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nThe arrival of Der caused for the dwarf and the man to quiet down. That reaction was no dictated by fear, but by the respect they felt for him. After all, they had fought dozens of battles firstly as his brothers at arms, and secondly, underneath his command.

nFor the past few years, Der, Alesia, and Gai'ha had been forced to enroll into multiple conflicts. Each of them resulted in a win for their party to which they had a major role to play with. This had allowed them to receive large number of resources, which in turn, allowed them to become stronger and stronger. However, amongst these contributions, the biggest one was, without a doubt, Der's experience as a general.

nWhile his power as an immortal cultivator at the ninth stage of immotal cultivation was highly valued in a world where the strongest warriors would all be underneath the high immortality stage, his experience as a general was much more sought after.

nHis suggestions in the beginning were, however, not always welcomed. Wheere in a society where the strongest would give the orders, the presence of someone that assumed that his leader's orders were wrong, was deeply frowned upon. It was only after his commander had died, and the three of them had found themselves in the losing end of a war, that Der had convinced the desperate survivors to follow his direction, and obtain a win that nobody would have ever expected to see.

nDuring the last few years, Der had employed every single method of warfare that he had used during his many years as a general of the army of Karalis. Amongst these, were espionage, psychological warfare, military tactics, and many more.

nAll of these had allowed for Der to obtain an almost fanatical following.

nGai'ha's aura, and Alesia's comprehension of the elements also had a big part to play in the trio's reputation. Sand and Blood would rarely see immortal cultivators, as the spiritual plane was completely cut out of the Dominion of the War God. Only a few every generation would appear, and all of them were, without an exception, alien mercenaries that had reached Sand and Blood to cultivate in the environment of war.

nThe warriors that had grown out of Sand and Blood's environment, on the other hand, completely lacked a connection to the spiritual plane. By never once connecting to it, their spirits had never become an obstacle for their ki to grow past the ninth rank of martial cultivation, and by doing so, allowing their spirits to become as secondary as their own mind power.

nAs a result to this, their bodies were able to grow more powerful. A power which would fit well with the nature of ki cultivators.

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"Be quiet. We have a plan to revise.

" said Der after approaching the table in the middle of the tent. The rest of the group followed suit, and after freeing himself from the hands of the blue eyed man, the teenager-looking young man unrolled a massive map that depicted the topography of the area. Once the map was opened in front of Der, the dwarf and the blue eyed cultivator approached the table, and listened as Der said,

"This is my plan..

"

n-----

nTen in the morning.

nThe conversation between the elite of the Dominion of the War God and the two generals would traditionally take place two hours before the war started. That was to prevent the explanation of the rules to affect the outcome of the battle.

nAt the end of the day, the two generals were fighting to the death for the chance of impressing the faction. If their performance during the spar was judged favorably enough, the elite members that were assigned to observe the trial would be able to decide to let them live. If not, they would all be killed.

nThe reason why failure meant death, was because the champions and generals that would go through the trial were usually at the peak of their cultivation. The only method for them to go past the ninth stage of ki cultivation, was by receiving the gift of one of the ki factions, which was nothing but a method of cultivation that involved new ways to develop the natural ki of a ki cultivator.

nTo be denied a promotion, meant that the cultivators did not have the disposition to become members of the Dominion of the War God, and since their presence would impact the rest of the up and coming warriors, in order for the latter to have a fair chance, these powerful warriors would usually be eliminated. This process was repeated in multiple places all around the planets that were part of the territory of the ki factions.

nNow, after hours spent staring at their enemies, the two armies were starving for battle. Both of them numbering in the hundreds of thousands. Standing at the frontlines of these massive armies, were the generals, and the five champions which prepared their group for the imminent fight.

nThe five champions of the army camped to the south tried to inspire their fighters with the usual promises of rewards and greatness, trying to tap into their thirst for growth. These topics were always able to fuel the hearts of these cultivators, who would rely on their adrenaline to be as brutal and devastating as possible.

nIn the northern camp, on the other hand, along with the promises of a great reward, came the instructions on how to increase their chances of survival, to avoid for their companions to die pointlessly, and to always keep an ear out for the general's orders. Luckily, the respect which Der had been able to accumulate through his successful career as a general, was enough for his soldiers to pay attention to anything he said regardless.. After all, they had seen enough shocking performances to want to avoid ending up in the middle of them.

nTo give a start to the war, was the powerful sound of a horn being blown from the back o f the army on the southern side of the territory, which despite being at least twenty kilometers away, could still be heard loud and clear. This noise was followed by the shouts of the warriors, which began their march like a disorganized mass of ants.

nDer's army had already been instructed on how to behave, so instead of marching as well to encounter the enemy midway, they stood still.

nTo Alesia's troops, along with numerous powerful ki cultivators, belonged around a hundred immortal cultivators. All of which had reached Sand and Blood in hope to gain more resources by accepting jobs as mercenaries. All of them had been put into Alesia's group, and under her command, would act as the first one to move at the beginning of each and every war.

nThe moment the enemy army began their charge, numerous boulders began to form off of the ground. Each of these boulders was then picked up by one of the ki cultivators which, by using all of their might, would throw them at the incoming army. They would then step aside to allow for the next ones to repeat what they had just done.

nAt the same time, the remaining immortal cultivators hired by Der, while hidden all around army, took control over the surrounding elements, and formed massive clouds that covered the sunlight like a thick blanket of grey wool.

nAs soon as these cloud formed, it began to rain.

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"They are trying to hinder our movements!

" Said the champion with the hand claws, before ordering,

"Coat your feet in ki, so that you don't get stuck in the mud!

"

nMany of the southern army ignored this order, but the majority were experienced enough to do so regardless of whether they had been ordered or not. After all, that wasn't the first time any of them had fought in the mud.

nAt the same time, the number of massive rocks that were flying in the direction of the incoming army was reaching the thousands, and while not extremely dangerous, their massive sizes would ultimately hinder the tempo of their advancement in the same way a muddy ground would have.

nNaturally, just like they were for the eventuality of difficult terrain conditions, the champions of the southern army were prepared for flying objects to be thrown at them. The female archer lead a large number of spearmen which, the moment they saw these massive boulders fly in their direction, grabbed their throwing spears, and with a large motion carried by an immense physical strength, threw them with all their might.

nThe senses of these warriors were as refined as the control over their own powers. So much so that they were able to perceive where the boulder would be when their spear would arrive. This allowed for close to zero throws to miss the target, and for the hundreds of massive boulders to be shattered into smaller, and more manageable rocks.

nHowever, before they could rejoice, something unexpected happened.

nAlesia, which had been creating boulder after boulder along with the rest of the immortal cultivation, suddenly stopped. She then turned to look at her group, and shouted,

"NOW!

"

nThe ki cultivators steppes aside, allowing for the immortal cultivators to have a clear view of the battlefied. A few momentes later, each of these cultivators controlled the portion of constructed rock that was hidden inside each of these boulders, and turned it into constructed lightning, which without missing a bit, struck the ground softened by the rain.

nAs soon as the lightning struck, the opened legs of the runing cultivators formed a circuit with the wet ground which caused for the electricity to run through their bodies freely. A large portion of the southern army fell on the ground, paralized by the uncontrollable twitches of their muscles. Their bodies were too powerful for the lightning strike to hurt them, but their nervous systems were sent into chaos.

nIt was at this moment, right when the half of the enemy army lay on the ground and the other half stopped their advancement in order to avoid suffering the same faith, that Der took a step forward, and shouted,

"ADVANCE!!

"

nThe moment the order was given, Der's army advanced as a single unit.

nContrary to the enemy army, none of them ran at their fastest speed. They were all maintaining their formation, and running as a large block. The reason for that, was because the moment they would reach the portion of incapacitated warriors, they wanted to overcome them not as a disorganized mass, but as a wave of soldiers.

nFrom the back of the southern army, came numerous waves of arrows that attempted to distrupt their organized advancement, but all of these arrows were stopped by the few scattered immortal cultivators that had been in charge of the rain at the beginning of the battle. Their positions allowed them to create small metallic nets which would stop the arrows in their motion, and protect a large number of warriors at the same time.

nIn a matter of seconds, the organized army of the northern camp arrived to the area that was being devastated by hundreds of lightning strikes, which stopped coming down from the sky right after.

nThe many warriors were immediately able to regain control over their muscles, but it was too late. The wave of soldiers of Der's army had already arrived, and cut through their disorganzied group like a shythe through stalks of wheath.

nThe warriors that were further away from this incoming wave began to panic, and instead of advancing, retreated in an attempt to fall back into the lines of the rest of the army. Unfortunately, that only caused more problems with the rest of their army, which suddenly found a large number of their own warriors run in the opposite direction, almost protecting the very wave of soldiers which they were supposed to face head on.

nThis chaotic situation, while exactly what Der had hoped to see, did not last long. The advancement of their wave of soldiers was slowed down by the apparition on the frontline of the enemy general, and the five champions. Their arrival was enough to give confidence to the remaining two thirds left of the army, which quickly reorganized, and began a new advancement.

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