not sticking around. Trust me. I’ll meet you back at the village in less than a minute.”

He activated the Tranquil Void Step and dashed after the fleeing nobleman at an exceptional pace, the man’s demeanour changing to one of panic as he hurried on towards the western fields that hugged Talen. Try as he might he was unable to escape Nolan’s vision-blurring speed, which enabled him to catch up to the man in a matter of seconds.

“You filthy bastard!” the man exclaimed over his shoulder as he continued his frantic flight. “If you kill me then my father will—”

The man crashed into the barrier arrayment that Nolan had been concentrating on creating during his rapid pursuit, his mind working at full capacity in order to maintain the inner essence circulation for the Tranquil Void Step while simultaneously conjuring an arrayment diagram and activating it in a discreet manner. The man didn’t get the chance to collapse to the ground, as Nolan immediately appeared behind him with a fist covered in densely arranged inner essence that he violently smashed into his armoured back. His strike rent metal and smashed wrist-deep into the man’s flesh.

“I already killed your brother,” Nolan said quietly as he pulled his hand out and wrapped his arms around the nobleman’s head. “In for a penny in for a pound, you know?” He ended things with a quick and merciful snap of the neck that his enemy most likely didn’t deserve.

After taking the man’s sword along with his spatial bag, Nolan grasped the corpse by the ankles and spun around several times before hurling it westward. It didn’t land far enough to crash into the other group of enemies like he’d intended, but close enough to cause a fright that he wouldn’t stick around to observe.

He put his weapons away and returned to the spot where all of the villagers had gathered, Ian calmly replenishing his inner essence reserves with a superior spirit stone in either hand.

“Nolan!” Benn ran over as soon as he caught sight of him. “What happened?” He looked at the bloodstained tears in his clothes. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he said as he mimicked Ian with some stones of his own. “There’re about a hundred and sixty soldiers on the other side of that hill, forty or so to the west and some more to the east.”

“At least forty to the east,” said Ian. “The ones to the south should be busy looting the bodies of their comrades for a few minutes. That’s what they were doing when I left.”

“It’s not only that!” Benn said anxiously. “The men I sent to Scane—one of them returned here just a minute ago with a sliver of life left to him. He wasn’t discovered in the city, but he was shot by an archer from a distance on his return trip. He managed to make it here and tell me that he’d seen fires all throughout Malben, large fires.”

Nolan quietly downed ten mouthfuls of Divine Spirit Fountain water and then passed the large bottle over to Ian. He then jumped over two hundred metres into the air and conjured a foothold to stand on. Pillars of smoke trailed up into the sky from dozens of settlements throughout the valley, ranging from smaller hamlets and villages to the larger towns in the distance. Due to the clarity of the clear summer’s day he was able to make out several groups of darkly clad people that numbered over a thousand in total, mostly spread out in groups of fifty or a hundred. Many battles were taking place throughout the countryside between poorly armed locals and the count’s soldiers, most likely the fighters that Benn had enlisted to assist them in their civil uprising.

The enemies to the west of Talen were in the midst of rushing to the location of the main army that had been hiding behind the southern hill, where most of the survivors were doing just as Ian had claimed and helping themselves to the belongings of their fallen comrades.

There’re more people than Benn thought there’d be. He noticed two masses of still forms where hundreds of villagers lay silent in eternal stillness. Nolan didn’t understand. Thousands of people were destined to die before the day was through, but he couldn’t see the point to killing all of the people within the valley, which was evidently what was happening. Why proclaim yourself the ruler of a small kingdom if its only occupants were rueful ghosts?

He dropped down to another platform about fifty metres below him and then entered into a freefall that saw him landing in the spot that he had been standing in prior to his elevation.

“What did you see?” asked Ian. Both he and Nolan were unconcerned with the awed expressions of the villagers, who had likely never seen someone use spiritual energy in such a way.

“Impossible,” Benn muttered. “To attack all of the valley’s residents would take several thousand troops at the very least.”

“They shouldn’t have much more than a thousand people, but with their equipment and training along with the element of surprise I can’t see how they would have much trouble murdering unarmed townspeople.”

“W—what should we do Nolan? We have no choice but to rely on the two of you. I don’t know anything about battle, please understand.”

“Don’t worry. We said we’d help you so we’ll help you.” He took out the sword that he had taken from the dead nobleman, a sleek long sword made of deep blue metal. “You said that the count has four protectors and that they all had Essence Fusion weapons. We took down two guys with this same sword and they were both at the Integration stage. Would you say they fit the description?”

“Was there red paint on their helmets?”

“Yeah.”

“Then I believe so.”

“Here.” He handed the weapon to Benn with the hopes that it might raise his chances of survival. “Alright, so there’s a group of about four hundred locals battling around a hundred soldiers a minute or so from here, at your speed at least. Take half of the villagers and go back them up.”

The man paled for a moment before his eyes hardened with heavy resolve. “If that’s what you think our best bet is then I’ll trust you.”

“Ian, can you go with them? There should be two more of the so-called protectors left in the valley along with the count, but I doubt they’re all in that one spot.” Lowering his voice, he said, “Even if they are, you should still be able to escape without any problems.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll keep an eye on the village. There are still a lot of people in there.”

“Just be careful, alright? We were supposed to leave after a few seconds of fighting. You were doing some reckless things just now.”

“Look who’s talking. I’ll be fine, so hurry up. We don’t want all of those good family people to die on us, right?”

His friend eventually nodded and then cast a prompting look at Benn, who quickly relayed the plan to everyone present before setting off with half of the gathered villagers. Once they had left Nolan turned to those that remained and gave them an awkward stare.

“Once I finish catching my breath I’m going to head back over that hill. You guys wait here and guard the entrance to the village, okay?”

Hearing the general murmur of hesitant consent Nolan turned his gaze to the south. He wouldn’t be able to recover all of his energy, but he’d still be able to return his dantian to about eighty percent of its maximum capacity. As for spiritual energy he had completely recharged his reserves thanks to the Divine Spirit Fountain water. His superior spirit stones also contained traces of spiritual energy but not even close to the effect of the actual water, though all in all he felt quite invigorated.

He eventually stowed away the spirit stones and fountain water and once again summoned his twelve needles to orbit overhead. Willing a sword talisman to stick to each of his palms, he turned to the villagers and said, “Well, I’m heading out. I’ll be back soon.”

He dashed back over to the hill and ascended to its crown with a single leap. He arrived just as the last of the soldiers in the area made to leave, for after those from the west had regrouped with the survivors of the previous clash they had opted to use the hill as cover to quietly take off to the east. Nolan activated the Tranquil Void Step and quickly caught up to the straggling soldiers, a bright beam of light serving as a prelude to the violent blade of blue energy that ruthlessly cut through six fleeing men.

There was an odd satisfaction in seeing the alarmed reactions of those ahead of him, all of which doubled their efforts at retreat rather than turn to face him. He fired off another blade of energy, and then another and another, always at the places where soldiers ran along congested trajectories. Judging by the direction that they were heading in there was no doubt that they intended to join up with the force that was currently battling against the militia of villagers that he had sent Benn and Ian to reinforce. Noticing this, he picked up the speed and dashed into the rear of sprinting enemies, some of which quickly darted toward him with sharp swords poised to strike.

Seven men fell dead to the heaps of grass below after his needles neatly punched through their helmets and then promptly returned to their orbiting position. He leapt forward, sidestepped a slash from a short man with a sabre and then responded with one of his own. He followed up by quickly jumping away from the falling corpse and leveling a talisman-laden arm toward the densest knot of people within his line of sight. Many soldiers chose to band together to hold him off, mostly the ones that were soon to fall under his focus based upon where they were located in the throng of fast-running fighters.