Badge in Azure

“What do I get in return?” Saleen found that Arbola behaved more like a Sikeqinyan than he did. It became easier for him, as there would hardly be any hoops that he needed to jump through.

“Saleen, it seems like you have no idea still. The steward of your kingdom, the Kingdom of Metatrin, has ventured through Phoenix and banded together with the general of Guderian City to attack the Holy See’s army. However, that was a trap.”

“Was it?” Saleen smirked, seemingly unperturbed and not showing a bit of concern for Sika.

“Indeed. The Holy See deployed a huge number of Blood Knights there. The force amounted to more than a million, spread out throughout an area of several hundred square yards.”

Saleen calculated, finding the density of the opposing force to be huge, and its deployment uncannily easy. If Sika dived straight into such a state of affairs, things might have actually turned perilous. His eyes remained fixed on Arbola, waiting for what she had to add to that.

“Relax. Sika managed to escape, and the Holy See suffered huge losses, so much so that they might have just lost the power to launch massive attacks at any large cities within the year. The Holy See seems to be angered. They gathered their forces in the north and planned to launch an attack at Guderian City in the fall.”

“So, what does that have to do with me?” Saleen asked while looking rather puzzled.

“Saleen, there are some other ways we can go about solving our troubles with this war. How about I launch an attack personally at the rear of the Holy See? That would certainly solve Sika’s problems.”

“No need for that. Sika can handle her own problems.”

“Saleen, the harder your stance in this, the greater you care about it.” Arbola went straight to making Saleen’s weaknesses obvious. Sika was his weakness, and to Saleen, if anything happened to Sika, all his efforts would be for nothing.

“I have enough power to crush the Holy See’s attacks.”

“Saleen, even Holy Rock City became unable to cover for Guderian City, as it was the pope himself who is leading the attack this time.”

“Theisio!” Saleen could not stress the name enough as he uttered it. The enmity he felt towards the Holy See became increasingly intense.

“I will send men to go to Guderian City with you. Get yourself an opportunity of some sort and get rid of Theisio. Then, the entire north will cease fighting for at least half a year. So, what do you think about this proposal, Saleen?”

“Why me?”

“No one can act as a bait better than you do, as Theisio’s target is none other than you. There would be no opportunity left to be exploited if you were to be left out of the equation.”

Arbola did not bother hiding her intentions to have Saleen become bait, which sounded even more enticing to him. Saleen knew himself to be better than anyone to act as bait, as he had his Magical Element Tower with him. If things went south, he would still be able to hide within his tower, and Theisio would not be able to do anything to him.

“How do you want to go about it?”

“You pick either one of my two students to act as your assistant, take my personal guards and head for Guderian City. Do not hold anything back with your use of magical equipment, as I will compensate you with more. Do your best to kick up a ruckus and make Theisio notice.”

“Is that all?”

“That will do. I’ll bring the elders and tag along about 200 miles away from you. Are you telling me that you can’t even last an hour if you are to run into him?”

Arbola was very confident as her elders were all grade-9 professionals. They were more than capable of covering the distance of 200 miles within an hour. With her student and guards in tow, Saleen would not have any trouble keeping Theisio at bay for an hour.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t say yes to this. Sika’s problem is my own, and I’ll deal with it myself. If you want me to become your bait, you need to do better than that.” Saleen refused Arbola yet again. Even Dikas began to be feel impressed by Saleen.

Millions would have jumped at Arbola’s invitation without hesitation. If anyone was to find out that Saleen had indeed refused Arbola…

“Jalin, you have sparred with Saleen. How long do you think his powers would allow him to last?”

“Teacher, if he were to fight less than six grade-9 sorcerers, Saleen would need no help at all, and he would be able to leave any time he pleased.”

Arbola felt rather surprised. Saleen added, “Lord Arbola, my tower is one that I can take with me anywhere. If you want me to be your bait, I can hold out for more than two days. You can do whatever you need within that period. As such, let’s talk about what you’d be bringing to the table for me.”

“A tower that you can bring with you…Saleen, we will need to move within a week. You may be capable, but it is best that you take my student with you, as you will get plenty of rest doing so. You’re no commander in the field after all.”

“Alright, I’ll let Jalin tag along. I’ll hand command of your guards to her and I’ll stay out of it all.”

It was a given that Saleen was reluctant to have Jalin by his side, but he needed Arbola’s men to be able to locate him quickly and ambush Theisio. He needed someone capable of relaying messages by his side.

“Or maybe I’ll take Dikas instead?” Saleen took one look at Dikas’ cold face and decided to stay with their original plan.

Despite Jalin being troublesome, it still felt better to him to have her around instead of Dikas. Things would have felt awful if he were to have someone with such a cold expression looking at him all day. Dikas was one who would go about killing as soon as their sword was unsheathed.

“Alright, Jalin. From here on out, you will be following Saleen. I will send the guards your way when we are about to depart.” Arbola finished and Saleen excused himself.

Dikas quipped from the side, “I’ve heard that you were strong, Saleen. Even Shodikas proved to be no match for you. How about we spar a little, eh?”

Saleen made a farewell gesture and left instead.

“Spar with Dikas? I was almost covered in sh** sparring with Jalin! He wants me to spar with a golden grand swordmaster? That might easily cost me my life.” Saleen believe that the secret arts that Dikas had been practicing played a huge role in how he handled things. If the chance of killing him was presented to Dikas, the man would not hesitate to move against him.

Arbola turned around and said to Dikas after Saleen left, “Stop playing around. He fought with Jalin before and Jalin lost.”

“Impossible!” Dikas shouted. Jalin was like a great mountain that had been overshadowing him since youth. He was unable to comprehend how one such formidable figure lost to a mere stranger.

“There is nothing impossible about it. You’ve overestimated what you are capable of. If you are unable to kill 100 holy masters on this expedition, then you can stop calling me your teacher from here on out,” Arbola said coldly to Dikas.

Saleen left the palace with Jalin in tow and did not bother using any magic spells. He simply walked with his own legs towards the Magical Element Tower. Saleen had hoped that Jalin would have just gotten fed up with him and gone off on her own, but Jalin stuck to him like some kind of glue, sticking around with no intentions of leaving.

“Jalin, since we will only depart about a week from now, just come look for me by then. Don’t you feel uneasy tagging around like this?” Saleen decided to try to shoo her off using the simplest of tactics.

“Saleen, if I were to leave, Dikas would show up. Think about it. Your little wifey is now stuck inside Guderian City. If the Holy See gets tired of waiting, there is a good chance that they will just make a move. I suggest that you just bear with it all for the time being.”

Saleen was rendered completely speechless. “Alright, have it your way. Stick around if you like it that way.”

He had no fear of bringing Jalin inside the tower, as magic towers were something that worked at full capacity with their masters around. No other mages were allowed to use his tower for battle without his expressed permission. If he were to let Jalin inside his tower, he would have had absolute confidence of being able to kill the young sorcerer inside.

Arbola gathered a force consisting of 12 sorcerers and 500 elite troops of the Grukos to head for Daliang City to help Lex with the defense of her city. She only then gathered the elders and began discussing their plan to assassinate Theisio.

Guderian City was all silent at that moment. The army that was deployed alongside Sika’s forces lost half of their men. Even the great general himself was in a coma.

None of the other surviving officers from Guderian City had anything to say against Sika, as she was the last to leave the battlefield. She also lost all of her demon forces in that battle. The result of their coalition however, was one astonishing achievement to the officers of Guderian City.

The enemy forces amounting to a million were completely crushed by Sika’s army of demons. If it had not been for the fact that great numbers of professionals showed up within the ranks of the enemy, things could have been better still.

Sika’s show of courage on the field was one that was etched deeply in the hearts of the generals of Guderian City.

Sika herself had no intentions of bragging about. She had used the magic tower in the city to write a letter requesting reinforcements from Metatrin City. Guderian City was surrounded and there was no way that she could just run off on her own. There were tens of grade-9 professionals in the ranks of the Holy See army that surrounded the city. It was entirely due to luck that she was able to escape.

It was extremely dangerous for anyone to venture outside the city alone, and Sika had no intentions of fighting at the frontlines anymore. She did not fear death as she came to understand after becoming a priestess, that the ancient Caucasus people spoke the truth. Souls of the dead returned to be one with their plane. There was little to fear about death.

Said souls would revive some day, gaining fresh lives with the only demerit being losing their previous memories.

If it had not been for the bond she had with her two children, Sika would have definitely had the courage to fight her enemies head on again.

The army outside the city was divided into two massive forces. One force, amounting to 700,000, went into the valley. That force had intended to do more than just prevent Sika from returning to her home country; they also intended to assault Guya City.

She looked at the map feeling rather frustrated. Just how long would it take for reinforcements from Metatrin City to arrive? The Metal Titan had almost died fighting, and she no longer had any means of dealing massive blows to the enemy.

The army that had the city surrounded was, ironically, just as frustrated as Sika inside the city.

The one in charge was, for the time being, someone from the Tribunal. The one who planned the assault was still nowhere to be seen. Pope Theisio should have arrived a long time ago.

The two armies outside the city, one in the north and one in the south, waited desperately for Theisio’s arrival. With things left in a stalemate like that, reinforcements from Metatrin could arrive to even the odds any moment.

No one knew where Theisio was at that moment.

Without Theisio, there was to be no borrowing of powers from the oracles. The ones from the Tribunal were practically gnashing their teeth at that moment. “That godd**ned Theisio. Despite having paid such a hefty cost to summon three oracles from heaven, all three of them stayed back in the Holy City and refused to mobilize no matter what anyone said.”

The powers bestowed by the millions of adherents in the Holy City dazed them. In heaven, everything belongs to the Lord of Glory. In the Holy City, they were free to take whatever they fancied.