Screams broke out behind the defense.

Formation collapsed in sections.

Before they could recover, Aiden moved again.

"Bone Prison."

The ground erupted.

Ribs of bone shot upward, forming cages around selected targets. Several fighters were trapped instantly, their movements restricted, their escape cut off.

The skeletons didn’t hesitate.

They closed in.

And tore them apart.

From the walls, Shen Lu’s expression tightened.

"...What the hell is this," he said.

Hao Jin exhaled sharply.

He muttered. "He’s deciding how the battle goes."

Below, the pressure kept rising.

Aiden extended his senses further. Fresh bodies.

Fallen just moments ago.

"Grave Calling."

The ground stirred again.

Corpses began to move.

Slow at first.

Then they rose.

Not as they were before. Weaker. Slower. But still enough.

Still useful.

A soldier stepped back, staring in disbelief as someone he knew pushed himself up from the ground.

"...You’re alive...?"

The corpse turned its head, then lunged.

The scream that followed didn’t last long.

Aiden didn’t even look at it again.

His focus shifted to another part of the field.

A group of defenders pushing back hard, breaking through a section of skeletons with heavy strikes.

Strong ones.

Troublesome.

"Fear Pulse."

The air tightened.

An invisible force slammed into them, shaking their focus, dulling their reactions. Their movements slowed just enough.

Carrion appeared among them the next second.

No warning, and hesitation. His blade moved once, then again.

Bodies fell.

The push stopped instantly.

Aiden watched, calm as ever.

Then he moved his hand one last time.

"Grave Anchor."

The battlefield changed again.

At several key points, the undead stopped being pushed back entirely. Even when struck, even when hit with full force, they held their ground.

Like they were rooted into the earth.

The defenders hit them again.

And again.

But the line no longer gave way.

On the watchtower, Voss clenched his jaw.

"...We can’t push them back anymore," he said.

Cai Wen’s eyes narrowed.

"They’re not just stronger," she said. "They’re moving in formations."

Ren Kai’s gaze remained fixed on Aiden.

"...He’s removed every weakness they had," he said quietly.

Below, the battlefield had already shifted.

What started as a defense... was turning into something else.

A slow collapse.

The skeletons advanced step by step.

Unstoppable.

And at the center of it all, Aiden sat calmly atop the undead beast, watching everything unfold exactly the way he wanted.

"Now this..." he said quietly, almost to himself.

"...is a proper battlefield."

Ren Kai’s eyes stayed locked on Aiden.

Everything else faded.

The screams. The clash of steel. The endless tide of bone pressing forward.

None of it mattered as much as the man at the center.

"...We can’t win like this," he said quietly.

Hao Jin glanced at him.

"...You thinking what I’m thinking?"

Ren Kai didn’t answer right away.

His hand tightened slightly on the hilt of his weapon.

"Take him down," he said. "Everything stops."

Cai Wen’s expression hardened.

"The one controlling them."

Shen Lu let out a slow breath, then nodded.

"...Yeah. That’s the only way."

Ren Kai finally turned to them, his gaze sharp, steady despite everything happening around them.

"We go straight through," he said. "No hesitation. No splitting up."

Hao Jin gave a small grin, though there was no humor in it.

"Just like training, right?"

"Harder," Shen Lu muttered.

Ren Kai looked at all three of them one last time.

Then he moved.

Ren Kai finally turned to them, his gaze sharp, steady despite everything happening around them.

"I’ll take the lead."

The moment he stepped off the watchtower, everything below reacted.

"Protect the young masters!"

An elder’s voice rang out, sharp and commanding.

The next second, several figures moved.

Elders of the Clear Water Sect dropped from the walls, their robes snapping in the wind as they landed ahead of Ren Kai’s group. Their presence alone forced the surrounding undead to pause for a fraction of a second.

That was all it took.

They struck.

Power surged.

One elder swept his arm forward, his palm glowing faintly as he slammed into a cluster of skeletons. The impact shattered several at once, clearing a path instantly.

"Forward!" he shouted.

Behind them, leaders of the mercenary groups, sects, and clans followed without hesitation.

Voss was among them.

His saber flashed as he cut through two skeletons in a single motion, stepping forward to hold the flank.

"No one gets through!" he barked.

The formation formed quickly.

Tight.

Purposeful.

Ren Kai and the others at the center.

Protected.

But moving fast.

The moment they hit the frontline, resistance came immediately.

Skeletons surged toward them, faster than before, stronger than before.

Ren Kai didn’t slow down.

His blade moved in a clean arc, striking a skeleton across the chest. The bone cracked, but didn’t fully break.

His eyes narrowed.

He stepped in again, this time putting more force behind it.

The skeleton shattered.

"Don’t hold back!" he called out.

Cai Wen moved beside him, her strikes precise, targeting joints, weak points, breaking them down piece by piece.

"They’re reinforced," she said. "Hit where it matters!"

Around them, the elders and leaders held the line.

An elder stepped forward, raising his hand as energy gathered.

"Stay behind me!"

He struck the ground.

A shockwave burst outward, forcing a group of skeletons back, giving Ren Kai’s group space to move forward.

But the pressure never stopped.

For every skeleton that fell, two more stepped in.

"Keep moving!" Voss shouted from the side, blocking an incoming strike before cutting the attacker down. "Don’t get surrounded!"

Ren Kai pushed forward, his gaze never leaving the distance.

Aiden.

Still there.

Still unmoving.

"...We’re getting close," he said.

But then the battlefield shifted.

From the sides, body tempering undead began to move.

Not the normal ones, but Aiden’s summon.

One of them lunged forward, its movement sharp, aimed directly at Ren Kai.

Before it could reach him, an elder stepped in.

The clash was immediate.

Steel met steel.

This time, neither side gave way easily.

"Go!" the elder shouted. "We’ll hold them!"

Ren Kai didn’t hesitate.

He pushed forward again, the others right behind him.

The distance closed.

Step by step.

Through bone, through blood, through everything in their way.

At the center of it all, Aiden watched them approach.

Closer to him.

At the heart of the battlefield, Graveknit’s hollow gaze shifted slightly as the approaching group broke through yet another line of undead, their advance steady despite the pressure closing in from all sides.

"My lord," he said, his voice low and steady, "they are coming."

Aiden didn’t look away from them.

Graveknit tilted his head slightly, the fragments of bone along his neck grinding faintly against each other.

"Shall I stop them?"

Aiden shook his head.

"No."

His eyes narrowed just a little, focusing fully now on Ren Kai and the others cutting their way forward.

"Let them come," he said. "I’ll handle them myself."

There was a pause.

Graveknit didn’t question it.

He simply stepped back.

The space around Aiden cleared without a word, as if every undead instinctively understood that what was about to happen did not belong to them.

Aiden rose from the back of the undead beast in a single smooth motion, landing lightly on the ground. The moment his feet touched the earth, the pressure around him shifted again, tighter, sharper, more focused.

His hand moved to his side.

A simple sword.

No glow. No aura. No refinement.

Just steel.

"...Let’s see," he murmured.

Across the battlefield, Ren Kai felt it.

"That pressure..." Shen Lu said under his breath.

"He’s moving," Cai Wen added.

Ren Kai didn’t slow down.

"Good," he said. "We were going to him anyway."

They broke through one last wave of skeletons, their path carved open by the elders behind them. The moment they stepped into that open space, everything around them seemed to quiet for just a second.

The moment they stepped into that open space, everything seemed to slow.

Not the battle itself.

That never stopped.

But the noise, the chaos, the constant pressure of clashing forces... it all faded just enough to make what stood ahead of them clearer.

Aiden.

Standing alone.

Ren Kai came to a stop first, his group fanning out slightly behind him, their breathing steady but heavy from the push it took to get here. Behind them, the elders and leaders held the line, cutting off the tide of undead trying to close in again.

No one stepped forward.

Not yet.

Aiden looked at them, his gaze moving from one to another, measuring, quiet, focused.

Then he spoke.

"Greetings, geniuses of Clear Water Sect."

His voice wasn’t loud.

But it carried.

Ren Kai met his gaze without hesitation.

"You’re the one controlling them."

Aiden didn’t deny it, just a faint smile touched his lips.

Aiden took a single step forward.

Nothing flashy.

Nothing dramatic.

But the pressure that came with it was immediate.

His body moved differently. Although, not like a trained martial artist, but not unrefined either.

A level forty body.

Every movement backed by raw strength and control.

His sword lifted slightly.

"Come."

Ren Kai moved first.

No signal.

No hesitation.

His blade flashed forward in a precise thrust aimed straight for Aiden’s chest.