Badge in Azure

“Relax Belivare. I will definitely have you advance to grade-10 and become the most prestigious mage in the family. No matter how strong Imposa gets, his target remains Alchemy City; it is too small. When I conquer the entire mainland and have all the first dynasty ruins excavated and studied, won’t we be one-hundred times more powerful than Alchemy City?” Grand Duke Iron Blood told Belivare with a different look after seeing Belivare had submitted to his words.

The grand duke’s eyes turned from bloodshot red to blue, and his demeanor mellowed considerably. Only then did Belivare truly relax. He was truly loyal to the grand duke, and that was not because the hulking giant of a man was of a bloodline his family served for four generations; he was loyal to the grand duke because the grand duke was a truly exceptional person.

From Belivare’s perspective, Grand Duke Iron Blood might end up being the first grand swordmaster ever to advance to grade-10. “No, that isn’t it. A grade-10 martial artist is no longer a grand swordmaster but has True Might—true martial embodiment casting off the narrow shackling definition of the sword aura, and one that resembles the ancient warriors.”

Advancement into the level of true might was a far more difficult feat to achieve than advancement into a grade-10 sorcerer. Once the breakthrough was made, the benefits that followed were ones that warriors could have only dreamed of—extension of one’s lifespan. Golden grand swordmasters could only live for two or three hundred years at most, but a true might was one with a lifespan on par with sorcerers, being capable of living for at least twelve-hundred years.

Once the lifespan was extended and that the True-Might advanced to grade-12, their lifespan would be on par with that of a sorcerer of the same level.

Belivare’s knowledge of things was limited and niche, yet he knew very well of anything regarding the ancient warriors, and that there were little obstacles advancing from grade-10 to grade-12. At the very least, the advancement of warriors would prove to be easier than mages. Once Grand Duke Iron Blood reached such a stage, he would be able to establish an empire lasting for ten-thousand years, just like the first dynasty.

Imposa’s desire to subjugate Alchemy City was little more than child’s play in comparison. The grand duke wanted more. He had made plans for lands beyond the Myers Mainland, reverse-engineering all manner of warships from the first dynasty to conquer the lands beyond and to unite the entire plane under one rule. The grand duke had even considered recreating the glory of ancient humans—the conquest of other planes.

If a being with desires so insatiable that it surpassed the likes of gods, and were willing to continue improving themselves, it would be almost guaranteed that Belivare’s position would have continued to soar.

The six imposing magic towers began attacking. Huge fireballs, meteors filling the sky, and storms appearing out of nowhere, all struck where Saleen stood. The towers were all several miles away. As they were linked together by magic arrays, the power generated was enhanced to their pinnacle.

Saleen spared no concern for his elemental creatures; it was a pity that half of the demons rescued painstakingly were instantly wiped up by enemy magic instead. The fireballs conjured by the towers all had diameters of over six yards. No matter how simple such attacks were, their sheer sizes made it so that no mage would take them for granted.

Saleen did not, however, spare any mind to take control of the demons, as the sixty-four ancient warriors had all made it there. The Tempest Dragon-mights in Saleen’s badge all flew out to fight the warriors.

The fight was simple and brutal. The ancient warriors, or rather, beings known as iron blood warriors by the Cloudflow people, all had their spears gleaming with bright red light. They thrust right at the bodies of the Tempest Dragon-mights. The Tempest Dragon-mights transformed their weapons into windblade swords. Every single slash generated forty to fifty wind blades, making the attacks almost impossible to evade.

The iron blood warriors however, did not bother evading at all. Their tainted blood armor exploded with even brighter shimmering red light, taking the wind blades and the elemental long blades of the Tempest Dragon-mights head-on, while turning their spears into tens of thousands of venomous snakes.

Saleen frowned. He was able to see that the wind elemental creatures were not doing so well, but he refrained from summoning the Midnight Fangs; they were saved exclusively for taking on the grand duke. Saleen’s intuition told him that there were even more powerful enemies awaiting.

Still, Saleen was not able to just sit by and see the Tempest Dragon-mights being slaughtered by the iron blood warriors. The leader of the wind elemental creatures was the weakest among all six leaders. If the Tempest Dragon-mights were thoroughly wiped out, recovery would take about a month, or even longer.

“Nicholas, take the ancient warriors and the demons to the beach. I will be right behind you,” Saleen ordered.

“My liege!”

“Jola is with me,” Saleen’s voice was cold as he summoned Flare. Seeing his lord insisted on staying, Nicholas had no choice but to take Cuisi and the demons away.

The group breaking off was met with little resistance. The very reason Saleen stayed behind was to keep the grand duke’s attention on him after all. Saleen still had his family badge, as well as the Crystal Finger with him.

Just as Nicholas led the demons to break through the surrounding enemy troops, magic lights from the six magic towers joined and a massive magic array appeared in the air, startling Jola.

Saleen, however, responded calmly. “That is just a grade-10 magic array, Elemental Prison. Nothing to be afraid of. It’s just being set up to keep us from leaving. Jola, are you scared?”

“Me, scared, why? I don’t use any elemental magic!” Jola answered with pride holding Tears in his hands. He refused to behave like a subordinate in front of Saleen in battles, and retreating was not an option. He was, at the moment, a powerful golden grand swordmaster, the pinnacle of grade-9 professional, and nothing else.

Seeing how Jola was eager to try his hand, Saleen said, “Go clean those goons up, before the real, big ones show up!”

“Indeed.” golden air exploded around Jola, engulfing him in golden sword aura. Only his sword, Tears, remained like frost.

A golden grand swordmaster’s flight speed surpassed that of a grade-9 sorcerer. Jola made his way high in the air. In the clash between the iron blood warriors and the Tempest Dragon-mights, a cold, longsword joined the fray.

The Tempest Dragon-mights were no sitting ducks. They lost only a bit of wind element when the spears clad in blood red aura stabbed into the wind elemental creatures, making them smaller. Killing elemental creatures with one single blow was not a feat that could have been pulled off by iron blood warriors controlled by human body alchemy. Even the likes of Jola would have needed considerable effort to be able to pierce the cores of the elemental creatures.

The tables were turned instantly as soon as Jola joined the fray. The number of Tempest Dragon-mights were more than twice the iron blood warriors. The enemy was no longer able to gain any ground against them once a golden grand swordmaster fought alongside them.

Jola had experience fighting ancient warriors. The combat capacity of the iron blood warriors was somewhat weaker than ancient warriors who were not under someone’s control. It may have been impossible to tell such things if the enemy had not been Jola. His sword landed on the neck of one iron blood warrior, and that served as a good enough indicator.

The tainted blood armor of the iron blood warriors was not enhanced! Gleaming golden sword aura burst from the sword. The armor protecting the iron blood warrior’s neck crumbled without the tip of the sword moving, and the bones of the neck underneath snapped cleanly.

Iron blood warriors were no spirits. While they might not have died simply from having their necks broken, such injuries would have rendered them incapable of using their spears. Two Tempest Dragon-mights rushed at the warrior with their elemental blades cutting maniacally at it. The tainted blood armor broke apart under such a relentless attack and fell to the ground.

Saleen was being surrounded by his own Stone Statue Soldiers. His spell had yet to be completed. The Devil Suit’s fixed magic created six nine yard tall Stone Statue Soldiers every six minutes. Saleen was being surrounded by twelve at that moment, keeping him safe at the center. Seeing that yet another six were to appear soon, Saleen summoned six Elemental Stone Statue Soldiers from his badge at the same time. His surroundings could have been said to be sealed airtight.

Attacks from the six towers stopped. With the Elemental Prison spell completed, the six towers were no longer able to attack them. Saleen wanted a way to break through the area covered by the magic towers, and he was unable to think of any. His options were limited to the ground. Taking it to the air would have been taxing on his energy reserves, unless he was a wind elemental creature himself.

Saleen gauged Nicholas’ speed, and thought the old man should have been at the beach by then. Only then had he took out his War Drum of Fear and put it in front of him.

The pests within the drum trembled at the sight of the large bone mace in Saleen’s hand. Every time Saleen hit the drum, they were tortured. Refusing to generate the required energies would have made them a target of the drum’s attack.

Doom, doom, doom…

Saleen swung the bone mace on the drum as hard as he could, and the energy from the drum emanated around explosively. Saleen was surrounded by troops numbering in at least the thousands, yet the troops simply surrounded him from a distance, instead of coming forth. The mages in the soldiers’ midst had only buffed the soldiers with defensive spells, to defend against the impacts of Saleen’s elemental creatures.

The Cloudflow soldiers all writhed painfully on the ground as Saleen beat away at the drum. Not even the mages behind the soldiers were able to hold against its effects; the mages dropped on the ground one by one, shrieking in pain. Countless phantasms appeared in the minds of the soldiers. The phantasms differed from one soldier to another; the common theme that they shared was that they represented their deepest fears.

Saleen was unable to stop the angel of fear’s attacks when he was a level-8 mage. Swordmasters hardly existed among the enemy troops. The attack of the War Drum of Fear reached the magic tower miles away, weakened only when the wave hit the edge of the Elemental Prison.

A huge metallic disk neared him in the sky. Saleen beat at the drum while observing with his Elemental Eye. Over one-hundred iron blood warriors standing on the disk startled him. While he had more elemental creatures at his disposal, there was one six-legged man in the midst of the iron blood warriors. The man had a scorpion tail-like appendage at his rear.

Imposa! He was there indeed.

Imposa was definitely the very reason the grand duke was able to get his hands on so many iron blood warriors. The ancient warriors in the Ancient warship that Saleen took for himself showed little signs of being placed under control, with the exception of a few, and it was done with crude human body alchemy methods. Imposa was an expert in human body alchemy, and there was no one else like him in Alchemy City.

Over one-hundred iron blood warriors would definitely have proven to be more powerful than the ones in front of Saleen if Imposa had taken control of them. That worked like his case with his own elemental creatures. Without him giving instructions, the elemental creatures would have been completely in disadvantage in the fight against the iron blood warriors.

What astonished Saleen further was the metallic disk under Impossa’s feet. The disk had a diameter of over thirty yards and emanated little elemental vibrations as it took to the air. Such methods of flight were something he had dreamed of—the flight capability of Sky City.

Imposa’s flying disk probably housed more than six miniature magic power furnaces. The master alchemist had begun deciphering the secrets of the Ancient!

Saleen wracked his brains wanting to create a flying magic tower, and yet before it was anywhere near completion, the enemy had created flying equipment. One that allowed for easy, intuitive control. The level difference brought about by alchemy was apparent. Saleen frowned and took a badge in his hand.

Blue lights danced around the lightning marks in the middle of the badge. One flash of lightning was all that it would have taken to kill Imposa once and for all. How was he able to escape the Elemental Prison if he were to kill to Imposa?

Imposa’s disk made it to about two-hundred yards away from Saleen before stopping. He looked at Saleen from above. The young man being protected by multiple elemental creatures returned the glare from below with his blue eyes.