Brilliant speckles of light bloomed all around the combat zone, as the Knights of the Eastern Territories unleashed every ounce of power within them. The defensive measures and trenches on the ground, despite being faced by a near-absolute possibility of being wiped out once the Lifespring’s elites were done with their work, were still manned by selfless volunteers.

The rest were retreating in orderly fashion, where they would reorganise and create a new defence line once they reached a safer place. Reinforcements — or rather, the main body of the Eastern troops — were on the move, but they would be far too late to save the people staying behind on this battlefield.

Gaius’ Moonshot trembled once more, but he was unable to confirm a kill, and the artefact folded up as five Knights closed in on the boy. With the defenders outnumbered five-to-one, the fact that Gaius had managed to fire off over ten times spoke volumes about how desperately the Knights that were protecting the little boy had fought.

His hands opened up, and qi blasted out of them to form a short and a long blade. Neither of them had anything like hilts, although if Gaius really wanted it, a small burst of will on his part would do. His right arm swept outwards, and the twenty-metre-long blade emulated his motion, slicing out a sweeping arc that slammed into an enemy Knight, batting it aside easily.

It was an almost effortless action, and as his target flailed in the air for a few moments, Gaius swept his right arm back in. There was a moment of resistance as the Knight’s defences blocked the strike, but the velocity at which the blade had swept back in was too fast, separating the Knight’s torso from its lower body.

The boy looked down on his right hand. Somehow, he had a feeling that he’d somehow violated the laws of physics with that single attack, but Gaius was content to chalk it up it being Orb.

The other charging Knights took up positions around Gaius, forming a square around him. They had stopped charging the moment one of their fellows were taken out, and from the looks of it, his enemies were intending to restrain him from inflicting more casualties on the ongoing battle by preventing him from attacking with the Moonshot.

One of them charged towards Gaius. The boy batted the incoming enemy aside with a lazy sweep, but before he could finish it off, a volley of explosions blasted him to the right, and the opportunity to get rid of one attacker vanished a heartbeat later.

Gaius clicked his tongue. His barrier was made to deal with direct attacks, but it was still able to transmit shockwaves and impacts — a weakness that the minds behind this team had probably discerned after the previous battles. Even if there was no damage, striking at him with attacks that sought to displace him from his current position would be incredibly effective in locking him down.

But you aren’t the only ones growing, however. For these attacks to land without the chance of me dodging, you guys have to be rather close. The shorter blade of qi in his left hand flared to life, and grew to twenty metres. Gaius licked his lips, and in the next moment, he was heading towards the Knight in front of him. His arms slashed outwards, one vertical and horizontal arc each.

Shockwaves rocked the boy’s body again, but the damage had been done. Another Knight fell apart, and as Gaius regained his balance, he charged towards the closest Knight, who immediately broke formation to flee. More shockwaves buffeted Gaius as the boy chased the Knight, but their accuracy began to drop with the increasing distance.

Gaius dispelled the constructs of energy in his hands — he could very well hit a friendly with it while flying— and put on a burst of speed. The Terminus hummed lightly, and a second later, the boy was slashing down onto the fleeing Knight. His quarry turned to face him, and in that moment, Gaius got a good, long look at his target.

From afar, even with the Moonshot’s scope, the blue, full body armour that these Knights wore were too alike for Gaius to actually take stock of their appearance. And up until today, he never had the chance to assess them up close without any distractions. He had assumed that these Knights were just living suits of armour, given that he hadn’t seen any blood spill when he’d sliced apart a bunch of time. But now, up close, through the visor that protected his target’s life, Gaius could see a pair of eyes staring back at him in fear. Its pupils were an azure blue, and when combined with the white around it, the boy had the feeling that these Knights were actually alive!

Have I…we been killing lives like us the whole time? In that moment of hesitation, his quarry unsheathed the sword at its side and slashed out in a smooth moment. The boy, acting on instinct, parried the strike with the Terminus, and then stabbed outwards with it. The thin defences around the Knight shattered immediately, and it gurgled softly as the dagger slammed into its throat.

The Knight trembled, and tried to move, but strength left its body. Gaius stared at the blue suit of armour in silence, and withdrew the Terminus from its throat. It plummeted from the sky, and as the boy surveyed the combat zone, the remaining pursuers caught up.

Most of the defenders had chosen to go out in a blaze of glory, their bodies turning into spheres of multi-coloured light that swallowed the Knights around them after they were too injured to carry on. Others had fought to the bitter end, dragging down one or two attackers where they could.

Sparks flew as Gaius locked blades with one of the Knights chasing him. His leg kicked out three times, two of which were blocked by the Knight’s own kick, but Gaius’ third strike was too fast for the Knight to react in time. A foot slammed into his enemy’s crotch, and the Knight shook. A thin film of energy was protecting it, but the impact of that blow revealed an opening.

The Terminus flashed once again, and the headless Knight dropped from the sky. Without a pause, the boy closed in on the last Knight, and a flurry of blades later, it too fell from the sky, a gaping hole in its chest.

In the few seconds Gaius had needed to take out his opponents, more had died. There were only two clusters of resistance left, and although the boy couldn’t see them, not with so many foes besieging, he knew that the survivors were the few Lords that had taken to the battlefield.

Gaius unfolded the Moonshot, and began to draw sigils.