"They'll be here in 3 minutes. Get ready."Said Lord Kadian as he sensed the first group approaching.

We all wore yellowish garments, blending with the sand from head to toe, which helped us stay camouflaged. While checking my gear, I saw Lord Kadian grab his spear from his back and plant it in the sand, waiting for us.

I drew the sword Lord Kadian gifted me decades ago. It had a fire magic stone embedded in the hilt that could ignite any living being if the blade touched their mana veins. My wife pulled out a large staff she'd had since I met her. She also had a wand at her waist, the one she always used for quick, less powerful spells.

Sh*t, I'm so nervous. I need to calm down. If my wife sees me like this, she'll get nervous too, and that'll be bad for us in battle. I thought, feeling the enemies getting closer.

Once we were ready, we saw the first people appear on a large sand dune in the distance. Enhancing my vision with mana, I realized the first group was mostly demons with a few others from different races.

"Kurt, Aria," Lord Kadian said with a smile. "Let's win this battle for the sake of our families."

"Yes!" we both replied in unison to his words.

As planned, Aria quickly raised her large staff into the air with one hand while gathering a massive amount of mana with the other.

"Tempest!" she shouted after concentrating the mana into the gem of her staff.

Immediately, thick clouds began to form over the entire desert, and in just a moment, the atmosphere turned dark and gloomy. The only light came from the occasional lightning bolts flashing within the clouds.

"Do it, Aria!" I shouted, seeing our enemies starting to draw their weapons and shields.

In the blink of an eye, millions of ice needles began to fall from the sky like rain. Each one fell at an impressive speed, easily piercing several of our enemies. Some managed to shield themselves with various spells, but my wife noticed and swung her staff, sending several lightning bolts down on them.

Thanks to her spell, 40 of our enemies died within seconds.

She's improved the power of her spell, well done, Aria! I thought happily, seeing my wife's progress.

"That's my limit. I'll need a few minutes to recover," she said, leaning on her staff to keep from falling.

When the mana stopped flowing through her staff, the ice needles stopped falling and were replaced by a simple rain.

"You did well, Aria. Rest now, it's our turn," Lord Kadian said, covering himself with a dense layer of mana over his entire body.

That's a lot of mana for the start of the battle. What are you planning, Lord Kadian? I wondered at his unusual move.

Gripping his spear tightly, he began to gather a large amount of mana into it, to the point where golden lightning bolts could be seen crackling around it.

What incredible power. I thought, feeling the pressure emanating from Lord Kadian's mana.

Taking a deep breath, he swung his body back while raising the spear with one hand, then threw it at an impressive speed toward our enemies.

I tried to follow his attack with my eyes but could only see a flash of light, even with my mana-enhanced vision. The spear moved so fast that in the blink of an eye, it struck the sand, killing several of Boris's men.

When I looked back at Lord Kadian, he was already airborne with a stone wall he conjured behind him. He brought his legs together and propelled himself off his own spell, shattering the thick wall with the force of his jump. Despite the distance to our enemies, Lord Kadian reached them in a couple of seconds.

You continue to amaze me, Lord Kadian. I'd love to see how strong you've become since last time.... I thought nostalgically.

A huge explosion with golden lightning erupted where Lord Kadian landed. As the dust settled in the rain, I saw my master slaughtering several enemies with incredible precision.

The storm made it hard to hear, so I had to shout to Aria even though she was close to me.

"It's time for me to go!" I yelled, looking into her eyes. "Rest and remember to follow the plan!"

"Alright... be safe, Kurt!" she shouted back. Seeing me leave, she sat on the sand to meditate and recover her mana as quickly as possible.

"You too..." I whispered to myself, already several meters away.

Shaking off my nerves about the upcoming battle, I mentally prepared myself and increased my speed, charging forward.

As I ran across the wet sand, I saw several enemies avoiding Lord Kadian and heading towards us. Some tried to attack me with magic from afar, but with swift movements, I dodged or deflected their attacks with little difficulty.

By the time I noticed, there were already several mercenaries with swords, daggers, and maces in front of me.

There are too many. I thought, a bit fearful. Pushing my doubts aside, I infused mana into the magic stone in my sword and began stabbing and slashing at my enemies with precise movements. I wasn't as fast as Lord Kadian, but I knew I was at least faster and stronger than these simple mercenaries.

"Bastard!" shouted a young woman behind me. I turned to look at her and saw she was a middle-aged human in dark armor. She seemed very angry, attacking me as soon as I turned to face her.

It seems she and the one I killed a few seconds ago were friends or acquaintances because their armor designs are very similar. I thought while noticing the design of her armor before slashing her throat. No matter anyway.

Some were skilled enough to dodge or block my attacks, but the good thing was that if I even grazed them, crimson flames would grow from the wound, burning a small part of their body. Using that as a distraction, I had more than enough time to kill them.

"Where do you think you're going?" I said angrily, seeing a small group of three people deciding to ignore me and go after Aria. I clapped my hands against the sand on the ground, and several stone spikes emerged beneath their feet, impaling two of them. The third one looked at me from a distance, but before he could react, his head split in two from my wind dagger.

I had been fighting for several minutes, and before I realized it, only a few remained—14 people exactly. Half of them were wounded from my attacks or Lord Kadian's.

"Yes, this should be enough," I said to myself before glancing at my wife one last time before the fight.

Alright, it's time for the next part. I thought, ignoring the remaining enemies.

I quickly headed to where Lord Kadian was. Along the way, some enemies tried to attack me, but I dodged them. Then Aria began hurling fireballs, drawing their attention and making them ignore me.

As I continued, I saw dozens of corpses scattered across the sand and Lord Kadian impaling a muscular demon with his impressive spear.

"Kurt, how's the situation on the other side?" asked Lord Kadian, a bit breathless from his fight.

"There are about 14 people left, not very strong and almost half of them are injured. It won't be a problem for Aria to finish them off," I responded as I walked up to him.

"Good." He nodded before storing his spear with magic and drawing his semi-long sword.

Without saying a word, Lord Kadian sat on the wet sand and began meditating with his eyes closed to recover mana as quickly as possible. I don't understand, why did he use so much mana on this first group?

"Excuse me, Lord Kadian, but why did you use more mana than necessary fighting these simple mercenaries?" I asked, curious about my lord's decisions.

"What? Didn't you notice?" he replied, with a surprised expression that he quickly wiped away.

"Notice what?" I asked, even more confused.

"The second group sensed our presence and started moving faster. One of them will be here in five minutes, and the others in about fifteen," he said before returning to his meditation.

I froze at Lord Kadian's words. After snapping back to reality, I quickly closed my eyes, concentrating my senses to the maximum. After a few seconds, I felt it—someone very strong was approaching at an impressive speed.

Sh*t! How did I not realize this earlier? I was so nervous and focused on the battle that I didn't think about it. I told myself.

Quickly, I started meditating just like Lord Kadian to recover as much mana as possible before they arrived.

Lord Kadian spent all that mana to finish off the first group as quickly as possible. If we had let both groups merge here, it would have been our grave. Now his actions make more sense... I thought, a bit frustrated.

We kept meditating for a few minutes until a very threatening presence was felt a kilometer away from us.

I stood up without saying anything and quickly peeked over a dune to see. Hiding my presence and enhancing my vision with mana, I saw exactly what was approaching.

In the distance, the silhouette of a man could be seen on the wet sand. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that his entire body was jet black, with white eyes and short blue hair.

Sh*t! I cursed internally. Why did it have to be a demon from the Afel race? Those demons usually have very rare techniques.