Badge in Azure

Such was this world. Once the flamboyant outer layer was removed, one would discover that a vibrant civilization was actually established upon brute cruelty. In comparison, Bifano’s move could not even be considered as ruthless.

Ever since losing their powers, the behavior of humans had become much more evil. Even the sinister creatures from the dark plane would feel that they were inferior.

None of the planes, including the dark plane, had a species which would convert most of the mainland to be suitable for themselves only. That kind of species was humans.

Back then, the creatures from the various planes who got captured by humans gradually fell into extinction on the Myers mainland. Their ferocious offspring were also mostly killed by humans. In the past, humans had captured these creatures to act as labor, rewarding them occasionally. The humans who came after that simply killed all these creatures, they mutilated them and oppressed their souls.

Once these creatures became extinct, humans then turned against their own kind. Even though there were wars before this, the mainland had all along been under a unified dynasty. After the fall of the fourth dynasty, the humans on the Myers mainland became fully divided.

There was an endless list of hatchets between the four big empires. The most recent being the assassination of Emperor Chanake. Going further back into history, the Holy See was almost withered by the other three empires, it only managed to recover some of its vitality in the past one thousand years.

Cloudflow’s fleet had plundered the other three empires along the coastlines in the past. Qin only managed to escape some trouble because of the presence of Alchemy City. Sikeqinya, also known as the commercial empire throughout the mainland, not a good nation either. All the bandit gangs across the mainland were somehow related to Sikeqinya.

The Tanggulasi Empire did not need any further explanation. That empire had the largest slave market, and those slaves were not even from Tanggulasi. People from different countries were sold in Tanggulasi. One would be able to purchase them as long as they had money. These slaves were basically obtained by robbing other nations.

The Qin Empire seemed clean, but it was merely an illusion suppressed by the imperial family. In the past two-hundred to three-hundred years, all the affairs involving the local nobles could not be brought to light. As long as Holy Rock City remained in the dark and there were profits up for grabs, the Qin people would not have any fewer shady affairs compared the rest.

The grand duke of Pompeii, in the south, was in cahoots with Cloudflow. They were involved in the condoning of the pirates. If the decay was not deep-rooted, a duchy as huge as Loulan would not crumble so swiftly, before being partitioned by the Qin nobles in the end. Unfortunately, before the Qin nobles could solidify their foundation, they were exiled by the Tanggulasi army.

Laiyin Duchy, which was affiliated with Sikeqinya, only produced two things. Those things were mercenaries and bandits. Sometimes, when people got tired of being mercenaries, they would simply switch to being bandits, and vice versa.

The Myers mainland was not as glorious as what was portrayed on the surface. In some sense, the Holy See was not that wicked. Other than preaching about that illusory paradise, only its inquisition was frowned upon.

Nailisi left Lex’s room to look for Saleen, telling him whatever she had heard from Bifano. Saleen then began doing some calculations.

Was there still a need to deploy the five-thousand strong army in Fire Dance City? The Titan Duchy would not hold out for long, it would be extremely perilous for Lex to remain on this piece of land any longer. Be it the Tanggulasi people or Cloudflow people, someone would try to capture Lex the moment they discovered her. If Bifano was killed and his men were not extirpated, Lex and her team would be thrown into a huge crisis when Bifano disclosed information about her.

“Master, hold on for a while. Get rid of that fellow when you get to the temple,” Nailisi advised Saleen.

It would be best for Nailisi to summon the demons in the temple. The space there was stable, it would be easier to open the planar passageway. It would also be difficult for people outside the temple to discover anything. Once Bifano’s army entered, a massacre would be executed, then it would be too late for them to flee.

It was thrilling imagining events such as leading the demons to massacre humans. The creatures from the demonic plane would not have the guts to do it, right?

“Humph… I, Nailisi, will become the noblest demon in all of history, the strongest Luoluokaluo!”

“Nailisi, what are you thinking of?!” Saleen noticed a weird expression on Nailisi’s face, which would only appear whenever she was conjuring some evil notion. Saleen had already familiarized himself with some of Nailisi’s habits, so he immediately questioned her.

“Master, that Bifano wants to acquire me to become his wife. I was just thinking that once I capture him, I will make him experience a slow death.” Nailisi said between gritted teeth. Saleen simply laughed, but did not continue probing, he had been lied to by Nailisi.

Even though Saleen could not marry a demon, he would turn nasty if anyone else tried to touch his summoned creature. After all, Nailisi had mentioned in the past that Saleen could sense whatever special emotions she was experiencing. They had a soul contract between them. If anyone married Nailisi, it would be akin to them marrying Saleen as well.

This would thus be the biggest insult to a mage, so Saleen would never take pity on Bifano.

The second morning, Bifano had come to an agreement with Lex, he continued on the journey. He had no time to bother about the troubles over at the Princess’ Castle. Titan had stationed two camps worth of manpower in the Princess’ Castle at the moment. The Princess’ Castle was not huge, two camps of soldiers would be sufficient for defending it. From Bifano’s perspective, time was running out, he had to withdraw all his assets before the two empires clashed and lay low in the temple, so that he could stay out of the war.

Once he had mastered magic and martial arts to a certain degree of proficiency, he would then return to conquer the lands. With the wealth from the temple, he was confident in developing a powerful empire.

The princess’ castle was not as safe as imagined. It was already September, deep into autumn. Fifty-thousand soldiers had gathered at the borders of Titan. It was in stark contrast to the two camps of soldiers as reported in the intelligence. This fifty-thousand strong army did not include the support troops and logistics troops, it also did not include the slave soldiers and a team of sacred knights from the Holy See.

The crops had been harvested, so the Tanggulasi Empire forcefully deployed one-hundred-thousand farmer soldiers to clean up the borders of Titan. If such an event occurred in Qin, the local nobles would have staged a rebellion long ago. With the oppression by the Holy See, the local nobles in Tanggulasi did not have the guts to do so.

Northwest of Titan Duchy, the amount of troops gathered had already reached a horrifying level of two-hundred-thousand. The Princess’ Castle only had twenty-thousand soldiers. It was impossible to defend this intermediate-sized fortress.

The Princess’ Castle had been totally sealed. The crops in Titan had been harvested and stored in the treasury. The castle was in utter chaos, and there was no response to the information sent to the small duke. The vanguards from the Tanggulasi Empire had arrived at the periphery of the castle, their camps stretching several miles long. Even though the vanguards had not attacked the city, every Titan soldier was carrying a heavy heart.

The Tanggulasi Empire actually had the confidence to start a war on both ends, dealing with Cloudflow and Qin simultaneously. They might have already dealt with Sikeqinya, or, it was also possible that they had formed an alliance with the Sikeqinyans.

The real danger was always unseen. As the soldiers focused their attention on the Tanggulasi army stationed in the north, a ten-thousand strong army had begun killing their way in stealthily from the west side of Titan.

This army swiftly paved a passageway hundreds of miles wide, cutting directly into the rear of the Princess’ Castle. A grand total of six towns, which held more importance, had been seized from north Titan by this army, severing all contact with Titan.

This ten-thousand strong army was actually commanded by the members of the inquisition, all dressed in uniform colors. All the soldiers were clad in totally sealed metal armor, riding on black warhorses. These soldiers were fearless and would not get exhausted. In each emblem group, there was a black deacon acting as the commander. Underneath that sealed metal mask, every soldier had a face of stupor.

If Saleen was here, he would have noticed that these soldiers were barbarians, barbarians who had been transformed into blood knights.

Each blood knight had an ability not inferior to a beginner swordmaster. ten-thousand beginner swordmasters could adequately obliterate north Titan. Even if there were mages, the black deacons would not be stopped. Titan was not Qin, it had a pathetic number of mages, and not every city had a magic tower.

The Tanggulasi army did not seem to be in a hurry to conquer Titan. They had seized north Titan in order to test the capability of the blood knights.

In the rural areas of Titan, there was a kind of fortress which only had walls about three meters in height. A fortress like this served the farmers. In times of war, the farmers would take shelter in the fortress, to resist the aggressors. Usually, an army would not spend too much time on such a small fortress. It was not worth their while.

Using a regular force to wreck a fortress like this, the casualty ratio would still be one to one. It was too much effort just to kill farmers, so no nobles were willing to fight a war in this manner.

It was different this time around. The warhorses of the blood knights could easily leap over the low walls of the small fortresses. Ten-thousand blood knights clad in blood-colored armor swept through the villages, destroying all the fortresses along the way.

Wherever the blood knights went past, the place became void of life.

The people of Titan were valiant in wars, the offensive power of the farmers was not low at all. They had run into an enemy never seen before, however. The armor of the blood knights was sturdy, and even if a weapon were to break the armor and pierce into their bodies, these soldiers who could feel nothing would not die. This feature of the blood knights was extremely similar to that of the headless riders, who were created by the black magicians.

Whenever the blood knights fell down, they would regain their footing under the control of the black deacons. What should have been a golden autumn was now dyed scarlet by the blood knights.

When Saleen and the rest arrived at the Stone Statue Castle, the Princess’ Castle had become an isolated city. The news could no longer be contained. Two prefectures in north Titan had sunk. Other than the Princess’ Castle, all the other cities had been destroyed by the Tanggulasi Empire. An estimated three-hundred-thousand people were escaping south, while most of the people had died in battle.

Never was there a war where so many civilians were slaughtered, even the black magicians in the past did not reach such a bodycount. Before the Stone Statue Castle, a eunuch stood there blocking the way. He stood in front of Bifano’s horse, and berated him, “His Majesty has given an order. The Agares family was powerless in protecting their lands, causing millions of civilians to lose their lives. They will lose their titles with immediate effect. Don’t even think of entering the Stone Statue Castle, all of you shall lay down your weapons. Bifano, return to Cloudflow with me to await His Majesty’s punishment!”