In the life-and-death moment, Charlot Mecklenburg’s hands remained exceptionally steady.The shot nded squarely on the burly South Seraph restorationist knight.

  The anti-magic armor-piercing round was potent enough to kill even a high-level Transcendent, let alone this rugged knight who wasn’t one. Despite the enhancement of the Proof of War and the Blood Butcher’s blessings, he still couldn’t withstand the power of the round.

  Two armies, countless witnesses—on one side, an overwhelming charge of knights, and on the other, a single calm marksman with a rifle.

  In the end, alchemy triumphed over the Blood Butcher.

  With one shot, Charlot obliterated the upper body of the burly knight.

  The warhorse carried the knight’s lower half another few dozen meters, charging all the way to Charlot’s side before finally halting in confusion.

  The Blood Butcher technique could turn every part of the body into a weapon, with muscles and bones as tough as steel and stamina as inexhaustible as the will to fight until death. Against ordinary bullets, such a knight was nearly invulnerable. But when faced with an alchemical anti-magic round, even they met this tragic fate.

  Though Charlot had taken down the cavalry commander, his predicament hadn’t improved.

  He stood in the middle of the battlefield, the cavalry charge pressing toward him. Although their commander had been sin, the enemy showed no sign of halting. Behind him was his own West Wind Knights. If he retreated in a panic, not only would they fail to support him, but they’d likely break into chaos and crumble altogether.

  Taking a deep breath, Charlot roared, “Charge! Charge forward! Kill these Byron people!”

  He paused, waiting to see if his knights would follow his command. If they remained still or charged half-heartedly, he’d abandon them all and rely on Swiftstep Technique and Spider Technique to escape.

  To his surprise, the West Wind Knights shouted as one and truly began their charge.

  Charlot, born in a time of peace, couldn’t comprehend the morale boost from a battlefield duel where one commander decisively crushed another. The act of killing the enemy commander so overwhelmingly ignited a surge of confidence in his troops.

  Most of Charlot’s forces were prisoners and gang members—not soldiers bound by discipline. But in a situation like this, with the advantage now theirs, they fought with unexpected vigor. After all, whether prisoner or gang member, they all had experience in fights, some even in street brawls. In certain ways, they were well-versed in the chaos of combat.

  With the West Wind Knights advancing, Charlot steadied himself, raised his rifle, and began firing again, picking off the key riders among the enemy.

  By the time the two armies collided, Charlot had already killed seven or eight riders. Hastily, he repced the anti-magic armor-piercing rounds, slung his rifle over his shoulder, and switched to his vampiric hand axe and Blood Rose for close-quarters combat.

  Although neither weapon was ideal for the battlefield, Charlot was a sixth-tier Transcendent. These extraordinary weapons still proved devastatingly effective.

  Before the battle, Charlot had intended to conceal his use of Blood Glory. But now that the fight was in full swing, there was no point in hiding it. He fully unleashed Blood Glory and even made sure to deliver a final sword strike to the lower half of the rugged knight’s body.

  Though his upper body was obliterated, draining all life essence, every little bit still helped.

  If this had been a direct csh between the two armies, even with the West Wind Knights’ three thousand men, their poor combat capabilities and wavering morale would’ve led to a likely defeat against nearly two hundred elite Byron knights.

  Charlot’s original pn had been to form a defensive iron-barrel formation, using rifles and pistols to hold the line. The Byron knights might’ve reevaluated the cost of such an assault and retreated without a fight.

  But what Charlot hadn’t anticipated was being lured out onto the field by the enemy commander’s feint at the outset, triggering this relentless engagement.

  The battle spiraled into chaos, beyond anyone’s predictions or control.

  As the Byron cavalry charged, Charlot used his anti-space long-range rifle to “name” several of the leading riders, nearly wiping out the Transcendents among them. This severely diminished the charge’s momentum, leaving the Byron knights looking formidable but weak in substance.

  Dolores Soumet, experiencing her first battle, hadn’t expected such a confrontation. Drawing from her family’s expertise, the Suimei heiress refrained from offensive magic. Instead, she used a Taculo card, “Gale,” targeting the Byron forces just before the armies cshed.

  The sudden burst of wind, ced with dust, forced the Byron knights to instinctively close their eyes.

  Knights fighting blind on a battlefield were as good as walking merit badges.

  Charlot’s knights included Yellow Bear and Frederica, both Transcendents.

  Yellow Bear, though only first-tier, was a Demon Hunter who had used the heart core of a magical bear for his advancement. His thick skin, immense strength, and stamina rivaled the Blood Butchers. At the moment, he was still regrouping the defeated soldiers at the rear.

  Frederica, on the other hand, was a high-tier mid-level Transcendent—a tenth-tier orc assassin. This leopard-woman far exceeded Charlot’s actual combat prowess. Taking up a knight’s nce, she charged fearlessly into the fray, her attacks proving nearly unstoppable.

  These factors accumuted, turning what had seemed a dire situation into a one-sided sughter. Nearly two hundred Byron knights were sin or incapacitated in mere moments.

  After killing several more, Charlot stowed his vampiric hand axe and relied entirely on Arsilo swordsmanship. On the battlefield, he moved like a specter, his magical rapier ciming life after life with the precision of a venomous snake.

  A sharp cng rang out!

  For the first time, Charlot’s rapier met resistance. The foe wielded an iron shield to block the magical weapon and retaliated with a powerful axe swing.

  Charlot dodged lightly, delivering another strike to a nearby Byron rider. Shouting, he demanded, “Blood Butcher?”

  The opponent remained silent, wielding the axe and shield with brute force.

  Though the Blood Butcher’s weaponry wasn’t extraordinary, his strength and defense neutralized Blood Rose’s sharpness.

  The two exchanged several blows, with Charlot holding the advantage but unable to penetrate his enemy’s ironcd defense. Changing his sword style repeatedly, he sought an opening, but the mid-tier Transcendent Blood Butcher proved formidable.

  Surrounded by enemies, Charlot couldn’t afford to unleash his more versatile techniques.

  Switching from Fire of Dawn to Dawn’s Light, Charlot’s swordsmanship shone like stars in the night, his strikes probing for any vulnerability. Yet his enemy seemed utterly impenetrable.

  Dispatching three approaching Byron riders, Charlot suddenly felt a stirring in his Blood Glory. The blood vortex in his left arm pulsed, and the runes of his rapier shimmered with a faint, colorless light.

  Simultaneously, Blood Rose emitted a pale golden aura, extending a few inches beyond its bde like a serpent’s flickering tongue.

  With a shout, Charlot unleashed a graceful ssh. The Blood Butcher attempted to deflect it, but the bde’s golden aura sliced through both shield and man with terrifying sharpness.

  As Charlot sheathed Blood Rose, he realized there were no enemies left standing.

  The battlefield y strewn with corpses, the West Wind howling across the desotion.