A while ago, before Cleo was thrown away by Faün,

  At the battlefield below the buildings,

  Arthur and his militia army were given breathing ground after Ethan and the group drew the attention of Faün from the army. Faün's bombardments were flattening the army before Ethan went up. It would be over for Midlake if Ethan weren't with them.

  Arthur regrouped his men who were scattered after bombardment and reformed formation quickly. Although the threat above was clear, there was still a hurdle in front. His army outnumbered the enemy at the front ten to one yet the advantage could not be exploited due to the narrow battlefield.

  The main road of the city was wide enough for three carriages to be driven shoulder to shoulder, however, it was tiny compared to the massive army the crown had raised.

  If it were an open field, Arthur would have encircled the enemy two times. The limited space gave him no choice but to go head-on against the enemy who were well-prepared and well-equipped.

  A lot of men would fall at the tips of enemies' lances. Yet Arthur told them to charge in.

  "The enemy main camp is just ahead. This is the last hurdle to the final battle. We have the number. And we have the God. The champions are fighting above us as I speak. So, we shall fulfil our task here below. Charge!! Drive out the invaders!"

  On his command, the armed citizen of Midlake dashed toward the enemies' lances fearlessly in unison roar. "RAWRrr!!!!" Although the boomstick squad could not give support as they would hit their own men, the archers gave support with great arch of fire.

  Upon contact, all the people in the first line of charge fell victim to the blade of enemies' lances within seconds. Yet the people in second did not waver. They slipped through the gaps between their fallen comrades and rushed to take down their enemies. However, another set of lances appeared from behind the first line of enemies and skewered them. Everyone on the first wave of charge was obliterated soon.

  "Keep pushing. Don't break the charge. Do not leave the gaps. Keep pushing! The enemy will fall soon!" Arthur shouted. He noticed fear had taken seed in his men after the first wave so he pushed his men. "Don't stop, you idiots! Keep pushing." He ground his teeth as he watched his bigger yet weak army struggle against the smaller elite forces. "Please, keep pushing. Even if one man makes it through, the enemy line will fall," muttered Arthur alone.

  Although Arthur prayed, his wish did not come true. His army which was made of average dutiful citizens hit the impassable wall. The iron spirit of Midlakers was broken by the fear installed by the brutal steels of Temple.

  The difference in discipline between the two armies was huge. While the elite soldiers of Temple stood there like a sturdy wall in front of the sea of enemies, the armed citizens of Midlake started to waver after witnessing deaths. On top of that, a building suddenly collapsed which frightened them even more.

  The charge was broken as no one dared to run into death anymore.

  "Who ordered you to stop!?" Yelled Arthur. "Don't mind the fight above! Don't mistake. Our queen and Champion will beat them for sure. So, keep going! Move your feet, cowards! Are you planning to let these bastards stay forever? They destroyed our homes and killed our people. Are you willing to serve these bastards? If not, die fighting for death as a warrior is more noble than living as a slave."

  Arthur tried his best to keep the spirit going. He saw the flame reignited in a few eyes. But it was not enough to charge into the deadly lances. There was no way he could defeat three hundred elite soldiers with a few spellcasters, archers and boomsticks.

  The forces of Temple knew they were winning so they started to march forward pressuring their intimidated opponents to retreat. They stomped their metal boots and made big moves which led Arthur's inexperienced army to collapse.

  "Hold your ground. Don't retreat." Arthur desperately shouted but his scream did not reach into their ears for the second time.

  When the massive peasant army was about to collapse, the new rays of hope came along with the sound of hoofs.

  It was the heavy cavalry led by the nobles of Midlake. With rays of evening sun shining on their glittering armour, the cavalry entered the battlefield like warriors sent from heaven. "Riders, it is time!" The young arrogant noble who fought with Gura led his men toward the battle. "Let us ride to battle and show our people why we are the 'nobles'; the masters and protectors of this land, the rein of our country. We shall ride into the spears of enemies fearlessly and break their lines. Anyone who turns back will be a disgrace to the family. Keep your eyes only forward and hold your lances straight. If death awaits us there, we shall meet again in the next life. If victory awaits, we shall clink our cups again in the hall of the Palace. Cavalry! ONWARDS!!"

  The heavy cavalry charged courageously against the line of polearms which the militia could not break through. They knew it would hurt them yet those once-snobbish knights went ahead for their paralyzed footmen.

  No one from both sides believed the noble knights to have the actual gut to sacrifice for the infantry made of peasants. But as soon as they witnessed the impossible, the peasants-army who were once frightened by the enemy pikes regained courage. "Infantry! Follow the cavalry! Squeeze inside the enemy line through the hole the cavalry makes for us," shouted Arthur.

  Once the cavalry broke the first three lines of daunting pikes, the infantry fiercely rushed in and overwhelmed the enemy.

  The nobles paid a heavy price but they were rewarded with utmost loyalty and respect from their subjects. The peasants who always viewed the nobles as lazy arrogant buns changed their view.

  The nobles and peasants, together in one heart, fought the elite army of the Temple.

  "Impressive. What did you feed those nobles to have the gut to sacrifice for the lowly peasants?"

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  Faün asked Cleo when he saw his men being pushed back.

  "Nothing but the truth," replied Cleo. "Nobles bleed the same red as the peasants when we are hurt. There is no difference. After all, nobility is not in our blood but in our deeds. I just reminded them the truth they forgot."

  "I see. No wonder Lord Mordu' deems you as a threat greater than Claudia's invasion of Westex. You are indeed a threat to Temple and its Order. For my master, I must eliminate both you and Ethan right here and now. Dance time is over, my dear young queen. I hate to hurt a beautiful woman but I must do so."

  Cleo saw Faün flapping his fan gently but she was hit by a strong wave of wind. She felt as if she was hit by a storm. Cleo was thrown away over a distance and then slammed into a wall. She was not able to stand up after that. Her back sounded broken when she tried to stand.

  When Ethan saw Cleo was hurt, he thought of tending to her but Luther was already there so he let him be. "Sir Luther. Please take care of her. Get her back to the hospital. Cleo, rest assured. I will take care of the things from here. I will defeat the Retribution army and kick them out of the city." Ethan promised Cleo that he would bring victory for Midlake.

  "No, you won't. You won't even reach to the proximity of Grand Templer, let alone to Lord Mordu'. Your reckless act of rebellion will end here. I will kill everyone below first to let you know how vain your fight is. Then, I will kill their new queen, and then you. After that, I will restore the order." Faün declared. He flipped his fan and a bunch of big chunks of rubbles flew up in the air as if they were feathers.

  Faün's show of power baffled Dovos and Igüan. "I thought he could only lift small rocks. What is this!? Each block is bigger than my head. He is lifting all of them at once. And he is doing it easily like he is breathing. He is a fricking monster," mumbled Dovos.

  Faün continued, "The deaths of many lives will be upon you, Ethan. Because of your stupidity. Part of it is my fault though. Because I let you escape back then. If I had killed you, no one would be dead today." When Faün lowered his fan, the floating rubbles swooshed down to the army below, flattening everyone indiscriminately. Even the forces from Temple became victims of the ruthless bombardment.

  Ethan tried to stop the rubble but his magic in wind attribute was nothing comparable to Faün.

  The next attack came immediately after the first. Just like before, the big chunks of rocks were floating like feathers. Dovos regretted breaking the building apart earlier to attack Archili.

  "Face me first, Faün!!" Ethan shouted. This time, Ethan chose his strongest attribute to block the attack. He grabbed a bunch of stones and chanted, "*Divination!" He reinforced his body and the stones with divinity and threw them at the rubbles. As if launched by the boomstick Abel used, the small stones flew in full of power and destroyed the big rubbles into pieces.

  "You won't touch a single one of them as long as I am alive, Faün. So, come and face me first. A dual."

  Faün smirked when he heard Ethan's challenge, "Finally, you have the gut to face me. I hope you don't take back your words again like last time." Faün accepted the dual. For the first time in five years, Faün drew out his sword which had been hanging idly by his waist. "This is the blade my brother, Raün, gifted me when I was first ordained as the High Templer. Never once since then, did I draw it out. You should be honoured."

  "Honoured? Why should I feel honoured by a sword given by the rapist(Ch.46) who I had sent to hell for his crime?" Ethan taunted to mess with Faün. 'Any calm opponent is a scary opponent' he was once taught. He messed with Faün so that Faün could not think straight.

  His strategy worked as Faün launched an attack immediately after the taunt.

  "You will regret saying that!"

  "Make me!"

  The two warriors jumped across the building and clashed in mid-air. The force of the crash was so strong that the onlookers below felt their hearts flutter by the vibration. Any normal blades would have been broken after such a strong clash. It proved the mastery of both warriors in divine reinforcement.

  Ethan dropped back to the roof but Faün stayed in the air even after the clash. Just like Ethan, Faün was also pushed back by the force but he kicked the air and stayed afloat.

  Ethan learnt something new; mastery of wind-step could manipulate the air as a solid object and step on it.

  "Don't think I can't get to you because you are in the air." Ethan leapt again.

  "What a suicide. Don't come to fight an eagle in the air when you are a frog which can only jump. Let me give you a free lesson. Triple wind slash!" Conjured Faün expecting Ethan would not be able to dodge.

  However, Ethan kicked the air to his left and directed his course to the right, dodging Faün's attack. Then, from a near distance, Ethan shot flying rocks at Faün.

  Due to the short distance; and the attack was out of Faün's expectation; Ethan's attack landed on Faün directly and brought Faün down to the roof. Ethan would have won if Faün had not reinforced his body with divinity at the last second.

  "You fast learner, huh? I am impressed. You get the principle behind the wind-walking steps in one look. No wonder you grow this much in such a short time. Let's see if you can get these too!" Enraged by his technique being stolen, Faün charged in like a bull. "Tornado!"

  A rapid whirlwind quickly caught Ethan and arrested him within its spin as Faün threw successive slashes from outside. It was a technique to attack the opponent from all directions without the need for complex footwork.

  However, Ethan deflected it by freezing the air_ chilling winter favoured him_ and dispersing the whirlwind. He successfully blocked and parried the swift attacks from Faün.

  After exchanging blows a few times in close combat, Faün retreated to the distance where he had an advantage. He found out Ethan exceeded in divination than him.

  "What's with you?" Asked Ethan. "I thought there would be a huge difference between you with a sword and not. There is nothing different other than both of your hands are full now. I guess there is nothing much to expect from a sword given by a degenerate." Ethan ridiculed Faün's late brother again so that Faün could not keep his calm.

  "Damn you. I will shut that mouth of yours. Taste this! Wrath of the neverending storm!" Casted Faün successive wind slashes from both hands.

  Ethan deflected the first few but he soon found heavy on his blade. He could no longer keep up with the speed of Faün with two blades. "Even though his brother is a shit, he truly is a monster. He is throwing all these spells like he is breathing." Ethan admitted how powerful Faün was. Ethan tried to dodge but Faün's swift attacks easily caught up with him. He wished he had a shield like Igüan at a time like that.

  Igüan and Dovos were busy with Broody and Archili at the moment. When rubbles were lifted by Faün, Archili who was buried below the rubbles escaped and rejoined the fight.

  While thinking about Archili, an idea came to Ethan. He found a way to escape from Faün's assault. He stomped hard and the roof he was standing on collapsed, escaping to the level below. From there, he dashed under where Faün was standing and gifted him an uppercut with the fist through the floor. It hit right to the chin and knocked Faün over.

  "Damn you." Faün shook the shock out of his head and flew into the air where he had more advantage. Then, he threw his sword from above, "Twirling serpent!"

  The spinning blade headed toward Ethan as swiftly as an arrow from the bow. Ethan deflected it but it curved back to Ethan as if it was alive. Ethan found out Faün was manipulating it with a wind spell. He was late to dodge or parry so he blocked it with his claymore. However, the spinning blade did not stop, instead, it started drilling into Ethan's blade. Ethan put all his effort into enchanting his sword with divine reinforcement to prevent breaking but the force of drilling was too powerful even for his master divination spell. A crack started to show.

  "Argh!!! If you want it so much, you can have it." Ethan gave up saving his jewels-crowned ordained blade and chose the spear Reilly dropped. He picked it up with his foot, caught it in one hand, and threw it as a javelin.

  It all happened so fast that unsuspecting Faün, whose focus was all on Ethan's ordained claymore, failed to dodge the spear. He only noticed it when it pierced his chest and went through it.

  "It was a good fight, sir Faün. If we had not met in the wrong set-up, I would have learnt a lot from you."