Chuang stared down the army in front of her. Not good. She hadn't recovered enough to deal with the entire army. Chuang doubted she could run away in this state.

Surprisingly, Tai Hua raised her hand and issued a surprising instruction.

"All commanders! Pursue the enemy!" she shouted. "I will stay to occupy my fellow student."

Many A-rank generals frowned at that order.

”But Grand leader,” the swordsman commander stepped forward. ”You are injured, and she is alone. We can easily defeat her together. Why bother to challenge her one-on-one.”

Tai Hua miffedly looked at her friend before announcing her explanation.

”Because she risks her life for the sake of victory and draws my blood. That is a sign of a worthy enemy. I won’t allow such an opponent to be surrounded and beaten up like a dog. Only an honorable duel is what she deserves.”

”But Grand leader,” the man glanced at the grievous wound on her stomach. ”Your condition-”

”Something this pathetic won’t stop me,” Tai Hua met Chuang murderous gazed with a cold grin. ”I would never lose to her, Akard. Now Go.”

Akard nodded and signaled his troops to move. One-by-one, the army marched away hurriedly. Chuang let them past. She already had a way to stop them. Moreover, the woman in front of her posed a bigger problem.

Soon only two Heavenly Daughters remained to face each other.

”You will regret this,” Chuang stated, conjuring a swarm of fiery birds.

”Don’t worry about my followers,” Tai Hua drew the sword from her scabbard. ”If an abomination like the X-cution can stop their righteousness, this crusade deserves to be lost.”

”[Fire Carrion]!”

”[Steel Counter Array]!”

The clashes between the two erupted in a shower of spectacles seen by all on the battlefield.

...

The Iron Army witnessed the towering eruption of fire clashing against the silver light and gulped.

”Unbelievable,” a soldier gulped. ”To think there is someone in this generation who give our Grand leader this much of a fight.”

”What do you expect?” said the dark skin woman wrapped in a shawl. ”Chuang is the second strongest Heavenly Daughter for a reason. Tai Hua might have better techniques and foundations, but Chuang is a combat prodigy. Such a genius only arrives once in a thousand yea-”

Suddenly, Kar’Dia collapsed onto her knee mid-sentence. 2 more commanders also hit the floor following her.

”Your majesty!” One of the commanders rushed toward her young charge. ”Quickly get us the medical supply!”

”What is happening!” Akard cradled one of the struggling commanders.

”A recoil from activating [Mercy of Land] too abruptly.” huffed the fallen female commander. ”Chuang managed to get us good with that surprise bombardment. I don’t think the Vice-leader and I will be any help after this.”

Akard gritted his teeth. The skirmish barely started, and they already down to half their A-rank. He didn’t need an oracle to know the coming battle will be steep.

…

Royal Consort Ruho stared at the number in front of her.

”40,000 men,” she wanted to weep. ”That at least a seventh of our army in one attack!” Her eyes hollowly stared ahead. ”How do we beat this?”

Migras nodded.

”So this is the infamous snow our spies witnessed before the fall of Marijane,” Migras rubbed his beard. ”Lady Chuang is right to be concerned. Just how many secrets do you hold, Tai Hua Tianshang?”

”Brother Migras,” the Royal Consort looked. ”What should I do?”

”Learn from this blunder, Ruho,” Migras said. ”This failure is expensive, and the reimbursement will be painful, but you can’t give up after a setback. You must avoid showing weakness, or else our troop will be demoralized.”

That was the moment the troop rushed in to report.

“Lord Migras, our scout reported the Iron Army closing on us.”

…

The creek trembled as two women weaved articulate exchanges of wave after wave of miracles. They were absorbed in the fight, ignoring their injuries as they poured their very soul to floor the other.

Tai Hua’s tried not to let her wounds slow her down, but the reality was unignorable; charred intestines weren’t an injury she could walk off. Until she got fixed up, the wound would still be hampering her footwork.

Thus, Tai Hua had to fight out of her comfort zone-- standing moderately still and dueling Chuang without the aid of her agility and speed.

On the other end, Chuang didn’t get much leeway’s over her hated rival. Her body was still recovering from her near-death assault. With her stamina and Mana barely recovered, her condition ruled out most high-tier spells in her arsenal.

Both sides came at each other with a severe handicap. Not that anyone would realize that from the scale of the fight.

“[Whirling Fire Spire Dances]”

Chuang stomps her feet on the ground, creating a whirling spiral of flames that deflected the glowing sword-shape projectiles.

Tai Hua whistled. Silver light flowed around her body and twisted into thirteen knives whirling in a Mobius ring around her.

Behind Chuang, three magic circles appeared. Energy condensed and squeezed inside the ring of runes and seals like a volatile fluid.

“[Flame Hammer/Circle Overload]!”

The fluid energy flooded into the circles, breaking them with excessive power and sending a trio of massive hammers of flame raining down on Tai Hua.

Tai Hua smirked. It was beyond her that shallow invention like spell-crafting could evolve to this point. Purposefully broke the spell formula to unleash more explosive power? Such a method was wasteful but certainly profitable for a one-shot spell. Any of the doubts she had about her theory vanished. The Chuang she knew only practiced her cultivation and martial-path. However, this Chuang knew both martial-path and advanced spell-crafting -- quite an impressive array of spells at that.

Tai Hua drew her sword. An opponent who came back to the past for a fight deserved no lesser than the best she could offer.

“[Blade Intent],” Tai Hua said. “[Carving the Sky].”

Chuang cursed and fell flat to the ground as silver light cut her flaming barrages into two. She swore silently. That bitch must never take her seriously until now. The fact that Chuang only discovered how good Tai Hua was with [Blade Intent] proved that very well.

[Blade Intent] was a few cultivation-art which survived Ancient-era. It was a technique spun around weaponizing the metaphysical concept of the blade, separate into three-stage. The Beginning Blade started the path of mastering grace and sharpness of the swords, or the [Blade Intent]. The Manifestation Blade manifested that intent into the Mana projection. Then finally, the path of blade intent split off into two. The practitioner could either master of shapeless blade intent known as the Savant Blade or piercing through all the obstacles between the sword light and the target with the path of Transcendent Blade. With enough time, a talented master could even attain full mastery of both specializations.

With that knowledge, Chuang spotted a massive discrepancy instantly.

Tai Hua’s previous attack was a variation of Savant Blade. Given the fact that Chuang still had all of her 32 organs, Tai Hua most likely didn’t attain full mastery over her craft. But that didn’t make sense. The light motes attack contained the principle of Savant and Transcendent Blade. With that kind of power, Tai Hua could take her down in a blink even when being hampered by crippling injuries.

Chuang could only arrive at one conclusion.

“You already mastered [Blade Intent] to its full potential once,” Chuang stated. “But somehow, you have to remaster it.”

Tai Hua stayed silent and waved her sword.

“[Blade Intent: Swipe Edge].”

Chuang dodged the silver light snapping toward her like a wet piece of cloth. However, the fact that she couldn’t feel the defense-piercing power from that attack told her everything she wanted to know. Tai Hua knew all [Blade Intent] had to offer, but she didn’t fully master it at this time. It meant there was a chance she could be defeated.

Chuang rushed at Tai Hua. Runes and Sigils coordinated with immense Mana in her vain as the hybridized version of martial art and spell-crafting unleashed its fury, raining barrage of fire bolts at Tai Hua. The Heavenly Daughter of Steel responded by slicing all 1200 discharges of fire with a flourishing of blades. After those bolts, Tai Hua sensed an opening for a decisive blow that would catch Chuang out of the air, but unfortunately, her stomach wound acted up. That flinches were enough to delay her for a second, allowing Chuang to react. Tai Hua bit past her pain and flung the silvers slice as well as launching all the sword-creation orbiting her at Chuang. The orange-hair girl surged with power and produced a magic-circle enlarged by raw firebird projection, receiving the attack and deflecting the attack away from her and altering the creek's landscape.

But before the battle reached its eventual ending, a mechanical structure in the sky blinked and rocketed itself toward the two. Chuang and Tai Hua paused in surprise as the X-cution warped and detonated in the explosion that reduced the Palma Creek into a crater.

…

Chuang's original battle plan was to somehow separate Tai Hua from her army before ambushing them with her puppet and X-cution unit. However, things went wrong, Ruho noticed it when the allied army remobilized to face the Iron Army for the second round.

The X-cution was visible in the sky. Weird. The cloaking spell Chuang cast should shield it from normal vision. Ruho tried to issue the command through her communicator. However, what she got instead was several X-cution units peeling from the air and falling toward her with astonishing speed.

The Royal Consort could barely react when the unit exploded right in front of her. She caught glimpses of familiar figures trying to shield her from the explosion, but the worse barely began.

Without warning, the attack from the X-cution rained on the battlefield.

…

The mercenary commander felt the firepower from the X-cution roasting his fellow brothers. He looked up to saw the ball of void energy swallowing his field of vision.

He cursed. The ball of void wasted no time--swallowing him whole and reducing him into the skeleton in an instant.

Meanwhile, across the Frisinia’s army, the X-cution dropped from the sky and started murdering every target in sight. Its steel fist crushed the average soldiers under a second. Stronger warrior managed to put up a fight. Some were even successful in destroying and X-cution unit, but none were able to deal with the machine destructive self-destruction sequence.

..

The Iron Army also suffered under this surprise attack.

Akard dealt against an X-cution, severing it in half across the joint. He quickly rolled away to avoid the worst of its self-destruct sequence. The commander rose and said the prayer to the innocent broken soul in the mechanical shell. None deserved such end, but a quick death was the only mercy he could provide.

The Iron Army didn’t suffer as much as the Frisnia force, but they took enough casualties to make any attempt to march further into the enemy territory a fool’s errand. The A-rank commander’s prowess, combined with the soldier’s advanced training, meant that they managed to regroup quickly and counterattack against the X-cution in the sky.

However, what they didn’t expect was the X-cution descending on the Frisnia’s army. Akard determinedly screamed his order. The Frisnia’s force in disarray presented the opportunity to take them all out in one fell swoop using the chaos to its maximum effect.

Sadly for the Iron Army, several puppets emerged from the ground beneath them. A humongous centipede darted from the ground, knocking several soldiers into the skies. A mechanical lion followed it and started breathing fire onto the Iron Army. A shoot of steeled shot randomly among the army and exploded, taking some of the troop of the commission.

Akard bit back a curse as the X-cutions continued to generate random carnage across the battlefield. Together with the puppet, this battle was turning into a chaotic bloodbath. There were denying it now. They need Tai Hua.

....

On the remain of Palma Creek, a temporary truce stood as the two injured women received their report amongst a pile of broken X-cutions.

Chuang grimaced. Ruho was the only commanding officials conscious after the X-cution’s initial attacks. Migras managed to shield her at the final moment, but the explosion still left comatose him.

Luckily, the medical squad reached them in time to stabilize MIgras’s condition and provided first-aid to Ruho. The rest of the army wasn’t so lucky. The X-cution’s rebellion had caught them blind, and a third of the allied army suffered because of it. With this kind of damage, Frisnia would likely cross the border back to lick their wounds, and there was no way she could persuade them to pre-emptively attack Tai Hua’s stronghold in Starland until it was too late. Her opportunity to destroy her rival before she fully matured was dead.

Tai Hua’s face was an indistinguishable mixture of calm and disgusted. The result just came in. The Iron Army suffered less damage compared to Frisnia, but any hope of her taking Frisnia was gone. She lost over 4,573 men in this battle with trice the number injured. Those numbers might be only a fraction of her total forces, but each of her troops was an indispensable investment. Any attempt to push into Frisinia after that deficit would turn into an overextension. She had to readjust her plan into recovering her forces inside Starland instead of progressing.

And both of them knew who exactly to blame for this debacle.

“It is your fault,” Tai Hua stated sternly. “The bloodshed both of us suffer today is on your hand.”

“Excuse me?!” Chuang replied with incredulous outrage. “You are blaming me? You start this invasion!”

“Yes, and it only turned this bloody because you get in my way. Isn’t your X-cution did this damage? What are you idiots thinking in allying with the Church and lunatic like Illma Zoldia Road? Nobles like you are always the same--blind to everything outside your lawn.”

Chuang raged filled the air with flames that further melt the rock in this broken crater.

“What about you!? Keep calling the world unfair, acting like you are entitled to all the world's greatness. You walk around like you know best for everyone! You know, I used to think you are annoying, but you are worse. You will be a bane that destroys us all. If you think you are dealing with a reckless child fighting against her rival, you are wrong. I am here turn everything you live for to hell. Know your place, trash.”

Tai Hua growled, refusing to comprehend a word her rival.

“You might sound a bit more convincing if you manage to hide your jealousy,” Tai Hua spitefully replied. “You lot made friends with murderers and tyrant to oppress the weak from your Ivory Tower. Isn’t it right for me to return the favor? The system is broken. Your refusal to accept the replacement is costing more lives every day. Just how many futures must you trample to suit that ego of yours, milady.”

Both women glared at each other across the unhealable scar of hypocrisy. Without a word of farewell, both of them turned and left. While they could spend more time fighting each other, both of them knew any further fighting was a waste of time.

Today was already pyrrhic enough.

Chuang glanced at the sky. She delayed Tai Hua for now, but against two Heavenly Daughters, she had no chance. As hard as it was to admit it, she needed help, and there was only one candidate in mind to counter Kar’Dia’s support.

The only counter for the Heavenly Daughter of Earth was a girl who would become an assistant director of the Alchemist Association in the future.

Chuang needed to recruit Cytortia.