At high noon, the horns sounded for battle.
At sunset, the gongs rang to call the troops back.
These were the formal rites the Destroyers used only when facing opponents they recognized as equals.
Bloodboil had decided to follow the ancient custom in this battle because Liyou had set the terms: the scholars would be treated as evolvers of Ancient Ones' power. This would highlight the Destroyers' pride and their respect for the Ancient Ones.
Before anyone knew it, three days had passed.
Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang.
As the sun sank in the west, the gongs rang behind the Destroyers, calling them back. The battlefield, which had been filled with the blood and fury of war only moments earlier, fell eerily silent.
The Destroyers gradually withdrew, laughing with wild abandon.
Over the past three days, the Destroyers had launched wave after wave of fierce assaults, and the Blue Sky Engineering Academy had paid a heavy price in casualties every day.
Compared with the Destroyers' joy amid their deadly struggles and their indifference to the deaths of those around them, the scholars were undoubtedly more sensitive.
As more and more people around them died, the scholars could hardly avoid sinking into grief. After each battle, their commanders organized them to clear the battlefield's shattered ruins, tend to the devastation, and bury their companions.
When they could do something about it, they simply couldn't leave their companions exposed in the wilderness to become food for beasts, as the Destroyers did. This also reflected the scholars' teachings on honoring their teachers and passing the torch to the next generation.
For the scholars, this was torment, but it was also a trial.
Unlike the Destroyers, who transformed and ascended during battle, scholars often gained a measure of emotional resilience and spiritual growth from