The Sky Squad members remaining at the temporary quarters provided by the city of Linggar Emas and the Golden Crane Academy were on high alert. From their position, the echoing clatter of weapons and the thunderous shockwaves of a fierce battle filled the night air.

Commander Gonan immediately ordered everyone to gear up and secure their armaments. Chaos had broken out tonight, and they needed to move fast to assess the situation at the Golden Crane Academy. Was the dark army truly launching an attack? Realizing their group was separated and incomplete, Commander Gonan grew deeply concerned and urged everyone to move out at once.

Equipped with their full gear, the remaining Sky Squad members filed out alongside Commander Gonan, ready to step onto the battlefield.

Meanwhile, Aji remained locked in combat with the two remaining dark force leaders: Tamura and Magot.

Both commanders dropped into focused battle stances, refusing to underestimate the youth any longer. Though he looked like an amateur kid, he had casually laid low five of their trusted subordinates and effortlessly evaded Tamura's heavy assault.

Tamura tightened his grip on his battleaxe as Magot channeled dark energy through his greatsword. In synchronized precision, the two charged forward from the front. Aji stepped up to meet them head-on.

Magot unleashed a sweeping blow with his greatsword from the left, forcing Aji to duck low—only to find Tamura's massive battleaxe swinging down to crush him from above. Anticipating the trap, Aji raised both hands, coating them in a dense layer of energy to catch the blow.

THUDDD!

The impact blasted Aji backward, slamming him against the stone wall of the forge office. Tamura and Magot exchanged triumphant grins. Believing they had just ended the boy, they assumed their coordinated double-assault had caught a fatal blind spot that would crush any normal fighter's bones to dust.

"Now, let's go finish off Nasura!" the two called out, preparing to leap away.

"Where do you think you're going?"

The sudden voice caught Tamura and Magot completely off guard. Whipping their heads around, they saw the youth rising from the debris, shrouded in a thin, pulsing aura of energy.

"Damn brat!" Magot roared, lunging forward with his greatsword while Tamura followed right behind, raising his battleaxe for a fatal swing.

Backed against the stone wall, Aji had no room to retreat. Magot charged in, trailing pitch-black energy.

WOOOOSHHH! BOOOOOMMM!

Magot's strike pulverized the stone wall into rubble, but the youth was nowhere to be seen. In a fraction of a second, Aji had materialized directly behind Magot. When did he move?! Tamura gasped in horror as Aji shifted his focus toward him. Tamura instinctively swung his battleaxe straight at Aji's chest.

This time, Aji made no attempt to dodge. He caught the incoming battleaxe mid-swing with his bare hand, bringing the massive weapon to a dead stop. As dark and radiant energies collided, Aji easily contained the force behind Tamura's blow. Seeing an opening, Magot yanked his greatsword free from the wall and lunged at Aji while he was still holding Tamura's weapon.

Aji glanced toward Magot's incoming attack, focusing a concentrated surge of power into his right hand gripping the axe blade. His energy erupted and—

CRACK!

Under the sheer force of Aji's grip, Tamura's battleaxe shattered into a shower of metallic splinters. Aji launched himself upward into a backflip, effortlessly dodging Magot's greatsword before landing cleanly behind him. Drawing his arm back, Aji drove a massive energy-infused strike straight into Magot's back.

BLAST!

A searing wave of heat exploded through Magot's spine, sending his body flying forward into Tamura. The two dark commanders collided heavily, crashing into the outer gate wall of the forge office. As smoke billowed from the impact, Aji touched down casually on the dirt, eyeing the pile of rubble.

A second later, a violent gale erupted from the debris. Pitch-black energy erupted upward like a volcanic eruption. Aji instantly recognized the transformation—they were activating their Demon Transformation, a last-resort method reserved for overwhelming formidable opponents. It was a dark technique fueled by their soul seals, directly blessed by the Demon Lord.

This state multiplied their combat attributes exponentially, identical to what the Sky Squad had faced back at Dompai during their battle against Jasum and Mora.

Tamura and Magot rose into the air, their bodies mutating as demonic scales hardened across their skin and jagged horns sprouted from their shoulders. They had fully surrendered their cores to dark energy, converting their physical forms into vessels of pure malice. However, such a sudden surge of corrupt power came at a steep cost and could not be sustained for long.

It was a demonic contract—sacrificing their physical bodies and swearing eternal fealty to the Demon Lord in exchange for effortless, terrifying strength.

Aji channeled a dense flow of energy into his fists. Time was running out; he needed to rejoin his comrades immediately, having sensed a massive, ominous presence elsewhere on the battlefield.

Fully transformed, Tamura and Magot radiated crackling arcs of dark lightning as they charged at Aji together.

End it quickly. Aji raised his hand high before driving his bare fist straight into the earth with monumental force, determined to wrap up the fight in a single strike.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

"Thunderclap Strike!"

The ground detonated as if struck by a massive earthquake. The earth buckled and fractured, razing the forge building and its surrounding stone walls. The violent shockwave generated a rushing tempest that caught Magot and Tamura mid-air, shaking heaven and earth until both dark commanders lost their balance.

Before they could recover, Aji materialized in their blind spot at absolute speed, driving a crushing fist into each of their chests. Striking down from above, Aji channeled his full physical weight, slamming both mutated commanders into the dirt.

How is this possible?! Tamura and Magot gasped in utter disbelief. Even with their attributes boosted by the Demon Transformation, they couldn't hold out against this youth for more than a single second. Just who was this boy?

BOOOOOMMMMMMM!

As Magot and Tamura slammed into the ground, a crater exploded outward, scattering dust and shattering their dark energy barriers to pieces. Slowly, the seismic vibrations from Aji's strike faded away.

Nothing remained except settling dust and a gentle night breeze. The two commanders who had undergone the demonic transformation lay motionless on the crater floor, their physical forms reverting to their original, battered human states.

Aji glanced down at them for a brief second before leaping into the night sky, speeding toward the second battleground. The aura he sensed over there was genuinely menacing. Had one of the Five Gates he fought twenty years ago arrived on the scene?

It was entirely possible, given that this weapon-forging operation was a cornerstone of their grand plan to conquer the world. Mass-producing armaments was the easiest way to overthrow both the continent's military governments and its righteous martial sects in a single stroke.

Naturally, they would assign a member of the Five Gates to oversee a mission of this magnitude. If his instinct was right, his comrades were in grave danger. Aji accelerated to maximum speed, praying he wouldn't arrive to a tragedy.

The Sky Squad was not yet ready to face a member of the Five Gates. Aji's master plan required every squad member to reach at least Rank 8 first; only then could he safely implant the Heart Dragon into their cores.

Performing the implantation required a sturdy physical vessel conditioned to a minimum threshold of Rank 8. That was precisely why Warrior Jiro was putting them through rigorous training—to prepare their bodies for the Heart Dragon before their inevitable showdown with the Demon Lord.

At least Warrior Jiro has already reached the battle, Aji thought to himself as he blurred through the night.