As Shang journeyed southeast, he once again reached out to the Starlight Queen. "I'm prepared to join the frontlines."

There was a brief pause before the Starlight Queen responded. "Alright. Please proceed to this location," she said politely, providing the coordinates of her operational base.

"Sure," Shang replied before ending the call. Little did he know, the Starlight Queen had voiced her frustrations to the Custodian following their previous conversation.

She had vented her anger, expressing how unacceptable it was for a member of the Lightning Manor to endanger the entire clan over a personal grudge.

In her opinion, personal matters should be kept separate from business affairs. It infuriated her that someone like Shang held a high position in the Lightning Manor despite his lack of respect for others.

The Custodian, in a rather straightforward manner, acknowledged that they were well aware of this fact. Everyone knew it. However, they were at a loss regarding what to do about it.

Should they eliminate him? But then they would meet the same fate. Should they forcefully restrain him? The outcome would be no different.

Annoyed, the Custodian even asked the Starlight Queen what she proposed they do in this situation. If she had a better plan or idea, she was welcome to share it. Unfortunately, she had no better solution, which only added to her frustration.

It felt incredibly unfair to her. Shang showed no respect to anyone, yet they were expected to treat him with respect?

She despised the situation, but there was nothing she could do about it. In the end, the Custodian advised her to treat Shang with genuine politeness. After all, they didn't engage in frequent conversations. Asking for a few civil sentences every century was not too much to ask for.

As Shang neared the base of operations, the Starlight Queen explained her plan to him. They would target the one-star flag of the Mage Lords belonging to the Judgment Palace. This flag was situated near the beginning of the long line extending westward.

Naturally, the Judgment Palace was aware that Shang might one day attempt to destroy their Defender Flag, but they were willing to take that risk. At least, they would make some use of the flag before its demise.

With his sword at the ready, Shang awaited the moment.

After a few seconds, a portal materialized, and Shang swiftly passed through it.

In an instant, he infiltrated the Defender Flag.

The Mage Kings noticed his arrival but could only sigh. They had equipped the defender with a vast array of one-time-use spells, theoretically making him nearly invincible in the same realm. Yet, they had learned from experience that their attempts to stop Shang were likely to fail.

Each time he made a move, they suffered losses.

Inside the barrier, Shang positioned himself about 60,000 kilometers away. Uncertain of the extent of his opponent's spiritual perception, Shang drew back his sword, preparing to strike.

WHOOOM!

A black cloud of Sword Death Mana surged forth from Shang, hurtling towards his adversary.

At a distance of 40,000 kilometers, the opponent noticed the cloud and swiftly unleashed several spells in response.

As the spells soared towards the black cloud, it deftly evaded most of them, but a few still managed to land.

BANG!

However, Shang used his World Connection ability to sever the spells that would have struck the cloud, effectively nullifying them.

The Mage gazed in shock at the approaching black cloud.

BANG!

Then, a slash slashed through his mana shield, depleting around 40% of his mana reserves.

The Mage Lord's face turned pale, and he evaded to the side using two Mana Steps. BANG!

Another strike caused the Mage to lose even more mana.

The Mage Lord retreated once again, employing Mana Steps to distance himself.

BANG!

And then, the mana shield shattered.

By this point, the black cloud had darted into the distance, returning to Shang.

Shang didn't necessarily rely on Sword Blood to defeat his enemy; it served primarily as a diversion, forcing his opponent to concentrate on the cloud rather than on him. By making the enemy believe that Shang was concealed within the black cloud, he could keep his opponent within his spiritual perception.

He didn't even need to employ his Domain of Entropy to deal with the cache of spells the Mage Lord had prepared; using World Connection alone sufficed.

Sword Blood re-entered Shang's body, and he waited.

Moments later, the barrier dissipated.

The Mage Kings were not surprised by Shang's victory, but it was nonetheless frustrating.

A portal materialized in front of Shang, and he vanished.

The Mage Kings expected Shang to launch assaults on the three other battlefields between the Initial Mage Lords, but to their surprise, he didn't appear near any of them.

There was a brief silence, lasting approximately three seconds.

"He just attacked our two-star flag!" exclaimed a Mage King from the Twilight Dusk Empire.

A two-star flag? Attacking a one-star flag was one thing, but two-star flags were a different story altogether.

Facing an infinite number of spells from someone of the same level was distinct from facing an infinite number of spells from someone above one's level.

True, Shang had accomplished this once before, but the Empires had become more adept at covertly enhancing their defenders' power.

Upon hearing that Shang was assaulting a two-star Defender Flag, the Mage King from the Judgment Palace decided to retrieve her flag as well.

WHOOOM!

However, Shang swiftly infiltrated the flag before the responsible Mage Lord could retrieve it.

The Mage King's eyes widened in shock.

What? So quickly?!

But the Mage King from the Twilight Dusk Family had just notified her!

He had already emerged victorious?!

In that moment, the Mage King grasped the magnitude of the problem.

Shang had already destroyed one of the Twilight Dusk Family's Defender Flags several centuries ago, and now he had annihilated another three flags.

The three Empires possessed a total of 15 Defender Flags in the Mage Lord Realm. They had lost one in the general war, and Shang had obliterated four more.

This meant that they now had only ten Defender Flags remaining!