Badge in Azure

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

"Sister Sika, I think Master will ask me to protect you and your child most of the time. I have some abilities that I have to let you know about first. If you are not afraid of the dark, please allow me to bring you to a place…"

"So secretive. Where is it?"

"Sister Sika, you will know if you come with me." Nailisi stretched out her hand and Sika took it. All of a sudden, a black-colored page from a book appeared in her hand. The page was torn and tattered. Less than half of the book cover remained. The other pages were the same, it was as if a complete book had been torn up until only one page was left.

The space in the room shook slightly. The black-colored book page disappeared along with Sika and Nailisi.

It was the twelve Notes of Purgatory; the Purgatory of Darkness!

Sika fell into darkness and landed on a surface that was hard and cold. Her left hand was still being held by Nailisi. There was almost no warmth to be felt in Nailisi's hand either.

"Sister Sika, I have completed the repair of the Purgatory of Darkness. For a period of time every year, I will be able to repair one of the Purgatories. Once I have repaired all twelve Purgatories, this will become a godly item instead of holy equipment."

"That will take too much out of you!" Sika had gradually adapted to the darkness. She realized that she could not even see a hundred yards away, much less a mile. Nailisi was standing beside her and she could see very clearly. She had already changed into a suit of devil's armor.

"Sister Sika, please summon your mount. I know that you don't like demons, but I have a skill that suits this place very well. This will be the place where I will fight in the future and also protect your child."

"The Eye of a Demon? I will not learn it!" Sika shouted.

"How can it be the Eye of a Demon? Sister Sika, this is just a way to refine an equipment. By killing hundreds of demons, you will be able to refine this equipment that will allow you to move freely in the dark like me."

"I need to kill demons? You…"

"Sister Sika, I am a Luoluokaluo. All demons are my food!" Nailisi said excitedly. An extra eye had already grown out and was suspended on top of her head. This eye was exquisite and clear. It was six-sided and was shaped like a standard magic nucleus that had been elongated. It was upright and was emitting a faint glow.

Sika did not sense any evil aura in the eye. Nailisi said to Sika, "Sister Sika, this is the Eye of Purgatory that I have refined here. Once I have repaired the twelve Notes of Purgatory, the Eye of Purgatory will also be fully grown. I will be able to see every place in the twelfth Purgatory in one glance. If I fight here, the enemy will have nowhere to hide. I hope that you will also refine one."

"Nailisi, don't try to manipulate me." Sika slapped Nailisi's hand away and said, "I will be able to break open a broken space like this in a few years' time. Why would you want me to refine something like this?"

Nailisi's face was sad as she spoke, "Sister Sika, don't you still need to wait a few more years? Every time a purgatory of the twelve Notes of Purgatory has been repaired, its powers will double. You will not be able to break it open by then. If you refine the Eye of Purgatory, you will be able to come and go at any time. I would never dare to lie to you or Master would kill me!"

"Something like this can't be refined just by killing demons, right?" Sika started to feel that she might have misunderstood Nailisi after all. Nevertheless, she said, "I don't have money."

Nailisi answered with pain in her voice, "I do. I will pay for everything."

Sika was satisfied with Nailisi's answer. Refining equipment like that would definitely require other special materials. In order to please Sika, Nailisi must do her best.

Sika had no clue what Nailisi was actually planning. The Eye of Purgatory was not an ordinary equipment. It was an ability that would become a part of you once it had been completely refined. If Sika refined it now, her child would also possess this ability once it was born. It would save Nailisi a lot of trouble and worry when it came to protecting the child. She did not bring this up because she was afraid that Sika would resist the idea. Sika's child would definitely become a Caucasus priest of the next generation and could even very well become a Nature Priest.

The Eye of Purgatory was not evil by nature, but it was still created from killing many demons. The Caucasus people would not like it, so Nailisi had no choice but to hide it from Sika.

Nailisi was left with little choice but to do that. Saleen's enemies were getting stronger, so strong that she felt powerless even with the Demon Army. Saleen's child must be well-protected. She could not possibly bring up the child there the moment it was born. She might as well ensure that the child possessed the power of the Eye of Purgatory when it was still in Sika's womb.

By the time the twelve Notes of Purgatory had been repaired, it would be so tough and solid that it would be no different from a godly item. In times of danger, Saleen's child would be sent there. She would flee if she realized that she could not defeat her enemy. She did not care for Kingdoms and Empires. She would flee to the demon dimension and not care about the Myers Mainland if need be.

Nailisi's attitude was due to Saleen's influence. She was just a demon, why would she care about humans' honor?

Nailisi took out the materials that she had prepared beforehand and handed them to Sika, before teaching her how to refine an Eye of Purgatory. Fortunately, Sika was someone that was a little trusting. A different person might already have become suspicious.

Sitting on the cold ground, Nailisi looked at Sika experimenting with her materials clumsily and thought to herself, "Master, although I secretly used up your divine crystal to repair this equipment, I have also given Sister Sika so many things. Surely you will not be angry, right?"

By right, the twelve Notes of Purgatory was already close to destruction until Nailisi discovered the real method of refining it. She had initially used Ismail's divine crystal for repair, but realized that it was insufficient so she added the divine crystal and divine statue of the Goddess of Myers as well.

She had not sought Saleen's opinion on the usage of the divine statue. She wanted to take the opportunity to drag Sika into the picture as well to share the blame.

There was one more thing that Nailisi had yet to tell Sika. The twelve Notes of Purgatory were repaired according to her method. Each Purgatory space would produce a soul that possessed intelligence. Nailisi must eliminate this soul that was produced by the equipment in order to completely control all the Purgatory spaces using the Eye of Purgatory.

The Purgatory of Darkness was almost completely repaired and Nailisi could vaguely sense that a spirit was about to be born from the equipment. She put on devil's armor the moment she entered the Purgatory of Darkness.

Back at Daliang City, Saleen was beginning to prepare for his marriage with Lex.

According to the rules of every Empire, marriage was a troublesome thing. Every ritual was so complicated that it was headache-inducing even for mages. Fortunately, both Saleen and Lex had established their own countries individually so they could enact their own laws and make their own rules.

Most importantly, both of them were mages so they could afford not to care about the customs of noble families.

The wedding was scheduled for April of the following year so there was still half a year's time. April of the following year was also the time Qin would launch an attack on Tanggulasi Empire. Qin was all geared up for the battle. The sorcerers of Alchemy City had already set off and the war puppets would be able to push forward quickly. It would be extremely difficult for the Tanggulasis to defend their cities.

What surprised Saleen and Lex the most was that the first person to send them congratulatory gifts was the Emperor of the Tanggulasi Empire.

There was bad blood between Lex and Tanggulasi because of how the latter caused the death of the former's father. Although it was technically the Holy See that did it, it was the same in Lex's eyes. To think that the Emperor of the Tanggulasi Empire still dared to send gifts over, it was simply an insult.

Lex suppressed her hatred and did not kill the envoy immediately. Instead, she rewarded him with hundreds of gold coins and asked the envoy to stay for their wedding.

She could understand this particular tradition of royal families, where they would maintain courtesy on the surface level, even if the other party was an enemy. The Tanggulasi Emperor was doing this as a form of self-respect rather than wanting to establish good relations with Bitter Water Prefecture.

The Tanggulasi's gifts were still rather valuable. They were the fats of magic beasts contained in crystal boxes. There were one-hundred boxes in total. If they were used only as food, it would be able to feed the one-hundred-thousand troops in Daliang City for a month. They could also be used to maintain magic armor too. What Lex did not understand was why the Emperor of Tanggulasi would use military supplies as gifts, even if he only wanted to maintain courtesy on the surface level.

What followed next were the gifts from Cloudflow and they were even stranger than the ones from Tanggulasi.

Agares had wanted to marry Lex, that was why he attacked Daliang City in the first place. Now that Lex was about to marry the King of Metatrin, not only did Agares not launch another attack, he even sent gifts.

Lex no longer thought of them as gifts the moment she saw them though.

The gifts from Cloudflow were magic cannons refined from bones. By right, these magic stone artilleries should have sunk along with the skeletal warships in Separation Sea. Now, two-hundred of them had been sent to Daliang City. What Cloudflow sent over was only a small team out of two-hundred people. Subsequently, some folks would deliver magic stone artilleries that had been kept in space boxes and driven over on large wagons and magic beasts.

This was a demonstration of power! What Cloudflow was trying to imply was clear. You have sunk more than eighty of my troop carriers, but we were still able to salvage the materials on board. The water depth of the location of the battle was more than two-hundred yards, but this was not a problem for Cloudflow. If they could salvage the weapons on board the skeletal warships, similarly, they would also be able to bring back the equipment they had intended to use to attack Daliang City.

Cloudflow would launch an attack during the wedding ceremony in April!

The gifts from the Emperor of Qin came next. Emperor Ojarvis sent over more than two-thousand men to escort a troop of wagons that entered Daliang City proudly.

The scouts and spies of Bitter Water Prefecture and officials of Holy Rock City had informed Lex that the noble families of Qin Empire would send over their gifts to Daliang City separately and the latest of them would probably reach by March next year.

The Emperor's envoy was Grand Sorcerer Stephanie, whom Saleen had met before.

The moment Stephanie arrived, she occupied the magic tower in Lex's palace. Although Lex was a Princess, she still held respect for this grade-8 sorcerer. She was also aware of Stephanie's identity as her father's private mage.

"Princess, I will not be returning to Holy Rock City now that I am here. This magic tower is too short. Build me another one." Stephanie was demanding, but Lex was pleased.

Stephanie was going to be stationed in Daliang City. With her around and with an eight-story magic tower in the midst of being built, Daliang City would be much safer. Two seven-story magic towers would not have been able to guarantee the safety of Daliang City.