Second World

The Chalice of Blood had threads of crimson hairs coming out of its surface. These hairs danced in the air even when there was no wind in this place.

"Oh, no! He has turned his attention to us!" Good Janus informed Jack.

Good Janus had been using his mental link to stop or dissuade any Young Januses who seemed to be coming in their direction. Those Young Januses had been focusing on the battle against Jack's clones and minions, so any that turned attention to them were stray ones. It was not difficult for Good Janus to trick those clones.

But after Evil Janus was aware of them, he consciously ordered the Young Januses to go at them. Good Janus was unable to wrestle control from Evil Janus. Evil Janus didn't understand what Jack was trying to do, but he didn't want to take any chance.

"Will you still take long?" Good Janus asked. His tone sounded urgent.

Jack looked at the incoming horde. His tiny army of minions was not able to hold that tide.

"I still need one minute," Jack said. The Young Januses started casting spells.

Jack used his cloak's Elemental God Barrier. A fiery dome was erected around him and Good Janus. Spells of various elements hit his barrier. Because every Young Janus used different kinds of elements, Jack couldn't tell which element was the most advantageous for his barrier. He just hoped the barrier could stand for enough time.

Good Janus focused his mind on the closest Young Janus who had the highest level and grade. He couldn't win against Evil Janus' control of the horde. But if he only focused on one, he probably could.

One level 80 mythical Young Janus turned his attention to his comrade by the side. He cast his spell in that direction. Lightning Storm washed over, paralyzing many Young Januses and canceling their spell-casting in the process. This allowed the intensity of their assault on Jack's barrier to weaken, buying Jack a few more seconds.

"Good job, old man!" Jack complimented.

"I'm not that old yet," Good Janus protested.

"I think I'm ready!" Jack exclaimed.

Jack used Judgement of Past Kings. He had checked with Peniel and Good Janus. Although this space prevented outside entities from entering, this equipment skill should still be available. This was because Judgement of Past Kings was not considered a summon skill. It was an offensive one, even though the attack conjured outside entities.

Ever since he started training mana manipulation by camouflaging his mana into the Chalice of Blood, he had gained a better understanding of the chalice with each night of practice. What he was trying to do was to replicate what Marcus had done.

He felt that he had almost managed it the night before he was captured by Evil Janus, but he never tested it. At this moment, he was relying on this method to succeed. If it failed, then they were f*cked!

As usual, Thenodeep appeared first. Before Thenodeep carried out his attack, Jack sent the chalice a command. The crimson threads around the chalice spun into a tentacle. This crimson tentacle lashed out and stabbed into Thenodeep's back.

Thenodeep jerked from the stab. He then blinked. Clarity came into his eyes. He looked around at the situation before turning to Jack.

"Young king, you truly did it! I can't believe this is real. I thought you were just lying to cheer us up!" Thenodeep exclaimed.

Whenever Jack was at the palace, he always made time to go down to the basement where the old kings could be conversed with. He didn't have any need to speak with them. He just thought that these ghost kings must be bored to have nobody else to talk to.

It was indeed so. Theridan and the others were extremely glad about Jack's visit. They talked about anything from kingdom matters to mundane things. Jack even brought Grace down there. Theridan and the others were surprised that someone other than Jack could see them. It was because Grace had the Mana Perception talent.

Grace was also glad to meet these past kings. Ever since Jack let her join his court, she had dealt with more kingdom matters than Jack. Meeting these kings provided her with advice from people who were experienced with ruling a kingdom.

Jack's original plan of replicating Marcus' technique was simply to help bring these ghost kings out to see the current world. Being cooped up inside a palace for eternity was surely not a fun thing. Jack had told them about this idea but the ghost kings didn't believe him.

Jack didn't expect the first time he did it to be under an emergency. He had no choice. This was the only method he could think of to bypass the system rules and give them additional fighting power.

"Old king, please celebrate later. We are in a bind here," Jack said to Thenodeep.

"Don't worry, Young King. You have the support of your predecessor!" Thenodeep cast his spell that summoned a great flood. But since he didn't disappear this time, he continued casting another spell. Two water serpents appeared beside him, shooting waterjet and protecting him.

"Cool!" Jack grinned.

"Hey, you are going to miss Thewolden!" Peniel warned. Thewolden had appeared and was about to carry out his sword attack.

"Oh, shit!" Jack exclaimed.

He hurriedly sent a command to the chalice. Another crimson tentacle stabbed into Thewolden. Thewolden also greeted him jovially once he was in control. Jack replied with a simple greeting this time. He was ready for the next kings.

One by one the kings appeared and became Jack's fighting force. The last was, of course, Theridan. Theridan simply gave Jack a brief salute. "Young King," he said.

"Old king," Jack greeted back.

Theridan then turned his attention to the enemies. He let out a thundering roar.

There were lots of summons among the Young Januses. After Theridan's roar ended, many of these summons suddenly turned against their masters.

"Holy…," Jack uttered.

"That is Beast Dominance. It takes control of all hostile summons within range," Peniel informed.

"Hehe, I wonder what Spark will say about our success chance now," Jack said. He stood up. The Elemental God Barrier had been broken, but the past kings' arrival had kept the enemies at bay.

"You no longer need to exert control on your clones," Jack said to Good Janus. He pointed to the chalice on the floor. "Protect this, don't let it get moved."

Jack brandished his weapons. He bet the enemy would now fight like hell to get to this chalice.