Lord Karai soon arrived above the battlefield, and the sight below struck his heart like a hammer — hardening his resolve.
The sun stood high in the sky, illuminating the partially cloudy skies above that region.
The winds were rapid but steady, and white clouds floated peacefully, exuding a serenity that was in stark contrast to the bloodshed happening below.
It was as though the world did not consider that battle to be worth its attention, and thus, tried to completely ignore it.
It was the third largest battlefield since the beginning of the war, and here, over ten-thousand Eistorian Knights had fallen.
And even though the enemy had experienced a loss more than five times theirs, it didn't discourage them from simply replacing their dead men with more men.
That location was also one of the more unique ones, too. It was a large, partially blue, partially purple valley that saw an equally large river running along its center.
The vegetation there carried those unusual colors due to the magical qualities they possessed.
The blue leaves, although requiring expertise to use, could be used to conjure flames that could not be put out with normal water.
While the purple leaves possessed poisonous effects ranging from hearing disabilities to temporary blindness.
It was thanks to these details that the Eistorians could deploy hundreds of traps across the landscape. Brutal ones.
Their enemies felt horror when they stepped into locations riddled with items that abruptly detonated—producing flames that could not be doused even when they jumped into the river.
This event left the river bed lit with hundreds of burning bodies until the effects of the leaves wore out several minutes later, leaving behind charred remains.
That, or hundreds of them realized a certain purple mist swirled around them, but before they could understand it, many began to bleed from all their holes, or convulse while foaming.
Meanwhile, some directly lost their ability to see and hear, leaving them vulnerable to the already-prepared Eistorians who delivered ranged offensives that swiftly ended their suffering.
The Eistorians had utilized their traps effectively, as the sickening song of screaming men never ceased—a detail that would haunt those men for the rest of their lives.
Their measures had ended the lives of thousands, painting that once-lush valley with corpses, but unfortunately, all things had to come to an end. And in only five days, they exhausted their traps.
Now, the battle took place on the riverbank. And even as Lord Karai looked, he could see Eistorians and their opponents raining attacks on each other, from both sides.
The Knights did not dare cross the river, but their opponents did, after all; a massive camp lay just over the valley. One that still contained a bit over eighty-thousand soldiers, all ready to rush into the fight.
YES, EIGHTY THOUSAND!
For that region, the union had come prepared with about a hundred-and-fifty-thousand soldiers. And the reason they had shown up with such a formidable number was due to the Eistorian city nearby.
Being one of the more valuable regions thanks to its wealth of mana-rich resources, its attackers had come prepared to take it fully and were even achieving their plans since there were only so many Knights left.
The battle had been so intense, and the deaths so numerous, that the river had turned to blood, starting from where they clashed till where it connected with the ocean.
Thousands of bloodied corpses littered the landscape, so the stench of death and rot was thick enough to reach the Warlord, despite his position in the sky.
The winds continued doing their best to wash that stench away, but to no avail.
Alas, the world could not completely ignore that clash.
Lord Karai's heart bled when he absorbed those scenes, but he suddenly sharpened his gaze, peering over the valley's curve to behold the camp in the distance—thanks to his superior eyesight and senses.
He did this while patting his chest to calm the festering rage in his heart. Meanwhile, he devised a plan.
A clear picture quickly appeared in his soul, and he sought to carry it out when a certain figure abruptly appeared before him. Though, he had noticed the person before they arrived.
Clad in an aura that seemed to match his, the enemy envoy revealed himself to the aged Warlord—confidence brimmed in the smile he carried.
The man appeared younger than Lord Karai but was older than Ishnal. Amongst his people, he carried a rank similar to a Warlord.
"Old man, what have you come to do?" he demanded, tilting his head to the side. Strapped to the cyan armor he donned was a large sword.
His sword's length was greater than that of the average human's, and it weighed much more than it seemed strapped to him.
Uninterested in ruining his plan, Lord Karai wore a cold expression, ignoring the man to pretend like he mourned the deaths that happened below. Even if he really did.
The man followed the Warlord's gaze and soon nodded in approval; the things happening below were nasty to say the least. Though he showed no empathy.
They stayed like this for a bit until the man spoke: "Your presence is unwelcome on this battlefield. Return to your hole when you've had enough of your people's meaningless struggle," he dismissed, turning to leave.
He didn't even bother to hide the disdain in his tone.
The man prepared to fly out of the environment when the weight of danger suddenly overwhelmed his senses!
Reacting quickly, he threatened to turn—trying to face the obvious source of that sensation. Unfortunately, it was already too late.
An intense pain that burned like lava erupted from his chest, traveling through his body, as his whole figure froze… petrified.
He felt like his insides had been struck by a thousand lightning bolts. And his senses struggled to comprehend what had happened to generate such pronounced suffering.
However, before questions could form in his mind, a voice rang out behind him to provide an explanation.
"No…" Lord Karai spat, "I haven't come to merely witness the deaths of my children. I have come to ensure yours dies too."
The Warlord pulled his arm out of the man's chest, and with it, his still-beating heart.
Coughing a mouthful of blood as unimaginable fatigue gushed into his bones, the man—in a bid to alert his army, tried to unleash an attack.
Sadly, an invisible force suddenly landed on him, and half of his form quite literally disappeared—blown away by the immeasurable might in that attack.
It didn't matter that he wore armor forged from the skull of an incomplete hydra or that his sword was carved from the tooth of a giant mountain hog; Lord Karai's offensive had seamlessly cut through everything to decimate his body.
Blood rained down from the sky, but only the Warlord noticed it. He squashed the man's heart in his fist and tossed the remnants away.
A bit of recognition appeared in his mind for the warrior; he had reacted quickly, but Lord Karai had possessed the upper hand.
Shaking his head in preparation for the lives he was about to quench, Lord Karai snapped his finger, and an obsidian armor appeared on his body.
Up until this point, he had been moving around in a simple black robe, but not anymore.
His battle armor appeared impenetrable—it had been gifted to him by the King himself, after all. As such, there had only been a handful of moments where he had sustained severe injuries even while wearing it.
However, in all those scenarios, genuinely terrifying creatures had been involved, and even now the scars his armor carries were trophies of his survival.
Golden runes traced the surface of his armor, while the scarlet cape flowing behind him seemed to possess a life of its own. And it actually did. Or something similar to that.
Lord Karai stepped forward, but his figure actually vanished from the sky—reappearing above the enemy camp to unleash an attack the instant he arrived!
The sky rumbled when an orange spear appeared in his hand, and he readied himself to throw it.
Despite his sudden appearance, there had still been warriors capable enough to react the moment he arrived, but he still possessed the edge.
Nevertheless, the warlord possessed the advantage, and he didn't hesitate to exploit it by making his spear cry out!
That sound had been horrendous, to say the least. And being similar to the roar of many thunderstorms, it had been more than enough to rupture the eardrums of thousands, instantly.
Lord Karai's spear descended after that point, and it did so like lightning!
That army watched a single orange streak fall to the ground after that horrific noise, and then EVERYTHING shook.
The spear's impact with the ground had been nothing short of cataclysmic, as it released its energies before it even touched the ground.
The result had been a massive, deep-orange explosion. One that immediately turned the entire region into a fiery hell.