Badge in Azure

When soldiers sparred with each other, they mainly used wooden spears. Most Qin people were trained in swordsmanship, so even children would have toys like wooden spears and wooden swords, using them to train up some techniques from a young age. Long military weapons were difficult to find so it was difficult to train oneself in these weapons before one was fully grown.

All sorts of spears, halberds, and axes were tools for killing on the battlefield. Ordinary swords and knives were no match for heavy-armored soldiers.

On the sparring grounds, soldiers used wooden spears against each other one on one, five versus five, or forty against forty.

Sparring was only an excuse. Saleen and Lex just wanted to observe the matches and very soon, they were able to lock onto Tyrant as a target. Another soldier with similar physique was immediately eliminated by Lex. The God’s ring was sensing something!

Soldiers rehearsed killing with all their might on the sparring ground. Even though they were only armed with wooden spears against heavy armor, quite a number of soldiers were still seriously injured. Fortunately, there were mages allocated to the regiment of soldiers for healing purposes. All of them gave everything they had.

It was Tyrant’s turn soon. He held his wooden spear and walked into the arena that was designated for solo sparring.

Saleen regretted the set up slightly. He spoke to Lex softly while he was thinking. If they had known that they would be able to find their target so easily, they should have brought Eleanor along. The assassin would not be able to use his full powers over such a long distance, but Eleanor’s long bow would definitely have the upper hand over the assassin.

Once again, Saleen sensed an aura similar to Bain’s on Tyrant. If Bain was around, this fellow would have been exposed long ago.

Tyrant faced his opponent with a wooden spear in his hands. He approached slowly and was not in a hurry. His opponent was a beginner-level swordmaster who was an officer in the battalion of new recruits. In order to join this new corp, he was willing to be demoted to a normal soldier and start from scratch.

His wooden spear struck at Tyrant without hesitation.

Saleen and Lex nodded silently in approval. His strike was clean. If three to five of such strikes occurred at the same time, an ordinary opponent would have been struck at least once. In terms of technique, this soldier was very proficient.

Tyrant’s wooden spear was suddenly raised and his strike was parallel to his opponent’s wooden spear. The lengths of the wooden spears were the same, but the position that he was holding was slightly further behind. This meant that he would need to exert more force in order to stabilize the spear.

Both of them aimed at each other’s chest. If everything remained as they were, Tyrant would surely emerge victorious due to the advantage of his weapon.

The soldier heard the sound of a wooden spear breaking and knew that he could get injured even if he was wearing a metal armor. His hand trembled and the wooden spear smashed against Tyrant’s weapon. He was holding the wooden spear at a more reasonable position so once the weapons smashed against each other, it would be easier to knock away the opponent’s weapon.

With a slam, the soldier’s wooden spear was disarmed and Tyrant’s wooden spear stabbed into the soldier’s chest. The soldier snorted, bleeding from the nose and mouth. He took a few steps backwards. Tyrant sent the soldier flying out of the arena with a sweep of his wooden spear.

The soldiers outside of the arena quickly rushed to the injured soldier to remove his helmet. They were relieved to find the soldier still conscious. Two people carried the injured soldier away from the arena to seek treatment.

Saleen tilted his head and whispered a few things to the water puppet. Then, the water puppet walked to the front, pointed at Tyrant and said, “You, come over here. His Highness has something to say.”

Tyrant threw down his wooden spear and walked over calmly. The closer he was to the water puppet, the more overjoyed he was.

When the water puppet was still ten yards away, Tyrant shook both his arms and the metal armor on his body burst into pieces. The water puppet was shocked as Tyrant dashed towards him without a sound.

There was a short sword underneath the broken armor of Tyrant’s right arm. The sword looked strange as it did not have a handle. The blade of the sword was fixed onto the upper arm and extended out from the palm.

There was a dramatic change in events. Of all the soldiers that were sparring in the arena, about one-tenth of them were stunned. Their level of swordsmanship was outstanding, but they were not experienced. The majority of the soldiers were immediately aware that an assassin had appeared. They were all still wielding wooden spears, but they did not charge forward in case Lex and Saleen misunderstood them to be rebelling.

The officer amongst these soldiers gave a command and the platform that Lex and Saleen were on was immediately surrounded. The soldiers on the exterior rushed to the military warehouse to retrieve weapons. The remaining one-hundred or so soldiers took out their short bows and were prepared to shoot at the assassin.

Saleen was extremely satisfied with how the soldiers reacted as only one-hundred or so soldiers out of a total of one-thousand were too stunned to react. This meant that the soldiers that they had recruited were all of high quality and were of an appropriate age. After they had taken care of the assassin, these soldiers were eligible to be put through the Lie Detection spell.

All soldiers that passed this test, as long as they were not the enemy’s spies, would be able to become a member of Bitter Water Prefecture’s army. Lex would definitely fulfil whatever promises she made.

Tyrant laughed coldly to himself when he saw the soldiers’ reactions. If he really wanted to leave, no one would be able to stop him once he used his Shadow Dance. He struck at the water puppet with his short sword. His boots burst open to reveal another pair of boots that were dark gold in color.

This was his favorite piece of equipment. It could increase his speed and allow him to sprint in any environment without making a sound. The magic equipment was made of soft gold and could repel magic and weapons. To an assassin, his legs were extremely important, they would determine whether he could flee or hide himself successfully.

“How dare you!”

Gusion was enraged. The assassin dared to attack in front of a silver grand swordmaster like him. His long sword was already unsheathed. It formed a silver beam of light as Gusion dashed towards Tyrant.

Tyrant opened up his left hand and a huge black shield appeared in front of Gusion. He planned to stop the swordmaster for the time-being so that he could deal with the elf first. He would think of a way to deal with Saleen after that.

Puff…

The short sword sank into the water puppet’s heart and the puppet trembled violently. If water puppet was a living person, it would have died immediately and its heart would have turned into powder. Although the water puppet possessed a full set of organs, its life was given to iit by Saleen. After its heart had been pierced, the shocked expression on the water puppet’s face disappeared. It pointed a finger at the location of Tyrant’s heart instead.

In order to enhance his speed to the maximum, Tyrant had already dismantled his metal armor. Even if he was still wearing his metal armor, it would not have stopped the crystal finger. The crystal finger was a skill that Rafael had wanted to use against the Gods. As Saleen’s grade was still too low, the water puppet’s powers was limited. The skill was not something that Professionals of grade-9 and below could survive.

After the water puppet pierced his finger through Tyrant’s heart, it exploded. The power was so strong that even the water puppet’s finger was shattered. His body, which was mended after so much effort, was broken once again. It would take about a week’s time for the finger to be mended again.

Gusion’s long sword struck the black shield forcefully. The long sword broke and the black shield was split into two. Gusion’s equipment was not good enough to accommodate his silver sword aura. His silver sword aura was so sharp that even Tyrant’s magic shield was split into two.

With a kick, the shield disappeared. Gusion then used his left hand to take out a metal flag from his back.

This metal flag exuded silver sword aura, which formed a gigantic white cloud around the water puppet and swept across Tyrant’s legs.

Tyrant was still alive even with his heart pierced, but his actions have slowed down. After the metal flag swept across his legs, his bones cracked and Tyrant flew.

Lex’s one-hundred bodyguards had already prepared their elvish alchemy crossbows and ensured that Saleen and Lex were well-protected in the middle.

Tyrant was shocked. He had clearly destroyed the elf’s heart, why did the elf…He had been fooled!

Tyrant’s body flew up and became a ball of black smoke. Both his legs had been broken. Tyrant gritted his teeth and crashed down into water puppet’s body, tightly holding onto it. His original form was a black-colored ghost. It dissipated out of his body quickly and crept into water puppet’s body.

If he consumed the soul of the elf, he would be able to heal half of his injuries. “It doesn’t matter what magic spells you all have used, as long as I have recovered, I will surely be able to escape.”

Tyrant hated Eleanor to the core. There was only a twenty percent chance of success by making such a forceful entry. If he failed, his death would be certain.

The ghost entered the water puppet’s body quickly without any obstruction. The water puppet did not possess a powerful soul. It was only a body made of water elements so only its mental strength was normal.

The ghost followed his instincts and attacked the water puppet’s brain. He met with a cluster of green light.

The power of life of the Goddess of Myers was not something that a ghost like him, who was already badly injured, could endure.

“Saleen!” The water puppet immediately connected himself mentally to Saleen and the latter heard a fearful scream in his mind. The scream was made by the ghost and it was full of horror. Tyrant thought he had been mistaken when a cluster of light of the Goddess’ element appeared in the elf’s brain.

The water puppet had given the control of the Godly power to Saleen. The cluster of green light expanded violently, enveloping the ghost’s body, slowly cleansing it.

“Spare me! I surrender… Ah…” Tyrant pleaded for his life, but he was already thinking of how he would immediately report to the Holy See of where this God was hidden the moment he was able to escape.

Saleeb’s voice boomed in the water puppet’s mind, as if a God was looking down at its people.

“I can spare you, but only if you open up your soul. I want to check it thoroughly!”

“No, I will die!” Tyrant shouted back fearfully.

“Then die.” Saleen replied cruelly. He did not need someone dangerous like him as a follower.

“I know treasures. I have the locations of more than ten incredible treasures!” Tyrant was still struggling. The green light was now devouring his soul as part of the cleansing, like the sun melting snow. He could never stand a chance against the divine glow even if he was more powerful.

Saleen became silent as he focused on controlling the divine glow to destroy the soul of the ghost.