Saber's blood sword and Belanor's golden spear clashed, creating otherworldly noises. Instead of using spells, they used their weapons to fight. However, they occasionally cast spells to gain an advantage. Yet, their battle remained at a stalemate. The battle between them continued for almost a day. When the sun rose in the horizon, Belanor's aggressiveness increased by several folds. Belanor's armor absorbed the sunlight to enhance his speed. Since Saber had no armor, he began to take blows from Belanor. The War God swung and stabbed left and right. The spear cut Saber a couple of times. His silver robes began to drench in blood. Not that Saber was slow, but Belanor was faster. Belanor's armor glowed brighter and brighter in the light.

Blood trickled down from Saber's mouth. The War God hit him with the spear in the face. It contained enough force to turn a Core Strengthening stage warrior's neck to the other side. Saber's face went numb. Belanor pushed his advantage by hitting him several times, faster than before. Belanor quickly moved to the point he showed his back to the rising sun. As a result, Saber faced the sun. The bright sunlight messed with Saber's eyesight. He couldn't see the golden spear in the golden light. Seeing Saber squinting his eyes, Belanor snickered. As a War God, he was born and raised on a battlefield. He knew how to use everything around him to his advantage. While he was battling Saber, he learned Saber's strength. He knew Saber was not weaker than him. Thus, he fought till the sun rose to increase his power.

His wait was worth it as he started to hit Saber more and more. But to Belanor's surprise, cuts and bruises on Saber's body healed instantly. Belanor had an eerie doubt about Saber from the moment he met him.

"You're a vampire," Belanor said. He didn't stop attacking Saber. On the contrary, he turned more ruthless and aggressive. Saber slowly started to lose the battle. Luckily, Saber's reflex and battle experience enabled him to evade deadly blows. Belanor kept aiming for Saber's heart and throat after realizing he was a vampire.

"So Ghost sent you here?" Belanor asked as Saber flew backward to put some distance between the two of them.

When Saber heard Belanor address the Dark Lord by his name, Saber's blood boiled. He gritted his teeth, swinging his blood sword.

"Do not speak his name," Saber snarled.

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"Why?" Belanor deflected the blood sword with his spear and asked. Belanor had no sign of fear in his eyes. Compared to the rest of the continents, Awor had seen only a little of what the Dark Lord could do. Therefore, people like the War Gods feared the Dark Lord less. Some of them outright challenged the Dark Lord for a duel in several parts of elven kingdoms. Of course, the Dark Lord ignored these silly challenges because he had more important things to deal with. Besides, the Skyhall and Guardian would have an easier time if he answered all these challenges from nobodies.

"Because you will die," Saber growled. He saw a glimpse of the Dark Queen on the horizon. He could swear he saw her. Belanor didn't even flinch hearing Saber's threat. Little did he know that it was not a threat but a warning. The runes in Belanor's armor radiated bright light. He glowed under the sunlight. Saber received more blows as seconds passed, and his face became pale. Every part in his body ached. The armor of Belanor made him stronger than Saber initially expected.

Sbaer's mind and body told him to use the teleportation scroll to escape. Backing off and living to fight another day was way better than dying. However, he couldn't afford to escape without the Dark Lord's armor piece. That was the only reason why Saber was still fighting Belanor. If he managed to escape with the armor piece somehow, Saber planned to ask the Dark Lord for armor. He learned the importance of powerful armor the hard way. Now that Michael had reached the 5-Star Blacksmith level, he could forge powerful armor. But to forge armor like Belanor's, he needed to be a 6-star Blacksmith. Michael didn't plan to stay at a 5-star level for a long time as he did with the alchemy specialization. Instead, Michael decided to get everything the system required to reach the 6-star level as soon as he left the heavenly tribulation. Unlike Saber, Michael knew how powerful armor could change the tide of a battle. He also knew his army needed armor more than him. All the Great Eight clans possessed powerful armor and weapons, making them almost invincible. When he was done fitting his army with weapons and armor forged by him, the hierarchy of the power structure in this world would change forever.

Eventually, Saber's body refused to listen to him as his muscles went rigid. His movements slowed down, leaving him vulnerable to a deadly killing blow. The War God raised his spear to end this battle once and for all. As much as he hated vampires, he respected Saber as an opponent. He was taught that a warrior must never fear an enemy but always respect them. When he was about to stab Saber's heart with his golden spear, a dark trail appeared in the air. The trail of blackness hit Belanor in the chest before he could stab Saber.

Belanr coughed up blood. It took him a second for his brain to process everything. His chest ached as he looked down to see a dark arrow sticking out of his chest. He tried to turn around, but another arrow hit Belanor in the gut. Using this opportunity, Saber mustered all his strength and pulled out the space ring from Belanor's hand. Green veins bulged up under Belanor's skin. Belanor's vision blurred. Before he could retaliate, Saber tore the teleportation scroll in half. A bright light enveloped Saber. To Saber's surprise, Belanor stabbed the light as he saw a splash of blood in the light.

Belanor quickly turned around despite the poison in his body to see who shot him with poison arrows. When he turned around, he saw no one in the vicinity. He immediately accessed his space ring to get a healing potion. The poison was powerful enough to harm a Fusion stage cultivator himself. But he was surprised when his vision cleared. He felt better as his breathing became normal. The green veins on his skin slowly faded away. The poison cured itself without taking an antidote. Belanor realized that whoever shot the arrows had no intention of killing him. Even when he was fighting Saber, he sensed Saber was holding back. He didn't go for killing blows.

It became clear to him that Saber wanted to steal his space ring that contained the armor piece.

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"I should have been more careful," Belanor said to himself.

It was too late for him to realize that the armor piece might have belonged to the Dark Lord. At least he had taken an interest in the armor. He knew he must inform the empress. Attacking a War God was equal to attacking Gondolin itself. Hence, the Dark Lord had waged a way against Gondolin.

**************************************************************

Inside the Gondolin castle, an elven lady with striking golden hair flew around her perfectly sculpted face. Sparkling aquamarine eyes sat gracefully within their sockets, watching delightfully over the haven they'd sought solace in for so long. She radiated power and grace. Anyone would be tempted to bow and kneel down before her. She was none other than Nithroel Grimfield, the empress of Awor.

Something was appealing about her. Perhaps it was her personality, or perhaps it was simply her goodwill. But nonetheless, people tend to respect her. She stood atop the balcony outside her room and watched the city of Mvarian. Her mind was filled with new requests from the people. Recently, the dwarves had begun to build new types of contraptions, which made them worry about the kingdom's security. The dwarves had been keeping their hatred toward the elves suppressed. She worried they might side with the Dark Lord to seek revenge against them. Thousands of years ago, elves and dwarves ruled over the kingdom. Then, the dwarves cultivated almost as fast as the elves. These two races were always on the verge of the fighting because of their hatred toward each other. With their superior contraptions, the dwarves finally attacked Gondolin. They would have won the war if it wasn't for her. The dwarves knew she was powerful but never expected to be powerful enough to wipe out their strongest armies within a few minutes. Because of what the dwarves did, she summoned all the best runemasters, healers, and alchemists to suppress the dwarves' cultivation. The dwarves slowly declined as the elves became the lone sovereign of Awor. Even to this date, the dwarves held fire in their hearts that longed to burn the elven empire to the ground.

As Nithroel was thinking about the dwarves, she saw Belanor flying toward her in the sky. Even from miles away, Nithroel could see the frowns on the elves' faces behind Belanor. She patiently waited for Belanor to come to her. A while later, Belanor was granted permission to land on her balcony.

The moment his feet touched the ground, Belanor dropped to his knees.

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"Your Imperial Majesty," Belanor lowered his head.

"Rise, Belanor. Your eyes contain anger and concern. Tell me, what happened in the auction?" Her voice sounded gentle, like a melody.

Belanor took a deep breath before telling everything that had transpired. She remained as calm as still water. When he finished his story, she just smiled.

"So the time to meet him has arrived," said Nithroel.

"Do you think the vampire who attacked you could have killed your underlings?" asked Nithroel. She had no signs of anger in her eyes. Instead, she seemed amused.

"Yes, Your Imperial Majesty," Belanor nodded without a doubt. He watched how the vampire had taken out the elves. Thus, he knew the vampire could have killed the elves if he wished to. Something prevented him from killing them. Even when he was fighting him, the vampire held back.

"I wish to meet the Dark Lord,"

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Belanor was startled by her words. Before he could raise his concern, she simply raised her hand.

"You are coming with me and only you. This is my order, not a request,"