Badge in Azure

Jola’s combat capacity had yet to recover enough to reach its peak. As such, Sika refused to bring him along, and brought Eleanor instead.

The temple guard led the way, while the main force marched with Duchess Guya’s troops. Guya had to participate in such expeditions to show her loyalty to the Kingdom of Metatrin, as well as to train her troops. The other two duchesses mobilized a force of 10,000 respectively and handed their command to the general serving under Sika.

Saleen sent two items. One being a magic staff meant for death mages with a Blood Soul Tower set on top of it. It was something meant for Daniel. He would be able to collect some of the Holy See’s troop’s souls with it, which would enable him to advance easier.

The other item was the wind elemental badge. He had Sika take six Tempest Dragon-mights with her before asking for the badge to be returned. While the elemental creatures were not as potent in combat as the ancient warriors, the Tempest Dragon-mights were very good flyers. They would serve well as means of escape when things went south.

The temple’s mages joined the ranks of crafting equipment in haste. Sika did not take many of the mages with her on the expedition. She brought all 12 of the ancient warriors with her, as well as six sorcerers, Eleanor, and Daniel; that was the entirety of her most elite fighting force. There were also more than a dozen grand swordmasters in the army, but they were not of much use to her.

As such, the equipment crafted by Jason and the others were very specific ones.

The metal titan reached Sika in two days. The metal titan was then more than 80 yards in height, yet it seemed condensed. Its body was covered with silver magic patterns, and its eyes were dark, looking like caves themselves.

The metal titan took a detour around the city and made it to Western town. There was a huge chariot of more than 20 yards long there, and it was equipped with a large magic cannon.

The chariot was a gift to Guderian City to pay the city for having them deploy their forces. The magic cannon was difficult to craft, yet the materials used were not all that expensive. The entire cannon package did not seem to be one that would last very long, and that was the intention of Jason and the others.

The large scale magic cannons that Saleen and the others used were ones that could easily withstand being fired at least 10,000 times. The one sent to Guderian City however, could only be fired little more than 500 times before it needed maintenance work performed on it by mages of Metatrin City, before it could be used again. The cannon was not equipped with a magic power furnace and required magic arrays to work the alchemic machinery in it instead.

Still, the huge magic cannon would serve well to appease the generals within Guderian City. The item allowed the pressure on at least one of the walls to be lifted by a considerable degree.

The metal titan pulled the huge chariot and cannon, and then ran with them in tow. Sika summoned her skeleton magic beast and took hundreds of Caucasus warriors to first reach the city of Duchess Guya—Guya City.

The Caucasus warriors rode on the Wings of an Elfs. There were not enough metal flyers around at that moment. It had taken more than a week to gather 200 of them. Daniel rode on the back of a Tempest Dragon-might. It was rather awkward. He was after all, grade-7, and his flight capabilities were lacking. Summoned creatures were capable of flight, but they required energy still.

Eleanor rode on a Wings of an Elf as well. The one she rode on however, was one that she had crafted herself. Its speed and defense were much higher than the ones used by the Caucasus warriors. The schematics that Eleanor handed to Saleen were modified ones. True Wings of an Elfs required the bloodline of elves to pilot.

The remaining six sorcerers rode on Wings of an Elfs as well. Everyone was familiar with the equipment, and riding on them allowed the sorcerers to conserve their stamina and magic chords.

Hundreds took to the air at high speeds and swiftly made it into Phoenix. They stayed at Huoxing City for a night, before Sika took her troops to the air and made for Guya City.

Sika reached there first, and the temple guards followed. The rest of the army was still around Huoxing City, as they were unable to move as quickly.

The city was left in charge by Duchess Guya’s uncle. When Sika arrived, the man who was conferred the title of earl was very excited. If Sika had not simply landed right inside the city, he would have thrown a grand welcoming ceremony of sorts instead.

Sika’s temperament was well-known by the nobles throughout the Kingdom of Metatrin. So long as one was reserved with their praises and did not go all out to suck up to her, Sika would never get angry or resent the one receiving her.

Sika had nothing but revenge in her mind at the moment. Her target was the tribunal army about 400 miles south of Guderian City. Common armies would take more than a day to get where they were. Only full magic armies, and one consisting of cavalry and infantry on wheels, would be able to get near quickly.

Things changed every day north of Qin. Sika feared that said army was sent south instead. It would be inconvenient for her to enter Qin territory.

It would not have done her any good being anxious with things. The duchesses’ army would have arrived three days later. Those armies had departed early and was nearby. The metal titan, however, would not be able to arrive so quickly. The tireless metal titan, rushed by the sorcerers, took another week more than Sika to get through Phoenix and arrive at Guya City.

The Guderian citizens within Guya City felt restless. When Lex’s letter arrived, Guderian City responded by sending out scouts immediately to keep an eye on the Holy See army.

Sika’s target was an army of about 200,000 strong, which was setting up camp more than 400 miles away. Their target was a middle-sized city in the north, the estate of a marquis. The marquis agreed to Alchemy City’s terms. Other than the two sorcerers stationed in the city, Alchemy City sent four sorcerers to help with city defense. The city was built sturdy and had yet to be taken down.

The tribunal army was also concerned about the backup at the rear of Guderian City, and as such, had waited for reinforcements from the Holy See to arrive, hoping to grow their numbers to 300,000 and set up defenses at their rear, before launching an attack on the city.

The Holy See made it too quickly into the northern region of Qin. Its forces were scattered, and they had yet to gather in large enough numbers.

The leader of the generals in Guderian City was concerned that the tribunal army would leave the battlefield prematurely. If the army managed to breach the city or move its frontlines elsewhere, it would prove difficult to obliterate them later. It was a rather awkward situation to have the Metatrin army moving 400 miles into Qin territory. They were not allies after all, and the leader of the generals knew Prince Safilos’ temperament well.

When Phoenix was lost, Safilos got so enraged that he mobilized an army personally to take out the Holy See’s army of 100,000 strong, before his anger was amply vented.

The metal titan arrived with the huge chariot in tow, which carried a large scale magic cannon. The 30 yard long barrel would take thousands to move it if the metal titan had not been around.

The distance between the two cities was close. It took only two hours to pass the valley.

Sika’s army followed right behind and entered Guderian City. It was not her first time there, and it brought back a lot of memories. She had simply been following Saleen around back then without knowing anything. When she passed through the place back then, she was but a common Caucasus warrior.

She was, however, a steward of a nation with a population of 20 million. 100,000 Caucasus warriors served under her as well.

The leader of the generals of Guderian City, Sauron, was also newly promoted. He shared a not-too-distant blood relation with the royal family. He served in the south before. With things getting dire in the north, he was appointed rather haphazardly by Prince Safilos, and ordered to hold the line at Guderian City at all costs.

He was a member of Safilos’ inner circle, but he shared an amicable relationship with Lex as well. It was due to that very reason that Safilos had sent him. The prince did not want war with the Kingdom of Metatrin.

Sauron was connected to Daliang City. The prince was no fool and knew of such relationships even when Sauron was still in the south. The prince also knew that such relationship would have also prompted Saleen, the king of the Kingdom of Metatrin, to consider providing reinforcements when a crisis hit Guderian City.

The Wings of an Elf was not a very large piece of equipment and was fully capable of being stowed away in the purple-gold sea urchin pouch. The equipment, when folded, was only several square yards. It was able to be easily stored within common purple-gold sea urchin pouches. Sika did not simply fly into the city before everyone. She instead chose to ride on a skeletal warhorse, and had her army enter the city in batches.

Sauron had Lex’s personally-written letter in his hand, and he did not think Sika would have turned coat and taken the city for herself.

Sika chatted away amicably with Sauron, while looking at the mages rushing to perform final magic buffs on the newly completed turrets. Sauron found that the steward was not a brainless oaf that many made her out to be. Her bearing was such that it would even impress Sauron.

He himself was someone nearing the advancement stage into a golden grand swordmaster and was able to comprehend that Sika’s composure came from her own formidable personal strength.

Such a person would not be one to make it where she was through her feminine wiles. Sauron grew to respect Sika without realizing it. Lex made it very clear, in the letter, of Sika’s motive for that expedition. Sauron was a father of three children himself and was able to understand what she was going through.

“Your highness, how about…why don’t we go get ourselves ready at the general’s residence?” Sauron suggested.

“There is no need to rush, sir general. We’ll need at least two days of preparations before we can mobilize our troops. I’d suggest that you check out what the magic cannon is capable of. It’d put you at ease,” Sika answered politely. She had become rather accustomed to how others addressed her.

“Two days? My army has already got everything in place. We would be able to depart in one day at most. We need to at least keep the enemy tangled, and not letting them escape.” Sauron’s words made a good impression in Sika. He wanted to use his own forces to create a chance for landing the decisive hit for Sika.

That was due to the immense value the magic cannon proved to be for the city. With the cannon installed, no large scale siege engines would be able to get near the southern walls. The magic cannon, after all, had far greater range than any catapults.

“General, I think you need to know what the army from the tribunal is capable of. It goes without saying that the troops are formidable fighters, and then there are also large numbers of holy masters in their ranks. So long as the warriors are still alive, they will be able to continue fighting. I know Qin has a lot of mages, and the low-level ones you have in your army are probably far more than what I brought here. The best way to deal with them is still poison. For that, I brought large stocks of poisons, general. They can be rubbed on the weapons themselves, and it will take only two days for the poisons to seep inside.”

Sauron pondered for a moment and nodded. He did not want to see too many casualties either. He needed to do something as a token of his appreciation after taking the canon though.

Sika continued with a smile. “I don’t want that army crushed. I want it completely obliterated, to never to be found on the face of this plane again!”