Shockwaves unfolded in all directions, wreaking as much havoc as they could. Rhythmic bursts of heat swept the landscapes. They were so intense that every ounce of vegetation directly vanished.
The valley in the distance caught fire on the enemy's side, but the fractures that appeared in its structure did not pick sides — crumbling on both friend and foe.
The enemy camp sat about four miles from the valley, but the might in that attack had damaged it nonetheless. Even the city in the distance felt and heard the attack. Windows shattered, and the grounds shook, but nothing more.
Lord Karai exhaled sharply, ignoring the slight fatigue that now rested in his bones. That attack had not been casual, his mana reserves felt it.
He did not consider it an issue though, and fixed his gaze on the world below. Waiting.
The fiery sphere created by the explosion soon dissipated, but Lord Karai knew that wasn't natural.
An offensive of that scale would take hours to calm, yet his eyes could land on the ground less than two minutes after his attack?!
Soon, the results of his offensive unfolded before his eyes, but his expression turned bleak.
Creating a contrast too sharp to miss in the now-fiery region, the green light of the barriers protecting the camps reached the warlord's eyes, and he could scarcely believe what he saw.
Sure, while a portion of the camp had been burnt into nothing—killing a couple of thousands, that victory was nothing when a majority of the camp was still standing: untouched by the destruction happening around them.
To maintain order, the enemy had adopted a single large camp with smaller tents.
A total of eighty-one tents remained standing, with each containing exactly one thousand soldiers.
The Warlord's attack had snuffed three out, but that was too little. Much too little!
Lord Karai's shock lasted for no more than a few seconds before he proceeded with his plan.
Believe it or not, he had been prepared for survivors, only that the enemy had been too prepared. Almost as though they had expected that event.
Mana condensed around the Warlord's figure, and soon the only evidence of his presence was the liquid-like mass floating in the sky.
Those with superior senses knew what was to come and shuddered. As such, before the aged warrior could unleash his second attack, four figures flickered into existence around him.
The arrival of those individuals had been powerful, such that they generated a proper windstorm with just their movements.
Each person was unique too, boasting a different color. A detail that signified different attacks.
Stil, all those didn't matter.
Their arms lunged forward in a bid to touch the man, and they did. Except that he had not been willing to evade from the start.
An intense burst of grey light flashed for an instant, then a thick aura descended on that region!
The four warriors who had dared to apprehend the Warlord felt unfathomable disbelief when a crushing pressure caused their figures to crash into the terrain suddenly and violently.
Each one of them was a powerful man in his own right, yet they found their bodies unable to withstand that weight. They were pinned to the ground!
As though gravity had been multiplied hundreds of times in magnitude, Lord Karai created a domain where nothing apart from him could stand upright. At least this appeared to be what he did.
Nonetheless, everything changed when an orange ethereal tree with six branches flashed into existence—vanishing just as suddenly, only to be replaced by a colossal white figure looming in the sky where the old Warlord once stood.
The pressure falling on the region ceased for a moment before crashing into it with even greater violence. Fissures burst open in the terrain, and the affected areas visibly sunk deeper than the surrounding regions!
All four of those men soon began to bleed from their noses and ears, unable to even breathe properly. Yet they were strong enough to not die immediately.
Horror appeared in the hearts of the enemy's soldiers who watched all this unfold from the shattering valley.
For the sake of his people, Lord Karai had kept that influence from reaching the valley.
The giant figure appeared to be an armored man wielding a spear in one hand and a sword in the other. Its radiance overwhelmed the suns' in that region, but it emitted no heat.
The giant descended, and the region shuddered to no end when its feet touched the ground.
This was one of Lord Karai's most powerful techniques, and its sight was etched into the hearts of all who were alive to behold it.
The giant tightened its grip around its weapons before performing a single downward slash at the domes.
The result was a blinding white slash four whole kilometers in length!
The slash directly cut through the small forests in reach, and cleaved through the hills in its range, before crashing into the barriers, then everything shook.
Both magical measures clashed, and it seemed like the barriers would win, but then the giant swung its spear horizontally, unleashing a wave of violent energies slightly longer than the first attack.
Those energies tore through the terrain as they swept the barriers, wreaking even more chaos.
Worry and fear erupted in the hearts of the enemies when they saw their barriers begin to flicker wildly. Lord Karai unleashed two more rounds of those attacks, and finally, something happened.
Four barriers crumbled under the might of his offensives, and four thousand soldiers perished instantly! Killed first, by the horrendous gravitational pressure.
The rest of the camp shuddered in terror.
This was why Lord Karai had chosen that form. The pressure it exuded kept his targets from moving too much, allowing him to rain attacks for as long as he could manage.
And since the soldiers were much weaker than him, he could focus on destroying the barriers since they would naturally die from the heightened pressure.
The only downside to that form was its insane cost. In proof of that, less than two minutes after activating it, half of Lord Karai's mana reserves had already evaporated.
Three more warriors tried to approach him during that time but were crushed by the pressure.
Two died in the process, while the five others did their best. He acknowledged their resilience at that point, since that feat was no easy task.
Lord Karai managed to unleash nine more waves of that attack before needing to stop. It had taken five minutes, but he had managed to halven the camps available.
The only reason he had accomplished so little was the need to keep his attackers on the ground. The attacks demanded way less than the immense gravitational force.
The region stopped shaking at that point, but the smoke that ascended to the sky obscured everything. As such, no one could see Lord Karai when his figure reappeared.
His obsidian armor appeared unscathed, but his body had lost all ounce of its luster. The aged man looked even older, and soon he could no longer maintain his position in the sky.
"I underestimated the strength of their protection," he muttered, crashing into the ground with enough force to form a crater. His helmet flew off, and he felt some of his bones snap.
"They are tougher than the skull for a stone dragon," he sighed, searching his reserves for any substantial amount of mana. He found just enough that he did not die. But nothing else.
The ground burned around him, and the fumes began to affect his breathing. He concluded that the fumes would kill him before his attackers could.
Two more had died, leaving only three, and they probably needed a bit more time to regain their composure… if they could.
"Still, if this is all the ten nations can muster, then we should have attacked with all we could," the elder muttered, pained. He would rather die a hundred times than allow what had happened thus far.
"Oh-oh?"
The Warlord continued to think when a voice suddenly rang out beside him, and he froze.
"We'd say the same of you." The person continued. "If this is all Eistoriel can muster, then that's disappointing," they scoffed, causing the Warlord's skin to crawl in real horror.
"H-how… I-i—"
"Killed me? Hahahaha," the man laughed, stepping out of the smoke to reveal that he was the warrior whose life the elder had just taken!
Or so he had thought, because that same man stood right before him.
"Indeed you would have succeeded… but we had help…"
"Though it is shameful to admit, its accuracy means Eistoriel is doomed," the warrior said, placing his foot on Lord Karai's chest.
Pressing his foot into the man's chest, he realized that he couldn't damage the armor so easily. So, he pointed his palm at the elder's exposed head—ignoring his horrified expression.
Lord Karai's expression amused him, and he burst into a sickening laugh. "Sleep, old man. Soon, your children shall join you… and your king."
A blade of light came out of his palm to impale the warlord's head… killing him immediately.