"...It's Lars, and no need to thank me. I have some things I need to ask you and Patriarch Slith after all..." Lars cricked his neck as he stretched his body, loosening up for the upcoming battle.

His eyes flitted across the two new arrivals; looked like they were both at the beginner Legendary stage...

After the booming voices had cut through the still night air, two conspicuous figures dressed in bright colours soared through the air to land on the walls; both rather tall. One of the men was dressed in red robes with the other in dusty-yellow garb.

The man in yellow was well-built with a hefty, powerful frame and looked full of energy; his face pa.s.sionate and serious, his countenance fiery and aggressive. His look was spoiled only by the fact that his hair was not red, being black with many a strand of grey hair streaking his scalp.

In contrast, the man in red garb was lean, skinny almost. However, his sinewy form still gave off the impression of being capable of great feats of power. His mouth seemed to be set in a permanent wicked sneer while his eyes were beady and narrow, cruel and callous. His bald pate contributed further to his venomous and ruthless look, making him appear to be someone you wouldn't trust even if you had him at knife's point!

The two greying men looked advanced in age, yet they were still full of vigour; signs of having advanced into the Legendary stage perhaps in their late 50's and receiving a new injection of vitality. They both looked dignified and respectable in their robes - if not for the terrible scowls marring their expressions right now.

They were livid! Incensed at being called trash by what looked to be a dirty old potato farmer!

As their faces turned black from anger, the man in yellow garb spoke, regulating his expression and putting on a haughty look, declaring, "And just how are you going to defeat us...? With that bag of bones--" He pointed at Ol' Mulberry who looked away in embarra.s.sment.

"--Or that bookworm...??" He obviously referred to Maester Slith..

"Or do you think YOU, you pathetic, scrawny weakling little farmer can beat the great *ME*??? Muakakaka!!! Peasant!!! Commoner!!! Fool!!! Sigh... It is beneath me to even deign to reprimand you... After all, what use is there in correcting a fool...? Useless! Muakakakaka!!"

The muscular elder laughed with his low and booming voice, then stopped as he continued, "Don't you know who you are dealing with...?!? Sigh... No matter, no matter... I'll tell you!"

He clasped his hands behind his back and raised his chin, closing his eyes and letting the wind whip through his hair at this moment, the strong breeze picking up to coincide with his theatrics.

"The moon s.h.i.+nes flas.h.i.+ng,

Yet to fade away at dawn,

To the Desert Sun!"

The man spoke as if reciting a poem, uttering prose to the sky, stars and heavens! And he would have looked incredibly cool, das.h.i.+ng or impressive - if not for the fact that the whistling winds ruffled his hair...

And revealed a big patch of male pattern baldness smack dab in the middle of his head...

"Pffftttt....!!!" Lars, who was trying to similarly act cool while stifling his yawns, nearly burst out laughing, holding back the guffaws and covering his mouth with his hand.

"WHAT!!!?? WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING AT!!!! I'LL KILL YOU, I'LL KILL YOU RIGHT NOW!!!"

"Gerehehehehhe!!! Desert Sun!!! Looks like you've spent too much time under your beloved sun, huh!!?? And looks like, ahem, the sun has GOTTEN TO YOUR HEAD!!! Gereheheheheh!!!"

"YOU SHUT UP, FIRE SCORPION!!! I'LL KILL YOU TOO!!! And you!!" He pointed at Lars with eyes sparking with rage, "I'll bet you're too uneducated to even know what the Legendary-level is! Hahaha! You probably don't even know how awesome someone like me is, what a pity, what a pity!! Right, Fire Scorpion...?"

"Gerehehe... Desert Sun, Desert Sun... Why are you wasting your time talking to him...? A dead man doesn't need to know any of that! I know, I know, you're facing your mid-life crisis... But do you really need to get your confidence boost from a pathetic little child...? Grow up, big baby!!! Gerehehehehe!!!" The cultivator named Fire Scorpion sneered as he mocked his well-built ally, his sneaky eyes alternating between Lars, Ol' Mulberry and Maester Slith as he spoke.

"And now, how shall I kill you three...? Slowly...? By ripping out your eyeb.a.l.l.s first, then carving the map of the Northern Desert Lands onto your private parts, inch by inch...? Or should I remove your finger joints one-by-one and then re-insert them into your r.e.c.t.u.m...? Maybe I should paint you with honey and then tie you on top of a desert reaper ants' nest, and let you enjoy the feeling of being eaten ali--"

And Lars' yawned.

'Sigh... Apart from his silly bald spot... It's just too boring... Maybe I'll just beat them up without waiting for them to finish talking, yeah, that sounds like a good idea...!' Lars thought as he stood and listened to the two Patriarchs bicker in the middle of delivering their pre-match trash talk. He fought the urge to yawn - and lost, as he opened his mouth wide and scrunched up his watery eyes in a big yawn!

Stunned mid-sentence as he realised that Lars had not even been listening to him, Patriarch Fire Scorpion was beyond outraged while it was Patriarch Desert Sun's turn to chuckle at him in derision!

"HOW DARE YOU!!!! I'LL RIP OUT YO--"

He did not have a chance to finish his words as the dark of the night sky was suddenly swept away, swallowed up by all-encompa.s.sing light that filled the horizon for tens of kilometres in every direction!

"Level 9 Spell..." Lars' eyes flashed with irritation and impatience as he performed the countless incantations and calculations all within his mind, thus allowing him to shorten the casting of the spell to just a recital of the spell name.

And his two opponents hurriedly raised their defences to the max as they heard him call out a top-tier spell while their vision was obscured by the precursor to the magical attack!

"s.h.i.+T!!! A high-leveled mage??? Incarnation of fire, surround me!!" "O desert spirits, I beseech your grace! Sand cyclone!!" Both patriarchs urgently triggered their soul-imprint boosted abilities and guarded against the impending attack, suddenly wary as they sensed the fluctuations of the Legendary realm. At the same time as they exerted their powers to defend, they also did a deltsplit, darting away in opposite directions until they could regain their vision.

Around Patriarch Desert Sun floated golden specks of sun, molten motes of high-temperature sand swirling around him in a flesh-rending vortex! The intensity of the cyclone of golden burning sand was daunting and lethal, likely to strip an attacker down to their bones before they could even land a hit on him!

On the other side, Patriarch Fire Scorpion's whole body was swallowed up by blackish-red tongues of fire. The flames flared up and flowed around him, at times looking like water and at others resembling the animal-like undulations of an invertebrate. Then the squirming layers of fire effusing his body began to take shape, gradually taking the form of a sinister reddish-black scorpion!

But despite the impressiveness of their powers and defences, they were not ready for what came next. The flash of blinding light quickly receded, a ruse that they had fallen for - alas they realised their mistake too late. Before their vision could return, the outcome of the battle was decided.

The two patriarchs could only pour out the 100% maximum power into their defences, hoping to survive the first and last move, this one battle-deciding exchange that they had to survive before they could contend further!

"...Just kidding. Heh. Thanks for giving me so much time to prep! Surprise! It's actually a Legendary-realm spell!!! Take this...!!!"

Lars leapt forward towards the more insidious looking red-robed Patriarch Fire Scorpion even as he completed his spell.

"Legendary spell... Minor time stop!!!"

At that instant - no, it was not an instant even, but a moment that stretched forever for as long as the duration of the 5 second time stop spell - all colour ceased.

The wind fell silent. In fact, the sounds of the world faded away entirely, leaving only quiet, darkness, blackness - stillness all around.

Apart from the spirit sense of cultivators who were at least on par with the caster, there was no way to still perceive what was happening. The world was still and motionless, devoid of life and colour as the rays of the sun were suspended in mid-air without reflecting off a surface to give one vision...

Except for a mana sabre swinging "old" man who hurtled through the air straight at Patriarch Fire Scorpion!

The time stop spell was a mystery, one which was not understood, but one which was notorious in both it's effectiveness and ruthlessness! For if a combatant was not prepared to face an opponent who could stop time, they would be as helpless as a lamb being led to the slaughter!

Both these Patriarchs had their own means of defence; but how could they imagine that a normally 1 minute incantation had been carried forth right underneath their noses...?!

And Lars' brandished his mana sabre, activating it with his full-powered mana flows as he raised it to strike a death-blow to his enemies.

'Active defences... Normally the most effective and efficient defence type that works for both protection and attack... But unfortunately, it is also the most useless against time-based attacks...'

'Because all I have to do is to strike between the gaps of the particles and reap the defenceless life before me...!'

[0.8 seconds out of the 5 seconds duration remaining]

Lars' sensed Patriarch Fire Scorpion's spirit sense envelope him as he closed in on the heavy-set man. He could detect the frantic desperation in the man's spirit sense - and ignored it.

[1.1 seconds remaining]

He swung his sword in an arcing slash, artfully striking at the point with the fewest motes of molten sand obstructing him.

Lars' mana sabre impacted on the heavily-muscled, mana reinforced flesh that was empowered with his full-flow of blood energy - and easily pierced right through, his peak-Legendary mana amplified and focused into the resplendent blade of pure energy and supplemented by the force of his Grandmaster-level physique!

[1.2 seconds remaining]

As Patriarch Desert Sun gasped in his mind and his spirit sense began to fade, Lars kicked off from the time-frozen body, transferring the force of his flight to the much heavier man's torso and shooting off towards his next target.

[1.3 seconds remaining]

Patriarch Desert Sun's spirit sense ebbed, his soul-fire faded, his frozen eyes dimmed, and he did not even have the chance to breath one last breath.

The beginner Legendary warrior perished without the opportunity to resist his death.

[1.8 seconds remaining]

Lars rocketed through the air and a.n.a.lysed the fire-wrapped form of Patriarch Fire Scorpion for the weakest point. However, after scanning the form of flames, he determined that there was no need to search for a weak spot - the semi-solid flames served more as a damaging deterrent and could do nothing to stop his blade from cleaving through like b.u.t.ter!

[2.1 seconds remaining]

Which was exactly what he did.

Lars' mana sabre swept through a beautiful crescent half-moon - and separated Patriarch Fire Scorpion's head from his body.

[2.2 seconds remaining]

As Lars' landed on the ground solidly with his feet planted shoulder-width apart from each other, he let out his breath and released the spell with more than half the time left to spare.

And colour, life, sound and the blowing winds returned to the world...!

Along with the sounds of two *Thuds* as the unwilling Patriarchs met their dooms at the hands of the "dirty old plebeian peasant"...!