Disclaimer: I don't own DxD, Against The Gods, Martial God Asura, Martial World, or the story's image. They all belong to their respective owners.

Info:

Cultivation Realms – Elementary Profound Realm, Nascent Profound Realm, True Profound Realm, Spirit Profound Realm, Earth Profound Realm, Sky Profound Realm, Emperor Profound Realm, Tyrant Profound Realm, Sovereign Profound Realm, Divine Profound Realm and Saint Profound Realm.

World Spiritist Levels – White-Cloak, Gray-Cloak, Blue-Cloak, Purple-Cloak, Gold-Cloak.

Fleshly Body ranks - Strength Training Stage, Viscera Training Stage, Muscle Altering Stage, Bone Forging Stage, Pulse Condensation Period, Tempering Marrow, Eight Inner Hidden Gates and Nine Stars of the Dao Palace.

Beta-read by: KryoKon

Chapter 38 - War

As he watched the army of hundreds of cultivators approaching him, Issei only smiled coolly, his expression unfaltering. He didn't take the initiative to attack, only waited for them to approach. Although he had the power to easily win this battle, he couldn't help but to be careful. The bandits could always have a card up their sleeves, and he couldn't afford to take the risk.

War wasn't only about killing. It required strategy, planning, and more than anything, knowledge. One needed to understand their own power and the power of their enemy. It was only with all those factors summed together that it would be possible to win in a battle.

However, Issei wasn't a general or anything of the sort. He was blessed with a cunning mind and mind-blowing comprehension, but that didn't mean that he would be a good general. Experience was needed for that, and he dearly lacked it. As such, he had come up with a slightly simple, yet effective strategy. It wasn't anything complicated or deep, but would have to suffice for the moment.

When the others were a few dozen meters away from him, Issei's eyes flashed, and he raised his hand up in the air. It was him against an army of hundreds, but he had hundreds of swords. The amount of swords he had was triple the amount of enemies.

"[Fifty Lotuses—First Formation, Fire!]"

One of the swords formations behind Issei suddenly sprung into life. Like candles that had been lit, they suddenly ignited, being enveloped by scorching hot flames. The whips of flame billowed up into the heavens, shrouding the clear blue skies in a river of flames.

The bandits that had that been approaching, upon seeing the formation, suddenly halted, their eyes widening. Even though they were a few dozen meters away, they could still clearly feel the intense and scorching fire, as if they had come from the deepest levels of hell. It terrified them.

Issei, seeing that, smiled coolly. After all the trouble they had caused, how could he possibly let them go? Without an ounce of hesitation, his left arm was thrown up, and along with it, the blazing formation flew forward, and while it spun, sending wisps of fire everywhere, it charged towards the terrified bandits.

Just as the blazing lotus formation was about to reach the army of bandits, Black Demon, who had been quickly approaching, shouted, "Crumble!"

From Black Demon's hands, a dark-red talisman flew out. It was originally only a few centimeters in size, but in a split-second, it was already dozens of meters large. Its speed was terrifying, and before the fire formation could arrive, it was already in front of the group of bandits.

Black Demon's eyes shone with a dark light, and he produced a few more talismans from his cosmos sack, all of them being thrown into the air. It was unknown how many of these he had thrown, but the number was clearly in the dozens.

In the next moment, the entire area brightened up, and talisman after talisman was activated. Some of them became barriers, while others transformed into large flying swords. They came in all shapes and sizes, and their powers were completely different, and of different grades.

Those dozens of talismans were spoils of war that Black Demon had acquired after ambushing hundreds of cultivators. He had lead his group for more than a few years, and he had already acquired countless life-saving treasures. Even though he would normally be unwilling to take them out, he didn't have another choice in this situation.

"Brat, let's see how you'll handle this!" Black Demon's eyes were bloodshot, all of the talismans being converted to Profound Currency in his eyes. With this battle alone, the amount of money he had spent was simply unbelievable. The pain he felt at that moment was heart-rending.

Issei's expression turned sour. This was exactly the situation he was fearing the most. His enemy actually had some powerful methods to deal with his own barrage of attacks.

"If it has come to this, then…," murmured Issei, his expression grim and cold. He lightly touched the back of his hand, where the character for fire was. He could see the power of those talismans, and he knew that they weren't something the current him could deal with.

He may have countless swords, and each of them may be exceedingly powerful, but because of the limitations of his cultivation base, he was unable to control them as he wished. His movements were rather restricted, and there was only so much he could do. Activating the fire formation already required a great part of his concentration, and the most he could do would be to activate the water formation. However, he wasn't sure whether or not this would be enough to deal with everything that Black Demon had thrown his way.

This meant that his only choice would be to either use Ddraig or Heaven's Piercer, but that would put the lives of the village in risk. Ddraig couldn't easily control his own power, and it wouldn't be strange if he ended up burning down the village in the process. As for Heaven's Piercer, it was more suited for one-on-one fight, and this would leave many breaches in his defense, allowing his enemies to reach the villagers.

Issei quickly considered his options, but in the end, he didn't feel like any of them would be a good one. No matter what he did, sacrifices would be made. He then sighed, and prepared himself to take Ddraig out. At the very least, he had more hopes in Ddraig than Heaven's Piercer, since he still couldn't control the power of the latter.

Just as Issei was about to take Ddraig out, he suddenly stopped. Turning his head around, he saw Xiao Luocheng smiling at him softly, one of his hands on his shoulder. Without a single word, Xiao Luocheng stepped forward, standing by Issei's side as he analyzed the situation.

"Issei, take out three swords," said Xiao Luocheng, his hand pointing towards one of the talismans. "Attack that one and have them self-destruct. That talisman is a powering-type, and it increases the power of the other ones. As long as you destroy it, it should be easier to deal with the rest."

Issei looked at Xiao Luocheng with widened eyes, but nodded nonetheless. The fingers on his hand moved slightly, and three of his swords were sent flying in the direction of the talisman. The moment they were about to reach it, Issei snapped his fingers and they self-destructed, the talisman being destroyed in the explosion. At the same time, on Issei's arm, three tattoos appeared. After being destroyed, the swords had been been sent back to regenerate.

Not missing a beat, Xiao Luocheng pointed at another talisman, his eyes calmly sweeping over the battlefield, using his knowledge to distinguish each and every talisman. Under his commands, Issei struck at one talisman after another. Before long, the tides of the battle had reversed.

"That one," said Xiao Luocheng as he pointed at yet another talisman. It was a bird-shaped one. "And that one," Xiao Luocheng pointed at another one. "Don't touch them. They are simply decoys, and have no real power. Black Demon used them only to waste your swords. Instead, use fourteen swords to attack that barrier."

Xiao Luocheng's commands were precise, and completely exact. Initially, Issei had still been doubting Xiao Luocheng's decisions, but after time passed, he had realized that the other was actually a natural commander. No matter what he ordered, it would always bring them a step closer to victory.

Differently from Issei, Xiao Luocheng, as the son of the Patriarch of the Xiao Sect Branch Sect, had received education on war techniques since a young age. Not only that, as a wealthy young master, he had come in contact with countless treasures and talismans, and his knowledge in the area was thousands of times superior to Issei.

He also had talent when it came to commanding, and his eyes were akin to that of an eagle, easily finding breaches in the enemy's formations. It could be said that even though Xiao Luocheng's talent in cultivation was great, the area he truly excelled in was war. He was a natural commander, and it was only in situation such as this one that he could truly shine.

While Issei and Xiao Luocheng were quickly gaining the upper hand, Black Demon wasn't having a good time. He had initially thought that the battle was already won the moment he took out his talismans, but it seemed that it was no longer the case.

He had clearly noticed that the situation had changed the moment that other youth appeared, and it was unknown the amount of times that he had cursed him and his ancestors. In less than an hour, he had already lost various talismans, and the ones that remained were the weak ones. He knew that in a situation such as this, victory was no longer possible. Fleeing was also improbable, so his only choice was surrendering.

However, how could he, Black Demon, the leader of the notorious Black Demon Bandits be willing to go down without a bang? His troops hadn't suffered many casualties, as Issei had focused much more on the talismans. They could still be put to use.

Damn it all! Where the hell did those insane brats pop up from?!, thought Black Demon, his eyes bloodshot. He then steadied his breathing, and looked at his troops, which had been paralyzed by what happened above them. Seeing the bunch of unmoving idiots, the anger in Black Demon Heart reached its peak.

No longer able to constrain himself, he lifted his head up to the sky and roared like an insane animal that had been cornered, fighting the last battle before his death. His cultivation base of the third level of the True Profound Realm rippled, and he dashed forward, directly towards the village. In his hand, a small black pellet appeared, which was quickly swallowed by him. In a matter of seconds, his cultivation base reached the fifth level of the True Profound Realm.

Behind him, the troops that had been rendered useless seemed to have been awakened, their bodies trembling as they watched their leader head towards the enemy alone. The desire to fight appeared in the hearts, and their eyes became bloodshot. They brandished their weapons and charged forward, taking advantage of the fact that Issei was still busy dealing with the talismans. It was time for their counter-attack!

The ground trembled under the might of the Black Demon Bandits, and their cries for war inundated the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Range, the sound akin to the drums of war. The villagers which stood in their village widened their eyes, death looming over them.

Clan Leader Feng glanced towards Issei and Xiao Luocheng, but upon seeing that they were still too engrossed on dealing with the talismans, and wouldn't be able to help out, his expression grew solemn. He needed to stall for time until those managed to take care of the talismans, or else they would meet their demise.

He then looked back at his villagers, and just as he was about to issue orders, he saw a figure walking towards him. It was Cang Yue, who while ignoring her injuries and gritting her teeth, made her way towards Clan Leader Feng.

Immediately upon reaching him, she didn't say anything, and sat down on the ground, her legs crossed and her eyes closed. On her hands, a small pendant appeared, which flew up, hovering in front of her. It suddenly began to shine brightly, a dazzling glow filling the area around it.

All of a sudden, it shattered, and countless strands of Spirit Power flew out, completely covering the area around the village. Each of those strands then grew in size and connected with each other, and a huge dome-shaped barrier appeared around the village, completely shrouding it in a faint blue light.

Cang Yue's eyes suddenly opened and she coughed a mouthful of blood, her internal injuries worsening. However, she managed to kept her face straight, and raised her hands forward, channeling her power towards the blue-colored formation that had appeared around them.

Within that small pendant was a blue-colored Spirit Formation that her father, the King, had given her. Normally, it would be enough to stop the attacks of an expert up to the Earth Profound Realm, but since she had activated it in a way that covered such a large area, its powers were greatly reduced. As such, in order to bu time, Cang Yue forced herself to channel her spiritual power into the formation, which was then transformed into Spirit Power, fueling it.

Clan Leader Feng, who was watching by the side, seemed to have understood, and immediately turned his head back, looking at the villagers, "All of you, place your hands in the formation! Channel your spiritual power into it! We must hold on until young master Issei and young master Luocheng deal with the talismans!

After saying so, Clan Leader Feng was the first to take the initiative, and begun to channel his spiritual power into the formation. The villagers quickly comprehended and ran forward, also beginning to channel spiritual power.

Just at the time, the Black Demon Bandits arrived, their expression crazed, dashing towards the formation without care for their lives. Their weapons were raised, their cultivation base sending ripples, and the desire to fight burning within them.

This battle would determine whether they would live or die!

Read and Review~! (Again, not enough reviews. I counted them, and it should be near thirty, but surely not thirty five. Even though the numer of reviews increased a lot, a great part of it was in other chapters. As such, there won't be two chapters today. However, if there are over 35 reviews on this one... there will be two chapters tomorrow.)