Badge in Azure

“Are we being hypocrites acting like that?” Saleen asked as he looked at everyone around him.

Viscount Gugger was simply at a loss for words. Saleen had him seen the cruelest parts of wars, and an utterly defenseless Ironwall City, being torn apart by a bunch of grade-1 magic equipment. The grade-1 magic equipment might have been expensive, but there was still a limit as to how expensive it could get. It was the cost of the metal flyers that was deemed unacceptable. Saleen would not have been able to craft an army of such things if he did not have the schematics and large numbers of sorcerers working for him.

It was not the first time metal flyers were seen, but Metatrinians were definitely the first ones to use them in such ways. In ancient times, such flying contraptions would have served little more than scouts, yet at present, they were made into potent offensive weapons instead.

“Master, there is nothing hypocritical about this. That is just how humans are, thinking about protecting one side, yet going on destroying another. That is just like us demons, thinking about betraying something, yet being loyal to something at the same time,” Nailisi’s words had him deep in thought.

The last metal flyer flew past. The metal flyers did not carry many magic nuclei with them. They were supplied with only two spares in every mission. The loss of one flyer would have brought about a loss of large amounts of magic nuclei otherwise. The flyers were made to return to the Ancient as soon as possible after every single attack.

A metal flyer only carried five soldiers. If they fell into enemy territory instead of returning to their designated warship, there was nothing they could do to keep their gear with them. The soldiers would not even be capable of destroying the metal flyer themselves. They would only have the option of burning down the magic power furnace with any magic fire shells they carried.

The ground was burning with crimson fires, making it look like a sea of fire instead. Said sea was a boiling hot one, setting anything it touched on fire. The fire within the city grew increasingly fierce. Nothing that could have been burned was spared by the fires.

Only abyssal creatures would have been able to survive in such environments. Even demons and spirits would have perished.

The Sikeqinyan mages holing out up in the towers despaired. All they were capable of doing was to keep the meager one square mile of their respective lands safe, while everything else outside that area burned away. The fires continued burning while they had completely given up on maintaining their no-fly zones. Those metallic monsters cared not for such spells, and they continued to fly within the no-fly zones.

“The Metatrinians, they went nuts,” the most powerful grade-9 sorcerer told their students around them, while looking at the images showing the outside world, inside the towers. Their words rang hollow. They were a grade-9 sorcerer, yet they were unable to save even one city. If they were to fly outside the tower, they would have been able to take down a good number of the metallic monsters, yet they dared not do so.

There was a magic tower capable of flight looming right over their heads. If they were to make it outside their tower, they would end up dead soon by the hands of their enemy.

Saleen knew that if he were to attack right there and then, he might have stood a good chance of tearing down the towers, as the mages inside had all but lost their will to fight. He only commanded the Tempest Dragon-mights to blow away the smoke, and then projected a huge magic illusion telling the ones in the towers below— “Tell Danny, that he attacked my Lonestar City, and I now return the favor by destroying his Ironwall City. I am Saleen Metatrin.”

The Magical Element Tower flew north slowly once Saleen was done sending his message. Nailisi’s demon army was already engaging nearby reinforcements on the ground. Contrary to Saleen’s expectations, not much of the city’s army was able to escape, and the demon army did not encounter any that would pose a threat to them.

There were more than a dozen other cities nearby Ironwall City. The total number of troops stationed in those cities were huge, but the demon army had only encountered less than twenty-thousand reinforcement units, and they were sent to the city in four batches.

It was not that Sikeqinyans were being slow, but that Saleen was being too fast with his assault. The Sikeqinyans were unable to comprehend it at all. When the armies from nearby areas were gathered, Saleen would have already ended his attacks, and left with Nailisi’s demon army in tow.

That enabled Saleen to come up with new ideas of deployment for his demon army. Few were able to react in time if his army was deployed in such a manner. The demon army was able to fight in tight places, avoiding the passes altogether.

At that point, Saleen felt himself to be a hypocrite through and through. He had only grieved for the civilians who did not make it out a moment ago, and yet he was already thinking up ideas of how to put his demon army to good use next.

Massacres among humans, were even more perilous than practicing magic!

Saleen found himself losing all shine in his eyes, staring faraway blankly. The Magical Element Tower took flight and made for the sea. There was nothing in their way any longer. The sorcerers from Ironwall City dared not pursue them. The royal harbor was filled with his ships. There were large forces onboard, and the ancient warriors were there as well. It was just…

“Everything just seems so tiring right now.” The thought of giving up welled up in his mind all of a sudden. It might have been for the best for him and Lex to just go to the central temple and break the stone tablet of the goddess using his grade-9 Star Gathering Needle, just to see if they were able to break the contract between them and the goddess.

“Master, it’s best that you not think that way.” Nailisi stood by Saleen’s rear glumly, and scratched Saleen’s Devil Suit with her sharp nails, which sent sparks flying.

“What do you think is going on in my head?” Saleen turned around. It was nothing embarrassing for the winged skeleton to peer into his mind, but not the imp.

Nailisi smiled baring her teeth. The sharp canines grinded on each other. “Did I startle you, master?”

“Teacher.” Truman stood by his side and began consoling him. The massacre that took place earlier did not have that much of an effect on him. There were quite a number of mages from Sregl Island who had never left the island, surviving in the secluded environment. They cared not for anyone from outside the island itself.

“You need not say anything more,” Saleen waved his hands and looked around, “There are quite a number of people who need me to stay alive. If I simply continue sulking, these people will have nowhere to turn to. Regardless of if I’m able to clear my head about this, what needs to be done, needs to be done. Right, Gugger, we will head back to Ceylon City. I presume you are now able to convince the nobles?”

Gugger’s face turned pale as he looked at Saleen with a spark of anger in his eyes.

“There is no need to look at me like that. Even if Lonestar City wasn’t under attack, things like this are bound to happen someday. Gugger, did you really think Danny sent his army to attack my city, just so that he could have a chat with me?”

“You were born in Sikenqinya yourself, how could you do this!?” Gugger was finally able blurt out what was bothering him, and that startled Saleen for moment. Viscount Gugger was even more naive than he had expected.

“Gugger, Danny sent his emissary and presented gifts when I was having my wedding. I’m no longer that Saleen that you used to know. Do you understand?” Saleen’s words felt rather eerie, and Gugger seemed to finally be able to feel the coldness in the tower.

Saleen was in a bad mood, and what he did was no different from having a death wish.

“You are now no longer a viscount of Sikeqinya, but an earl of Metatrin. When I finally raze all of Sikeqinya, I will establish a second capital near your estate. If you don’t like what I’m doing, go look for Danny then. I’ll simply tear down and rebuild your Ceylon City. That will be much less troublesome for me.”

“Your highness, please forgive my rudeness,” Gugger bowed and asked for forgiveness. He did not want to hand over his head to Saleen on a silver platter. Saleen would never change his ways to adapt to Gugger’s wishes.

“You were not entirely wrong. I do not wish to see what happened today happen again ever in the future. This is but a lesson, both to me and to Danny,” Saleen let out a long sigh and stopped talking altogether. Gugger kept his mouth shut and stood cautiously by Saleen’s side, until the tower landed again on the Ancient.

Nicholas said to Saleen, “My liege, that grand duke will be a troublesome one to deal with.”

He had only spoken his mind. Saleen’s fleet made it to shore and launched an assault on Ironwall City, with the Ancient serving as his base. Grand Duke Iron Blood would be able to do the same. Magic fire shells were not high-level equipment, and any rudimentary alchemic factories would have been able to mass produce such weapons. The grand duke’s territory was greater than the Kingdom of Metatrin itself. Finding a fire oil mine would not be difficult.

Metal flyers and rudimentary magic power furnaces were also well within the grand duke’s means to manufacture. What set the grand duke and Saleen apart was that Saleen possessed the Magical Element Tower and elemental badges. The grand duke had Imposa, who was capable of awakening the ancient grade-9 warriors in large numbers and put them under his control. Such a force would be adequate to overpower magic towers in any city.

Throughout the entire Kingdom of Metatrin, only Metatrin City was equipped to deal with such an attack. A city with thirty-six nine-floored towers and thousands of mages standing by, would never be overpowered by anything.

Saleen did not respond to Nicholas’ words. The only city in his kingdom capable of launching attacks from the sea was Metatrin City. Grand Duke Iron Blood would have looked for other easier targets, like Porter City, to tear down, instead of Metatrin City.

No one was onboard the Ancient, as all troops had gone to shore. The giant warship was left only with the Mechanical Soul being in control. The being’s doubles greeted Saleen’s party feverishly, and Saleen did not bother with a cowardly bully like that. He simply took his party onto the dragon skeleton combat vessel.

The defenses of the royal harbor had been totally destroyed. The port cities were also taken by Saleen’s army. The battle there was hardly fierce, as the royal fleet, which specialized in smuggling, was hardly a match for Saleen’s fleet.

Saleen was in no mood to inspect the city and port that he had just conquered. He and Lex talked for a bit and divided his army in two. The Ancient was to stay with Lex, including the sorcerers Lex brought with her. Saleen took the dragon skeleton combat vessel, bone vessels, and twelve high speed escort vessels, and made for Ceylon City.

With the matter with Ironwall City resolved, all that was left to do was to see how Danny react to it all. Would he continue allying himself with the Holy See and attack Metatrin, or would he send someone to negotiate terms?

The Winged Skull and the Pan Turtle Alchemy Ship were made to stay at the royal harbor. The fleet that Saleen had sent out was able to carry one battalion of troops. The bulk of his army was made to stay there and hold down the harbor. Lex had not wanted to give the place up for the moment, as there was nothing getting in the way between the royal harbor and the Sikeqinyan imperial city. Ironwall City was practically reduced to ashes. Lex was even able to, at that point, attack the imperial city if she felt it was necessary.

Saleen bid Lex a hasty farewell and headed west for Ceylon City. He was unaware that the entire mainland was shocked by what he did. The images of the fall of Ironwall City was first sent to the imperial city, and then to the Holy See. Qin and Cloudflow received their own respective copies. Danny did nothing to cover it up, and the spies within the imperial city sent the news back to their respective countries.

The last to know was Alchemy City. The Elemental Hand, a symbol of the highest authority within Metatrin City, called for an emergency meeting, gathering all sorcerers within the organization, and discussed on how to deal with Saleen’s brutal methods.