Badge in Azure

The Six-winged Flying Snake was as powerful as a dragon, or rather, even a dragon would not be as mystical as the snakes. Dragons originated from the dragon plane while lineages of the Six-winged Flying Snake were literally everywhere. No one knew where the purest of the Six-winged Flying Snake bloodlines hailed from.

Arbola was not capable of using the powers of the true Six-winged Flying Snakes. It was already her limit just to conjure illusions of the nine snakes. Even so, the attack rendered Saleen dazed.

There was hardly anything fake with the nine Six-winged Flying Snakes and each snake looked different from the other. The snakes were still chanting something when they pounced onto Theisio.

Saleen was unable to comprehend the language used by the snakes. He was not even capable of analyzing the structure of the language using Figaro’s Magic Formula.

The language had a twisty rhythm and powerful pronunciations. The bodies of the snakes shone with bright, colorful runes, none of which Saleen recognized.

Theisio was no longer able to keep his composure as his Realm of Light was consumed by the Six-winged Flying Snakes. Furthermore, his divine spells were ineffective, and he became incapable of sensing the light of his god.

The rules within the mark of the Six-winged Flying Snake were not from Myers Mainland at all. The specters of the nine snakes cut off the connection between the pope and the Lord of Glory.

Theisio’s God Grace Staff and Bramble Crown were capable of unleashing the energy stored within. While the remaining power within the items was still massive, they were unable to compare to that of the mark.

The mark of the Six-winged Flying Snake was definitely not something that had been passed down only over the past thousand years. It was probably as ancient as the history of Myers Mainland itself. At the very least, the mark was more than 30,000 years old.

Theisio’s expression twisted, and he seemed very reluctant. He uttered a string of peculiar notes from his throat and Saleen was able to tell that it was a dialect of the ancient Myers language. The language had been common in ancient times.

“Descend, O’ Origin Stone of Darkness!” Theisio was not finished yet. A huge, black rock appeared in the space created by the mark. Theisio stood on the rock, and both his Bramble Crown and the God Grace Staff in his hand turned to the purest black.

Theisio had a pained expression. The Origin Stone of Darkness was something that he found in that cave. The core of the stone held the seed of divine fire of the Dark God of Destruction. Theisio had only intended to bring the rock back for research purposes or as an offering for his god. He did not anticipate any trouble in the process and the Origin Stone of Stone melded with his body, rendered inseparable.

The seed of divine fire of the Dark God of Destruction had not been running away from humans to escape persecution; it was controlled by the Origin Stone of Darkness. The rock became like a piece of equipment as it entered Theisio’s body. He knew that what he was doing was blasphemous.

The rock had divinity but it was unknown what god from which plane it belonged to. It somehow ended up in Myers Mainland. Theisio was able to advance into a level ten holy master because he had attained the power of the Origin Stone of Darkness.

It was incredibly bitter and unacceptable ordeal to him.

The Origin Stone of Darkness might have been very powerful, but it was not light of his god. The purity of the dark attributes of the relic was spoken for by how it was able to attract the Dark God of Destruction.

What was even more terrifying was that the power of the Origin Stone of Darkness exceeded light attributes by a considerable margin, yet it did nothing to repel the skills belonging to the Lord of Glory. That meant that the relic was at least of level 16 and it possessed incredible devouring powers.

Theisio was a powerful holy master and he knew traits of gods well. While he was still able to use the powers of the Lord of Glory, there was no telling what he would turned into when the Origin Stone of Darkness completely consumed him. At the very least, it would mean that he was no longer in the Lord of Glory’s favor.

If the leader of a religion or a faith betrayed their god, their god would definitely find ways to send a double and kill the leader. It was especially so in the case of Lord of Glory, a god who was incredibly repellent of anything that was not his, and one was incapable of forgiving betrayal in any form.

Theisio had no choice but to summon the Origin Stone of Darkness in the life and death situation. He would have been killed by the conjured specters of the Six-winged Flying Snake otherwise.

The nine snakes rammed hard on the rock and the entire space created by the mark trembled in response. Saleen put up his Water Shield once again and resisted the tremor with thunderous rumble.

It was a sound that the nine snakes produced deliberately, which carried incredibly devastating powers. The elements around the rock crumbled and Theisio, who was standing on the rock, bled from all his orifices.

Arbola was having a hard time as well. The full frontal strike resulted only in minor injuries on Theisio’s part. She dispelled the space created by the mark, leaving with Saleen and Jalin.

The outer areas of the Realm of Light were being corroded by the Origin Stone of Darkness as well, making it impossible to maintain.

Arbola shouted a ‘run’ to her elders and then headed to Guderian City without a care. All of the elders from her clan were sly, scheming people. They all followed right behind Arbola and flew several miles away in an instant.

The Realm of Light disappeared, and a huge black rock hung in midair. Theisio stood on top of the rock with a pained expression. Even with the space created by the mark of Six-winged Flying Snake gone, he remained unable to feel the blessing of his god.

The Lord of Glory, who bestowed his power at all times, was completely cut off within the area under the control of the Origin Stone of Darkness.

The rock gave him power but at the same time, led him to fall. Theisio chanted the words and put the Origin Stone of Darkness away. It was only after doing so that the God Grace Staff in his hand and the Bramble Crown on his head returned to their original colors.

Theisio felt his skin prick. The light fell onto him again, and there was a slight discomfort. The Origin Stone of Darkness did not repel the bathing of the light. Somehow, the power coming from the heavens were once from the Lord of Light himself.

Other holy masters usually needed to borrow power from adherents, yet the pope was bathed in the light of their god at all times.

Saleen was able to talk in flight, and was unable to help but ask, “Master, that Theisio…”

“We can’t kill him just yet, but he won’t be tangling here for long. I think he has already fallen, and he will kill all soldiers within the area to keep word from spreading out.” Arbola’s words were filled with deep thoughts. She knew what Theisio was like as a person, and she had not expected even someone like him to fall.

Theisio was indeed nowhere to be found, so much so that even Arbola’s personal guards were able to pass through the main camp without a scratch and arrive at Guderian City.

“Saleen, I’m taking the thousand of them away. I’ll leave Jalin by your side to help you fight. I won’t be going inside Guderian City, heh…” Arbola did not explain why. It was a promise between the Grukos royalty and the clan. The elders and the clan leader were to not enter cities of such levels without a very good reason.

While she had indeed broke the treaty by leaving Golden Plains, it that was because the Holy See broke it first.

Entering Guderian City would have frightened the kid, Safilos. Poor fool. Who would care about that Holy Rock City of yours anymore?

Arbola did not forget to undo the seal on Saleen’s ring. “The ring is just like the mark of the Six-winged Flying Snake, a level 18 equipment. But the mark has different effects when used by different people. The ring, however, you’d be able to use it to the fullest just as it is. Your mental powers will grow six times more and 12 times less than your usual reserves, so long as you keep it ring on.”

Saleen was dumbfounded. There was a limit to how powerful a person’s mental powers could become, as they were limited by levels. His mental powers had broken through the limit of level ten and it was a rare exception hardly found in the past several millennia. Furthermore, if it had not been for his daily training with his family badge, his mental powers might have regressed.

Arbola continued, “the added stores were all stored within the ring. Any mental power recoil from skills that you’d have to suffer will be borne by the ring. Do you still think that you got a bad deal?”

Saleen shook his head. To a mage, the ring was probably more precious than a golden magic book. There were too many spells that, due to limitations of mental powers, were something that mages could have only studied for a bit, getting next to no practical use out of them. Such limitations would have practically been removed during a mage’s training.

“Oh right. Before I get to see you again, Jalin will not do anything of harm to you. So you could rest easy for now,” Arbola consoled Saleen. Jalin put her hands to her side, looking gentle and warm.

Sika did not come out to greet Arbola. She would not have felt anything even if she knew that Arbola came, and there was no way she would have came out to greet the old mage personally. Sika was still inside the house of the lord. The general was severely injured and in a coma yet not even she, a nature priest, was able to do anything. That meant that the general was beyond saving.

Sika felt guilty. If it had not been for her wanting to kill greater numbers of the Holy See’s forces, she would not have been surrounded by the powerful ones. She was able to return unscathed, yet the general suffered for her actions.

Things were running smoothly within Guderian City. There was a vice general taking over, now that the general was in coma. Sika’s demon army suffered massive casualties. There were fewer than a thousand under her command. The other armies of the nobles were still mostly intact for not having direct contact with the main battlefield. At the very least, they were not being systematically slaughtered.

Saleen recalled his elemental creatures and killed his way through. The elemental creatures served as meat shields. All of them suffered one kind of injuries or another when they reached Guderian City. The Holy See army was well stocked in terms of equipment. When Saleen was killing his way through the front, the forces that regrouped at the rear attacked the elemental creatures with all manner of equipment.

Things were tense in Guderian City, but they were unable to attack without thought, as magic cannons were incapable of locking onto a mage like Saleen.

The Winged Skull stood on the spirit false dragon and shouted at the city. It was rare to see sound transmission magic used by spirits, and the Winged Skull was using their own voice. The troops in the city were only at ease when they realized that the pitch black spirits outside were forces sent from Metatrin City. But there was no way the Holy See would deploy armies of spirits, unless the pope had gone insane.

Saleen did not trouble the garrison and chose to fly into the city. He landed at the walls and flashed his badge. It was impossible to duplicate that type of magic equipment. Two demons walked up and bowed to Saleen, before the mage at the city was able to do any inspection. The demon had been waiting for Saleen’s arrival at the city walls, and they were arranged to stay there by Sika.

The battlements at the walls were de-alerted after his identity was confirmed, allowing the spirits to fly into the city.

Saleen missed Sika very much, so much so that he took a demon with him and flew straight for the house of the lord. Oh Sika, you really are a reckless Caucasian for creating such a huge mess.

Saleen was right. If Arbola had not showed up and faced off against Theisio, Saleen would have had no idea of what he could have relied on to stand against Theisio’s attacks.