In each Sunlight Mage, a great rune on their chest was activated, allowing them to increase their output of energy, enhancing the power of their spell.
The Sun Beam was very powerful and Rolo did not dare to take it head-on, but due to the speed of the attack, he could not dodge it. So he channeled all of his energy and made dozens of shields of ice appear in front of him.
The shields of ice were able to momentarily resist the Sun Beam, but those Sunlight Mages did not stop charging the spell and Rolo knew that he could not hold on for much longer against a spell that was using the energy pool of twenty Rank 1 life forms.
Seeing that he was about to be defeated, and although it would have been better to wait a little more, Rolo knew that his time was running out so he sent a command to the last Rank 2 Magus under his command.
'Do it now!'
Right behind Dante's Sun Domain, a man materialized himself. He was the Advanced Rank 2 Magus who had been standing by Rolo's side during the entire battle.
The reason why Rolo had selected this man was due to him being a very talented user of light and illusion magic.
He was also a very experienced assassin, and that was proven when he used the blind spot that the two massive fireballs created in his enemy's vision to replace himself with an illusion and turn invisible in order to reach Dante's back and make a surprise attack.
This was Rolo's safety plan, and although this was technically a test between the two of them, to see how he had the best skills to lead the army. If the commander cannot maintain his life, then he is not fit to lead the battlefield.
His speed was impressive and his hand was filled with light energy and it was about to grab the back of Dante's head when all of a sudden he felt immense pain in his head and he blacks out for an instant.
The next thing the man saw was the three ten meters tall giants covered in black armor, one on his left, one on his right, and one above him, launching a fist bigger than his chest filled with golden flames against him.
When those fists impacted, they generated an explosion of golden flames with enough power to pulverize a Master Rank 2 life form. Luckily for the Magus, a green membrane appeared, saving his life.
During the entire battle, Dante's expression has never changed, and although the illusion of the Magus could have tricked most people, his Eye of Life and Creation showed him clearly the lack of life force in the figure accompanying Rolo.
He even was able to see through the invisibility spell and had been waiting for him to reach close enough so the giants could attack.
Those ten meters tall giants covered in black armor that could use golden fire were Brain Golems, a life form sprouted from an Elder Brain and are supposed to be their ultimate guardians. They are made of modified brain tissue, in which cells can work as neurons and muscles.
The Brain Golems can use their physical bodies and some basic Animus offensive abilities to fight against an enemy.
Usually, a Novice Rank 3 Elder Brain should be able to create three Brain Golems at Advanced Rank 2, but Dante modified them, by using an immense amount of golden fire to affect their cells during their creation, increasing their power to Peak Rank 2 and giving them the ability to use golden fire in their attacks.
What Dante liked the most about them was that he was able to use them as processing centers, greatly increasing his cognitive abilities, and they will replace the help that the Elder Brain gives him, when he enters the new world.
Due to the immense distance between the Magi World and the one they will invade, the connection between Dante and the part of his consciousness inside the Elder Brain will be too weak to use the boost in cognitive abilities that the brain provides
It took Dante a long time to create them, and they were the reason why they were delayed and made the rest of the army wait.
After defeating that assassin Magus, Dante sends an order making the Sun Tadpole glow.
Immediately after this happened, the two Neo-Demons in the sky and the eighty Sunlight Warriors made a coordinated retreat. As for the Sunlight Mages, they deactivated their spell and returned to formation.
No Magus either on the sky or in the ground chase after their opponents They all were more than happy to stop fighting and they saw how the opposite army had returned to their battle formation with not a single member missing.
One army had lost three Rank 2 members and almost forty Rank 1, and the other had lost no one and not counting the small injuries in some of them, they were no different from before the fight started.
No matter how you see it, the absolute winner in this battle was Dante and the Daybreak army
"Ahh, I admit my defeat, your commanding, and strategic skills are superior to mine." Rolo knew that continuing fighting will only make his loss more striking, and was grateful for his opponent stopping his attack.
Even after all had settled down, Rolo could not understand how could those Sunlight Champions make so many calculations in the midst of a battle and always have a complete understanding of their surroundings and the state of his comrades.
He was not the only one since even some Soul Forging existences were impressed by how they could act as if they were a collective mind.
It was not the Sunlight Champions, the ones that were actually aware of the things happening around them, it was Dante that had split his mind into one hundred and six pieces, each of them focused on one individual, sharing the information among them and planning for the best possible response to every action in the battlefield.
With abilities like that, it was not possible for the boy to be defeated by an army of equal power to his own.
It was only now that the battle was over that Zatiel stopped replenishing his energy and paid attention for the first time to the armies. The outcome was something he had expected from the beginning so he wasn't too surprised and he proceeded to ascend to the sky.
"This is something called Sun Tadpole and it will allow my son to establish telepathic communication with all of you as well as scan your surroundings. It will be implanted in your hands, you can ask your leaders if they are safe."
Zatiel showed the Sun Tadpole to the Magi army before sending one to every Soul Forging in the sky.
With the ability of a Rank 4 life form, all the people in the sky were able to analyze those Sun Tadpoles in a matter of seconds and they were impressed by the little thing's abilities. Some of them even planned to figure out how to make them in the future.
Unfortunately for them, Zatiel was not someone who they could rob, and those tadpoles were altered, so any type of replication will be a failure.
Seeing those Soul Forging gave them the approval for them to use it, the Magi army knew they were safe, but still, the expression of most of them was complicated as they saw the tadpole.
Seeing that, Zatiel knew what they were thinking, and he found the situation hilarious.
"The Sun Tadpole will need a small amount of energy supplied from you to work."
As if his words were magical, all the Magi lost their reservations about the tadpole and started to integrate them into their hand. The problem was not the tadpole scanning their surroundings during a battle, but they all had secrets and they did not want people watching them all the time.
Seeing that everyone has implanted their Sun Tadpole and that Dante will now be able to have better control over the army, Zatiel spoke again.
"Like any invasion into a Middle World dominated by a powerful race, this one will be extremely dangerous. As long as you all obey my orders and do your job, I will do my best to bring you back alive and full of fortunes."
After saying those words, Zatiel's eyes become cold, and monstrous killing intent was generated from his body as he looks at the army.
"But any disobedience or rebellious actions will be punished by me personally extracting your soul and torturing it until it dissipates! And there is no one who will be able to save you from my wrath!"
The Magi army immediately becomes solemn as they hear those words, and by the fact that he dares to say them in front of the Soul Forging existences, meant that he did not care what type of background they have.
Seeing that his message was received, Zatiel looks at Heinz and nods, making him release his consciousness and cover everyone before teleporting them all.
Immediately after the cultivator's group teleportation, the entire army found themselves in one of the subterranean floors of the Sinux Magic Tower where there was nothing except a gate twenty meters tall and whose portal had a white ectoplasm.
This was a World Gate, and no matter if they were the Magi, Sunlight Champions or even Neo-Demons, they were all nervous in its presence, since once passing through it, they will leave the safety of the homeworld and reach a place where practically everyone will consider them an enemy.
This was considered a moment of truth in the life of many life forms that have never left their world, just like when a small bird is thrown out of the nest and it either flies in the sky and achieves true glory or falls to the ground and becomes worthless.
The only one that appears to be calm was Zatiel, but that was a facade as he was hiding the excitement that was filling his heart since when he looks at that gate, what he sees in it, is the entrance to the world that will give him the chance to become an even more special life form.
'This will be the first world to become part of the Neo-Demon Realm!'
End of Vol. 2 Leaving the cradle
