"What in the world is going on here?" Yalda was closely following her mistress, Mrs. Linda Wilder when the duo felt their skin shiver. Linda was not much different than her exclaiming maid when coming across a mind-boggling scene ahead. 

A giant tsunami of black sand had engulfed the sun itself while being thrashed by hundreds and hundreds of sabers, swords, halberds, maces, and every other kind of weapon. Though the floating weapons fought furiously against the tide, the corrosive sand was quickly devouring the armory. 

"They are strong.." Linda's face was completely serious at this point since she can feel the strength of the two individuals who were clashing like demigods in the sky. Down below, everything else has been rendered to the background. 

The Wilder lady's pace slowed down greatly as she acted quickly. "Stay close to me, Yalda." Coming to a halt over a massive ridge that was certainly a result of the aftereffects of the two fighting Titans.

Even though every cell in Linda's body was screaming for her to stay clear of the fight, curiosity got the better of her. Very soon a small fox emerged out of a portal and stood in front of the mistress and her maid. "Guass, mask us." 

The little red fox was not more than a foot taller but it had a set of clearly intelligent eyes. Responding to its master's command, the fox began glowing. "Don't make any erratic movements and keep your mana under wrap." 

Yalda watched her mistress not look back at her while proceeding to sneak over the mud ridge. Obviously the warning was addressed to her specifically, thus the mature maid hurried to catch up to Linda and her fox. 

Having lived a large part of her life under Mrs. Linda's servitude, Yalda wasn't unaware of the abilities of this fox beast. Even while confronting a cultivator a few minor levels stronger than Mrs. Linda herself, this guy could actually completely hide their presence, making it extremely hard for them to be discovered unless they were under direct line of sight. 

Then again, under the chaos of this battlefield, who was even going to rely on their vision to scan the area unnecessarily? Feeling confident, Yalda took a look over her mistress's shoulders and much to her shock, she managed to recognize someone. 

"That's master Lyod, isn't he?" Yalda's comments brought on changes to Linda's expression as well. "Yes, that's certainly old tutor Lyod from the capital. But who is the person he is going up against?" 

Both the maid and mistress witnessed a brave old man defend himself vehemently against the sea of sand that was threatening to swallow him. Though Linda had rarely met Lyod when he was teaching the younger generation in the capital, as a cultivator she had a photographic memory that immediately let her identify the old man. 

Right now Lyod was surrounded from all directions, however, his opponent was not visible at all, seemingly lost in the vast whirlpool of sand. Having her presence masked by her little fox, Linda ran the risk of exposing herself if she tried probing with a spiritual sense. The best course of action was to wait and watch how this scuffle was going to end. 

"Miss.. he doesn't seem to be in good shape. Can this be an ambush?" Against the backdrop of the unfortunate incident with the lord of her house, Yalda had reasons to believe that a bunch of miscreants did actually slip through the border of their country. "Can this be a plot to target the experts of the Cylon Empire and ambush them at such remote locations?" 

To some, Yalda's imagination might sound slightly far-fetched, however, Linda very well knew where she was coming from. Cylon Empire had always been wary of its allies. Despite belonging to the same species, there was no lack of bad blood between the three dominant human kingdoms in this part of the continent. 

"I don't think so. We might be unlikely allies, but the other two kingdoms aren't foolish enough to destroy the very foundation that stood between them and the vicious beastmen." Yalda reluctantly nodded in response. Taking advantage of Cylon's bad geolocation might be one thing, but killing their experts would be equivalent to shooting themselves in the foot. 

Though the two women could exchange views silently thanks to Linda's fox beast masking them, the battlefield outside its range of influence was the very definition of prolonged chaos. It was like thousands of thunder strikes were taking place simultaneously in the sky. The ferocity with which Lyod was fighting off his invisible aggressor was petrifying. 

Unfortunately, time kept flowing like the grains of sand slipping through one's hand. With every passing minute, Lyod looked visibly exhausted. He was no longer conjuring his weapons at the same speed, leading to the circle of sand around him constricting. 

From Linda's eye, the old man was progressively turning into a deer under wraps by a powerful giant python. Just like a python squeezed the life out of its prey, Lyod seemed to be in the same situation. "This is the end." 

Linda was a powerful cultivator herself. She can surely tell who was on the losing side even with a restricted spiritual sense. Lyod's face was pale as a sheet of paper. His mana was in total disarray and yet, his opponent felt like the person was taking a walk in a park. 

"If you ask me, I would have much rather not revealed this side of me. That way, you could have at least died a peaceful death. Forever cherishing your beloved as the gentle soul she was." For the first time, Linda heard a fiendish voice echo. Evidently she was not the one to be addressed. 

"Hmph.. you just had to be a prick and resist. Don't blame me for not going easy on you now." Suddenly the sea of sand churned and Lyod was forced to rapidly burn through his armory of weapons trying to save himself from getting completely surrounded. 

Alas.. his efforts proved to be lacking in the end. Much to the absolute horror of Linda and Yalda, a person appeared right behind Lyod. As soon as the startled old man reacted, the being in tattered clothes thrusted her arm right through his chest effectively putting an end to the mighty clash. 

"Guuughhhh.." Over in the sky, Lyod spewed blood both from his chest and his mouth alike, his futile struggles coming to an abrupt end. This person, once she triggered her demonic powers, she had stepped into a different league. Even with his chest skewered, Lyod's expressions had barely changed, hinting at the fact that probably the old guy had already anticipated such an ending for himself. 

His lack of reaction to his eventual death even spooked the woman who he had labeled wife for the major part of his life. "This ends here, Lyod." His body dyed red, the old man had seemingly come to terms with his end. "It's not.. cough.. cough.. surprising."

Every time the man spoke, more and more blood came pouring out of his mouth. Paula kept on her cold face, not letting the dire straits of her former husband affect her mental state. When she had decided to capture Ryu, she had convinced herself that this is what she would have to go through to get to the boy. 

As fragile as a human was, sometimes they can be quite tenacious when it comes to safeguarding someone they genuinely cared for. She might be over her last life, but that didn't mean Paula would have gone out of her way to confront Lyod. It was a misfortune things had to end this way. 

"You just had to squander your life, old geezer. I gave you enough chances to run away, yet you stayed." A hint of melancholy spread over her countenance even as blood kept leaking from Lyod's punctured chest cavity through her forearm. 

"That's.. what.. gives me hope.. cough... Paula." The man had given up, proven by the slow dispersal of the last remaining mana weapons from the sky. Instead of choosing to fight to his last breath, Lyod took the time to raise his shaking hands and grab Paula's face. 

"I am... so.. glad.. so glad that.. you are alive... Paula.." His lips quivered as the old man forced out words from his throat with extreme difficulty. "Are you?" Paula tried to act nonchalant, however, the wetness around the rim of her eyes actually betrayed her. 

As the man told, once Paula had relied on her demonic form, she could have ended this fight way sooner. Yet, she kept giving Lyod the opportunity to break out and run away. It might just be her hidden desire to have her former husband choose life over death. Too bad, the man turned out to be too stubborn for his own good. 

Now that he was defeated, Lyod felt a strange sense of tranquility spread through his mind. No longer he had to push his body to the limit. It was like the streams of sand were gently carrying him over. "I am... glad.. yes.. also.. please don't hide yourself.. cough.. cough.. ahhh.. from... Sophia.. That girl will be soo.. happy.." 

At this point, tears were rolling down freely from Lyod's eyes. Oddly enough not even an emotionally void Paula could stop tears from leaking as the man drew his last breath. Having her hand right through his chest, she can feel his heart slowly giving up. 

"Hahaa.. such is her tragic life.. right when she got her aunt... Paula back.. cough.. she would lose her old man. You.. might have given up on humanity.. but I beg you not to abandon my poor girl. She.. suffered a lot." 

At this point, both husband and wife were crying profusely. Paula can very well imagine the consequences of her actions on Sophia. This made her heart twist in pain. "Don't worry.. I shall keep her safe. I will die before I let her get hurt." This was her final goodbye to the man she loved so dearly at one point in time before their paths diverged so much. 

"Pull out your hand.. I.. must hug you once." Knowing fully well he will bleed out even faster if she pulled her arm out from his chest, Lyod still asked her to do it. Paula's big eyes stared at the stern resolution in his eyes before she acquiesced to his demand. 

Lyod's face morphed his agony, but he suppressed the pain of his body tearing apart to carefully wrap his arms around her. "It's been so long.." For the first minute, Paula could not bring herself to hug the man back. But eventually, she could not hold herself back from embracing the bleeding man. "Yes. It's been long." 

The couple kept holding each other for the next few minutes, neither of them moving to break the stalemate. "Only one last request.. Paula.. please.. don't harm the boy either." Lyod had forced his head back to stare at the morphed face of his beloved. "He might very well be the.. last hope for humanity.." 

"I will try." She can't bring herself to not fulfill the wish of a departing soul, especially since he occupied such a place in her heart. "And lastly.. I love you.. so much..." Paula's mind had been thrown into disarray. 

"Hwwaahhhhhhh!!!" Along with an excruciating scream from the woman, the sea of sand simmering around her coalesced, sticking to the man and the woman, sealing them together in a hundred-meter-high pyramid.