Badge in Azure

Nailisi acted on her own and killed the sorcerer at Yaoyang City, but she remembered Saleen telling her to head home before dark, and it was not an order she wanted to disobey.

She convinced Aston to cheat Sufonso and left the magic tower, planting magic bug eggs on the 12 magic apprentices. The eggs would have hatched any time by Nailisi’s will, making it easy for her to deal with the apprentices.

Nailisi left behind five demonic spirits and shapeshifted them into mages using Ultimate Shapeshifting, leaving them behind at the tower. The demonic spirits were also capable of hatching the eggs, which would have served well in cutting off the possibility of the magic apprentices betraying her.

As for Aston, Nailisi saw no need to use any tricks. If the white-robed mage actually managed to finish his task without being subjected to any kind of control, Nailisi would not have minded looking for a teacher for him.

The demonic spirits bagged everything valuable within the magic tower and hauled them back to the purgatory of the devils. The demons that Nailisi had prepared to storm the place ended up being on standby the whole time. The Sikeqinyan sorcerer was too careless and ended up being killed with just a single thrust. The demons had returned to the purgatory of the devils as well. She avoided the roads and returned the way she came, flying for Ceylon City.

Saleen stopped what he was doing when he saw Nailisi returning and asked about things in Yaoyang City.

Nailisi hid nothing, revealing the truth about her acting on her own to Saleen. Saleen frowned. “Why kill that sorcerer?”

“Master, that fellow read your letter and still intended to talk terms with you, so he apparently wasn’t a good guy. Let him go and he will come back to bite you sooner or later,” Nailisi said nothing but the truth, no way of lying to Saleen, unless she canceled the soul bond on her own.

“Nailisi, did you really think I’d be afraid of a level eight sorcerer?”

“You’re not, but you can’t say the same for those around you. Not all of them are as strong as you are. Master, better kill off troubles from the start than to let it fester,” Nailisi retorted. If the dead sorcerer were to see the conversation between her and Saleen, his jaw would have dropped to the floor.

How can a bonded creature talk back to their master?

Saleen did not mind. He found himself increasingly able to see what Nailisi was thinking. It was the perfect manifestation of the soul bond.

Saleen had let the soul bond between him and Nailisi reach a perfect state. In such a state, there would not be any misunderstandings between the two. Saleen did not even need to express his orders clearly for Nailisi to get what he wanted. In battle, their synchronization with each other would have definitely been perfect.

Saleen had a good number of bonded creatures at his disposal. The elemental creatures and ancient warriors were, strictly speaking, bonded creatures, yet Saleen had only one who was intelligent and capable of advancing without limit: Nailisi.

“Whatever. Nailisi, you don’t get it. I had you persuade the sorcerer to leave because I had no intentions of moving against Yaoyang City right away. I can’t just go about destroying the place. That city will be mine and I want it whole. It’s easy to kill Earl Sufonso. I wouldn’t have felt any pressure dealing with him even if he was a golden grand swordmaster, but I wanted to do it in a perfectly justifiable manner.”

“Master, do you really need to justify yourself taking someone else’s city?”

“I destroyed Ironwall City because I wanted revenge against Danny for attacking my Lonestar City. The thing between me and Earl Sufonso is personal, and it would be a hell lot of trouble taking Yaoyang City. I have to let Yaoyang City make the first move. Only then would I be able to retaliate in a perfectly justifiable manner. I had wanted to let the sorcerer leave and hand me the tower. With a mage of mine right outside the city, Earl Sufonso wouldn’t even dare open the gates.”

Nailisi gradually came to get it. Saleen wanted to slowly pressure Sufonso.

“Sikeqinya is not Qin, and Yaoyang City is a lot larger than Ceylon City. They wouldn’t have lasted for long as they don’t have enough food. Earl Sufonso would’ve needed to ask for backup from the imperial city if he wanted to keep his city in one piece. Royal Harbor wouldn’t be able to stop a full frontal assault from the Sikeqinyans no matter how fast they went about building their defenses. If Danny decided to attack Royal Harbor, then Lex needed to retreat to the seas. I have to let Danny come for me first. If the troops from the imperial city arrived at Yaoyang City, they would’ve first attacked the magic tower. Hell, they might even have come straight for Ceylon City’s territories.”

Nailisi was completely speechless. The incident with Ironwall City had left the local nobles wary and on edge. If Sufonso was to request reinforcements and the imperial city ignored him, Sikeqinya’s days as an empire would have been numbered.

It was not some high level trick, yet Danny would have had no choice but to play according to Saleen’s plans. If he was indeed able to kill Sufonso, it would have worked in Danny’s favor instead. He would have called the nobles from all over Sikeqinya, rallying them to fight against the invasion from the Kingdom of Metatrin.

Saleen’s idea had been a mean one. He was intending to have Sufonso live in fear even though he had no intentions of attacking.

“Master, I have come to understand something.”

“And what would that be?”

“Humans are indeed far more vile than demons,” Nailisi sang praises from the bottom of her heart. She had thought herself to be vile and scheming to the extreme, yet she came to find herself very much inferior when compared to her master!

“Yeah, we’ll save this for later. Go check on things tomorrow. Replace everyone in the magic tower with demonic spirits. Bring Aston over. I can’t just go about killing everything wherever I go. What you promised him, I’ll see to it.”

Nailisi was relieved to find Saleen not pursuing the matter of her acting on her own any further. She was truly afraid that Saleen would have been angry. If Hu An had not been so ruthless and insolent, she would not have changed her mind and killed him.

Saleen needed enemies to polish himself, but he definitely did not need the likes of Hu An. Nailisi wanted to clear every obstacle in Saleen’s way. Her master’s goal was to unite Myers Mainland under a single banner, and that was a goal that could not be reached being pestered by trivial matters.

“So, where did you put the soul of that sorcerer?” Saleen did not pursue the matter further as he felt that Nailisi had not broken his plans. He still needed to craft something for Lex and until that was done, he saw fit to have Yaoyang City on edge for the time being.

Nailisi took out the figure. It was something she copied from the Holy See, infusing a soul with a figure’s head, as it had a function to house souls. While Nailisi was adept in controlling souls, she was incapable of merging the soul of the sorcerer with the figure. Her crude ways of going about it left the soul weakening by the minute.

If it was left around for too long without being crafted, that soul would dissipate sooner or later, not even giving it a chance to become a spirit.

Saleen took out a small jade bottle and handed it to Nailisi, saying, “this is the marrow essence of the angel of fear. How many blood soul towers can you craft with it?”

Nailisi took the bottle and gauged it, replying, “four, maybe five, but best just leave it at four.”

“Go make four then. Take two yourself and leave two for me.”

Nailisi began crafting blood soul towers without asking much. The blood soul towers were only precious when infused with the bone marrow of the angel of fear, or they would simply be a fair bit stronger than soul beads. Most of the marrow wasused by Saleen for experimentation. He had a little left, especially the essences, which he handed all to Nailisi. He knew Nailisi needed souls.

Nailisi felt warm deep down. She went about crafting blood soul towers as quickly as she was able to while Saleen cast his Water Flame, continuing to craft equipment for Lex. He was crafting a necklace at the moment. The Water Flame compressed the red crystal rocks as they were crafted, forming natural magic patterns. The interlocking structures had few redundant decorations on the outside.

Saleen opened up spaces within the crystal as best as he was able to and carved magic patterns within, enabling the necklace to store fire element. Lex was adept with fire element spells and was already a level nine sorcerer. She was capable of elemental conversion, and her magic chords were not limited by the elemental types she wielded.

The reason Saleen was crafting such a necklace for her was to prepare her for even more dire possible situations in the future, such as elemental isolation. A mage’s combat capacity dropped sharply in environments lacking elements.

It was unthinkable for the situation to happen naturally on the mainland. If they were to find themselves in such situations, it would have been because of a very powerful enemy. The necklace would enable Lex to store massive amounts of fire element, which allow her to cast her most powerful attacks even if an environment lacking elements. It was more precious than any equipment he had ever crafted, and Saleen went at it meticulously, time passing without him noticing.

Nailisi finished crafting the blood soul towers before Saleen finished the necklace. She knew it was difficult for her to craft the figure, and so she went about chucking the sorcerer’s soul into a blood soul tower. Nailisi envied Saleen for having figures, yet Saleen had no intention of crafting any figures and she was incapable of doing so. Nailisi went glaring at that ragged figure she had in frustration.

She was incapable of comprehending how astrologers controlled their figures, yet she was capable of mimicking the way Van Gogh did it, to a certain extent. Powerful figures were far more useful than ancient warriors, and they were capable of being repaired. Her master had Star Gathering Needles. When a figure got broken, they could be restored to fighting form again with simple stitches and whatnot.

A red necklace floated within the white Water Flame. The necklace was made with the purest of red crystal rocks and all temperatures were stored within. Magic patterns interlocked on the surface of the crystals, making them seem as if they were made of hundreds of red threads woven together.

The only place that was not interconnected with all the other parts was a hole the size of a fingernail. “Nailisi, give me a blood soul tower,” Saleen commanded.

Nailisi reluctantly threw a blood soul tower into the Water Flame. The tower hovered and fit itself into the hole. The Water Flame expanded violently, signaling the completion of the red necklace. The blood soul tower sat in the middle of the necklace like a gem.

Saleen slowly dispelled the Water Flame after seeing the necklace completed. He caught Nailisi putting away two blood soul towers in the corner of his eye, looking as if she feared Saleen would take them as well.

“Nailisi, you really want to craft that figure?” Saleen was very pleased with himself for getting the task done. The quantity of red crystal rocks expended to make the necklace would allow the Dragon Remains Combat Vessel to remain airborne for two to three years. It was anyone’s guess how much fire element the necklace would be able to store.

“Master, that figure…”

“Van Gogh’s figure is still incapable of moving. It’s a combat figure and controlled by divine spells. Unless I’m able to break the power of the astrologers completely, it would be impossible for even us both to deal with it, if that thing ended up absorbing constellation power.”

Nailisi pouted and asked, “so what shall we do next, Master?”

“Get ready for war, of course. Go get Aston and leave no outsiders in the tower. Replace all of them with demonic spirits. Don’t go about killing Earl Sufonso. It would suffice to just keep an eye on Yaoyang City. Return as soon as possible, as the Metatrin Fort need demons to construct the basements. I’m going to set up alchemy factories and have all mages from Sikeqinya work for me.”