Swordmeister of Rome

"Haha, five!"

The captain of <Black Star>, Krashana, frowned as she heard Rasion shouting while slashing a Kanuan.

'You mean five steals.'

At least he was staying in formation.

'At least it helps.'

A Grand Bander was definitely a great help, and these Experts were doing okay since none of them were dying. It seemed that Kalagul was protecting them somehow. Krashana sighed and reached out to a Kanuan that was charging at her. The space in front of her distorted; it reflected Kanuan's feet and made them fall down. Krashana then took her chance to crush the Kanuan's head.

Krashana was a dual power user. She was born with a Bander Rating of 45. At the age of ten, she also realized she had the talent to become an Exer. She began training to use both powers, which allowed her to become a Master Bander and a B-grade Exer at the same time.

She had been utilizing both powers to destroy the Kanuans. As she fought, she glanced at Rian from time to time. He was so handsome that he could not be missed from a distance.

'He's… very alluring. Is he twenty-four years old?'

She wasn't talking about his looks. It was his talent that was shining. If he grew older and became stronger, she had no way to fight against him. However, this also meant that he was weak now. It was not a place where a future Grand Bander should come and risk his life.

'Why risk it? Are they hiding something?'

Krashana became curious as she crushed down another Kanuan. Yet something shocked her. As an Exer, she was able to sense the area and it enabled her to sense the four approaching Kel-Rufens. They were masking themselves by lowering their core energy levels, so it took longer for her to detect them. It was unknown what they were after. There was no way for her to fight against four Kel-Rufens, let alone Rian, who was weaker than her.

'Dammit… Nazgal…'

They were aiming to kill Rian first as they lacked Kel-Rufens to fight against the Grand Bander. It was too late to help as the Kel-Rufens were already preparing to fight and she was too far.

As she tried to shout to warn them, she felt some weird sensation and became dazed. It almost made her get bitten by a Kanuan, but she fended it off and braced herself again.

'What's going on?'

Her dimension-sensing ability had sensed a powerful distortion. It was so powerful that it made her feel dizzy.

Krashana turned to where the distortion occurred.

'What is that?'

Spaces appeared near the four Kel-Rufens' cores. It wasn't something that could be seen by the naked eye. She was only able to see it because she was an Exer. The four spaces that appeared near the cores began to pull themselves together to become one. As four cores were stacked together, a hand came out of nowhere.

'What!'

The hand then crushed the cores at once. It was one clean grab and it destroyed all four cores. The Kel-Rufens stopped moving at once and fell to the ground, destroyed by Kularen fire that sensed activation of the cores.

Nobody saw what happened other than Krashana. However, she couldn't believe what she had seen.

'Hm… she saw me,' Sian thought as he looked down at Krashana. But it didn't matter as there was no way for her to realize who it actually was. That wasn't the problem.

Sian had been contemplating ever since he arrived at the battlefield. The war wasn't about to end anytime soon. He hated to interfere with the war, but he was already doing a great deal by protecting his brother and the other people. The enemy was only going to stop after they emerged victorious.

He needed to leave the battle at once.

Sian began pondering about the idea to leave the war with everyone.

The commander of the war, Second Prince Rakun ra Dimitri, smiled as he heard the reports.

"We have conquered the Rashadum Region."

"Colan Region is progressing.'

"Castle Rayfanol is under control."

"We have fought off the <Golden Lion> and invaded the Kiranon Region."

The prince smiled and thanked Kurandas again.

"Thank you, Sir Kurandas. May you rest in peace… We will honor our victory under your name."

The Prince was lost in his thoughts when he heard another report.

"We have lost six hundred Kanuans and half of the fifteen Kel-Rufens at Con-Tian Region. Report says they retreated because of heavy damage."

Con-Tian was where the <Black Star> was defending. It was an important region, but no Grand Bander protecting it so he wasn't worried about the place. The result was unexpected.

"What happened?"

"General Nazgal reported that an enemy Grand Bander has just joined the battle."

"What?"

The Prince became surprised and understood the reason for the damage. However, there was still one question left remaining.

"Didn't we have all the information on the Con-Tian Grand Banders? I believe we were holding them in place."

Con had three Grand Banders, and they were all being tied up by the Kel-Rufens.

"I heard Tian sent a Grand Bander as reinforcement."

"What… is this a hidden Grand Bander that they had?"

The Prince had already heard about the hidden Grand Bander at Tian Kingdom. They had Kurandas in hiding, so it wasn't surprising. But to send one for foreign aid…

"I don't know what they're up to."

Grand Banders were extremely useful for the Kingdom. There was no way King Narasha would not see that. There had to be something more.

"Bring me any video recordings of this Grand Bander."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Surely General Nazgal recorded the Grand Bander with his Exar. He needed to see this to judge for himself.

After looking at the video and going through some of the reports, he smiled ominously.

"I see what he was up to. This King Narasha… doesn't have full control over this Kalagul."

The video proved his speculation. Kalagul did not want to do any more work than what he was supposed to do. The space he was guarding was very important, but it was also a place where he had the best chance at survival. If the King had full control, Kalagul would definitely run out and destroy his enemy.

The King had sent the Grand Bander out of the country as he had no control over him to help his kingdom. It was good since they could help Con Kingdom while sending out an uncontrollable Grand Bander out of the country.

"Focus our forces. Let's see this how well this sellsword Grand Bander can fight at the brink of death."

They still had more weapons at the armory. A Grand Bander had the power to defend himself from it, but the castle did not. If the Grand Bander could be scared away, then that would be the best.

"Focus on the Kel-Rufens only. And send Cordan also."

"General Cordan?"

"Yeah. He will be needed."

"Yes, Your Highness. I will send a message to General Cordan and Ra-Shar-Roa at once."

Prince sat back in his chair and went over his plans again.

"Kalagul… I am not sure what you were promised, but let's see how well you fight."