Drip! Drip! Drip!

A wide plain in front, with no signs of bushes of forest as far as the eye can see. A steep mountain range to their west and a river to their east.

Standing on top of a stone wall, staring at the uncaring, cruel, desolated plain upon which countless men have and will die on. Dark clouds looming over them, rain falling, complementing the overall atmosphere.

To Samael such a scene, the weather and everything else made his first sight of the battlefield special.

A day and a half has passed since Samael and the Clyde Brothers informed the three women about the Mission the Vice Principal gave them, since then they all had made several arrangements.

Samael asked Lina if Casey could stay at the Imperial Castle for the duration of their mission and Lina kindly agreed, in fact, she wouldn't have it any other way. So without much trouble, the King agreed and she tasked Aya, her personal maid to take care of Casey. Samael also left Casey with a simple breathing technique so she can build up her stamina and a specific training routine so when he comes back he can judge whether Casey is suited to be a martial artist.

Upon hearing the mission, The King initially wanted to assign two guards to Lina but after a scolding from his dear daughter he dejectedly agreed to let her go alone with them. Samael scratched his temple, thinking to himself how long was it since he saw the King acting like that.

...

Later that night, all six of them arrived at Samael's house at the academy one after the other. While waiting for the Vice principal's men to come and get them, they spent most of their time cultivating. Samael and Silvia cultivated close to each other, this was Silvia's decision since being close to Samael and his ice element brings benefits to her cultivation. You could say their Ice elements are very suited for one another.

This was the same thing for Lina and Julian because both had flame elements with similar purity and with Princess Lina practicing the Cultivation art Samael gave her, her Flame element had slowly become purer.

It didn't take much long before Vice Principal's men came knocking on Samael's door. Things proceeded without a hitch, they were escorted to a carriage and after a good 3 days of travelling, they arrived at their destination...the eastern front.

And things basically went to till the present.

...

"So this is the battlefield, eh?" Samael muttered to himself as his mouth slowly arched into a smile.

What he didn't notice was that his killing intent was slowly rising, enveloping everyone around him, including the soldiers with them. His killing intent was not only surging but was oppressive. Even some of the seasoned soldiers on top of the wall was clutching the handle of their sword. This speak as a testament to how scary the hidden killing intent Samael has bottled up deep in himself.

Bam!

"Chill."

Suddenly someone whacked him on the head and his killing intent vanished completely. Samael turned around to see Lina, smiling at him but you could a sweat trickling down on the side of her face.

"Let's go back inside and discuss a plan of action with the general."

Everyone nodded, following Lina as they walk back into the stronghold.

"..." Samael didn't know what to say so he chose to stay silent instead, after one last glance at the battlefield he followed them inside.

...

All six of them sat around a table for twelve people, in front of them were the three highest ranking officer in the stronghold. In the middle was a seasoned old veteran who looked like fifty years old, to both of his left and right were young men, just a bit older than Julian. One of them looked very friendly and the other glared at them.

The General then spoke "I welcome you all to the eastern stronghold, forgive me as I am a man of few words and i wish for your opinions about the upcoming battle."

"Please, by all means, general." Lina responded with a smile. As the daughter of the King she was accustomed to speaking with other military persons.

The General then sighed in relief and his eyes turned serious. A letter from the King ordered him to keep the Princess' identity a secret and only he shall know of it, not even his most trusted men must know or he will be severely punished.

The one to his right, the one who looked very friendly stood up and unfolded a large map behind the general.

"This is the situation so far...because of the cultivators of the enemy forces, we've continuously been on the defensive, hundreds of our men have died under their relentless assault. Right now...we're down to a thousand and a hundred or so men, while the enemy has two to three thousand. Although the enemy cultivation experts haven't appeared on the battlefield themselves, just their presence alone pressures our army." He said, then he pointed to the large open field indicated on the map.

"They will most probably attack again in a days time and here's what we plan to-" The Colonel spoke here before being interrupted.

"Send one of us."

Just this one sentence surprised everyone and to focus on one person...Samael.

"Mind your manners, brat! The first Colonel is still-" The second colonel erupted before being stopped by the general with a hand.

"Go on..." The General spoke.

"I said, send one of us...let them have a taste of their own medicine." Samael stopped here before standing up and continuing. "Show them that we have experts of our own and let's balance out the battle once again."

The General saw the fires burning within Samael's eyes and he asked. "And who should we send."

After throwing this question out, everyone showed different reactions one by one. Julian and Lina sighed, Silvia and Julius stared at Samael while Stella was getting nervous. Obviously they knew who was more excited for this more than anyone.

"...Me" Samael smirked.

"Just what can you do, you're just a kid-" The second Colonel flared up again, but before he could finish a silvery glint flashed towards him.

Samael had already took out his spear in a flash and stabbed at the Second Colonel. Julian and Lina stood up to try and stop this attack their speed were just not up to par with Samael's. What was strange to them was that, Silvia, who was faster than them and was closer to Samael, didn't move at all.

The Spear approached the second Colonel and barely missed his right eye. The Second Colonel jumped back in fright and nearly pissed him pants. Even if he were a seasoned veteran, this kind of sudden and sure-kill attack would frighten anyone.

"W-w-what are you trying to do? Don't you know i-it's a violation of military codes to attack a senior officer?" The Second Colonel mumbled and fear could be seen from his eyes.

Samael slowly pulled back his spear, eyes gleaming red with irritation and insatiable thirst for blood as he spoke. "Like I give a shit...I am not a soldier but a martial artist! I may have come here under the condition of following the military rules..." he stopped here before his killing intent flowed out once again.

"But! You forget. Our positions are worlds apart. I can kill you here and know and the King would just sentence me to a month of punishment at most. Don't forget that to me...your life is something I can take anytime...Learn your place!"

Seeing Samael like this, Princess Lina was reminded of how Samael was when he first spoke with her father. He spoke with authority and the majesty that almost outclassed her own father. But because of how mellow Samael acted after that, she thought that maybe Samael was just acting it.

But this right here, this was a reminder to her that whatever kind of past Samael had, this attitude was the product of that past. This was something that will forever remain in him no matter how nice he acted.

Things got heated but luckily the General stood up and placed both his hands on the table. "Let me ask one thing...why you?"

His friends were also wondering why would Samael volunteer to do this mission himself. Then Samael spoke.

"Among everyone here, Julian and Big sister Lina are the strongest, stronger than me if we fight without holding back. But they should be a 'trump card', an ace. I show my power and that will scare their army. The enemy cultivators will definitely think that there is someone more powerful than me in our ranks but they wouldn't know how strong exactly."

Hearing Samael's reasoning, Julian slowly got it and said. "So you want to not only instill fear into their ranks but also limit the movements of the enemy experts by making them think that if they make a move, someone will come up and face the, right?"

Samael nodded "Exactly."

But then the First Colonel spoke. "But what if they ignored your presence and still make a move?"

This time, it wasn't Samael that answered but Julian. "Then they will face the sword of the Empire."

Samael also added "Right. Plus, I don't think the enemy experts are that stupid to ignore us. Ignoring us will lead to their deaths and who isn't afraid of death?"

Hearing their reasons, The General thought that though it was a simple plan, it did have its merits. It was reasonable and conformed with the overall situation, The General sighed.

"Alright, we'll go with your plan. Let us end things here."

The General stood up and beckoned the two Colonels to follow him out. The moment he passed by Samael, his lips moved, to which Samael understood what he meant.

"Thank you..."

Samael smirked and placed the spear back inside his ring, he sat down and saw the questioning looks from his friends. It looks like they also understood what the general said as he passed by him. He sighed and smiled as he explained.

"The old general wanted those Colonels to learn the fear of death and to learn to fear cultivators. So I was more than happy to put the fear of death into them."

"You rascal..." Surprisingly it wasn't Lina or Julian who said but Silvia!

Everyone glanced at her as if something miraculous happened. Silvia saw this and flushed a bit, she was embarrassed that her friends reacted to her speaking as if it was the most surprising thing in the world. Seeing her embarrassed face, everyone laughed.

Silvia pouted hearing their laughter, she was so embarrassed but they were laughing at her. But deep inside, she enjoyed this kind of experience as this was the first time she felt these feelings. A faint smile crept up her mouth a few moments later.

....

As the next morning came.

Samael and the others were all sleeping in their respective rooms when the sound of horns awoke them from their sleeps. They quickly got up and changed into their chosen clothes. As cultivators they don't have to wear armor like the regular army against mortal weapons.

They all got out of their room and walked towards the wall. They saw countless soldiers rushing towards their respective stations, their steel armors clanging with each movements.

Samael and his friends, got up of the wall and saw an army of three thousand five hundred standing three kilometers away from the wall.

"Three thousand men aren't as impressive as i thought it would be." Julian spoke but it was clear that there was no worry in his tone.

"Yeah, how disappointing." Lina also commented.

"I guess, only those cultivators are what gave them the strength to crush our eastern front." Julius also spoke.

Silvia stood there, silent like a goddess who didn't care about anything in the world. Stella was slightly shaking but she forced herself not to run away. In any case, Samael stared at the battlefield and felt his blood boiling as it ran through his veins.

The General them appeared with his two Colonel, walking towards them. "Looks like they're pretty determined to crush us."

It appeared that even the General wasn't taking things seriously. Their conversation got cut off as the enemy army started beating their drums.

"Oh, they struck their battle drums." Samael approved of this intimidation tactic. The loud sound of the drums beating was a efficient tactic of pressuring the enemy.

"And they started marching." Julian spoke.

Samael saw this and turned around, saying "Alright, time for me to introduce them to death."

From the other side of the battlefield, the enemy army's scout saw the gate of the stronghold opening. The scout immediately reported.

"Report! The enemy gates have opened!"

The commanding officer immediately asked "How many soldiers did they sent out?"

Then the scout paused "..."

"Well?! How many?" The Commanding officer pressed on.

The scout looked like he was having trouble reporting the situation but he still spoke nonetheless.

"Only one..."

Hearing this the Commanding officer, quickly took the spyglass from the scout and used it. Staring through the lens he saw the gates of the stronghold wide open as a teen walks out with a smile on his face.

Little did they know that this smile alone has sentenced them to death...

Samael confidently walked out through the gates as he stared towards the thousands strong enemy army. Finally he could cut loose as the killing intent he had kept hidden deep within gushed out like water breaking through a dam. Luckily the enemy army was so far away from Samael that they couldn't feel it yet or they might get intimidated by Samael from the get go.

Smiling, Samael hastened his steps as he said. "Let's have some fun, shall we?!"

As his voice echoed outside the stronghold's wall, neither the soldiers above nor the enemies before him knew that his voice was akin to death sharpening his scythe...