Chapter 104: Victory

Within the chaotic camp, tiny sparks began to spread across the ground...

“Ah!”

“Fire!”

Screams rang out from the disordered ranks of the army, accompanied by a flood of crimson light that quickly engulfed the entire camp.

These troops left behind were mostly ordinary civilians recruited from the local population—perhaps just farmers. Knights who had received proper training were few and far between, and most were merely officers.

Moreover, the conscription order issued days earlier had swelled the army’s numbers, but it had also thrown everything into disarray. The private soldiers under each noble’s command scattered in every direction, and no one could regain control.

Chaos was inevitable under these conditions.

Even more disastrous was the sudden assault from the opposite side.

Five thousand knights charged in at the exact moment the two armies were locked in battle, striking Barret’s weakest point like a thunderbolt. They shattered his rear camp and then swept forward like a tidal wave.

“Hold the line!”

Knights shouted from the rear, trying to restrain the panic of their men. Yet the situation was too chaotic for any order to take hold.

Barret watched the scene unfold, his face turning the color of iron. He saw the knights surging toward them and understood the peril. If the camp remained in chaos, their numerical advantage would be meaningless; if it broke completely, the outcome would be disaster.

He stepped forward, gave a light shake of his wrist, and sent a sword qi slicing down to fell the fleeing soldier at his feet.

“Aruk! Lead my personal guard forward! Anyone who turns to flee—noble or commoner—execute them on the spot!”

He tore the cloak from his shoulders, descended the platform, mounted his warhorse, and charged with his elite guard.

For a moment the rear of the camp steadied. Fleeing soldiers—whether noble or peasant—were met with merciless steel from Barret’s own blade. His decades of accumulated authority, combined with this ruthless discipline, finally reasserted control.

Yet, watching the same scene from the front, a towering warrior whose body seemed forged of gold and iron merely sneered.

Behind him, knights bearing sacred emblems stood in perfect silence, their presence a solemn vow.

He ignored the mass of bodies around him and charged straight into the heart of the enemy, spear raised like a banner of blood. With each swing the air itself seemed to crack, and before long the entire camp was thrown into total disorder under his relentless assault.

“Damn it!” Barret snarled.

“Your Majesty, look!”

A voice cut through the din. Barret turned.

In the distance, the blood-red city’s gates—sealed for months—finally swung open. Thousands poured out from within.

Barret’s blood ran cold. The last fragile hope of holding the field vanished in an instant.

“Your Majesty, we can only send troops to the front and finish this cavalry charge!” Aruk knelt on one knee, voice resolute.

“Good!” Barret answered without hesitation.

The still-intact army surged forward to meet Nadir’s force. Nadir’s lips curled into a cold smile.

“It has always been you attacking us. Now it is our turn to return the favor.”

He gave the order. Countless arrows streaked skyward, each one glowing with divine magic, leaving trails of brilliant light.

Warriors fell with screams. Aruk led his men into the fray, desperately blocking the advance.

In the rear, Barret gripped his sword and fought like a man possessed, fighting qi boiling around him as he hewed down a priest who dared stand in his path.

Only then did the soldiers around him realize the truth: the king of the Indel Empire was none other than a Sky Knight—one who, by Ades’s standards, ranked at level three, having touched the true spirit and earned the right to become a level-four ancestor god after death.

The next moment, a colossal blazing sun rose slowly and pierced the heavens.

From afar, an old man in seven-colored pontifical robes whispered, voice like a hymn as he communed with some vast divine power.

A thunderous wave of divine energy rippled outward. The blazing sun exploded, turning the world into a sea of fire. A crimson spear plunged down, aimed straight at Barret.

Divine power and fighting qi collided. In the end, a brilliant light bloomed.

Through the glare, Barret’s mighty figure still stood, head bowed.

“Your Majesty!” a knight cried, eyes wide with horror and disbelief.

The ground had been split open by the impact, leaving a vast crater. A long spear transfixed Barret’s body, pinning him to the earth. Blood began to flow, but the next instant another explosion rang out. The divine spear shattered completely, reducing Barret to nothing but dust and fragments.

This clash between the high priest and the Sky Knight had decided the fate of a world-shaking war.

With that blow, the resistance on the ground ended. Warriors who had refused to yield moments ago now fled or dropped their weapons and surrendered, led by their lords and captains.

On the city wall, Ades smiled faintly and looked toward the sky.

There, as Barret fell, one of the two opposing heavenly pillars suddenly cracked and exploded. The human-wolf god within it collapsed into a mere wisp of shadow, still howling and raging as it faded.