Elizabeth sighed and realized that conflict was inevitable. She began condensing the last scraps of her Magic Energy into her Dual Core Rending technique. Her bow began bursting into bright white light as angelic wings manifested. Unleashing her full strength, this was her only chance! Crus snorted at the sight. To think that a meager Rank Transcendent Lord would try to battle her, the Silver Crane Sword! How insulting was that! It served to trigger her bloodlust and fury further, as she threw caution to the wind. However, just before they collided, a series of magical barriers formed between them.
Ludin screeched, "Stop! Elder Crus, don't forget our position!"
In response, Crus halted and her fighting intent wavered. Prime Minister Pon-Wai and the Imperial Council were one thing, but Elizabeth's aura could never be mistaken. She was genuinely the student of a Rank 3 King! When the sect was in its heyday, she would never accept being disrespected by Elizabeth. After all, she had the support of the Featherwind Sect! A war of Rank 3 Kings was extremely destructive, and it was rare to see Rank 3 Kings in the larger world, much less a large-scale conflict, so Crus was confident in getting her way. However, she forgot the most important thing… the great Featherwind Sect was no more! The Sect Master was missing in the Luminous Central Origin, and the leader of the guardians was dead… There was no one left to help them anymore. Threatening the student of a Rank 3 King, especially when they were in their pathetic state, that was truly courting death! Her anger fizzled out, replaced by melancholy.
Seeing his partner back down relieved Ludin. He turned to a confused Elizabeth and said, "I hope you'll pardon our actions. We're new to the customs of humanity. As for our discussion, we are willing to retract our assault on your forces, provided that you can promise us something."
Elizabeth exhaled deeply and took a long look at the cuckoo bird. "You aren't violating your contract by cooperating with me?"
Ludin gave a wide smile. "In my honest opinion, your side is destined to win, because you have a Rank 3 King. I am helping the Xingyuu Empire by giving my honest advice: negotiate with the Alzar Kingdom. Therefore, this does not constitute as 'betraying' the empire. This is the most sensible and beneficial action that they can take."
What a pretty lie, Elizabeth inwardly snorted. As she expected, the cooperation between the sect and empire was weak enough that any 'betrayal' could be twisted into 'help'.
"And what does the Featherwind Sect want?" she asked and dispelled her Magic Energy.
"It's very simple. We want access to your communication array," Ludin replied.
Hearing this, Crus's ears perked up and her eyes flashed in anticipation. If the Alzar Kingdom really had a communication array, that would change everything! Elizabeth was conversely flummoxed. She never heard of such a thing before, so she had to consult her master again. Rena then laboriously explained that considering how large the world was and how travelling through the wilderness was both dangerous and time-consuming, this made communication difficult. Not everyone was a Rank 4 Emperor or Rank 5 God, who could smash the void and traverse space! Since a Rank 3 King was the minimum strength required to wander the wilderness, how many were interested in being errand boys? Thus, this gave birth to the long-range near-instantaneous communication array.
But it was not easy to make. Just like any other Magic Array, it required careful calibrations and calculations, especially to project a message across vast distances with little information loss. The slightest mistake could lead to huge error propagation making the amount of research and development not small. To make matters worse, it required specialized materials and talented Arcanists to operate. The corresponding transmission range reflected the strength and skill of the civilization. For example, the Featherwind Sect had a dedicated group of Grand Rank 2 Lords for this purpose. Using their array, they could project their messages as far as the Luminous Central Origin. This was a humongous distance! For reference, the same journey by a human messenger would take more than three or five years. Hence, a communication array was one of the hallmarks of a Rank 3 civilization.
Elizabeth's brow crinkled. Of course, the Alzar Kingdom did not have such convenient technology, not even close. It was also unlikely that the Zino Kingdom would have one either and they were the premier in magic research. The most important thing was that lying and falling prey to a contract-type spell would be disastrous. Left without a choice, she said plainly, "We don't have a communication array."
"You don't have one?" Ludin widened his eyes in amazement. "Then what does your master use?"
"It's simple… My master doesn't use one."
The two birds were tongue-tied. "You're serious?"
"I don't have any reason to lie. On the contrary, why do you want access to one?" Elizabeth raised an eyebrow suspiciously. The idea of the Featherwind Sect contacting other foreign entities did not sit well with her.
Exchanging wry gazes, the two birds sighed. Whether Elizabeth was lying or not was irrelevant since the Alzar Kingdom had the support of a Rank 3 King. Pushing her too far was asking for a disaster. After a short period of deliberation, Ludin said, "Very well… We shall retract our assault anyways. Treat it as an apology for our actions and a courtesy towards your master."
In the first place, neither Ludin nor Crus had the ability to massacre the entire fleet. They had grossly underestimated the extent of their backlashes and the strain of using both their Bloodline Abilities and trademark attacks. They could probably sink a handful more ships, but anything more than that and they would have to burn up their lifeforce. Wasting their lives in this insignificant battle was just not worth it. Crus remained silent because she was forcefully holding back the pain and tremors. Even her doppelgangers were beginning to flicker imperceptibly out of existence. Combined with the pressure of looking strong in front of Elizabeth and that gave her immense mental pressure. Of course, the same went for Ludin. Maintaining the Seven Encloses Heaven barrier was an extreme endeavour. Both wanted to wrap things up quickly!
This made Elizabeth's instincts tingle. There was something odd about the situation, but she could not place her finger on it. Nevertheless, if her enemies were willing to grant a ceasefire, then she was not about to raise a fuss. As far as she was concerned, this was a victory. There was still the issue of rescuing the sailors and soldiers who were thrown overboard when their ships were destroyed by Crus's Demon Wind Resurrection technique. Take too long and the death toll would only increase. Like the two birds, she thought it was nigh time to bow out as well.
The girl nodded and replied, "My master and I appreciate the gratitude. May we speak again in more favourable conditions."
"Likewise."
On that note, Crus dispelled thirty-one of her doppelgangers, used the last to return Elizabeth back to her flagship, and then deactivated her martial technique and Bloodline Ability. The second that happened, her monstrously powerful aura rapidly receded and the bulk of her backlashes emerged in full force! She spat out a mouthful of blood, while her feathers shed and her face paled. Waving his wings, Ludin caught the unconscious crane in a barrier 'cushion'. He glanced over the Alzar fleet and Elizabeth with a peculiar expression. As promised, his Seven Encloses Heaven barrier promptly disintegrated like the crumbling of glass, returning the Alzar fleet to the Maelstrom Gulf. Watching his seven talismans return to his body, he noticed something. He snorted and cursed the Prime Minister before flying off into the horizon.
Landing on the flagship again filled Elizabeth with indescribable relief. It was like she was constantly balancing on a tightrope with one step from death… And the funny thing was that the situation was almost exactly like that. Standing on Crus's doppelganger and flying higher than the clouds, Elizabeth would almost say that the tightrope was better. At least in that case, she had some form of control, but for the negotiation, her life was entirely dependent on Crus! Although her friends and allies rushed up for details, she was trying to rest her insanely beating heart and blurring eyesight. She was on the verge of passing out too! Noticing her distress, Shirley shooed away the onlookers and gave Elizabeth her breathing room.
The sounds of the collapsing barrier forced everyone to look up. It was like the shattering of a million windows! The melody was music to everyone's ears. In this battle, they were like lambs to the slaughter. Crus's Demon Wind Resurrection was ridiculous to the extreme. Her first act of bisecting a warship in one strike was forever etched into their memories, reminding them of their powerlessness and mortality. They were too weak in the face of this divine power! And as the battle dragged on, with Crus's doppelgangers multiplying seemingly endlessly and no escape in sight, their morale was close to bottoming out. A bit more and half the fleet might have mutinied to surrender… Admiral Aura was about to readdress the fleet when her face paled and everyone was the same. Their brief spark of joy was doused by the horrific scene before them!