"We require your help, Young Master Shang."
Shang had just left his Isolation Chamber after 150 years when he immediately got contacted by Amarius.
"Yes?" Shang asked.
"This time, we need you somewhere else," Amarius said. "Please, leave the Isolation Barrier so that the Custodian can contact you."
"Sure," Shang said before cutting the connection and leaving the Isolation Barrier.
Some seconds later, the Custodian contacted him.
"What do you need?" Shang asked.
"I need you for the Mage Lord battlefield," the Custodian said.
"That's a first," Shang said.
"The Twilight Dusk Empire has started to ramp up their pressure in the Mage Lord battlefield recently," the Custodian explained. "I believe that the Twilight Dusk Emperor managed to get rid of the suppressive effects of the contract first."
"The contract is supposed to enforce that Archmages and Ancestral Mages are the most important in the war. That means that planning on taking over an enemy territory via only the Mage Lord territory wouldn't be in the spirit of the war."
"But with the restriction gone, the Twilight Dusk Family is going all out, sending out one Mage Lord after the other."
"At the same time, there have been instances of Initial Mage Lords purposefully falling back to the Peak Ancestral Mage Realm to fight in the Ancestral Mage Realm Zones."
"Reaching the Initial Mage Lord Realm at 2,000 years of age, comprehending Concepts for another 2,000 years with the mental strength of a Mage Lord, and then falling back down to fight for 1,000 years as a Peak or Late Ancestral Mage is a tactic that is obviously not in the spirit of the war."
"But they are doing that anyway."
"Additionally, we have found that some Ancestral Mages and Mage Lords are using tools created by several other Ancestral Mages and Mage Lords to gain an unfair advantage in battles."
"In short, the Twilight Dusk Family is putting an immense amount of pressure on us, and we can't use the same tactics since we are still suppressed by the contract," the Custodian said.
"Seems problematic," Shang answered evenly.
"It is," the Custodian answered. "I need you to destroy the one-star Defender Flag for the Mage Lord Realm of the Twilight Dusk Empire. It's defended by a very powerful Initial Mage Lord with a fourfold Spirit Sense, and she might even have several other small trinkets she can use."
"Sending in a Mage Lord with a fourfold Spirit Sense would be killing them."
"Are you confident in dealing with such an opponent?" the Custodian asked.
"No problem," Shang said.
This surprised the Custodian quite a bit.
Yes, Shang had already jumped levels against someone with a fourfold Spirit Sense, but this was a level jump that also included a Realm jump. There were many disadvantages that came with that, and the enemy probably even had several powerful single-use Spells.
Shang obviously wasn't stupid, and he should know all that.
And yet, he was this confident?
"Alright," the Custodian said. "Thank you for your service. Are you ready to depart?"
Shang nodded.
The next moment, a portal opened in front of Shang, and he charged through it.
In an instant, Shang shot into the enemy barrier, and the entire world seemed to freeze.
The Mage Kings were shocked.
Did the menace just charge to his death?!
Didn't he know how brutally they defended that flag?!
And then, the enemy Mage Kings became excited.
He was finally dead!
He couldn't possibly survive that!
Winning against the defender of this flag didn't need Battle-Strength but resources!
Inside the barrier, Shang stopped for a moment.
The territory that a Mage Lord could attack and defend was far bigger than an Ancestral Mage's territory.
An Ancestral Mage could only claim and defend a territory with a diameter of 10,000 kilometers.
A Mage Lord, on the other hand, could claim and defend a territory with a diameter of 100,000 kilometers.
This meant this barrier had a radius of 50,000 kilometers, and the Spirit Sense of a Mage Lord with a fourfold Spirit Sense was 40,000 kilometers. This meant that the Mage Lord could see almost the entire barrier.
And Shang?
With his 3,000 kilometers?
Not much.
Stuff like this hadn't been a problem in Shang's previous fights since the opponents in the Seventh Realm had always appeared right in front of Shang.
But this one?
No, Shang would need to get close.
Even more, Shang was actually in even more danger than one would think.
One had to remember that if any fight continued for over a week, both combatants would die.
So, if the Initial Mage Lord were willing to flee from Shang for an entire week, both of them would die.
This obviously wasn't possible when Shang was fighting Ancestral Mages since he could always see them, but a Mage Lord would be able to see him far earlier than Shang could see them.
Then, they could just move in a direction that Shang wasn't moving in while keeping their distance.
Shang's bandage told him when someone looked at him, but it didn't tell him from where they looked at him.
If Shang's opponent actually decided to go through with this tactic, Shang would most likely die.
But the chances of that happening were very small.
After all, the enemy wasn't prepared for Shang, had a fourfold Spirit Sense, didn't get any of these orders from their superiors, and was not willing to sacrifice their life.
It wouldn't happen this time, but it was important that Shang kept this in mind for any future fights.
After entering the barrier, Shang shot toward the middle.
Very quickly, his bandage told him that someone was looking at him, but Shang couldn't see the person in question.
Shang continued flying forward, but no one attacked him.
After a couple of seconds, Shang finally managed to see his enemy, but Shang didn't act like he had seen them already.
Only when he was 2,500 kilometers away did he act like he saw them.
It was a black-haired woman with a smirk on her face.
"You shouldn't have come here," she said with an arrogant voice.
Then, she summoned 20 small balls and broke them.
WHOOOOOOOM!
The next moment, 20 different powerful Spells at the Initial Mage Lord Realm shot at Shang.
Shang's opponent didn't need to cast any Spells.
Hundreds of Mage Lords had already done that for her.
She only needed to unleash them.
Battle-Strength didn't matter when someone was shooting an avalanche of Spells at someone else.
