Karl twisted around the blade of a blue robed Immortal bladesman, while he used [Chaos Blast] to parry the incoming spells of a mage ten metres away.

It was actually a pleasant change, with the incoming force so heavily dominated by warriors. Many of the Sects that had come to assist the Templars were essentially training camps for various combat styles exclusive to warriors. Even seeing a small group of mages was enough to change the tactics of the battle.

Karl's claws slammed into the barrier of the warrior, causing him to stagger backward.

Then, he released the Haint Claw from merger with him, so it could attack the mage, while he used [Earth Manipulation] to create a bat, wrapped in [Tribulation Chains].

It had worked wonderfully for Thor, and Karl knew that he just needed to stun his opponent for a second to create the opening for a [Chaos Vortex] to end them.

The warrior stared up at the cat demon, who stood a full head taller than him, and began to reconsider every life choice that had led him to this point. That monster wasn't even trying to kill him anymore, it seemed. He had sent his living weapon against the mage, and decided to use a bat in melee.

Just a regular bat, wrapped in a chain.

Karl swung the blunt weapon and the warrior desperately parried, trying to spin out of the way.

The strength mismatch was too much, and with a heavy club against a slender blade, the warrior didn't have the ability to simply stop the strike dead without using a skill. And at this point in the battle, energy reserves were precious.

They had been fighting for too long, with the New Home Merchant Clan tenaciously hanging on much longer than anyone had expected.

Karl was about to follow up when an arc of blade energy from above raced toward them.

He jumped backward, but the warrior was too focused on the battle, and didn't see it in time. The attack hit him directly on the head, cleaving him in half.

Friendly fire was becoming a serious issue for the invaders. The plethora of Systems in this world meant that most of the Clans couldn't actually ally with each other in a System sense, so they had to watch where they were hurling attacks.

And they couldn't use the massive area attacks that the New Home's mages

were.

As they had no outside reinforcements, other than the Supremes in the sky, they were free to fight as they wished. Being in the same Clan was enough for even the most disparate of Systems to recognize them as friendly targets.

Karl felt power surge through his body, and realized that the healing area had gained a second bard, on top of Tian. The fox was still playing a song of [Inspiration], increasing attack speed for everyone in range of his skill.

But the second one had joined in with the [Hymn of Heroism], which increased skill damage by fifty percent of base damage.

For some, that was a much smaller buff than forty percent attack speed. But for someone like Karl or Thor, who both had massive base damage numbers, it was staggering.

With the immediate area cleared, Karl picked up the [War Banner] and stuck it on the back of his armour, letting the banner fly over his head.

If the enemy couldn't pick out that he was the champion they should be facing now, there was no hope for them. Seriously, an Epic Grade constitution should be visible to most of them, and now he had a giant war flag over his head.

Maybe the problem was that he was too small? No, if he got much bigger, it would also be an issue.

He would have to lean down to attack.

As he moved, Oathbreaker returned to his side, along with the Haint Claw and the Epic Guard, who now had no assigned duty, with Yewan in the Pet Space. "Alright, let's go hunt some Elders. I think that we can get a few more solid kills before they realize that they're losing." Karl informed the Demons.

The two Oathbreakers high-fived each other, then grabbed him and moved Karl, plus the other summons, to a spot by the docks.

The Blue Elf Captain was there, fighting alongside the other Captains and First Mates against dozens of low Ascended Immortals. The lesser Elders of the reinforcing Sects, who wanted to loot the destroyed ships in the harbour.

Karl didn't hesitate and smashed an Immortal to the ground with an overhand swing of the club.

No additional attack needed.

That caused the Elders to scatter, right before Oathbreaker and the Haint shaped pair attacked.

The ladies' branch-like claws were insanely fast, and extended to make up for range differences, and the bark of their surface repelled any attack that managed to take down the [Eternal Lightning] barrier over them. Seeing them fighting together like this really made it obvious how similar the Epic Guard and the Haint Claw were in appearance.

But they also had [Warbeast] activated, turning them into much larger Treant kinsfolk than they normally were.

One of the Elders raised his blade, and pointed it at Karl.

"YOU! I will end you if it is the last thing I do. Dare you accept my challenge?"

{Guild Challenge Issued}

{Accepted)

Karl smiled at him, and twirled the bat around his hand.

"I am going to greatly enjoy looting your Clan once we're done killing its Elders

today."

The Elder launched himself forward, and Karl briefly noticed that the man was very nearly a Peak Immortal, and the Sect Leader of the Hyperion Sect.

No matter.

Karl brought up [Bulwark] to form a shield, tanking the first flurry of attacks before his bat slammed into the Elder's barrier, and [Chaos Vortex] exploded at

the point of impact.

The barrier held, but both sides continued, with Karl swinging upward, keeping momentum, and the Elder attempting to leap over his attack to get a blade past

Karl's shield.

That led to a confused three-dimensional Melee as Karl stepped off the ground to keep the Elder in front of him, and the rapid blade strikes hammered into his

barriers.

Karl whistled, activating [Dissonant Whispers] for mental damage, and then subtly altered the world around them with [Illusionary Domain], making it look

like the other side had received reinforcements.

What he wanted was for this Clan Leader to have hope that his side was winning, so he didn't run away before the challenge ended.