Liens did not explain much to Uria. He sheathed his sword and turned to leave the training ground.

Watching his retreating figure, Uria pondered silently.

"I still can't see through him. The gap in technique is vast; I can't comprehend his swordsmanship, much less discern his character from it… Forget it."

"I'll leave such troublesome matters to Lucrezia and the others. I imagine they've probably noticed Liens's abnormality as well."

Liens's change was simply too great. Even if others didn't possess the ability to perceive emotions like Lucrezia, they could more or less tell that his current state was off.

That sense of indifference towards all living beings was too obvious, and combined with Liens's claim of being only sixteen, some had already begun to suspect he was the reincarnation of an Old God.

Perhaps only a reincarnated god could possess such talent.

After this almost crushing spar and Liens's cryptic words, Uria also felt somewhat certain of this conjecture.

"Surely he won't try to snatch Lucrezia from me in this state, will he? He doesn't seem to have any romantic feelings."

"On the contrary, Isabelle and Lucrezia have been very close lately. However, they are both women, so it should be fine… I can't possibly lose to a woman, can I?"

Uria began to let his thoughts wander. In the past few days, he had seen Lucrezia frequently entering and exiting Isabelle's tent, sometimes even staying overnight.

He knew that women had close friendships, but he also knew that some people had peculiar gender preferences. Nevertheless, he was still willing to believe that Lucrezia was straight.

"Speaking of which, was the 'aura' Liens mentioned just now his Master-level ability? It feels different from the aura he displayed before."

Regarding Uria's question, if Liens had heard it and was willing to answer Uria, he would probably say, "The same, and not the same."

"Sword of Aura" was another gain for Liens besides 'Sword Heart,' a manifestation of his unified path and techniques.

This was one of his insights gained from battling Alfred in the mind-scape battlefield. Of course, to turn that insight into reality, his human emotions had to drain away even further.

"Sword of Aura" can be simply described as using one's swordsmanship to leverage the aura of heaven and earth, not through the mind, but purely through swordsmanship.

Influencing the world through cognition.

He believed that only at this stage could he truly be considered to possess Master-level technique, i.e., "Heart Towards the True Path."

Pondering Liens's words, Uria also left the training ground and hurried to the military district he commanded.

He was not like Liens; Liens was a lone wolf who cared about nothing, while he was not only the patriarch of a large family but also one of the Rebel Army's Grand Generals.

Therefore, if the Rebel Army was to withdraw, he also needed to do some work, which was one of the reasons he had hesitated about whether to continue sparring with Liens earlier.

On the other side.

Our 'idler' Liens, after finishing his spar with Uria, found an undisturbed tree, lay down leisurely beneath it, and entered the instance.

As for his previous tent, he did not return to it; it would be dismantled soon anyway, and entering the instance in the tent would only interfere with the soldiers' demolition work.

Anyway, most of his belongings were on him. His longsword was always in his hand, and other items were stored in his belt space.

As for the armor that couldn't fit, it had been severely damaged on the battlefield and given to the Rebel Army's equipment repair blacksmiths; it was still undergoing repairs.

However, what he didn't know was that because they hadn't received his permission, those soldiers had been staring blankly outside his tent, not daring to dismantle it rashly, until Lucrezia finally spoke, and they were relieved to take down the tent.

...

Instance.

Upon entering the instance, Liens first tested the suggestions he had made in the meeting several times, calculating how much power he needed to exert.

Although he had experimented many times in the instance these past few days and knew that his current power could easily shatter Baker City's city-protecting magic ritual.

But since it concerned the Rebel Army's withdrawal plan, he felt it was still necessary to test it a few more times to ensure the plan could proceed smoothly.

After doing this, Liens went to find Darnell, preparing to contact God of Absolute Fairness Elthorp through him… some matters were simply more secure to discuss in the instance.

"Your perception is as keen as ever, to be able to discern the relationship between Darnell and me."

After dismissing others, Elthorp's profound will detached from Darnell, looking at Liens with a hint of surprise.

"A guess… Since this ritual is so important to you, you wouldn't possibly leave it entirely unsupervised. Coupled with Darnell's dominant position among the three priests, it's easy to conclude that he is the High Priest."

Liens said calmly.

It must be said that the suppression of emotions was not entirely without benefit; at least Liens's ability to speak nonsense with a straight face had improved.

Even Elthorp could not detect anything unusual from his emotionless words.

"Intelligence is also a form of keen perception… Is your current state a sign that you have embarked on your own path?"

Elthorp praised Liens, then inquired about his current situation.

"If you are referring to a state like that of the Kingdom's Sword Saint, then no, I haven't found myself yet. I've merely comprehended some additional means of self-preservation."

Liens responded calmly.

"Means of self-preservation, huh? Your means of self-preservation are quite extraordinary."

Elthorp could feel the immense power contained within Liens's body now, and at the same time, a power from the will of all beings continuously surged towards him.

This reminded Him of Alfred; Liens's current situation was very similar to his.

"Tell me, what is it? You wouldn't come to chat with me for no reason."

No longer dwelling on it, Elthorp asked Liens about his purpose.

Darnell, standing by, was greatly surprised as he listened to Elthorp and Liens's conversation.

Although fallen, no matter what, Elthorp was an Old God, and he had never seen Elthorp treat a human with such an amiable and equal attitude.

Even he, who had been nurtured by Elthorp since childhood, had mostly only experienced the majesty of judgment and the devotion to fairness.

"I learned from Robert that the fate of Hartwin Kingdom has reached a turning point, so I came to ask you, has your ritual reached a critical point?"

"And, the reason you had Darnell leave the front lines?"

Liens glanced at Darnell, then slowly stated his purpose.

Rewind time a bit.

In the meeting, in a corner, Robert set up a barrier with divine magic to block out sound and sight, then gravely said to Liens:

"Liens, do you know fate?"