This question in Dominica’s mind was something both Duke Tanner and Ben wanted to know. When they arrived, the small mountain peak was already full of dark race corpses, and more were falling off the sides because there was no more space.
The battle on the summit was still ongoing. That man’s figure shuttled back and forth—neither slowing down nor speeding up as he reaped all life around him.
The flag was still flying.
Duke Tanner said unhappily, “Why are there so many vampire survivors? When did they become such cowards?”
Dominica mocked, “There are even fewer demonkin casualties, where have they gone?”
“The last duke to die died in your race’s hands.”
Dominica smiled coldly. “You dare question Her Majesty? Looks like you want to experience the life of a glorious marquis again.”
Tanner went quiet with a fearful expression. Nighteye’s several bloody incidents had proven that provoking her was stupid, no matter who it was.
Ben cut the two of them short at this point. “Are you guys going to ignore his arrogance?”
Dominica and Tanner remained silent in tacit agreement.
Ben pointed at that flag. “That flag is flying right before hundreds of thousands of Evernight soldiers! What we do today will be passed down in history. If we cannot put it down today, how will we go back and face the Evernight Council?”
Unexpectedly, Dominica didn’t find this embarrassing at all. “I’ve been a member for far too long, it’s fine to resign from my position.”
Tanner wasn’t that shameless, but he didn’t say anything, either.
Ben was fuming in anger. The arachne were an impatient race, to begin with, and this one had an especially bad temper. He immediately tore off his robes to reveal a set of dark scarlet armor, shouting, “I thought the vampires are a true noble race that seeks glory and faith. Who would’ve thought you’d be such cowards! Look! Look at that human, have you no shame calling yourselves a superior race?”
In the army below, many titled vampire experts lowered their heads in shame.
“This battle will add another arachne legend to the history of this world!” Ben produced a long battle axe and roared at the sky. He then charged toward the mountain peak with the speed of wind.
Dominica and Tanner exchanged glances, laughing as they noticed the pity in each other’s eyes. They seemed to have grown even closer than before.
Ben swept all the soldiers away with a swing of his axe. He then stared at Qianye, saying, “Ben Teaker of the Silverflank Tribe is here to fight you! Don’t think Jaero is the only fearless long-lived race.”
Qianye remained devoid of joy and sorrow. Without so much as a word, he slashed nimbly at the arachne duke, as if the latter was no different from an ordinary soldier.
Ben landed on the ground and transformed into his combat state! The mountain peak trembled under the impact, which he leveraged to swing his axe at Qianye.
The duke’s giant arachnid body was shaken as the sword and axe met, pushing his limbs deep into the ground. Qianye’s strike was unimaginably heavy!
Ben hadn’t caught his breath when Qianye’s second slash arrived. The duke raised his axe with both hands to block the attack, but the third ones followed, then the fourth. There seemed to be no end to the attacks.
Qianye held his blade with both hands, reaching a level of focus that could only be described as zealous. The strikes came one after another, like a constant drizzle of spring rain that covered the arachne duke.
Underneath those silent, well-oiled movements, every sword strike was extremely powerful and propelled in a fashion that drained the most origin power.
Ben suddenly realized that Qianye hadn’t held back at all. He no longer needed to use the eight strikes of Sweeping Calm because the first blow was no weaker than the last.
He was facing the strongest version of Qianye, one who gave no thought about the future.
Understanding this, Ben erupted in a loud roar and unleashed his full power. This pushed Qianye back for half a step, giving the arachne time to raise his deformed axe. His strength rose sharply with the repeated surge of darkness origin power; he was burning his life force!
An earth-shattering roar echoed in Blacksun Valley. The axe containing the power of a duke’s lifetime thus descended—then froze halfway through.
Qianye had blocked this destructive attack and flicked a luminous feather into the duke’s arachnid core.
Despite losing his strength, a trembling Ben pressed down on the axe with all his might.
A fluctuation finally appeared in Qianye’s eyes. He loosened his right hand slightly and allowed the axe to fall onto his shoulder. A thin wound opened on his skin, and a drop of fiery blood seeped out.
Looking relieved, Ben heaved a long sigh. “I finally… wounded you.”
“You could’ve fled. Why didn’t you run?”
Ben laughed. “Run? How can I?”
He pointed at the flag with trembling hands. “After you erected… this standard, I can no longer run. Everyone up there is watching… both from the Empire and… Evernight. My tribesmen, my children, and my descendants, everyone is watching! As a warrior, I must… die… standing…”
Ben’s voice faded away.
Qianye grabbed the arachne’s hand and carried him to the flag. “You are a true warrior. Stay there under my banner and watch my battle.”
“Very well…” Ben’s head hung down, but his body remained standing.
Far in the distance, the mockery on Dominic and Tanner’s faces had disappeared.
“Avenge the duke!!!” No one knew which arachne expert shouted, but it successfully stirred up the arachne forces. Countless spiders fought their way to the peak and swarmed Qianye.
Corpses fell like rain once more, but with bloodshot eyes, the arachne soldiers pushed through their comrades’ corpses and climbed up the mountain. They hoped to kill that man before their duke’s corpse.
This was a formidable force no matter the era, but unfortunately, their opponent was Qianye—just as it was for the true warrior, Ben.
That night, he was a true god of war.
No one knew what he was thinking, or what emotions he was harboring while cutting down enemies in the thousands. Perhaps his heart was just like his eyes, deathly cold and silent.
Dominica felt that this man was already dead. It was not his body that had died, but his heart.
He didn’t know what made him feel this way. He was never a close friend of Qianye; he had never even seen the man before. Why would he feel this way?
An unknown length of time went by as squad after squad of dark race soldiers climbed the peak, never to return. At first, it was only the arachne leading the charge, but the werewolves joined in later on, followed by increasing numbers of demonkin and even vampires.
The night eventually ended and dawn arrived.
The king’s standard was still flying.
Dominica and Tanner were still standing in the air like statues. Ben’s body was still standing under the royal standard, bearing witness to this historic moment.
At some point, a vague suppressive feeling began to fill the atmosphere. A true powerhouse was watching this place from far out in the void, but no one knew if it was a supreme, a great dark monarch, or a heavenly monarch.
All they did was watch silently.
There was a tremendously powerful aura above all, and that was the will of the new world. It had also come to watch the battle between those that were no more than ants to him.
Who would’ve thought this fight would turn into an epic battle involving both factions? All of this came to be because of that flag.
A demonkin marquis suddenly appeared in front of the two dukes. He bowed in greeting before saying to Tanner, “Uncle, our demonkin race must have its glory and dignity as well. We cannot let the arachne be the only race of true warriors. I’m heading out, please tell my father that I didn’t shame the Masefield family.”
Tanner looked solemn, but he eventually nodded. “Go then, there will be a place for you in the clan’s records.”
The marquis bowed. He then drew his sword and shot toward the battlefield like a shooting star.
His corpse fell from the mountain not long afterward. What remained of his sword stabbed into the ground near him, trembling from the impact.
Countless demonkin soldiers charged past his corpse on their way to the mountain.
After an unknown length of time, Tanner said, “I thought I already understood a lot of things, but I just realized that I still have no answers.”
Dominica asked, “About?”
Tanner said, “I’ve always wondered about the rise of the human race, just what their secret is. Are honor and dignity tangible? Can they be compared to over a thousand years of life? Which is more important?”
Dominica felt that he didn’t need to reply to this question because the answer was already clear. The words reached his lips, but he couldn’t say them out loud.
Tanner laughed self-deprecatingly. “Now, I want to know the answers.”
“You, don’t tell me…”
Tanner said, “Ben was right, our race, our children, everyone is watching us. It’s not just now but in the future as well. Perhaps a thousand years later, people will still mention our names when they talk about this battle. I don’t want my descendants to feel shame at that point.”
Dominica watched Tanner fly toward Qianye’s royal standard. He felt something stuck in this throat, making it impossible for him to breathe.
Moments later, Tanner barely propped himself up on his sword. Gazing at Qianye, he asked with great difficulty, “That was…”
“The Shot of Inception.”
“Good. I… managed to injure you… too.” The glow of life slowly went out of Tanner’s eyes.
Qianye gave him no reply, and only carried his corpse to the flag and laid him down beside Ben. In addition to the two dukes, there were some marquis remains as well. The unworthy ones had already fallen off the cliffside.
The blood battle went on without pause.
Dominica suddenly woke up from his reverie. “How long has it been.”
One of his personal guards replied, “Sire, it’s the third day now.”
“It’s gone on for that long. Unknowingly…” Domnica rubbed his face, his eyes subconsciously avoiding that flag.”
The large banner was now soaked in blood, so much so that the words on it were no longer clear. Yet the duke could still feel every stroke of the word “Ye” cutting his heart like a sword.
A commotion arose in the troops below as a beautiful girl weaved through the crowd and appeared before Dominica.
The duke’s expression shifted drastically. He said in a trembling voice, “W-Why are you here?”
The girl went down on one knee. “The vampires cannot stay out of this battle! Father, forgive me for I cannot listen to your orders this time.”
The girl left like the wind, leaving Dominica with no strength to stop her.
