"Not bad, kid! Ha... ha... ha... Unfortunately for you, you have no idea who you're dealing with!"

A muscular man stepped forward. He had just watched three of his subordinates get wiped out in a single blow by the sharp-eyed youth standing before him.

Reaching for a weapon strapped to his back, he drew a massive, double-headed battleaxe that gleamed with lethal light. Wraiths of dark energy swirled around the weapon, complemented by pitch-black smoke surging from the warrior's imposing frame—the undeniable signature of a dark martial artist.

Aji merely smiled, maintaining his composed battle stance after downing the previous three attackers.

"Before you depart for the underworld, I'll give you my name, kid!" the muscular man bellowed. Dark energy surged, completely engulfing the axe in his right hand. The weapon crackled with a sinister radiance, resembling a violent stormcloud laced with dark lightning.

"My name is Tamuraaaaa!"

With a deafening roar, Tamura leapt into the air, hoisting his massive battleaxe high. He prepared to split Aji's body in two with pure, murderous intent.

BLAAAAAARRRRRR!

A colossal explosion erupted upon impact, churning up chunks of earth and throwing up a dense curtain of dust that obscured all vision. Beside him, the warrior with long hair tied into intricate sections sneered in satisfaction.

"That's that. Come on, Tamura, let's hurry and chase down the Chief Blacksmith!" the man urged, preparing to leap away along with the five remaining operatives behind them. They all braced to depart.

"Wait, Magot! I missed the kid!" Tamura's panicked voice echoed as he frantically scanned left and right through the thinning smoke. His battleaxe had completely pulverized the earth, leaving a massive crater where Aji had been standing.

"A powerful strike!"

Aji's voice echoed from above. He was already perched casually atop a wooden fence directly in front of them—the very exit the Chief Blacksmith had used earlier. Aji stood tall, the faint moonlight washing over his tranquil expression.

Magot's eyes narrowed. He realized the youth possessed extraordinary skill to effortlessly evade Tamura's lightning-fast, heavy strike. Furthermore, the boy wore the grand uniform of the Sky Squad. Intelligence reports had already confirmed that Jasum and Mora—formidable commanders serving under Denta—had been defeated by members of this very squad.

Jasum and Mora were renowned powerhouses among the representatives of the dark forces. Their defeat, along with Denta sustaining severe injuries and losing his trusted lieutenants, served as a stark warning: no one affiliated with the Sky Squad could be taken lightly. They were elite warriors handpicked by the Martial Arts Association specifically to dismantle the Demon Lord's forces. Magot refused to make the mistake of underestimating the youth again.

"Tamura! We attack together!" Magot barked.

Tamura was stunned. For Magot to issue such an order meant the youth standing atop the exit fence was a truly dangerous opponent. He yanked his battleaxe from the earth as the five remaining operatives dropped into offensive stances.

Aji offered a subtle smile from his high vantage point. In a flash, he launched himself downward, driving a straight punch directly toward Magot. Magot raised his massive broadsword to intercept. Aji's fist collided with the heavy steel blade, unleashing an explosive shockwave as radiant and dark energies clashed violently.

Sensing a split-second opening, Tamura moved in. The five subordinates realized it as well, swarming in to strike Aji from every conceivable angle. Anticipating their coordination, Aji disengaged his pressure against Magot.

Aji's gaze locked onto Tamura's incoming battleaxe. Instead of blocking, he utilized Tamura's own momentum against him. Planting a precise kick against the flat of Tamura's axe, their energies collided. Aji used the immense force behind Tamura's swing as a springboard, launching himself at blinding speed.

Aji leveraged the sudden recoil flawlessly. In the blink of an eye, he swept through the five operatives under Tamura and Magot's command, dropping them one by one in a series of lightning-fast strikes.

Thud! Crash! BOOM!

Aji touched down gracefully just as the five dark operatives collapsed to the earth in unison, completely immobilized.

THUDDDDD!

Aji's gaze sharpened, locking onto Tamura and Magot above. The two dark commanders stood frozen, their vision briefly obscured by their falling subordinates. The battlefield had been cleared; it was now a two-on-one showdown.

As the dust settled around them, the three fighters surged forward simultaneously. A devastating clash erupted, light and dark energies colliding with enough force to shatter the surrounding stone walls of the Golden Crane Academy's forge office.

BOOOMMM! BLAAAAARRR! CRASH!

Meanwhile, across the city, over a hundred dark-clothed operatives surrounded two Sky Squad warriors who were escorting Nasura. Lao and Gayatri discarded their dark camouflage cloaks, revealing their official squad uniforms.

They braced themselves to face the swarming forces of darkness. As Aji had warned, this was going to be an all-out battle. Initially, they had harbored doubts about the scale of the threat, but after securing Nasura, Aji's warnings proved chillingly accurate.

Lao and Gayatri held absolute faith that Aji was handling a critical objective elsewhere. Their duty was clear: safeguard the key witness at all costs. Reinforcements would arrive eventually; they simply needed to hold the line.

"We're dead! We're dead! I don't want to die!" Nasura whimpered, cowering behind the backs of the two Sky Squad fighters.

Lao drew his dual discs—his upgraded armaments freshly forged by the Golden Crane Academy's blacksmiths. Funneling his internal energy into the metal, a web of crackling electricity formed, linking the two discs with fine strands of lightning. He took a firm stance.

Beside him, Gayatri extended her hands. A large, serrated energy wheel materialized above her head, sprouting dense, needle-like projectiles until it resembled a floating, spiked sphere. She too entered full battle readiness.

The surrounding operatives channeled dark energy from their cores, drawing their weapons as their eyes flared a crimson red. In synchronized motion, dozens of attackers leapt from the rooftops, descending upon Lao and Gayatri. Terrified out of his wits, Nasura dropped to his knees, curling into a ball on the floor of the courtyard.

Nasura squeezed his eyes shut, hands over his ears as the deafening din of clashing steel and energy explosions filled the night.

Lao moved like lightning, intercepting incoming strikes with his dual discs. He deflected a barrage of attacks on one flank, only to blur across the courtyard a split second later to cover Nasura. Their primary mission was delivering Nasura alive. Gayatri operated with equal precision; the energy needles launched from her floating wheel intercepted every long-range projectile hurled toward the key witness.

Gayatri's focus was absolute. She directed all her perception toward deflecting strikes aimed at Nasura. His survival was paramount—he was the living proof needed to expose the Golden Crane Academy's treason.

Trang! Clang! BOOOMMM!

Facing over a hundred elite opponents was an overwhelming strain on Lao and Gayatri, especially while anchored to a stationary target. Divided focus in a high-stakes battle was a recipe for disaster.

Sensing a brief lapse in their perimeter, several dark operatives hurled a volley of lethal daggers directly at Nasura. Reacting instantly, Gayatri detonated the energy wheel above her, dispersing a wave of jagged energy shards in every direction. The sudden radial explosion disrupted the attackers' momentum, granting Lao the split second he needed to lunge forward, grab Nasura by the shoulder, and pull him clear as the lethal daggers impaled the earth where he had cowered a moment prior.

BLAAAAARRR! BOOOOM!

Nasura survived. Enraged by his survival, the wave of dark operatives charged once more. Though several of their comrades lay fallen from Lao and Gayatri's counterattacks, the sheer volume of attackers surged forward undeterred, blotting out the night sky with their leaping shadows. They possessed a single directive: execute Nasura at any cost to erase the evidence.

Taking a decisive step forward, Gayatri raised her hands. A massive pulse of energy erupted from her core as she deployed an absolute energy barrier, constructing an impenetrable dome around their position. She channeled every ounce of her strength to withstand the relentless barrage of dark magic battering the barrier from the outside.

Lao kept a firm grip on Nasura's shoulder, his eyes locked on the swirling chaos beyond the barrier.

Hold on, little sister, Lao thought fiercely. Just hold the line.