Now that he was closer, Michael finally had a good look at the supposed 2nd-in-command of the Flarecorp company.
Arsonny wore bright orange armor, with symbolisms of tyrannical fire embedded into its very design. He looked regal compared to the other soldiers who wore the signature Flarecorp chestplate.
Not only that, but he was riding a horse who had the flag of Flarecorp attached to its side.
Michael, as he floated in the air, made eye contact with Sonny.
"You came from the East forest," Arsonny observed. "Blazelle is supposed to welcome our troops. Are you part of the Bastard Bandits?"
As expected, the 2nd-in-command was a lot more perceptive than Michael thought.
"No, I'm not," Michael replied. "The Bastard Bandits have disbanded."
Arsonny showed a face of shock, before his eyes focused as he tried to process the information.
"Then, I'm guessing that you are not here to welcome the great army of Flarecorp?"
"No I'm not," Michael once again replied.
By now, Zion, Jaku, Fudge, and Grieve had all taken their respective spots in front of the Flarecorp army.
It was them versus 500 soldiers in the 5-star realm, with only a few hundred meters in between them.
"Then surrender to the glory of Flarecorp. This territory shall soon become the new headquarters of our nation."
Michael smiled. "And what will happen if we don't surrender?"
Arsonny stared up at Michael, with fire burning in his eyes. "Then I shall send in my forces to decimate your small group. There shall be nothing that stands in the way of our Flarecorp company."
The 500-men army slammed the bottom of their spears in the ground, creating a shockwave that slightly shook the earth.
But it seems that this wasn't enough to intimidate Michael and his 'small' group.
"What do you think guys?" he asked them. "Should we surrender?"
Zion cracked his neck and his fist. "I didn't wait all that time just to come home empty handed."
"Hohoho…I may not have any memory, but I sure know that I have never backed out from a fight," Grieve said, his ribs clacking as he laughed.
"You heard them," Michael said to Arsonny, shrugging.
The commander looked absolutely pissed from hearing Michael's nonchalance at the whole situation. This belittled the prestige and power of a Flarecorp army!
"I suggest that you think it over again," Arsonny said. "You don't know who you're dealing with here."
Michael smiled. "We'll take our chances."
"Then you have just sealed your fate. Soldiers! Teach these guys a lesson!" Arsonny shouted, with his voice creating a literal fire within the army formation.
Flames erupted high up into the skies, enveloping the 500 soldiers inside. They each began to emit magic circles on their body, consuming the fire around them to boost and enhance their physical capabilities.
Arsonny scanned Michael's accomplices before his eyes landed onto the red-scaled demi-human lizard. Aronnny had no idea what kind of species he was, but he was sure that the kid only had a 3-star realm cultivation at best.
He scanned the other people too. The blue-scaled lizard was also only in the 3-star realm, and the hooded figure behind them was so weak that they didn't even give off any power signatures.
He raised his hand, and from his palm, burst forth a fireball that shot towards the sky and exploded in the air, creating a strange pattern.
The soldiers looked up at this pattern and immediately knew what they were supposed to do.
"CHARGE!" the soldiers shouted.
With perfect synchronization, the soldiers marched out into these perfect formations of 50 men, forming a platoon. Each platoon focused on a single target, aiming to bring them down with barely half of their entire forces.
The first platoon charged at Zion, their spears creating a phalanx formation.
As they charged, their powers created a 5-star spell that formed a shimmering figure of a rhino's horn.
Zion smiled as he welcomed his new target. He skipped around like a boxer waiting on his corner. And just as the platoon of soldiers were only a hundred meters away, he pulled out his Mithril Artifact gauntlets and wielded it in his hands.
The Mithril Artifact improved the flow of the mana from his body, boosting his initial strength of a 3-star all the way to a 4-star power.
But that wasn't enough. He took out a chocolate pellet from his pockets and swallowed it whole.
The Rebornian skill [Sugar Rush] gave him a boost of magic, allowing him to break through his limits and reach the 5-star level and almost above it!
Arsonny immediately stood straight as he realized what had happened. But before he could even process this information, Zion suddenly jumped up from his stationary position and reached the air just above the platoon.
Zion's gauntlets glowed a violet light before he punched the air, creating a crack in the fabric of space.
The crack propagated downwards before reaching the platoon's formation.
Their combined 5-star spell resisted the power of the space-shattering punch. But before they could even rally their strengths together, the rhino's horn started to shake and wobble before eventually exploding into bits of ember.
As Zion's punch propagated to the ground, the soldiers exploded out into the air, breaking their formation entirely.
"How is this possible?!" Arsonny complained. But before he could even take a moment to think, he felt another disturbance in the air.
Jaku had turned into literal blue lightning as the platoon of soldiers rushed towards him. Their combined 5-star spell allowed them to create an enclosure of fire, trapping their target within.
The soldiers swung their spears with power and speed, creating gusts of flame with each of their attacks. But even so, they were unable to catch even a single whiff of the blue-scaled lizard.
Each time they would get close, he would turn into lightning and buzz around, electrifying everyone he touched.
It only took less than thirty seconds from the formation of their enclosure before their numbers dwindled low enough for their spell to break in concentration.
Eventually, Jaku stood amongst a sea of soldiers on the ground, each one burned and electrified.
"Who are these people?!" Arsonny asked himself. They were far too powerful to be unknown fighters.
But the worst part was that they weren't even the only ones decimating his forces.
Without him even realizing it, one of the platoons had already been engulfed by a strange shadowy figure. They stood barely conscious in a dome of shadows. They stared at the air, as if they didn't have a single thought in their minds.
Arsonny couldn't even see who was doing this!
And before he could scan the area for the shadowy perpetrator, he suddenly felt something that made his skin crawl.
He looked to the side and saw that his platoon of soldiers were slowly backing away. They were running from the decay that spread through the ground, wilting everything that it touched.
The soldiers tried to fight this decay through their flame spells, but even their flames decayed from contact with the ground.
Arsonny looked towards the source of this decay and saw a skeleton figure standing still, with a thin sword in its hands.
As Arsonny felt the power coming from this skeleton monster, he realized why his arm hairs were standing up.
This monster was in the 9-star realm!