Since when had Guinness been this strong? Back at Fortress Hickory, Solera never saw anything like this. Otherwise, their fights would have been much easier! Right?

Solera thought back to the expert swordsman, the one that had killed Pinot and caused Chip to flee. His eyes began to widen as he realized… It was Guinness who had knocked the man down to the ground with a single punch! Solera had stabbed the swordsman countless times, yet he was only able to finish him off when Guinness had knocked the man out cold with a second punch.

The man was wearing incredibly strong plate armor, yet Guinness’s fists had not been injured even a little bit when he had struck him down. Solera had been under high stress at the time, and so had not connected the dots. But Guinness throwing a rock weighing hundreds of kilograms was not something he could miss.

Solera stared at Guinness, who was panting heavily from the exertion, incredulously. Could it be that Guinness had an insanely high cultivation, and none of them knew? But this wasn’t possible! High level cultivation required cultivation techniques, and cultivation techniques required using the channels, and Guinness couldn’t even channel!

Still, the truth was staring at him in the face. He could not deny what his own two eyes told him: Guinness was a freak of nature.

Solera shook himself out of his thoughts. They were still in the middle of a battle! Right as he resumed his walk through the grass, a shadow blotted out the sun. It was the King Gorilla, its body flying over from another side of the hill.

The King Gorilla smashed into the ground, creating a shockwave which knocked Solera off his feet. Cursing, he got up again, only to see an ocean of tiny bright blue things crashing onto the ground around him. They were minuscule, like dust, but they moved as if they were sentient. In an instant, the blue dust swirled together into an immensely tall tower forty meters high. At the top stood a girl in a green blouse, sucking a lollipop.

Solera looked no further.

“RUN!” He shouted, grabbing Guinness and fleeing towards the hill as fast as his legs could carry him. Victoria was here again? They had to flee! The grass shivered as another tremor ran through the ground. Solera glanced back and saw that the tower had turned into a giant blue Vigor, its fist rising from a gaping, bloody hole in the King Gorilla’s corpse. Solera’s heart trembled, and his legs suddenly found a new maximum speed.

What was she doing here? Last time, she was controlling over twenty jumbo Vigors. Now, Victoria was only controlling a single Vigor, but Solera had no doubt that this strange blue Vigor was far more dangerous than the previous twenty! Solera gritted his teeth. Whatever he did, he absolutely could not go near her!

BOOM!

An explosion had Solera tackling Guinness to the ground. When he looked up, he found that it was not an explosion. It was the throne which called itself the Vanguard clashing with the blue Vigor. Its battleaxe glowed with golden sunlight as it carved towards the Vigor with a force that could possibly slash both fortresses into two!

CCRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKK!

A thousand lines appeared beneath the blue Vigor’s feet. The thousand cracks turned into ten thousand, and within a moment a crater fifty meters in diameter and twenty meters deep had appeared.

The Vanguard jumped back to the edge of the crater. It held up its battleaxe to the light for an inspection. On the center of the axe’s edge, Solera could clearly see a crack in the weapon!

Solera’s eyes bugged. That was a mighty Sky artifact, a weapon from Sky itself! How could something like a Vigor, which was meant to regenerate any damage it took rather than block any blows, make even the smallest chip in the blade?

“So this, this is the power of siehnti!” The Vanguard roared as an ocean of blue flowed out of the crater, carrying the girl atop it. It reformed back into a Vigor, standing on the opposite side of the crater from the Vanguard.

“You have the strongest weapon in all of Land under your control, girl.” The Vanguard raised his battleaxe up into the air. “Still, you’re going to die today!”

The battleaxe shot through the air at an insane speed. Solera could only see the Vigor flowing together, like a wave about to crash in on itself, around Victoria. The wave was only about a meter thick when the battleaxe flew into it.

TIINNGGGG!

A metallic, clashing noise rang out as the battleaxe split into countless shards of whatever its component material was. As for the wave, it emanated countless ripples as it dispersed the force of the impact. Another crater appeared, but Solera could not even see the tiniest crack appear on the Vigor itself. Of course; it was a Vigor, and could instantly reform. But what was astonishing was that the Vigor had actually stopped the battleaxe without the slightest backwards movement.

Despite the sheer amount of things that had occurred between the tremor which had sent them to the ground and the Vanguard’s battleaxe being destroyed, the entire exchange had occurred in under ten seconds, with a good half of it taken up by the Vanguard’s talking. Solera tapped Guinness on the shoulder. They got up off the ground and started fleeing again. If a throne couldn’t stop her, then only an immortal or seraph could. But half their forces, including Chianti and Verreaux, were sieging Fortress Hickory, a hundred kilometers away! If Umbra and Skadi had also left, then Solera and Guinness could only flee. Again.

Because of the disturbance the Vanguard and the girl had created, they were able to cross to the other side of the hill without disruption. They were now in the space between the two fortresses, alongside the group of Eden soldiers Solera had seen earlier.

Their position gave them cover from numerous channelers, whose attacks peppered the ridges on either side of them. A pack of tigers prowled along one side of the hill, just several meters away from the cultivators who waited for them to cross over the crest.

“Get down!” A soldier shouted as a glob of magma flew over and splashed into the fortress walls. Several soldiers were hit by the rebound and fell screaming to the ground.

The old, emaciated man, Jeboro, whom Solera had seen that day along with the girl, landed in the center of their group. Before Solera’s expression could even change, a blur appeared next to Jeboro.

Jeboro blocked the blur with his golden gauntlets and rode the impact onto the branches of the first fortress that had been created.

“You’re good, you’re good!” Jeboro shouted at the man, the captain which had brought down one of Leera’s assassins that day. “But where’s Skadi? I want to get him back for what he did already!” Some magma sloshed out of his gauntlets as he shook his fists.

“Hmph.” The captain flicked the blood off his sword as he leaped into the air. Jeboro and the captain quickly disappeared from sight, leaving behind only the furious ringing of their clashing weapons.

“Ready your gauntlets! Don’t let Captain Osmond down!” A soldier shouted at a line of channelers on the side opposite the tigers. But before he could tell them to fire, his head disappeared.

The man that had appeared in the center of their formation was extremely tall, with long, messy hair and bright blue armor. On both his hands were a set of brass knuckles, one of them slicked with blood and brain matter.

“Another immortal!” A man cursed as he lifted his gauntlet up. Ogura disappeared as over ten channeling attacks slashed through the place he had occupied.

“Fuc-” A soldier shouted as she shot out a wind blade at the approaching blur. Her eyes went blank the moment the blur passed straight through her and solidified back into the immortal, his hair blowing wildly with the tempest he had created through his own movements. He removed his hand from the hole he had made in her body, crushing her head in the palm of his other hand before turned around. Imprinted on his forehead was a small red line from the wind blade he had taken head on.

Solera felt despair in his heart. No wonder they were immortals. In front of one, he was no more than an ant waiting to be crushed!

Screams rang out from behind them, along with tearing and chewing sounds. Solera gripped his sword tightly, not sure which way to look. On one side was a pack of tigers, and on the other was an immortal!

“Rally together! I’ll take him!” A man stepped towards the immortal, raising his sword up. “My name is Harold. What’s your name, immortal?”

A look of disdain appeared on the immortal’s lips. “Ogura!”

He leaped towards Harold. With a single blow, Harold’s sword broke apart and his head exploded.

“Who’s next?” Ogura looked at the soldiers near them.

Solera could hear the sounds of the tigers behind him. He knew this man was something far beyond his reach, someone totally unassailable, but he had to do something! His power crystal was nearly empty, with only a few hour’s charge, but it was still much better than nothing.

The immortal had only blocked the wind blade at point blank range because he was ready for it, and had overpowered the moment it had struck him. No human, when not overpowering, could take a wind blow head on, no matter how insane their cultivation was!

Solera was not sure how long immortals could overpower for, but he knew nobody could overpower for extended periods of time. It was likely that Ogura was only overpowering the moment he saw a blow coming towards him. If Solera could land his all-out hit when Ogura was not overpowering, then Solera had a chance. They would all have a chance.

He had no other choice.

“Who’s next?” Ogura barked.

A woman walked forward, her expression grim.

“Who’s next?” Ogura asked as he cleaned his brass knuckles with the woman’s shirt. “If you surrender, I’ll only kill half of you demon worshippers.”

“Who’s next?” “Who’s next?” “Who’s next?”

One soldier after another had their bodies smashed apart. The tigers had halted their assault to create a ring around them, watching as Ogura slaughtered the Eden soldiers. Solera did not look away, his blood boiling within him. The moment he had an opening… he would kill Ogura, or die trying. Probably the latter.

“Get off my men!” A man barked as he tossed the front half of a tiger at Ogura’s feet. It was Captain Osmond, with Jeboro nowhere to be seen. “You’re dead. If not to me, then to Skadi!”

Ogura looked at the tiger corpse at his feet, then laughed. He leaped forward towards Osmond, his brass knuckles lashing out. Osmond’s sword glowed red as he he channeled power into it. A loud screech resounded out, and sparks appeared where the weapons came into contact. With that single blow, Osmond was panting heavily, his face matted with sweat.

Ogura punched again. Though Osmond blocked with his sword, he was blown back ten meters, landing heavily onto the ground. Right as Ogura stepped forward to finish him off, a giant boulder smashed down right onto the top of his head. Ogura stumbled forward, clutching his head, which had a small, bloody gash in it.

Guinness roared, both his hands gripping the sword Chip had given him. He ran around the fallen boulder and chopped down at Ogura’s shoulder. The sword went an inch deep before stopping.

“GUINNESS!” Solera screamed, one hand on his power crystal. The sword slashed straight at Ogura’s neck, glowing green with the verdant power of the crystal. It didn’t matter if this wasn’t the optimal time, he had to go now! Osmond leaped forward as well, thrusting desperately at Ogura’s heart.

Blinding purple light shot out of Ogura’s body as the two swords cut into him. Solera felt as if he had struck a wall of steel. The bones in his wrist creaked from the force of the sword handle, which had completely stopped moving the moment the sword touched Ogura’s neck.

Some flying darts bounced off of Ogura’s body. They had pierced through his armor, yet were stopped the moment they touched his skin.

“AAAARRRRRRRRRGGHHHH!” Ogura palmed Solera and Osmond. The moment the palm touched Solera, he was flying backwards through the air. It wasn’t the physical force of Ogura’s palm, Solera thought in the back of his mind. Otherwise, he’d be like that first woman, with a hole blown straight through his stomach. No, it was a channeling attack which had carried him away. Kinetic push!

After he traveled around fifteen meters, Solera’s back smashed into the ridge, knocking the wind out of him. He could hear several bones cracking, but he paid no attention to any of it. Guinness… Guinness was the only one of the three who had not been pushed away!

“Stop right there!” Solera could hear Skadi’s shout. “Unless you want-”

Ogura ignored him. His fist smashed straight into Guinness’s face.

Solera screamed.

Guinness’s head disintegrated right in front of his very eyes, spraying into the air in a million bits of blood, bone, and brain matter. His body swayed for a moment, before it fell backwards onto the ground.

“GUINNESS!” Solera howled, tears trickling down his eyes. “GUINNESS!”

Not Guinness! Why Guinness? He was just a kid who couldn’t understand anything! How could he be singled out by an immortal, and his head destroyed so quickly that his soul couldn’t even go to Sky? How could such a cruel fate befall Guinness?

In an instant, thousands of thoughts flashed through Solera’s mind. He remembered his earliest memories of Guinness, years ago, of him being bullied by the other kids from the Grove. That time, he hadn’t paid it any thought, but now he deeply regretted his inaction.

He remembered when he had truly met Guinness, that day when his mother, the mousy lady, asked Solera to take care of him. He still remembered the uncomfortable feeling he had when she asked. He remembered sitting quietly on the reindeer next to Guinness as it took them to Peat City. That time, he had barely even bothered to talk to Guinness. The regret in his heart grew.

He remembered Fortress Hickory, that fateful day. He had ordered Guinness to go along with them as they fled. It had turned out to be the right choice when the Airborne came with their flamethrowers… but Solera knew how irresponsible, how whimsical his decision had been. He had given so little thought to Guinness's safety. That day, he had only taken Guinness because he felt more people was better for escaping. It had been Guinness who had saved his life from that swordsman, and he didn't even realize until today.

He remembered Guinness carrying him as they fled from Jeboro and Victoria. He should have been left behind there. But it was Guinness who had insisted on taking Solera, despite it weighing him down. Despite Solera’s relative apathy towards him all that time.

All this time, Solera wasn’t taking care of Guinness. It was the other way around! At Fortress Hickory, at the Genbu assault, just now, with the channeler…

Solera hadn’t realized until now, but Guinness had been his first friend. A sea of regrets filled his heart. His first friend, and yet he had barely interacted with him. Why hadn’t he talked to Guinness more? Why hadn’t he cared more? Now, Guinness was dead! His soul had dispersed, with no chance of even going to Sky because of the heartless method Ogura had used to kill him!

If only he had been strong enough to kill Ogura with that blow! If only it was within his power! Then, Guinness wouldn’t have died!

But Solera was too weak! He didn’t have the power to do anything!