Badge in Azure

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

The boy in Saleen's arms wiggled a bit, and went on to slap his father's face.

Saleen laughed out loud. He wondered what he had been thinking. It was precisely in this environment that Raphael's understanding of the elements reached a level that he was never even able to conceive.

The elemental balance within the boy showed that the child was able to withstand the elemental exchange and absorption. It seemed that the child was able to absorb the elements faster than his father.

If both children were to continue growing up in such an environment, they would have easily went beyond grade-10 by his age. Grade-10 was probably an understatement. Their growth would probably be off any charts ever plotted.

It was without question that he would have never been able to sustain the cost of remaining in such an environment. The environment within the tower was created by depleting grade-9 magic nuclei. The energies left behind by Raphael had all been provided for the six element space. He could only remain there as long as his own supplies lasted.

The range of defense of Raphael's tower exceeded ten miles. If it was not for the fact that elemental powers were circulating within the tower, they would not have been able to stay there for long even using dragonshards.

"Some balance of power indeed." Saleen felt exasperated as he played with the boy in his arms.

Saleen's understanding of the rules gradually became clearer, and that eased him somewhat. He came to understand that knowing and mastering the rules was not something that could be rushed. It definitely was not something that could have been able to be calculated simply by observing the elemental orbits with his Elemental Eye.

Saleen finally came to understand that every single element was unique, and that he would never be able to control every single element. Figaro's Magic Formula was rendered completely useless in that case.

Mages called the phenomenon the principle of indeterminacy of microcosm, while astrologists called it the sources of waves.

There was no need for Saleen to know the properties of each and every element; he was only required to know the commonalities between them. The reason why mages were able to acquire powers rivaling the gods was due to their understanding and manipulation of such commonalities.

"Nailisi, go hunt us something," Saleen rarely gave the demon any orders. It was rarer still that the task was so mundane.

"But, master…," Nailisi pointed at the window.

"Relax. The tower is under my control. Just go," Saleen had little to spare when he was there last time. He was very reluctant to use grade-9 nuclei for the tower, resulting in a lot of magic arrays being dormant. Those that were activated were unable to recognize friend from foe.

Nailisi jumped out of the window without bothering to argue, spread her wings, and made for the area beyond the peak. There were labyrinths right outside the magic tower, which were something that could be avoided by flying. Under Saleen's control however, Nailisi was able to come and go as she pleased.

"Good place we have here. We don't even have to fear the Holy See even if they do show up at our door," That was the first time Saleen had had control over a tower of such a high level, and it felt great.

"Why are you sending Nailisi away?", Sika looked at Saleen suspiciously.

"Well, hehehe…," Saleen approached Sika slowly, and whispered in her ear, "I saw the kids having their fill, and I kind of wonder, what their meal tastes like."

"You best just go hunt with Nailisi. There isn't enough for just the kids let alone you. Just go somewhere else!!", Sika kicked him away, yet his son was laughing in his arms.

Nailisi made for the forest beneath the peak. She was no longer who she once was, and she had the twelve Notes of Purgatory, meaning she no longer needed to fear for her safety. She still chose to go into the forest in her spirit form nonetheless.

The Hell of God's Punishments was rich in earth element yet lacking in water element. Flora of the interdimensional space mostly grew near Raphael's tower, as the tower was able to convert some of the earth element into water ones. He stored them in underground reservoirs, creating underground streams flowing from the peak.

Such designs were often seen in magic towers built in desserts.

There was no soul flame within her eyes, but she exuded a powerful spirit aura nonetheless, rendering her unapproachable to magic beasts nearby. These beasts were creations of Raphael. They were able to breed and possessed some measure of intelligence, making them guardians of the forest. Hunting was something boring to Nailisi, especially hunting mid-level magic beasts. They were unlike the ones in the sea, where one was easily capable of catching a good bunch in one go.

Nailisi had her eyes on a four yard long magic beast. She chose to close in on her prey instead of using dead spirit magic. The beast looked like a tiger, but bigger, with a shiny black coat and gray stripes all over it.

It was a low level beast: grade-3. Nailisi snuck up onto the beast's rear, and it let out a roar as it detected Nailisi's presence. It lashed its tail at Nailisi's hips like an iron whip.

The movement carried a sharpened aura with it, making the tail like a steel blade. Nailisi reached out and grabbed the swiping tail, and wrung it.

A massive surge of force traveled through the tail and practically dislocated all the bones in the beast, rendering it utterly incapable of retaliating. Nailisi became even more bored and simply dragged the beast away on the ground. Sounds like clashing armor and weapons were heard as the beast's coat rubbed against the ground.

When Saleen was first there with his troupe, everyone had felt like they were mice entering a cat's territory. Nailisi now simply felt like she had entered somewhere devoid of any living things instead.

Growl…

The growl of a magic beast was heard behind her; she turned and saw a grade-5 beast. It had its eyes on her from afar. The beast was one of lower intelligence, and it seemed to be one with very poor sense for attributes. It was unable to even assess Nailisi's level.

It was, however, unsurprising. The beasts were kept by Raphael to defend the magic tower. Anyone who wanted to cross the forest would have had to pay a price. If the beasts were so intelligent that they would not dare go against someone of higher levels, there would not have been a need for them to be around.

Nailisi simply dropped her prize into the purgatory of ice to be frozen and rushed at the stupid beast. She was not quick enough. The beast readied itself for her and breathed a gust of wind blade at her.

Nailisi took out a weapon at random, which happened to be a spear. The wind blade was easily dispelled as she thrust the spear forward. The weapon was something that Nailisi made for her demon army. It was made of decent material, but was no magic equipment. It was due to her own power entirely that she was able to dispel the beast's wind blade.

The magic beast had the face of a giant lizard, yet its body was almost completely devoid of scales. It had a black coat instead. Nailisi went straight up and thrust her spear over and over without paying any attention. The beast was in pain from the attacks. It breathed a round of wind blades, none of which was able to get near her.

Nailisi did not kill the beast outright. She thought of the time when she was last there, and being chased all over the place. Such thoughts had her fuming, so she lashed out at the poor creature in the form of her stabbing. She had a mean spirit as she thrust at the creature, "How dare you chase me around! How dare you!"

The beast had never done such a thing, and she knew it. She waited until the beast was being beaten within an inch of its life, before going after another target.

Nailisi thought of a time long past, the time when she was being pursued and marked for death back on the demon plane. The thoughts had her boiling. She decided to conceal her aura and decided to vent out all her anger on the low and mid level magic beasts, by slaughtering any that she was able to find.

With her aura concealed, more beasts came to prey on the demon, and there were bugs among the beasts.

The area where she unleashed her fury practically became a warzone. Saleen was able to do see what she was doing out there. He shook his head in disapproval.

"Saleen, just let her play. I'm not hungry," Sika stopped him as she saw him about to summon the demon home. She was there to keep him company and at ease, after all.

Saleen nodded. He looked at ease indeed, seemingly having put all of the Kingdom of Metatrin's affairs aside. All he did on the tenth floor was meditate and talk to Sika, discussing his thoughts on power with her.

Sika was no mage, but priestesses were nonetheless capable of many feats. priestesses were also capable of manipulating the elements. Otherwise, powerful priestesses would not have been able to create spatial equipment.

While Saleen was having his time training in peace, the Kingdom of Metatrin was embroiled in the mainland's war. The first war of four states of the Myers Mainland. It took place at the central region of Kroraina.

The Sikenqinyas deployed about three-hundred-thousand elites and gathered another three-hundred mercenaries, marching from Laiyin Duchy into the area of Kroraina.

The Holy See fielded more than two-million of the state's regular units, and about one-hundred-thousand blood knights into Kroraina. The Qin Empire was being sandwiched by two enemy forces, and deployment of its forces spiraled out of control. More than one-million of the empire's troops were trapped in the region west of Kroraina, at the fault of the Caucasus mountain.

Previous battles were sieges laid to one city at a time. This time however, the Qin army was being chased into one lone city by two enemy forces. Things looked dire for the empire.

The city had never been one in the spotlight prior, yet it had become a top priority for Holy Rock City.

Blackfeather County was an ancient city with two magic towers. It had been invaded before and both towers were laid to waste. The towers were restored when the empire took back the county, and another tower was added to the city.

Three magic towers were hardly worth mentioning in the face of invading forces numbering in the millions. The number of enemy forces surrounding the city was near three-million.

Such a siege was not literally having all enemy troops waiting right outside the city. Instead, three-million troops garrisoned at various roads leading into Blackfeather County.

The Qin people were at least able to unite for the moment under such dire circumstances, and deployed reinforcements to save the trapped army.

Lex's heart softened nonetheless when Holy Rock City sent out a request to her, and she decided to deploy her forces. That was not to say that the participation was unconditional. Lex laid out her terms right before Safilos, and one of them was that Holy Rock City was to acknowledge that Laiyin Duchy belonged to the Kingdom of Metatrin, so long as Metatrin denizens were able to take the place.

Recruitment had never been such a big deal in the Kingdom of Metatrin. At Jason's suggestion, Saleen and Lex decided to give more spoils of war to the nobles. The nobles answered by being more enthusiastic with the war effort. Any land they were able to take, they would have been able to keep half of it, perhaps even more.

Metatrin City did not even deploy the city's main forces. The expedition was instead, one led by Aini, and a large force was organized in the Lonestar City that he built, specifically for taking Laiyin Duchy. The forces of the nobles of Metatrin served as auxiliary forces. In the span of three months, an expedition force of two-hundred-thousand was deployed, making its way for the borders of the duchy.

The forces that Lex deployed, consisted of twenty-thousand demons.