At the very top of Zancorix’s thermosphere, over two thousand kilometers above the ground, the two titans battled. The sky was dyed a mix of purple and dark green, the two colors intertwining and fighting for every centimeter of territory.

As Cinzolia’s forcefield broke down, the two Commanders had finally begun their battle, far away from their troops, as they would all perish if they fought nearby.

It meant that Liam’s life had been saved by Arimiar. No, should he say that it had only been extended a bit? After all, the two billion troops of Cinzolia were rushing towards his tired body like wild animals after a piece of meat. Of course, the Drakkhan also weren’t standing by idly. They rushed over the wall and through the hole Liam had created, moving towards him to the best of their ability, especially the Elite Squad Captains. Ordinarily, after the forcefield broke down, it would have been extremely difficult to enter Cinzolia. The plan was to fall back to Arimiar’s ship’s forcefield, forcing the enemy to go on the offensive; after all, without a forcefield, they would be sitting ducks to long-ranged attacks. In this fashion, by making the enemy overextend and pull themselves away from Cinzolia’s territory, which was the Kingdom of the enemy Commander, the Drakkhan army would slowly wear them down.

Right now, the scenario had completely changed. Things such as offensive or defensive maneuvers were not even thought about; there was only one thing in the minds of every single soldier of both armies.

Liam Allister.

The man who had broken down the forcefield on his own, with a mysterious power they had never seen before. Naturally, the man himself was perfectly aware of this. He guessed the thoughts of the creatures surrounding him accurately. That was why he did not despair.

‘It’s more likely that they will try to capture me now, instead of simply killing me.’

The power he had shown should have been virtually incomprehensible to the minds of the soldiers, which were still mortal at the end of the day. That alone would make him a valuable source of information or military power. When taking into account the might of what he had displayed, as well as the obvious state of weakness he was in, he became a natural target.

Of course, the Kingdom of Luweth’s soldiers arrived first. Twenty Elite Squad Captains surrounded him, bellowing to one another at the top of their lungs. Wait, did they even have lungs? As usual, Liam’s habit of having idle thoughts in the middle of dangerous situations reared its head.

“Capture him!”

The female voice of one of the Captains, covered in green armor from head to toe, spoke first.

“What are you talking about?! Have you seen how dangerous he is?! He needs to be killed here and now!”

Immediately, a rebuttal came her way, this time from a male behind Liam. Unable to even use Aura Sight, Liam could only hear the sound of the creature raising its weapon, as well as feel Danger Sense’s cries.

“Wait!”

The ground beneath him cracked as the sound of weapons colliding rang out. It seemed like one of the Captains had blocked the other’s blow. With a smirk, Liam looked at the ground, confirming that it was indeed only cracked. It was made of a metallic material that resembled stone at the same time. For it to have been merely cracked after withstanding the impact of the collision between two Elite Captains, it was truly durable.

‘Nobody’s going to be able to enter from below. I won’t be able to dig through it in this state either.’

Liam’s mind went into overdrive as he tried to think of a way to escape this situation, taking advantage of the internal conflict between the Kingdom’s Elite Captains. The Drakkhan army continuously tried to enter Cinzolia Fortress and move in Liam’s direction but was pushed back every single time due to the superior numbers of the Kingdom’s army. The exceptions to this rule were the Elite Squad captains.

Orange Aura crashed against the top of Cinzolia’s front wall, pushing back the soldiers defending it. The act of surrounding Liam with twenty Elite Captains meant that there were twenty less crucial combatants defending the walls. In perfect coordination, over a hundred Drakkhan Elite Squad Captains rushed over the wall. Liam could easily spot One among them, feeling the lizardman’s fervent gaze even through the mask.

Seeing this, the Kingdom’s Elite Squad Captains immediately made a move. Nineteen of them jumped in the direction of the wall, while tens of others emerged from their surroundings. Only a single Captain remained beside Liam. It was the female that had shouted that they should capture him.

Wasting no time, she grabbed his shoulder, likely intending on dragging him deeper into Cinzolia.

It was her greatest mistake.

‘Chaos.’

Darkness burst from beneath her hand, eating away at the Aura cloak surrounding her.

“W-What?!”

Having gained a bit more experience wielding Chaos and Order, Liam had figured out a few things. First, they were completely independent of his Aura. Even though almost every single bit of energy within him had been spent, Chaos and Order could still be used. Second, he couldn’t strengthen them using his Aura, probably because they infinitely transcended something trivial like Aura in the first place. Third, in the state he was in, even though Chaos and Order could still be used, they were much weaker than when he was in his peak state. It seemed like at least for now, the two were still affected by his physical status.

It was only due to the third observation that the female could pull her arm away, realizing that her Aura was being drained and used to feed the haggard human in front of her. However, it was too late.

Liam grasped his spear, pointing the tip at her head.

‘Drought.’

The female’s head was swung back, while her body was hurled through the air for hundreds of meters. Liam had wasted all the energy he had drained from her in this single move, but it was enough. Taking a Drought at point-blank range to the head like this was likely to leave her incapacitated for some time. Looking ahead and up, Liam saw the two hundred Elite Captains locked in a fierce battle. Because of their battle, the ordinary soldiers were having some trouble getting closer, but Liam noticed that there was a high number of enemies gradually approaching him. Compared to the Kingdom’s soldiers, the Drakkhan were a few steps slower, as they had to come in from the outside.

‘If this keeps up, I’ll really be captured or killed.’

He was currently at the weakest he had been in over a year, even though he could still use Chaos and Order. It was to the point that it would be impossible for him to face even a single soldier without draining some energy from them and recovering. Gritting his teeth, Liam watched the Kingdom’s soldiers get closer and closer while he tried his best to stay still and recover as fast as possible. Soon, his eyes widened. The reason was simple. The soldiers that approached him looked confused.

‘They don’t know whether they’re supposed to kill me or capture me.’

A slight grin made its way to Liam’s face. If it was like this, then there was a chance. The soldiers exchanged looks, before apparently coming to a silent decision. Two of them unhesitatingly walked up and grabbed Liam’s arms, lifting him up to his feet. It seemed like they had decided to capture him first; after all, he could always be killed later.

Under his mask, Liam smiled. He weakly grabbed the arms of the soldiers, making them stop in place and look at him. Pure darkness burst from under his palms, covering the two soldiers in an instant. They hurriedly let go, but it was too late. Liam’s grip, which was slowly getting stronger, was firmly wrapped around their arms. The other soldiers swung their weapons, making blades of Aura fly towards him.

‘Event Horizon.’

Draining the energy from both of the soldiers he had grabbed, Liam executed the Skill most fitting for getting out of this encirclement. Everything within a radius of one kilometer was shrouded in Liam’s black Aura. The chaotically moving energy caught the soldiers that surrounded him off-guard, throwing them off-balance to the point that a few even fell to the ground. The flying blades of Aura that came his way were quickly and cleanly devoured by the Skill, turning into nothingness.

Unwilling to lose even a bit of momentum, Liam utilized his newly-recovered strength to shoot forward and grab the head of the nearest soldier. It was almost a comical sight, given the difference in their sizes: the soldier was over five meters tall, clearly from a species dominated by the Kingdom of Luweth. Liam’s feet were placed against its shoulders, while his entire body was merely the size of the soldier’s head. However, the darkness emerging from his small hand and wrapping itself around the soldier made the scene eerie.

In quick succession, Liam jumped from enemy to enemy, recovering his energy for each enemy he drained. While this was the limit of what he could currently do with Chaos, it was extremely useful, as expected.

‘Shouldn’t I be called a Star of Chaos instead?’

He had been feeling it for a while now, but the amount of Order he could control was much smaller than the amount of Chaos he could wield, even though the voices had called him a Star of Order. Why? Was it because the First Star was still around, dividing the power of Order between the two of them?

Even as he deliberated on the nature of the universe, Liam’s movements didn’t stop. He was gradually reacquiring his peak strength, and there were no Elite Squad Captains around to stop him. By this point, the Drakkhan had fully invaded Cinzolia, since most of its soldiers had gone after Liam instead of focusing on defending the stronghold.

It was then.

Danger Sense flared up as Liam turned and raised his spear horizontally.

The sword coming at his head was blocked by the spear shaft with a bang. The hands holding its hilt belonged to the Elite Captain that had been flung away after taking a Drought head-on. While her helmet was cracked, she seemed to have recovered. Liam felt his legs start to bend. He hadn’t recovered enough strength to go against a Captain of an Elite Squad. Nevertheless…

…He didn’t need to.

As Chaos emerged from his fingertips, the female immediately jumped backwards, landing at a safe distance. It seemed like she had figured out that he could only drain those in direct contact with him, but it didn’t matter. Liam planned to have her back off from the beginning.

The sound of splashing water was heard as he used Waterstep. Unhesitatingly, he turned tail and ran towards the hole in the wall. His objective had always been to get out of this alive, not kill everything inside the Fortress. Not yet. A heartbeat later, the Captain gave chase. Every time she approached, Liam would block her attack and use its force to propel himself even further, wildly swinging his spear and splitting apart any soldier daring enough to stand in his way. In this fashion, he started getting closer to the hole, though the female captain was chasing him unceasingly.

It was at that moment that he felt the presence of several Elite Captains descending from the sky to surround him. It seemed like they had abandoned the battle among Captains in the air, prioritizing Liam’s capture.

‘Fuck. I haven’t recovered enough to face more than one Captain at once.’

So close, yet so far. For a moment, he had fostered the hope of escaping, but it would seem that it wouldn’t be possible, after all.

‘No. It’s still too early to think like this.’

Liam gritted his teeth. Suddenly, he leaped straight up. His plan was simple. He was trying to get closer to the Drakkhan Captains in the skies. The more chaotic the battle surrounding him, the easier it would be for him to slip away. As he soared, the air in front of him trembled. With a flash, a green-armored Elite Captain appeared slightly above and in front of him.