Past Acquaintances

The 48th unit…Deon was actually much more concerned about this unit compared to the 47th.

The 46th unit battleground was the core with the highest level of battle taking place there, but the 44th and 48th units came soon after. Initially, there should have been a single 2-Star shaman leading the assault at each of these camps…

But the 46th unit unexpectedly found themselves facing off against three 2-Star shamans!

When Deon finally arrived at the 48th unit, his concerns were proved to be within reason. Compared to the previous 47th unit, the situation here was much worse.

Whilst the 48th was led personally by Lieutenant Reana, who was able to elicit a much deeper battle intent from her men even compared to Deon and General Senlin, she was still just a peak stage 1-Star shaman.

And unlike the 47th unit camp, there were no shamans with the golden suppression spirit here, so the 2-Star shaman leader was unhindered in the least. Not only that, but this early stage 2-Star general was also accompanied by an initial stage 2-Star lieutenant!

Both were from the Fan Kingdom. Whilst the new king and the Fan King both sent forces with much greater prowess than they initially let on, the Fan King really doubled down.

Deon watched from the cliff above, looking down at the Fan and Restari soldiers as they attacked the 48th unit camp. He was relieved to find that the camp walls hadn't been breached, the camp was yet to fall to the enemy.

After assessing the battlefield for a few seconds, using his eagle eye spirit to peer past the darkness of night, Deon leapt down from the cliff.

Thud…

He dropped down by 30-40 feet, but landed smoothly and almost without creating any sort of noise. He restrained his aura and snuck his way into the enemy army, disguising himself as common Fan soldier.

He drew some attention and a few surprise looks were cast his way, since he was darting between the soldiers and constantly overtaking everyone, but nobody stopped him.

Deon was feeling surprised. He didn't expect that he would be able to use this stupidly simple method to so easily slip through the enemy ranks, all the way until he reached their general!

Right as he arrived behind the general, a captain noticed his suspicious movements and shouted out at him in alarm.

"Hey, stop! You-"

Chi!

Deon stabbed into the man's mouth, cutting off his words before he could finish them.

"Hmm?" The general cast a casual look behind him after hearing some noise, but his back became soaked with cold sweat as he was met with the sight of Deon's sword plunging towards his throat.

Deon could battle evenly against initial stage 2-Star shamans even before his breakthrough, so now that he was a 2-Star shaman, defeating an early stage 2-Star shaman with a surprise attack was all too easy.

CHING!

His sword cut through flesh, arteries and tendons, decapitating the general and severing his spine at the neck.

A single strike…he killed a 2-Star shaman in a single strike, before his opponent even had the chance to defend himself!

This was largely thanks to Deon sneaking up behind the general and attacking at the opportune moment, but it was also because this general was getting on in his years, his reflexes were not as good as they once were. The general possessed a 2-Star spirit, but it was of no benefit to his physical abilities. Because of this, his death was truly pitiful.

Deon didn't stop there, directly kicking off the horse and propelling himself towards the stunned lieutenant by the general's side. The lieutenant hastily pulled out his sword and activated a spirit. The blade became covered with a thin white light and managed to block Deon's first strike!

CRACK!

At least, he defended for half a second successfully. Following this momentary victory, Deon cut through the lieutenant's sword before cutting the man himself vertically in half!

The terror of the 2-Star ancient demon spirit was truly incredible. Anybody who witnessed these scene and survived would never forget the sight of a man falling into two halves, one half dropping to the left, the other to the right.

The ancient demon spirit really did seem to be suited towards killing people in the most brutal fashion imaginable…it was truly to Deon's liking.

Deon didn't hang around for long. He quickly turned back, grabbed the 2-Star spirit and two gold class 1-Star spirits from the general's corpse, then ahead towards the camp walls.

Chi chi chi!

Deon frowned, cutting down the storm of arrows fired at him by the panicking Restari archers from atop the 48th unit camp walls. He knew that they were probably struggling to see properly through the darkness of the night, but being shot at by his own side was still irritating.

The archers were stunned that he managed to cut apart so many arrows, avoiding the entire volley. That said, it was many times more shocking when Deon proceeded to scale the spiked camp walls in a matter of seconds!

"E-enemy-!"

"I'm Commander Deon, stop attacking me you imbeciles!" Deon was speechless. It was one thing if he was hidden in the darkness below, sure, they could mistake him for an enemy. Now though, he was standing atop the camp walls, illuminated by countless burning torches!

"A-ah! Sorry commander, my eyesight isn't so good!" An old man hastily rushed forwards and apologised whilst sweating profusely. He had witnessed the commander's brutal tactics and terrifying scheming mind earlier today, he was mortified to realise that he had actually attacked this person!

"Whatever, just keep fighting. Where's Lieutenant…Lieutenant…what, how could she be…"

As Deon was about to ask for Lieutenant Reana, he became distracted by something down below in the midst of the Fan Kingdom army.

"Commander?" The old man watched Deon's expression carefully and followed his gaze down towards the enemy soldiers below.

"General! General! Damnit, they actually…those damned Fan dogs, they killed the general!" A young man cursed and yelled out loud as a stream of tears poured down his cheeks. He grasped the general's mutilated body as a girl his age stood above him with a sorrowful expression.

Suddenly though, the girl had the strangest feeling. She wasn't sure why, but she quickly looked up at the enemy camp wall…

"Ah, it's you!" She cried out on seeing Deon staring down at her.

"Rian, what's wrong?" The girl's friend, the boy who had been crying a moment ago, suddenly became worried when he saw her standing there in a daze. He wiped his face and steeled his heart, carefully laying the general to rest as he stood up and followed Rian's gaze.

"Ah, that's him, he's the one that killed the general!" Derek gritted his teeth and seethed hatred as he stared up at Deon.

"Do you know who he is?" Rian suddenly turned to Derek and asked. "How come a child is fighting in this war? Wait, you said he killed the general…? A child did? There's…there's no way, right?"

"Rian, you actually don't know about the war child?" Derek looked at her in surprise.

"Ah, now that you mention it, I have heard that name before…"

"I would be shocked if you hadn't! They say that the war child is only 11 or 12 years old, yet he's already a peak stage 1-Star shaman and killed a 2-Star Fan Lieutenant in battle! Ah, now though, that result doesn't seem so shocking, not compared to this…damned demon child!"

Rian felt shocked that her friend could feel so much hate for a child, but in the next moment, she caught herself.

Why was she so interested in this kid? Was it because of that memory from before, when she was still ignorant to the horrors of war and couldn't believe her eyes when she saw this child drenched in the blood of her fallen comrades?

Indeed, this was the very same girl whom Deon saw back when he assassinated those Fan Kingdom troops at the waterfall! Back then, he had assumed that he was sleep deprived and hallucinated her appearance, because it made no sense for this person to appear in this place…

Thud!

"Commander, where are you going?!" The old man cried out in shock as Deon leapt down from the camp walls without a care for anything else.

"Captain Falco, where is Commander Deon?!" Finally, Lieutenant Reana arrived at the scene and looked around in a hurry, trying to find Deon.

"He, he suddenly jumped down from the camp wall!"

"What?" Reana furrowed her brows and looked down. Indeed, she was shocked to see the sight of Deon slowly walking forwards, not releasing his aura and without a sword in hand.

And yet, despite his apparent vulnerability, not a single soldier was able to bring themselves to step forwards and attack. After Deon's overwhelming display of might just now, resulting in the rapid killing of their general, they simply did not dare to attack him!

Deon finally stopped in front of the young man and woman, both of whom must have been around 20 years old. He stared with wide eyes at Derek, then slowly moved his gaze to Rian, lingering on her for even longer.

"Is it really you two…?" He muttered to himself, confusing the pair and increasing the agitation in their hearts.

"You, you-" Derek tried to psyche himself up, but Deon suddenly interrupted him.

"What are your names, you two?"

"Huh?" They both blinked and stared blankly. This situation was simply too strange, too bizarre!

This child…no, this bloody and notorious commander, their hated enemy, was suddenly asking the pair of them for their names?

"My name is Rian…" Rian finally answered, looking at Deon with a strange gaze.

Deon's heart skipped a beat and his eyes widened. His shock was noted by the pair, increasing their confusion even further.

After a much longer and more painful period of time, Derek finally managed to croak out a single word:

"Derek."

Deon's shock was palpable and it took him a good few seconds of conscious effort to force himself to calm down. He had not felt such a deep sense of shock ever since arriving on the spirit continent. Perhaps, only something like this, something from his old life unexpectedly appearing before him, could stir Deon's mind to such a degree.

Derek and Rian were two of Deon's closest friends back on earth…

For a moment, Deon recalled the past in a daze. Back then, they were truly close to one another. Back then, he cared for both of these people...

But that was a lifetime ago to Deon.

Since that time, his personality had undergone a drastic change, distorted and twisted by the cruel underworld trial which forced him to comprehend his true nature.

For these two to appear in this place, on the spirit continent, when Deon believed that he had destroyed earth after leaving the inheritance palace…just what did it mean?

"Blood God…just what is your true intention…?"