With his objective achieved, Liens no longer wasted power maintaining Extreme Wind.

With a thought, everything resumed its flow, and the tributary of time once again flowed through this place.

Liens and Alfred both turned pale simultaneously, and Alfred even spat out fresh blood, which was a power backlash caused by damage to his mind.

Grover was stunned by this scene, completely unaware of what had happened, wondering why the top generals from both sides suddenly looked so unwell.

Before he could react, the sky and earth darkened, and an unprecedented heavy pressure descended. He looked up, and a sight he had never seen in his life appeared before his eyes.

The sky seemed to be split in half, Mirror Lake and the cloud vortex intermingled, and the Azure-blue Sword and the Azure-deep Sword confronted each other.

"Sword!"

Two voices simultaneously sounded in their minds, awakening their awestruck spirits.

Ralph, whose consciousness had cleared, forced his way through the pressure of the killing intent. The instantaneous overload of mental breakthrough caused fresh blood to seep from his eye sockets, but he had no time to wipe away these two lines of bloody tears.

His magic power circulated, strengthening his right hand, then he swung out a slap, hitting Grover's face.

"Stop daydreaming! Move if you want to live!" Ralph shouted.

Ignoring his right hand, which was injured by the anti-shock from Grover's armor, Ralph placed both hands on the ground and quickly cast a spell.

"Earth Vein Protection."

An orange-yellow magic circle unfolded, and a high wall shimmering with light instantly rose, blocking Ralph and Grover.

Although that slap didn't affect Grover much, it did snap him back to reality.

He knew time was short, so he stood directly in front of Ralph, and a massive phantom of a mountain boar wearing rock armor appeared on his body, enveloping both of them.

Almost simultaneously, the aftermath of the collision between the two giant swords in the sky reached the ground.

Boom~

The impact struck the high wall, which instantly cracked, and the surrounding earth also developed fissures.

Pfft~

Ralph spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, staining the ground. Being one with the Earth Vein, he also simultaneously bore the Earth's injuries.

However, his injuries did not make him stop the spell; instead, they made him increase the magic power to gather more Earth Vein power, allowing a larger area of the Earth to share the impact.

Because of his efforts, although the cracking of the high wall became increasingly severe, it ultimately blocked the impact of the aftershock.

Of course, during this time, his injuries also continuously worsened, and even his body began to show jade-like changes due to being one with the Earth Vein, which was a sign of Earth Vein erosion.

Grover watched anxiously. He knew that if Ralph fell, he alone would likely find it difficult to endure in the center of the battlefield, but he really couldn't do anything to help Ralph.

At this moment, Grover somewhat regretted that he had only indulged in life and hadn't properly studied magic before.

Otherwise, being of the same Earth element, perhaps he could use magic to save Ralph some effort.

"Again!"

Before Grover could regret much longer, he suddenly sensed a huge elemental energy shooting towards them at supersonic speed.

He remembered the vast elemental energy he had sensed before; he knew what it was, but just as he couldn't help Ralph, at this moment, he could only powerlessly wait for that strike to fall.

Alfred looked at the dazzling light, knowing that it was probably Liens's last resort.

"You want to kill me? It won't be that easy."

Alfred's eyes were firm. As his mind moved, the Azure-blue Sword, which was deadlocked with the Azure-deep Great Sword in the air, lit up and then exploded with a tremendous burst of energy.

Facing the impact of this enormous energy, Liens's 'Sword' could no longer maintain stability and also exploded.

These two destructive energies collided, directly tearing a huge rift in space, frantically devouring the chaotic energy raging around them.

And because of the existence of the spatial rift, some of the energy was reduced, preventing the explosion's impact from completely annihilating everything on the ground.

Liens and Alfred simultaneously spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, their faces pale, their eyes dim, having lost their usual vitality.

Their 'Swords' were forced to break, and they suffered mental damage as a result.

"Sword!"

Without a moment of hesitation, Alfred endured the pain of his injured mind, disregarding the worsening of his injuries, and once again used 'Sword'.

Mirror Lake once again condensed an Azure-blue Great Sword, only this time the Great Sword looked much more ethereal than before, with only a vague sword shape, no longer appearing as a substantial existence as it had before.

However, for Alfred, this was enough.

The newly condensed Azure-blue Great Sword blocked the piercingly bright light spear, stopping its unwavering advance.

Liens had anticipated this. Without any hesitation, he plunged his longsword into the ground, forcibly squeezing out his body's last strength to use Absolute Barrier to protect himself and survive the explosion's impact.

At this point, he had done everything he could. He had exerted his utmost ability.

First, he acted to cut off the Earth Vein, severing Alfred and their retreat.

Then, he used Extreme Wind to exhaust Alfred in the mental battlefield, injuring him and reducing the power he could exert.

Finally, he used 'Sword' to clash with Alfred, creating an opportunity for the army formation to attack, forcing Alfred to injure himself and fall into a severely wounded state.

It could be said that after this battle, even if Alfred didn't die, he would find it difficult to step onto the battlefield again for a short time.

Compared to physical injuries, severe mental trauma is difficult to heal even with potions like water of life.

Boom~

The collision of the light spear and the great sword caused a roar, and the unleashed energy caused the surrounding chaotic energy to collapse together, leading to an even larger explosion, and a huge impact swept through everything around.

The earth shaking and mountains swaying were no longer exaggerated descriptions at this moment; even residents of Baker City, several kilometers away, could clearly feel the strong tremors.

Great sound is unheard.

As the sky-high white light dispersed, only a giant crater covering a thousand meters remained, and beyond the crater was a barren, lifeless plain like the end of the world.

"Ptooey!"

Grover spat out the dirt in his mouth, laboriously pulling Ralph out of the soil.

After getting out, he saw the surrounding scene, and even though he had already somewhat estimated the power of those level of strong individuals, he still couldn't help but exclaim, "Is this what a 'Saint' is?"

"It's not over yet..." Ralph pulled Grover's hand, struggled to stand up, and said weakly.

Although he was too weak to perceive his surroundings at this moment, a strong premonition told him that it was not over.

As he spoke, roars came from the sky—the sound of sonic booms produced by objects moving at supersonic speeds.

Hearing this sound, even though Grover's will was relatively resilient, he couldn't help but feel despair at this moment; he knew very well what those sonic booms represented.

Liens knelt on the ground, his right hand tightly gripping the longsword plunged into the earth, and upon hearing this sound, his forced consciousness also relaxed, and his vision gradually dimmed.

"The rest is up to you..." A faint voice slowly escaped his lips, and the longsword shattered. Liens, losing his support, fell forward, his consciousness gradually fading.

"Leave it to us."

A figure gently embraced Liens, and a emerald green light attached to Liens's body, carefully treating his injuries.

"Isabelle, take good care of Liens." Lucrezia carefully entrusted Liens to Isabelle beside her, then directly stepped onto the battlefield, joining others in besieging the heavily wounded Alfred.

At this moment, Alfred no longer had the strength to resist Lucrezia and their encirclement; he couldn't even activate the power of his Spirit Phase anymore.

It could be said that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, Alfred, renowned as the Sword Saint of the Hartwin Kingdom, would die today at the hands of the Rebel Army's high-ranking members.

"Grover, protect Lord Alfred. Whatever you want, the Kingdom will grant you."

"What?" Grover propped up his Spirit Phase, struggling to resist the attacks, and looked at Ralph in confusion, not understanding the meaning of his words at this moment.

Ralph did not explain, but simply sat down calmly on the ground as if letting go of something. At the same time, the jade-like transformation of his body rapidly spread.

"Lord Alfred, I still haven't been able to fully understand the difference you spoke of between people and nobles... But I know that you are very important to the Kingdom, and you cannot be lost."

As his last words reached Alfred's ears, Ralph's body completely turned to jade.

Then, a dazzling light emanated from the jade-like body, engulfing everything within the deep pit.

Far away.

Baker City, a small courtyard.

Holmes seemed to sense something. His hands, holding a teacup, paused for a moment, then he slowly placed the teacup back on the stone table and sighed.

"Alas..."

"The only bad thing about this puppet body is that it cannot shed tears."

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