Attacks and explosions resounded in the valley at the border of the formation.

The now less than one hundred soldiers of the Empire did their best to survive the wave made of more than nine hundred soldiers, the Odrea nation was giving its all to annihilate what remained of the enemy.

Behind them, the black cultivators from both sides were facing each other in a violent battle.

Since there was still some time before the sunset, their battle was causing some injury on both sides, those mighty rank 3 cultivators weren't just buying time that day.

Like that, the last minutes passed and the night took over the day.

It was with a bitter expression that Seth watched below him only to see that less than sixty soldiers had survived and that fifty of them where those in the third rank!

Seven red soldiers and one blue one were heaving sighs of relief seeing that the army of the Odrea country, their gazes would often linger on a hooded cultivator that radiated a cold killing intent.

Noah had been spectacular in that battle.

First, he had set up a trap to kill the many red cultivators that had tried to surround him, tilting the scales of the battle in favor of the Odrea nation from the beginning of the fight.

That had allowed his allies to make use of the numerical advantage to pressure the defensive formation created after the first clash.

Then, he had been ambushed by a cultivator in the third rank, a being at the peak of the human ranks, but he survived in a spectacular way and even mocked him as he rejoined the battle.

Then, he had waved his sabers like a madman, killing as many soldiers as he could, only to reach that situation.

The casualties that the Empire suffered that day were too many, more than nine hundred soldiers had died and those deaths weren't limited to the blue robes.

Seth felt a headache rising from the bottom of his mind, he really didn't know how he would explain his superiors that almost all the red cultivators had died due to a ploy of what was considered a training ground.

"I don't think we'll see each other anytime soon."

Seth sighed and turned his head toward the young girl on the other side of the formation.

Lisa was sitting with her two protectors, Leo and Luke, at the top of the mountain.

After hearing Seth's words, her mood turned sour, there was another person that she wasn't going to see for a long time, maybe forever.

'Why do you have to leave? Just when you gave us hope'

Seth saw that Lisa wasn't paying attention to his behavior and crossed his arms over his chest as he continued to talk.

"That outsider, the hooded devil, are you willing to sell him to the Empire? I believe that, after today's performance, the Empire would stop at nothing to recruit him."

That offer wasn't surprising.

Seth was the man handling the training ground called Odrea country, his job was to skim the new recruits so that the Empire could maintain a high standard when it came to its soldiers.

However, Noah happened, which he obviously reported to his superiors.

The Empire was aware of his battle prowess and was also almost sure that he could inscribe items, even if all they did was explode.

Such a person had created a lot of troubles in the last two years, so many that the Empire had ultimately decided to assassinate him.

Yet, he survived the assassination attempt, showing that the Empire had greatly underestimated his actual strength.

Seth knew that surviving the surprise attack of a rank 3 cultivator while being in the liquid stage of the second rank was an incredible feat, something that could only happen once every thousand years.

'If we can't kill him, we will simply buy him.'

That thought summarized the behavior of the Empire.

It was the strongest nation in the entire continent, their whole country was founded on war and on the slaves that it produced.

It would try to suppress any enemy before trying to make deals with them, that was how domineering a country with a God could be!

However, Lisa only chuckled at his offer.

"You stripped us of our future, of our freedom, and now you want to strip us of our hope? What could you even offer anyway?"

Traces of anger could be heard in her tone, the hatred that she had toward the Empire couldn't be expressed by simple words.

"We could set up a peace treaty. What do you think of three years without battles? We would simply come in the valley and drink wine or tea in that period."

The agreement with the Empire forced both nations in a fair battle, it didn't specifically force them to fight.

That's why Seth could offer a break from the monthly struggle as part of a deal.

"You know, sometimes I wonder if we should have just died that day hundreds of years in the past instead of becoming your training dummy. What a spectacular sight our last struggle would have been"

Lisa dreamed, she imagined a world where the Odrea nation had long been destroyed and she wasn't forced to see her citizens slowly die with each passing month.

She sighed before shooting a pitiful gaze toward Seth and opening her mouth to speak.

"I can't change the decisions of our ancestors but I surely can determine what kind of people we will be as we survive. We are proud soldiers of the Odrea nation, our fate is in the hands of the random outsiders that enter our borders, selling them away would be as if we have given up on hope. Also, what makes you think that I can control him?"

Lisa concluded her speech and stood up from her chair before pointing below her, toward the end of the valley.

Both armies had still to return to their respective sides when Noah sprinted in the direction of the Empire!

Seth watched with wide eyes as Noah took a step outside of the borders of the Odrea nation!