This defensive rune was created by Azrael more than fifty years ago as a way to fight back against a high-ranking Magic Academy Headmaster who tried to kill him for practicing Necromancy! It was strong enough to block attacks up to TITAN Rank II, but since Azrael’s power had been reduced significantly, Azrael had to release multiple [Mana Storage] runes to make sure the defensive rune stayed strong! Once Jason was sure that the family members were safe, Jason finally released his defensive rune, and both he and Gina flew off the ground as multiple magic rays slammed into where they had been! Jason called on multiple high-level subordinates and ordered them to attack!

ROARRR!

Trigon and Ragnar let out massive roars as they blasted into the air and charged straight for the Machina! Varon turned his cannon blaster towards Ragnar and let out a torrent of pure mana, and Jason frowned when the attack threw Ragnar through the air! Ragnar’s power had also been reduced due to the ritual rune, so he couldn’t fight at his regular level!

More Machina began to charge out from the large Dimensional Tear in the sky, and the Machina flew after Jason while firing their cannons at him! Jason was standing on a black platform in the air and looking up at the Machina with a calm gaze, and Sexes, one of the Machina leaders, felt anger surge through his heart as he raised his cannon to fire at Jason!

ROARRR!

But before he could attack, Jason’s subordinates appeared from the side and slammed into the Machina! There were hundreds of subordinates attacking relentlessly! Dragons that used their sharp teeth and claws to tear people apart, Machina subordiantes that used their cannons to attack their former comrades, swordsmen and spearmen that rode on the back of the dragons and used their superior skill to attack without caring for their lives! Even with the drop in power, the Legion was still as fearless as ever, and they charged forward without caring about their lives, and many Machina soldiers felt fear filling their hearts when they saw the ruthlessness of the Legion on full display!

"Don’t relent! They don’t have their true strength! You can kill them! Carve a path through them and get to Jason! This is our only chance to kill this tyrant!"

Varon shouted towards the other Machina as he charged at the army of subordinates, and the other Machina gained a boost in confidence as they followed after him! Right now, there were about one hundred Machina who were all in the SSS to TITAN Rank I level attacking at the same time, and they were using weapons that allowed them to boost their power all the way up to TITAN Rank II! After taking into account the Ritual Rune that had been used, Varon was sure that none of Jason’s subordinates was stronger than TITAN Rank I, so there was no way Jason’s subordinates would be able to keep up!

The Machina clashed with the Legion, and just like expected, the Machina began to tear through the low-level Legion subordinates with ease! A female Machina bodyslammed a dragon, and she unleashed a cannon blast that eradicated the dragon’s head! The dragon vanished into flame, and the female Machina was about to rejoice, but she failed to notice the Dragonborn swordsman that appeared from behind and split her right in two! Another Machina on the side was using two cannon blasters to destroy every subordinate that tried to come close, and there were multiple subordinates getting caught up in his attack! A Machina charged towards another Legion subordinate with a scream, but Vana suddenly appeared from the side and twitched his finger!

Slash!

A blade of mana cut across the Machina’s neck and killed them immediately, and Vana vanished before moving on to attack someone else!

Up above, Jason watched all of this with an analytical look on his face. The battle had been raging for nearly five minutes now, and Jason could see that the Machina were gaining the upper hand on his subordinates. With the reduction in strength, each Machina was able to take on three or four subordinates with ease, and it was only a matter of time before someone got through to reach him!

’Rooks, get into formation for [Great Wall]. Bishops prepare to use [Mana Blast]. Pawns, sacrifice yourself. You have no use in this battle.’

Jason quickly gave out commands to the Legion, and all the subordinates immediately obeyed his orders! The pawns who had been struggling against the Machina quickly killed themselves using [Pawn’s Sacrifice], and their deaths allowed their power to flow towards their Legion commanders and increase their strength! The boost in strength allowed the rooks and bishops to push back against the Machina, and the Rooks quickly moved to form a Great Wall between the Machina and Jason! The Bishops prepared their attacks, and all the Machina actually felt fear in their hearts when they sensed the buildup of mana! The [Mana Blast] skill allowed Bishops to increase their attack output by one hundred percent, so once the Bishops unleashed their attacks, the Machina had to bring up all their defences to block!

BOOOM!

A massive explosion erupted above the farm, and Jason hummed as he watched the scene unfold below him.

"DIE!!"

A loud shout suddenly came from behind Jason as a Machina broke through the subordinates and reached him! The Machina pointed his cannon blaster at Jason and unleashed a blast of pure mana towards him with a maniacal smile on his face! But Jason just waved his hand and slapped the attack away! The Machina’s eyes widened in shock when he saw this, and he screamed as Gina pointed a finger at him and unleashed multiple Wind Arrows that tore through his body and sent him crashing to the ground! Some more Machina soldiers appeared as they tried to attack Jason, but Gina simply raised her hand and created a wall of wind to block the attacks!

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Crack!

The relentless attack caused the wind wall to crack and shatter, but Gina had already bought herself enough time, and the Machina felt their eyes widen when they saw hundreds of giant wind bullets swirling in the air above Gina! Gina pointed her hand forward and unleashed her magic, and the Machina quickly started to run away as the bullets hunted them down! The Machina couldn’t believe they were being pushed back so easily! Were Jason and Gina not affected by the ritual!?

Even though both Jason and Gina had their powers reduced, they were far too strong to struggle against TITAN Rank I machina soldiers! Jason had been a TITAN Rank III, and even with the drop in his power, he was still strong enough to take on any TITAN Rank I with minimal effort! When you also add in Jason’s Vympir heritage as well as the runes he had carved into his body, there was no Machina here that stood a chance against him! The same could also be said for Gina! Even after her power was reduced, she was still as strong as an SSS Rank, and her abilities as a Bishop gave her a massive boost in power that allowed her attacks to even hurt TITANs!

Jason was watching the fight slowly tilting in his favour, but he turned to the side in shock as multiple subordinates called out to him!

’My King, there’s an attack taking place in Germany! The Machina appeared from a Yellow Gate!’

’My King! China is being attacked! A massive explosion just went off in Shanghai! There are Machina everywhere!’

’My King! A Machina army attacked the Monarch Guild branch in South Africa!’

There were more than twenty attacks taking place at the same time all across the world, and Jason finally realised what the Machina had been planning all along! The Machina knew that they couldn’t defeat him! Even with the ritual that reduced his strength, the Machina were still no match for Jason, and in a battle of attrition, Jason would definitely win! But by reducing his strength and trapping him here, the Machina made sure that Jason wouldn’t be able to help out the other parts of the world that they were attacking simultaneously!