Badge in Azure

There had been ancient warriors sent from Ceylon City to contact her before Nailisi was able to give the order to launch the attack.

The ancient warriors brought two dimension stones, an earth elemental badge, and a letter with them. Nailisi calmed after reading the letter. Saleen asked for Nailisi to return to Yaoyang City in the letter, to tear down as much of the city as possible, and then expand the fort that had always been there on the road between the two cities, to completely block off the road leading away from Ceylon City.

It was all done because when the Sikenqinyan army arrived at Ceylon City, the Imperial city gathered yet another army of 1,000,000 strong to march for Ceylon City, and that was not including mercenaries tempted by the reward.

The Holy See had also sent ships in an attempt to blockade Magnolia Bay. The fleet from the Holy See was far too powerful to be able to be sunk with just one dragon Skeleton combat vessel alone.

It was said that the Holy See had also sent many holy masters to enter Sikeqinya from Laiyin Duchy to serve as reinforcements to Danny. The army, which consisted of holy masters and believers from the Holy See, headed for the Royal Harbor. Lex was unable to spare any troops at that moment, but she was at least able to leave the Ancient there to defend against the joint forces of the Holy See and Sikeqinya.

“Danny was utterly insane, letting Holy See forces intrude his own territory for just the sake of taking out Ceylon City. If those darn sheep of god were to enter Sikeqinya, it would be near impossible to have them leave the place. Those people will go about spreading their faith along the way, building churches and becoming a thorn in Sikeqinya’s side.”

The situational shift made Saleen determined to take out Yaoyang City altogether, robbing the army about to attack Ceylon City of a possible base. He would then get the Sikeqinyan army of more than 100,000 strong surrounded within, letting not even one of them go. He thought the Holy See would have placed their focus on Qin and would not have bothered with Sikeqinya for the time being, but due to unknown reasons, the Holy See decided to instead dispatch huge forces to back up Danny, even when things at their own frontlines were extremely tense.

Seeping into Sikeqinya would take time, and their focus should be focused on taking lands north of Qin instead.

The two dimension stones carried only construction materials. The earth elemental badge was also loaned to Nailisi for construction purposes. Locking down the road leading to Ceylon was not as simple as constructing a fortress or two. The terrain there was not as narrow Phoenix’s, and a wall of at least five miles long would be needed to lock the place down.

Nailisi’s demon army would not have been able to complete such a huge project for defense without the help of the Elemental Stone Statue Soldiers. It was fortunate that Saleen loaded the dimension stones with many finished constructed materials. Most metal facilities on the ground were simply the matter of putting the metal pieces together.

Saleen did not send more armies Nailisi’s way. He knew that Nailisi was capable of summoning demons. Since Demon City was founded, Nailisi got her hands on more coordinates on the demon plane, and she also had materials for readying summoning arrays at her disposal at any given moment as well.

The northeastern region of Sikeqinya was reduced to a large warzone. Saleen’s Ceylon City became a target of the Holy See.

Nailisi took her demon army to slowly retreat. She paid no heed to the army that was about to attack Ceylon City. The enemy had thought the place to be the small city that it used to be and had not brought any siege engines with them. While there were many sorcerers in the enemy’s ranks, there was still Saleen’s elemental badge and Nicholas around, and that meant there would be no problems keeping the city safe. The 70,000 strong demon army could still be put to good use for that purpose as well.

Saleen had wanted to buy time by not deploying his forces out of the city to meet his enemies, allowing the large forces outside to play their game according to their set speed and schedule.

Things within Ceylon City were held back by Saleen, and in Metatrin City…

Saleen had rescued the demons, and faith in their new king among the citizens of Ceylon City grew. While trade was halted, the city was revitalized.

The events at the arena became a favorite among the citizens of Ceylon City. With the rules of the competitions becoming increasingly comprehensive, there was also a magic arena established among the battles of the professionals, and the events were no longer blood sports. What attracted the citizens was new unique performances instead.

The Caucasus people and the ancient warriors went deep into the northern wilderness, catching great numbers of magic beasts, and filled the arena with them. There were even magic beasts captured from the demon plane, serving as hunting targets for the professionals.

While battles between people were exciting, hunting powerful magic beasts proved more popular with the audience. The beasts were of peculiar shapes and each possessed unique skills. There were simply too many ways to kill the beasts, and it was a no holds barred game for both the professionals and the magic beasts. There was no fear of being accused of cruelty, and spectatorship boomed.

As the Kingdom of Metatrin was in a constant state of war, the craftsmen of Metatrin City were paid handsomely, allowing them to easily provide for their families. The nobles within the city had their fill in Phoenix, and they were able to bear it for the moment even if there was no income from trade to be had.

Saleen never ceased recruiting soldiers. Not all training was able to be completed on his own. Most nobles worked closely with him, with them providing human resources for management, nurturing low-ranking and middle-ranking officers for the army.

The Metatrin Harbor was completely turned into a militarized port, as with Demon City down south. The two cities, about 700 miles away from each other, were connected only through sea routes. The factories churned out one warship after another, as well as armed merchant ships. Commerce needed to be restarted sooner or later and could not be left unattended as it was at the moment.

Sregl Island mages and Caucasus warriors became the masters of Saleen’s temple at the center of Metatrin City. Sika controlled the Caucasus warriors and was able to make herself a true Caucasus King. Mages working for Jason retained control of the teleportation portals leading to the interdimensional space, making defense of the temple airtight.

Be it humans or demons, some young ones who sported exceptional talents were secretly sent to the interdimensional space. There was nearly a population of 100,000 in the interdimensional space at that moment. Those people gathered around Raphael’s tower, settling in the mountainous regions.

Most of the functions of Raphael’s tower were restored with the use of magic nuclei of levels higher than grade-10. The alchemy laboratories within became capable of crafting precious equipment for the Kingdom of Metatrin, such as magic power furnaces of higher levels.

The tower was also equipped with defenses. With grade-12 magic nuclei set in the main magic array, a transparent protective barrier was conjured, shielding the lands around it, which included the forests. The barrier provided protection against the volcanic dust resulting from volcanic eruptions, as well as creating an image of a sun on top of the magic tower.

The sun image provided humans living there with sunlight for farming. Food supply consumed in the interdimensional space easily eclipsed that of magic nuclei, which was why means for farming were required in the first place. The food consumption also was something Jason had reminded Saleen of.

Other than high level professionals and grade-13 figures, common people needed to eat to sustain themselves. Recruitment of troops would have been pointless with ample food supply.

Metatrin City was stable, and Sika was simply taking it easy, spending her days taking care of her children with Eleanor. The three duchesses began to take care of the day-to-day affairs of the nation, and only the most important of matters were left to Sika.

In actual fact, it was like setting up a noble council.

Sika had been powerless dealing with things, but no one was able to try anything funny with Jason around. Jola’s injuries recovered gradually and he no longer needed protection from anyone else. Few things were happening in the temple itself.

It was evening again. Sika and Eleanor brought the children for walks at the harbor. The inherent abilities of the children’s bloodline became increasingly apparent, and both were capable of fluent speech by then. Both children were speaking the Ancient Myers tongue instead though. When they were talking to each other, there were hardly any Caucasus people capable of understanding them.

The Caucasian guards followed their king faithfully and protecting the little ones.

There were ships at the docks. Trained demons from Demon City were sent to Metatrin City periodically for further training under the temple guards. Trained demons were easier to get along with than demons that were simply summoned, and they were also capable of learning language faster. Sika’s children had their divine beast on a leash and stood at the docks, chatting as they watched the demons going up and down the warships.

The children were blazing away with their chatter. Their speed was such that none of the Caucasus warriors standing behind were able comprehend what they were saying. They were simply able to stare blankly while keeping the children company.

Sika and Eleanor sat on the steps, and Eleanor asked, “Sika, don’t you miss Saleen?”

“How could I not?”

“Why are you not going to Ceylon City then? I heard that things are tense there, and Lex was at the Royal Harbor, incapable of dividing her forces.”

“Eleanor, you want to go to Ceylon City, don’t you?” Sika asked in a straightforward manner.

Eleanor flushed. “I’m still unable to make it to grade-9. I have been lazy, and now I’m of no help to Saleen.”

“Taking care of those two was already a big help to him,” Sika said as she pointed at her children. They liked Eleanor a lot, which was hardly surprisingly; elves were inherently more approachable to children.

Sika’s daughter took out a small boomerang from her pocket and threw it. Her brother let the tourmaline chains of the divine beast go, and it chased after the weapon like a bolt of lightning, leaping and catching the boomerang in its mouth. Then it came back to the girl in glee and handed the weapon back to her.

The Goddess of Myers’ divine beast was reduced to little more than a dog by the children.

When the divine beast grew up in the coming tens of thousands, or more than a hundred thousand years later, it would be anyone’s guess of how it would feel about memories of that.

The divine beast was hardly as big as a cat at that moment, and its growth was a slow one. After leaving the goddess’ central temple and robbed of a suitable environment for growth, the growth of the divine beast was severely stunted.

“Why aren’t you giving them names?” Eleanor asked with a puzzled look.

“Caucasus tradition. I told Saleen before; no names for them until they reach the age of two.”

Eleanor nodded. Elves had similar traditions as well. A child was only officially given a name when they had reach 1,000 elvish days old.

Sika added, “Even when they get past the age of two, I don’t think I will be in the mood to name them just yet. They are growing, and I don’t quite want to think about it until things have gotten safer. The curses of the Holy See are potent after all. We’ll do fine, but they won’t be able to resist any of that.”