Chapter 747: Wall of Flesh and Steel
"Maximum alert! Vice General Marlon has been neutralized!" the guard captain shouted over the high-frequency channel.
The captain issued the highest-level emergency signal toward the realm’s capital. Seeing Ethan’s figure hovering above Marlon, the captain unsheathed his saber and raised his voice so every soldier on the platform could hear him.
"Charge! Protect the Vice General!" the captain ordered.
Hundreds of guards and soldiers activated their thrusters and auras, leaping into the void from the fortress to launch themselves directly at Ethan. The Raptor-class fighters and Hunter frigates deployed their attack maneuvers, firing their runic cannons in intermittent bursts before pulling back to buy time and avoid a direct counterattack.
"Vice General, fall back! We will hold him off no matter what!" the captain roared at the top of his lungs, leading the charge as he swung his weapon toward Ethan’s chest.
"Do not take a single step back!" exclaiming one of the guard lieutenants, charging forward with his shield shrouded in energy.
Marlon, still on his knees and struggling to catch his breath with a pale face, grit his teeth upon seeing his men throw themselves into almost certain death.
"Stop, you fools! Stay away from him!" Marlon warned them, trying to stand up while reaching out a hand toward his troops.
However, the soldiers ignored the warning and closed ranks around Ethan, firing their energy weapons and thrusting their blades in a desperate attempt to contain the monstrous cultivator.
Ethan gazed at the tide of warriors charging toward him and let out a soft sigh.
"You have guts, I’ll give you that," Ethan commented, keeping his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. "But determination without strength is nothing more than suicide."
The Invictus-class warships of Ethan’s fleet aligned their cannons and fired all at once. However, they didn’t aim at them, but directly into the surrounding air. A dense wave of freezing energy expanded through space, freezing all the soldiers and the atmosphere in place paralyzing the charge.
In the middle of the ice-petrified air, an imposing figure slowly descended.
The Southern General had arrived.
"Who are you?" the Southern General asked surveying the chaos around them. "Have you had enough fun with my troops? Or what is it you are trying to do?"
The man recognized as the pillar supporting half of the Soaring Dragon Kingdom stood before him. However, to Ethan’s surprise, the pressure emanating from him didn’t feel as overwhelming as during that meeting in the kingdom’s hall.
"Before telling you who I am and why I came, how about you allow me to launch an attack?" Ethan said, maintaining calm. "I want to know the difference in power between us."
"It seems you do not know the immensity of the heavens," the Southern General replied with a contemptuous tone.
The General extended his hand and deployed his own weapon. Unlike Marlon’s heavy spear, his was fine, sleek, and ended in three stylized prongs forming a perfect trident.
"It seems I will have to crush you," the General continued, channeling a suffocating amount of aura. "Your ship won’t save you from me!"
"Let’s see," Ethan said with a subtle smile.
In Ethan’s hand, a black sword appeared that looked damaged. Upon locking eyes on the blade, the Southern General’s eyes widened in bewilderment. He recognized it but the situation made no sense. Hadn’t that sword been bought by the White Unicorn Corps at that auction? It had left a deep impression on him at the time, as it was a damaged sword they had paid a fortune for.
Ethan gave him no time to process it. He adjusted his stance and raised the weapon.
"Black Chaos Sword... first form..." Ethan uttered, his voice echoing in the very soul of space. "SUNSET!"
A mystical murmur accompanied the movement of his arm:
"My heart and my sword are one; my body beats to the rhythm of the sword, and the sword resonates in my heart."
The slash tore through the atmosphere, and time seemed to stand still once more. The spatial distortion was so extreme that even the Southern General himself was slightly affected by the temporal freeze. However, displaying his terrifying power at the peak of the Dao Transformation Realm, the General roared and managed to break through the paralysis with pure brute force.
"Break!" the General bellowed, launching a direct counterattack.
His trident clashed head-on against the furious blade of black energy. The collision triggered a brutal explosion that warped the air and redirected the shockwave with devastating force toward Ethan.
Ethan was sent flying like an out-of-control projectile, shot like a cannonball. His body slammed full-force into an Impenetrable-class transport ship of his own fleet. The impact of Ethan’s bare body pierced through the main armors, destroying the internal structure entirely. The colossal ship plummeted to the ground, crashing into the surface and detonating in a fireball.
Ethan emerged from the fireball and the debris of the destroyed ship, shooting back into the sky like a black streak of lightning.
Seeing him return at a formidable speed, the Southern General prepared for impact, a look of genuine astonishment crossing his face. Ethan was unscathed, his armor bore not a single scratch after absorbing such a massive collision.
The General had not attacked to kill in that last exchange because he needed answers. He knew that Ethan’s attire belonged to the Heavenly Sword Sect and not the Crimson Sect, despite the fleet bearing their insignias. Furthermore, with his spiritual perception, the General had already noticed a disturbing detail: the enemy ships were completely empty, operating without any crew. Curiosity and suspicion consumed him.
As he saw Ethan closing the distance, the General readjusted his weapon’s stance. Ethan’s previous attack, Sunset, had reached a terrifying level of mastery. Although the General was no sword expert, that technique instantly brought back a distant, bitter memory: it reminded him of the style of one of the Golden Dragon Emperor’s legendary guards, a man currently recognized as the strongest swordsman in the entire Empire.
Gripping his trident with both hands, the General’s eyes narrowed with gravity as he watched Ethan’s silhouette charge toward him.