Initial Clash - 720

The charging armies noticeably slowed down. Though they were still charging, it was clear that every single person was paying attention to the clash ahead.

Skymender shouldn't be able to see so far, but the immense tremors from the collision created vibrations he could sense even from afar. 

It painted an unbelievable and incomprehensible, yet blurry picture.

Neither of the two Sword Master's retreated.

Their swords scraped past each other. Sword Master Shang propelled himself forward, merely inches away from the body of Sword Grandmaster Tianzhao, as he swung his sword up with immense power.

Sword Grandmaster Tianzhao merely stepped back, pointing out with his sword at Sword Master Shang's throat.

This was a simple movement when described, but its profundity could not be understood by even a rank one Sword Master. This simple movement caused Sword Master Shang to shoot back. This was the first time Skymender had seen him retreat in all of his years of life.

Sword Grandmaster Tianzhao stood firmly on the ground, his gaze calm, yet powerful. He seemed like a sword being charged up to swing. 

He took a step forward, his body blurring.

They shot around, moving across the entire battlefield. Wherever they went, all that remained was destruction. Before the two armies had even met, multiple people had died on both sides. 

It was as if a natural disaster was also participating. With this, the two armies sped up again, before finally meeting. Sword Master Yi Shuzanhao charged forward, killing tens of enemies as he moved around the battlefield with ease. However, it was not long before someone stopped him, causing a duel to ensue. 

Although they fought within a more confined area, it was still a location of certain death for any who entered it, causing a circle that nobody dared to enter to form.

Sword Master Gargantuan found himself facing two opponents. Both were rank two Sword Masters, though Sword Master Gargantuan seemed to be holding his own despite only being a rank two Sword Master himself.

After all, he was nearing the threshold to become a rank one Sword Master.

All of the Sword Master's from the Faceless Empire were stalled, but there was a rank three Sword Master from the Ancient Empire causing havoc on the battlefield. 

He was the last Sword Master of the Ancient Empire that had been brought to battle. There were more in the Ancient Empire itself, but they were not present. 

Regardless, the strongest strength of both Empire's was being shown.

The strongest of each was present, and the rank one Sword Masters of each were present. 

Although the entire Ancient Empire had two more Sword Master's than the Faceless Empire, there was only one rank one in each Empire, if you did not include Sword Master Shang, who was unofficially considered a Sword Grandmaster by both sides.

It was unknown why he had not been officially called so, but not many questioned it.

Skymender, sensing the rank three Sword Master of the Ancient Empire roaming unchecked, charged towards him.

He was much more confident than he was of his old self.

Meanwhile, the Emperor and some officials constantly directed the entire army.

On the other side was the Emperor of the Ancient Empire, who was actually the grandson of Sword Grandmaster Tianzhao. 

It was known that Sword Grandmaster Tianzhao's daughter had married the previous Emperor, and their son was the current Emperor. Despite that, the Emperor was no younger than the Faceless Empire's Emperor, showcasing Sword Grandmaster Tianzhao's ancient age.

Skymender circled around the rank three Sword Master, who did not notice him due to the constant influx of enemies he was killing. Of course, this was not easy on him. 

Despite being a rank three Sword Master, he was not even close to being strong enough to kill an entire army of this size. 

The standard used to describe Sword Master's was not for full on Empire wars, but for small skirmishes of around ten thousand people. 

Yet, there were more than a hundred thousand fighting on each side.

Skymender waited patiently. Although many died under the Sword Master's sword, their lives would not be in vain.

As the battle continued on for two hours, the Sword Master had grown tired and injured. He began to retreat. Although he would not be able to slaughter an entire army, nothing could stop him from retreating.

Suddenly, as he retreated, he felt danger from behind.

He dodged just in time, though he received a minor scratch from Skymender's sword.

The sword had the paralysis poison on it, but due to how slight the scratch was, he only felt a little numb, but it slowed his reaction time.

Skymender broke three bottles of poison, causing a mist to spring out.

He would not have attacked if he was unsure of success. 

Unfortunately, this was the battlefield, where anything could happen and the rules were completely different.

Anywhere else, the Sword Master would have surely died.

Just as Skymender was about to stab the Sword Master, he lowered his shoulder and moved to the left.

Without turning around, his sword stabbed behind him, piercing someone's eye. This gave the Sword Master time to escape the mist, though Skymender followed.

The Sword Master was coughing and clutching his chest, clearly fearful, as he ran towards the Ancient Empire's back lines. 

Skymender chased him, but was stopped by soldiers on multiple occasions. This was the battlefield, and he was not above it.

Due to constant interference, the Sword Master got away, but Skymender did not care too much.

He was surely not to be in any more trouble for now. In that case, Skymender decided to start a massacre.

Due to the distance between the Empire's, heavy artillery was not brought. It would require years to reach this area. 

Instead, it was almost solely used for defense. Rarely, however, a long planned out attack included them, or perhaps a war between close Empire's.

Due to that, the deadliest weapons present could only harm a few tens of people at a time, not much at all.

However, Skymender had developed many devastating poisons. There were no other poison masters in the Empire, and from the information he had, there were none in the Ancient Empire. 

After all, even with his intelligence, he had nearly died multiple times while studying poisons. Others were doomed from the start.