Chapter 326: Important Figures

The immense metropolis — one of the two largest and most prosperous cities on the planet — had been completely transformed into an open-air slaughterhouse.

The air was filled with an unbearable stench of rust, burnt entrails, and decomposing flesh. In the heart of the city, where majestic buildings had once stood, thousands of Sorcerers indulged in a grotesque massacre.

The Sorcerers’ weapons drank the victims’ blood with insatiable thirst. As the vital fluid flowed down the blades, a thick crimson aura emanated from the weapons.

On top of that, a bloody mist rose from the soaked ground, condensing in the air. As they inhaled that reddish vapor, the Sorcerers’ eyes glowed a vivid red. The mist acted on their bodies like a devastating hallucinogenic drug, pushing their euphoria into delirium and nourishing them with even greater power.

"More! Bring me more worms!" one of the invaders roared, decapitating a kneeling native mage.

"Their blood is delicious! Hahahaha!" another laughed, crushing a commoner’s skull beneath his boot.

Amid that nightmare, among the smoldering ruins of a plaza, a boy of only seven or eight years old ran as fast as he could. His little legs trembled, but his eyes held a desperate kind of courage. He gripped a small wooden sword tightly in his hands.

Ahead of him, a gigantic Sorcerer, more than eight feet tall and covered in scars, had just dismembered a local soldier. He turned around and stared at the little boy.

The giant sneered in a guttural voice, baring rotten, yellow teeth. "Come on, little boy! Show me your strength!"

The boy swallowed his tears and charged forward, raising his wooden sword. "Leave my mother alone, you monster!"

The invader laughed, raising his enormous longsword above his head.

The black steel blade began descending in a deadly arc, ready to split the child in half.

*SWOOSH!*

The space around them bent with an imperceptible snap. Before the Sorcerer’s sword could descend even a few inches, Priam’s figure materialized in midair.

Without making a sound, Priam’s arm moved like an invisible whip. A blade of wind sliced through the air.

The Sorcerer froze in the middle of his attack. His eyes widened in absolute shock.

The next second, a thin red line appeared from his shoulder to his opposite waist. The invader’s colossal body was cut perfectly in half, falling in opposite directions in a bloody explosion before he could even comprehend his own death.

Priam landed gently on the blood-soaked ground. He looked at the little boy, who stared at him with his jaw hanging open, still clutching his wooden sword.

"You’ve got a lot of courage, kid," Priam said in a calm, firm tone. "But save that courage for when you’re older."

With a slight wave of his hand, Priam enveloped the child in a gentle bubble of Ether. The boy floated safely into the desperate arms of his mother, who was crying while huddled beneath the rubble of a destroyed house.

Priam raised his head toward the sky. The flying ships, carrying his army of nearly 150,000 soldiers, appeared right behind him.

"DON’T LEAVE A SINGLE ONE OF THEM ALIVE!"

Dandara’s shout echoed across the city.

*BOOOOOOM!*

The next second, the army poured out of the flying ships like an overwhelming rain of meteors.

However, upon witnessing the horrific scene on the ground, the vast majority of the disciples completely lost control of their emotions. Blind hatred took over their minds.

It was inevitable. Seeing that scene reopened deep wounds and awakened painful memories.

All those sect disciples had already experienced similar tragedies. Almost all of them had watched people they cared about die horribly at the hands of these same enemies in the past, and that pain had been the fuel that drove them to train and become who they were today.

There were just over 100,000 Sorcerers in the city. But across the entire planet, that number had to be at least five times greater.

"Die, you bastards!" a young mage shouted, charging alone toward a group of ten Sorcerers.

"Avenger these people!" another roared, abandoning his position and leaving the rear completely exposed.

The army’s formation collapsed within moments. Disciples from various branches collided with one another, blocking their own comrades’ lines of sight and plunging everything into chaos.

"Get out of my way, idiot!"

"Watch out! They’re coming from the flank!"

"Where are you going?! Hold the line!"

The Sorcerers, realizing how disorganized the invaders were, smiled sadistically. They began dodging the disorderly attacks and flanking groups of stunned mages.

Only the two thousand mages from Priam’s original faction remained calm, moving like an impenetrable phalanx in the middle of the chaos.

Seeing the troops’ catastrophic stupidity, Dandara leapt into the sky above the city.

She placed a hand on her chest and squeezed.

*BUZZZZZZ!*

One hundred percent of her terrifying miasma and power was released.

In a fraction of a second, the very color of the world seemed to be drained away.

The blue sky and the red tones of the blood disappeared, giving way to a monochromatic palette of purple hues. The temperature of the surroundings plummeted instantly.

The pressure was so overwhelming that the battle simply stopped. Both the mages and the Sorcerers froze, trembling before the visceral terror emanating from the woman in the sky.

High above, at the center of the phenomenon, Dandara stood with terrifying red eyes, staring down at the world as if everyone below were nothing more than ants she wanted to crush.

"SHUT UP AND LISTEN!" Dandara’s roar echoed like divine thunder directly into the soul of every soldier.

"You’re not heroes from some tragic story! You’re soldiers in a war!" she shouted with utter contempt. "Anyone who breaks formation again just to play solo hero will be considered a traitor and executed by me before a Sorcerer even gets the chance to lay a hand on you!"

The disciples swallowed hard, sweating cold under Dandara’s terrifying aura. The shock made their blind fury vanish instantly, giving way to tactical reason.

"Young Sages, take command of the battalions immediately!" Dandara ordered, her voice echoing throughout the entire perimeter. "Front line, raise your shields! Rear guard, prepare area suppression spells! If you take even one step outside the plan, I’ll rip your heads off myself! MOVE!"

"Yes, ma’am!" the commanders hurriedly replied, their hearts pounding.

"Battalion Three, close the gap on the left!"

"Keep your distance and attack in coordinated bursts!"

The army’s gears finally began turning properly, driven by the shouts and curses of that furious woman.

The Young Sages from the branches took command of the contingents, acting as attack and defense units. The ordinary Mages maintained the encirclement and neutralized enemy advances with barriers and area-effect Magic Arts, while the Sages advanced to deliver the killing blows against the more resilient targets.

Dandara flew continuously over the city, correcting the position of every group and making sure no one strayed from the tactics. Using her miasma at full capacity, she remained airborne entirely on her own.

Priam watched everything with his arms crossed. He didn’t need to lift a single finger.

Amid the enemy horde, there were around 120 Sorcerers at the Sage level. However, true to their selfish and savage nature, they fought completely individually and chaotically.

Even while outnumbered — with only 90 Young Sages — Priam’s army, driven by strict discipline and flawless teamwork, began isolating and exterminating the enemy Sages one by one.

Priam kept a watchful eye on everything. This battle was essential. The army needed to bleed and learn how to fight as a single mind for the even greater battles that would come.

He was the ultimate trump card, ready to act at any moment and deal with any unforeseen situation. He kept his senses expanded to their absolute limit, monitoring the surroundings of the metropolis and anticipating any external threat. Dandara, on the other hand, exercised absolute command over the front lines. The two roles complemented each other perfectly.

In exactly one hour, the thousands of Sorcerers infesting the metropolis had been completely exterminated. Not a single invader remained standing.

The disciples, panting and covered in sweat and enemy blood, looked around, ready to let out a victory cry.

Dandara’s voice echoed from above, cold and cutting:

"We don’t have time to waste. Everyone back to the Flying Warships! Now!"

No one dared question her. The 150,000 soldiers sheathed their weapons and immediately reboarded.

Dandara huffed, and all her miasma returned to her body.

She hadn’t lost any strength at all. Her power was strange and useful, allowing her to release it this way without consuming it.

The thirteen vessels lit up, and the fleet shot through the atmosphere at maximum speed. Inside the Flying Warships, an incredible Ether recovery inscription was activated.

Everyone aboard was able to absorb and recover their energy at a terrifying speed.

The amount of resources required to use it was unimaginable. However, the main sect had already provided these ships, completely stocked with everything needed. The branches weren’t spending anything.

In that battle, they had managed to save thousands of civilians in the city, and Priam made sure that not a single enemy remained alive throughout the surrounding region.

The Sorcerers’ invasion was taking place on a global scale, ravaging the largest metropolises on the planet. Splitting the troops into smaller contingents to cover more areas would be suicide — they didn’t know how many enemy Sages were still hiding across the planet, and the number of elite combatants in Priam’s army was limited.

Acting impulsively, driven by the naive desire to save everyone at once, would only cause casualties among the army and result in even more innocent lives being lost. They needed to focus on the largest enemy concentrations and crush them with overwhelming force.

Within minutes, the fleet crossed the continent and reached the second-largest metropolis on the planet. They were still high above and quite far away, but the scene was already visible.

Down below, the situation was terrible. Tens of thousands of native Mages were desperately fighting against a brutal siege, being slaughtered by hordes of Sorcerers who were visibly stronger and better trained than those from the previous city. The defenders were holding on with the last of their strength.

However... the true terror wasn’t on the ground. It was in the skies.

More than 200 Sage-level Sorcerers were flying over the metropolis in a slow, oppressive circle.

They weren’t participating in the battle. They simply floated in the air, watching the massacre with laughter and sick smiles. Those invading Sages were doing exactly the same thing Priam had done moments earlier: using the battle on the ground as a training ground so that the weaker Sorcerers could gain experience.

Priam took in the scene and narrowed his eyes.

He looked at Dandara, who immediately nodded. They didn’t need words. They knew each other perfectly, trusted each other completely, and had planned dozens of scenarios in advance.

Priam took a single step forward into the void and disappeared.

Using the winds to move, he appeared alone in the sky, positioned directly above the metropolis.

"!"

At the same instant, all 200 Sage-level Sorcerers noticed him, startled.

Priam smiled.

"You seem to be important figures. Are you Elders from your Sorcerer sects?"

The next instant, he released his devastating aura, causing the very space around him to crack like glass.