"Hand of God."
In a single instant, a Soldier had been cut down, and Raizo of the Shadow Clan moved forward in silence.
The four remaining Soldiers instantly shifted their positions and gathered at the entrance of the temple, forming a defensive barrier. Now that they sensed danger, they clustered together. This would allow them to defend more effectively, and buy time to calculate a counter to what had just happened.
They knew now that their attention had to be focused on the bandaged man: Raizo.
But how were they meant to attack him? What was his true weapon?
His technique appeared no different from a basic strike with an Axiom blade.
And yet it was not.
It was the Hand of God, the final teaching of Shenric.
The Hand of God was a Second Tier technique, like Drunken Rhythm, like the Pendulum Blade, and yet it stood in a category of its own. Shenric had discovered it himself when he had once been cornered in battle, forced into a final exchange.
Every warrior, every strategist, every master of their craft experiences such a moment once in their lifetime: a movement so flawless that it lies beyond anything a mortal mind could consciously design.
It is the entrance to divine instinct.
The Hand of God was a strike from an Axiom blade so rare, so perfected, that one could only hope to reach it once in their entire life. To use it even once was enough to create the turning point of a battle, because no calculation could anticipate it.
This was why, after seeing it used a single time, the Faceless Soldiers immediately changed their approach.
They advanced again, but now as a unified group.
Behind them, two additional Soldiers emerged from the entrance to ensure that no one entered the altar again.
But the battle was no longer the same.
"Axiom Rope!"
Without realising it, one of the Soldiers stepped into a trap that Ryo had planted earlier. Energy surged through the rope, roasting the Soldier's foot and forcing him to leap backward.
"You see?" Ryo shouted. "They're not perfect!"
The ten Shadow Clan members now surrounded the four Soldiers, with Raizo hidden toward the back of their formation. Their plan was simple: create openings and distractions, then allow Raizo to strike again.
The Soldiers understood this.
But they could not yet stop it.
Two of them attempted to advance, but suddenly jumped backward when they noticed the explosive trap Raizo had placed ahead of them.
How many traps had been set?
Could they even see them all?
Raizo's single use of the Hand of God had pushed the Soldiers' calculations to the edge of failure. Their system could no longer determine the optimal course of action with certainty.
And the longer the battle continued, the worse that uncertainty would become.
Ryo understood what this meant.
They were going to win.
Suddenly, a vision flashed before him.
"Get out of here now!"
He turned around.
Was that Jinvar's daughter speaking?
Did she also possess the Eye of Sophia?
"Daen!" Ryo shouted. "Find us a way out of here!"
The user of Axiom Map turned toward him.
"Now?"
"Yes. Now. We need to leave immediately."
"But we're about to win—"
"Do as I say."
Daen hesitated for a moment, then summoned his ability.
"Axiom Map."
Green energy spread through the surroundings, scanning the terrain.
"There's a space underground," he said. "We can escape through it."
"Then do it," Ryo said. "Get us out of here."
Daen focused his energy.
"Axiom Portal."
A fracture opened beneath his feet, forming a spatial passage. The Shadow Clan members retreated through it, descending into the hidden structures below.
Before Daen could follow them, the Soldiers reached him.
He closed the portal just before they struck him down.
"Why did we come down here?" one of the Clan members asked. "Now we can't get out."
"This was the best choice," Ryo said. "I trust that. Now we just have to survive."
They found themselves in a vast underground cellar made of red stone. The corridor stretched so far that it seemed like a city beneath the earth. Strange symbols covered the walls, along with carvings of goddesses none of them recognised.
This was not a place they were meant to see.
Soon the Soldiers would break through.
And when they did, the battle would begin again.
Ryo looked around at the men beside him.
Now he could feel their exhaustion.
They had been using Second Tier techniques for too long, pushing themselves far beyond their limits. There was no guarantee they could maintain the same pace.
Soon, there would be casualties.
From this point onward, the battle would become one of resources.
The Soldiers had energy, power, and coordination.
The Shadow Clan had numbers.
And they had the Hand of God.
"Raizo."
The bandaged man turned toward him.
"Once we obtain Shenric's Eye, can you escape alone?"
"Yes."
"Then that's what you'll do. We get the Eye, and you leave us behind. The mission comes first."
"Understood."
From the tunnel above them, they could already hear the Soldiers digging through the stone.
Soon the battle would resume.
Above them, Bethryl felt something approaching from the distance.
It had not happened yet, but she could already see it, a vast wave of destruction moving toward them.
Now she understood why Ashar had sent her outside.
He had known that something worse than the Faceless Soldiers would arrive, and he trusted that she would find a way to stop it using her ability.
But what could she do?
Yes, she could see into the future.
But she was the weakest among them.
She could barely even summon a blade.
In the end, the only action she could think of was simple.
Bethryl struck the stone around the entrance with her blade, causing rubble to collapse and seal the opening to the hidden space where the Abandoned Kingdom lay.
Outside, a Soldier stood beside the Supreme Leader.
"The entrance is closed," the Soldier said.
"Already?"
The Supreme Leader looked out across the Eastern Forest, where the forces he had unleashed were already advancing.
"Then it has happened exactly as I predicted," he said. "Someone down there has anticipated my movements. That means they possess an ability equal to or perhaps greater than my own."
His eyes shifted constantly, moving from one thought to another.
"No… it is something else."
He paused.
"There is another one. A user of the Eye with abilities even greater than Ashar's."
His voice became quieter.
"And I will find them."
In the forest, a vast wave of figures now advanced toward the entrance of the Underground Dwellings.
Among them were Vaelor and Rovick, and the bandits who had once been cut down or killed by the poison released into the forest.
Now they moved again.
Their bodies were controlled by a bacterial force that commanded them without will.
The Supreme Leader had forced Ashar into the Abandoned Kingdom.
Now he intended to suffocate him inside it.
The Supreme Leader began moving toward the sealed entrance.