At daggers drawn

"Lady Chiyo, Captain Rasa has sent an urgent distress signal!"

"It seems things aren't going too well for Rasa! Assemble all our forces. Let's go take a look!"

"Yes, Lady Chiyo!"

Axel woke from darkness. Opening his eyes, he saw Big Sis Ria looking at him with concern. "Big Sis Ria, where am I...?"

Ria said nothing and pulled Axel into a tight embrace. "Welcome back, little brother!"

"I... wasn't I dead? Wait, Yui! How's Yui?" Axel suddenly looked at Ria in alarm!

Ria gently stroked his back. "Don't worry, Axel! It's all over. Your big sister is here!"

Feeling the warmth of her embrace, Axel looked around at the villagers, whose faces showed worry and a hint of fear. Everything felt so unreal! Then he pinched his cheek hard. "Ow, ow, ow!"

"Big Sis, am I alive again? Really alive?"

At his disbelief, Ria's anger suddenly gave way to laughter. "Yes, my silly little brother. You're alive again!" She gently tapped his forehead with her small fist.

Axel pretended to clutch his head, then looked at Yui, who was still unconscious beside him. "Big Sis Ria, what's wrong with Yui? Why hasn't she woken up?"

"Don't worry! She was just overwhelmed by grief. She'll be fine in a little while!" Ria said gently.

"It's all my fault. I'm her big brother, but I couldn't protect her!" Axel lowered his head in shame.

Suddenly, synchronized footsteps sounded outside the Church!

"Archbishop, all the level 20 Holy Light Clerics have arrived! Fifty present: ten Priests, thirty Holy Knights, eight Holy Armored Ones, and two Holy Cantors!"

A Knight wearing silver-white plate armor walked in, a large shield and a greatsword strapped to his back, and loudly delivered his report to Ria!

"Rest briefly, then prepare to engage! This time, none of our enemies will leave alive!" Ria ordered loudly.

"Yes!"

"Everyone, check your equipment where you stand! Prepare to engage!"

"Lady Chiyo, Captain Rasa's search area is just ahead!"

Chiyo looked at the clear sky in the distance. "Weather-changing ninjutsu? It seems our enemy is no pushover! Send a few men ahead to scout!"

"Yes, my lady!"

Several Sand shinobi quickly concealed themselves and cautiously crept toward the village ahead!

"Captain Fish Ball, there are signs of a battle up ahead!" A Sand shinobi hurried to Fish Ball's side and whispered, keeping his voice low.

"Lead the way!"

Whoosh, whoosh!

Several figures swiftly reached the edge of the battlefield!

Fish Ball took a closer look. Amid the cratered battlefield stood pillars formed from compressed human flesh! Several hideous heads hung from them!

"Th-that's Captain Rasa!" The Sand shinobi beside him widened his eyes and exclaimed in a hushed voice.

Fish Ball narrowed his eyes. "It seems the enemy is very strong! Come on. We need to report to Lady Chiyo!"

"Lady Chiyo! Captain Rasa has been killed in action!" Fish Ball said flatly.

"What? Rasa died just like that? He was the most gifted ninja among our Sand shinobi!" Chiyo seethed. "Order the troops to attack that village immediately. I'll make them pay!"

"Yes, Lady Chiyo!"

"Bishop Ria, a large force of ninja is approaching the village!"

"Come! Let's meet them!"

"Big Sis! I'm coming too!" Axel immediately tried to get up.

"Axel, rest! You've only just come back to life, and your body is still very weak. Don't push yourself!"

Hearing her gentle yet forceful words, Axel had no choice but to lie back down!

Ria walked out of the Church and surveyed the Holy Light Clerics already standing in formation!

"All Holy Light Clerics! Fight for the glory of holy light!"

"Fight! Fight! Fight!"

"Move out!" A halo of light shone around Ria. She slowly rose into the sky, then flew toward the Sand shinobi!

The Holy Light Clerics swiftly summoned their mounts and raced after Ria's halo, kicking up clouds of dust along the village paths!

"Lady Chiyo, a large enemy force is approaching!"

"Everyone, prepare for battle!"

The two forces rapidly closed the distance, then both stopped a hundred meters apart!

Chiyo looked solemnly at Ria floating in the sky. "You're the ninja who killed Rasa!"

"Old hag! Still going to war at your age? Have the Sand shinobi run out of people? And for your information, we aren't despicable ninja. We're Holy Light Clerics!" Ria said coldly.

"Heh, young people certainly talk big! You haven't the slightest respect for your elders or compassion for the young. Don't start crying later!" Chiyo mocked with a chuckle.

"We have our own moral principles, but we reserve them for our own people, not enemies who invade other countries!"

"We all fight for our own countries' interests. My conscience is clear!"

"So much for fighting for your country! Does that mean slaughtering defenseless civilians? Does fighting for your country mean holding someone's family hostage to force an honorable warrior to kill himself?" Ria shouted indignantly.

"Hmph! Victory by any means necessary! In this world, the strong devour the weak. Weakness itself is a sin!" Chiyo retorted, refusing to back down.

"Heh, so baseness really is the passport of the base! With values as twisted as yours, I have nothing more to say. Let's see who's stronger!"

With that, Ria turned and returned to the Holy Light Clerics' formation! Although she could slaughter large numbers of ninja herself, the Holy Light Clerics also needed experience fighting them!

"Holy Armored Ones, prepare the artillery!"

The Holy Armored Ones at the rear split into two groups of four. One person in each group took a fist-sized iron ball from a satchel and tossed it into the middle of the group. Then all four fired rays of light from their hands onto the ball!

With a series of clicks, the iron balls transformed into two enormous squared, bow-shaped iron bases engraved with mysterious patterns. As the light continued to spread over them, cylindrical barrels three meters long and twenty centimeters in diameter extended from the bases!

"Holy light cannons, charge!"

Chiyo saw two strange pipes extend from the rear of the enemy formation, white light steadily gathering at their mouths. Instinctively sensing danger, she ordered, "Everyone, aim your Explosive Tags at those two strange machines!"

Whoosh, whoosh! A dense hail of kunai arced through the sky toward the area behind the Holy Knights!

"Double Shield of Courage!" Two overlapping layers of enormous shields instantly rose in front of the Holy Knights! Like a towering iron wall, they glowed and blocked most of the incoming kunai!

Thud, thud, thud! Boom, boom, boom!

Countless fiery explosions blasted the overlapping Shields of Courage in every direction! The occasional kunai that slipped into the formation was blocked by the shields in the Holy Knights' hands!

The Priests cast group light shields and group agility enhancements, then fired slowing light orbs at the Sand shinobi!

"Holy Knights, prepare to switch weapons! Wedge charge!"

Waves of light enveloped the Holy Knights in the front rank! Beneath them, their Holy Light Wolves excitedly pawed at the ground!

"Charge!" Thirty Holy Knights formed a wedge and rushed toward the Sand shinobi like a giant arrow of light, trailing long streams of radiance. Ten large light orbs streaked across the sky and shot into the ranks of the Sand shinobi in an instant!

The quicker Sand shinobi shouted, "Scatter!"

Boom! Boom, boom...

Ten flashes of light covered almost half the Sand shinobi!

Expecting explosions, the Sand shinobi began forming hand seals for defensive ninjutsu, but the light orbs were so fast that they had only finished half their seals! Nothing happened beyond a flash of light, giving them a false alarm. Only when those struck by the light began moving at half speed did everyone realize what had happened. Watching the enemy charge toward them, their faces filled with horror!

"What kind of ninjutsu is this? Could it be time ninjutsu?" Chiyo was frantic. With her strength approaching that of a Kage, she had swiftly dodged out of range of the light orbs, but seeing almost half the Sand shinobi slowed, she knew her force would suffer terrible losses if she failed to handle this properly!

Seeing the enemy almost upon them, Chiyo shouted, "Everyone, use Wind Array Wall! Damn it, there's no time! Get out of the way!"

Ignoring the despair in their enemies' eyes, the Holy Knights slammed into the ranks of the Sand shinobi!

"Aah! Aaaah!"

Screams rang out as flesh and blood flew! Watching the enemy trample a bloody path through their comrades, the Sand shinobi who had escaped the slowing technique glared furiously at the Holy Knights as they prepared to wheel around for another charge!

But the Holy Light Clerics gave the Sand shinobi no chance to vent their anger. The fully charged holy light cannons suddenly fired two enormous light orbs. They streaked across the sky and landed beside the Sand shinobi who had just dodged the Holy Knights' charge.

A powerful suction engulfed everything within a twenty-meter radius. The Sand shinobi who failed to react were instantly churned into pulp. Those farther away hurriedly drove their kunai deep into the ground, hoping to keep themselves from being dragged in! Despair filled their hearts as they drew ever closer to the center, but suddenly, the suction stopped! Just as the Sand shinobi were celebrating their narrow escape-

Boom! The air shuddered, and a ring of light swept outward! The eyes of the Sand shinobi still struggling and rejoicing burst, blood poured from every opening in their faces, and they collapsed like heaps of mud, never moving again!

Chiyo coughed up a mouthful of blood. Had she not reacted quickly and used her puppet's Mechanism Shield Sealing Technique to barely block the head-on impact, she might have died there too. In that brief span, her force of over a hundred had been reduced to barely a dozen survivors! Her aged body trembled faintly!

"This isn't war. It's a massacre!"

"Everyone, scatter and retreat immediately! You must bring back intelligence on the enemy!" Chiyo said through gritted teeth. If they hadn't been caught at such a terrible disadvantage by their lack of information, their losses would never have been so severe!

"Oh? Trying to run?" Ria swiftly darted out as she spoke!

"Little girl, don't get cocky!" Chiyo suddenly drew a deep breath and spat out a huge cloud of green smoke. "Enjoy the gift I've left you!" Then she rapidly formed hand seals! "Rising and Falling Technique!"

A breeze suddenly sprang up, blowing the green smoke toward the Holy Light Clerics as they regrouped!

Ria frowned slightly and briefly sensed the smoke. "No! What a potent poison!"

Abandoning her pursuit of Chiyo and the others, Ria hurried toward the troops behind her.

"Everyone, hold your breath!"

But she was still a step too late!

Holy Knights in the front rank began collapsing in rapid succession!

"Super Purification Technique!" A brilliant light erupted, rapidly dissolving the green smoke wherever the white radiance touched it!

Ria rushed over and used the power of holy light to examine the poisoned Knights' condition! Fortunately, they could be treated, though it would be troublesome! Ria would have to keep the purification technique active and continuously cleanse the toxins. Ordinary Priests couldn't do that!

Watching the sunlike radiance in the distance, Chiyo snarled furiously, "Just you wait! This isn't over!"