As Oakes's son, Figroa knew very well that his father possessed a material defense Sovereign artifact bestowed by Lord Locke.
Against a material defense Sovereign artifact, his current attacks simply could not inflict even the slightest damage on his father.
So, from the very moment the battle began, Figroa held nothing back.
Rather, in the face of a powerful Asura-level expert, he had no right to hold back in the first place.
Facing the incoming thousand-meter sword arc, Oakes raised his right hand.
A wisp of breeze danced lightly in his palm.
Riiip!
Whoooosh…
With a casual flick of his hand, that single strand of wind instantly transformed into a raging wind dragon.
Wherever it passed, space itself was torn apart by the violent gale, becoming a tornado-like dragon wrapped in black spatial fissures as it surged toward the incoming sword arc.
Boom!
With a thunderous explosion, the wind dragon Oakes had unleashed directly tore Figroa's sword arc to pieces.
The force released from the collision of the two attacks blasted open a hundred-meter-wide spatial black hole in midair.
Under the black hole's immense suction, the shattered sword energy and part of the wind vortex were immediately dragged inside, only then managing to fill and close the void.
The remaining wind vortex continued toward Figroa's magic battle formation, only to be destroyed by another sword slash from Figroa.
After that, Figroa continuously unleashed one powerful sword arc after another, tearing spatial cracks hundreds of meters long all around them.
Yet every single one was swiftly crushed before Commander Oakes.
"So strong!"
All the spectators watching the battle between Figroa's legion and Commander Oakes couldn't help but cry out in amazement.
"Yes, truly powerful."
Mira nodded solemnly.
"Even though the magic battle formation lacks flexibility and can only unleash relatively straightforward attacks like sword arcs, just the sheer power behind those attacks already carries a hint of Asura-level might."
"Mm. The main issue is still that Battalion Commander Figroa himself is too weak."
Celes nodded in agreement.
"I've also been studying magic battle formations lately. If Battalion Commander Figroa were stronger and able to fully control this formation, the attacks he can unleash would be at least three times stronger."
"Three times…"
Mira stared in shock.
"If the attack were three times stronger, then even I probably wouldn't be able to withstand a single strike."
"Well, it is the combined attack of ten thousand Highgods, amplified further by the Laws drawn in through the magic battle formation. Power like this isn't strange."
"Though right now, it's only because the formation hasn't spread yet."
"The moment this formation is publicly revealed, it will absolutely shake the Seven Divine Planes and the Four Higher Planes."
Mira didn't fully understand.
But Celes, having once been an emperor, understood exactly what kind of impact the emergence of magic battle formations would have.
At present, the Seven Divine Planes and Four Higher Planes still followed the principle of the strong reigning supreme.
Even an ordinary Highgod could casually slaughter dozens, even hundreds, of Gods.
But once magic battle formations became widespread—
it wouldn't take much.
A formation of merely ten Gods would already be enough to contend with an ordinary Highgod.
A formation of one hundred Gods could easily kill an average Highgod in seconds.
At that point, while the strong would still remain above all—
the weaker gods would no longer be completely powerless.
Take Figroa as an example.
According to past common sense, ten thousand Highgods led by a Five-Star Fiend would only be massacred by a Seven-Star Fiend.
How many escaped would depend entirely on the Seven-Star Fiend's mood.
But now—
once arranged into a magic battle formation, even a Seven-Star Fiend could only become a soul beneath Figroa's blade.
Only those standing at the absolute peak—the Asura Prefects—would still possess the strength to contend with such formations and retain their lofty status.
And if several more formations of this scale were deployed…
even an Asura Prefect would not be impossible to challenge.
Of course, reaching Figroa's level, where one could command ten thousand soldiers in a magic battle formation, was not something just anyone could achieve.
At the very least, one needed an extremely profound understanding of the Laws of heaven and earth, as well as of magic formations.
Those capable of this would be granted the title of Grandmaster of Magic Formations.
Figroa was Lord Locke's first Grandmaster of Magic Formations.
After assessing the offensive capabilities of Figroa's battle formation, Oakes began launching attacks of his own to test its defensive power.
His figure flashed.
In an instant, Oakes charged directly toward the formation, effortlessly shattering every attack that came his way.
Then, he threw a punch.
Green wind-element Laws condensed into a gigantic fist dozens of meters wide, roaring forward as it tore through layers of spatial cracks and slammed toward the magic battle formation.
Seeing this, Figroa raised his sword horizontally before his chest and condensed a shield of divine power in front of the formation.
Boom!
"Wah—!"
"Pff—!"
The divine shield Figroa formed was nearly shattered by Oakes's strike.
Many within the formation were heavily injured by the immense force dispersed throughout the formation.
More importantly, under Oakes's blow, many of the soldiers serving as nodes of the formation were knocked out of position, drastically reducing the formation's power.
Thankfully, the ten company commanders directly controlled by Figroa all possessed Six-Star Fiend–level strength.
Though they too suffered serious injuries, they still managed to stabilize the key nodes and preserve the framework of the formation.
Had those ten core nodes collapsed, the entire large-scale formation would likely have disintegrated instantly.
Two or three breaths later, under the direction of the squad and company commanders, the soldiers restored their positions.
Only then did the formation's amplification return.
"Do you still wish to continue, Roya?"
Standing with his hands behind his back, Oakes looked toward Figroa.
From the previous exchange, it was clear—
while Figroa's formation could withstand a single attack from an Asura-level expert, part of its structure would inevitably be disrupted.
And during the time required to restore the formation, an Asura Prefect would have enough time to destroy them dozens of times over.
"Again!"
Figroa said solemnly,
"Fighting you now allows us to adapt and correct the problems the formation encounters against powerful enemies as quickly as possible."
"This will help all of us better understand how the Laws transform within the battle formation."
"If we can learn to move the formation's nodes in accordance with the changes in the Laws even while under attack, the legion's strength can be raised even further."
"Good. I'm pleased you have such spirit."
"In that case, let me show you the true power of an Asura-level expert!"
What followed was, quite frankly, a complete one-sided beating by Oakes.
The attacks launched by the formation were either effortlessly dodged or neutralized.
Every strike from Oakes, meanwhile, nearly shattered the formation.
And yet, just as Figroa had said—
under these circumstances, the soldiers, all of whom were at least Three-Star Fiends, came to understand the transformations of the Laws within the formation more and more clearly.
Thus, amid repeated collapses and recoveries, they gradually adapted.
Some among them even began, the moment the formation was shaken by an attack, to rapidly adjust the node they represented in accordance with the changing flow of the Laws.
As a result, what the outside world saw was this—
under Oakes's relentless attacks, the formation's defense grew stronger and stronger.
And every time it was broken, the recovery time became shorter and shorter.
As the soldiers improved, Figroa's control over the entire formation also became increasingly smooth.
Although the massive formation still moved rather clumsily due to its size—
when it came to standing its ground and unleashing attacks, Figroa gradually stabilized his position under Oakes's assault.
At times, he was even able to counterattack.
"So strong!"
Both Celes and Mira couldn't help but exclaim, their eyes shining.
However, the focus of their attention was different.
Mira's attention was on Oakes.
Oakes truly lived up to his reputation as a veteran Asura-level expert.
Every movement he made carried overwhelming might.
No matter how the magic battle formation shifted, each of his strikes dimmed its brilliance.
It was as though, if Oakes became just a little more serious—if his attack frequency increased even slightly—he could destroy the ten-thousand-man formation outright.
Celes, on the other hand, was focused on Figroa.
There was no denying it.
With the support of the Sovereign soldiers, Figroa's performance was dazzling.
A mere Five-Star Fiend, leading ten thousand Highgods, was actually able to fight an Asura Prefect to this extent.
If he could also attain such mastery over magic battle formations…
then perhaps even Commander Oakes himself might be defeated by him.
This battle continued for more than half a day.
And all the divine experts who had watched from between the second and third layers of mist came away with their own thoughts.
Those who could still sense their own progress in cultivation—those who still believed they could become stronger—set Commander Oakes as their goal.
As for those who had already reached the end of their cultivation path and had not felt improvement in countless years—
their eyes turned toward the Sovereign Army encampment with visible temptation.
If even Figroa, a mere Five-Star Fiend, could use a magic battle formation to fight an Asura-level expert…
then what about them?
Could they perhaps become even stronger?
Of course, everyone knew that studying magic battle formations, much like comprehending the Laws, depended heavily on talent.
But what if—
what if they possessed talent equal to, or even surpassing, Figroa's in this field?
After parting with Mira, Celes returned to the Sovereign Army camp.
Once again, he entered the room containing the magic formation materials.
Together with the many soldiers gathered there, he resumed studying how to establish nodes and construct magic formations.
(End of Chapter)
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