"At last, it's him," the Infernal Crown Transcendent master murmured the words, yet every Transcendent Realm master around him caught them clearly. Powersharpened their hearing far beyond that of normal men.Heads turned at once-respect mixed with disbelief."Mr. Shaffer, you recognize him?" one asked.Odron Shaffer, nineteenth on the International Combat Units list and known as the Rage Lion, no longer exuded the menace of a predator. His throat felt constricted, and his breath was short, as though an unseen force was choking him. Remaining airborne became impossible. He fell directly to the ground.The others followed without hesitation, all eyes on him as they awaited his response.Odom took a deep breath, gazed at the distant sound enveloped in blue light, and finally forced the truth from his lips. "He's Jeff Ashcroft. Ranked number one on the International Combat Units list, the most powerful man ever to live-the Iron Sovereign."A wave of sharp breaths cut through the crowd. Silence crashed down like a heavy curtain.Odron stayed frozen, eyes fixed on the blue-lit silhouette. His mind was pulled back to a nightmare he would never forget the Aorinth Peaks.Back then, almost all the names on the International Combat Units list had assembled. The only two missing were the King of Thunder, ranked fourteenth, and the Sword Master of Yamora, fifteenth. Khaedor, the God of Madness, had led the group with Halia, the Flame Goddess. They planned to assault the core area and await the awakening of an ancient relic.One command from Leander had shut everything down.At that time, Leander was ranked fifth. Odron did not fear him; instead, pride swelled within him.Let him offend everyone, he had thought. With Khaedor and Halia around, what can he really do?That smug fantasy had shattered in moments.Halia had suffered several brutal blows before she fled in panic. Khaedor had lost even more. In front of all the masters present, Leander ripped the Blood Clan wings from his back with his bare hands. Nicholas, the leader of the Bloodthorn Mercenaries, also died alongside him.Then, fifteen Chief Arbitrators from the Arbitration Office had descended together.Leander had faced all of them alone.Every single one had fallen.That battle had crowned him number one on the list. No rival, no equal.From that moment, Odron took a strict oath: never to cross Jeff Ashcroft, regardless of the reason.Fear once dominated his heart, but now his feelings surpassed mere fear-what he felt was reverence.His mind shouted.noveldramaA single slash extending almost a thousand feet. One strike instantly destroyed ten supersonic fighter jets. What kind of monster can do that? Who could face such madness? Even a King Phase master stepping into this chaos might not do any better.His eyes swept across the battlefield.Outside the town, bodies lay stacked like broken dolls. Tank shells were torn into twisted scraps. Helicopter blades stuck out of the sand at uneven angles. The ground clearly showed signs of total destruction.On the way here, Odron had believed two nations were clashing in the Sahar Wastes.Now the truth was clear before him.This was not war; it was Jeff Ashcroft.That crescent air blade still burned in his mind. In a century of battles, Odron had never seen a weapon so terrifying. Even laser cannons looked like toys beside it.In the past, a few King Phase masters had faced armies, but most of those battles involved no more than a few hundred infantry. That was nothing compared to what Leander confronted now-an entire special operations brigade built for modern combat. Only a handful had ever dared challenge the great powers of their age, and every one of them had been crushed by overwhelming firepower, erased from the field, and lost to history.Leander had achieved the impossible. He had boldly entered modern warfare and emerged victorious.Torre and the others watched from afar, their bodies locked stiff."That's our Southern Wyvern Blade chief instructor," Torre muttered, pride blazing across his face.Skyler and his comrades snapped to attention. Their boots slammed together as sharp salutes flew through the air, all directed at the blue figure in the distance.What Leander accomplished today defied simple description. One martial artist faced off directly against an entire army.History would remember this moment.Jeff Ashcroft, a mortal man, was standing alone at the summit....High above, Leander pulled the crescent air blade back into his spirit core. His complexion had turned pale, breath uneven.That strike-Heavenrend Crescent-had been his ultimate move since cultivating his spiritual strength.It was born from pieces of ancient texts after he broke into the Origin Realm, serving as a hidden trump card and his most ruthless creation. He intended to reserve it for the legendary King Phase masters who had vanished.Using it here had never been part of the plan.Supersonic fighter jets had forced his hand.He had slipped into the town, dragging them into close-range bombing runs and breaking their locks. Only under those conditions could the Heavenrend Crescent unleash its true terror.The attack moved at three to four times the speed of sound, yet its hunger for spiritual strength was monstrous Barely thirty percent remained within him, even after pushing himself to the brink Theoverdraw had rattled his spirit core.Without the Devourer Form and his Origin Realm foundation, that strike would haveshattered his spirit core and scarred his soul forever.Victory had come at a steep price.Worth it, his heart insisted. Every d*mn bit of it.A week would regain his spiritual strength. More significantly, the strain had hardened his spiritual strength, bringing him a firm step nearer to the next realm.Blue radiance bathed his body, yet he remained coiled and alert. His senses pushed to their breaking point as his gaze swept the battlefield. Is this really over, or are more troops on the way?The battlefield stayed deathly still as he counted the time in his head. After what felt like forever, he let the tension drain from his body, certainty taking hold at last. That's it. They have nothing left to throw at me.The fight exhausted Leander completely, but no regret remained. Instead, his chest was filled with a fierce, electric excitement. This was precisely what he intended: to make everyone, especially the powerful ruters of this age, aware of the cost of crossing him. The blue glow around him faded and disappeared. A sharp step broke the silence under his foot, causing him to lurch sideways as he soared over a thousand feet in aflash.Then a tiny dark speck floated close to his side, trying to slip away unseen. Leander darted forward and caught it midair.A compact surveillance drone rested in his palm, its cold lens staring back at him.He knew the minds behind this army were watching through that single eye.So you're all hiding back there, he mused. Fine. Watch closely.He aimed the camera at his face, raised a finger, and his tone was icy and firm. "Burn this into your memory. I, Jeff Ashcroft, will never forget. One day, I step onto your ground myself."A smirk touched his lips as he added, "Every score gets settled."His hand closed.The drone crumpled and burst apart, fragments scattering into the air like ash.On the 5th of October, Leander stood alone at the edge of the Sahara Wastes and defeated a thousand troops.