Pillar of Yita

Silver shards fell into the soft sand.

The sand thieves tore open the defensive line, cursing furiously as they charged forward. The towering giants moved like windmills, wielding long spears, but the sand thieves, with their agile skills, easily found opportunities to break through the gaps in their attacks. Having crossed the last line of defense, before them stood the somewhat inexperienced young Alchemist.

Fang Hong extended his right arm, and in the darkness, three silver lights traced an arc, sweeping from the right front. They swept past a second time, encircling and sweeping again after extending thirty feet ahead. A thread of icy light appeared in Fang Hong’s eyes, like a spark in the darkness, the first glimmer slicing through Liming.

The stars and moon were setting in the west, while the east gradually brightened.

”Found you.” His lips curled into a self-satisfied smile.

Mahazar was unexpectedly cautious, hiding in a corner, observing his subordinates as they engaged in combat. He probably thought Fang Hong too weak for him to personally engage, believing that sending his trusted aides was sufficient, avoiding the risk of being discovered by a potential opponent.

However——

”It’s useless.”

A tall figure of a sand thief suddenly appeared behind him, raising a curved blade with both hands, leaping into the air.

The bright blade reflected a cold light, slicing down, severing Fang Hong’s right arm at the elbow. Yet Fang Hong didn’t feel the pain at first, only a lightness in his right hand, a wobble as if losing balance. Then the severe pain surged in, causing him to cry out in agony as blood gushed forth, soaking his white shirt, the color as heavy as a rose, like garnet, each drop rolling into the sand.

But deep within, a steely will seemed to support Fang Hong’s spirit. He felt disconnected from everything around him, leaving only that singular objective. Clenching his teeth against the intense pain, his icy gaze fixed forward. The mental command conveyed to his right arm flowed anew into his left—he raised his left hand, twisting the metal gauntlet.

In a flash of white light, a silver swordsman appeared ghost-like behind him, the two nearly overlapping, plunging into the mists ahead amidst a brilliant light. In the next instant, Mahazar watched helplessly as a flash of white light appeared: a man and a construct stood before him. Half of Fang Hong’s face appeared soaked in blood, the splatters reaching up to his nose, making him appear like a demon from hell.

Yet facing the King of the Sand Thieves, the young man revealed his snow-white teeth, smiling with a chilling aura. ”I’ve caught you——”

In that moment, every positional relationship around him reflected in his mind. ”Center on my construct, clockwise one hundred twenty degrees, forty-seven meters. See the nearby clocktower? A hundred meters east, there’s a wall. He’s just behind that wall. Might be a blind spot for shooting from your angle.”

He paused, taking a deep breath: ”No problem?”

Behind the broken tower’s window, Ye Hua stood silently, the first light of Chenxi reflected on his chin. The Ranger King raised his longbow, the Elf King Bow green as jade, drawing the bowstring, the arrow appearing bathed in a golden glow. Behind him, the Magic Guided Reactor lit up, layers of light reflecting the final darkness of the night.

”No problem.”

Fang Hong let out a long exhale.

In his sight, a silver moon reflected, and Mahazar didn’t step back but instead raised his curved blade, slashing at him. The blade sliced through the Energy Angel’s shield, through the Platinum Swordsman’s crossed blade arms, through its slender neck, sensing ring, and slender waist, turning this graceful construct into scattered shards, flying apart as silver light glistened.

He swung again, this time at Fang Hong. But at that moment, a familiar scene suddenly flashed in Fang Hong’s mind, the vice-captain of the Holy Word Knights holding his hand, with a stern expression, speaking in a uniquely sweet Papalarian woman’s voice, instructing him on how to respond when the enemy charges head-on.

That was a few months ago.

He still remembered the warm springtime in the Southern Region.

As if divinely inspired, Fang Hong miraculously leaned back slightly, neither too much nor too little. Mahazar’s blade, like cutting through butter, slipped past. Both of their eyes revealed shock, even Fang Hong didn’t know how he dodged the deadly strike.

Mahazar’s eyes showed disbelief, as if saying:

This kid is playing possum?

But this was his final query.

In the distance, Quistack remained shrouded in darkness, but a light reflected in Fang Hong’s eyes.

The stone wall behind Mahazar exploded, a silver light burst forth, piercing through his right chest, a bloody mist erupted, the silver light vanished, transforming into an arrow, embedding in front of Fang Hong, just a foot away, its snow-white fletching still quivering, a single drop of blood sliding down its length.’Boom’, the King of the Sand Thief fell to his knees.

He clutched his bloody chest with one hand, shakily raising his head, looking blankly, his mouth open yet unable to utter a sound. As if he couldn’t believe he would fall in a place like this, at the doorstep to victory.

Fang Hong also slowly knelt down, blood loss making him dazed, but he strained to look at the lone wolf of the desert before him, as if to see who might fall first.