Badge in Azure

Saleen noticed it and was relieved as well. His effort in rescuing the demons had not been for naught.

There was a saying among mages: “those who treat you best, are often the ones who give the most for your sake”. The saying was something that could have been easily understood, yet it was an apt one nonetheless. Regardless of how well you treated someone, there was just no guarantee that you would get anything in return, but those who had been there for you, were probably the ones who had been doing things for your sake without you knowing it.

“Nicholas…” Saleen turned around and gestured for Nicholas to make a move.

Nicholas took out his Scepter of the Fallen and struck it hard on the ground. Gray light emanated, and the standing water made by the water prison was repelled. It gushed into the prison nearby. The chains on the four demons broke and their injuries twisted in an eerie manner, healing at breakneck speed. Nicholas took a deep breath and chanted loudly without paying any attention to the stench of the water prison.

“O’ adherents, our fates are one throughout. When calamity descends upon you, please offer your power!” Nicholas’ voice congealed, and all went inside the blood soul tower.

When the tens of thousands of souls within the blood soul tower witnessed their mighty god call for them, all could not help but release powerful soul vibrations, generating threads of power which coalesced into Nicholas’ personal symbol. They then flew out of the blood soul tower and seeped into the bodies of the four demons.

Saleen said nothing, but Nicholas had his own calculations. Almost half of the healing power was sent into Cuisi’s body, who had the highest level. The demon’s powerful healing powers exploded. He took a step forward and turned into his demon form.

The other three had yet to break through to the level of supreme demon. While their amount of healing received was small, they were able to take their original forms nonetheless. Nicholas’ divine spells broke the control on the four demons in one go. The spells on the walls were all suppressed by grade-9 divine spells, which simply dispelled instead of causing an elemental collapse.

The water within the prison was still being repelled by the divine spell, as Cuisi took a step forward and addressed His Highness.

Saleen said, “I will release all the demons, and I will be taking as many as I can with me. Here are your weapons,” Saleen finished his sentence and took out weapons made for the demons from his Devil Ring, which he distributed to the demons.

The elemental creatures did not follow them. Saleen and the rest of the group jumped onto the first floor of the dungeon, breaking through one metal door after another, releasing all the demons locked within. Saleen distributed all the restorative water he brought with him. Freed from the shackles of magic arrays within their cells, their injuries quickly healed after gulping down the restorative water.

Having kicked such a huge ruckus, the team out there looking for Saleen had their work cut short. There were already mages sounding the alarm from the high ground behind the prison. Up to one-hundred magic lamps shone on the peaks around the area, making the vicinity of the prison bright as day.

Having found Cuisi and the demons, Saleen cared nothing about being exposed. There were over one-hundred demons behind him when he emerged from the dungeon. All of them were fully equipped and all held giant halberds on their hands.

The over one-hundred demons were all in decent fighting shape. Saleen did not expect himself to be able to save everyone. He just wanted to bring as many as possible away with him.

“My liege!” Jola pointed at the sky, where tens of metallic monsters flew in their direction, and dropped stone shells burning with oil. Tens of shadows flew right behind the metallic monsters. Saleen had better eyes than Jola, and he saw sixty-four figures dressed in tainted blood armor.

“My liege, let’s go,” Nicholas rushed.

Saleen glared at the faraway magic towers. Six tall towers were erected in three peaks. If there had not been sixty-four ancient warriors showing up, Saleen would have definitely loved to topple at least one.

Magic towers were the strongest defense available to mages, yet that was not to say that the buildings were indestructible. If Saleen gathered his forces and went to tear down one of them, he would have still had a good chance at it. The swarm of six grade-10 elemental creatures and grade-9 elemental creatures numbering close to one-thousand, was not something any magic tower could have defended against.

With the sixty-four ancient warriors coming to his aid however, Saleen’s intention to take out his frustration and anger pent up inside at the towers diminished considerably. He had no fear of doing such things, yet the mission at hand was to save Cuisi. Leaving four demons there just so that he could have gone toppling towers would have been pointless.

Grasping the hearts of the people was crucial to a country’s stability. Other than for his own interest, his rescue of Cuisi was also an act to appease the nobles. The Myers Mainland was clearly a mess, and the nobles were in a constant state of fear and anxiety. Nothing could have given them peace of mind better than serving under a strong king.

Cuisi’s return held a great significance, and Saleen had his own target in all of it. He summoned creatures of all other elements, seeing the sixty-four ancient warriors flying in his direction. He only summoned thirty-six elemental creatures as he was still required to control the ancient warriors.

Elemental Stone Statue Warriors cleaved the path ahead of them within their magic warhammers, and Vermillion Knights rampaged about. The Blue Ice Maidens did not have steads, as such, they simply grew to one-hundred yards tall and wrecked any nearby buildings they were able to find. Any enemy troops found were stomped under their feet.

Six Tempest Dragon-mights rode wind dragons and made for the sky. The weapons in their hand kept changing shapes until they resembled magic stone cannons. The cannons however, were created entirely out of wind element, coalesced to the point where they looked as if they were made of crystals. What the cannons shot were grade-8 Tempest Spears.

The rate of fire of the Tempest Spear spell was higher than hive crossbows. One metallic monster blew up after another as they were strafed at by the Tempest Spears, sprinkling the ground below with metal flakes. The soldiers riding the metallic monsters were torn to shreds by the attacking wind element, with no identifiable bodies to be found.

The metallic monsters intending to gather at that point from afar turned around and fled. The flying machines were not all that durable but being able to fly at great heights meant that no conventional spells would be able to hit them. The great speeds achieved when they burst was something that not even large scale projectile throwing magic equipment would have been able to hit accurately. Magic attack abilities of grade-9 elemental creatures however, were far more potent than those of grade-9 sorcerers.

The weakness of elemental creatures laid with their lack of versatility. The potency of their spells was not something that humans of the same level could have achieved. Tempest Dragon-mights were wind elemental creatures. Their speed and agility displayed in the air was vastly superior to the metallic monsters’.

Saleen made a move actively himself, which drew the attention of the sorcerers in the magic towers immediately. The magic images quickly reached the palace of Grand Duke Iron Blood. Both Imposa and Belivare were shocked to their bones seeing the images.

“Elemental creatures!” Belivare shouted, completely losing the composure of a grade-9 sorcerer.

Imposa shouted instead, “Elemental badges!”

Grand Duke Iron Blood was no mage, but he was knowledgeable nonetheless. He yearned ceaselessly for great power, especially after advancing into grade-9, making it a habit to collect all types of equipment, knowledge regarding the equipment, and the skills to further his studies.

The grand duke was hardly able to sit still as soon as he heard ‘elemental badges’. He stood up fiercely and asked, “Master, are they real?”

“Definitely. Look, there is fierce elemental fire on the ground! What are those? Vermillion Knights, that is what!”

“The ones in the sky?”

“Tempest Dragon-mights!” Belivare was so excited that his voice turned squeaky.

“Grand duke, I think the king himself is here!” Imposa said to the grand duke.

“If we all move against him, what are the chances of us keeping him here?”

“If he has got all six elemental badges with him, I’m afraid not. Our powers lie chiefly with the Ancient. The ship won’t be able to make it back in time.”

Grand Duke Iron Blood spit at the ground in anger. His spit contained blood from biting down too hard in his mouth.

“I can’t have it. I must have him leave something behind!” the grand duke hesitated for less than three seconds, before uttering the words.

“Grand duke, you are not in the right mind. We have said…” Imposa said, irritated.

“Master, rest assured. Whatever you lose, I will make it up to you! No, I will pay twice that!” The grand duke’s eyes were bloodshot as he stared at the images. “That Saleen… what kind of luck is this guy having indeed! He’s collecting elemental creatures and made badges with them! I have to kill him. Someone who is capable enough to take my Ancient can’t be left alive for long. My plans for conquering the entire mainland will have been for nothing if someone like that stays alive.”

“Twice?” Imposa looked at the grand duke, and the grand duke answered in an affirmative manner, “Twice!”

“There is no point to me holding back, if you don’t mind yourself,” Imposa said and whistled in a very high pitch. He burst right through the roof as soon as his six legs kicked the ground beneath him. The one-hundred and twenty warriors donning tainted blood armor, who were standing by silently outside the palace, went up the roof as the whistle reached their ears.

Imposa’s tail flailed about, and the large metal disk flew off his chest. The metal disk had a diameter of over thirty yards and levitated in the air. It was thick at the center, thin at the edges. The outermost edge was a ring of metal gears. Imposa’s legs were swift, and he made it on top of the disk while the one-hundred and twenty ancient warriors went jumping up there with him.

The roof of the palace squeaked as the disk weighed on it, and the walls of the palace collapsed soon after. Imposa flew the giant metal disk in the direction of the prison.

“Grand duke, what about me?” Belivare could not resist asking. While Cloudflow people were cowardly, they nonetheless possessed some measure of curiosity. “If I can just get my hands on just one elemental creature…” He was eager to join the fray.

“Just stay behind. Imposa’s power ballooned too quickly. I’m afraid he will be advancing into grade-10 soon, and we won’t be able to do anything to him by then. It will be very troublesome for us if that happens. His ambition is something not even his student is aware of. Tell me, do you think he will stay behind to serve us?”

Belivare felt a shiver running down his spine seeing the grand duke’s expressions.

The grand duke laughed heartily and said, “Belivare, you are different. You have been with us for four generations. That Imposa is from Alchemy City after all, and there was no way I will lower my guard around him.”

“Truer words have never been said, sir,” Belivare said in an immensely polite manner, losing all the composure he had shown at the feast earlier.