Kael already knew that Lian was powerful, he had realized this the first time he saw him at the border entrance.
And even in their short previous battle, which had happened only a few hours ago, he had become even more certain of it.
But now he realized that all this time, no matter how much he thought he was giving Lian enough importance, he had actually been underestimating him.
The human he was looking at was so dangerous and powerful that he could change the entire direction of this battle by himself, and that was very dangerous.
It was a shame, he did not want to destroy this young human, but he had no choice, he had to kill Lian today, right now! Otherwise, he would become a variable that could put their entire civilization at risk.
Mana came out of his armor and moved into the tip of the spear.
The ground under his feet cracked, he suddenly jumped through the line of soldiers, and his height went higher than the short towers of the bridge.
He pulled the spear back.
[Ember Vanguard Art: Falling Sun Spear.]
A huge ball of fire formed around the weapon, its heat even reached the Ashfall battlefield from a distance.
The spear was thrown down from above toward Lian like a small sun, and the soldiers near its path moved away.
The impact of this attack could destroy a large part of the bridge and burn everyone around it.
Predator’s Instincts gave a clearer warning, the danger was real, but it was not deadly, at least not for the young Vorhelm.
Lian raised his head and smiled, was he going to retreat? Was he going to dodge? No, no, no.
Neither of them was insulting enough to the enemy.
He opened both of his hands. This time, Thunder Calamity gathered around both of his arms, and lightning wrapped around his shoulders and elbows like huge snakes.
The spear came closer, the air in front of it burned, and then he grabbed the shaft of the spear.
An explosion of fire and lightning covered the entire battlefield in white, and the pressure wave pushed the nearby soldiers several steps back.
The floor of the bridge broke under Lian’s feet, large cracks spread in several directions, and flames covered his entire body.
But Diamond Skin was active, the heat burned his skin and parts of his clothes turned to ash, but it could not force his hands away from the shaft.
Lian was pushed back only a few centimeters.
Kael was still holding the other end of the weapon, and his eyes opened wider in disbelief.
He had put all his weight, the speed of the fall, and his Mana into that attack.
But the human had caught it with his hands... how was this possible? He had not even suffered any real damage!
«Is this all your power?» Lian looked at him through the flames.
Kael clenched his teeth, when had he ever suffered such humiliation in his life? And against a human!?
He put more Mana into the spear, and the flames became stronger.
Lian released Thunder Calamity through the shaft, and the lightning entered the Ember Vanguard Spear through his hands.
In an instant, it traveled through the entire length of the weapon and reached Kael’s hands.
The border commander let out a muffled scream, the muscles in his arms tightened, and to prevent his arms from becoming completely paralyzed, he was forced to let go of the spear.
His body turned in the air and landed several meters away.
Lian threw the spear to the side, the weapon hit the stone floor and created a long crack.
But the commander did not retreat even without his weapon, flames formed around his fists and body.
"Die, you savage human!" He attacked Lian with an angry shout, his first punch came toward Lian’s face.
Predator’s Instincts sensed the direction of the danger before Kael’s shoulder had even fully moved.
Lian moved his head to the side, the flaming fist passed in front of his face, the heat burned his cheek, but the punch did not hit its target.
The young Vorhelm punched Kael in the stomach, he did not use any Skill, only his raw Body Strength of 760.
Kael’s armor was pushed inward, his eyes opened wide and the air left his lungs, his body left the ground and was thrown several meters back.
Even so, he turned in the air and landed on his feet, two deep lines appeared under his boots on the stone floor.
Kael wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his pride did not allow him to accept the difference in power.
No matter what it took, he had to kill this human today!
[Ember Vanguard: Burning Legion Step.]
Several flame images separated from his body, six Kaels attacked Lian from six different directions.
Every image had the heat, shape, and movement of the real one, they were not simple illusions.
Their fists, feet, and flaming weapons came closer at the same time.
True Sequence activated for a moment.
Lian watched the first exchange, one of the images passed through the chain around his arm, the second image created no weight or pressure when it hit the stone.
That was enough.
Predator’s Instincts was also giving a warning only from the left side.
He ignored the other images, moved his hand directly toward the left, and closed his fingers through the flames.
The real Kael’s throat was caught in his hand, and the other images shook at the same moment.
The commander’s eyes opened wider, Lian lifted him from the ground and slammed him directly onto the bridge.
The stone floor cracked under his body, and the shockwave put out the flames around him.
Before Kael could stand up, the young Vorhelm activated Thunder Step, a blue light appeared for a moment.
Lian appeared directly in front of him.
[Glacial Reaper Claw.]
Ice formed around his right hand, his fingers turned into a long white claw.
A deep cold spread across the battlefield, and steam rose from the hot stones.
Kael reached his hand toward the Ember Vanguard Spear.
The weapon shook on the ground, its flames lit up again, and it quickly flew back toward its owner.
But Lian was faster. Glacial Reaper Claw landed on the shaft of the spear, at the same moment, ice spread from the point of contact.
The Ember flames burned harder to resist, red and white fought against each other on the weapon for a moment.
But Kael’s power was not enough to resist a Divine Skill.
The flames went out one after another, and ice covered the entire shaft, the blade, and the marks on the weapon.
The Ember Vanguard Spear became a frozen statue.
Kael was still reaching his hand toward the weapon, and Lian slightly pressed his claw fingers.
The sound of breaking ice and metal spread across the battlefield.
The spear broke in the middle, and the two frozen pieces fell to the ground.
All the Cindari soldiers saw the scene, the weapon that was the symbol of the Vhalaris border commander, the spear that had defended the borders of Emberroot for years.
It had broken between Lian’s fingers.
"How is this possible? My precious weapon...?" Kael whispered with hatred and disbelief, he could barely control the anger he was holding inside.
Every moment, he felt like he was about to explode from anger.
The army’s morale broke at that exact moment.
«I told you to return to the border.» Lian lowered the cold from his claw.
Kael’s face twisted with anger, he released all the Mana he had left, flames came out of his armor and body.
"Even if it means my own death! You must die today, human!"
Fire formed a much larger armor around his body, a flaming figure several times larger than his real body.
[Ember Vanguard’s Last Stand.]
The heat of the battlefield suddenly increased, the Cindari commander screamed from inside the flaming armor and attacked Lian.
Every step he took melted the stone floor, the nearby soldiers moved away from his path, this was his final attack.
All of his power, Mana, and will were gathered into one collision.
Lian activated Iron Fortress Charge, gray pressure formed around his entire body.
Then he added Thunder Calamity to it, lightning moved from his legs to his shoulders and wrapped around his body.
He also moved forward, the two figures collided from the front, but there was no equality between them.
Kael’s flaming armor split from the center at the moment of impact, Iron Fortress Charge passed through it like a huge hammer.
The flames were thrown to both sides.
Lian reached Kael’s real body without stopping, pulled his right fist back, and gathered all of Thunder Calamity on his knuckles.
Then he struck the center of Kael’s chest, the sound of thunder spread across all of Vhalaris.
A wave of lightning and pressure came out from the back of the border commander’s body, and his battle armor was crushed from the center.
The metal plates broke, his body was thrown backward like a bullet, and he passed between two lines of soldiers.
Several people fell to the ground when he hit them, and Kael finally crashed into the wall of one of the guard towers.
Part of the wall collapsed, and stone, roots, and dust spread across the ground.
The commander’s body fell among the ruins, he did not move for several moments, then he placed his hand on the ground and tried to stand up.
Lightning was still moving through his muscles and nerves, his hand shook, his elbow bent, and he fell back to the ground, his legs also could not move.
This battle had been unfair and one-sided from the very beginning.
Lian walked toward him without hurry, the sound of his footsteps could be heard across the sudden silence of the bridge.
The Cindari soldiers opened a path, no one dared to stand in front of him, fear had reached their very bodies.
After seeing that battle, all their will to resist and fight against the humans disappeared... from their point of view, doing something like that was no different from suicide.
Lian reached Kael, placed his foot on his crushed chest armor, he did not put much pressure on it, but it was enough to stop him from trying to stand again.
«It’s over.»
Kael looked at him with blood on his lips and face, pride, anger, and disbelief could all be seen in his eyes.
Their battle had lasted only a few minutes.
Lian still had not used Warrior’s Madness.
He had not released even a small amount of Bloodborne Calamity Domain or Eternal Frozen Apocalypse.
All the power Kael had shown as his final resistance had not been enough to force Lian to use his main Skills.
The defeat of the border commander was clear to everyone, it had been a completely one-sided battle that left no room for doubt.
The Cindari soldiers stood still.
Some lowered their weapons, some stepped back several steps, and several smaller commanders tried to keep their lines together, but their voices no longer had the same power as before.
«Put your weapons on the ground!» Rindo shouted from inside the entrance of Ashfall, his voice was strengthened by Mana.
«Those who surrender will not be killed!»
Several Rootbound Wardens looked at Kael, their commander was lying under Lian’s foot and could not move.
The man who had been in control of the entire Rootspire bridge only a few hours ago was now lying on the ground without his weapon and with his armor broken.
Logic told them that they should surrender.
One of the middle-ranking officers raised his sword in anger.
«No retreat!»
The nearby soldiers hesitated, and the officer shouted.
«Kill all the Outsiders!»
The remaining archers on the eastern towers turned their weapons.
This time, they did not aim at Lian, the arrows were aimed toward the infirmary, the wounded, and the weaker Awakeners, they no longer had the courage to target that monster.
"If you don’t surrender right now, I promise you, I’ll build a mountain out of your corpses and fill every river in this city with your blood." Lian turned his head toward them and said coldly.