Death... and me

The next day quickly arrived as Fikin and everyone else left the Zasfin Army. Once again, they gathered far away from the low-level battlefield to continue their own fights. However, Fikin didn't look as relaxed as he did during the previous week. Instead, he looked intently at Phex's original form, who seemed to have lost quite a few feathers.

He then paid attention to the other Divine Demon Beasts and the common ones as well. Sure enough, they all had their own share of injuries, some of which he had caused. However, he also noticed a problem. 'That doesn't make sense. Some of the injuries inflicted on the first few days were just too small. They should have healed by now, so how come they're still there?'

Soon after, he also noticed another problem. 'Not only that, but even with the grievous injuries, I didn't notice any real drop in combat power in Phex and the other demon beasts...'

As one could expect, it only took a moment for Fikin to understand that Phex and his group were doing nothing more than pretending. 'Could it be that they really had a way to recover from their injuries?' Soon after, Fikin paid attention to his Transition Realm members. It was a given that they had also accrued injuries. Some were serious, others not that much. Nevertheless, they were there. The only difference was that he knew that they were no pretense. They were the real deal.

'I see...so that's your plan.' Fikin felt like he had been struck by lightning. 'You'll pretend to be injured, just like we are. Once you feel that our combat strength has dropped low enough, you will bare your fangs and try to win against us in a single strike.'

However, Fikin wasn't afraid of that. 'Hmph! Two can play this game.'

Without saying anything to anyone, Fikin and the Phex gave the order for the battle to start. Once again, sky and earth turned into hell as the various skills of those top-level experts and demon beasts rained everywhere. 

On Roan's side, he decided to take the conquest over the Humk, Freten, and Gargoc Regions more seriously. Fikin wanted to give the Hafel Clan 20% of their force, showing that they still haven't given up keeping it. That also meant that Fikin was not being driven into a corner yet since he could share some of his attention to those issues. 'Since he's paying attention here, I'll make it so that he won't be able to focus anywhere else.'

"Tell the humans and sentient demon beasts of the left wing to prepare. We will be using the Ten Waves Rush to pierce through the Zasfins' right wing," Roan ordered with a serious expression. 

The demon beast on his side was surprised to hear that but quickly nodded as it responded, "Yes!"

As mentioned before, it wasn't possible to use complex formations with the demon beasts due to their lack of sentience. Even common ones were out of the question. However, Roan wasn't going to use battle formations to do that. Instead, it would be the simplest attack order.

Rean couldn't help but ask, "What's this 'Ten Waves Rush' you're talking about?" 

Roan glanced at Rean, who was already healing one of the Stage Nine Demon Beasts. Over a week has passed already, so it was normal for them to start coming back with worse injuries. 

Roan then began to explain, "Did you notice that my progress was a little slower until now?" Rean nodded in response and waited for Roan to continue. "I didn't take this long because it was hard to advance more. Instead, it was to put all the demon beasts and Zasfins in the right positions. Once the waves start, the Zasfins wouldn't be able to hold them back. The waves won't have any battle formation themselves. However, the waves can be considered my Battle Formation. The demon beasts won't be doing much more than attacking when the signal is given. But the calls will be sent at different times for all ten groups."

Roan then pointed in the distance as he continued, "Just wait and see. I didn't pick this point to command the army just because it was easy to protect. It also has a great view of the Zasfins' right wing."

The Zasfin commander on the right wing soon saw the demon beasts beginning to move in several directions. Then, those demon beasts started to gather into several groups. 'No, it's not like they left their positions to do that. They were already there to start with. It's just that they had been so scattered up to now that it looked like no group was present. Now...what are they doing?'

Roan's orders were carried, and eventually, ten demon beast groups, containing more than 70% of the entire demon beasts' right wing, was formed. Roan then smiled as he looked at the terrain in front of him. 'Let me see how you stop this.'

Soon after, Roan gave the order. "Start the Ten Waves Rush!"

"Not good!" As soon as the first group of demon beasts moved out, the Zasfin commander understood what was happening. His Zasfin Army simply wouldn't be able to get out of the way of the demon beasts' forces. It wasn't because there wasn't space for maneuver, but instead, it was because his army was too concentrated in the middle.

Without wasting any time, he immediately sent a string of commands. "Pass my orders! Have all the Earth Element users head to the front and raise as many barriers as possible. Also, everyone else on the sides has to spread, giving space for the forces in the center to divide. Tell the Zasfins at the Nascent Soul and Soul Transformation Realms to head to the front and try to help and hold the demon beasts for as long as possible. Quickly! We don't have much time!"

Sadly, Roan wasn't any slower. "All the Stage Five and Stage Six Demon Beasts must head to the front and stop the Nascent Soul and Soul Transformation Realm Zasfins from intervening. There's no need to go all out. Just make sure that they don't have time to give the Zasfins on the ground support. As for the humans, leave them together with the demon beast waves to control the flow."

And just like that, the biggest showdown in the entire war had officially started.