A comfortable rhythm of battling was established, and several years passed. Every minute, Kyle killed about three to four Early Sage Demons, giving him plenty of practice.
Eventually, Kyle and the Area Commanders received a message from the new Commander of Fort U-878.
"Slowly increase the intensity of the Aura Expander. Stability takes priority."
Some seconds later, 50 additional Minor Sages arrived.
After some planning, Kyle increased the Aura Expander's intensity to 10.1%. His aura spread a bit further, and a couple more Demons were attracted. The defenses held very well, and new teams joined the defense.
10.2%.
10.3%.
10.4%.
Everything was still going well. The addition of more enemies was expected.
10.5%.
10.6%.
Three Demons broke through the defenses!
Everything was working as expected one moment, and in the next moment, three Demons suddenly passed the defenses! This development came out of nowhere!
The Chief Area Commanders had only allowed one of these Demons to pass! Why were there suddenly three?
At the same time, three of the Shield Sages turned into New Sage Demons, which charged towards Kyle with the three Early Sage Demons.
The Sect Members quickly activated their internal defenses, and the three New Sage Demons were intercepted by new Barrier Formation Arrays.
Yet, the three Early Sage Demons continued charging towards Kyle.
The three Chief Area Commanders immediately attacked one of the Early Sage Demons. The Chief Area Commanders were not elites. They knew that they would most likely die, but if the Magnet died, everything would collapse!
They had seen Kyle fight. There was a chance that he might be able to survive against two Early Sage Demons.
They engaged with the Early Sage Demon, fully expecting to die.
But then, the surroundings warped, and the Early Sage Demon became slower.
A Domain?
The three New Sage Demons were just as surprised when they noticed the Domain.
Kyle had only used his Domain during the initial assault, and back then, the vast majority of the Shields around him had been from Fort S-878 and Fort T-878. Now everyone was from Fort U-878.
They had not seen Kyle's Domain yet.
BANG!
Kyle used Compression on one of the Early Sage Demons, killing it with one strike.
Afterward, he avoided the attack of the other Early Sage Demon before killing it as well with Compression.
Finally, he went to the three New Sage Demons and killed them with ease.
After that, he just watched the three Chief Area Commanders battling the Early Sage Demon. On their own, they wouldn't be able to win, but with the support of Kyle's Domain, they could.
He didn't want to interrupt their True Battle.
The battle was brutal, and one of the Chief Area Commanders heroically charged forward, intending to sacrifice himself so that the other two could kill the enemy.
But then, one of the other Chief Area Commanders destroyed the enemy's attack, giving the first Chief Area Commander a clear shot. Sadly, a second attack would hit the second Chief Area Commander soon.
The identity of the sacrifice had changed.
BANG!
But then, the first Chief Area Commander blocked the second attack and barely managed to survive.
The third Chief Area Commander took advantage of the chaotic situation and severely injured the Early Sage Demon.
In the end, the Early Sage Demon died, and all three Chief Area Commanders survived.
When their shift ended, they would experience a great boost in their Momentum.
'I expected as much,' Kyle thought, looking at the spot where the three New Sage Demons had died. 'Since the Commander of this Fort was a spy, there's a high chance that there are even more spies. Glad I kept my Domain hidden.'
All three of the spies had been team leaders, and their team members voluntarily entered the Formation Arrays to capitulate. When one member of a team was uncovered to be a spy, the entire team would be investigated.
People from Fort U-878 arrived to take the three teams away before refilling the open spots in the defenses with more soldiers.
This was the risk of having a Fighting Magnet. If Kyle were just a normal Magnet, the Barrier Formation Arrays would be constantly active. Yet, since Kyle fought his opponents, the Barrier Formation Arrays had to be partially deactivated whenever a new opponent for Kyle arrived.
Kyle's gaze slowly traveled across the fighting Shields.
'There's no way these were the only spies. There are over 10,000 Shield Sages around me. There have to be more spies, and several of them won't even try anything.'
When Kyle had activated his Domain, he knew that the Demons would learn of him. Some of these spies would send reports to spies inside the ranks of the Spears. Then, during their next excursion, one of the squads, containing a spy, would die, and the spy would return to the Abyss to deliver their intel.
Decimators and Magnets were high-value targets for the Demons due to their large impact on the battlefield. On top of that, Kyle had an insane level of Battle-Strength.
Right now, with his actions, Kyle was saving the lives of thousands of Sages, but that was only because he was a Sage himself. If he ever became a Spirit Lord, he would save the lives of hundreds, if not thousands, of Spirit Lords.
The Demons knew that people like Kyle didn't randomly die. Seekers with such a high level of Battle-Strength had proven to be exceptionally hard to kill. Without a concerted effort, these people wouldn't die. At the same time, since Kyle was already under the effects of Sin Flames and could still operate normally, there was no doubt that he would become a Unique Sage at the very least. Most likely, he would also become a Legendary Sage.
If the Demons didn't do anything, there was no doubt that Kyle would one day become a Protector with a True Sin Aura.
Killing him was worth more than killing a thousand Spirit Lords.
But for now, the leaders of the Demons didn't even know about him. Sending messages during such a mission was forbidden for the Shields, which meant the intel about Kyle's power was still contained.
Afterward, the intel had to travel to one of the few spies in the ranks of the Spears. The Spears were much more thorough when it came to screening their members, which was why they had far fewer spies. Additionally, every delivery of intel represented one spy abandoning their position and returning to the Abyss. Because of that, the spies usually bundled several pieces of valuable intel before delivering them in batches.
Most likely, it would still take several centuries, if not millennia, for the intel to reach the leadership of the Demons.
Kyle was not their target yet, but soon, he would be.
The fighting continued, and Kyle received more opponents.
After 20 years, the Aura Expander had been activated to 15%.
After 100 years, it reached 20%.
At this point, Kyle's aura encompassed an area with a radius of two million kilometers, which meant it had a diameter of four million kilometers. Twice as much as before. The Aura Expander's range doubled with every increase of 10%.
10% corresponded to one million kilometers of radius.
20% were two million.
30% were four million, and so on, all the way until 100%, which was 512 million kilometers. This would equate to a diameter of a billion kilometers and would cover the operational range of an entire Fort.
However, Kyle would not increase the intensity to more than 20%. After all, he wouldn't be here forever. At some point, he had to leave, and the more enemies he pulled towards himself, the harder it was to regain the equilibrium of the normal battlefield.
During Kyle's shift of 300 years, no more surprising incidents took place. He trained every second, and even when he wasn't fighting, he was analyzing his previous attacks.
Yet, despite trying to condense his Refined Law for a total of 400 years...
He felt like he hadn't made any progress whatsoever.
'Something doesn't feel right,' Kyle thought. 'This is not an instance of me not noticing the progress I have made. I have genuinely not made any progress in condensing my Refined Law whatsoever.'
'Yet...' he thought as he looked at his hammer. 'It's not like I haven't grown stronger at all.'
'The Energy I can use with my Law of Hammer has been rising steadily. So, even though I didn't make any progress in condensing my Refined Law, I increased the power of my Imposing Law. Maybe these two aspects are connected.'
'I am essentially altering my Law of Hammer whenever it improves, which changes it, which means I have to rearrange the way my Law of Black Hole integrates.'
'Most likely, if I want to condense a Refined Law...'
'I need to stop improving my Imposing Law.'
tg://resolv?domain=StrongestHammerGod
The author's patreon. If he gets more than 1000€ per month, he will increase the number of words in the chapter.