Toda’s eyes bulged in shock. Grandmaster Drakos and the dark army's commanders had explicitly assured him that Yomura would never awaken, condemned to remain a living corpse for the rest of his days. Driven by anxiety after learning that Nagada had returned accompanied by Sky Squad members, Toda had immediately marched on Yomura's residence to assert his dominance.

To force Nagada into submission, he had brought along the five corrupt council members under his control. But seeing King Yomura step out through the front doors ruined his entire plan.

Worse still, Toda panicked at the thought of Yomura recalling the events leading up to his coma. Toda had arrived at the palace alongside Drakos that fateful night—irrefutable proof of his complicity in Drakos's conspiracy. Now that news of Drakos's death at the hands of the Sky Squad had reached the capital, Toda knew he was backed into a corner.

Everything he had feared was unfolding before his eyes.

"End your dark path, Toda!" Yomura commanded, stepping forward to stand beside his son and the three Sky Squad members.

Toda's mind reeled in desperation. If he surrendered now, a life in prison awaited him. Yet he recognized that his brother had only just awakened—Yomura's internal energy was far from fully restored.

A sinister resolve took root in Toda's mind. He had to kill his brother here and now, along with the three Sky Squad operatives. He was confident he could pull it off, especially after absorbing a volatile potion of dark magic into his own core.

"There is no turning back, Brother!" Toda bellowed, dark energy bursting from his frame. "Today, one of us takes the throne of Hanusan forever!" A thin, murky fog of dark mana enveloped Toda's body as he prepared to strike.

Recognizing the threat, the three Sky Squad members dropped into combat stances to face Toda's forces.

"Advisors! Clear out the interference!" Toda barked, drawing his blade. "Guards, capture them alive! If they resist, execute them on the spot!"

Toda pointed his sword forward, ordering his men to charge. Dozens of heavy infantry—handpicked loyalists conditioned into his personal guard—surged forward with weapons drawn.

Nagada glanced at his father, worried about his recovering condition, before stepping out to form a defensive line.

"Forward! They are Mondu traitors!" Nagada yelled, unsheathing a magnificent blade adorned with an ornate dragon-head pommel. Beside him, Sanjo and Yara readied their weapons. Sanjo wielded dual trisulas—upgraded armaments crafted during their time at the Golden Crane Academy forge. Yara drew her slender estoc, a lightweight blade perfectly suited to her agile frame.

The three operatives activated their internal circles, channeling atmospheric mana to synthesize with their cultivated aura.

"Attack!" Toda screamed.

Sanjo leaped into the air, whirling his dual trisulas like a hurricane. The resulting wind pressure howled through the courtyard; as he descended, his blades shattered the wooden shafts of the guards' incoming pikes into splinters. Moving with breathtaking speed, Sanjo spun through the front line, delivering a lightning-fast combination of sweeping kicks that sent eight heavy infantrymen tumbling backward.

As more guards pressed forward, Nagada raised his dragon-pommel blade, executing a high-speed series of cross-cutting slashes. Hundreds of radiant sword arcs crisscrossed through the air; Nagada glided past the front rank, leaving a trail of slashes across his opponents' armor as they collapsed to the dirt.

Observing from the rear, Toda begrudgingly acknowledged that the Sky Squad's reputation was well-earned—these young warriors possessed extraordinary talent. However, the front line had merely been cannon fodder.

Toda signaled his elite bodyguards—seasoned combatants possessing high-tier martial arts—to join the fray. Beside them, the five corrupt council members stepped forward, drawing their own weapons. Master martial artists in their own right, they had sworn complete allegiance to Toda.

The five council members lunged at Nagada, while Sanjo and Yara found themselves swarmed by Toda's elite rank-one guards. The hellish conditioning they had endured under Warrior Jiro proved invaluable. Had they encountered such formidable opponents prior to Jiro's training, they would have been overwhelmed instantly.

Nagada took on all five council members single-handed. The remaining three advisors on the royal council were likely unaware of the sudden siege, isolated in their private estates. With no time to summon reinforcements, the squad's own strength was the only shield standing between Hanusan and total tyranny.

Sanjo and Yara stood back-to-back, surrounded by twenty elite guards.

Outnumbered and pressed into a tight circle, the situation grew increasingly dire. Nagada knew his uncle's raw combat capability equaled his father's in his prime. Facing Toda alone would have been a desperate gamble; facing him alongside five senior advisors and an elite guard force seemed impossible.

Yet surrender was never an option.

"Sanjo! Yara! Thank you for fighting by my side as Sky Squad members!" Nagada called out, adjusting his grip on his dragon-pommel blade as the five advisors circled him like vultures. "I am proud to be your comrade!"

Surrounded on all sides, Sanjo and Yara offered quiet, confident grins. They, too, carried immense pride as members of the Sky Squad, sworn to fight until their last breath to cleanse the world of Mondu traitors and the Demon Lord's dark army.

That was the sacred oath of the Sky Squad—their shared dream.

"Save your dramatic speeches, noisy Prince!" Sanjo shouted back, a wide grin breaking across his face. "We are going to win this! We didn't survive Warrior Jiro's hellish training just to fall here! Stop talking nonsense and focus on crushing those five old men—leave these guards to us! Right, Yara?"

Sanjo glanced over his shoulder.

"Quiet and fight!" Yara snapped back, her slender blade flickering like lightning. "Defeat your targets first, then you can talk!"

A shared smile passed among the three. They remembered the brutal conditioning under Warrior Jiro—training so intense it felt as though they had died and been reborn together. That shared trial had forged their souls into a single, unyielding unit, bound by a common vow to eradicate the dark forces.

Standing side-by-side with trusted comrades who shared the same vision ignited an invincible fire in their hearts, driving them forward against any odds.

A split second later, internal aura detonated across the courtyard as the battle erupted into an all-out war.

With a furious roar from Toda, the five council members lunged at Nagada simultaneously, targeting every opening in his stance. Nagada's blade transformed into a blur of silver light, parrying strikes raining in from the right, left, above, and behind.

Focusing his mind, Nagada expanded his internal circle, absorbing atmospheric mana to heighten his reflexes and spatial awareness. Through the lens of his conditioned senses, the five elder advisors—despite their high cultivation—appeared to move in slow motion. The grueling drills overseen by Jiro had elevated Nagada's perception to a realm beyond ordinary martial arts.

Nagada's speed surged, allowing him to deflect the incoming barrage with practiced ease. Still, fending off five high-level masters at once was a staggering test of endurance. A single lapse in concentration would prove fatal; every parry had to transition seamlessly into the next defense.

CLANG! CLINK! CLANG!

A brief lapse in Nagada's guard allowed a sword point to graze his lower left ribcage. Fortunately, his dense defensive shroud absorbed the kinetic force, preventing the blade from piercing his flesh.

Driven backward by the impact, Nagada planted his boots firmly into the dirt, springing forward to renew his assault without missing a beat.