Even so, he ignored his immediate attackers as he maintained a constant avoidance and shot three more swords of energy through gaps between his attackers. Twenty people died in the distance due to his efforts, though that didn’t allow for him to lessen his guard in the least. So many deaths and none of them weighed down upon his conscience.

I’ve only got twelve left. Without any gunpowder or poisonous gas at his disposal these talismans were among his most powerful trump cards. Ow, goddamn it!

Brandishing the Bone Sword he violently jammed its bloodstained tip into the neck of the wiry woman that had had just opened up a tear in the upper left area of his back, ten centimetres long, nonlethal yet very painful. Shelving the pain in the depths of his mind he leapt upward and summoned a barrier arrayment that expanded to three by three metres the moment that he landed upon it. He immediately sent the thin platform smashing downward with another exertion of his will, leaping free of the falling arrayment before it crushed the four remaining soldiers that had mobbed him alongside the woman that had inflicted the injury to his back. The move failed to kill the fighters, but his needles were quick to dispose of them by repeatedly cutting into the weak points in the gaps between their armour.

Ian’s in a bit of trouble, came Uncle Grey’s aged yet rambunctious voice. Seems like those so-called protectors are both—oh, he killed one of them. That boy’s quite resourceful, he is.

Nolan tore his weapon free from a dying man’s chest as he leapt out of the range of three dinged up blades, his needles silently stabbing into the necks of their owners and downing them in a heated, heart-palpitating moment.

Is he okay?

He purposely trailed behind the train of soldiers that remained from the fields south of Talen so that he could down several mouthfuls of Divine Spirit Fountain water and leech from a superior spirit stone while he got a lay of the land ahead of him. Screams of rage and agony touched upon his ears as he approached the mass of people up ahead where around seventy soldiers in black armour were expertly slashing their way free of a large encirclement of over four hundred villagers. Several hundred bodies littered the freshly plowed field where in many places the ground had been churned into massive pits of mud, the vast majority of the still figures belonging to the local forces.

Uncle Grey?

That Benn fellow said there were only supposed to be five people at the Integration stage on the enemy’s side, including their leader. Ian’s killed one, you’ve killed two, and yet there are five more at the battlefield up ahead.

Five? What about Ian?

As if in answer to his question a dazzling explosion of golden light swallowed up the inner core of the encirclement, which faded only to reveal a circle of bisected bodies. Jumping back into the crowd with broadsword in hand was Ian’s bedraggled form, though contrary to his haggard appearance he wore the same intense smirk that he always donned whenever he was engaged in a difficult battle. The men and women in the area where he landed were ruthlessly hacked into pieces by four fast-moving blurs of black, a testament to the trial that his friend now faced.

What the fuck is this? Nolan activated the Tranquil Void Step and bypassed the hundred or so soldiers that remained from the planned assault of Talen village even as they began to lay into the outer fringes of the local forces. He killed seven men in passing with his deadly needles, which were entirely covered in congealing blood after downing dozens of men throughout the day.

Exhausted and sporting several wounds, Ian leapt back while simultaneously releasing another blast of crescent energy, this one over eight metres long. While two of his black-armoured pursuers were forced to dodge his attack, the other two were quick to initiate a pincer movement on his friend. Ian successfully deflected one of the strikes, though the second man’s blade would have cut into his side if Nolan hadn’t crashed into him from above with the petulant Essence Fusion abilities of the Bone Sword fully active. The soldier retreated backward after managing to avoid decapitation at his hands, though not before he stabbed his weapon through the gap in the man’s armour and traced a tiny cut along his neck with the tip of his sword.

“Finally,” Ian panted after missing an abrupt slash at his attacker, who leapt backward to stand with the remaining two leaders. “I’m out here doing everything.”

Nolan caused the three soldiers to scatter by peppering them with a powerful manifestation of the Emerald Thorn Piercing Technique. “What’s up with these guys? They’re all at the second level of Integration.”

“You scared?”

“I’m not happy.”

Each of their opponents had smears of red paint along their black helmets, the cages of which fully covered their faces. Even so, they exchanged looks as they stood off to the side of the main body of the battlefield, wondering how to dispose of the unexpected youths that had stood up in defence of the locals.

Nolan activated two talismans at the same time, though both of the missiles missed their marks as the three leaders leapt dozens of metres in different directions.

Normally I don’t like to distract you while you fight, said Uncle Grey with care. But be wary. These five are not the only ones you didn’t expect this time around.

Now’s not the time for allusions. Nolan activated the Tranquil Void Step and dashed over to the closest enemy while Ian fearlessly closed in on the other two with a brightly shining sword. Just say what you mean!

His target lost a hand to a rapid strike, though he surprised him by managing to avoid death with a skillfully plotted jump. Judging by the movements of the other two it seemed that these three were in possession of quite the movement skill. Even so, he’d only failed because he hadn’t expected such a thing. For it to have been left in the monochrome forest that surrounded the glade back in Nia, just what sort of technique was the Tranquil Void Step?

He easily outclassed his enemy’s movements as he pressed his speed to the limit. Even so, his target continuously slipped beyond his grasp by desperately fleeing into the din of battle, his precarious positioning constantly preventing Nolan from unleashing wide-area attacks that might harm his allies. In a one-on-one battle he would have been able to dispose of any of these unknown fighters without much trouble, though facing them as a group with all of these people clogging up their surroundings wasn’t so manageable. Now that fate had paired him off with one of them he couldn’t afford to go easy, allies or no.

What’s with this guy’s aura? It’s almost as if…

He paid close attention to the movements of the elusive warrior and then plotted out an intersecting path, which he quickly darted across in order to force his enemy to face him. It’s familiar, but nothing about it really sticks out.

He swatted a frantic sword strike aside and then lopped off his enemy’s weapon-wielding hand as the person in question jumped backward with a curse.

“Fucking brat!” Without warning a flash of scarlet light erupted as the blood dripping from the stump at the man’s wrist abruptly stopped flowing, only to be replaced with a translucent hand of shimmering inner essence. “If it’s just this much…” With that the man turned tail and fled the battlefield, though an alarmed Nolan was quick to follow.

I knew it! Since arriving to assist Ian and the others he’d been aware of a slightly oppressive air about the battlefield that specifically emanated from some of the Integration-staged enemies that were present. As soon as the man had sealed his wound and conjured up a fresh hand composed of fearsome energy, it all fell into place.

Before he could reach the fleeing man and dispose of him, a second figure materialized directly in front of the first and plunged a shimmering blade deep into the original man’s gut.

What the…

Nolan drew up short and raised his guard to the highest degree.

“Y—you bastard.”

“His Excellency had one rule. You broke it.”

“Maxus…”

“The man’s body fell dead to the dirt as his killer wrenched his weapon free. A bit shorter than his victim, the newcomer was armoured by the same brand of dark equipment as all of the count’s other soldiers, his helmet complete with the messy red stain that marked positions of certain rank among the enemy forces.

“Oh?” said the young man before him, whose face was fully hidden by a cage of matte black metal. “If I’m not mistaken, I’ve seen that sword before.”

“Well, you’re seeing it again.” Nolan grasped a superior spirit stone in his left hand, absorbing its energies as quickly as he was able. What the hell is the Bloodhand Sect doing all the way up here?

“Humph,” said the young yet stoic voice. “I always hated those brothers. For that, I’ll let you go.” He waved a gauntleted hand, eyes never leaving the Bone Sword.

As they stared one another down the battle raged on about thirty metres away, a mass of moving bodies and bloody, mud-slicked corpses beneath a backdrop of soul-shredding screams and clamouring steel.

“Much as I’d love to, I can’t just up and leave.” Nolan stood his ground as a chill ran down his spine. The young man in front of him was at the fifth level of Integration, a level that Nolan would have to pull out all of the stops just to contend with.

He lessened the amount of active needles to eight so that he could afford more focus to the direct confrontation that was about to ensue. Activating the Tranquil Void Step in full, he switched out the sprit stone in his left hand for one of his talismans and then shot forth at maximum speed. He fired off the blade of blue energy as he closed in on his opponent, the young man slashing the projectile in two with a savage chop that caused it to dissipate into a mist of dispersing energies. Targeting the opening that the concise defense opened up, Nolan laid into the man with dozens of savage strikes, the Bone Sword a blur of paleness as its white surface was engulfed in a sickly grey energy.

I just need to hit him once!

No matter how much strength he put behind his hits, no matter the angle or feigns that he attempted, he somehow fell short of exacting a suffering hit.

I shouldn’t have a problem with people a higher level than this fucker. Why can’t I hit him?

He was faster than his opponent but only barely, despite the fact that the youth had yet to activate any sort of movement skill. It took less than a minute of direct combat to deduce that the person that he was currently engaged with had an astute sense for battle that only a scant few seldom realized within their lifetime. Less than a minute into the fight and Nolan was absolutely sure that he was facing someone that had killed hundreds of people in recent years, someone who was no longer perturbed by the prospect of taking human life.

Just like me.

A simple and subconscious reminder invigorated him in a way that the soothing energies within him lacked, an adrenaline-pumped high that assured that he wouldn’t lose out in the next exchange. He was strong, yes, but that wasn’t his most powerful trait. Let’s go, bud.

Nolan used his landing momentum to lean into a vicious slash that he poured all of his strength and tact into, a delicately calculated angle that was expertly deflected with an equally deft exhibition of reflex. His opponent caught his strike mid-blade, meeting the crucial point with a similarly angled edge of his own weapon and jumping back with the help of the residual force caused by the collision.