Badge in Azure

The Cloudflow Empire suffered a devastating blow under the forbidden magic of the winged skeleton. Night of the Dead Spirits and Rain of Blood encased the entire battlefront of more than three-thousand yards. Under the Rain of Blood, there were only mages holding on by casting all-around magic shields, while soldiers donning all-sealing armor stood at the edge of the Rain of Blood.

The spell was known to be terrifying, not only for its powerful penetrative ability and vast area of effect, but also for the shrieks of countless spirits that were heard at the forming of a huge black vortex in the beginning of the spell. It severely distressed all living beings within.

Any warriors who were of a rank lower than swordmasters were rendered stiff from terror for a short period of time. They were slaughtered by the Rain of Blood right where they stood.

It was near-impossible to defend against such a spell. Sorcerers were capable of covering for those within two to three-hundred yards, while grand mages were only capable of doing so for tens of yards. As for white-robed, low level mages, their hands were full just covering themselves.

All other soldiers were turned into spirits one by one. The Rain of Blood persisted for more than half an hour, with the Cloud of Blood moving slowly in the air. Hundreds of thousands were slaughtered by the Rain of Blood within the central territory of the Cloudflow people, except for the vanguards nearing the city walls.

The only weakness of the first half of the spell was that it was almost completely ineffective against mages.

Low level common soldiers were completely destroyed by the Rain of Blood, without so much even a chance to turn into dead spirits. Somewhat stronger soldiers were able to burn soul flames within the rain.

The winged skeleton’s surrounding bone walls were crushed as he finished casting the spell. The huge drops of blood carried more penetrative power than any alchemy crossbow, it was Death Magic instead of physical attack.

The blood-like colors remained even as the Cloud of Blood thinned. A transparent red membrane seemed to have covered the clear night sky. The light of the moon shone on the ground through the red membrane. Within the vicinity of the spell, the reek of blood was everywhere.

The people of Bitterwater prefecture at the walls were in shock witnessing what had just taken place. There were no fewer than six-hundred-thousand invaders from Cloudflow attacking the city from outside. While the bulk of the force was positioned at the rear and the flanks, those who came head on still numbered more than two-hundred-thousand. Daliang was able to kill fewer than fifty-thousand throughout the skirmishes between both sides, and total casualties on both sides numbered fewer than one-hundred-thousand.

Daliang suffered heavy casualties. While the number of troops killed was of a smaller number, the total count of casualties suffered was more than one-third of Cloudflow’s.

Heavy cavalry and heavy magic infantry that went to fight outside the walls were also caught within the area of effect of Night of the Dead Spirits. The winged skeleton was unable to control the vicinity of such a high level magic. It was fortunate that large numbers of spirits also went outside with the living forces, allowing them to show their advantage in the case. They hauled the nearby troops and ferried them back into the city.

The ones in the city were dumbfounded for a moment before swiftly sending larger forces outside to rescue their own who were caught under the influence of Night of the Dead Spirits. It was also fortunate that the spell was conjured near the walls, and as such, the shrieks of the spirits were unable to affect anyone.

One large scale magic spell practically killed more than ten-thousand of the invaders from Cloudflow in a single blow. More than seventy-thousand turned into spirits among said number killed. Surviving mages and swordmasters were among the spirits.

All seventy-thousand spirits shrieked at the same time as the Rain of Blood stopped. They had had no vocal chords and no need for breathing. Their shrieks were tremors that resounded from their crushed bones.

Seeing that their spell was completed, all newly formed spirits of the dead gained a will to fight and were able to identify friend from foe. The winged skeleton spread his golden wings without hesitation and made for the bone castle.

“Wait for me!”, the Mechanical Soul’s double shouted and began transforming, becoming a metal triangular sheet it took flight after the winged skeleton.

There was a reason why the winged skeleton fled. They knew that staying there would not have helped much with killing more of the enemy. If that grade-9 sorcerer were to show up among their ranks, the winged skeleton had practically just gave up their chance to flee.

The winged skeleton had been defeated once, and all his gear equipped was destroyed. His current powers displayed were entirely his own, and that would not have been near enough to even consider taking on the grade-9 sorcerer.

Seeing how Soldier fled, the Mechanical Soul’s double had decided not to stay behind on the battlefield. It knew well of what the winged skeleton feared. The winged skeleton would not have been able to take on the grade-9 sorcerer without a spirit magic tower. The winged skeleton dared not even consider taking on the sorcerer, the double felt even less like considering such a feat. Unless it had grown to surpass the level of kings, it did not even have as much ability to flee as the winged skeleton on the mainland.

Soldier threw the spirits of the dead they brought without hesitation. They were unsure of how long it would have taken for the grade-9 sorcerer to show up. If the winged skeleton had a clear idea of that, he would have stayed on the battlefield and fought to the end.

That grade-9 sorcerer was regretting destroying Lex’s palace, and had shown intentions of hiding back in Cloudflow.

The invading force outside the city neared four-hundred-thousand strong. True combatants made up for less than half of the force. Some were in charge of managing large scale equipment and some tending to magic beasts. They were to go up against seventy-thousand spirits.

The reddish tint in the sky grew thin, and the voices of the spirits were heard throughout the battlefront. Dwellers of Daliang were preparing for another round outside the city, and two camps guarding the wall at the west were quickly mobilized to the battlefield. They no longer had to worry about Cloudflow invaders dividing their forces and attacking different fronts; they had had lost their best chance at doing so.

It was a tragedy for the Cloudflow invaders that they had not thought of assigning magic chariots in the middle of their territory. They would have been able to pose great difficulty to Soldier unleashing such forbidden magic, even with just three to five chariots and little more than ten grand mages assigned. The winged skeleton probably would not have been able to finish chanting.

No expression was shown in the winged skeleton’s dark eyes. Their Soul Flame had become pitch black in that moment. The Mechanical Soul trailed behind and kept whining. Keeping up with the Winged Skull proved difficult even after several transformations.

The grade-9 sorcerer was at the main camp near the sea, while the invaders from Cloudflow outside Daliang had lost all will to fight. Their surrounding army did not so much as know what happened.

The line of Cloudflow invaders practically crumbled as the first deserter ran in the other direction.

When the mobilized troops in Daliang rushed outside the city to meet their invaders, all they saw were shadows of said invaders fleeing afar. The dead bodies left on the field were mostly the work of the seventy-thousand spirits of the dead, and a good number from stampedes caused by the fleeing invaders.

The Cloudflow invaders only had one-hundred-thousand elites, with most of them focused on the front, which was very near to where the winged skeleton cast his spell. The Rain of Blood massacred the best of the Cloudflow’s elite forces.

Seeing the atrocities wrought by Soldier, Lex’s thirst for revenge thinned considerably.

What was going on in Lex’s mind was that if they had any way of taking on the grade-9 sorcerer from Cloudflow, then the main camp set up at the shores near the sea would have also been able to be broken.

Ironies had their ways of finding the unfortunate. As the invaders fled without any order to speak of, some ended up lost and managed to find their way to the west wall of Daliang City. It was ridiculous to even think about fleeing troops running in the direction of their enemies. The two camps stationed outside the city took these blundering deserters in as prisoners of war.

The invaders who were fleeing from the spirits of the dead ran straight for the sea. The people of Cloudflow felt the safest when they were near water. It was compounded by the fact that the sorcerer was at the main camp near the sea.

After chasing after the deserters for tens of miles, Daliang’s troops decided to retreat, as Lex forbade them from getting too far from the city. What the winged skeleton pulled completely broke the Cloudflow invaders’ assault, but it also set a very dire precedent: killing civilians during wartime using magic spells with large areas of effect.

There were hardly any laws for persecuting mages who killed people. If large numbers of civilians were to be killed by magic, Alchemy City would send someone to deal with the mage who did so. The reasoning for it was that such a mage would have not only made civilians fear mages, but also loathe and hate them as well. The status of mages within Qin was not something attainable through sheer power alone.

Of course, such reasoning was only a front. The true reason why Alchemy City would have done so was only to maintain their authority. All mages had to submit to their rules and governance, even those outside Alchemy City. Anyone who dared challenge their authority in such ways, would be dealt with by Alchemy City sending huge numbers of sorcerers, which would have proved more than enough to deal with such threats.

It was fortunate that Saleen was on bad terms with Alchemy City. Did Hogina return the news then?

The spirits pursued the deserters to the new city near the sea, and the fleeing troops roused the sorcerer who was about to rest. The sorcerer had no idea what happened. They took to the sky and found their forces in shambles, which almost had the sorcerer wondering if their eyes were playing tricks on them.

Morale within Daliang should have practically been nonexistent due to what they had pulled in the city. How was it possible that it was their army that was at the losing side instead?

“Was there yet another powerful mage hiding within the city? Or a new mage joining their ranks? No, that’s not right. Lex gave the six-winged flying snake to Saleen, and that thing was almost capable of commanding the hidden powers of the Grukos. Are there other mages from Qin then?” The grade-9 sorcerer shivered at the thought of the extent of the Grukos’ powers, so much so that he did not even bother going out to support the broken army. Instead he flew back to camp, told the remaining grade-8 mages of what happened, and made for the sea.

Cloudflow was on the other side.

The sorcerer dared not stay a moment longer, fearing that it was another trap set by the Grukos specifically for them. “Did someone find out about the secret of me having a magic amplifier? If Alchemy City were to know of such things, they probably would have come for it at all cost!”

Lex had not the slightest thought that one such terrifying sorcerer, who dared destroy her palace, would ended up fleeing! If she knew what happened, she would have made a move to raze all military camps nearby, encouraged by the newfound victory. She might have even thought of destroying all their warships at sea.

The winged skeleton was shaking all over as well. He would not have made a move if he was not concerned for Saleen. He headed straight for the magic tower as he flew back to the bone castle, and locked himself in. The sorcerer was probably burning in rage knowing so many of his own had been killed.

The invasion planned by the Cloudflow people for more than half a year ended unceremoniously. Dead spirits within the bone castle came to report at first light that the invaders were crafting small boats and were ferrying troops away.

There were hardly any other options left. With the grade-9 sorcerer fleeing the battlefield, the remaining grade-8 ones no longer felt capable of continuing with the assault. There were still capable generals within the army, but without the grade-9 powerful one to oversee things, the invaders felt rather insecure.

Lex was steeped in regret reading the reports. She saw personally how the Cloudflow invaders fought and thought them to be brave soldiers. She even thought that the rumors about Cloudflow people being cowards were just made-up stuff meant for casual mockery. With the whole truth laid before her eyes, Lex had finally believed it: Cloudflow indeed had the worst army on the whole continent.

“If I had only known them to be such, I would have struck without any hesitation!”