The Kingdom of Mos was situated at the west of the continent. The territory itself was full of big and small mountains and very few lowlands. Despite that Monsians used their mountains as natural protection against both people and beasts alike. They built massive fortresses on top for security and dug out the mountain so it could sustain their population. They brought the earth to the top and made their own fields so they could grow their own food even at the top. Monsians were very famous for their steel tools and weapons as they had an abundant amount of it in the mountains. They also dug out a very special type of mineral called Glowstone which radiated a bright light akin to sunlight until it was completely destroyed. They used that Glowstone and their old mines to make room for fields inside the mountain. Glowstone was always radiating the light so the crops were even more abundant inside than in the outside.
There was a specific reason why the Monsians were called heretics by the Sect. All of the Monsians were the remnants of the previous demi-human tribes that were still inhabiting the continent before the Great War. Monsians were always active in their search for the remaining hiding tribes across the continent and also tried their best to intercept slave caravans and bring the slaves to the Kingdom.
Their government was fairly simple. Every demi-human race had one representative who would act on behalf of their tribe in the Parliament. At the top was the parliamentary leader who was responsible for publishing the reforms and the decisions as well as lead the parliament. The sheer number of tribes inhabiting the mountains and in the parliament, they had to have a capable leader as well as a neutral one. For instance, in the Kingdom of Mons, the parliamentary leader was always from the same tribe. That tribe was the Dryads. Since ancient times the Drays were known as peace-keeping race. They despised conflict and only indulged in one because of the unnecessary and mass destruction of the forest that was under their protection. They were a spiritual sort of being that had an innate connection to nature. That was why they managed to protect even the farthest location on the continent.
Thanks to the large variety of races in the Kingdom they were advancing very fast as a community. All of the tribes had their duty in the community so everything could keep progressing at full speeds. For instance, dwarves had their duties as blacksmiths since they were all quite talented at it, giants were in charge of mining and construction while also serving part-time in the military. Elementals and fairies weren't in charge of anything in particular but they had to choose someone they wished to form a contract with. These contracts were used as a means to extend one's life since fairies couldn't age and also promote understanding of a particular element. That way, as an example, a Snow Elf could form a contract with a water-based fairy and reach a new level of understanding the water magic.
Races such as beastmen, weretigers, and minotaurs were serving full-time in the army since they were natural fighters. Some races that were skilled in combat but also liked doing something else when there was no war could do that. There were no limits and restrictions. Everyone did what the like and enjoy. That, of course, made them what they were today- the richest kingdom on the continent. There were many, many military campaigns launched against the Kingdom of Mons, but none of them managed to do any particular damage. When they tried direct assaults they would suffer huge losses and get nothing in return. When they tried starving them out on the mountains they were sieging them for a year until they themselves had to go back because of financial losses.
Monsians used this opportunity so they could grow, both mentally and physically while keeping only one goal on their minds - revenge. Revenge for everything the oppressing enemy Kingdoms did to them. Revenge for their brethren who suffered for years while being worked to the bone as slaves.
And the biggest reason of them all - breaking their many millennia old bond with the humans. They both prospered as one large community without discrimination, hunts, and hatred before the Great War. They are going to take that back while thinking of a single enemy - the Church.
In the Kingdom of Mons, there were 3 massive mountains standing one next to each other, all 3 of them reaching for thousands and thousands of meters in the air. Connecting them was a seemingly endless number of bridges and constructed tunnels. The largest of the 3 mountains stood in the middle. That mountain was called the Mountain of Magna which together with the other 2 mountains made the capital city of the Kingdom of Mons - Capital City Vindicta. These three mountains were said to be protected by 3 Elder Dragons. The Founders of the city allegedly formed a mutual agreement with the Dragons in which it was stated that the city would do various things for the Dragons in exchange for protection.
Inside the luxurious room inside the biggest residence of the Capital were seated, 3 individuals.
The atmosphere of the room was quite tense, but not in a good way because of a single sentence said by the most lavishly dressed individual.
"Start the preparations, in a year's time we march to take everything ever taken away from us!".
...
While that conversation and the excitement continued, Marcus was on his way to the Capital of the Holy Kingdom- Capital City Aurum. He was currently sitting in a luxurious white carriage. On the outside, with the white, there were engraved patterns of lines with pure gold with the horses pulling it covered in pure white armor made from a rare kind of metal called Pluma metal. The inside also white and gold with the seats being covered with red cashmere type of material. Accompanying him was his Master and a messenger from the king. Both of them barely changed much. Marcus has changed quite a lot since he was 8. He has grown to a height of 165 centimeters and also gained quite a lot of muscle. His platinum hair braided in one really big braid that fell over his soldier. His stature also improved quite a bit. He was no longer a boy with an innocent face that couldn't handle some unsightly scenes. His light blue eyes filled with resolve while looking at everything around him with a hint of anger.
Being the youngest Grandmaster cultivator in the Holy Kingdom and probably on the continent he had enough confidence to act like that. After all, even though he was of lower cultivation level than most of the strongest people in the Kingdom he was confident of taking down someone just a level higher than himself. He was trained as a soldier, both cultivation and martial arts were taught to him while normal cultivators only spent their time cultivating meticulously paying no attention to martial arts or studying anything of the sort.
The difference was quite big actually. For example, the messenger was actually a royal guard from the palace. He was a Master level in cultivation, but he radiated a menacing aura that would place even the higher level cultivators in a state of panic. Marcus knew it would be harder to take down one such guard than 2-3 normal cultivators of the same level. Even so, cultivators were quite respected as not many people were adept at magic. Especially commoners since they possessed no blessed bloodline as the nobles did. Nobles in the Holy Kingdom were quite unique when it came to cultivation and magic. Before the Great War, it was said certain families in the Holy Kingdom worshipped magic beasts that resided in the Hellwoods and other forests. Those magic beasts were actually called the Protectors after the Great war since they all defended a certain part of the forest in case of a conflict or Abominations which were a byproduct of a magic beast evolving. After many sorts of sacrifices and conflicts, those families participated in so they wouldn't interrupt their "Gods" the magic beasts gave part of their essence to the heirs of those families. One family would be "blessed" by one magic beast while the other one would be blessed by the other magic beasts. The Cervos family was blessed by the Cornibus Deer.
Cornibus Deer was fairly weak in close combat with his only weapon for it being his massive horns, but it overcame that weakness with his magic. Cornibus Deer was adept at 4 elements of magic - water, earth, fire, and air magic. This was the reason for the Cervos family's strength and influence it retained in the present Holy Kingdom. Unfortunately, the noble families discarded their past ways for more power in the newly formed Holy Kingdom after the Great War.
As they became more and more distanced from the Protectors some members couldn't invoke that many magic elements. They became limited in magic but they overcame it by giving birth to more children and giving special training to the members with more magic elements. The most one family member could invoke after the Great War was 3 elements. Marcus was one of those descendants. He could invoke fire, earth and wind thanks to the blessing of the Protector and also water since it was his mother's racial element.
Marcus was assessing the situation in the Capital while the messenger was trying to assess him and his look filled with a hint of anger as he kept watching the Capital. Marcus was getting more and more impatient while watching the people walking through the Capital. Not necessarily the common folk but the number of slaves and slave markets in the Capital was bigger than in all the cities and towns he passed through combined. Slaves were selling like apples for cheap money. Public auctions for the premium product, slave markets for common goods, slaves placed in cages on exhibitions...
All sorts of things were happening in the Capital revolving only around slaves.
His Master slightly hit him with his walking cane as to stop him from any rash actions or showing his emotions too openly.
Marcus quietly sighed and started meditating to calm his turbulent feelings. Time passed with nothing, in particular, happening while suddenly the carriage stopped. Marcus woke up and realized they were at the palace gates waiting to get passed through. The messenger who was called Elin stepped out and settled the matter with the palace guards. After a minute or so they were let through and rode for another good 5 minutes until they stopped. The carriage door was opened by a butler who politely greeted them "Young Master, Sir Bearclaw, welcome to the Royal Palace". They both nodded and stepped out.
"Please follow me to the entrance," the butler said.
Marcus was a bit dazed off from the sight that greeted him when he stepped out. They parked beneath the massive steps leading to the entrance with a huge, lush garden behind them. At every corner of the garden and around the palace were stationed, royal guards who radiated aura similar to Elin but only a bit less imposing. Titus lightly chuckled at his disciples' actions and then said: "Come on, there'll be time for sightseeing!".
Marcus felt a little dumb at these childish actions and just started walking after the butler. Elin and Titus started following after the two in the front. There were at least 100 steps leading to the massive golden entrance on the top. All of the stairs were made from polished marble without a single speck of dust on them.
When reaching the entrance Marcus felt dumb yet again. In front of him, a massive hall was stretching for as far as he could see with a massive red carpet laid out on the floor. On the sides were two rows of butlers and maids; at least a 100 of them. The walls were covered with shiny and colorful gems with paintings of various kinds of people. When he stepped through the entrance he was greeted by the servants on his sides "Welcome to the Royal Palace, Honored Guests!".
Silence overcame the hall as Marcus felt a bit overwhelmed with this kind of treatment. He may be a son of an Archduke but he was never treated even close as good as this.
Titus had to encourage him yet again to start walking. He again felt a bit ashamed as he was always mentally preparing for various kinds of overwhelming things. From aura to pure physical pressure, he overcame it all but this just astonished him.
He was then led by the butler through the halls while he observed all of the things exhibited on display. Armors, paintings, weapons, sculptures. It was all there on the display for all to see.
After some minutes of walking, they stopped in front of another massive door, except this one was white, made from a special kind of wood. Nix Trees were semi-sentient. They were capable of simple thoughts and actions so they didn't act purely on instinct but they were one of the toughest things to kill. Not that they were particularly strong but they were known as one of the toughest materials after all the stones and metals. The whole door was made from a single trunk of a Nix Tree. On the door, there were many, many characters carved out of the wood that just brought a majestic feel to it and the surrounding area. But what amazed Marcus, even more, was the sheer number of powerful presences inside the, what he assumed was the throne room. People stronger than even his Master were gathered inside this room and it slightly shocked him.
While he was trying to recollect himself the door slowly started opening as the royal announcer yelled out "His Highness Marcus Cervos of the Cervos family and His Highness Titus Bearclaw of the Bearclaw family are both in the presence of His Royal Highness, The King of the Holy Kingdom of Ecclesia, Richard Rex Bovem!".
After the excessively long introduction, he paused for a bit and then continued "Kneel before his Majesty!"