It was 7 a.m.

The marshal stood in front of his men, eyes sharp, voice firm.

"Everyone ready?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Good. Our goal is simple—kill as many leader-level figures in the vampire camp as possible. Even if you die, don't back down. We succeed by any means necessary."

The soldiers straightened, fire burning in their eyes. Ezra and Sergei stood among them, clad in black armor that fit like a second skin. Ezra's looked clean, sharp, made for speed perfect for a swordsman. Sergei's was heavier, built for power.

The marshal raised his hand. "Remember this fear is for the enemy, not us. We strike fast, we strike hard, and we don't stop until the job is done."

A ripple of determination spread through the ranks. Weapons were drawn, blades glinting in the morning sun.

Ezra tightened his grip on his sword. Sergei smirked.

"Move out!" the marshal roared.

——————————————

The main Vampire assault hammered the eastern and western flanks. Human jets streaked above, their white contrails cutting through the dark sky, missiles flashing. Some struck true. Others were torn apart midair by Vampire spells or shattered against the glowing fortress barrier.

The Bloodfort Formation still held, its runes blazing, but cracks were spreading. A miracle was bleeding.

Human war machines roared across the muddy field, but they were brittle toys against the Vampires' commanders. One after another, machines burned, crumpled, and died. Soon, technology gave way to cultivators. Steel and fuel were abandoned for blood and mana.

At the breach, a Rank 5 Vampire Lord waded in, his curved blade painting arcs of red. Soldiers scattered, their fear breaking the line.

"Pathetic," the Vampire sneered, driving forward.

Then the air split. A blur flashed past him. His soldiers fell in silence, throats opened before they even knew they were cut. A heartbeat later, the Lord himself staggered, a hole clean through his chest.

A figure stepped from the aftershock—calm, unhurried.

Ezra.

Marshal Corvus's voice thundered across the chaos.

"Ezra! What are you doing? Fall in line!"

Ezra only gave a sharp nod. No excuses. No words. He moved.

Corvus raised a hand, his sapphire aura bending the air. With a twist of space, the Marshal ripped Ezra, Sergei, and fifty chosen soldiers straight into the Vampire flank.

They landed as one body. Soldiers moved like a machine, blades and spells tearing through the enemy in ruthless precision.

Ezra stayed light on his feet, following Sergei's rhythm, eyes always scanning. He did not waste mana on fodder. He was waiting.

Rank 6 Vampires broke from the siege, rushing to block them. Sergei and the others met them head-on. Ezra only shifted his stance, silent, patient.

———————

The battlefield stilled for a moment, as if even the winds held their breath.

Chu Kuangren walked forward, his steps lazy, almost casual, and yet the air around him snapped with authority. Vampires near him were suddenly flung back, like toys tossed by an invisible hand.

Then, from the ground, a violent surge of blood erupted. A wave of deep crimson swept forward, and countless hidden weapons formed from blood itself raced through it, sharp and deadly.

A faint smile curled on Chu Kuangren's lips. A spear materialized in his hand as if by instinct. He swung it through the blood wave. The Steelblue aura of his Law collided with the crimson tide. The force shook the ground, a shockwave rolling outward—but Chu Kuangren didn't flinch, didn't take a single step back.

His eyes locked on a figure rising above the battlefield: black hair flowing, crimson eyes gleaming, and a small, almost playful smile that belied the terrifying red aura spilling from him.

"Marcell Korr," Chu said, voice calm but sharp, "a pleasure to meet you. I've heard of your reputation. Despite being a vampire, you serve the Demon Prince like a dog."

Marcell laughed, deep and cruel. "Hahaha! A puny human ant dares to insult me? When I reached Rank 8, you were still a weakling, struggling to survive."

Chu Kuangren tilted his head, amused. "Ahaha… I've heard of you. Wasn't defeat at the hands of Varien Raiklan enough of a shame?"

At the mention of that name, Marcell's eyes flared. Blood surged violently around him. Spears formed in an instant—dozens, maybe hundreds—and shot toward Chu Kuangren. Each one gleamed with lethal precision, streaking through the air.

Chu Kuangren moved, effortlessly meeting every spear, intercepting, parrying, and shattering them with a flick of his steel-blue aura. The battlefield trembled as their auras clashed, tearing chunks of earth and stone apart. Even nearby vampires were caught in the destruction, injured by stray splinters of red and blue energy.

Marcell rose higher, the crimson aura around him thickening, pulsing with lethal intent. Chu Kuangren followed, steel-blue light dancing across his spear, every movement precise, his calm counterpoint to Marcell's violent surge.

The air between them crackled, red and blue colliding, a storm of blood and steel ready to tear the battlefield apart.

————————

The day felt different.

The sun still shone, but the air pressed down like an invisible hand, heavy and suffocating. Ezra's eyes widened as he looked up. Streaks of silver-blue steel and crimson blood shimmered in the sky, twisting and warping the sunlight itself.

"What… what kind of pressure is this?" he muttered, his voice barely audible over the hum of the battlefield.

The truth hit him. They were fighting in the air. Rank 8 combatants, and yet the shockwaves of their clash were reaching the ground like storms. The wind around him twisted, carrying the echo of steel against blood, magic against magic, a rhythm so violent it made the world feel small.

Ezra swallowed hard. He had read about such power in novels, legends of cultivators who could split mountains and tear skies—but nothing could have prepared him for this.

The aura alone—the raw, living essence of mastery—turned day into night. Silver-blue and crimson swirled above like a war between sun and blood, blotting out the sun in pulses of brilliance and shadow. Soldiers on the ground flinched as if the pressure alone could crush them.

Ezra's heart pounded in awe. If this is Rank 8… then Rank 9 must be… gods themselves.

————————-

The air above the mountains tore itself apart. Clouds churned violently as Chu Kuangren and Marcell Korr faced each other, hovering with effortless grace. The ground beneath them trembled, small boulders lifting into the sky like dust.

Chu Kuangren's spear gleamed, wrapped in silver-blue steel aura, while faint embers of fire licked its tip. Every movement of his weapon radiated mastery, amplified by his special aura that countered even the deadliest of magical assaults.

Opposite him, Marcell's form was a storm of crimson aura, ice, water, and blood magic, every flick of his hand controlling a tempest of elements. He opened his mouth, and the air itself seemed to answer him—a wave of sound surged outward, warping the mountains and making distant rocks crumble before they even touched the ground.

"You've grown stronger since last time, Chu Kuangren," Marcell said, voice a low rumble, every syllable vibrating with destructive force.

Chu tilted his spear, the tip tracing a line of steel-blue fire through the air.

"Likewise, Marcell Korr. Let's see whose legends are true."

In an instant, the sky itself erupted. Marcell lifted his hands; water surged into jagged ice spikes, while blood whips lashed outward, each one singing with the resonance of his Law of Sound. The whips cut through the clouds and streaked toward Chu Kuangren.

Chu didn't move forward. He let the first wave hit his steel-blue aura, and fire flared along the spear. The aura bent, twisted, and countered the magic effortlessly, deflecting ice shards and blood spears alike. Each parry left shockwaves that shattered the mountains below, sending fragments flying like meteors.

Then Chu lunged. His spear cut through the air like a blade of molten steel, the Law of Steel bending around his weapon, forming a temporary wall that caught every stray spell aimed at him. He swung down toward the mountains, and where his spear landed, a peak crumbled into dust, leaving a scar across the landscape.

Marcell laughed, his eyes glowing crimson. He stomped his foot, sending a shockwave of water and ice, twisted by the Law of Sound, hurtling toward Chu. Chu countered mid-air, spinning the spear in a blur, a protective barrier of steel-blue energy wrapping around him, slicing through the wave before it could reach him.

The two clashed in the sky. Chu's spear struck, and Marcell's blood whips twisted to meet it. Steel-blue met crimson red, fire licked the edges of ice, sound bent around sharp metal, and the world shook. Peaks shattered, clouds boiled, and even the wind feared to interfere.

Both fighters paused mid-air, studying each other. Every movement was precise—they didn't want to harm the mountains below, or the distant battlefield where armies still struggled. Every attack had to be controlled, tactical, god-like.

"Your mastery of Law… impressive," Marcell said, spinning a vortex of water and ice around himself.

Chu's spear glimmered, aura sharp and cold. "And your arrogance… predictable."

Then they surged toward each other again. Chu spun downward, fire erupting from the spear, impacting a nearby plateau and turning it into molten rock, while Marcell raised both hands, shards of ice and twisted blood converging into a spinning storm, meeting Chu's strike mid-air.

The collision was apocalyptic. A shockwave radiated outward, leveling nearby hills, cracking the earth, and sending rivers surging. Clouds boiled, and even distant birds fled the terror of the god-tier clash.

Ezra, watching from miles away, could only gape. Rank 8… their aura alone turns day into night. The mountains disappear beneath their strikes. What… what must Rank 9 be like?

Chu Kuangren didn't pause. Marcell Korr didn't pause. Both masters of Law, both unrelenting, both fighting as if the world itself were their toy, every strike calculated, every counter perfect, yet still playful—a duel between titans, far from the battlefield, but shaking the earth anyway.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.