Armipotent

"This is a misunderstanding. We are not his comrades, and the Federation of Allurion never worked together with the Tang Empire!" A quick-witted from the group of three immediately spoke up to make things clear. "We are a group sent by the federation to map the area around the city."

The ten Holy Knights did not lower their guard, but they looked more relaxed. The leader of the Holy Knight stepped forward. "If that's the case, then you can leave now!"

There was a few seconds' pause as the three were not expecting the Holy Knights to be that arrogant even after he told them they were from the federation. It stirred up the three people's egos, but they knew that they could not mess this up too.

"Tch." Then they heard the voice from above. "You guys are quite smart to avoid my trap, but come on you three. Are you trying to fool children with such lies? Do you forget that the federation consists of beastmen and elves? I wonder why you three try to fool them?"

Tang Shaoyang, of course, did not escape yet. He was watching from a distance and coming back when he noticed they would not fight. He expected they would not likely fight, but his intention was not to make them fight each other. His main purpose was to plant suspicion in the holy knights, and the fact that the three were lying helped him to make the Divine Church suspicious of the Giteron Dynasty.

"Not just you follow them, you also lied to them. I wonder why you pretend to be the federation's people. Are you trying to make the church fight the federation?" Tang Shaoyang watched the three Ancient Ranks with an amused smile. These three set the stage for him perfectly.

The three Ancient Ranks and the Holy Knights drew their swords. Not because of Tang Shaoyang but the two figures behind him, Avyn and Zara. The Angel of Death and the Kankara'Xeo floated behind him.

"Angel and dragon tribe?" The Ancient Rank of the Giteron Dynasty was astounded by what they saw right now. They never saw both races with their own eyes, but they had heard the tale about them. The Giteron Dynasty met those races at the Hell and Heaven Tower level, and they were superior races with high aptitude. They were the races that were strong even without the system, and with the system, they grew far stronger.

Everyone tried to use the detection skill on both of them, but it did not work. The notification they got was that the angel and the dragon tribe were affiliated with Tang Shaoyang.

"It should not be a problem for me to take care of them by myself. I am different from the other spirits." Avyn glanced at Zara. That was right; the system did not restrict Avyn's strength that much compared to the other spirits. Even though she could not utilize her God Rank fully, she was at the level of Legend Ranks, two ranks above Tang Shaoyang.

"You are not the only one who wants to have fun. Don't be greedy, dragon girl." Zara snorted back.

"Remember, don't kill them." Tang Shaoyang reminded the two girls.

"You are too soft on your enemy." Avyn shook her head as she disagreed with Tang Shaoyang. "I hope you don't regret this later."

Tang Shaoyang had his reason why he wanted these people to return alive. He wanted the Divine Church and the Giteron Dynasty to be suspicious of each other. He wanted these Holy Knights to return and report to their superior that the Giteron Dynasty followed and pretended to be the federation's people. That was enough suspicion for the two factions to be on guard at each other. That way, he would split the two factions' focus away from his empire.

He could just spare one of them from each faction, but he did not want to wage a full war against the two factions yet. At least, not until they got a whole picture of how strong the two factions were. The federation might have been involved since they were in alliance, so he did not want the knights or the people from the Giteron Dynasty to die.

Meanwhile, Avyn landed on the grass, and as soon as her feet touched the ground. The whole area froze, spreading out so fast up to three thousand meters. The ice did not just freeze the ground but also the giant trees, except the tree where Tang Shaoyang was. The ten Holy Knights and the three people from the Giteron Dynasty were caught within the ice. The ice caught them in the ankle as they failed to reach with such a scale attack.

Zara managed to avoid her feet from being frozen as she sensed it beforehand. She realized that Avyn wanted to catch her with the ice, too, so Avyn could take care of her potion too. "What a sly bitch."

"Get out of the ice!" The leader of the Holy Knight yelled out, but soon he realized that he could not pull his feet from the ice.

"Unfortunately, you can't break free from my ice." Avyn was already hovering above the ten Holy Knights. She was about to kill them all, but then she realized that Tang Shaoyang had asked her not to kill them. The Kankara'Xeo flicked her finger, and all the ice broke into pieces, but that was not it. The ice broke the thirteen people's ankles and lower.

The scene was like a pile of snow being shaken off a tree, but this was on another level. Tang Shaoyang was amazed at the show, but the beautiful scene was not so beautiful with the scream below. The thirteen people screamed in pain as they lost their ankles. Even though they lost their ankles, there was no blood coming from where their ankles were cut.

"You…" The Angel of Death directed her glare to the ice dragon because the latter took her prey. She was supposed to fight the three Ancient Ranks from the Giteron Dynasty, but there was no point in fighting the people who lost their feet.

"What? I am helping you and making things easier for you. Now you can beat them without worrying they will escape from you." Avyn maintained her straight face as if she was doing a huge favor for Zara.

Tang Shaoyang could not watch the two girls keep arguing anymore. "Alright, that should be enough so they will not bother me for a while. Let's leave." He kept his composure, but deep inside, he was surprised by how strong Avyn was. He heard from her that they could not break free from the ice, which meant her skill was overpowered that even Ancient Rank could not break it.

"If this is not enough, we can fight more monsters later."

The trio left the thirteen people in the middle of the forest, but they should be fine even though they lost their ankles. Sure enough, after Tang Shaoyang left for a while, they stopped screaming. They adapted to the pain and calmed down, but the dread was implanted in their hearts. In a single move, the dragon tribe caught and crippled them.

"Can you use regeneration?" The leader of the Holy Knight asked one of his people.

"I can't. The ice blocks my regeneration." The ice froze the wound from the cut, and it blocked the regeneration. They tried to melt the ice with the fire, risking themselves being burned, but it failed to melt the ice. They realized that the ice was not just normal ice.

"This…." The leader of the Holy Knight was left speechless. None of them had flying skills, and they could not walk without the bottom part of their feet. They tried to create a new part with their mana, but the ice blocked their mana. The mana could not go through the layer of ice on their wounds.

"We have to return by our hands, or do we crawl?" One of the holy knights blurted out in disbelief. Coming back crawling was for sure a disgrace for the Divine Church, so did walk back with their hands.

*** ***

The Egunov Territory, the main building of the Divine Church

The Saintess sat on the honored seat in the hall as she saw the returned ten holy knights. Her eyes locked on the Holy Knights' missing part, their ankles. She heard that the Holy Knights returned by walking like that, enduring the pain from the wound as they walked.

"Did that heathen do this to you all?" Saintess Marisha asked.

"No, his ally did. He has a dragon tribe companion, and she alone crushed all of us, including the three Ancient Rank masters from the Giteron Dynasty." The leader of the Holy Knight replied. His voice shook as he was still enduring the pain.

"Can you elaborate more in detail?"

The Holy Knight explained what happened, all the details. The fact that Tang Shaoyang also had the fallen angel on his side and the three Ancient Rank masters that pretended to be part of the federation.

"Angel and dragon tribe? And when you use detection skills, it only shows that they are affiliated with the heathen?" Saintess Marisha squinted her eyes. "So that's why he was so confident not joining the alliance?"

"You can rest for now. I will try to break the ice with Holy Energy later, but get some rest for now." Saintess Marisha dismissed the ten Holy Knights. This time they did not have to walk with their wounded feet as the other knights carried them over.

"The fallen angel and the dragon tribe are truly unexpected. What do you think, Captain Ruben?" The Saintess asked the man who stood next to her. "Do you think we can kill that dragon tribe and the fallen angel?"

"I am not sure myself unless I see them with my own eyes, Saintess." Captain Ruben did not give a definite answer, yet he had a confident tone in his reply, signifying he was not afraid if he had to fight the dragon tribe.

"I think I can understand a little bit why The Almighty Lord wants to get rid of this Tang Shaoyang." Saintess Marisha nodded by herself. "But we have an issue with the Giteron Dynasty. They want to set us against the federation. They are quite nasty, huh? Should we warn them what we are capable of, Captain Ruben?"

"I agree with that, Saintess. I think annihilating a squad of their knights should be enough warning for them that they should not mess up with the Divine Church." Captain Ruben replied resolutely, as he did not like the Giteron Dynasty's little scheme.

"Then I will leave that in your hand, Captain Ruben. I need to return to give my report. It seems we need a stronger squad to kill the heathen. I don't want us to lose too much force before the real thing begins." Saintess Marisha got up from her seat and left the hall.