CHAPTER 40: BLOOD, STEEL, AND A FRAGMENT OF LIGHT
"At your command, My King."
Flem bowed his head and, after a final respectful nod, turned away. His heart was pounding, the weight of fear and duty heavy on his shoulders. Yet his expression was firm, resolute. His king's order was law. He began to run toward the chaotic, death-stinking vortex of the battlefield.
At that very moment, on the highest, most precipitous cliffs of the valley, three silhouettes appeared, whipped by the fierce wind. Their cloaks billowed like flags in the harsh gusts. The World Government's Hunters had finally arrived.
The scene that greeted them was enough to shock even the hardest warrior. Layern Valley was now unrecognizable. Everywhere was littered with corpses wearing the uniforms of different kingdoms. In some spots, the dead were piled so high they formed macabre, man-made hills. Smoke rose from craters left by lava-forged sand projectiles, melted ice evaporated, and a sharp, foul stench filled the air. Screams, the clashing of swords, final breaths, and shouted orders created an unending chorus of hell. The war had reached a point where stopping it seemed almost impossible.
One of them, a hunter with a blue cloak fluttering in the wind, narrowed his eyes in horror and muttered:
"Hawk... We can't stop this war anymore. The place is teeming with corpses, the valley has turned into a lake of blood. If we get involved, we'll get burned. It's best we don't interfere at all."
Hunter Gong, the group's leader, slowly turned his head to look at him. His face showed neither fear nor hesitation. Only a steely resolve.
"Hawk," he said, his voice cold and sharp. "You seem to have misunderstood the orders. Our mission is to stop this war, no matter the cost. Chaos is a threat to the World Government's order. And that threat ends here, now. Understood?"
Hawk, hearing the certainty in his leader's tone, bowed his head. Protest was futile.
"Understood."
And the three hunters shot forward simultaneously. With superhuman speed, they descended the steep rocky slope like arrows, gliding straight into the heart of the battlefield.
Meanwhile, in the western flank of the valley, Dragon and Flower continued their own dance of death. The clash of ice and sand had created a circle of death around them.
Flower didn't wait. He activated the "Frozen Dream" technique at lightning speed, trying to paralyze Dragon's muscles with a mental strike.
But Dragon had already deciphered this technique. Before countering, three more sand drake arms shot from his abdomen. These arms shielded him like a barrier while also swinging menacingly in the air to disrupt Flower's concentration.
"Sand Drake's Final Dance," Dragon murmured, his voice low and threatening.
He spread his arms wide. Behind him, from his right and left, two massive sand drakes materialized. Their eyes seemed to spark, their mouths blowing sandstorms. Dragon controlled the left one with his left hand, the right one with his right hand, directing them as if they were his own limbs. Both of them growled menacingly, ready to attack Flower.
Flower, charging at Dragon, suddenly stopped. His mind raced. If I continue the attack, these drakes will tear me apart. This will be my end. I must do something else.
"Frozen Step!"
At an incredible speed, almost disappearing from sight, he instantly appeared behind Dragon. He swung his dagger straight at Dragon's spine, toward his heart.
But the three drake arms from Dragon's abdomen, moving like a spider's antennae, intercepted the attack before the dagger could even get close. Sand claws caught and squeezed the ice dagger in mid-air.
"Huh?" A sound of surprise rose within Flower. His eyes widened. How did he predict that? This man... is too dangerous. I must take him seriously now.
Meanwhile, Flem had plunged into the chaos of the battlefield. Swinging a massive sword he had created from ice, he cut down every Ashuran soldier in his path. He was looking for Amexp. He would find him and avenge Tamps.
His path was blocked by a young Ashura soldier, both legs severed, crawling on the ground begging for help. His face was contorted with pain and terror. He could no longer fight; he was just waiting to die.
Flem didn't hesitate for a moment. His face showed no mercy, no emotion. This was war. There was no room for sentiment. He brought down his ice sword. Denying the soldier even the luxury of suffering, he cleaved him in two and stepped over the pool of blood, continuing his cold, calculated path.
In another corner of the valley, despair was spreading, especially among the Ice Kingdom soldiers. A young infantryman, hiding behind his shield, trembled. The thoughts running through his mind were suffocating:
This war seems like it will never end... What are we fighting for? Because King Task ordered it? Or because we are truly in the right? Neither. In their eyes, the kings' and commanders' eyes, we are just simple pawns. That's all. We have no say. I don't want to fight anymore...
As this thought echoed in his mind, an Ashura soldier from behind seized the opportunity. He drove his sword into the young Ice soldier's back, right through his heart.
The soldier's eyes widened in shock and indescribable pain. Blood gushed from his mouth as he collapsed. As he breathed his last, the Ashura soldier who had killed him shouted to the other hesitant soldiers around:
"This is a battlefield! There's no time for thinking, no time for whining here! If you don't fight, this is how you die! Understood?!"
This brutal truth spread like a shockwave. The hesitant soldiers, driven by a madness born of fear, grabbed their weapons again. They would either kill, or be killed. There was no other option.
Meanwhile, the Ashura Kingdom's catapults, refilled by the efforts of the Sand Mages, were ready to fire again. But just as the fire command was about to be given, the three hunters appeared beside the catapults like a whirlwind.
"Hey, stop!" shouted Hunter Gong, his voice thundering over all the noise. "Those catapults will not fire! This is a direct order from the World Government!"
Commander Ramp, in charge of the catapults, stepped forward. His face was covered in battle dust, his eyes tired but stubborn.
"We take orders only from King Arthur," he retorted defiantly. "You cannot give us orders. Step aside!"
Hunter Gong's brows furrowed. His patience was wearing thin.
"If you do not obey our orders," he said, his voice a low, threatening tone, "we will use force. And then, no one will be able to save you from us."
At that moment of tension, Flem appeared atop a distant ridge. He stretched his hands forward, working with all his concentration and ice power. The air suddenly grew even sharper with cold. From the ground, massive ice blocks rose and took shape. Primitive but deadly catapults made of ice.
"Send Ashura to hell!" he roared, and fired all the ice projectiles simultaneously toward Ashura's catapult positions.
The ice balls, glinting with a deadly beauty, soared through the sky toward their targets. But the Ashura Mages immediately sprang into action. With a collective cry, they combined their powers and raised a thick, massive sand wall in front of the catapults. The ice balls shattered against the wall, rendered useless, leaving only a cloud of cold vapor behind.
Watching this from afar, King Arthur was furious. Both the hunters' insolent interference and Flem's attack were driving him mad. He swiftly headed toward the area where the catapults and hunters were.
On the western front, Flower had stopped playing games. The testing phase was over. Now it was time to show his true power.
"Ultimate Technique: Cryokinetic Speed - Ice Skating Rink!"
Instantly, a hundred-square-meter area around him was covered in ice. The air temperature plummeted. The ground turned into a smooth, mirror-like ice rink. And on this rink, Flower began to move at near-light speed along specific trajectories. He became invisible. Only the hundreds of ice dagger strikes that appeared and vanished gave away his presence.
The nearby Ashura soldiers froze. The cold was so piercing that breathing hurt, their weapons froze in their hands, and movement became impossible.
"What is this cold?!" one shouted, his teeth chattering.
"I can't even move!" another groaned.
"Commander!" a third pleaded, looking toward Dragon. "You have to stop him, or we won't be able to fight, and they'll kill us all!"
Dragon, despite all the panic and Flower's dazzling attack, remained unexpectedly calm. His eyes were closed, focused.
And Flower at that moment unleashed hundreds of slashing strikes all at once toward Dragon. Each one was lethal, each coming in a thousandth of a second.
Dragon calmly, gracefully, moved his two hands as if conducting a symphony or dancing in the air. All the incoming ice dagger attacks were deflected, as if effortlessly, by micro-shields of sand or sudden movements. Each glint was extinguished with a tak sound.
But Flower had no intention of stopping. "A hundred more!" he thought, and doubled his attack.
Dragon deflected them all again, but under this intensity, the two sand drakes and three arms he controlled began to melt and disperse. Sand scattered to the ground along with the falling daggers.
Dragon took a deep breath for the first time. He opened his eyes. The rage within him had now turned into a cold, sharp desire for death.
"Enough. It's over, Flower. Now I'll send two hundred more attacks. And you... will be torn to pieces."
Meanwhile, King Arthur had reached the catapult positions. He stood before the hunters like a mountain, his heavy steps resonating. His very presence radiated a dominant authority.
The hunters instinctively adopted a respectful posture upon seeing him. This was a king.
"K-King Arthur?" murmured Hunter Gong.
Arthur began to speak, his voice hard as stone:
"Who do you think you are, trying to interfere with my war? If you want to stop this war, you should go look at the area where King Task is. They started the invasion. I am merely responding. You have no business here, on my lands."
Hunter Gong, inwardly irritated by the answers he heard, knew Arthur was right on one point. The rules were murky. Just as he was about to try and explain, Hunter Raveon stepped forward; he was the younger, more impulsive one.
"King Arthur," he said, a note of challenge in his voice. "We too are bound by orders. The World Government itself sent us here to stop this bloody chaos. If you do not cease this war immediately..." A dangerous glint flashed in his eyes. "...we will cut down anyone in our path. Mark my words."
Amidst all this diplomatic tension, Dragon and Flower's battle had reached its climax. But before them, the general war continued at full speed and with all its savagery. Everyone's ears rang with the final screams of dying soldiers and the endless, pain-filled groans of the wounded.
And then, the sky darkened. The rain poured down. First a drizzle, then a downpour. Blood, soil, and ash turned to mud in an instant. Fighting became even more difficult with the slippery ground and reduced visibility. As corpses piled up, stepping over them, moving at all, became nearly impossible.
On the western front, thanks to Flower's ultimate technique, the Ice Kingdom soldiers began to gain a psychological superiority and physical advantage.
And at that very moment, Flower prepared to make his final move against Dragon. In his mind, he calculated the trajectory of exactly two hundred slashing attacks and sent them all toward Dragon at light speed. A whirlwind of death.
Dragon's response was the pinnacle of calm.
"Ultimate Technique: The Final Sand Drake King."
Before him, a colossal sand drake came to life, absorbing all the sand, mud, and even the rain from the ground. But this was no ordinary sand. Its texture was metallic, glittering, almost crystalline. It seemed indestructible. The drake began to spin rapidly around Dragon, creating a protective tornado. All of Flower's ice dagger slashes crashed into this sand typhoon and shattered into dust.
For the first time, Flower felt a deep fear within. But he didn't show it on his face. Only his eyes widened for a moment.
"Then," he whispered to himself, "let's end this. DRAGOOON!!!"
"Come, Flower," Dragon responded, his voice rising above the roar of the tornado. "Come and die."
Flower held his ice dagger straight, aimed right at Dragon's heart. One final thought crossed his mind: I will probably die after this attack. But I will take him with me. This sacrifice is enough for my kingdom.
Dragon thought to himself: They killed my soldiers, my brothers, in the most savage way. They deserve not just to die, but to be obliterated in the most violent manner.
And both of them, at the same time, lunged forward with their last strength. They were about to deliver their deadly strikes.
At that moment, an explosive white light erupted between them. It was so powerful it turned night into day, vaporized the rain, and blinded everyone on the battlefield for an instant.
Dragon and Flower stopped their attacks in shock. The light seemed to swallow their techniques, their intentions, even their rage.
When the light faded, both of their attacks, their prepared final moves, had vanished. Standing between them was someone with fading glimmers of light in his hands.
It was Kai.