Throne of Magical Arcana

The half mountain full of cracks was squeezed by rocks and mud, and almost none of the circuits and symbols on it were complete. The buildings were also broken except for those that were constructed later on.

A dozen sorcerers lived inside the city that seemed to have completely been destroyed. They were so few that they did not bring any liveliness to the place, which was still as quiet and grim as a graveyard.

“Allyn…” Floating in the middle of the mountain, Douglas called it using the Sylvanasian tongue. Even though he had seen it once, he still felt the insuppressible shock, excitement, and eagerness.

He flew to the ground of Allyn. Under the direction of a few respectful sorcerers, he walked to the central magic tower, where only one third of the building still stood now. Through the long pathway, he went deep into the City in the Sky, where the cores of all mysteries and the power source of the flight lay. Of course, they were all too seriously destroyed to show what they looked like at the beginning.

“My research has begun.”

Douglas said to himself when he went to the underground world. One of the important reasons why he came to Holm instead of Aalto was the floating city that he always dreamed about.

The questions that haunted him for years both when he was awake and in his dreams would be best answered here.

Stepping on the gray stone stairs, he went down slowly, and his back disappeared into the darkness at the entrance. Everything fell silent again.

……

The night before the dawn was particularly dark. There did not seem to be any light.

Kritonia sat in the hall of his villa with the longsword flashing on his legs.

After being treated by Francois, he had already got rid of the lingering curse and recovered his body. However, his blood power was so weak that even the common knights could see it. It would take some time before he returned to his peak state.

“Kritonia, isn’t the Liege of Death old?” A wind passed by, and a mocking voice echoed.

The invisible wind landed and gathered into a tall, slim man. His hair, his skin, and every line on his body gave the feeling of the blowing wind. Both his hair and his pupils were in weird transparency.

“Raymond, he is old, but do you dare to fight him again?” Kritonia replied casually.

The legendary knight was “Ceaseless Wind” Raymond, the grand duke of the Duchy of Calais, which used to be part of the Asso Empire. Therefore, he had the deepest reverence for the Liege of Death. When he was told that the Heart of Time, who hadn’t been close to him, was heavily wounded by the sorcerer, he mocked him on purpose.

“Hehe.” Raymond sat on the couch. “Francois asked us to take action and teach the hiding rats a lesson that they will never forget.”

He came under the instruction of the Graceful Angel. The other few legendary knights were on their way over too.

“He did not ask you to take action; he asked you to work for me.” Kritonia raised his head proudly while a vague disdain appeared on his young face. “I am the one most favored by the Lord and the strongest knight on this side of the straight other than the king. That’s why the Lord adores me and the Church trusts and lets me command you.”

“Are we not favored by the Lord?” Raymond said back. He knew that Kritonia was arrogant, but he never knew that the guy could be so unfriendly.

“This is the Graceful Angel’s order. You have no choice except to obey!” Kritonia was completely on the Church’s side, treating the other legendary knights as his subordinates.

Raymond always considered himself a knight of manners, but he still said angrily, “Who do you think we are? Puppies under your command?”

“Not puppies, but lambs of the Lord. We, the servants, will rein you however we see fit,” Kritonia responded as arrogantly as before.

“Good, very good! Don’t forget that you are a noble knight too!” Enraged, Raymond almost wanted to kill the jackass.

Kritonia scorned at him. “I can become a divine knight at any moment.”

“You!” Raymond decided to defend his dignity and honor with battle.

At this moment, the gate was opened again, and a cluster of darkness that seemed to contain infinite disasters surged in.

“Hehe.” Raymond held back the urge to fight again.

……

Inside the Radiance Church where the transmission circle was deployed…

Francois had been staying in the place to get the messages from Lance as soon as possible. He was also ready to return to the Holy City.

“They will definitely hide after they kill Alfonsol and heavily wound Kritonia. Therefore, as long as we don’t mess up, the situation will be steady for the time being,” Francois said to Kanunell, the red robe who took over the Inquisition recently.

Kanunell lowered his head and said respectfully, “Yes, your prediction is very accurate. I just received the intelligence from someone important. The order from the Liege of Death to the Union of Sorcerers, the Tower of Destroyers, the Supreme Soul, and the other magic organizations is to lie low until the counterattack of the Church is over.”

“Very good.” Francois nodded his head and kept looking at the transmission circle where holy light was surging out.

……

Amid a tall magic tower was the black fog where transparent, hideous faces were emerging. The magic tower was pitch black like a tombstone. There was only shimmering light on the top floor.

The light came from a silver candlestick. Tannanois, the Liege of Death who was covered in a cloak, looked at the unopened book before him quietly. The words on the cover suggested that it might be from the Meshkate Empire.

“The Secret Research of Previous Sorcerers on the Original Body”.

……

After a long journey, Fernando finally landed. He was close to Tria in the northwest of the Holy City. It was the area with the most legendary experts. Therefore, he dared not fly in the sky carelessly.

This was a narrow, long territory. The Holy City lay in the southeast, the North Province of the Holy Heilz Empire lay in the northeast, Aalto—the last camp of the Magic Empire—lay in the southwest, the battlefield of Tria lay in the northwest, and the heresies who worshiped the Mother God of the Earth lay in the north. Further north, it was the Schachran Empire that was completely controlled by the Saint Truth.

“The Angel King, Griffith, Ivan, and Rudolf are four top legends. Plus the Sword of Truth and the Shield of Truth that are as good as top legends, as well as five seraphs and more than eight level-three saints, the Church is terrifyingly powerful to resist all the other forces combined, not to mention that they have the aid of the allies…” Fernando traveled in the area in the form of a mouse and recalled the intelligence he obtained recently, both frustrated and somewhat angry.

He didn’t even count the saints, the grand cardinals, and the legendary knights that did not participate in the war!

“Is it impossible to defeat the Church without letting in the devils from hell and the demons from the abyss?” Fernando thought. His heart was in a mess.

Suddenly, he discovered that the tallest building in the city up ahead was trembling violently. In the places governed by the Church, the tallest building could only be the cathedral!

“What’s going on? Have the legends launched another attack?” The coalition army had been driven back to Tria by the forces of the Church after they were gathered. That was why Fernando speculated as such.

……

“You have the intelligence on the headquarters of Red Eye?” Kritonia looked at the night watcher before him solemnly.

The night watcher lowered his head. “Yes. It’s from reliable sources.”

He knew that the legendary knight before him had just been trapped. So, he introduced his sources and the specific content carefully.

Kritonia picked up his longsword and said in a hurry, “They must be evacuating. I’ll go and block them now. Inform Raymond to come with me.”

“Yes, Your Excellency,” the night watcher replied, not surprised at all.

The hazy light moved among the clouds and soon reached a plain-looking city.

Kritonia shouted, “Evil sorcerers, die now!”

He turned into an overwhelming river of time and fell at the center of the city.

Nielson, who had yet to evacuate, thought that he was doomed when he saw the light.

However, after the time washed him like water, he was still living in this world, and so were the senior-rank sorcerers next to him. Only an eighth-circle sorcerer was killed. Of course, the Red Eye sorcerers further away from him had all collapsed to the ground. They seemed to have been dead for years!

“Has the Heart of Time been weakened into a non-legend now?” It was Nielson’s first thought, but very soon, he saw that Kritonia turned around and shouted at the outside of the city, “You can never run away!”

What? Nielson suddenly realized what was going on. He dragged the senior-rank sorcerers next to him to escape in a different direction. That was the Plan B of their evacuation.

Soon after they left, Raymond and the other legendary knights arrived. Kritonia said to them expressionlessly, “We’re late. The leaders have run away. Only the dozens or so low-rank sorcerers failed to escape.”

……

The Liege of Death put down the thick book in his hands and took out a mirror that was covered in deep darkness from his magic pouch.

He touched the mirror, and it gradually became clear. The scene on it was a room that had a cross.

In the Radiance Church, where Kritonia was treated, the shadow in the corner was suddenly enlivened. It was dark and twisted, just like the curse on Kritonia’s wounds back then.

The Liege of Death extended his right hand and pressed the mirror. His body blurred and melted into it.

The shadow wriggled and stood up. It became the Liege of Death that was fully covered in the cloak.

Red lights flashed on his fuzzy face, and he locked onto Francois who was near the transmission circle.

……

After the end of a session of research, Douglas returned to the ground and sat on a rock while watching the sky turn dark.

“The sun rises in the east and sets in the west, but why?” Douglas was still murmuring. He was too fascinated by everything.

In the west, the setting sun dyed the horizon red.