Author's note : Last chapter of the day but it's considerably longer than usual, enjoy!

*****

Marshall Albert and Wrath kept fighting, exchanging thousands of blows and despite wrecking the whole empty area around them, there were no signs of any victor anytime soon. Things got complicated when another variable appeared next to Marshall Albert. He wore an armor resembling Albert but his armor was jet black, his hair was very long and his face lacked any kind of emotions.

This was another Marshall, someone who usually acts alone and doesn't have a special army like Albert. The dark-haired man sized up Wrath before he glanced East, where the battlefield was.

"I'll hold him off, you go secure the Fenrir."-Albert

In response, the man let out a cold snort and retorted

"I don't take orders from you."

Then he darted toward the battlefield, his eyes locked on the far away Saly.

Wrath looked helplessly at the departing Marshall, unable to stop him. He wasn't strong enough to stop both of them, moreover, that dark-haired individual was a notorious figure in the Divine Planet and one of the old experts of the Cloud Sea Sect.

Although the place Albert and Wrath were fighting at was a bit far from the actual battlefield, the dark-haired man crossed that distance in a few seconds, appearing in the center of all the chaos. He glanced at Arthur with an uninterested gaze then turned his head toward the Matriarch, who noticed his presence but didn't greet him or say anything… she was more focused on Lucy, who was struggling to free herself.

The Marshall then gazed at the Lich King, who also stared back at him, his burning eye-sockets flickering for a moment before returning to their normal calmness. The two locked gazes for half a minute before the undead leader raised his cane and banged it on the ground, causing his followers to start retreating.

Except for the four Divine Beasts, all the undead started backing away while minimizing their losses. As for the white specter, then didn't chase after the enemy and simply held their ground.

The Matriarch, who was dealing with her daughter, was suddenly lifted off the ground and then hit by several flame arrows, which burned her already tattered clothes. A strong dizziness assaulted Katrina and before she could counter-attack, a white shadow passed by her, pushing her farther away.

Lucy glanced at the ferocious Divine Beast and noticed that the Azure Dragon didn't join its comrades and curled its body around her, slowly but surely dispersing the aura binding her body.

In less than ten seconds, the dragon was able to free Lucy but it looked visibly weaker, missing its usual majesty and grandeur. It roared to the skies and twirled in the air, following the figure of the flying Matriarch.

Unlike previously, the Divine Beasts became much more aggressive, even suicidal as they blocked the Matriarch, not allowing her to touch Lucy.

****

High up in the sky, Arthur gazed at the whole battlefield, his gaze seemingly calm yet containing various hidden emotions. He noticed the Marshall's appearance and saw Katrina's attempted efforts to bind Lucy, those images were deeply imprinted in his mind, fueling his hate and angering him.

While still bound by the unbreakable golden rope, Arthur stared at those enemies of his and spoke with a domineering and loud voice, akin to a dragon's. His words reverberated across the whole battlefield, even reaching the ears of the battling Albert and Wrath.

"Enemies of mine, don't you forget this moment."

He saw that he grabbed the attention of everyone, including the dark-haired Marshall who was making his way toward Saly.

"I will not forget and I will not forgive… Let the world be my witness that when I come, I will hunt each and every one of you!"

Arthur's body was slowly dragged beyond the red gate, pulled into Oblivion. Till the last second, he showed no fear, only confidence, confidence that hell' be able to come back and stay true to his words. Just as he disappeared, the dark blade which was stabbed into the ground, released an ear-splitting roar and unleashed a vast amount of dark flames.

In just a few seconds, all the people who were deemed as enemies by Arthur were marked by the Dark Oath. Whether it's the unknown Marshall, Albert, or the old monk.

The Matriarch's countenance changed when Lucy flew straight at the gate, fully intending to join Arthur. She released a loud screech and transformed again, this time fully awakened.

Her skin turned snow-white and white flames burned in her eyes, two horns protruding from the back of her head, an illusory tail, and two large wings.

Katrina's figure vanished, bypassing the four Divine Beast and living a trail of white flames in its way. The white flames enveloped the Divine Beast and burned them, causing them to groan painfully.

****

Seeing that the end has been reached, Aborak scanned his surroundings and let out a long sigh. He gazed at the red gate, which was slowly closing and mumbled

"Arthur, I have tried my best."

After one last glance at the battlefield, he chanted a few verses with a hollow and chilling voice then banged his cane on the ground nine times, successively. By the next second, a dark fog spread from the Lich King, covering the struggling Divine Beast and all the Undead.

The dark fog remained for less than ten seconds before it vanished, leaving an emptiness in its place. Every undead seemed to have vanished, the ground they were standing on became corrupt and decayed, however, with their abrupt disappearance, the tense white specters calm down and shifted their attention to the remaining enemies.

When he saw what just happened, Gutcha frowned and gritted his teeth, unhappy that Aborak bailed out without taking them with him. Nevertheless, there's still a chance to escape.

Though she kind of knows the Pigolo, Saly didn't want to leave without her father and mother so she tried struggling out of Gutcha's grasp, wanting to transform again and save everyone. However, it's not as easy as it seems, transforming into Fenrir for a second time may bring disastrous consequences and there's no guarantee that she can bring back Arthur from Oblivion.

The pigolo applied more force and put the little girl under he arm before turning around and leaving, using Dark Magic to camouflage himself.

Sadly, he got to cross a hundred meters or less before a burst of sword essence came flying down from above, hitting the pigolo's back, digging deep into his bones and causing him to roll on the ground.

A dark-haired man landed before Gutcha, his gaze was on the little girl in the pigolo's arms. He didn't consider Gutcha a threat and didn't even pay him any attention. The man lifted his hand and pointed his index at the pigolo then shot a sharp sword essence, which penetrated his chest and caused him to cough large amounts of blood.

As he was feeling agonizing pain and was rendered immobile, Saly fell from his arms and tried to get up but her body failed to obey her. The dark-haired man pointed his index at Saly and shot again, striking her with a sword essence which was directed at her legs, crippling her on the spot.

A painful shriek was let out by the injured girl, she held her legs and held back her tears, trying to show the enemy that she was badly hurt, just like her teacher taught her.

********

A distance away from the battlefield, the Nameless Knight's face was colder than usual. Currently, the pale youth was pressing his knee on the Joker's back while his hand was grabbing his brother's head, pushing it on the ground and restricting his movements.

The Joker was forced into this position but he didn't care, he spat some of the dirt he just tasted and lifted his head with great difficulty, gazing at the sorry and miserable figure of his student.

His voice filled with anger and killing intent, Wolfram said:

"O'brother of mine, you better hold me tightly or else I'll go kill that-"

Leiu sensed that the Joker tried to free himself to he applied more force, smashing the latter's head even deeper into the ground while using his Darkness to bind the legs. Though he knew what his brother was feeling, he still couldn't let him interfere.

While staring at groaning little figure, the youth let out a sigh and muttered

"Fool…"

*******

The dark-haired man was just about to pick up Saly's body when a streak of lightning sprung from the ground, hitting the man's legs. Just as that streak hit the Marshall, countless thunderbolts descended from the sky and formed a prison around the target.

A lightning wolf appeared before the Marshall, its three tails were cracking with lightning, each had a color. Without wasting any second, Astrith opened its mouth and spat several balls of red lightning which rotated around the prison with fast speed.

Very soon, those strange lightning balls started emitting countless thin thunderbolts that revolved around the prison, creating a literal storm, which scorched the earth and pulverized the ground.

As for the nearby Saly, she was dragged by Gutcha, who was barely able to hold himself from falling unconscious. He pressed his free hand on his chest, where there's a gaping hole where blood unceasingly gushed from.

Dark Magic started surrounding the fatal injuries and lessening the pain, allowing him to stand up and get a better hold of the semi-conscious Saly, who was calling for her parents' names.

The pigolo gritted his teeth to bear through the pain then turned around, slowly distancing himself from the Marshall.

…

A couple of miles away, Radolf and Midolf stood next to each other, both were covered in injuries and panting heavily. They stared toward the direction the monk fled at, pondering what to do exactly. After some time passed, the red-haired youth stared at the desolate battlefield and was about to continue fighting only for Midolf to hold his shoulder and say

"It's all over now, neither you nor I can do a fucking thing in this situation… let's go."

Though reluctant, Radolf bit his lips and turned around, leaving this place along Midolf. They looked fine on the outside but their condition was serious and they were barely holding on. In fact, in a way, Gutcha was in a better condition than they.

*****

The dark-haired Marshall didn't chase after Gutcha but the white specters did. He entered a lush forest and used the thick trees as a cover, trying to escape from their eyes. Unfortunately, he was bleeding like crazy so it wasn't that hard to locate him, furthermore, he was incredibly slow, so the distance between them was shortening with every passing second.

As he heard their loud screeches and felt the incoming specters, Gutcha suddenly halted his steps. He put down the mumbling Saly and held her shoulders, shaking her violently to snap her out of her daze.

"Listen to me, LISTEN TO ME!"

After a few seconds, she raised her head and looked at him with hollow eyes. Once he got her attention, the pigolo raised his hand, which was covered by an ominous darkness, and said:

"From this point on, you're no longer Saly, do you hear me?"

Then, without hesitation, he stabbed her head and unleashed his Dark Magic. This malevolent magic invaded every corner of her body, changing the color of her fur to jet black and severely weakening her. Gutcha controlled the Dark Magic well so it won't actually hurt her, only slightly change her appearance. He turned her body around and put his hand over her mouth then used a dagger to cut her tail.

"Listen to me! You and I are travelers, nothing more, nothing less!"

He looked at her with a strict gaze then said one last thing

"You're a boy! A boy called Madris!"

She couldn't fully comprehend was he was saying but she still nodded her head while sobbing silently, her eyes wet from all the tears.

Gutcha applied some strange ointment all over his face, which drastically changed his appearance, making him resemble a middle-aged man. He retracted his Dark Magic, lifted the injured little girl and darted toward a relatively safe direction. Behind them, the shrieking of hundreds of specters followed, chasing their trail like a group of blood-hungry wolves.

****

A distance away from the closing red gate, a wolf with blue fur was trying to free itself from countless thin black threads made of sword essence. These threads were keeping him in check, binding his body and rendering him unable to nothing but howl.

The wolf's cries resounded across the whole battlefield, it desperately tried to untie itself but no avail, the Marshall's power were just too strong.

The dark-haired man glanced at the lush forest where Gutcha ran off to then focused his gaze on the lightning wolf.

"A good harvest, nonetheless."