Two days later, the barrier had become transparent yet again.
When the Mage King saw Shang, she almost killed someone just to vent her frustration.
Eleven!
This guy had killed eleven Mages with a threefold Spirit Sense!
Every time the fight ended, he looked more and more exhausted.
At this moment, Shang was violently clutching his head as his Mana Shield wobbled with instability.
He was nearly dead!
He was at his limit!
Just one more!
Just one more volunteer!
"Next one!" the Mage King shouted with frustration and anger.
Silence.
"Hurry!" she shouted, looking back at the people behind her.
Yet, all the people only looked at the Mage King with uncertainty.
They avoided her gaze like the plague.
"Where's the next one?!" she asked with a shout.
No one spoke up for several seconds, and the Mage King looked with shock at the gathered people.
"We don't think that he has a threefold Spirit Sense," a certain person standing behind nearly everyone said.
The Mage King looked over. "What?" she asked.
"We think he played us for a fool," the guy said.
That guy was one of the most powerful people with a fourfold Spirit Sense of the Judgment Palace.
He was a Peak Mage Lord and a genuine King Contender.
He had a 50% chance of being the chosen one for the next tournament from the Judgment Palace.
"But he's nearly dead!" the Mage King shouted.
"How long has he been nearly dead?" the man asked.
And then, the Mage King opened her eyes in surprise.
Yes, how long had he been nearly dead?
But then, how?!
Some seconds of silence passed.
The Mage King's arms shook in unending rage.
SLAP!
And then, she slapped herself with nearly all her power.
"I'M SO FUCKING STUPID AND ARROGANT!" she shouted in rage.
The couple of volunteers acted like they hadn't seen anything.
'I'm so fucking stupid!' she repeated in her mind. 'As soon as I thought that I saw through his plan, I ignored every sign of the opposite being true!'
'I believed that, as a Mage King, I was better in scheming than him and that I couldn't be outsmarted by some mere Ancestral Mage.'
'My arrogance is the reason why we lost so many powerful Mages!'
She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.
She took another one and exhaled again.
And again.
And one last time.
"He got me," she said quietly to herself.
At this moment, she could see Shang slowly recovering.
She wanted to immediately send someone in to take advantage of the opportunity.
Yet, she held herself back.
It was difficult to accept when one was wrong, but as a Mage King, she had that ability.
"Fine," she said with a calmer tone, turning to the volunteers again.
This time, she was looking at the ten people with fourfold Spirit Senses.
"Do any of you want to go next? Also, I need to know if you want to immediately plunge an Attack Flag into the ground after winning or if you want to retreat after that? Chances are that the Lightning Manor will counter with an even stronger Mage," the Mage King asked.
Earlier, she had simply commanded the people to charge forward, but now, she was actually talking to them and asking for their opinions.
This was the difference in the value of someone with a threefold Spirit Sense compared to someone with a fourfold Spirit Sense.
How many Ancestral Mages with a fourfold Spirit Sense were there in the Judgment Palace in total?
A bit less than 200.
They were rarer than Mage Lords by over 50 times!
They were extremely valuable.
The ten people looked at each other with furrowed brows.
It wasn't an easy decision to come to.
Their opponent definitely wasn't weak. After all, he had played with so many different Mages with threefold Spirit Senses.
Most of them wouldn't be confident in pulling something like that off.
But there was also a chance that he was just very skilled at winning without killing.
Was this an average Cloud or a very powerful one?
"If we assume that he has played with our perception the entire time," one of them said, "we can also assume that there have been even more tricks."
"For example, what if he actually reversed the duration of battles? I think it would be best for me to start."
"His shortest battle has been against someone with a Gravity Affinity, and he wanted to stop us from sending more by making it appear like that was his easiest opponent."
"I also have a Gravity Affinity, and I think I will win," he said.
The Mage King nodded. "Possible. Alright, I agree. Do you want to immediately proceed to attack after winning?"
"No," the Gravity Mage answered. "There are stronger ones, and I think I will only win due to having an advantage. I can kill him, but someone else needs to attack the actual territory after that."
The Mage King nodded. "Then, I wish you good luck."
This time, she didn't ask him to sign a contract.
There was no way that Shang could play around with someone with a fourfold Spirit Sense.
The Mage nodded and shot towards the barrier, which turned cloudy.
The war had been going on for nearly two weeks at this point, and the borders had become very messy.
There was fighting everywhere, and there were small lines leading into the Lightning Manor's Empire.
Over 100,000 people died.
It was a massacre.
The Land and Sky Empire and Twilight Dusk Empire were causing humongous problems for the Lightning Manor.
The Lightning Manor was using all of its resources to resist them.
Yet, one spot held firm.
The southeastern corner of the Lightning Manor held as firm as a mountain.
It was immovable.
It was impenetrable.
And only one person was responsible for that.
Shang.
Shang alone was keeping the Judgment Palace from joining the war.
The entirety of the Judgment Palace was being held back by one small warrior at the Initial Sixth Realm, who was fighting against people at the Early Sixth Realm.
But now, things might change.
The Judgment Palace sent the first Mage with a fourfold Spirit Sense at Shang.
The conflict about Shang's territory reached unprecedented intensity!
