(On the ground of Nemo, Leo and Veyr’s POV)
By the time an hour had passed since the Yu Clan’s carriers had landed, both Leo and Veyr were drenched from head to toe in blood, their bodies coated in the dark slurry of gore and viscera as though the battlefield itself had chosen to mark them as its chosen reapers.
*Slash*
*Slash*
*Ching*
Every swing of Veyr’s blade tore open another wall of soldiers, his massive strokes cleaving through both shield and flesh alike, while Leo’s daggers danced in ruthless arcs, each cut aimed at arteries, joints, and throats, his movements so efficient that it seemed as though he were sculpting death itself out of the endless mass of enemy bodies.
[Mirror World]
[Storm Flash Traverse]
[Thousand Phantom Slashes]
Leo unleashed his arsenal without restraint, his body splitting into a hundred identical copies, each one not only mimicking his movements but also unleashing skill moves of their own.
As in an instant, the battlefield was drowned in a storm of slashes, the air itself torn apart by the combined fury of his true self and his mirrored legion.
*SLASHHH*
*SLASHHH*
*GURKKK*
Hundreds of enemies fell every passing heartbeat, their lines shredded as though they had stepped into the maw of a beast made of blades.
No wall of shields could stand, no formation could endure, for Leo’s army of clones carved through them from every direction at once.
’I could never have done this as a Grandmaster,’ Leo thought, as he took a moment to analyze how much mana he was expending every passing second.
’Currently I have seven skills active at once, plus a hundred clones that are drawing from my mana.
As a Grandmaster this would have crippled me, but now... as a Transcendent, I can hold them all at once, and my body doesn’t break.’
Leo realized, as the realization only made him push his limits harder.
Currently, he had no idea just how strong he was.
Or what his limits were, and hence, he felt like today was a good day to test it out.
’As a Transcendent... I can take on a legion of enemies by myself. It’s like I myself am a walking army.’
He concluded, as although he wasn’t alone, he knew in his heart that he could do this even without Veyr watching his back.
Though, in that case, he would be slightly slower.
"Veyr, let’s quickly finish this up and join our men in the trenches."
Leo ordered, as Veyr nodded and increased his tempo, as together, the two of them slaughtered an entire legion.
However, although Leo was happy to realize that at his current strength he was like a walking army all by himself, he still couldn’t help but wonder just how strong he would become if he managed to master the [Emperor’s Suppression Manual].
For if he did, not only could he then defeat entire legions of enemies without ever having to lift a blade.
But his mastery over aura would also make him even more formidable against stronger tiered opponents.
"Someday in the future..... I’ll have a taste of that power too—"
Leo promised to himself, as he couldn’t help but feel his heart skip a beat just at the thought of such a universe-breaking power being his to command someday.
—------------
With Yu Day running away like a coward, Viper and Su Pei returned to fight shoulder to shoulder with the Dragon Army in the trenches, as their arrival changed the tide of battle completely.
In just six hours after Yu Day fled, the duo flew from battlefield to battlefield all across the planet, slaughtering millions of Yu Clan troops, and helping the Dragon Army establish the upper hand, as by the end, victory was all but assured for the Cult.
But the battle was not won by their strength alone.
For every time Viper tore a hole through enemy formations, it was the common Cult soldiers that surged into it, spears and blades thrusting with grim determination.
Or every time Su Pei’s immovable guard thwarted an enemy push, it was the Legion Commanders who rallied their men to hold the line, refusing to give back even a single inch of ground.
Cult victory was won as much by its common soldiers, as it was by its Monarch’s, for it was the common soldiers of the Dragon Army that made the most of the openings their Monarchs carved, showing grit and resilience that far outweighed their exhaustion, their chants echoing through the trenches as they turned advantage into victory.
*THRUMM*
*BOOOM*
Step by step, line by line, the Yu Clan was forced back.
The invaders desperately trying to regroup, but with every failed charge their morale splintered further, until their formations collapsed outright under the Cult’s relentless counterattack.
By the time night fell, what had begun as a desperate struggle had become a rout. Yu soldiers threw down their weapons in surrender, others broke into panicked retreat, their banners trampled into the mud as the Dragon Army pressed forward.
It had been a hard-fought battle, one that drenched Nemo’s soil in blood and fire, but by the end there was no mistaking the truth—
The Cult had defended Nemo, and they had done so not only because of their Dragons and Monarchs, but because of the heart that every common soldier showed today.
Men who had been nothing more than farmers a year ago, who had never set foot on a battlefield before, now stood with cracked armor and bleeding hands, shouting victory cries into the night.
Legion Commanders raised their banners high, bloodied but unbroken, while Lieutenants barked orders to gather the wounded and secure the surrendering enemy troops.
The air still stank of smoke and iron, yet for the first time since the battle began, it also carried the unmistakable sound of triumph.
Today, Nemo had not fallen—it had endured, and in enduring, it had proven that the Dragon Army was no more a ragtag group of commoners.
That it was now a proper army capable of holding its own in real battle.