Badge in Azure

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Looking up from the ground, smoke of a myriad of colors was seen bursting in the skywell and shooting up. Loud impact noises were heard all over the place. The two oracles ceased their ranged attacks and went fighting the Dark Sky Devil up close and personal instead.

The Dark Sky Devil had no other choice. Its evil holy spells were coincidentally countered by the Goddess of Nature's holy spells. Even during melee, it was still two against one.

The edge of the skywell was filled with green Goddess of Nature holy prose, which the Dark Sky Devil dared not ram, fighting the oracles in the cramped bottom of the place.

Somewhere high above in the sky, clouds zipped past at high speeds but suddenly turned around. It was Saleen and the winged skeleton within the clouds, and the colored smoke shooting up felt familiar to Saleen.

"Master, we'd better mind our own business," The winged skeleton reminded Saleen.

Saleen nodded and said, "Don't you feel the air to be rather terrifying in the battle taking place there?"

"Which is why we need to leave."

"No risk, no gain," Saleen countered as he took the clouds to the sky above the skywell. He was flying at very high altitudes, about 3,000 yards above ground. When observed from the ground, not even sorcerers would be able to tell it was Saleen within the clouds. Saleen was able to see everything on the ground due to his Elemental Eye.

The billowing smoke was unable to block Saleen's sight. He slapped the gourd at his hip, releasing a water current about nine yards long. The water current was re-crafted and packed more power. Transparent magic patterns were packed within the azure water, which looked like the veins of plants.

The water current shot through the clouds and made for the skywell, lurking near the edge. Saleen only went on to observe the ongoing battle inside when he was done with all that.

Saleen only thought of leaving after seeing what was inside. What was fighting within were a hundred times more powerful than he had expected, and it was definitely the kind of things as strong as the angel of fear.

"My liege, we best leave," The winged skeleton reminded him again.

"Just wait a moment longer," Saleen said as he took out his family badge. While it was a bad thing to keep relying on it, it was nonetheless a useful tool for keeping himself alive. The three beings fighting down there were having really violent bouts between them. All three beings apparently did not have much equipment with them; they were fighting using only their own might.

Saleen was still thinking if he wanted to simply shoot all three into oblivion with his badge, when the man below suddenly shouted, "Come down and help out!"

Gauf had felt Saleen's presence for quite some time, and he was able to sense the air of the Goddess of Nature about him. Saleen's God's Left Hand might have been taken away by the grandmaster, but he still had the contract with the goddess deep in his soul, and that was something no one could wipe off. While Saleen had never specifically looked into the holy arts, he used the God's Left Hand multiple times nonetheless, and had built up experiences with using divine power. His way of using magic had references acquired through such experiences with the holy arts.

As such, traces of the goddess' holy spells were left on him.

If Saleen had been a believer of the Goddess of Nature, he would have simply gone on one such suicide mission, with just that single shout from Gauf. The Dark Sky Devil killed one head and its powers burst, making it capable of taking on two oracles. While it was not a long term solution, the two oracles were not having a better time themselves. Due to not having aid from the goddess, their rate at healing was incredibly slow. They hoped that they could finish fighting sooner than later.

Saleen, who had appeared out of nowhere, was at the pinnacle of grade-9. The two oracles would not pay any heed to powers of such levels in general, but things were different at that moment. Due to neither side having a clear advantage of the other, one straw would have been enough to defeat the Dark Sky Devil, and Saleen's current level, was equal to that one straw needed in the eyes of the oracles.

In the perspective of the oracles, it was nothing to kill someone if they were able to kill the Dark Sky Devil. It was a better alternative than having the rest of the mainland screwed up after all.

Saleen was no believer, and Gauf's shout resulted only in a strong repulsion welling up in his mind. Saleen was able to tell that it was something resulting from the Star Gathering Needle. The voice of the oracle pierced through Saleen's cloud and went straight of his soul. The Goddess of Nature's contract responded in kind within his soul. If it had not been for the Star Gathering Needle, Saleen would probably have jumped right into the fight.

The grade-19 Star Gathering Needle exuded plain constellation powers, forming layers of starlight deep within Saleen's soul, as if to protect his fate.

"Darn it!"

Saleen was able to realize something. The man below had been using holy spells to trick him into going down there to fight! Saleen, however, was no longer a common mage. He was in control of a nation and had killed millions. His rather meek personality had grown to be resilient and strong throughout his ordeals.

Realizing Gauf was using holy spells to trick him Saleen decided right there and then to make for higher altitudes. He flew right up to the sky about 8000 yards high. The air was thin and it was bone-chilling cold at such heights. If it had not been for Saleen's special Quickcloud spell, he would have been pummeled and torn by the peculiar wind element at work up there, which was like being attacked by sorcerers in the thousands.

Seeing how the mage took off for higher heights, Gauf felt rather peculiar. With the Dark Sky Devil's attacks being fast and sharp, he had no time to dwell on it.

After taking off to the height of about 8000 yards, Saleen estimated that the range of the badge would still be able to cover the distance to the bottom of the skywell, shooting from where he was. He activated his badge and did not bother locking on to any targets, preparing to simply take all three underneath out in one go.

"I don't care who you are, it doesn't change the fact that you wanted me to walk to my death. That monster is clearly something up to no good. The woman looks rather fine, but since she is a companion of the man, I'll just let them all die in one go!"

All three beings at the bottom of the skywell felt something was amiss at the same time. Before Saleen was able to fire his lightning attack, the two oracles took off their belts and threw them in the air. That was their only equipment, and they were left behind by the Goddess of Nature.

The Dark Sky Devil burst out in laughter all of a sudden. It took the chance to lash out with its long tail. One of the belts was stabbed and got veered off-course before it was able to take its original form.

Gauf was thoroughly shocked. He had thought the Dark Sky Devil would definitely chose to defend itself in a life-and-death situation like that. He had not expected that the Dark Sky Devil had a death wish and wanted to take them along instead.

Nothing would be able to save them. The two belts did not connect with each other. One of them turned into half a circle and emanated green light.

The thick bolt of lightning struck down from above. Energy vibrations that Saleen had never felt before burst from the skywell. He realized in an instant that it was similar to the time when the divine baby was about to ignite its divine fire. Saleen shook to the core of his soul. He had only come to realize how careless his attack was.

"Ahahahaha!" The Dark Sky Devil laughed away. As one of the belts did not manage to connect with the other, it was reduced to powder by the lightning. The other hardly lasted for two seconds, before disintegrating in the attack. The thunderous roar collapsed the skywell, and the holy prose that buffed the place no longer existed.

The two oracles buffed their powers to grade-13, and still were unable to resist the attack. Without the Dark Sky Devil being there to suffer the recoil as well, the plane's power whipped them back hard to grade-12, and both threw up blood as a result.

The blood was quickly evaporated by the lightning bolt. The Dark Sky Devil took the chance to pounce on Jessica, stabbing her head with its sharp nails. The powerful oracle lost all means of defending herself under the onslaught of the lightning attack. The Dark Sky Devil itself collapsed after holding on for less than three seconds.

As both oracles shared a power link, when one was killed, the other became utterly incapable of withstanding the lightning bolt's attack. Their combined defense when breaking through grade-13, would have amounted to being equal to someone of grade-14 giving their all in a fight. If it had not been for the Dark Sky Devil's ambush, one of the oracles might have survived.

While the oracle had been cruel for thinking of Saleen to be little more than cannon fodder, Saleen was nevertheless brutal himself, for killing the two oracles and the Dark Sky Devil right there and then. If it had not been for the limitations posed by the unique environment of the skywell, neither the oracles nor the Dark Sky Devil would have been killed by Saleen's badge.

Under normal circumstances, he would not have been able to lock on to either the Dark Sky Devil or the oracles, as they were simply moving too fast.

With all three targets gathered at one place and fighting up close and personal, there was no doubt that they would end up dead. Saleen's range with the badge was near 9000 yards, when the attack reached the bottom of the skywell, there was simply nowhere for all three targets to hide. The thickness of the bolt of lightning exceeded the diameter of the bottom of the place itself.

Saleen's attack created a large hole about 100 yards deep at the bottom of the skywell.

The red badge on Saleen's belt glittered. Flare, the Vermillion Knights leader was summoned. "Fetch me the remains down there!"

Saleen pointed at the bottom. The temperatures down there were frighteningly hot. Saleen had not wanted to risk it. If the skywell collapsed and what was inside was not entirely dead, it would be the end of him.

Flare was equally afraid of the danger down there, but he was not able to resist Saleen's order. As such, he had no choice but to fly down there, and Saleen took his Quickcloud down to the height of about 1,000 yards, awaiting Flare's return.

Flare was a grade-10 elemental creature, and that meant his flight speed was not all that slow when compared to that of the Tempest Dragon-mights'. Saleen did not have to wait long for Flare to return to the vicinity of the cloud, handing what he fished out from the skywell to Saleen.

The skywell below collapsed all of a sudden before Saleen was able to take a closer look. Magma from the mantle burst from the spot that Saleen had roasted. Saleen felt the entire mountain range shaking. He was dumbfounded for a moment before realizing that it was not the result of his badge's power; the crust was simply too thin there.

It was however, wise to leave early. Saleen was wary of something like the great fire snake bursting out from below. With the power of his badge spent, his chances against powerful creatures dwindled considerably.

Before he left, Saleen summoned the leader of the Elemental Stone Statue Soldiers. Vinny, under Saleen's command, cast the Meteorite spell. Huge rocks flew down from above and buried the skywell. The grade-10 creature had to spent all its power, before filling up the entire place.

Magma leaked out from the cracks but cooled 100 times quicker. The skywell was finally blocked off entirely by Saleen.

It was only after seeing how he was able to stop the magma from erupting further, that Saleen was able to take the winged skeleton along and leave the place feeling satisfied. He left too quickly and failed to realize that the crust beneath the sealed skywell was still moving. The cracks were getting bigger and bigger, and it was extending in the direction of the Purgatory Desert. If Saleen had not sealed the skywell off and let the magma continue erupting, it would have delayed the crust cracking.

With the hole stuffed completely as the magma was just about to burst, the bursting and stuffing that happened too quickly caused tremors to happen beneath. The cracks on the crust, which were incredibly fine, were expanded indefinitely.