As the Genesis Sea experts do their best to assist their lord in his ascension, the shaking soon stops. At first, they were hopeful but as time went on, the hope slowly dwindled.
"D-did, the Duke fail?" the High Captain asked Ryker, who was eying the depth of the capital, not paying attention to the question.
As they began to despair, another shaking, even more powerful than before happened, before something flew from the mansion, breaking the roof and likely some of the floors.
At the sight of the Duke, the two of them were hopeful. The Duke turned his attention to the two of them and smiled his aura stronger than ever.
His aura was soon sensed by the other Genesis Sea experts, who all came out to greet their lord. Seeing his subordinates, he smiled though it disappeared when he noticed two missing faces.
He looked towards the Mizalas Duchy camp, rage filled his eyes. The anger disappeared when he noticed his subordinates converging at him, saluting him.
"My lord!" they called out, the Duke's expression softened as he saw them, their pale faces, tired expressions, and unkempt clothes showing that they were exhausted and worn out.
"It had been tough on all of you," he said, before releasing some of his qi. The Genesis Sea experts were surprised but soon realized that the qi seemed to be rejuvenating them, filling their qi reserve to the brim.
Ryker could even feel he would have another breakthrough soon with the Duke's help.
"My lord, are you?" one of the Family leaders asked. The Duke smiled before summoning something from thin air, a tower.
While it is small that it is the same height as a tall man, the power emanating from it could not be considered weak. In fact, all of them feel the urge to prostrate at the tower, the might of it is so strong that they know they could not do anything to it.
While they did not know what that was, as they never considered reading of the next Grand realm as they were still too far from it, there was someone who knew of it, as he had reached the realm before.
"A Noble Tower," Ryker exclaimed, catching the attention of the rest.
"What is a Noble Tower, young lord?" one of the advisors asked, clearly intrigued by it. Even the Duke seemed to be looking at him, clearly interested in it even though he had likely done some reading about it.
Nevertheless, he still answered the man, "Noble Tower is something that would be created when a Genesis Sea expert ascended to the Noble realm. In a way, it is similar to the Source a Genesis Source expert created or the Sea a Genesis Sea expert has.
Unlike them, however, Noble Tower increased in numbers when they reached the next minor stage. So when the Duke reached the 2nd Stage of the Noble realm, he would have two Noble Towers and so on.
You could say that the Nobke Tower is the accumulation of a Noble expert, the sign one had reached the Noble realm," he explained, the rest nodding in understanding.
"My lord, do you need to stabilize your cultivation?" the Grand Advisor asked, clearly worried about it.
"Do not worry, I have already done it. There is a reason why I spend some time under there after I ascend," he told them, making the Genesis Sea experts all sigh in relief.
"In the meantime, I would prepare myself for the morning fight," before they could ask something, he continued, "The reason I hold myself from destroying them is I want them to feel despair at the sight of a Noble expert appearing,"
The others' eyes widened before they all adopted the same evil smiles. They could already imagine the horror the Mizalas would undergo.
After suffering from the Mizalas pulling the countless Genesis Sea experts card from time to time, they could now return the favor, just 100 times worse. Oh, they would enjoy the show.
While the Duke went towards the mansion, the others began to fly to the section of the walls, planning to calm down their forces who likely panicked over something appearing from the mansion.
Ryker was about to join them when he received a message from the Duke. He does as the Duke says, flying towards the man, who seems to be waiting for him.
He was about to say something when the man hugged him, "Thank you, for all you have done," he said to Ryker, who stiffened.
Before he could say anything to refute, the man continued, "If you did not find the pills, I would not be able to become a Noble expert. If you had not given me the method to create the formation, the capital would have fallen on the first day.
If you had not given me the method to create the energy-gathering formation, I would likely failed my ascension, and if you had not become the beacon that I should have been rallying the men and remained unwavering during 9 days, the capital would have fallen.
If not for your presence, the Kilrun Duchy will be no more. The reason it remained standing, is because of you. So, thank you,"
Ryker nodded, saying, "You're welcome, my lord," he received a slap on his back.
"You will soon be engaged with my niece, who might as well been my daughter at this point. So, you can call me uncle or father, take your pick," the Duke said.
Ryker stiffened. While he would have liked to pick uncle, something told him that the Duke would prefer if he picked the latter. But he still could not think of anyone as father after his own passed away.
In the end, he decided to pick the first one, "Yes, uncle," while the man seemed to be disappointed, he soon got back on his feet.
"Very well then. I do hope they are ready for what is coming because I will not show any mercy towards them," the Duke has a vicious expression on his face, that makes even Ryker feel uncomfortable.
'The Mizalas will be in a world of hurt tomorrow. So much hurt that I feel almost sorry for them. Almost,'
-x-
"What is that?!" the Duke of Mizalas asked his men, who seemed to be scrambling all over the place like headless chickens.
"We are not sure my lord but we do know that it come from the Kilrun Capital," one of his most trusted advisors said.
"So they are planning something then. No matter. With our strengths destroying them would be too easy, even with the formation in the way. Tell them to unleash our full force. I want the capital in ruin and the head of the Duke in front of me before noon,"