"Papa! Look what I found in our garden!" a little girl with bright yellow hair exclaimed as she was clasping a large sunflower in her little hands. Her father, who was initially busy looking at a map detailing the location of both his forces and his enemies, turned around to look at his daughter lovingly.

He was dressed in full battle armour, with an impressive red cape on top of a gold breastplate. The man asked gently, "Ho, what did my precious little girl find this time? Wow, that's a pretty big sunflower you got there! Did you show your mother already?"

The little girl nodded excitedly, "Yes, I've already shown Mama, but I think Papa should also see it!" Soon enough, the little girl's mother walked in as well, apologising, "I'm so sorry, Darling. I know you're busy with work but I couldn't stop Dawn, she was simply too excited."

The man laughed heartily, "Hahaha! It's alright, Leia! Kids her age should be this energetic after all! Seeing you two makes my worries go away, ahahaha!" Leia smiled warmly at her husband's response as he hoisted their daughter on his shoulder.

Suddenly, a man dressed in armour similar to Leia's husband came rushing into the room. He exclaimed, "Lord Panzer! The Nirvanians have finally arrived! They're currently engaging with our vanguard in the Targon Ravine, but it's only a matter of time before they break through! After all, they have one of the 10 Saints with them!"

Panzer placed his daughter gently on the floor, softly pushing her towards her mother. Leia asked worryingly, "Do you really have to go?" Panzer replied in an assuring tone, "We can't afford to fight near Targon, there would be too much collateral damage and loss of innocent lives. Furthermore, as Duke of Targon and general of its military, it's my responsibility to safeguard you all. Take care dear, and look after our daughter. Let's go, Nikolai."

The other man bowed in respect as Panzer headed towards the exit, drawing his helmet which was lying on the side of the table. After he put on his helmet, which was similar to an ancient Spartan helmet, he heard his daughter whisper, "Come home safe, ok, Papa?"

Panzer turned around and kneeled in front of his daughter, patting her head. With his face largely obscured by the helmet, Panzer replied gently, "I'll come home safely, it's a promise." His daughter waved goodbye with a smile as Panzer left the room with a smile on his face, concealing the anxiety he had deep down in his heart.

The Sword Saint, Van, and the men of the 3rd Division under his charge were pushing successfully against the Miran vanguard. Even though the 3rd Division only had about 1200 troops out of an initial 2000, Van insisted on pressing on, claiming that his strength would guarantee their victory.

Van continued to ride on his horse leisurely, not needing to lift a finger since his aides, Vincent, a senior disciple of his father, and Venice, Vincent's own disciple, were clearing the path for him. Vincent advised as he cut down a nearby enemy, "Lord Van, we may seem to have an upper hand now, but let's not forget that the 5 Pillars of Miran have yet to show themselves here!

Furthermore, not mentioning our reduced numbers, the fact that our soldiers had to progress so fast towards Miran must have exhausted them. We're simply not in an optimal condition to face Miran now, so I suggest retreating temporarily to a safe foothold."

Van snapped rudely, "Are you forgetting that I, the Sword Saint, am around, Vincent? 5 Pillars or not, I would tear right through their numbers with my [Shatter], the ultimate Enigma Ability that breaks everything in its path. Perhaps you need a demonstration of my capabilities, Vincent."

Van jumped quickly off his horse, narrowly dodging the downward slash of an ambitious Miran foot soldier. Van elbowed him in the gut and snatched his sword. Without hesitation, Van swung his sword down mercilessly, creating a gigantic shockwave that ripped the poor Miranian soldier to shreds as it rushed through the entire Miran vanguard, decimating them instantly.

A fair distance away from the entrance of the Targon Ravine, Panzer squinted as he saw something rushing towards his army. To his horror, he realised that it was a humongous shockwave that threatened to obliterate his forces. Instinctively, he leapt from his horse to land some distance in front of his men.

Nikolai, understanding the gravity of the situation, ordered the rest of the army to stay put. Panzer raised his shield before his body, muttering, "Noble in defence, [Grand Aegis]!" Instantly, Panzer's shield transformed into a shiny golden shield larger than before, as it clashed head-on with the incoming shockwave.

The power of the shockwave took Panzer by surprise, as it pushed him back slightly despite using [Grand Aegis] with its formidable defensive abilities. Gathering even more mana around his shield, with a war cry, Panzer redirected the shockwave into the sky. At the end of its trail, the shockwave exploded omnidirectionally, clearing the sky of any nearby clouds.

Immediately, Panzer muttered, "Seek and destroy, [Heartseeker]!" as his spear transformed into a grand-looking spear with a wide, red-coloured tip. Having a rough idea of his enemies' location, after infusing a large amount of mana into [Heartseeker], Panzer threw his spear towards his enemies like a javelin. [Heartseeker] had the ability to accurately fly towards the location envisioned by its user, similar to GPS-directed missiles.

Van looked proudly at his achievement in singlehandedly destroying the enemy vanguard, but his joy was short-lived when he noticed something descending rapidly towards his direction from the sky. To his horror, he realised that it was a spear overflowing with mana as it landed about hundred metres away from him.

Upon collision with the ground, the spear released its mana in the form of a large explosion, killing everyone within a 50 m radius and severely injuring anyone within 75 m. Before Van could take a closer look at the spear which eradicated at least 150 of his men instantly, the spear simply teleported.

Meanwhile, after retrieving his spear which teleports back to him at will, Panzer readied another throw, shifting his trajectory slightly. He quickly released his spear in a similar fashion as earlier, watching his spear rush towards his foes.

This time, Van was ready as he waited for the spear to show itself. True enough, the spear was heading right towards him. Vincent was surprised when Van drew his own sword, the S-Class weapon [Dragonheart] from its scabbard at his waist. After all, Van rarely used his own weapon, the only one able to withstand the strength of his Enigma Ability, [Shatter].

Van quickly swung [Dragonheart] in the direction of the incoming spear, generating a powerful shockwave that clashed head-on with the flying spear. Both forces refused to relent initially, but eventually, Van's attack emerged victorious as it knocked the spear out of its intended trajectory, causing it to spin uncontrollably before it vanished in mid-air once again.

Once they had accounted for their remaining forces, the Nirvanians led by Van marched out of the ravine to engage the enemy. Upon leaving the ravine, the Nirvanians found themselves surrounded and outnumbered by the Miran army before them.

Vincent remarked, "Darn! We should have known that they still had more in them than we thought! Retreat is not viable for us now since the narrow pathway offered by the ravine would only slow us down! What're your instructions, Lord Van?"

Van rubbed his chin, deliberating on his next possible course of action in such a precarious situation when he saw the enemy general step forward. He was armed with a large golden shield and a spear…which Van deflected earlier.

The enemy general declared, "I've a fair proposal for both our armies! You're one of the 10 Saints if I'm not mistaken, right? I'm Panzer of the North, one of the 5 Pillars of Miran. I challenge you to a one-on-one death match, which the loser's forces must unconditionally surrender. Do you accept?"

Nikolai interrupted, "Sir! We have the numerical advantage over the Nirvanians! Why are you offering such a proposal when we can simply overwhelm them with our superior military might?"

Panzer replied calmly, "There's no need to incur any unnecessary bloodshed if we can avoid it. All of your lives are precious to me. War should be fought between the higher-ups after all, we shouldn't drag innocent men into the designs of our superiors. Even if I lose, at least your lives would be spared and you get to go home and reunite with your kin. The Nirvanians have a strict code of honour from my understanding, so say no more, Nikolai."

Nikolai dejectedly kept silent as some of his men shed tears of sorrow as they were touched by the kindness of their duke. Vincent was about to open his mouth before Van interrupted, "Very well, I accept your proposal! I enjoy one-on-one duels with the strong after all!" Van stepped forward boldly, brandishing his [Dragonheart] confidently as Vincent shook his head at his master's impetuousness.

The 2 duellists circled each other warily, each clasping their respective weapons tightly. Van made the first move, leaping suddenly towards Panzer as he aimed a powerful downward diagonal swing across Panzer's torso. Panzer instinctively raised his shield to guard against the attack, and the collision between sword and shield generated a large shockwave that blew across the entire battlefield in all directions.

After absorbing the blow, Panzer quickly pushed away Van's sword and aimed a stab towards Van's head with his [Heartseeker]. Van ducked in the nick of time, escaping with a nick on his left cheek as he jumped back in surprise.

Regaining his composure, Van remarked, "Seems like your ability to withstand my Enigma Ability, [Shatter], wasn't a fluke after all." Seeing that Panzer didn't reply to his comment, Van's face contorted with rage as he gathered more mana in his sword, unleashing a flurry of wild swings at Panzer.

Instead of passively withstanding Van's strikes, Panzer proactively thrusted his [Grand Aegis] forward, coating it with mana as he guarded against Van's attacks perfectly, even when they came from different angles. The strength of their respective blows was evident in the resultant wind from each of their clashes, each gust stronger than the previous.

Vincent remarked to Venice, "I've never seen someone last so long against Lord Van's usually overwhelming slashes for such an extended period of time, not to mention that it seems that he's holding the upper hand against our lord."

Observing that Van's movements were becoming sluggish as he exhausted himself too quickly with such forceful slashes, Panzer decided to end the duel once and for all with a powerful stab. Seizing the window of opportunity when it arrived, Panzer shifted his shield to his left, rushing forward with a powerful stab towards Van's gut.

Adrenaline kicked in as Van managed to turn away suddenly, narrowly avoiding Panzer's attack. As Van's body moved out of the way, Panzer realised that his stab might reach the Nirvanian troops standing at the front with the amount of power in it. He quickly halted his attack in the middle of his momentum, causing him to lose his balance.

Sniffing an opportunity, Van quickly performed an upward slash across Panzer's chest, which would have split him in half if not for his mana armour that absorbed most of the power. Blood spewed forth from Panzer's wound as he used his spear for support. Van jumped away, his face displaying glee at inflicting a serious injury on his opponent.

Several Miranian troops raised their weapons in anger, with one shouting, "Lord Panzer would not have received that blow if he hadn't pulled out of his attack midway in order to avoid hurting those Nirvanian bystanders! How dare that despicable cad make use of that opportunity to hurt Lord Panzer! Let's charge out there and show them who's boss!"

The rest of the Miranian soldiers became livid as well as they threatened to break the agreement. Before they could do so however, Panzer raised a hand to halt them as he declared, "I'm alright! Hold your positions! This duel is not over!" Nikolai added, "That's right! Do you guys have so little faith in our Duke?"

The Miranian soldiers began to calm down as they continued to observe the duel eagerly. Van smirked, "Ha! You place too much emphasis on your values, just like my annoying old man! You're going to die if you keep this up!" Panzer replied calmly, "I can tell that you've no soul from the look in your eyes. All you seek is power and wanton destruction, with no regard to the people around you. You're empty indeed. Let's not waste any time, come."

Van leapt eagerly towards Panzer, his confidence buoyed by his successful strike earlier. Once again, Panzer was able to block all of Van's attacks successfully, but instead of waiting it out, upon a clear chance, Panzer unleashed a series of fierce stabs at Van, which he couldn't block and suffered multiple stab wounds.

Van backed off in shock as he didn't expect Panzer to go on the offensive suddenly. Panzer remarked, "I can deduce that you're over-reliant on your Enigma Ability, so much so that you've failed to improve your technique. Any great swordsman would have been able to defend against those blows with ease."

Van became increasingly flustered as he realised that his technique was lacking against an opponent like Panzer who could match his power. He shouted, "Shut up! I'm going to be the victor!" as he made a few frantic slashes at Panzer. Once again, Panzer calmly neutralised every attack before countering with an occasional stab that grazed Van.

Finally, unable to accept his current situation, Van threw all of his power into an overhead 2-handed swing, which Panzer countered appropriately with a solid defence in his [Grand Aegis]. The resultant clash created a shockwave so strong that it not only cracked the ground they were standing on, it also caused a slight crack on Panzer's [Grand Aegis].

Panzer quickly transited from defence to offense, launching a powerful stab through Van's gut. Van couldn't dodge this time as he spat out blood. Panzer then followed up with a powerful shield bash from his [Grand Aegis], breaking Van's nose and knocking him out as he flew several feet.

Panzer walked towards Van's unconscious body, ready to deal the finishing blow as his fellow Miranians cheered. Vincent coolly ordered, "Venice, on the count of 3, I want you to rush forward and recover Lord Van. I would distract the enemy general. 3, 2, 1…go!"

Venice rushed forward in a blink just before Panzer could pierce Van's neck, dragging his body away as Vincent blocked Panzer's strike. Panzer displayed a puzzled expression as he asked, "Is one man's life more important than the lives of an entire army?" Vincent calmly replied, "I made a promise to his father to bring him home alive. I'll give up my life if it means he has a chance to live."

Vincent proceeded to rain several blows on Panzer, who expertly blocked every single attack with his shield. Nikolai ordered, "The enemy has broken the agreement! Charge!" The Miranians roared as they began their hot pursuit of the fleeing Nirvanian army.

Vincent continued his fierce exchanges with Panzer, displaying greater technical proficiency in swordsmanship than Van as he managed to bypass Panzer's defence and slash his left cheek. Panzer took a step back as he wiped the blood off his cheek.

Panzer remarked, "You have far greater skill in the sword than your lord. I could barely keep up with those movements of yours. Pity you couldn't hurt me more with that strike, thanks to my passive mana armour."

Vincent replied, "I don't need praise from an enemy. This is but a fraction of the true [Renard Family Sword Style], which Lord Van stopped learning several years ago when he awakened his Enigma Ability. It's time I show you the true strength of the [Renard Family Sword Style], a sword style that evolves according to its wielder!"

Panzer exclaimed, "Interesting, show me what else you can do apart from those fast twirls of your sword!" Vincent took a small leap back before pouncing forward, rapidly twirling the blade with his wrist as he flew forward. When he was a fair distance away from Panzer, he swung his sword-wielding hand downwards, sending his sword spinning rapidly towards Panzer.

Panzer instinctively raised his shield to protect himself from the attack. The sword grinded Panzer's [Grand Aegis] like a chainsaw, as sparks flew uncontrollably. To Panzer's surprise, Vincent continued flying forward, timing his movement perfectly as he grabbed the hilt of his spinning sword and suddenly stabbed forward with it.

The sudden plunge caught Panzer off guard, who could only lower his head in response, flowing mana through his helmet to protect himself. The sword pierced cleanly through Panzer's helmet, but stopped short of piercing through his skull, as Panzer's forehead only suffered a nick.

Panzer quickly retaliated with a quick stab to Vincent's throat, ending the life of the veteran swordsman. Vincent slumped to the ground like a ragdoll, while Panzer pulled the sword out of his helmet, laying the sword gently next to the veteran's corpse. Panzer felt the wound on his forehead, heaving a sigh of relief as he rushed to catch up with his men.

Eventually, the Miranians successfully caught up with the Nirvanians. Panzer walked up to the front and said, "I'll give you guys another chance. Surrender now peacefully and bring us your leader or die alongside him in battle. It's your choice."

There were several murmurs among the Nirvanians as Venice was placed in a huge dilemma. On one hand, they would all die if they refused to surrender but on the other hand, they couldn't afford to lose a member of the 10 Saints.

One of the Nirvanian captains approached Venice and spoke calmly, "Lady Venice, we would respect your decision regardless of outcome. We're willing to place our lives in your hands, as we would have done under your Master, Vincent." Venice soon made up her mind and confidently answered, "Lord Panzer, I'm afraid we'll have to decline your offer. The life of a member of the 10 Saints is still too much to ask for."

Panzer closed his eyes and shook his head. Nikolai ordered, "Charge! Kill them all but seize the enemy leader alive!" Venice quickly instructed her most trustworthy men to evacuate Lord Van as quickly as possible, while galvanising the rest to hold their ground and delay the enemy for as long as possible.

As she saw Lord Van being carried to safety, Venice had mixed feelings. On one hand, she was glad that Lord Van escaped alive. On the other hand, she could now feel a sense of hopelessness as her remaining men got overwhelmed and killed one by one.

Suddenly, Venice noticed that there was some commotion amidst the enemy's left flank. Panzer was stumped when he was told that enemy reinforcements had arrived and attacked their left flank with elite cavalry. Looking towards the left flank, after gauging the enemy's location, Panzer threw [Heartseeker] like a javelin once again, intending to cripple his new foes.

To his surprise, he saw that his spear was blocked by a powerful focused beam of electricity. Panzer sighed, "Another member of the 10 Saints? This could spell trouble." as [Heartseeker] returned to his hand.

Within minutes, the Nirvanian reinforcements had cut a path through the Miranian forces to link up with the remnants of the 3rd Division. Leading the reinforcements was none other than the Lightning Saint, Ray, who was the Commander of the 4th Division.

Ray turned around to face his lieutenant, Princess Nikki. "Nikki, I sense someone very powerful amidst the enemy. I'm going to take him on. I entrust our forces to you." Nikki nodded her head in agreement as she rallied the men under her charge.

Ray dismounted from his horse and leapt in the direction which he sensed that huge amount of mana equivalent to the level of a Sage. Ray soon came face to face with Panzer who could tell that Ray was the opponent he was searching for.

Both scrutinised each other heavily, standing still just before yet another epic duel...