The battlefield was raging with the clanging of swords and cries, carrying emotions ranging from that of death to that of victory.
At this moment, the advantage Winterseed once had disappeared as Glenwood forces began to act even more harshly, following the sudden collapse of Rowan in the middle of the battlefield.
Prior to Rowan's sudden collapse, Winterseed's men's sole focus was on slaying their foes. Every man fought on his own to slay his enemies and had no reason to hold back.
Nevertheless, following Rowan's fall, they no longer focused on slaying their enemies. Now they focused on protecting their Lord from Glenwood soldiers who tried their hardest to kill him and secure a quick victory.
The formation Rowan set for his men was broken the moment he fell to the ground. So was their hope and faith in him. The confidence on the faces of the soldiers who saw him on the ground disappeared, replaced by a strong determination to protect their only hope.
Bryce could be seen not too far away from Rowan, kneeling on the ground. His leather armor was torn and blood gushed from the numerous wounds on his body. His face was already bloodied and his eyes were barely open at this moment.
Waga stood in front of him with a smirk on his face and mocked him continuously.
"Where is your smugness now? I told you to give up, but you never listened. Now all your efforts will go to waste after I chop off the head of your naive Lord and secure victory for my people."
As the mocking continued, the anger inside Bryce boiled even more. He wanted nothing but to rise up and slit the throat of the bastard in front of him, but he had no strength left, not even enough to lift his body.
He could hear the cries of the soldiers behind him as they tried to protect Rowan.
'I am sorry, Lord Rowan, I failed,' Bryce thought to himself, his head bowed to the ground in defeat.
Meanwhile, Rowan's system was flooded with hellish pain. But the notifications never stopped appearing.
Notifications carrying reports of the precarious state of his soldiers, notifications about their grieving and hopeful emotions, their deaths, and other important details. Notifications about the hopeful prayers of his villagers also rang in his head.
Nevertheless, Rowan paid more attention to those involving his evolution.
Once his evolution was over, the tide of the battle would turn in their favor. But it seemed fate was against him, making the process overly painful and time-consuming while his men were slaughtered around him.
At this moment, the sky had already brightened a little, revealing the arrival of a bright morning, but the bloody battle remained.
Men collapsed on the ground, dead, while others lifted their swords in victory, having slain their opponents.
Nevertheless, suddenly, from the middle of the battlefield, a strong breeze blasted forth and swept over the battlefield. Dust filled the air, blocking the sight of those near the center.
Time seemed to slow down comically as everything began to happen at an incredibly slow pace.
The soldiers fighting around Rowan were suddenly blasted away, most of them blinded by the dust that had suddenly appeared unexpectedly out of nowhere.
Not too far away, Waga's sword could be seen descending slowly, vertically, as it was about to slice the helpless Bryce in two.
Waga had a smug look as he stared down at Bryce, whose head was bowed to the ground in defeat, ready to face death.
But then, suddenly, in the span of a split second, a thud sounded from behind Bryce.
Bryce didn't think much of the sound as he awaited the swish of Waga's sword ending his life.
Seconds passed, but there was no sound of the sword, nor any mocking from Waga.
This confused Bryce, as he could hear more bodies falling around him.
He struggled to open his eyes, only to behold the sight of a headless Waga still standing in front of him.
His eyes widened in terror as he quickly tilted his head to observe his surroundings. He was first greeted with the gust that had gathered, and then his eyes fell on the numerous corpses of Glenwood men within a close radius around him.
'What happened?' he wondered, eyes wide.
Waga's headless body was right beside him. Bryce quickly examined it and was shocked to see the clean cut on his neck, meaning an expert had dealt the killing blow.
But who could that be?
There was no one good enough to swing a sword in such a manner and obtain such results. Not even Stanis, known as the best swordsman, could pull that off.
'Maybe Lord Rowan could,' he thought, 'but he is unconscious!'
Bryce quickly turned to look where Rowan had been lying unconscious earlier, but he was shocked to see a dent on the spot instead of Rowan. Both Glenwood and Winterseed men who had fought around him just a minute ago had been blasted far away.
As he watched, some of his men coughed and stood up with terrified expressions on their faces.
"What happened?" Bryce questioned immediately.
"I can't explain... We were fighting just a few seconds ago, and then we were suddenly blasted away. I think something happened to Lord Rowan," one of them explained, his voice revealing just how confused he was at that moment.
Bryce tried to understand his soldiers' accounts, but no matter how hard he tried, everything just seemed more bizarre.
First, there was a fast-moving figure sprinting through the battlefield, and now their Lord was gone. What was happening? he wondered.
"Ahh... demon! Demon!"
"Everyone, run away! The Lord of Winterseed has turned into a demon... oh no, he is heading this way! Somebody help... Ahhh!!"
"Captain Waga has been killed by the demon! All the captains are dead! Everyone, retreat!"
"RETREAT!!"
As Bryce and his men tried to understand the bizarre situation around them, the terrified cries of Glenwood's men across the battlefield thundered.
They turned to observe the chaos and were horrified by the scene unfolding before them.