Chapter 2263 - 868 - 876

868 Quarrel

"I'm not being unreasonable. If you don't figure out those questions, you will be relying on nothing but experience, instincts, and luck when you modify your drug. It was already fortunate of you to have found out a beneficial change after several hundred tries, but what about later? Are you going to try every possibility and every combination? In such a case, you will never succeed without thousands of experiments…" Douglas replied very carefully.

Solemnly, the young sorcerer pointed at his product and said, "The magic book says that the Crimson Grass plus the Fish Eye Fruit plus the stem of the Soul Wood can stimulate one's spiritual power. My product is a combination of their natural effects, a summary of the sorcerers' generations of research, a law of nature, and a truth that is beyond any doubts! I won't sell my drug to you. Please go somewhere else!"

Perhaps because he was just freed from teachers and magic books, the young sorcerer told him the mechanism of his recipe even though he hated the unreasonable guy. Of course, the specific ratio of the ingredients was his business secret.

Douglas nodded. Right when the young sorcerer held his head high again, he suddenly said, "I know that the Crimson Grass plus the Fish Eye Fruit plus the stem of the Soul Wood can stimulate the spiritual power. It's an empirical law, but why?"

Fernando tried to hold back his smile and almost blew a whistle. It was very fun for him to watch other people be driven crazy by Douglas' whys.

The young sorcerer's face was the best example of "astounded". Uttering some meaningless sounds, he turned around at the sorcerers nearby and murmured, "What a freak!"

Actually, the sorcerers had summarized the synergy among most materials and gave explanations of different schools. For example, some claimed that it was a representative of the four-element theory, and some said that it was because of the cycle of life.

The young sorcerer knew quite a lot, and he was more inclined to the four-element explanation. However, he did not want to talk to the weirdo at all, fearing that he would be faced with a bunch more whys. It reminded him of the feeling when he could not provide satisfactory answers to a rigorous teacher.

The sorcerers around watched in either gloom or amusement. None of them were interested in meddling with someone they were not familiar with.

Not caring at all that he was called a freak, Douglas said sincerely, "Have you ever read 'Elemental Crown of Magic Potions'? It may explain part of the reasons, and it may be applied in practice, but there is still plenty of self-consistency. I don't think it really answers the questions."

Gritting his teeth, the young sorcerer murmured, "Ignore him! Ignore him!"

He had the feeling that he was surrounded by hundreds of mosquitoes, which made him rather agitated.

Douglas was quite a reasonable man when he didn't ask whys. He shook his head with a smile and said, "I know a thing or two about this field. If you are interested in the question just now, you are free to communicate with me. I am Douglas, and I'm with the Union of Sorcerers. What about you?"

The young man was very handsome and scholarly. He did not intend to talk to Douglas, but something his teacher said to him popped up in his mind.

"You are the most gifted young sorcerer in our organization, but you've been too devoted to books to know how to communicate with other people. We represent the Shadow Singers in the meeting in Allyn. So, I must remind you that you must not be too weak or too arrogant. Courtesy is very important…"

Courtesy, courtesy… The young sorcerer struggled to reply. He said, "I am Owen, from the Shadow Singers."

"I just took a look. Your potion must be very good." Douglas knew better than continuing to pester Owen and left his stand. Owen was greatly relieved.

"You can totally develop a spell named 'Douglas' Whys'. It will definitely stun the enemy." Fernando followed him and made fun of him.

Douglas smiled and did not say anything. He carefully observed the sorcerers who had been gathered in the square. They were from different organizations, and their strengths, genders, looks, and personalities varied. The only thing they had in common was that they were all slightly depressed and overwhelmed.

It was not because something bad was happening, but because their living conditions had brought irreversible psychological changes that had been reflected in their aura.

"Skin of the Blue Dragon! It contains the patterns of dozens of spells and can significantly improve the corresponding magic!" On their way, they suddenly heard a girl peddling "Skin of the Blue Dragon".

The blue dragons were most famous for their supernatural abilities in lightning and water. Their skin was not only an alchemical material but an important focus of the sorcerers' studies.

Therefore, when Douglas and Fernando looked over, the girl's stand had been crowded by sorcerers, who were all observing the incomplete skin of the blue dragon in silence.

For Fernando who was good at lightning and storms, the skin of the blue dragon was most precious. So, he walked to the girl's stand. After confirming the authenticity of the material, he asked, "What do you want in exchange for the skin of the blue dragon?"

The other sorcerers were angry about Fernando who squeezed through the crowd, but nobody said anything. They all wanted to hear the girl's needs.

The girl had flaxen hair and pupils in a similar color. Both pretty and vigorous, she smiled and said, "I want to exchange for the destruction of the Church. Can you do that?"

Before Fernando roared out, she ended the joke in time. "I need all the middle-rank magic books on transformation, body modification, and bloodline melting. Do you have any?"

Her answer was rather vague. It was obvious that she intended to pick a favorite book from the sorcerers.

"I do!" Fernando had always been impatient. He immediately took out many books and floated them in the air, before he looked at the sorcerers around with a "This material is mine and bite me if you are not cool with that" look on his face.

The sorcerers were somewhat angry at first, but somebody said in a low voice, "He's Fernando of the Union."

"The Fernando who attacked the Inquisition?"

"The Fernando who took down the Predator?"

The sorcerers immediately whispered among themselves. Many people who planned to compete with Fernando backed off. That was a brutal and strong man!

Fernando did not realize that he was so famous. He wasn't even as respected as now when he made it to the Cleansing List. He was rather puzzled.

"How about it? Are you satisfied with my books?" Fernando decided to ignore other people and simply asked the girl.

At this moment, another sorcerer stood out. "You may be Fernando, but so what? All the organizations are gathering today. Is he going to steal an item that is being regularly traded?"

Fernando was about to roar at the sorcerer when the girl suddenly said, "I would like to give it to Mr. Fernando! He's my hero! Over the past century, he is the first sorcerer who has the courage to attack the Inquisition and kill the traitors!"

Fernando was stunned. Since when could "reputation" contribute to business-making? Was the girl still so innocent?

The competitive sorcerer dared not argue anymore and left in a hurry.

"As a matter of fact, it was Douglas, the ninth-circle archmage next to me, who killed the Predator." Fernando would never steal other people's credit.

An archmage?

The sorcerers around looked at Douglas, feeling even luckier that they did not conflict with Fernando.

"You're both my heroes! I am Erica. I am a third-circle sorcerer from a small organization," the girl said with a sweet smile, which was soon replaced by melancholy. "It's a shame that there are fewer and fewer heroes like you. Everybody is too used to failure and hiding to dream for a victory."

Her bluntness made all the sorcerers fall into silence. They thought of the immense pressure and the boundless darkness before their eyes.

"What can we do? The Church has so many legendary experts, and the pope is well beyond the peak of legendary. What can we do…" In the crowd, someone said angrily and desperately, "If only Mr. Viken, Mr. Maskelyne, and the rest of them hadn't gone missing… With so many level-three legends, the Church wouldn't have developed at all…"

"I hardly think so!" Somebody argued loudly, "The pope is as strong as a demigod. The Light of Stars was killed by him, and the Liege of Death was 'reincarnated' with a strength less than level three. Even the two top legends could not stop the pope. Why do you think Maskelyne and Viken could?"

The words that praised the Church immediately invoked curses. People of Red Eye cursed the Sylvanas Magic Empire for being too devoted to internal conflicts at the critical moment, which caused the destruction of the Asso Empire first. The Liege of Death only returned through the forbidden approach, but he was so weakened that he dared not even challenge the Sword of Truth.

The people of Shadow Singers also cursed other sorcerers for not being united. Otherwise, the Church wouldn't have developed at all, and the pope wouldn't have become so strong!

The necromancers of the Supreme Soul were not good at quarreling, but their gloomy eyes were nonetheless chilly. They seemed to believe that the main reason for their failure was that so many sorcerers were unwilling to offer their soul and body. Otherwise, they would've raised an enormous and tough army of servants that would sweep across the Church. The divine power of the Church was most effective on the necromancers, so they hated and were scared of the Church the most.

The elementalists of Tower of Destroyers joined the fight, maintaining that the three magic empires made too many mistakes at the beginning and gave too much room for the Church to develop. Otherwise, the situation today would have been different.

"Perhaps our magic has already fallen behind…" In the middle of their argument, a desperate sorcerer blurted out without thinking, "How many legendary experts have emerged in the Church in the past three hundred years? What about our side? Perhaps the divine power is the future…"

They all fell silent as the moment poked everyone's wound. Then, curses broke out.

"Traitor! You are a traitor!"

"Our magic is much more abundant and mysterious than the divine power!"

"Does the divine power have so many ways to save your life?"

Erica, who was selling the skin of the blue dragon, did not say anything under the noises. She backed off and heaved a sigh before saying to Fernando and Douglas, "How devastating… It's great that we have heroes like you."

"Desperation calls for changes…" Looking at the remains of the magic towers at the center of Allyn, Douglas' eyes were deep and thoughtful.

Clang!

A bell was knocked, appeasing the fight in the square, because the joint meeting of dozens of magic organizations was about to begin.

869 Cooperators

It had been many years since the Union of Sorcerers started to dig the City in the Sky. The central area had been cleaned, and a lot of magic towers and houses had been set up. If it weren't for the research value of the other debris, the first scene Douglas saw would have definitely not been as dilapidated as this. Right now, a magic tower near the relic of the central magic tower sent out the sound of a bell being hit. According to the deal, it marked the beginning of the meeting.

The sorcerers who were having a huge fight in the square reluctantly shut their mouths, unsatisfied that the rare opportunity to unleash their complaints was over. They slowly surged to the five-story tall magic tower.

"Those old men must've exchanged their opinions in private…" Fernando mumbled. The real agreements had almost always been reached before the meeting, and the meeting was only an occasion for announcements.

Douglas watched the sorcerers come from all directions; his eyes deep and thoughtful. It was not until the square was cleared that he finally sighed. "Let's go in."

"Do you feel helpless about their argument? In such a time of peril and despair, they still refuse to let go of their biases and selfishness. To be honest, I have zero confidence in their future after seeing the fight just now." Fernando moved forward while complaining.

Douglas shook his head and said in a low voice, "Everybody is selfish. So, a sincere cooperation is not based on the complete abandonment of selfishness, but on the demonstration of your strength, so that everybody understands that it is in their best interest to fight by your side.

"I don't mean the strength in the regular sense. It means so much more. For example, even if we are not strong enough yet, as long as we can convince other people that our path is hopeful and we can lead them on it, it will also be our 'strength'."

He was solemn and did not have the slightest desperation or anger.

"Isn't it the process to build up their confidence in us through various approaches? It's a sophisticated skill in the school of illusion," Fernando derided Douglas out of habit.

Douglas turned around to look at Fernando. "You know the school of illusion very well?"

Personally, he was not good at the theories of the school of illusion. He was capable of a lot of illusions, but he never studied them deeply.

"My teacher was a great scholar. Before he was killed, he had been in touch with many archmages of the school of illusion. So, I know a lot of sorcerers who specialize in that." Fernando mentioned his teacher but did not seem to be close to him.

Douglas did not keep asking because they had reached the magic tower. A middle-aged man who was wearing the arcana badge of the Union of Sorcerers was waiting by the door. "Are you Mr. Douglas? Mr. President asked you to go to the living room in the wing on arrival."

He recognized Douglas through Fernando.

"Alright," Douglas replied politely.

It slightly surprised the middle-aged man, because archmages were mostly very arrogant in his impression, even including someone as kind and amiable as President Arnold.

Many stone chairs had been raised in the hall. Douglas and Fernando stepped into the living room.

"Douglas, let me introduce you," Arnold greeted him with a smile like a kind old man.

Douglas was as steady as before, but Fernando chuckled in a low voice. Judging from the old fox's good mood, the negotiation must have gone really well.

Hearing Douglas' name, the dozen sorcerers in the living room all looked over. Some were wary, some curious, and some were hostile. Was he the archmage who was capable of "Time Stop" and who killed the Predator?

Arnold put his hands on Douglas' shoulder and pointed at a fat old man. "This is Nielson, leader of Red Eye and an archmage. Even though he looks fat, his body is as sturdy as that of a gold knight."

Douglas immediately understood what Nielson was good at. Perhaps his every body part had been fixed with a certain special ability. His current appearance was nothing but camouflage.

Besides his body figure that left a deep impression, Nielson's ruby eyes were also very attractive. When he smiled, the fat on his cheeks jiggled. "I've always looked forward to Antiffler. The archmages from there are truly remarkable."

He said that he looked forward to it, but there wasn't any earnestness in his tone.

Understanding the feud of the two empires very well, Douglas nodded with a smile, not bothered by Nielson's attitude.

Pretending that he did not hear Nielson's indication, Arnold continued, "This is Amanata, a student to the Master of Shadows and one of the leaders of Shadow Singers."

Amanata, covered in a black magic robe, sat in a shadow in the corner. He merely nodded as a greeting after Arnold's introduction. If it weren't for his male name, Douglas couldn't have even told his gender.

Arnold joked, "Shadow Singers always favor shadows."

Not far away from Amanata, there was a sorcerer whose air was cold and gloomy. He was wearing a black glamorous robe, and his head only had the white skull left, with needle-like dim red fire bouncing in his eyes. He was a classic lich.

"This is Congus, the archmage who single handedly created 'Supreme Soul'. He was praised by the Master of Shadows in person, who said that he is very likely to become a legendary sorcerer." Arnold introduced the lich who was no weaker than Nielson or Amanata.

Congus opened his mouth. His voice was so unpleasant that it sounded like someone whetting a rusty sword. "My friends in Antiffler never mentioned you."

He seemed very close to Antiffler.

"Because there were too many sorcerers stronger than me in Antiffler," Douglas replied modestly. "Also, I was a weirdo."

"Still, Antiffler was destroyed by the pope," Nielson interrupted.

Congus looked at him and said coldly, "At least the empire hasn't perished yet, but as for Asso…"

"Cough, cough, cough." Arnold stopped the upcoming quarrel with coughs and introduced the lady who was playing with her red hair in boredom. "This is our beautiful Ms. Priscilla, the controller of Tower of Destroyers and an elementalist who is good at Cracking (Advanced)."

"Hey, Arnold, do you want me to give you one?" Priscilla made fun of Arnold with a vague smile before she extended her fair hand. "'Time Stop' and 'Cracking (Advanced)' are the best match. It's a shame that I am incapable of the former. I hope that I can learn from you sometime."

She was probably the most friendly responder.

"I always look forward to Cracking (Advanced), my lady." Naturally, Douglas shook her hands courteously.

Fernando followed him and murmured to himself, "Is it really possible to work with those guys who were all minding their own business?"

Arnold then introduced Douglas and Fernando to the leaders of the other organizations, but he did not mention anything about cooperation, as if it were just trivia that had been decided.

Arnold was friendly and humorous throughout the whole process. That was probably why he was the convener instead of any other leader.

"Alright. It's time for us to join the meeting. Let's tell everybody the refreshing news." In the end, he pointed at the gate.

All the experts stood up and walked out while following Arnold.

Because the safety of the meeting was not guaranteed, they had come with clones and simulated images, and they did not bring many sorcerers with them. The hall was not full.

After the leaders came out, the whispers in the hall were gone.

"Everybody, the War of Dawn, as named by the Church, has been going on for more than three hundred years. Many of you probably never lived life when magic was supreme. You were born in panic and depression, you grew in darkness and desperation, and you will probably die in the fire." After the leaders sat down, Arnold began his speech.

His heavy opening further silenced the hall. The older sorcerers remembered the last glory of the empire, and the younger sorcerers remembered their own experiences, but they shared the common dread against the nightmarish Church.

After a brief pause, Arnold went on and said, "The power of individuals is so weak in the darkness. Only if we help each other can we cut the thorns and embrace the dawn. This meeting is to inform everybody that the organizations present will abandon our internal conflicts and fight together for our living space."

In such a devastating environment, any good news could be pictured into a wonderful future. Therefore, everybody was excited by what Arnold said. If so many organizations were united, they would probably be able to resist a parish without legends…

Fernando snorted in despise but did not say anything.

Arnold did not say anything about a coalition. He knew that it was not realistic. Without enough power, uniting so many self-involved organizations would only collapse his own organization.

After describing the beautiful future, Arnold ended his speech. At this moment, a sorcerer stood up and asked, "What living space are we going to obtain in the future?"

Now that the excitement died down, the sorcerers were more suspicious and worried. Their experience told them that prudence meant a long life because they barely had any chance to start over if they made the wrong choice.

"Hey, you are not as stupid as I thought," Fernando mocked in a low voice.

It was impossible for Arnold to speak of the terms of cooperation. So, he merely said, "Our successful cooperation will be an example for other people. More and more sorcerers will join us, even the legendary ones… The Church is definitely not invincible. Many legends have been gathered in Aalto. Also, the Church's enemies include vampires, dragons, sea clans, elves, demons, and devils…"

The audience's hope dwarfed their suspicion for now. Also, as elites of their respective groups, they could tell that the leaders had secretly reached an agreement, so they simply narcotized themselves with the beautiful future.

"Yes. We can cooperate with the supernatural creatures and absorb magic elements from them."

"But can magic really compare to the divine power? At least when it comes to yielding legendary experts…"

After Arnold's speech, the sorcerers had a lot of random thoughts. Some remembered the benefits of working with supernatural creatures and the development of magic, and some remembered the frustration of magic since the beginning of the War of Dawn… Hope, fear, desperation, and expectation overwhelmed them.

Nielson, Congus, Priscilla, Amanata, and the rest of them gave a brief speech to show support, but none of them revealed the terms of cooperation.

"Since we are partners, allow me to introduce the sorcerer next to me, Douglas from Antiffler. He's good with 'Time Stop', and he attacked an Inquisition with Fernando." Arnold showed the power of his Union in satisfaction.

People whispered in exclamations. Arnold nodded at their reaction and said to Douglas with a smile, "Why don't you say something to everyone?"

Douglas stood up gravely. Arnold was rather stunned. Why did he look like that? What was he going to say?

Fernando also noticed Douglas' strange expression; the man he was not wearing his usual warm and comforting smile. He also did not know why Douglas was like this. As for Nielson and the rest of them who were not familiar with Douglas, they sensed no anomaly at all.

Douglas looked around at the hall, silencing the whispers of the sorcerers, before he spoke in a low but clear voice.

"Ladies and gentlemen, many years ago, the esteemed ancestors of mankind learned how to make use of spiritual powers from dragons, elves, giants, demons, devils, and the other magical creatures. Then, by analyzing their body structures and blood qualities, we melted their bloodlines, modified our bodies, and came up with many meditation methods to build up our spiritual powers. We also created various kinds of magic by copying the magic patterns on their bodies, thereby gaining enormous powers. We drove the demons back into the abyss and kicked the devils back into hell. The giants, elves, and dragons either retreated to the uninhabited mountains, wilderness, and alternate dimensions, or bent before our feet."

His opening, which was a brief review of the origin and glory of the age of magic, did not make Arnold and Fernando feel easy because Douglas was certainly not someone who would bring it up for nothing. The sorcerers, on the other hand, seemed to have sensed the glory at the beginning. They all looked rather refreshed.

870 Speech

While the sorcerers dwelt in the glory of the past, Douglas' voice was even more solemn. "The glorious triumphs made the ancient sorcerers even more determined to pursue power. They initiated conquests in the abyss, the hell, and all the alternate dimensions. After the Saint Truth rose, the three Magic Empires collapsed in just three hundred years. The glory in the past has turned into the bitterness, confusion, and desperation today."

The glory of the past was shattered, replaced by the cruelty of the reality. Owen, Erica, and the sorcerers from different organizations felt that a bucket of cold water was poured on their heads. Although they were somewhat prepared, they could help but sigh in gloom and frustration. They speculated that Douglas meant the same as Arnold and the other archmages by drawing a comparison of the splendid past and the miserable reality so that all the sorcerers would be more hopeful about the cooperation and a bright future.

"But the Church is really too powerful! And they do have angels!"

"The time it takes for sorcerers to grow strong is not lengthened, but it is too long compared to what it takes for the clerics…"

"Will the cooperation really work? We are more likely to be annihilated if we are too big a target! It's possible that we will be safer if we split apart!"

"Only by surviving first can we hope to cooperate with the supernatural creatures, study them, and surpass the limits of magic…"

All kinds of thoughts rolled in the hearts of the seemingly silent sorcerers. Even leaders such as Nielson and Priscilla had similar feelings.

Although they were working hard to develop their organizations, seeking for a chance of survival and cooperating for a beautiful future, it would definitely be a lie if they claimed that they were absolutely confident without the slightest fear!

They were pressing forward with reasonable passion and confidence because there wasn't a second path. People were always more determined when they were left with no choice.

Of course, it was one way out to join the Church and become a night watcher, but for the leaders of those organizations, they were unwilling to give up themselves and become a dog of the Church before the war in the west was settled. What if Aalto beat the enemy back? On the other hand, if Aalto fell and most of the legends were killed, whether they surrendered or not would make little difference.

Arnold thought the same. He nodded at Douglas' speech in satisfaction. Fernando, on the other hand, secretly mumbled, "Was the empty talk all he wanted to say?"

Douglas pressed his right hand to stress his tone. "Dear ladies and gentlemen, it is time for us to calm down. Instead of being bewitched by power, we should calm down and consider certain questions." In the ancient Magic Empire, sorcerer was the only gender. They did not start addressing the audience in different genders until the modern day.

Well? What questions?

All the sorcerers, including the experts like Congus, were briefly stunned. Questions about the coalition? How radical the guy is! But does it have anything to do with being bewitched by power? Is he going to stress that solidarity is power? That must be a joke. All the people here combined are not enough for the Heart of Time to kill!

While they were confused, Douglas' voice suddenly became loud and echoed throughout the hall, "There are certain things that we need to figure out.

"What is the nature of magic?

"Why do creatures have spiritual power?

"What is the nature of spiritual power?

"In what form does it exist?"

Huh?

Even Fernando looked at Douglas in shock with his mouth half open. What questions were these?

The ancient sorcerers had always been considering the nature of magic, so the experts like Congus were not surprised. However, wasn't a spiritual power born naturally? Wasn't it a unique feature of the soul? What were those questions about?

They found it absurd and ridiculous when they just heard the questions. If it were a middle-rank or a low-rank sorcerer who asked the question, they would've interrupted the guy rudely, but the speaker now was an archmage who was capable of "Time Stop". Since the legends were all hiding, that was the strongest power!

So, they listened patiently. Gradually, they discovered in shock that it was impossible for them to answer those questions! Also, after considering carefully, they realized that it seemed really necessary to work on those questions!

The middle-rank and senior-rank sorcerers down below, including Erica, looked at each other in amusement. If they could answer those fundamental questions, they would have become legendary sorcerers a long time ago. Would they need Douglas' reminder at all?

However, the series of questions did slightly shock them. They subconsciously sat straight and stared at Douglas attentively. After all, as an archmage, he might not be a big deal in Antiffler, but he was definitely one of the strongest persons here.

Frowning, Fernando considered the answers to those questions, only to discover that he did not have the slightest clue. He then realized that Douglas unleashed an indescribable vibe. He was no longer as warm as usual but much more intimidating and solemn!

In an even louder voice, Douglas continued his speech magnificently, "Are earth, fire, wind, and water really the most basic elements in the world? If they are, how do they stick together to form everything we know? And if not, what are the real magic elements?

"What is the nature of the soul?

"Is the soul different from consciousness? If so, in what form does consciousness exist?

"Do we need any 'tools' to illustrate and build magic models?

"Does God exist? If God exists, what is His nature and form of existence? In what form does Alterna, the ancestor of vampires, exist? Why can they remain undead?

"Why do the sun and the moon exist in this world? Why do they rise and set every day? What power motivates them in their operations? Those phenomena seem natural in the material world, but if we ask more whys, we will realize that we haven't figured out the reasons behind them yet. Are those reasons, laws, and knowledge concerned with magic? Can we combine them with magic and help us explore the nature of the magic world?"

As he raised his questions, both the experts on the stage and the sorcerers down below changed their faces, switching from disdain and amusement to concentrated consideration. The questions about the rise and setting of the sun and moon hit them like lightning. They trembled and did not know how to express their feelings.

Yes. Why are they like that?

Why have I never considered those questions before?

What secrets do those phenomena, which seem to be the unquestionable law and nature of this world, contain?

Fernando clenched his fists; his red pupils full of excitement. He looked at Douglas' shadow and never felt that the guy was taller!

Similar questions had occurred in the studies of every sorcerer now and then, but having been used to such phenomena, they never considered those questions as something worth paying attention to, and they never asked the questions so deeply. At this moment, when they listened to Douglas' enlightening speech, they all felt that the mist before their eyes was driven away by sunlight. So, our studies on magic and this world are still so shallow! There are still so many whys that need addressing!

They felt that a new gate had been opened before him, vaguely revealing what appeared to be a new field of magic. More and more people were shivering in contemplation. Even Owen, who had been angry about Douglas earlier, no longer found the guy nefarious anymore. He felt that the guy's whys were extremely charming!

More and more questions popped up in his head. What is lightning? Why can't metal stop it when wood can? Why is mankind divided into different genders? Why can't human beings float in the sky instead of being stuck to the ground?

Erica covered her mouth, believing that Mr. Douglas had surpassed Mr. Fernando and become the greatest hero in her mind! So, the magic research beyond battles could also be so attractive and astounding!

"What is up? What is down? Why is the sky? What is the earth…" Fernando murmured, full of doubts about the things that he thought he had understood perfectly.

Holding his forehead, Douglas slightly bowed. "As long as we can figure out those questions, I believe that magic will develop much faster. The mysteries that we figure out will work on us and fortify us. Perhaps our development will be no slower than the Church's!"

After he backed off, the hall was still in utter silence. It was not until one minute later that the warmest welcome that never appeared even when the leaders of the magic organizations spoke burst out!

Douglas could see clearly that the sorcerers down below were excited, if not demented. The ubiquitous despair and depression just now were dissolved. He could only sigh about that. It was the first time he had introduced his opinions publicly and systematically and raised the questions that he had considered for a long time. Back when he was in Antiffler, even his teacher and his classmates were unwilling to pay attention to his thoughts in that aspect, much less other people.

It seems not bad… As a regular human being, Douglas felt delighted.

Owen, Erica, and the other sorcerers started to feel that the darkness around them was fading. They were desperate earlier because they thought that magic had been developed to the maximum but still could not compare to the divine power and the Church. They were hopeless because they could not see the light. Now, Mr. Douglas' questions had opened a boundless world. The development of magic had just begun and was far away from the limits! The future was not entirely hopeless!

Arnold and the rest of them had placed their hope on the Silver Moon, the vampires, the dragons, and the other exterior forces, which more or less boosted the morale, but it was not nearly as inspiring as giving the future to themselves.

However, was it really possible to answer those questions?

After the excitement, worries and suspicions surged in the hearts of the sorcerers, as could be seen from their faces. Douglas was not surprised at them. He never thought that everybody could be gathered after a speech. That would have been a fantasy!

The meeting ended in such an atmosphere. Amanata, Congus, Nielson, Priscilla, and the other archmages looked at Douglas in a slightly different way now.

Douglas rose with a smile and said to Arnold, "Mr. President, I would like to take part in the mission to assassinate Alfonsol. After that, I hope that I can spend some time in Allyn."

871 Arrangemen

"That's not a problem. You are free to do what you want." Arnold observed Douglas up and down again, not covering his surprise. He seemed to have never known the archmage who was hundreds of years younger than him until now.

At this moment, Priscilla walked over as attractively as a blooming tulip. She said to Douglas with a smile, "You… How should I put it? You have an amazing perspective in the way you think. It's true that we are as used to certain phenomena in our life as we are to our hands and eyes, to the extent that we forget to ask why.

"After five hundred years, I've sensed the shock when I first touched magic again."

Douglas could not nod at the warm lady's praise. "One can never cease to explore magic or the world."

"Alright, let's not delay." Without further ado, Priscilla looked at everybody else with a smile. "The most important thing right now is to kill Alfonsol. Let's stick to our plan after we are back."

Plan? Fernando's lips twitched. Those old guys already made a plan when they talked in private?

Nielson, who was morbidly fat, looked at Douglas with his ruby eyes and sniffed. "Are those the questions that the sorcerers of Antiffler have been working on? No wonder the Church vanquished you…"

Douglas did not argue with him. He remembered clearly that the remnant of the Asso Empire was best at bloodline melting and body modification.

"Sometimes, I wonder what the power of shadows is, and where it is from…" Amanata said in an unpredictable voice, before he vanished in the shadow of the room.

Congus, on the other hand, stared at Arnold and spoke in his usual creepy and coarse tone. "Old fox, I'll do what you asked, but if anything goes wrong with your plan, hehe…"

After seeing the leaders of the organizations off, Arnold picked his nose, not caring about his image. "It's much more exhausting to communicate with those guys than to fight them."

"There isn't any foundation of trust. We can only go one step at a time." Douglas smiled.

"This operation will be the first step to build trust. We must thank the Blue Demon. Regardless of whether or not he really wants Alfonsol dead, he's giving us a chance for a joint operation. It will be much easier to plan more operations if there's a first one." Arnold resumed his look of a kind old man.

Fernando said, not in a good mood, "But we have to succeed! If we fail, there won't be a second operation, unless one party is close to doom! Old man, what exactly is your plan?"

Only Arnold and Douglas were here, so he simply called the president old man.

Arnold did not criticize Fernando's lack of respect. He replied with a smile, "It's simple. As I said before, Tower of Destroyers will attract Alfonsol, and the other organizations will cover and cooperate with us in the attack. The Church does not know that we have reached an agreement."

"How is he going to be attracted? Are you not scared that the Church would see through it and send out 'Heart of Time'? He has been capturing sorcerers of late." Fernando was not satisfied with the plan. Even if the Church did not know that so many magic organizations had secretly forged an alliance, the decoy might be easily seen through.

Arnold looked at Fernando with a smile. "You are only a seventh-circle sorcerer, and you are of little value in such a battle. Why do you care about the plan?"

As Arnold expected, Fernando, who had been overlooked, said angrily, "I… I will become an archmage very soon!"

"Haha." Arnold chuckled. "It's good to be young. However, this operation does need you. Nobody controls storms better than you do. Rest assured. Alfonsol will see nothing wrong."

Fernando glared at the president, feeling that he had been teased. "How exactly are we going to allure Alfonsol to leave Rentato? I won't take part in the operation if I'm not certain about it!"

"Hehe. That's what I've been expecting you to say. Then, you'd better not take part in it. I was scared that you would want to join in your rashness," Arnold said with a cunning smile. He then went on before Fernando roared, "Alright, it's just a joke. The specific way of allurement can only be decided after we figure out Alfonsol's personality, hobbies, styles, and habits, but the core will be the same. The traitor within the Tower of Destroyers will tell the secret to the Inquisition."

"Traitor within? They are aware of the traitor?" Fernando asked in shock. In the meantime, he thought to himself that the old man was truly a natural-born old fox!

Arnold shook his head. "Fernando, you are too young and too naive. We dare not say that we know all the hiding traitors, but we do know some of them, and we have put them in positions that will not cause great losses. Now, it's time for them to make contributions."

He then added, "Sometimes, the traitors are more valuable to us than they are to our enemy."

Douglas listened with a smile, finding it odd that the president explained it in such great detail. Had he always communicated with Fernando in such a way?

Fernando thought for a moment and basically understood what Arnold meant. He cursed again, old fox!

"As a matter of fact, after Sharp proposed the 'contract', you were automatically involved in the operation, and there's no need to sign up for it." Arnold chuckled. "Right, Douglas, I'm very curious about the questions you talked about. Are you interested in a discussion?"

"With pleasure," Douglas replied without any hesitation.

The three of them returned to the Land of Thousand Lakes and communicated on the questions that Douglas raised, expressing their unconfirmed ideas.

After they entered the underwater relic and revealed their real bodies, Arnold's smile was already gone. He frowned while being deep in thought. "Odd. Your opinions are very odd. It's not right… It's not right…"

While he mumbled, he did not forget to ask Lauren, who came to greet them, to gather the deputy presidents for a meeting.

By the time League, Ramon, and Veronica came in, Arnold had become normal again. He informed them of the discussion during the meeting and concluded, "We are responsible for the two most important procedures in the operation. If we succeed, we will be leading the future cooperation. Between the two procedures, the second procedure is the actual attack. Douglas and I will be in charge of it, and Fernando, Congus, Nielson, Amanata, and other people will cover us. It's already decided."

He spoke of the second procedure and then looked at League. "The first procedure is to distract Kritonia, so that he won't be following us in secret."

Fernando was greatly enlightened. He was worried that the Heart of Time would also come out when Alfonsol was allured. After all, nobody was certain that the guy was only interested in the sorcerers of the Union. The old fox was truly considerate!

"If we take action alone, two consecutive allurements will definitely be seen as part of a scheme. So, we must count on the help of other organizations. Also, if the gap between the two allurements is too short, it will be seen through too. League, I need you to go south and keep Kritonia occupied for a week. As a deputy president, you deserve his attention."

Arnold stared at League solemnly. "I know that it's very dangerous. One may be killed by Kritonia after a moment of carelessness. Only an archmage who is good at escaping and hiding like you is qualified for the task. Also, you need to pay attention to the way you expose your traces so that Kritonia won't be suspicious. You must mislead him into thinking that he is chasing after you."

The task was so dangerous that even Fernando was more or less scared. He suspected that League would refuse it, but League simply said calmly, "That's not a problem. It's my responsibility."

Douglas knew League too little to feel anything, but Fernando suddenly widened his eyes. This old guy had always been mean and obsessed with power, but he turned out to be reliable and trustworthy at such a critical moment!

For a moment, even League's hawk nose was not as hideous as before.

Arnold sighed. "We can only march in danger. League, do you want to switch our roles so that I'll distract Kritonia and you will work together with Douglas to kill Alfonsol? As the president, I should take the most dangerous task."

League put on a smile. "I don't think so. Your procedure is even more dangerous. If anything happens, it will be barely possible for you to escape. As for my task, at least everything will be under my control."

"It's decided then." Arnold turned around and looked at Fernando. "Fernando, you have one other mission. You will return to Rentato and collect Alfonsol's files, including but not limited to his hobbies, personalities, style, and relationships."

They had never considered assassinating Alfonsol before. So, they only collected the files such as the divine powers that Alfonsol was good at and his previous battle cases. That was certainly not enough for an assassination mission.

"Will a few days be enough?" Fernando asked. League was about to go south and would take action in a couple of days, which gave him five days at most to gather the intelligence.

Arnold smiled. "All you need to do is to collect the side information to confirm the main intelligence that you obtain from the Blue Demon."

"Huh?" Fernando was stunned again.

"He's the one who gave the task. He must have a deep understanding of Alfonsol. Do you have a better source?" Arnold asked in a vague smile.

"B-But…" Fernando was full of concerns. At this moment, Douglas interjected, "Go now. There won't be a problem."

He seems to understand the president's meaning between the lines? Fernando looked at Douglas and then at President Arnold. But why did he not understand?

Suddenly, he felt that he was somewhat silly before the two of them…

Before he left, Douglas went to Fernando with a few black books and notebooks. "A kid so interested in mathematics is hard to come by. Here are some files of mine from the past. Please give them to Sharp and ask him to forward them to Hathaway. There isn't anything about magic in them."

Fernando nodded. "Right, I need to offer her a few mathematical books too."

872 Intelligence

The Roasted Fish Hotel was as old and unpopulated as before in the late night. It seemed unchanged, but Fernando did not have the courage to approach. After leaving a mark in the agreed-upon area, he went into a slum not far away and hid on a tree, staring at the ragged houses down below.

When the moon rose to the apex, a person approached the ragged houses by stepping on the silver brilliance on the ground.

Confirming that nobody followed the guy, Fernando drifted down from the tree and said with a low voice, "Old man, you are not dead yet!"

"I'll be alive even after you are dead!" The newcomer was Old Green.

As per President Arnold's order, he stayed in the Roasted Fish Hotel and kept in touch with "Blue Grace" Sharp, but he was no longer involved in the relay and communication of the sorcerers within the Union.

Fernando snorted. "Old man, tell Sharp that we have decided to accept the mission to assassinate Alfonsol. We would like him to provide all the files he has on Alfonsol."

"What? You've truly decided to kill Alfonsol? Has the president contracted your madness?" Old Green couldn't be more surprised. In his eyes, it would only infuriate the Church, and there was not the slightest chance of success. If anything, the whole Union might be destroyed!

Fernando looked at Old Green in mockery. "Cowards do not understand the significance of risks."

"You seem confident." Having lived for almost two hundred years, Old Green had plenty of experience. He noticed the change in the situation from Fernando's mockery.

"Cowards are also sensitive." Fernando did not have the virtue of respecting the old at all. However, as a sorcerer who made it out of death and blood alive too many times, he did not forget to remind Old Green. "Don't let Sharp know that we are kind of confident."

He stressed "kind of", not telling the whole truth even though it was Old Green he was speaking to.

Old Green scorned. "Do you think I am as reckless as you? However, why are you asking Sharp for the files? Are you not scared that he'll set you up or secretly report you to the Church?"

"By the time we allure Alfonsol out, Sharp will have noticed that we've accepted the mission and are taking action. He can still report it to the Church by then. So, we might as well show him some trust right now. It is the foundation of cooperation and will save our time in intelligence collection." At first, Fernando was quite bothered by that himself. He only decided to come because President Arnold and Douglas said it was okay. However, after considering carefully, he felt that he had found the key, although he was still not as confident as the old fox.

Perhaps the old fox kept something to himself, and that was why he trusted Sharp?

Old Green nodded. "Sharp has been staying in the Roasted Fish Hotel recently. He seems to be waiting for your reply. I'll forward your words to him right now."

"Right, those mathematical books and notes are the gifts of Douglas and me for Hathaway." Fernando handed over a dozen books with black covers to Old Green.

"Do you really want Hathaway to embark on the dangerous path of magic?" Because of his relationship with Hathaway's father, Old Green had never been glad about that.

Fernando chuckled. "Hey, is that something we can control? Old man, just drop your concerns. You should find a lady and have your own children while you are not dead. Don't devote your redundant love to someone who doesn't need it."

He hid his vague caring in mockery.

Old Green was silent at first. He then heaved a long sigh. "I remember that you were such a lovely, vigorous, and stubborn kid when you just came to the magic tower. You even secretly cried when your teacher criticized you. Why is your tongue so rotten nowadays?"

Fernando blushed when his dark history was revealed. A terrible storm brewed in his eyes, but before he roared, Old Green had already vanished into the dark and returned to the Roasted Fish Hotel.

"What a wretched old man!" Eventually, Fernando could only curse in a low voice, fearing that somebody in the neighborhood would be woken up.

About ten minutes later, Old Green returned and said to Fernando solemnly, "Sharp agreed to provide Alfonsol's files. They will be given to you tomorrow at this hour."

"What's his reaction when he learns that we've accepted the task?" Fernando asked cautiously.

Old Green couldn't have neglected such details. He answered quickly without thinking, "He was a little bit surprised, but then he kept a smile of relief. Well, he also cursed, 'What a bunch of arrogant rats who do not know how weak you are. I'll watch how you get yourselves killed!'"

Fernando pictured the scene in his mind and noticed no anomaly in Sharp. So, he nodded his head. "I'll hide in your hotel and secretly observe how he delivers the files."

One couldn't be more careful at such a moment. Fernando was not an inexperienced young man.

"Right. Here's a letter from Hathaway to you and Douglas. It must've been written a couple of days ago. Sharp has been carrying it." Old Green took out a thick envelope from his pocket.

"A letter to us? What did she write?" Fernando did not believe that Douglas and he had become Hathaway's best friends after only talking with her twice. He was rather stunned.

After examining the letter with magic, he unfolded it carefully. The handwriting was enjoyable and feminine, but there was not a single word other than the copied mathematical questions!

"Hehe…" Fernando could only chuckle dryly about that.

...

The next day before sunset, Fernando snuck into the Roasted Fish Hotel and hid in the kitchen behind the counter.

About half an hour after dinnertime, Sharp, who seemed to have a lump on his nose, came alone and threw a sheaf of crinkled paper to Old Green. "All the details I'm aware of are on it."

He was no stranger to assassinations, and he knew what files were useful. After all, it was not uncommon for the knights to work with the clerics to kill sorcerers during the rise of the Church.

He snorted heavily when Old Green stared at him without saying anything. "If you question the veracity of the files, you can test them yourself. I am a customer, not a servant."

Then, he opened his hand. "Where's the letter?"

"What letter?" Old Green was briefly stunned.

"The letter to Hathaway. The odds that they fail are very high. If I don't get a letter back from him one of these days, I will never get a letter from him." Sharp despised Fernando and his colleagues' capabilities just like before. Fernando, who was peeping from the kitchen, clenched his fists in fury.

Old Green took out the letter that was full of answers and gave it to Sharp solemnly. "You really want to kill Alfonsol?"

He keenly sensed the earnestness and the pretended I-don't-care in Sharp's attitude because they had known each other for years. Fernando, for one, couldn't notice it at all.

"What do you think?" Sharp asked back without giving a straight answer. Then, he took out another letter from his pocket. "These are Hathaway's questions after yesterday's learning."

Fernando did not need to read the letter to know what was on it.

After Sharp had a glass of liquor and a roasted fish and was about to leave, he suddenly winked at the wall of the kitchen.

"He discovered me…" After a while, Fernando walked out of the kitchen and said at the darkness where Sharp disappeared.

Old Green chuckled. "When we were on adventures in the past, he was always best at discovering the hiders. Or maybe he has special tricks. I forgot to tell you earlier."

Fernando had no time to roar at him. He read the intelligence provided by Sharp carefully.

...

"Based on Sharp's files and other sources of intelligence, it can be seen that Alfonsol is a very tough man who loathes sorcerers. He is rigorous if not ferocious. He's good at battles, with many famous cases. He's very unfriendly to the nobles. It is because of his contradictions with the Violet family that the pope dispatched him to our place…" Two days later, in the underwater relic, Fernando briefed Alfonsol's situation to President Arnold.

Besides them, Douglas was the only person in the heavily guarded chamber. Ramon and Veronica, who were not involved in the operation, had been kept out for the sake of confidentiality.

Arnold browsed through the files and listened to Fernando. In the end, he nodded. "The intelligence is very valuable. The operation will begin probably in a day or two. You should not go out anymore. Optimize your status and wait for my message."

"Alright. I haven't noticed anything wrong about Sharp so far." Fernando tailed and observed Sharp in the past two days. He was rather proud that he was not discovered.

In the next two days, Douglas and Fernando exchanged knowledge and items with other people in the underwater relic like the other sorcerers did, showing no sign that they would take part in an important operation soon. However, when they were free, they did not discuss the exhausting questions anymore but kept themselves ready for battle.

After midnight of the third day, Fernando and Douglas received Arnold's order through Whispering Wind. They left the relic and entered the woods nearby.

"Mr. President is here." Douglas discovered Arnold earlier than Fernando did.

Before his voice died down, Arnold walked out of the darkness with a grave face; his usual smile gone. "Alfonsol has left Rentato with at least seven senior-rank red robes and divine knights. He did not ask for the cooperation of the nobles."

Douglas nodded first, but then he slightly changed his expression. "This is…?"

It was not until then that he realized that a man covered in a black cloak was standing in the shadow next to Arnold. Vague black mist surrounded the man, making him look creepy, and he was holding a long scythe in his hands. Douglas did not sense the man at all previously!

Fernando was even more surprised. He did not realize the mysterious man with the intense air of death until Douglas reminded him!

"It's my servant of death, a supernatural creature that equals to level nine. It is best at stealth. To be honest, I barely used it before, and few people in the Union know it. However, this operation is too important. I can only bring out my trump card first, hoping that we can finish Alfonsol in one battle…" Arnold's graveness was gone, and he introduced it with a smile. He also told Douglas and Fernando how to cooperate with himself and the servant of death.

Douglas and Fernando both nodded in relief, glad that the president was trying his best without any reserve.

"Let's go to Sherwell County in the north." Arnold turned his eyes to the north.

873 Everybody"s Trick

In a forest on the border between Sherwell County and Rentato, the bright fog had covered the vast territory, suppressing the sorcerers' spiritual powers and the knights' instincts.

In the last years of the elves' reign, because of the "scheme" of the Will of Abyss, many space gaps appeared on the ground. Some were tiny and disappeared on their own before long, but some further collapsed and connected different floors of the abyss, turning into the channels for the demons' invasion. Later, thanks to the help of the elven tree, the elves sealed most of the similar cracks. However, space disorder still lingered in some places, and this forest was one of such places. So, it became a good shelter for the sorcerers to hide in.

In a valley deep inside the forest, an "invisible" magic tower was enshrouded in the thick fog. This was a very important base of "Tower of Destroyers". Thanks to the environment and its mobility, even though the Church knew that plenty of sorcerers were hiding in the forest and sent many people to search, nobody had ever discovered it.

Of course, it was also because the Church was not doing its best. Right when they were tired of searching and was about to erase the forest, the war in the west broke out, and the main forces were mobilized to the front line in Aalto. So, the plan had to be put on hold.

"Cracking (Advanced), plus your 'Time Stop', will finish the battle quickly." At the edge of the valley, Priscilla, who was in a red magic robe, gave Douglas a scroll and looked at Arnold. She said with a faint smile, "It's very difficult and costly to create the scroll even for me. Old fox, I get to pick the trophies first after the battle."

Then, she paused and said, "Also, I have offered my 'Tower of Destroyers'. If the plan fails and it's destroyed by the Church, hehe…" She had a "you know what I would do" look on her face.

The magic tower, which could move and become invisible, was exactly what Tower of Destroyers was named after. After their headquarters was changed to someplace better and it was no longer useful, it was relocated here.

Fernando couldn't have seconded the way Priscilla called Arnold more. To this moment, he hadn't figured out why President Arnold was confident that Sharp would not betray them. Was it only a wild gamble? What an old fox!

Arnold said with a smile, "Although it's been almost three hundred years since you became an archmage, I am still a senior who watched you grow up. Please show me some respect."

His evasive answer certainly did not satisfy Priscilla, who snorted heavily. "A senior? Who proposed to me at the beginning only to be refused?"

Ha.

Fernando burst into laughter when he learned the president's dark history that he did not know. He knew that Priscilla had a husband who was killed by the Church, but he did not know that she was with someone else before!

Blushing, Arnold said, "I was in my prime years back then, not nearly as old as I am right now…"

Priscilla had prepared her own way of escape. So, instead of further pursuing the question, she looked at the servant of death next to Arnold gravely and asked, "Who is this? I can tell that he is strong, but something is not right…"

"He's my servant of death, a supernatural creature equal to level nine…" Arnold explained again.

"A servant of death. No wonder it gives me the feeling of the dead." Priscilla nodded in relief. Congus, who was behind them, said coarsely, "Old fox, after the operation succeeds, you have to lend your servant of death to me for a while. It is not normal. Perhaps it contains the mysteries of death."

Led by Priscilla, everybody called Arnold "old fox".

"I've noticed it too, but I never know why." Arnold opened his eyes, neither declining nor accepting Congus' request.

Congus' eyes flashed. When he was about to continue asking, fat Nielson opened his mouth and said coldly, "Alfonsol is probably coming, and you are still in the mood of chitchatting? Are all the sorcerers of Sylvanas as unreliable as you? In that case, I would have to reconsider the dangerousness of our cooperation."

"Hehe." Congus shut his mouth.

Looking at Amanata who stayed in shadow quietly, Priscilla nodded. "According to the news from the south, Kritonia is still after League. So, we will stick to our plan."

She turned around and flew back to the Tower of Destroyers. After all, Alfonsol would notice something wrong if no sorcerers were inside it.

Nielson and Congus flew in different directions, so far that it was beyond what Alfonsol could search and notice. It was also out of the range for them to reinforce the Tower of Destroyers immediately.

Amanata had long disappeared from the shadow too.

"Fernando, you set up the magic circle and keep this place in a storm, preferably for two hours." Arnold led Douglas and Fernando into a crypt nearby and completely melted into the shadow with a weird spell.

He speculated that Alfonsol would arrive in one hour because the traitor was given a wrong location, which would mislead the enemy but eventually bring them to this place.

Boom!

Thanks to Fernando's arrangement, bolts of lightning struck the trees, setting them on fire.

Hualala.

Clouds were gathered, and rain poured, making the place look like the end of the world. Nobody could sense anything.

Arnold was not scared that Alfonsol might discover that the storm was manipulated. After all, this place was an important base of the Tower of Destroyers. It was perfectly normal that such stealth and interference circles had been established.

Time went by one second after another. The Tower of Destroyers, in the storm and the darkness, was more and more like a monster that was about to swallow the world. Arnold and Douglas both remained absolutely calm with the spells such as Mechanized Mind. Fernando, who did not need to attack, looked at the dark forest anxiously. If anything went wrong in the operation, half of the magic organizations in Holm would be paralyzed.

"The target is here…" The blowing wind brought Amanata's gloomy, unemotional voice.

Even Douglas couldn't help but stand straight, clutching the scroll of Cracking (Advanced) in his hands.

BOOM!

Several minutes later, a pillar of light enshrouded in fire descended from the sky, illuminated the darkness, and hit the Tower of Destroyers overwhelmingly.

Symbols and patterns glittered around the transparent magic tower, constructing defense magic circles that blocked the pillar of light.

At this moment, an old man in a red robe appeared in the sky. His wrinkled face was full of hate and satisfaction. Around him, several red robes and divine knights were providing protection in battle formation.

In the forest nearby, bishops, reverends, and night watchers in black gloves emerged, blocking the way and killing the hiding sorcerers.

Arnold and Douglas did not attack immediately but waited for the feedback of the other archmages.

"Hiding gold knights detected…" Congus' voice came first from the storm.

Nielson gave a feedback very soon too. "Several senior-rank night watchers have set up a divine power circle and are ready to activate it at critical moments."

"There are enemies in the shadow…" Amanata said simply.

"Alfonsol is rather cautious. He has brought more men than we thought. He must've planned to counter-ambush the enemy in case of an accident," Arnold said to Douglas in the telepathic bond. "Let's do it!"

Far away, Congus, in his glamorous black robe, suddenly flew out from below the ground. The skull glistened in coldness under the bolts of lightning, and his teeth opened, letting out invisible howls.

Wu!

Above the trees, behind the rocks, and in the bushes, clerics and night watchers dashed out, screaming. Their skin began to fester, and their eyes were flashing in redness. They lunged at their companions who were struggling to resist!

After only a brief moment, they had been turned into specters!

In the meantime, skulls rose from the softened mud. Zombies and ghouls declared the arrival of the kingdom of death.

Before the hiding gold knight was able to react, he was already surrounded by the undead!

Congus did not decide to fight with his life. Naturally, he chose his spells accordingly.

On the other side, Nielson also flew out of his shelter, but his appearance had greatly changed. His fat was now tightened, filled with the patterns unique to the frost giants; his left eye popped out, turning into a brown Eye Demon with stubs floating around it; his right eye was gray and dim, and whatever it saw became a stone quickly; and pale tentacles grew out of his head and his body, as if he were a dehydrated octopus.

His mouth collapsed, baring his tusks; his right hand was full of maggots, and the incomplete fingers carried the intense stink of death; his left hand was covered in fish scales, which were mixed with electric arcs; his back had a pair of bat wings that were similar to vampires'; and the lower half of his body turned into four furry horse legs…

He looked like a monster from the worst nightmare!

Dragon breath, bolts of lightning, petrifaction, freezing, death summoning, ray shooting, mind stealing… Even though he was by himself, Nielson charged like a whole army of sorcerers, bringing unimaginable trouble to the night watchers, reverends, bishops, and divine knights. The divine power circle they established in secret was immediately sabotaged.

The clerics and night watchers on other directions were even more intimidated. They heard their companions scream and saw them disappearing into the darkness, but they could not find any enemy!

After Arnold gave the order, Douglas immediately tore apart the scroll of Cracking (Advanced) toward Alfonsol!

Generally speaking, Cracking (Advanced) should be performed after "Time Stop". However, since Alfonsol was confident to come and destroy the Tower of Destroyers, he was very likely to have brought extraordinary items that could resist the effect of Time Stop. Therefore, Douglas intentionally changed the order.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Under the sudden attack, different lights burst out of Alfonsol's body, as splendid as fireworks.

He does have items that can resist Time Stop! Douglas keenly sensed it.

At this moment, an enormous shadow appeared before Alfonsol. Arnold's servant of death, dragging the long scythe, slashed at Alfonsol, forcing him to defend himself with divine power.

The intense fog of death around the servant of death blocked the subconscious attacks of the other red robes and divine knights.

Without any delay, Douglas cast "Time Stop" after the cooldown.

The spell was cast successfully. However, he discovered, to his surprise, that it was not anxiety or panic on Alfonsol's face, but a casual smile!

874 Unexpected

Time Stop took effect. The brightness of the moon faded, the darkness was gone, the bolts of lightning were frozen in the sky, and the rainwater crystallized into peace. The whole world had nothing but vague grayness left. Alfonsol was like a bug frozen in ice when he was in the range of the spell, keeping the weird posture.

Right then, a crack passed through the stopped time and entered Douglas' ears. Then, the grayness broke inch by inch like shattered glass. The world immediately fell apart.

"Who is it?" Ever since he picked up the ninth-circle spell, Douglas had never met such a situation when he performed Time Stop. An external force had broken the effect of the spell! Even though he was good at controlling himself and had enhanced himself with many spells, he was still quite shocked.

The pieces of ice flew away, and Alfonsol was back to normal. However, the bolts of lightning were still slowed down, and the rainwater was still almost stopped. The only thing new was a glittering river from the sky that ran as unstoppably as time.

The overwhelming river of time woke everyone in the effect of Time Stop and broke the ultimate silence. Covering the forest within dozens of kilometers, the ripples made everything hazy as if they were below the water.

Arnold, Douglas, and Fernando, who were near, and Nielson, Congus, and Amanata, who were further away, all seemed to have been thrown into a transparent amber. They moved toward the river of time at the center slowly but surely. Their faces were different, with some angry and some shocked, but none of them could control themselves, just like no intelligent creature could resist the passage of time!

"Kritonia!"

Priscilla, who was in the Tower of Destroyers, was in better condition. She discovered, to her shock, that the source of the river of time was a fuzzy young man. His black hair danced crazily, his hands and his longsword were all watery, and he was looking down below with his blue eyes in mockery and pride. It was exactly "Heart of Time" Kritonia!

But according to the intelligence, Kritonia was still being distracted in the south!

After his sword slashed, the servant of death ahead of the river of time was cut from the middle without a sound, and the rotten pieces of flesh turned into ashes. His skull, hands, and ribs fell apart.

One attack of his sword was already so intimidating!

"Heart of Time?"

"Kritonia!"

"How could this happen?"

"How could he be here?"

Congus, Nielson, Douglas, and the rest of them all looked at Arnold. Hadn't he sent League to distract the man in the south? Wasn't he confirmed to be in the south from various sources?

While they looked at Arnold, they were also performing magic to free themselves. However, under the influence of the river of time, their movements and their minds had been slowed. They couldn't cast any spell quickly!

For a moment, everybody was grasped by fear, confusion, shock, and desperation.

"It's you?" Priscilla almost heard a long sigh from Arnold.

"It's me." Someone showed up behind Kritonia. He was wrinkled with a hawk nose. It was League, the deputy president of the Union of Sorcerers, and the archmage who was dispatched to distract Kritonia!

His face was as gloomy as before, but he now put on a vicious and delightful smile. His voice echoed inside every soul. "I only sold some intelligence for my benefits, and I never thought to destroy the organization. However, you sent me on such a dangerous mission. You are to blame for your situation right now!"

"Haha. Thanks to League's intelligence, there's finally a chance to completely destroy your organizations!" Alfonsol laughed cruelly and gloatingly. The red robes and divine knights nearby quickly approached and protected him.

"Goddamn traitor!" It was the first idea that Priscilla, Nielson, Congus, and Amanata had in mind.

Fernando even roared aloud, "Old man, filthy traitor!"

Time saturated the valley and the forest like water. All the sorcerers within the range had so many mistakes casting their spells that they could not escape at all. They were devastated and frustrated. The senior-rank sorcerers like Congus began to prepare to destroy themselves in order to be resurrected in other places.

After chopping Arnold's servant of death and limiting everyone's operation, Kritonia raised his long sword again, and everybody heard his clear voice. "It's a pity that there are only a few archmages…"

Faint pride could be felt in his tone. He did not consider Arnold, Douglas, or any of them to be important at all.

Everybody looked gloomy as if death was at hand, except the lich who only had bones. The intimidation of a level-two legendary knight was not to be underestimated!

Hardly had Kritonia finished his remark when a face suddenly erupted from the darkness behind him. The face was enormous and covered in a black hood. His eyes were two pale fires, and he opened his mouth letting out syllables that nobody else could hear, as if he were the God of Death reincarnated!

A black swirl emerged from the bottom of Kritonia's feet and enshrouded him and League.

The swirl was as blurry as smoke. Dozens of clerics and night watchers below the senior rank did nothing except to watch it, but their bodies quickly decayed into skeletons at a loss!

The bones of the servant of death that Kritonia minced just now exploded and released pale smoke that instantly consumed the forest and the valley. The skull, on the other hand, sprang and fell at the center of the enormous face, forcing a tall, slim figure with a long black robe behind in midair. The faces of souls surrounded him and cried miserably, as if they were praising and singing for him!

The figure was very similar to the servant of death just now, except that the black scythe had been raised, as if it was ready to reap lives.

"Ahh!!!"

In the pale smoke, a red robe suddenly screamed. His soul was extracted from his shell and melted into the smoke.

The souls of many other reverends, bishops, night watchers, and divine knights also flew out and joined the carnival of spirits in the smoke. Trees withered, and creatures decayed. Except for the sorcerers and few clerics, the place was already a lifeless realm of the dead!

The pale smoke began to constrict, and the fuzzy faces of pain and fear drifted in it, constructing a cage that trapped the black swirl.

A crack suddenly appeared on the black swirl, and the watery ripples spread out. In the meantime, a red robe and a divine knight behind Alfonsol suddenly went on a rampage. One of them summoned a firestorm, and the other destroyed himself. Alfonsol, caught unprepared, was shattered into pieces.

"You?" Alfonsol, who was still gloating, did not see it coming at all. Vague shock was left behind even though he was dead.

Kritonia, with the longsword of time, broke out of the black swirl and happened to catch the scene. League, however, had been transformed into a dry corpse that did not have any water. He fell from the sky, and none of his life-preserving spells proved useful. Disbelief and fright were frozen on his face.

"Brain Scourge, Memory Meddling, Death Storm, Fog of Spirits…" Kritonia mumbled something first before he looked at the mysterious person outside of the mist in solemnity and surprise who was being "admired" by the souls. "Tannanois…"

While he talked, his body became fuzzy, and he flashed forward unpredictably with his longsword, as if he were traveling in different spaces, to avoid the blockage of the Fog of Spirits.

The changes happened so fast that Priscilla, Nielson, and the rest of them did not realize what was happening at all until they heard Kritonia's words.

"The Liege of Death!"

Nielson couldn't have sounded more delighted.

"The Liege of Death!"

Congus, Priscilla, and Amanata, on the other hand, were so surprised that they found it hard to believe.

Douglas was the first to come back to himself, but he did not intervene a moment ago because he realized he wasn't capable enough to be involved at all!

At this moment, he looked at Arnold in confusion, amusement, and shock. How did his servant of death turn into "Liege of Death" Tannanois, who was the top legend in the past and the last consul of the Asso Empire? How many things had the guy kept a secret?

"Old fox, what is this all about?" Fernando roared, feeling that he had been tricked. His participation in the operation mattered little!

Arnold did not seem surprised at all. He coughed and said, "Let's get out of here first. Or maybe, do you want to be involved in a battle of legends?"

As he spoke, a colorful rainbow flew out of his hands and exploded into brilliant fireworks in the sky.

Having no time to inquire and "beat" Arnold, Priscilla glared at him and let the Tower of Destroyers run. Congus, Nielson, and Amanata turned around and left on their own for the rendezvous that they agreed upon earlier.

Douglas and Fernando followed Arnold to escape through the forest. Suddenly, they sensed something and raised their hands, only to discover that a gap was ripped in the sky of the battle, and a slim old man walked out with his eyes closed. From the north, a cold and beautiful girl who looked like an ice sculpture was also approaching.

"Mental Storm!"

"Aurora Wall!"

Two sophisticated voices came from far away. Fernando glared at Arnold. "So, the real target of the operation is actually 'Heart of Time'? What was League all about? Has the Liege of Death been restored to level three?"

"Cough. As I said before, sometimes, the traitors are more valuable to us than they are to our enemy." Arnold looked at him with a smile.

875 Arnold"s Wish

Fernando felt that he was almost choked and could barely breathe at all. The old fox had deceived them all! To make things worse, he even gave a clue in advance. It seemed that the guy was watching them to be misled as if he were enjoying a play!

No wonder he was not worried at all that "Blue Grace" Sharp would regret and turn them in!

Holding back his fury, Fernando flew out of the forest with Arnold. The aftermath of a battle of legends could very likely destroy this place!

"Has the Liege of Death recovered the strength of level three?" Douglas repeated one of Fernando's questions. At this moment, he cared about the strengths of the two parties more than anything else, and the details could be left for discussion when it was over.

Light and shadows were changing deep inside the forest, as if countless phantoms were wandering inside. It was most intimidating. Arnold narrowed his eyes and looked back, smiling like a real fox. "The Liege of Death was heavily wounded by the pope. His body, his soul, and his phylactery were all broken, and he almost completely perished. Fortunately, it was not God's Arrival that the pope used.

"Later, the Liege of Death was revived as an alchemical life through the soul core that he preserved through legendary arts and by melting the soul pieces of other people. Then, he reshaped his body."

In the telepathic bond, he told them about the Liege of Death unhurriedly, as if he did not have any doubt about the outcome of the battle at all. After all, the Liege of Death used to be a top legend who commanded a legion of the undead. Even though he was not as strong as before, it shouldn't be a problem for him to deal with the Heart of Time who hadn't reached level three yet.

"However, the main consciousness was prone to the conflicts of the soul pieces. Most of the magic models were incomplete. As a result, he failed to recover his peak strength for a long time.

"A dozen years ago, based on his research and understanding of the soul, Tannanois finally absorbed the other pieces and regained the strength of level-three legendary. Perhaps he will return to the peak in a few decades."

"Then the battle shouldn't be a problem…" Fernando said subconsciously.

The conclusion was based on reality. After the prolonged War of Dawn, everybody knew clearly that sorcerers were stronger than knights and clerics of the same level. However, the time it took for sorcerers to grow was much longer. That was why they were left behind.

Also, necromancers, who represented death, resurrection, and life, were among the sorcerers with the highest combat abilities thanks to their profound understanding of the soul. They were also more fatal and unpredictable!

Therefore, even though Kritonia had the mutated bloodline of the dragons of time, there was no chance for him to defeat a necromancer who was one level higher than him. All it remained to be seen was whether or not he could seize the momentary opportunity to flee.

Arnold smiled and did not respond to Fernando. Instead, he offered to explain the operation to them. "As a matter of fact, when I contacted Red Eye, Supreme Soul, and the other groups, I attempted to greet the three legends and received a satisfactory answer."

They had already reached the edge of the black forest. So, they turned around and looked at the battlefield of the top legends again.

At this moment, in the middle of the fog where countless souls were struggling, a hazy flickering light dashed out. All the obstacles on its way seemed illusionary and could not stop it at all, as if they were in different spaces.

"The power of space and time is indeed remarkable…" Douglas remarked in the telepathic bond.

Hardly had he concluded his sentence when the sky, which was slightly brightened by the snow, dimmed again. An enormous dragon hovered and descended. All its muscles were rotten, and pus was flowing everywhere. He was also breathing pale fire.

It was a "dragon lich", a legendary undead creature!

The dragon of death unfolded its wings and covered half of the forest in absolute darkness. The fading light of time was consumed. It could only be vaguely seen that the light was still struggling and falling apart.

In the sky around, two gigantic shadows emerged again. One of them was a mummy that was covered in brown cloth. It was so strong that Douglas and Fernando could perceive it clearly from far away. The other was a monster that had only skeletons left. It was even more gargantuan than the dragon lich, like the bones left by the legendary monsters in the Boundless Ocean.

The two undead creatures that were undoubtedly legendary joined the deep darkness that the dragon lich created. Therefore, the last haziness of the light was eclipsed.

In the forest, zombies, mummies, ghosts, spirits, skinless dogs, and other undead creatures climbed and covered the darkness like a surging tide.

"A legendary necromancer is truly horrifying, particularly one who grasps the tough legion of the undead. Kritonia is doomed…" Knowing a lot about necromancy, Fernando was quite astounded by what he saw.

For the other legendary classes of the school of necromancy, like the Great Master of Paleness or Demigod-lich, although they also had plenty of "helpers", they could not compare to the Liege of Death. Those two classes were more focused on mysterious skills and soul attacks.

If the pope hadn't destroyed the Liege of Death's main legion, he would have resisted most legends of Holm on his own. It must be noted that he had two level-three servants of death in his prime days!

The forest was absolutely quiet without any noise. It was both weird and terrifying, making it impossible for them to know the progress of the battle. Therefore, Fernando could only move his eyes back and continue, "A satisfactory answer?"

Did the old fox not mention that only by winning the support of nobles could the organizations that had three legendary sorcerers be convinced to join? Was it another lie?

Arnold looked at him and Douglas and said calmly, "Although His Excellency Tannanois is unsatisfied with the empire's decision and unwilling to go to Aalto to help, as one of the top experts in the world, he understands the situation very well and knows that this is the final chance to save himself!

"While the main force of the Church is stalled by Abel, Dracula, Danisos, and the other legends in the west, he has to save himself! After everything is settled, he will be no better than a rat in the gutter!

"This is the last chance. It is either death or a better life. Everybody knows it very well. Even if I did not greet them, they would've taken some action recently."

Then, Arnold chuckled. "They did not pay much attention to us at the beginning, but Sharp's contract inspired me to plan this operation. The real target has always been Kritonia since the very beginning."

"No wonder you were so enthusiastic about Sharp's random contract without much confirmation!" Fernando felt even more frustrated that he did not see that. In retrospect, he realized that the old fox was too passionate!

Arnold smiled and did not say anything. Douglas, on the other hand, nodded his head. "Even we were convinced that it was meant to kill Alfonsol. How could Kritonia have suspected us?"

"But what if League was not a traitor, and the Heart of Time did not come?" Fernando already knew that Sharp's contract was only a disguise to cover the real target, but he still had doubts.

Arnold grimaced like a fox that had just stolen a chicken. "Then, our real target would've been Alfonsol. By killing him, we will raise the contradictions between the nobles and the Church to win a living space for ourselves."

Huh? Fernando looked at Arnold in shock, having trouble following his explanation.

Arnold chuckled. "First of all, you need to remember our path—attract the nobles and sow discord between them and the Church. Therefore, either attacking the Heart of Time or killing Alfonsol is for the purpose, although the former is more effective than the latter.

"If the former cannot be accomplished, the latter will be our Plan B. It's much more than a disguise."

Fernando listened attentively and felt that he grasped something essential. For the first time, he wanted the old fox to talk.

Arnold turned his eyes to Douglas and smiled. "In order to achieve a purpose, you cannot create a plan that is so delicate that any accident in any procedure will result in failure because there are too many accidents in actual operations.

"The key to any operation is hiding, pretending, and lying. Hide your real purpose and pretend it to be something else that will actually help you accomplish your real purpose. That's the only way to avoid your failure because the enemy's sabotage will only indirectly help you. Both pretending and lying will require the support of detailed intelligence…"

Flying out of the forest, he talked eloquently with his hands behind his back with the utmost ease. Fernando was so stunned that he cursed to himself, This is truly an old fox!

However, why was he not so elaborate before?

Douglas listened carefully and shared similar feelings as Fernando. Until the battle of Antiffler, he had been focused on research and rejected by other sorcerers. He barely had any experience of making plans and arranging operations. He picked up something during his escape, but he was still immature. After hearing Arnold's interpretation, he immediately felt that he understood a lot of new things.

Realizing something, he asked, "Mr. President, are you teaching me a lesson?"

He called the man respectfully.

Arnold turned around and looked at the forest that was still covered in absolute darkness, before he said with mixed feelings. "However strange your questions are, you are the sorcerer with the greatest potential of leadership in the Union. Fernando is smart enough, but he is too impatient and reckless. So, I need to tell you some of my experience before I die."

"Old fox!"

"Old fox!"

"Mr. President…"

Arnold raised his hands and stopped them before he went on, "In the war that devastates the sorcerers, so many legends have passed away. Why do you think I am safe? Maybe I'll be killed by grand cardinals, legendary knights, or night watchers at some point. I am not any luckier than other people. Or maybe in another hundred years, I will die of old age. This is a natural law that cannot be broken unless I become a legendary sorcerer.

"My greatest wish right now is to see the sorcerers back to the supreme place of this world and reestablish a glorious magic empire."

His eyes did not leave the battlefield of legends, and he said in a low voice, "I wonder if I can live long enough to see that…"

My only wish is to watch you return to supremacy when I am still alive!

His back was slightly hunched, and his white hair was so obvious.

At this moment, an unimaginably dazzling light burst out in the darkness and illuminated the world.

876 Cooperation

The dark curtain was dissolved, and brightness leaked through the sky. Surging ripples spread out as if they came from the ancient times, wiping all the dust on the way.

In front of time, everything was dust!

In the middle of the ripples, a person passed through the wall made of aurora like a slippery fish and broke out of the heavy siege before the fog of spirits regathered.

The power of time was everywhere!

The person was much dimmer than before, and the pride and confidence could no longer be felt. The moment he left the absolute darkness, he hurried to turn into many hazy rays of light and opened the barrier of space and time, teleporting far away.

Right then, a black enormous scythe, carrying the deepest and heaviest death, slashed from the sky abruptly, as if it had been waiting for the opportunity all the time. It hit the hazy light in the center brutally.

"Ahh!!!"

The miserable screams echoed on everybody's heart as if they were from the future, making their body tremble.

The light was cut from the middle into two parts.

The former half leaped into the space-time gap that was just torn open without considering anything, and the latter half exploded violently, miring the scythe of death in the thick ocean of time. It was slowed to the minimum.

"Hooooooo!"

A dragon roared, and a pale fire followed the light and shadow into the gap. Then, the gap was closed, and the space and time were back to normal, except that painful moans were still echoing in the sky.

"He's not dead?" In the place that they agreed upon, Priscilla found it impossible to close her mouth.

During her escape, she had been paying attention to the battle of top legends. She knew what great powers were trying to kill Kritonia. There were one level-three legendary sorcerer, two level-one legendary sorcerers, one undead creature that equaled level-two legendary, and two undead creatures equaled level-one legendary. Even if the saint in the Radiance Church were here, he would've also perished. However, Kritonia had successfully escaped!

Even though he was heavily wounded, he should be proud of himself for being able to escape!

Not far away from her, the needle-like redness in Congus' hollow eye sockets was bouncing intensely. "Is the power of time so remarkable?"

He ascribed the result to the space-time tower that was in the highest place in magic. It had to be noted that the former pope did not use God of Truth when he "killed" the Liege of Death. At that time, nobody knew that the Saint Truth had such a terrifying divine power. It was not until Aflora and her partner, Danisos, two primordial dragons of time, attacked Lance at the invitation of the consul of the Sylvanas Magic Empire that the world finally witnessed the godly power that surpassed everything.

The result was that Aflora, who only backed off to the Dark Mountain Range and never gave in even during the heyday of the Magic Empires, completely perished, and Danisos was heavily wounded even though he only took to the aftermath.

The battle demonstrated the power of God's Arrival, but it also proved the formidableness of the power of space and time, which had forced the former pope to perform God's Arrival.

After that, the former pope and the current pope had each used God's Arrival once, and their opponents were the god of the Sun Church and the Light of Stars. Both of them were the experts of space and time. The Light of Stars, in particular, had the help of the defense of Antiffler that was perfected for almost ten thousand years. He was believed to be the most likely person to resist God's Arrival. However, after one attack, he was killed, and the city was destroyed. All the living sorcerers were intimidated from the bottom of their hearts.

Looking at the closed space-time gap in the sky, Amanata suddenly appeared from the shadow, unable to hide perfectly anymore.

"This… This doesn't make any sense…" Nielson, who was from the Asso Empire, could not believe that the Liege of Death failed to kill a level-two legendary knight with the help of another two legendary sorcerers!

Besides their shock, they were also disappointed. They thought that Kritonia, a nightmare for the sorcerers of Holm, would end here today, but his capabilities were truly beyond imagination!

Douglas, who was not far away from the meeting place, looked at the sky in slight confusion. He also found it more or less unacceptable. Although he was prepared that Kritonia might escape after the battle, he felt that it was rather unreal after it did happen.

Fernando even exclaimed in shock, "He escaped? Which legend started the research on the space-time bloodline?"

He couldn't have admired the legend more for developing such a cheating blood power.

"It's said to be Viken, the King of Calamities. He was definitely among the top three legendary sorcerers who studied bloodline melting. Of course, rumors have it that he was not very good at the power of space and time, and it was co-developed by him and Maskelyne. However, the space-time bloodline never distinguished itself until the mutations in Kritonia, which let people know the preciousness of the space-time blood power…" Arnold explained. He was as casual as before. He was not surprised at all that Kritonia broke out of the siege.

"So, it was Viken and Maskelyne…" Fernando repeated. Before he invoked their titles, he looked at Arnold suspiciously. "Old fox, you don't seem nervous and disappointed, right?"

"I am very disappointed and nervous," Arnold replied with a smile.

"I don't see it." Fernando glared at Arnold and speculated, "Actually, you intentionally let go of him, didn't you? Or maybe, did something else happen in the darkness?"

"Haha. How would I know? I wasn't there," Arnold said with an innocent look on his face.

Douglas nodded, deep in thought. "In any case, Kritonia also belongs to the nobles, and killing him will raise the panic and counterattack of nobles. It may be better to…"

"Hehe." Arnold smiled but did not say anything. Pointing at Priscilla who was at the entrance of the cave far away, he said, "Let's go and talk to them first."

At this moment, Priscilla also saw Arnold. Immediately, scorching fireballs emerged and flew around her before she grimaced. "Old fox, come here and explain what happened. I promise I won't beat you!"

"We can already talk well over such a distance." Arnold scratched his beard and took a step back.

"You owe us an explanation." Congus flew over. Since he only had bones, it was difficult to tell what was on his mind.

Arnold's smile was gone. He told everybody what he said to Douglas and Fernando earlier solemnly and sincerely.

"Do you mean that the few legends are willing to work with us? To what extent?" As the leader of an organization, Priscilla had already recovered from the fury of being deceived and began to consider the situation carefully.

Arnold looked at them. "It depends on our negotiation and the countermeasures of the Church. However, it shouldn't be a problem to reach a preliminary agreement."

"Yes. Now that a level-nine bishop is killed, the Church will definitely hunt harder. The two grand cardinals and the few legendary knights will all be deployed. We have to stay away for now." For the first time since he came to the party in Allyn, Nielson spoke in a rather friendly tone and attitude.

Since even the Liege of Death was willing to cooperate and forget the unpleasant experience in the past for now, it seemed unnecessary for him to cling to it.

The moment he finished his sentence, the darkness around suddenly split, and a necromancer with an enormous black scythe floating on his head walked out. He was entirely covered in a black robe. The only thing that could be seen was the two red spots in the shadow of his hood.

Behind him, fuzzy souls were screaming, moaning, and crying around him, as if they were expressing fear and submission.

"You are the dominator of death and the will of immortality." Arnold, Nielson, Priscilla, Douglas, and the other sorcerers all held their chests and their foreheads while they recited the tributes for the Liege of Death.

Remembering the tributes for every legendary sorcerer was a mandatory subject for every magic apprentice. Thankfully, there weren't too many legendary sorcerers.

"'Escape' is better than death…" The voice of the Liege of Death sounded like from a distant past—weary, gloomy, and lifeless. However, before he finished his sentence, he raised his head abruptly and looked at the sky before he vaguely said, "It has begun…"

It has begun? Including old fox Arnold, all the sorcerers looked at the sky after him.

They saw that the sky, which had been dim and starless previously, turned clear and bright at some point. A dazzling, dreamy silver moon struck the sky with a chilly brilliance.

Then, it was drowned by an infinite light.

"That was…?" All the illusions were gone, and the sky became dark and gloomy again. Having vaguely sensed something, Arnold asked half in panic and half in expectation.

Douglas seemed to have returned to the nightmare in the past. He asked at a loss, "God's Arrival?"

As far as he knew, God's Arrival couldn't be seen by people in other places unless it attacked a target who was at very high altitudes. According to the records, the demigods such as the Lord of Hell and the Will of Abyss could not attack across the continent. However, there was one exception. The battle with the demigod could be seen wherever the silver moon could be seen. That was Alterna, the God of Silver Moon.

"Have the demigods finally been involved?" Priscilla felt that so many things had happened tonight that they did not seem like a coincidence at all!

Fat Nielson asked in a hurry, "Mr. Tannanois, has the Silver Moon blocked God's Arrival?"

The Liege of Death heaved a long and soft sigh. "The moon has fallen…"