The citizens of the capital looked up in horror as the Skysand vanished and a massive, roiling blue cloud appeared.
The temperatures dropped significantly, and violent storms were created.
In the middle of the sky appeared a smaller old man.
He wore luxurious blue robes and carried a crown on his head, which had a humongous blue gem inside it.
The older man looked down in arrogance and coldness as he pointed downward without speaking a word.
The blue cloud was Winterfire, and it quickly exploded into different pieces.
Gigantic blue flames, almost three meters in diameter each, formed in the sky.
There were hundreds of them.
Then, they all started to fall like a meteor shower.
One of these flames hit a random spot outside the capital.
BOOOOOM!
An explosion, almost 50 meters wide, consumed the wilderness beside the capital.
Just one of these flames had the power of a Spell from a Late Grand Sorcerer.
And there were hundreds.
For the first time in many decades, the citizens truly saw how helpless they were in front of a Transcendent.
As King Winterfire appeared, the world seemed to go against them.
The sky was coming down.
It was a natural disaster.
Yet, just before the flames hit anything of importance, the ground seemed to rise.
The sand around the capital took to the sky and attacked all the individual flames.
The sky seemingly exploded as all the blue flames detonated hundreds of meters above the ground.
Storms of brown and blue wrecked the sky, creating more tremendous storms that swept across the wilderness.
Whenever any of these storms approached the capital or the Ether Essence, a barrier appeared that kept them at bay.
King Skysand came out of his castle and took to the sky.
As he flew forward, all the Skysand resting on the ground took to the sky, gathering around him.
At the same time, another cloud of Winterfire gathered around and behind King Winterfire.
The two kings just looked at each other without saying anything.
They didn't need to say anything.
There was nothing to talk about.
Next, the Skysand and Winterfire rushed towards each other, obscuring the view to the kings.
From time to time, a rush of Ether came out of the mixed clouds.
It was a desperate battle.
At least, that's how it looked.
In truth, neither of the two combatants truly committed to the fight.
They were not here to fight to the death.
Were they just as powerful as each other? According to their own estimates, yes.
They both believed that they had about equal powers.
But was one person truly, perfectly equal in power to another person?
Of course not.
If forced, one of them would come out victorious, but the battle would be desperate and exceedingly dangerous.
Neither of the two kings was confident enough to commit.
What if they were the one who was slightly weaker?
If they died, all their citizens, family, and loved ones would be brutally murdered.
They couldn't afford to put all of this at risk.
Survival was more important.
Because of that, there also wouldn't be a winner to this fight.
Both of them would just be busy keeping the other one away from interfering in the actual battle.
As the battle near the capital raged, the central frontlines also fell into a brutal war.
The Skysand Kingdom was pushing towards the north, ignoring the contested Ether Essence to the west.
Instead, they were charging towards the endangered Ether Essences that the Winterfire Kingdom held on the landmass.
The message was clear.
The person trying to become a Transcendent was using one of the Skysand Kingdom's endangered Ether Essences to advance, and they were trying to create a buffer zone.
Pushing forward was always more difficult than holding a position, which was why the Skysand Kingdom had gathered such an enormous force.
All of these people had been called to arms just to keep anyone in the Third Realm from interfering in the advancement.
It was clear that the Skysand Kingdom would lose more people today than the Winterfire Kingdom, but if everything worked out, they would gain a Transcendent.
Near the central frontlines, the sky turned dark for just a short moment.
It was like one had blinked without expecting to blink.
Did they just hallucinate that the light went out for a second?
Just a second later, the sky behind the frontlines brightened, and it was like a second sun had appeared in the sky.
Yet, there was a spot in the sky that remained completely dark.
Then, that spot seemed to expand into a consuming darkness that isolated the second sun's light.
Shockwaves and storms of Ether interfered in the ground battle as the General of Skysand and the First Advisor of Winterfire entered battle.
The General of Skysand used light to battle, while the First Advisor of Winterfire used darkness.
However, compared to the battle between the two kings, this battle was fought very differently. The two kings fought each other from a distance, using their mastery over Spells to create a chaotic battlefield of elemental forces that pushed against each other.
In a way, it was like two Metal Elementals fighting each other, vying for control over the surrounding resources.
But this battle over the central frontlines was close, brutal, and explosive.
Both of the combatants were physical fighters.
A majority of the attacks were launched via close-combat weapons.
Because of that, the battlefield also moved.
Within just three seconds, the soldiers who had seen the start of the battle couldn't see the battle anymore.
The General pushed forward.
The Advisor retreated.
Two simple steps within a long battle.
And yet, these two steps moved the two combatants over ten kilometers away from where the battle had begun.
For now, everything had gone as expected for both sides.
These were the clear strategies and battles.
It was obvious that the kings would keep each other in check.
It was obvious that the General and First Advisor would keep each other in check.
It was obvious that the Skysand Kingdom would be able to push the frontlines forward with all the power they had amassed.
But now came the uncertain parts.
Where were the last two Transcendents?
Was the Champion staying near the western frontlines, or was he protecting the person trying to advance?
As the battles started, the Grand Ocean east of the landmass froze.
A woman with icy-blue hair charged towards the southeastern Ether Essence on the landmass.
She was the Second Advisor of Winterfire, and she had felt the chaotic Ether around the southeastern Ether Essence.
It was clear that the person was advancing there.
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