Just 20 minutes pass before we all agree on the plan of action, and begin floating over to the housing where the 37 members of the Flame Emperor's army are all waking up to get ready for another day of training.

They're all greeted by a telepathy message directed into their heads.

"Today is the day that your training will finally be tested. We have an army approaching, and need your help to wage war."

Less than 30 seconds after my message is sent, everyone shows up in the newly built city street in full armor, with weapons ready, and have item boxes stacked with potions.

My other double is nearby, and it joins our ranks. This makes two of us. The last double is staying behind with Luna to watch my main body in the guildhall and trigger the isolation pod's override function if necessary.

With her ranked up buff, she'll be able to get a clear visual of the battle even from here. Although her combat powers have improved a lot over the last few days, her abilities as a long range overseer are far more valuable in this battle considering the circumstances.

I give the newly trained recruits a short breakdown of the situation and assign them their roles on the task we're about to all carry out.

Each of my teammates introduces themselves, and all of the trained recruits show them respect for being one of the Top Fighters by the Flame Emperor's side.

We all fly up into the air in the direction of the approaching army. The three elemental squad leaders are able to match our movements by summoning mass while the other elite fighters are capable of summoning mana beneath their footsteps and speeding through the sky in their own way too.

Although we can't move as fast as we wish, all of us are capable of moving nearly twice as quick as the Dark One's army.

We'll manage to meet them in the middle, a few hundred kilometers away from the town.

Arie makes a quick stop near the edge of the abyss to farm demonic wolves while we begin our trek through the desert.

Fisher and Lydia float on guard on both sides of the Elites' army and get to know the elemental squad leaders.

Leading their whole charge is one of my body doubles.

Behind this group, Arie catches up with us and meets Abby and Monk behind the base of this triangular formation.

Maria and Ember step through the sky on visible platforms of soul energy beneath their feet following Arie, Monk, and Abby's white and green footsteps.

Then finally, at the rear, my other body double continuously does scans of the desert around us to stay on course and double-check the dangerous forces approaching.

A few hours pass as we make our way through the open desert.

Hundreds of kilometers of rolling sand dunes pass us by, along with small villages, a few rogue dungeons, and unique landscapes like large rock formations and valleys.

The further out we get, the more unique the terrain becomes.

Sector 1 is a mountainous region with forests and a colder climate than the hot desert near the center of the Dark Continent like where we're traveling from in sector 2. So, the closer we get, the more random greenery like small trees and shrubs become more common.

It isn't until we're less than 70 km away from the Dark One's army that their energy readings and status numbers start to appear in my mind's eye again.

I speak up to stop everyone from venturing any further as we approach the entrance between an enormous rock formation to our left side that stretches out a few kilometers into the desert. To our right, there is a deep ravine that looks like a series of enormous sinkholes have swallowed up a portion of the desert to make twisting caves in the rocky sandy ground.

It too, stretches out for many kilometers making a natural V-like formation that if the Dark One's army continues on their trajectory they will have to funnel through a small flat pathway about a kilometer wide between the two landmarks to continue their forward movement.

However, if we move forward now, we would be the ones trapping ourselves with a narrow pathway to escape behind us.

Of course, we can take to the sky and none of this matters, but the majority of the Dark One's troops are on the ground, so this is how I'd like to look at our army too. Forcing their troops to break their current formation and squeeze into a narrower path to fight seems like quite the geological advantage that I cannot pass up if it's right in front of me.

"Halt, everyone. We will wait here for their army to meet us."

Everyone stops in the sky, and the Elite level warriors float to the floor with their elemental squad leaders next to one of my doubles to rest from the fly over. Fisher and Lydia are by their left and right sides, staring off into the distance between the mountains and deep ravine.This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

The rest of us float in the sky and watch the cloud of orange mist begins to form on the horizon.

Soon after, the sound of thousands of rumbling feet, shaking the ground they walk on echoes off the side of the small mountain range and through the deep valley.

Everyone stares forward and begins powering up their skills, glowing in displays of blue, green, red, white, black, and white light all through the air and desert floor below.

They all stand their ground as the enemy forces come into our line of sight.

There's over 30% more Ghouls in their army than I scouted out before, meaning more towns were destroyed and assimilated by that crystal contraption. The orange trail of soul energy eating up the golden desert in their wake is even more vibrant now and I can see them without holding back my perception skills for the sake of hiding my location.

Everyone else sees them too and holds their ground as they approach closer and closer.

Over 5 minutes pass as they continue to charge forward.

Not a single one of their forces tries to go around the mountain or the valley, they all come straight at us.

I whisper under my breath. "As confident as ever..."

Another few minutes pass as their forces begin to bunch together more, squeezing their 3-4 km wide rectangular formation into a 1 km wide line that will fit between the natural land barriers.

As this happens, I see the two Black Suits of Armor that hover over the right and left flanks of the troops break their formation to hover over the high mountains and deep valley. They leave their troops below unguarded in the interest of gaining a better height advantage to match our stronger troops that stay in the sky.

I smile and speak up in a loud voice using my screech skill for everyone to hear.

"Begin phase one of our attack plan! Stall and destroy their main forces. Do not let a single one of them through this natural barrier between the mountains and the ravine. Protect us from the numbers below and we will do our job to confront the Dark Guards above!"

My double, Fisher, Lydia, and the 37 troops of the Flame Emperor's army run forward into the mouth of the battlefield leaving streaks of mana, various elements, and Qi behind them.

Fisher's full body glows bright blue, and he activates the new buff he obtained from ranking up a second time called [Divine Water Serpent's Blessing].

From almost a hundred meters away from the front line of attacking Ghouls, he swings his sword, and the mystical form of a 20m long Serpent erupts from his aura and flies from his blade.

Infused with mana and extreme grade water magic, the elegant attack cuts through the desert and collides with the glowing orange Ghouls.

It slices through dozens of them, overpowering the weaker troops' soul energy without even directly making contact with their bodies using Qi. Many white-skinned ghouls are killed in a single blow.

Simultaneously, Lydia activates her ranked-up buff called [Spiritual Roar of the Ice Warrior], combining it with her extreme ice magic and swinging her curved blade.

Her icy aura erupts from her sword and creates the enormous 10m tall manifestation of a White Tiger, letting out a roar that freezes the desert floor as it charges forward in a physical form of her mana blade and makes contact with another section of the Ghouls' front lines.

They're frozen entirely and shattered to dust as the overpowering wave of mana hits them, taking out over a dozen troops with the blow of her own.

Both of them charge right into the open paths that their destructive attacks have made, and the Elite level fighters follow close behind.

They're confronted with level 100-200 ghouls on the front lines. They're faster, stronger, and more skilled fighters than these low-level creatures. However, the soul energy powering their movements is a whole different energy source than mana. It works by different rules, making far lower leveled monsters a challenge against non-Qi users.

My double leads this charge, using mana blades of flames, ice, earth, lightning, water, and pure mana to show the effectiveness of completely overpowering these opponents.

While they would have no hope defeating level 600 or higher Ghouls without Qi, the majority of the troops are not that high level. All borrowed soul energy users have a limit to their power. Overwhelm them and make them use it up entirely, and the battle is as good as over.

Rachel is the first of the new recruits to show that this is possible, burning one of the ghouls to the ground in a series of slashes until it cannot get up again.

The other element squad leaders show the troops following that it's possible too, and everyone begins to slice away at the ghouls while Fisher and Lydia fire off deadly shots from their ranked-up skills to do the heavy lifting.

The more advanced Ghouls and approaching Wraiths will not be taken down by pure high-powered mana alone, but I'm confident Fisher and Lydia will be able to face that problem with their Qi when it comes. The goal now is to hold off the troops here inside of the V-formation to stall for time while the fighters above start their own battles.

Maria and Ember both stare off into the distance, both now covering their eyes in dense layers of red and blue Soul Energy.

They examine the Dark Guards that are ignoring their troops being obliterated below them and solely focus on the fighters up in the sky.

There's two loud explosions that ring through our ears, but we also see beautiful visuals of white and purple light in the sky.

The white light comes from the Dark Guard that sheds its armor above the mountainous landscape to our left. From here, it looks as if he's an old man in white robes. A pure white aura covers his body that matches his long flowing white beard.

His head is shaved bald, and he has a white number [4] on the palm of his left hand.

Monk immediately turns in this direction and speaks to us.

"That Dark Guard. He's mine. I will battle him."

In my body double's form, it isn't completely possible for me to gauge everyone's strengths, so I look to Ember and Maria for their opinion.

Ember nods.

"Yes, you can handle him. It will be tough, but this is a good match up. One I'm very interested to see."

The corner of his mouth turns up.

Then, Maria looks over to Abby and Arie, pointing toward the valley.

The bright purple light fades and a woman with long black flowing hair, purple skin, red lips, an extremely curvy figure, and the tattoo of a number [3] right between her neck and chest.

"You two can fight her. The same goes for that opponent. She will not be easy, but you can handle it."

We all turn to the final Dark Guard that has not shown its true form and stays back, many kilometers behind its troops, patiently waiting for the battle to commence.

I speak up while Monk, Arie, and Abby head off to confront the Dark Guards that have declared their positions above the battlefield.

"So... does that mean you'll be able to handle number 1?"

I point off in the distance, but there is no reply that comes back from either of them.

They both stare at the figure in the black armor that floats in the sky. It doesn't look like it's going to enter the fight any time soon, so I'm curious what they think of it.

Ember finally speaks.

"I'm not sure. Whatever that is... that isn't one person. There's more than one opponent in that armor..."

Maria nods, but doesn't reply for a few seconds, examining it again.

"You're right... Whatever that is, it's nothing like any of the other Dark Guards..."