The battlefield stood at the edge of collapse. Smoke drifted across the plains. Broken weapons lay scattered like forgotten promises.
The ground was stained which was not with the chaos of monsters but with the weight of human war.
Kael stood at the center of it all. He was unmoving and unshaken. He was just watching the battle which was bound to happen.
Across the battlefield the two armies had finally made their decision.
The Varkas Empire and the Kingdom of Ardenthal which were enemies for generations were now standing side by side.
But this time they did not stand as allies but as necessity to end this war once and for all.
Because Kael had forced them into a corner where survival outweighed hatred.
Rodric stood beside Kael, breathing heavily.
"My lord seems like the Varkas and the Kingdom of Ardenthal have teamed up to defeat us."
Kael nodded.
"Yes, but it's of no use this time."
Rodric let out a dry laugh.
"Well… I guess we were too strong separately."
Shen Yao floated quietly nearby watching the battlefield unfold.
"This is the natural conclusion."
Two forces that should never unite but now united. All for one purpose. To destroy Kael.
Across the plains the enemy armies reorganized with terrifying precision.
The Varkas Empire formed the outer ring where the heavy infantry, cavalry and war mages forming a defensive shell.
Inside that formation stood the Ardenthal army where archers, elite knights and siege units preparing for a concentrated assault.
Rodric's expression turned serious.
"That's a kill formation."
Kael observed silently.
Both armies were no longer holding back.
Every unit. Every elite. Every strategy.
They were preparing to end the battle in one decisive strike.
Rodric spoke quietly.
"If we get caught in that we're done."
Kael remained calm.
"No not this time, they will get caught this time"
Rodric looked at him.
"…they? How? I understand you are powerful my lord but that's a Kill formation, no has ended in a peaceful way with that horrific formation"
Kael's eyes didn't leave the battlefield.
"We end it first."
Kael slowly raised his hand with deliberateness and this time not fast and dramatic
Rodric frowned.
"My lord?"
Kael didn't respond.
Because something had changed. This wasn't like before. There was no visible effort.
No physical motion beyond a simple lift of his hand.
But the air the air itself began to shift.
Shen Yao's expression changed slightly.
"…So, you've reached that point."
Kael closed his eyes.
For a brief moment he stopped thinking like a soldier. Stopped thinking like a commander.
And instead, he thought like something else. A being that didn't need to act step by step. A being that could simply… decide.
The world around Kael responded instantly.
This time the many lines started to appear slowly and slowly one at a time, but it was all at once.
Millions of lines appeared. They didn't glow brightly. They didn't shake the ground. They simply existed out of this air everywhere.
And across the battlefield in the air and in the ground, between space itself.
Rodric's breath caught.
"…What… is this?"
He had seen Kael draw lines before. He knew Kael could draw many line like in one, two, dozens, even hundreds.
But this this was something else entirely.
Kael wasn't drawing anymore.
He was defining the lines in a massive scale.
The enemy armies felt it instantly.
Their movements slowed. Their instincts screamed.
Something was wrong. Something was coming.
All the lines began to move, it did not move randomly and chaotically
And finally, they converged and merged. Stacked upon one another.
And then it formed a sword. It did not look like a normal weapon and it did not look like a large sword, it was a colossal Greatsword.
It was over a hundred meters tall and looking pure white. Formed entirely from defined boundaries.
Rodric staggered back slightly.
"…You've got to be kidding me."
Before he could even process it another sword formed.
Then another.
And another.
Within seconds Fifty massive great swords hovered above the battlefield.
Each one towering. Each one radiating silent authority.
The battlefield froze completely. Even the wind seemed to hesitate.
The soldiers of Varkas stared upward.
Their faces drained of color. Some dropped their weapons. Some stepped back. Some simply stood there unable to move.
"What… is that…"
"That's not magic…"
"That's not human…"
Even the Ardenthal army felt it. The king himself stood at the front lines now.
His expression was pale by seeing the number of great swords hovering above the sky and the sword is so big that could literally wipe out the whole army and he did not thing about it that was the exactly the same thing which was about to happen.
The king was terrified and he turned desperately.
"Where is Valor?!"
No one answered.
"Find him!"
Soldiers scattered in panic.
But it didn't matter. Because Valor was gone.
He had already left the battlefield and the kingdom and nowhere to be seen.
He Left the kingdom and left everything behind.
Because this was no longer a battle he needed to witness.
Kael opened his eyes, the massive swords hovered in the sky behind him.
The swords were perfectly still and it was just waiting when to fall.
Rodric stood frozen.
"My lord…"
Kael spoke calmly to both the Rodric's army and the bone legion.
"Step back."
Rodric didn't argue. He immediately pulled his army away.
Even the skeleton legion retreated.
Because everyone understood.
Whatever was about to happen they did not want to be anywhere near it.
Kael raised his hand slightly.
The fifty massive swords moved which was slowly at first.
They shifted into their position by forming a wide circular formation above the battlefield.
Then it happened it started to turn. All the swords turned horizontally and when it turned it started to look like a chakra turning by the god.
Not only Rodric's eyes but also the entire army was shocked beyond comprehension.
Even the top rankers if they would have seen this even they would have been shocked.
"…No way."
The swords began to rotate slowly and it did not feel heavy. Kael Controlled it in such a precise way.
But with each passing second the speed increased.
Faster.
Faster.
Faster.
The air screamed. The rotation tore through the atmosphere itself. Dust rose violently from the ground. Debris lifted into the sky.
The battlefield transformed and a massive vortex began forming.
A tornado born from pure rotational centrifugal force.
The soldiers panicked.
"Fall back!"
"Retreat!"
"Get away from that thing!"
But it was too late.
Kael moved his hand just slightly.
The rotating formation responded instantly.
The massive swords spinning at impossible speed shifted direction.
The tornado followed. It surged forward. Straight toward the Varkas army.
The empire's soldiers reacted instantly by raising the shields, but it doesn't matter until some miracle happens. Magic barriers deployed. Formation tightened.
They executed every possible countermeasure. Every strategy. Every technique. Everything they had learned across years of war.
But none of it mattered.
The rotating swords cut through everything. Magic shattered instantly. Shields broke like glass. Armor split.
The tornado consumed the battlefield and it was pure chaos and destruction.
The line which the swords was moving like a tornado in a terrifying speed and it was defined where things could continue and where they could not.
The Varkas army disappeared in seconds, it did not take much time and not even a prolonged fight.
Their formations collapsed. Their soldiers vanished. Their existence on the battlefield ended.
Rodric stood in silence.
"…That's… not a battle."
Shen Yao answered quietly.
"No."
"That's an absolute destructive authority of a skill."
The battlefield fell silent. Only the rotating storm of swords remained.
The Ardenthal army stood frozen. They had just witnessed the complete annihilation of an entire empire's force.
The king trembled.
"Valor… where are you…"
But there was no answer. Only the sound of wind.
Kael slowly turned his gaze toward them.
The rotating swords shifted towards the Ardenthal kingdom.
Rodric closed his eyes briefly.
"…It's over."
Because there was no longer any doubt of resistance and hope about this kingdom. It was just inevitable.
The king screamed.
"RETREAT!" "DAMM YOU TRAITORS!!! ROT IN HELLLL!!!"
But it was meaningless. Kael lowered his hand.
The storm moved and the kingdom was erased.
The battlefield became quiet completely. There were no more enemies remained, there was no movement and no more resistance.
Only Kael's army stood at the edge of the ruined plains. The rotating swords slowly dissolved. The tornado faded. The dust settled.
Rodric exhaled slowly.
"…It's done."
Kael stood still. Looking at the empty battlefield.
He had no regrets of wiping of the army, because he knew the army which was an recreated army and there was no innocent people involved and since it was wiped out it will be recreated for next trial for different player.
Kael did not celebrate but he just clicked a tick mark in his mind where he had a bucket list of using a skill from an anime and he was just calm.
Then a message appeared out of nowhere in a form of a bird and landed on top of Kael's shoulder. It did not seem like a systems or towers message it was completely something else by using a skill.
The bird displayed a message.
[Message Received]
Kael's eyes narrowed slightly.
The text continued.
"You ended it faster than expected."
Kael didn't react immediately because he already knew who it was.
"I suppose that confirms it."
A pause.
Then "You're far more interesting than I thought."
Rodric looked confused by seeing the bird.
"My lord?"
Kael didn't respond because the final line appeared.
"Join me."
"Let's meet on the 30th floor."
And then the final words.
"See you… Line Emperor."
Kael's eyes remained on the message.
His identity was no longer hidden. If the top 10th ranked came to know about his identity, in no time the remaining guilds will also come to know about his identity.
Rodric spoke carefully.
"…What does that mean my lord?"
Kael closed the interface.
"It means the next battle won't be simple."
Shen Yao smirked slightly.
"Looks like your name has reached and your identity is exposed to right person."
Kael turned toward the next gate. His expression calm and existing at the same time.
"Then we'll meet him there."
"If my identity is exposed then so be it and I'll face it head on"
Kael had no hesitation and no fear regarding this matter. His only concern was when knowing the identity about him I hope they don't connect with the planet eater which is coming in next 11 months.
Because whoever Valor was whatever he planned It didn't matter.
Kael stepped forward and the floor behind him finally ended.