Guild Wars

Essence was at the forefront of the battle, valiantly taking on two Rank 4 enemies on his own. He wielded his halberd which was now a Legendary Item that Draco had specifically crafted for him.

Essence, out of the various core members tackling Rank 4 foes, was having the easiest time. It could be even said that he was toying with his opponents, for he was smirking the entire time.

Whether they launched an attack, it would simply phase through his body while Essence grinned widely. Then, he would swing his halberd and strike his foes faster than they could react.

What was truly infuriating about him was the fact that he would sometimes strike randomly, not particularly aiming at anything. However, his weapon's blade edge would pass through a small portal in space and appear around a weak point of his foes, dealing them damage.

The Rank 4s Essence was fighting were first enraged out of their minds at being treated this way, but soon they were filled with fear then despair. As their HP continued to drop until it was in the critical percentages, they gave up on the fight and tried to flee.

However, this was pointless, as Essence was able to maintain a 300-meter distance from them in which his antics never stopped. Eventually, one of the Rank 4s dropped dead, falling from his horse, while the other who had been on foot soon followed after.

Essence then casually teleported to Cobra's side, engaging both of the enemies there. After lowering their HPs past 30%, Cobra smiled as he came out of the shadows and used his Ultra Assassinate skill, which was buffed by his Blood Aura passive skill.

Every strike Cobra made after an enemy fell below 30% HP had a fixed 70% chance to execute them. Coupled with the 30% chance from Ultra Assassinate and his various other bonuses, the target was unable to change their fate of death.

Once this happened, the other one also attempted to escape but was tied down by Essence and Cobra until he too suffered the same fate. The two moved over to assist Boyd and Uno at the same time, eventually culling these Rank 4 NPCs as well.

Despite punching above their level, the AI still had harsh rules about killing NPCs even in war, where one would only gain 50% of the typical experience and no drops. With their Legendary Classes giving them lowered exp gain, this actually made their bars rise by barely 30% in the end.

Not very worth it from their perspective, but they were here to win, not to farm. Once the five core members rallied together - as Kiran had easily killed his two foes by the time Essence and Cobra had finished theirs - they then rushed over to assist their own Rank 4 troops against the enemy.

The battle was bloody and brutal, having lasted almost 4 hours by this point. Vita had lost around 1,200 Rank 3 NPCs and 4 Rank 4s, while Purita had lost all 40 of their Rank 4s by this point and 2955 of their Rank 3 forces.

The Pseudo-Emperor of Purita crushed his glass of wine which he had been patiently sipping all this while, the losses inflicted on the kingdom irreversible. Even if Vita suddenly found a conscience and withdrew today, many other kingdoms far weaker than them would easily be able to deal with their high-tier kingdom now.

A few officers rode over to their ruler who was on the battlements with severe expressions. They immediately fell to their knees and spoke with fanaticism.

"Emperor, allow us to use the Holy Weapon! We shall never admit defeat as long as the Great Swordsman blesses us!"

"Emperor, we beg you! We cannot accept this kind of loss without showing them our valiance!"

"Lord Emperor, they dared to kill our men, coveting our land! The Gods know we are in the right!"

The Emperor's expression flickered with hesitation. Their Holy Weapon was a fragment of an ancient Divine Weapons that had been left behind by their empire's founder who was hailed as the Great Swordsman.

In fact, Purita had once been a Divine Empire, which was why it had such power, yet it had only degraded over the years to fall to a high-tier kingdom due to various factors. Now, they were back on the rise to claim their place, but this damned Vita dared to cross their path.

The Holy Weapon still retained some of its power and could be used only three times. They had already used it twice to fend off dangerous attacks from the former enemies of their founder, and they had been saving up the last charge for a truly dire situation.

This didn't exactly count as one since they could admit defeat and sue for peace, but who didn't know that Umbra was interested in the entire zone? If they gave up now, their rise would be forever stifled, and this great kingdom that used to be an empire standing atop the entire continent would fade into dust.

The Emperor was more than willing to admit defeat and wait for a perfect opportunity to backstab Vita, but his people burned with a zealous fervor due to their indoctrination. Trying to play tricks like that would lose favor with them.

All this was even assuming that after suing for peace, Vita simply wouldn't have him replaced by a puppet emperor who would obey their bidding. Thinking like this, the indecisive Emperor firmed his expression and nodded.

"Bring it to me. I will do the honors this time." He commanded powerfully.

His officers and remaining generals showed expressions of excitement. One of them quickly rushed to the central spire in the city, which was the source of the entire kingdom's religion.

Right at the tip of the altar lay a hilt-less blade that glowed with Divine Light, its aura sharp and piercing. There were even worshipers now, who were kneeling and praying for Divine Favor against the despicable Vita that was trying to take their home away from them.

When the general rushed in, many eyes landed on him. He ignored everyone else and rushed to grab the blade, which shocked and enraged all worshipers. Even as they cried blasphemy and whatnot, the general only swatted them aside as he returned to the battlements as fast as he could.

When he placed the weapon in the hands of his noble Emperor, the man smiled gently. He c.a.r.e.s.sed the blade in his hand and spoke to it as if it were alive, which most items at this Rank were.

"I shall now make my ancestors and descendants proud by vanquishing our enemies with the light of Purita." The Emperor stated valiantly, his body glowing with a bright light as he rose to the sky.

...........

"So, what exactly are we to do with this lot?" Essence asked curiously.

Cobra licked his bloody stiletto and smiled coldly. "We can use them as target practice or for research. There's a lot about the human anatomy I've yet to discover."

Naturally, the captives shivered when they heard this, as well as the murderous aura Cobra had. Boyd laughed loudly and placed his axes in their sheathes before folding his arms.

"Look at how they shake! Well, I'm all in for the idea of target practice!"

Uno banged his shield lazily, nodding his head in agreement. "Seconded, it's far more interesting. I wonder how many heads I can crush with my hammer in one strike?"

Essence was left speechless, but then shrugged. The Five Generals were naturally evil and cruel, then again who wouldn't be after staying with a group like The Cartel for years, yet Essence himself was more of a pragmatist.

Since his buddies felt so, he wouldn't argue on the behalf of these fellows. Why should he offend his fellow core members for this lot?

At this moment, a bright light appeared in the sky above the Unity Area Zone, and all eyes moved upward to identify the cause. In the glowing light, the tall and handsome pseudo-emperor of Purita held a hilt-less blade in hand, pointing it towards the sky as if he was receiving a righteous blessing from the Gods.

The tied-up soldiers displayed reverent and excited expressions when they saw their ruler holding the Holy Weapon. They were saved, not having to suffer this ungodly treatment by these brutes!

"Vile brutes from Vita, suffer the judgment of the Great Swordsman's Holy Blade!" The Emperor roared as he swung the blade down.

Immediately, a huge sword wave that was golden-white descended from the heavens, arching towards the army of Vita and the core members especially. Even the captives of Purita were not out of range, yet instead of betrayal, they felt righteous passion.

Zealotry was quite the problem.

However, the army of Vita did not shake, except those external players who began to panic. At this time though, Uno slowly walked forward even as the blade light hurtled towards them, calmly placing his formerly Epic but now Legendary Shield, Reinhold, before the group.

｢Reinhold - Shield (Uno)

Rank: Legendary

Durability: 1,000,000/1,000,000

Passive 1 - Dispersion: Attacks that land on this shield have 50% of the incoming damage dispersed into the air. There is also a 5% chance to reflect the damage back to the assailant.

Passive 2 - Engulf: All attacks that land on this shield have 10% of their damage absorbed. This damage can then be disturbed as Health, Stamina for the user, or Durability points for the shield.

Active 1 - Shield Toss: Throw the item like a boomerang, dealing 200% blunt damage and stunning the target for 10 seconds. The Shield will return to the arm of the user. Cooldown: 4 minutes.｣

Deflect!

It was a skill he acquired at Rank 1 that allowed him to perfectly deflect an oncoming attack that was above 10 million points in damage. At Rank 3, he had a 10% chance to perfectly reflect the attack back as well, and paired with the 5% chance from Reinhold, he had an overall 15% chance.

However, once the light struck the shield, it simply created a huge disturbance that shook the entire battlefield before slowly fizzling away, majority of its energy being sent into the sky.

The trigger chance was too low, and it was not reflected. Still, the almighty attack that had the power to clear out an entire Area Zone had been sent away just like that, leaving the entire area silent as a graveyard.

The Emperor's face was pale as he could not believe what he was seeing. How could a mere Rank 3 Paladin deal with the all-out attack of their Holy Weapon so easily? Was it an illusion?

"Hmm, that's a nice weapon you got there. I'll be taking that, thanks." A snake-like voice whispered in the ear of the Emperor, greatly scaring him.

Before he could even react, a hand came out of the darkness behind him and grabbed the Holy Weapon away.

YOINK!

Cobra appeared right back at where he had been standing before, holding the blade in hand and inspecting it with a look of interest. This made the Emperor go mad as he roared.

"VILE THIEF, RETURN OUR HOLY WEAPON!"

He charged at the core members with red eyes. He, more than any citizen of his kingdom, was by far the biggest zealot. Since his birth, he had been indoctrinated that their bloodline was special since the Great Swordsman's blood flowed through their veins.

That was why he could easily wield the blade, and yet these cretins dared snatch it. As a Rank 4, he was confident that even if he could not kill them, he could at least overwhelm them quickly enough to take back the weapon.

It wasn't what his logic told him, but when did zealotry ever care about that?

Even as he reached where Cobra stood and extended his hand to take back the blade, he noticed that his extended arm suddenly felt light. Then the ground near him quaked and he was knocked back a great distance. Just as the Emperor wanted to push himself to his feet, he noticed he simply lacked the limbs to do so.

Where Cobra stood, Body pulled out one of his poleaxes that had been lodged into the earth, kicking the now detached arms of the Emperor away like garbage.

"ARRRGHHH!!" The Emperor screamed in agony as the pain finally registered in his mind.

The tied-up soldiers, who had been shocked by the events occurring were now deathly pale. They began to struggle greatly against their bindings as they wished to save their emperor before he succ.u.mbed to his wounds.

The Emperor soon gritted his teeth and rose to his feet, forcefully stopping the flow of blood from his stumps using his own energy. His crazed eyes then landed on the group of core members, who were smirking at him with amus.e.m.e.nt.

"Good! Just wait and see how the Kingdom will deal with you thieves!" The Emperor spat coldly, his eyes full of hate and malice.

Just as he was about to leave, he felt a hand patting his shoulder gently, as if to calm him down. Essence stood to his right with his arm across the fellow's shoulder and a grin on his face.

"Hey buddy, that's not the way we do things. Look, since you've got all those negative emotions bottled up in your heart, why don't I help you get rid of it?" Essence offered with a sigh.

His hand that was on the Emperor's shoulder soon lowered itself down his back right to the area where his heart was. Essence then casually pushed his hand through, entering through a black void he created, pushing out a red organ that was still beating through another hole in his front.

Essence's left hand then grabbed the organ and held it with a look of morbid interest.

"Not bad, as expected of a leader. You have a big heart."

The Emperor paled as he gazed at his still-beating heart in Essence's hand, not being able to muster any words as his face became whiter and whiter. Even though his heart was taken away, as a Rank 4, he still lived for a few more seconds, in which he could only stutter due to the shock of seeing his own vital organ in someone's hands.

Soon, the mighty Emperor of Purita, a man who felt destined to usher in a new golden age for his people, fell to the ground face first, dead and gone from this world.

Essence simply stored the heart in his pocket space before teleporting back to his group. Currently, the prisoners they had captured, who had been forced to witness everything, had ashen faces as they looked dully at the dead body of their mighty leader.

"Well, I guess that's a wrap, right?" Essence asked with a smile.

"That's right. Sublime and I are coming over with some legal delegates to establish the terms of their surrender. You guys have done more than great this time." Deployed Soldier replied through the Guild Raid Chat.

He spoke to all the core members on each battlefield, who had also rounded up the remnants of their enemies and were waiting outside the various kingdoms.

Cobra smiled. "Does that mean you're bringing over Noble Writer? Isn't that overkill? With his ability, you will be able to write agreements that are foolproof and cannot be dissolved easily."

Noble Writer appeared in the chat and spoke. "Brother Cobra, we can't see it like that. As this is our first ever victory in this regard, we have to show a bit of force, both in terms of military might and in legal might as well."

Cobra pondered and agreed. "I trust you, Jonas. Make sure to show them your skill."

Noble Writer smiled confidently on his end of the screen. "Leave it to me."

At this time, Cobra noticed that Boyd, Uno, and Essence were wearing strange expressions. As such, Cobra decided to ask what was up. They didn't answer directly, instead displaying an item in their Guild Shop.

｢Hilt of Purita - Unique Item

Rank: Legendary

Description: This is the legendary hilt of the sword Purita, a blade lost in the history of Boundless and one of the first. It has the ability to grant the user full mastery over swordsmanship when wielded, but fixing a blade on it is impossible without a special method.

Deposited by: L.u.s.ty Wench｣

They then gazed at the hitless blade on Cobra's hand which was called the Blade of Purita, a Pseudo-Divine Item that had some powerful skills and passives, then back to the hilt in their own Guild Shop.

Suddenly, the data processed in the fellow's heads.

Oh shit!

Cobra quickly redeemed the item using his UPs, as one of the Five Generals he had more than enough to buy something of this caliber. He then held the ornate hilt in hand which had a slot near the mouth that looked ready to accept a blade.

The moment Cobra brought both items close, they shivered and cried with a metallic keen that made all others close their ears in pain. Like two magnets, the blade and the hilt suddenly connected to each other, emulating a huge white light that spread over a large area immediately.

Soon, the fanfare disappeared as the five fellows and all others around gazed at the glowing golden-white sword that hovered in the air with its tip pointing to the sky.

The Divine Sword of Purita, one of the first items ever to exist in the history of Boundless, was once again reborn!

At this point, the five fellows eagerly checked the item out to see its effects and stats.