Badge in Azure

The 30 yard wide opening allowed the demon army to quickly charge outside from within the purgatory of devils at very high speeds. Nailisi watched the happenings at the earl’s residence. A black-robed mage escaped in shambles from the storm. Nailisi was able to see clearly the two magic symbols on the robe of the mage.

It was a grade-8 mage. The badge they wore said that they were a royal mage from Sikeqinya. It was no wonder that Earl Sufonso dared launching an attack. There were those sent from the imperial city within the earl’s residence to protect his family.

The black-robed mage held someone, who looked to be in their twenties and wore expensive clothing, which was rendered all tattered at that moment. It was only possible to tell that the person was someone important in the earl’s residence from the material of their clothes.

Nailisi was not yet done releasing her demons, and she had no choice but to send the ancient warriors to intercept them. If it was within a short distance, there was no way the sorcerer would be able to outrun the ancient warriors.

The two ancient warriors went after the sorcerer with their spears in hand. The sorcerer was utterly terrified, as they were able to tell that the two at their tail were grade-9 warriors. The warriors gleamed with a red sheen all over them and blocked their way in an instant. The warriors went on to point their spears in Nailisi’s direction, telling their captives where to head.

The sorcerer had no choice but to submit, as they would only have a chance of making it out on top with a grade-9 warrior by their side. They did not even have certainty that they would be able to escape. If they went all out, they might end up killing one of the warriors, but the person under their protection would have no doubt died.

The sorcerer, under the threat of the spears carried by the ancient warriors, came before Nailisi. They saw Nailisi opening the gate to her space, from which demons gushed out; the scene was an utterly terrifying one to them. With their enemies being so powerful, it was a wonder why the Imperial city would have thought an army of 100,000 strong would be able to solve their problems.

“Mage, who is that with you?” Nailisi took out the Gray Memory and held it in her hand. The spear was very threatening to the mage, as a shield erected by a grade-8 mage would stand no chance against one thrust from that spear.

“This…” The mage hesitated, before continuing, “This is Earl Sufonso’s son.”

“He did have a way of producing sons, hehe.” Nailisi smirked eerily for a moment, before lashing out with her spear all of the sudden. The sorcerer was not simply going to roll over. A giant ring of fire shimmered around him and cast out. Nailisi pierced through the ring of fire with a flash from her spear, blowing up the head of the person in his arms.

The sorcerer was dumbfounded. They had not expected their unique defensive spell to be so easily pierced through by the demon! Their ring of fire still shimmered around them instead of collapsing. The sorcerer was left in cold sweat. All that was a solid testament saying that their enemy was far more powerful than they were. What surprised them even further was the power of the spear in her hand. While there were weapons of levels higher than grade-10 all over the world, few were capable of attacks as ferocious as that particular spear.

They simply let go and threw the body aside, feeling rather relieved.

Nailisi looked at the sorcerer with a rather ominous grin on her face; she was considering whether or not to kill the sorcerer before her outright. A grade-8 sorcerer proved easy to kill if they did not possess any powerful equipment. She had two helpers by her side.

“Can I leave now? If you want to kill those in the earl’s residence, they are still plenty left here to kill. Your army would have done their job well,” the sorcerer asked with a rather worried tone. Their hands said that they were ready to cast spells at any given second.

Nailisi’s devil form was one that would be fine regardless of the extent of injuries suffered so long as the soul stayed intact. She did not fear the spells of her opponents, and said rather slowly, “Mage, what do you intend to do when you got home? Tell Danny that the ones you were assigned to protect are all dead?”

“All dead?”

“What? You think Earl Sufonso will come out of all this alive, because he is a golden grand swordmaster? Hah, my master has tons of warriors like that serving under him.” Nailisi pointed at the two ancient warriors as she elaborated.

The sorcerer put their hands down instead of tugging them in their sleeves, so Nailisi could see them clearly.

“I am a palace sorcerer.”

“Palace sorcerer…let me think. I don’t want to kill you just yet, so what should I do with you?” Nailisi had time to think about it as she still needed time to release her demon army; she would have killed the sorcerer right there and then otherwise.

The sorcerer was very tense. They were not all that old, just a little above the age of 80. They were apparently able to feel that the growth of their magic chords had been enhanced for the past several years, and it would not be a problem advancing to grade-9. That would mean that their life would be a long one if they succeeded. They were not ready to leave the world just yet, and they certainly had no intention of dying soon. As such, they waited for the tall demon before them to continue.

Nailisi’s other two heads kept watching what was going on within the city. Armies quickly closed in on where they were and were met with the demon army. The rate of advancement of the demons within the purgatory of devils had grown as well. A demon would advance to become a supreme demon almost every week.

The power of a supreme demon was at least equivalent to a grade-7 professional. If the demon in question proved to be an intelligent one, their combat powers would be equivalent to grade-8 humans or higher. The pinnacle of power of a supreme demon would be at least equivalent to that of a golden grand swordmaster. Any higher than that, they would be called a devil. That was the standard set about ten years ago.

The demon plane was closely connected to the Myers Mainland, and shared even the same power levels. When power across the entire mainland was increased, the same happened to demons on the demon plane as well.

Nailisi’s 100,000 demons trained and fornicated within the purgatory of devils. If it was not for Nailisi placing a strict order forbidding them from growing their numbers, their numbers would have easily doubled by then. The reproductive abilities of the demons were formidable. So long as they had enough to eat, they would be easily able to give birth to the next generation, and adolescent demons were born equipped with combat capacities equal to that of common human warriors.

The adolescent demons boasted power comparable to junior swordsmen. When they were fully grown, they would sport combat capacities equal to swordmasters, and a barehanded demon was capable of taking on two or three human swordmasters.

Only when humans who had reached grade-7 and above, where the effects of intelligence came into play, would be able to fight to a tie with said demons. Only when humans surpassed grade-9, would they begin to have an edge. Humans of grade-12 and above would possess the ability to close the gap of power inherent between races. Even gods would have feared humans of grade-12 and above.

There were many peculiar bloodlines capable of holding their own against humans. For example, the Luoluokaluo, were able to consume formidable powers without suffering the resulting recoil, converting the consumed powers as their own.

With 30,000 demons released, there were only demonic spirits and adolescent demons left within the purgatory of devils. Nailisi put the collection of purgatories away and told the sorcerer, “Royal mages should be bound by contracts. If I don’t kill you now, you’ll come back to work against my master. So, tell me, what should I do about you?”

“Technically-speaking, I serve only His Highness, Emperor Danny. The contract I signed did not have anything to do with the royal family. If Emperor Danny ends up dead, I’d be free,” The sorcerer answered Nailisi’s questions carefully. They were regretting the decision of not going to attack Ceylon City with Earl Sufonso, sending their mates there instead.

No one would have thought that such powerful enemies remained at the rear, and even escape came to be a luxury. If they had not bothered rescuing Earl Sufonso’s son, escaping only on their own, they might have actually made it. “The kid really dragged me into this mess!”

“I assume Emperor Danny is a professional.” Nailisi had one of her ancient warriors lead the demon army to attack their enemies, while she and the remaining ancient warrior stood by the sorcerer’s side, preventing any escape attempts. Nailisi was not a demon without a brain. If the sorcerer was unwilling to fight their way out, that meant that they were willing to talk, which in turn meant a lot could be learned.

It was without a doubt that she would have simply been able to kill off the sorcerer and steal their memories later. Nailisi had yet to make it to grade-10 and was not a true devil incarnate. If she were to do so, it would result in a certain degree of loss in the memories extracted, and useful information might be lost as a result.

“Far more powerful than Earl Sufonso,” The sorcerer answered carefully.

“If I just let you go, you won’t be doing anything to betray Danny, correct?”

“Indeed.”

“Then be my prisoner, mage.” Nailisi grinned. As she was still in her demon form, her grin remained a terrifying one. Any other of the three heads moving would have been able to scare the wits out of the sorcerer. It was all made worse by the fact that demons were known to eat people. If they ended up dead at the hands of that demon, there would not even be a body left to be found later.

The sorcerer knew the demon was good at controlling souls. If they ended up being eaten by the demon, their soul would remain captive as well.

“I can’t. Demons can’t be trusted,” The sorcerer answered bitterly. It had been because of their own abilities that they became a palace mage. A knowledgeable sorcerer with a lineage was seen as a commodity to be fought over wherever they went. Even Nailisi would not simply go about killing them.

It was a given that the one outside the city was an exemption. That one conspired with Earl Sufonso to move against Jason after all.

Seeing how Saleen toiled to craft equipment, she had wanted to take several sorcerers more to do the dirty work for Saleen.

Nailisi felt rather frustrated hearing the sorcerer’s answer. Demons did not have a good reputation, and it was indeed difficult to get the sorcerer to believe her.

“How about this, let’s sign a contract,” Nailisi told the sorcerer, mimicking Saleen’s tone.

“A contract?”

“Yes. I will not harm you if you become my prisoner, at least until we meet my master. My master is the king of the Kingdom of Metatrin, Saleen Metatrin. I don’t mind if you don’t believe me, but you’d at least believe a true mage, wouldn’t you? I might be a demon, but I’m powerless against the power of a contract!” Nailisi said as she took out a blank scroll paper. She realized all of a sudden that her master’s habit of getting ready to make and sign contracts with others had rubbed off on her.

The sorcerer was exasperated. While they knew they could kill the ancient warrior, they had no certainty of being able to kill the demon. They were knowledgeable enough to know that most demons had only one head. They had never seen a three-headed one before, and furthermore, one who easily pierced their own area of the ring of fire.

Nailisi smiled with pride as she looked at the sorcerer write their own contract. “If I take a sorcerer back to him, master won’t hold anything against me about killing all of Sufonso’s family, right?”

The demon army clashed with the army at the center of Yaoyang City. The one to have their lines collapsing entirely were the Sikeqinyans. The demons killed with impunity while the supreme demons cast spells and wrecked multiple buildings. While there were no metal flyers involved that time, Yaoyang City would have suffered the same fate as Ironwall City, reduced to a chapter in history books.