Chapter 2248 Manhunt
The moment the Masters sensed a second breakthrough in the Master Realm, they knew that there was no hope that they would be able to kill the Void Prince. The mission was a failure in every sense of the word.
They had failed to attack Kandria.
They had failed to defend their honor, suffering losses and casualties to a bunch of Martial Seniors.
They had failed to kill the Dawnbringer.
Now, they could only grit their teeth and run away a second time.
"Retreat!" The interim leader bellowed to his fellow Masters as he glanced at the kneeling Kane with fear. "Get out of here while his attention is still away from us!"
The Sekigaharan Masters grew grim as they clenched with rage and frustration.
Yet, what choice did they have?
They could not fight a proper Master in their current state.
They swiftly abandoned the onslaught on the Gatekeeper before turning around and running away, hoping to get home as soon as possible. In just the blink of an eye, they were many kilometers away.
Alas, Kane wasn't merciful enough to let them get away scot-free.
"You're going nowhere."
Chills began crawling down their spines as Kane's powerful voice reached all of them.
WHOOSH!
In the blink of an eye, he arrived before them, impeding their path as he drew, activating his Martial Mind at full power as he surged forward with unimaginable speed.
At that moment, Kane ceased to be as his very existence seemed to change as his Martial Embodiment.
The shadow of lightning.
That was what his victims saw before he butchered them.
SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT!!!
His daggers became arcs of death as he hunted them down with overwhelming speed and lethality. Nothing could impede the destruction they unleashed upon their target. Nothing could impede the Shadow of Lightning that flashed from one victim after another.
"AAAARRRGH!!!"
"Is...Is this how few of us there are left?"
A meager twenty-seven had managed to escape the Shadow of Lightning that pursued them as they arrived at the rendezvous point with the Martial Sages.
"Damn...!" The interim leader cursed as his eyes grew bloodshot with rage. "Damn it all...!"
The operation was a horrific nightmare of a fiasco. Never had he imagined that they would suffer such a horrific failure in this operation. Such a thing had never happened in the history of the Sekigahara Confederate.
"Where..." A choked voice emerged from one of the Masters around them. "Where did it all go wrong?"
A chilling silence overtook them all as they found themselves revisiting the entire battle.
"From the start..." one of them gritted their teeth as they clenched their fists, "...everything went wrong."
For one, the Kandrian Empire had far more Martial Masters on standby than they had expected.
Somehow, they managed to get another twenty or thirty extra Martial Masters to break through in time for the Sekigaharan assault, massively reducing the numeric advantage that the Sekigaharans had over them.
"It's the damned brat..." The interim leader's voice grew murderous. "He must have broken them through."
Yet, that wasn't all.
"They were strong."
It was painful to admit, but it was true. In hindsight, the Masters of the Kandrian Empire proved to be impressively powerful, able to fight with not just numeric disadvantages but also the disadvantage of needing to protect the Kandrian Empire.
It didn't make sense how a smaller force was able to neutralize a larger force despite facing such disadvantages.
"Are we...weaker?" The question was shocking even to them.
The Sekigahara Confederate considered itself to have the strongest Martial Artists due to how much war they refined themselves through.
Yet, today, they were confronted with unshakable proof that the Martial Masters of the Kandrian Empire were just superior.
"We need to make it home alive no matter what...!" He gritted his teeth. "We need to tell everyone about the crucial secret that the Dawnbringer is responsible for the breakthroughs...!"
"I'm afraid that's not happening."
SPLAT SPLAT!
The Sekigaharan Master slowly gazed down, finding two daggers sticking out of his chest.
He died before he could feel the fear that the others felt.
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