Ch. 491..500

Chapter 491

It was difficult for Conny to accept her new circumstances.

She had bet on the Council and had lied to Duke Whirlwind to achieve her goal.

Yet, the lies she had told had been transformed into reality. The words she had spoken had been intended to become a reality. Count Sword was supposed to die in the city, and she was about to die.

But now, everyone was alive, and the entire world would believe that she had completely betrayed the Council, even though that had never been her intention.

Sadly, she had to accept her new circumstances now.

Her family truly was in danger, and she wanted to save them.

Now, the only way to save them was to work for Duke Whirlwind.

She hadn't wanted to betray the Council, but now, she didn't have any other choice.

She had to work for Duke Whirlwind now if she ever wanted to see her family again.

Jerald contacted the warriors and informed them about how to proceed.

Several of the warriors approached Conny, and she looked at them with an apathetic expression.

She only cared about her family. She didn't really care about what would happen to her.

"According to the words I've spoken," Jerald said with a polite smile, "You are going to be put to work for a couple of years. Your intentions do not matter. The fact is that you have helped us."

Conny remained silent.

"When you are done working, the internal war of the Skythunder Kingdom should already be over, and if everything goes according to plan, you will see your family again."

Conny looked at Jerald with hopeful eyes when she heard that.

"From what I have gathered from Duke Torrent's memories, you are not one of the people that went against the warriors in a zealous manner. It's not too bad to have someone like you amongst my people."

"Just look at it like an annoying vacation."

After Jerald said that, Conny was taken away by the warriors.

She didn't even think about resisting.

The fate of her family was now deeply connected to Duke Whirlwind's success.

The warriors entered the city and took control of it.

Just like with the Empress Cobra Zone, the normal citizens were mostly ignored while the True Mages were to be investigated by the Inquisitors.

Another big group of True Mages would die today.

As the warriors took control of the Deepwater Shark Zone, Jerald met up with some of the new High Mages he had gained in the past couple of days.

It was time to duplicate the golden crystal.

Of course, duplicating something like that was way more costly than just duplicating a simple letter, but it would all be worth it.

The High Mages listened to Jerald's orders and forwarded them to the army of True Mages below them.

In an hour, over 200 True Mages were busy duplicating the golden crystal.

After around six hours, the Mages finished duplicating the golden crystals, and they brought them over to the True Path Stage warriors.

The True Path Stage warriors put the golden crystals into their Space Rings and took to the skies.

This time, they would disperse the golden crystals over far more than just the surrounding Zones.

They scattered and flew in different directions.

50 of the 65 True Path Stage warriors were dispersing their wares this time, and every warrior would go to a different Zone.

Yes, these crystals would be dispersed over 50 different Zones.

That encompassed nearly the entire Skythunder Kingdom, including the relatively new Western Skythunder Kingdom, the place where the Grandmountain Kingdom had once been.

Over the next hours, 200 crystals per Zone were distributed amongst the villages, cities, and even amongst some crossroads in case the guards in the cities decided to confiscate everything.

Just duplicating these crystals had cost Jerald over 500 million gold, which was an insane amount of money.

But Jerald was certain that it would be worth it.

The citizens and guards in the different cities looked at the crystals and watched them.

This time, the reactions were far more intense than when Jerald had distributed the letters.

This was indisputable evidence that the Council had threatened one of their own High Mages with her family!

If the Council dared to do something like this to their most powerful people, what would they be ready to do to people that weren't as important?!

Even very loyal Mages started to look at the Council with anger and disgust.

Many of them knew of Conny. After all, there weren't that many High Mages, and they knew that she had been very loyal.

Yet, they still dared to threaten her with her family?!

The heartbroken display Conny had put on gave the entire situation more emotional weight than it would normally have.

Of course, many of the Mages hated the warriors and Jerald, and they certainly wouldn't do anything drastic. However, they also started to dislike the Council.

Some of the more neutral Mages started to look at their families with more concern.

It didn't feel real that the Council would start to threaten them with their families, especially after everything that had come out today.

Yet, their feelings still told them that they should be careful.

Because of that, many of the Mages decided to relocate their families to be closer to them.

For a High Mage, lifting a castle out of the ground and placing it down in a new location was not something difficult.

Especially the newer High Mages and the ones not stationed near the frontlines grew worried.

The ones near the frontlines wouldn't get pulled into this gigantic political war, and their families would be safe.

But what about them?

They hadn't been called to stop Duke Whirlwind yet, but how long would that persist?

How long until the Council decided to simply throw everything they had at Duke Whirlwind in an effort to weaken him?

When that happened, all these Mages would die.

Were they powerful enough to take care of Duke Whirlwind's army and Count Sword if they all attacked at once?

Probably. After all, the combined offensive power of 100 High Mages was terrifyingly powerful.

But what about Duke Whirlwind himself?

Everyone knew that the agreement between Duke Whirlwind and the Council was not set in stone.

At the moment, Duke Whirlwind didn't get involved so that his army could gain more power. Like this, Duke Whirlwind would manage to weaken the Council's forces without directly attacking them.

But if all the High Mages in the territories attacked Duke Whirlwind's army, Duke Whirlwind would certainly get involved himself, and everyone knew that Duke Whirlwind would kill all of them.

After that, it would be Duke Whirlwind, his army, and the Council.

The Council wouldn't have any more forces to pull from without compromising their borders.

Duke Whirlwind would win the war.

All the High Mages were afraid of this eventual battle.

Would they want to battle Duke Whirlwind's forces?

Of course not!

Nobody wanted to fight in a war!

Did the Council know that no High Mage would want to fight?

Of course!

So, what would the Council do to convince these High Mages to enter a suicidal battle?

These were the thoughts of most of the High Mages.

In the golden crystal, they had already seen one possible answer to that question.

Meanwhile, the warriors were not fighting because they were forced to but because they wanted to.

They wanted to fight for a brighter tomorrow for themselves.

Duke Whirlwind didn't need to threaten them with anything.

They followed out of their own free will.

As the Mages started to worry about their future, another bombshell arrived.

The warriors were distributing the next set of letters.

 

492 Chapter 492

The next letter that arrived detailed everything that had happened today, giving further information about what everyone had seen in the golden crystals.

And just like yesterday, the losses of Duke Whirlwind's forces were still at zero.

Even though everyone had expected it, seeing that Duke Whirlwind had taken over two Zones without fighting personally and without losing a single person was shocking.

On top of that, Duke Whirlwind also publicized the names of the High Mages that joined him.

Not counting Duke Whirlwind himself, Duke Whirlwind now had six High Mages.

That wasn't a powerful army, but it was still more than he had started with.

Two days of war had passed, Duke Whirlwind had conquered two Zones, and instead of his army becoming weaker, it was becoming stronger!

Usually, during a war, both sides would lose soldiers and would become weaker, but Duke Whirlwind was becoming stronger instead of weaker during the war!

And the Skythunder Kingdom?

They had lost around 30 High Mages already.

That was nearly 10% of all the High Mages in the entire Kingdom, and there had even been five Mid High Mages amongst them!

One of the Mid High Mages had even been a Duke!

Not only that, but they had also killed a Late High Mage, Duke Torrent.

A Late High Mage was someone that could be in the Council if they so chose to!

The entire Skythunder Kingdom only had a bit over ten Late High Mages, and that included both Councils!

By now, the True Mages and High Mages started to believe that Duke Whirlwind actually had a shot at winning.

They hadn't believed it up to now. After all, the Council had been their rulers for an eternity, and they had always been the symbols of power.

How could anyone fight against that?

But now, they had to accept reality.

The Council might actually lose.

An hour after the letters arrived, the Council gave its answer to everything that had happened today.

The first thing they did was to show that the golden crystals had been tampered with.

They explained in detail how one could see the faults in the recordings on their own, and sure enough, the people noticed the faults.

They could verify that one scene had been swapped in.

The Council immediately denounced Duke Whirlwind for using such despicable means to ruin the image of the Council and said that they would never threaten anyone with their family.

They publicized the names and locations of Conny's family, and everyone was free to check up on them. They were all free, and they were all healthy.

Then, the Council said that the only reason why Duke Whirlwind hadn't lost anyone yet was due to the Council having to focus on the borders. The Magic Purity Kingdom and the Grandmountain Kingdom were still problems.

If the Skythunder Kingdom weren't threatened by two other Kingdoms, they would have crushed Duke Whirlwind long ago.

That had been the answer of the Council.

But it failed miserably.

Yes, everyone could see that a scene had been swapped.

Okay.

But that wasn't the issue!

That was not why everyone was mad!

So what if that scene was swapped? The actually important scene hadn't been doctored!

In a way, the Council had proven the authenticity of the important scene while trying to invalidate the entire recording by focusing on an error in an unimportant scene.

Also, what would the health of Conny's family even prove?

That only proved that Duke Whirlwind's plan had worked!

He had publicized this recording specifically to protect Conny's family!

Most of the High Mages had waited for the Council's answer, but the Council's answer had not been to their satisfaction.

Instead of bringing out actual proof that they hadn't threatened anyone else's family before, they tried to invalidate everything the recording showed by highlighting a fault in an unimportant part.

This could be likened to two people having a discussion, and one of them started to criticize the grammar and method of speech of their opponent instead of addressing the actual argument.

It was sneaky, shady, and cheap.

True Mages were not stupid, and nearly all of them noticed this.

Of course, breaking the loyalty built over decades for so many people was immensely difficult...

But it still worked on many of them.

So many High Mages had been on the fence before.

The only thing that had stopped them from jumping to Duke Whirlwind's side was that they had to undergo a Mind Read.

A Mind Read would unveil all the secrets a Mage had.

It would show how they trained, what sort of techniques they used, what Spells they had created, what shady things they had done, how they managed everything, how much wealth they owned, where they stored their valuables, and so on.

It showed everything!

Would the High Mages trust Jerald to keep all these sensitive secrets safe?

Of course not!

That was why not that many people had switched.

But now, the option was way more enticing.

After all, they might actually die if they didn't convert to Duke Whirlwind's camp.

The High Mages that had gone against the warriors in the past put a lot of pressure on everyone out of fear.

They proclaimed that they would never betray their Kingdom, but deep inside, they were just angry that they didn't have the option to do so.

Slowly, the High Mages started to gather their things and families.

The Council noticed.

What did the Council do against that?

Well, what could they do?

They had used the Mages to suppress the warriors in the past, but now these very Mages were leaving them.

A rich person could command their service staff to throw a guest out, but if the service staff rebelled, who would be left to throw them out?

Only the owner.

And the Council certainly didn't have the manpower to stop all these High Mages from leaving. After all, most of them were stationed near the frontlines and couldn't leave easily.

That was until one of them volunteered to do something drastic.

The Council gathered and listened to that person's plan, and in the end, they all agreed.

The Council might not be allowed to get directly involved in the war, but they were still allowed to police their own people.

Even more, the plan also included a surefire way to deal with their biggest problem, Count Sword.

As one High Mage after the other was leaving, the Council was preparing their counterattack.

And tomorrow, they would put it into motion!

493 Chapter 493

Three True Path Stage warriors were stationed at the northern border of the Empress Cobra Zone.

The next assault would happen in four hours, and while they waited, they had to secure the borders in case the Council decided to launch a sudden attack.

Usually, nothing special would happen. Some citizens and some True Mages would pass the border, but that was about it.

But today, something would happen.

As the warriors waited for the next assault, somebody slowly entered their Spirit Sense from the north.

Just like normal, the warriors checked the new person, but this time, they did a double take.

Their eyes opened in shock, and they immediately contacted their commanders.

About five kilometers away, a smiling young woman with icy blue hair slowly walked towards the border. She seemed relaxed, and it looked like she was only out here on a casual stroll.

But when the warriors saw her, they felt the incredibly powerful Mana inside her.

Everything around her turned into Ice Mana as she slowly strolled along.

She had to be a Late High Mage, at the least!

"Identify yourself!" an Early True Path Stage warrior demanded.

Deep inside, the warrior was nervous and terrified, but he still had to do his duty.

The smiling woman stopped walking and looked at the distant warrior with a calm smile. "Hello, I am Council member Sylvia Eternalfrost, and I am here to negotiate with Duke Whirlwind."

The warriors took a deep breath.

Sure enough, she was a member of the Council.

This was not someone they should or could deal with!

About ten kilometers away, Shang watched the Council member with furrowed brows as the three High Mages behind him kept renewing his augmenting Spells.

Shang knew all the Council members. After all, Jerald knew all of them very well, and he knew that Sylvia Eternalfrost was one of the more powerful members.

She was definitely more powerful than Duke Torrent.

But, even more, it was suspicious that she was here.

Did the Council not care about Jerald getting involved anymore?

But then, why did she come alone?

Two minutes later, Jerald landed in front of Sylvia with furrowed brows.

"You are here to negotiate?" he asked.

Sylvia nodded with a smile, but the words she was about to say were shocking.

"Yes, I'm here to distract you so that my seven Mid High Mages can assassinate Count Sword," she said with a smile.

Jerald's eyes shone for an instant, and he scanned his surroundings.

Shang also scanned the surroundings. Sylvia Eternalfrost hadn't used her Spirit Sense to communicate but had directly said these words.

Yet, neither Jerald nor Shang could find anyone else.

A second later, Jerald's eyes narrowed as he looked at Sylvia.

"Is it Darkness' Veil?" he asked.

Sylvia chuckled a bit and nodded. "Yes," she said as she lifted her right hand.

Several black runes appeared in her hand, floating around each other in some form of pattern or dance.

"It seems like Susan really bet all her cards on this move of hers," he said with disdain.

Sylvia chuckled some more and crushed the runes in her hand.

SHING!

Suddenly, seven Mid High Mages appeared a kilometer behind Jerald.

Jerald quickly inspected them, but he noticed that they hadn't readied any Spells. They hadn't even summoned their Foci.

"Susan's Spell is as impressive as ever, isn't it?" Sylvia asked as she looked at the Mages. "You can't see these Mages approach at all. They can even ready their Spells."

Jerald could only agree.

These seven Mid High Mages could have walked into the Empress Cobra Zone without being noticed.

Then, they would have simply searched for Shang and would have prepared a combined Spell.

Shang had been the target of such a Spell before, back when he had attacked a stronghold of the Blackshadow Kingdom back when he was still in the Grandmountain Kingdom.

Such a Spell would take a lot of Mana and time to set up, but the combined power of so many Mages was terrifying.

The combined power of seven Mid High Mages would have created a Spell with the power and speed of a Spell from a Peak High Mage.

Even more, they would have probably been able to unleash it toward Shang from only a couple of hundred meters away.

Shang's chances of survival would have been slim.

Of course, since Susan would have indirectly helped the Mages, she would have broken the agreement.

However, the chances of success were high enough to risk it.

As long as Count Sword died, the Council could gather and then assault Jerald with all ten members at once.

Of course, Sylvia would have already left by the time the Mages showed themselves.

Like that, Jerald's army would be decimated in the next battle as long as he didn't personally join the fight.

The Council knew exactly that Count Sword was the most important piece in this war.

The warriors also took deep breaths when they noticed the Mages.

It was like they had just talked with someone, and the person they were talking to was suddenly showing them that they had been aiming a gun at them the entire time.

Jerald looked back at Sylvia. "And what do you have to gain by unveiling this weapon in front of me?"

"Proof," Sylvia said. "Proof of my intentions."

Jerald's eyes shone. "And your intentions are…?"

"To join you."

Silence.

Jerald narrowed his eyes and looked deeply into Sylvia's smiling eyes. "You do know that the existence of the Council is the very reason why we are even at war, right?"

Sylvia nodded like a happy little girl. "Yes, but putting everyone into one category just based on what path they chose is not the smartest thing to do."

"If everyone were to do that, you would be hunted by the warriors just like all of us since you are a Mage, right?" Sylvia asked.

Jerald continued looking into Sylvia's eyes.

"So, you've realized that the Council is about to lose, and you seek to gain something out of it. After all, you joining me could spell the end for the Council, and you believe that I wouldn't pass up on such an opportunity."

"Kind of," Sylvia answered.

Jerald only kept looking at Sylvia with narrowed eyes.

"Duke Torrent tried the same thing, and now, she's dead."

"I know," Sylvia said like she wasn't worried at all.

Jerald looked at Sylvia in silence for several seconds.

"Alright, let's hear it. What are your demands?" he asked.

Sylvia's smile widened.

"Nothing."

 

494 Chapter 494

Silence.

Nothing?

Did they all hear that correctly?

"Nothing?" Jerald asked with a deadpan voice, showing that he didn't fully believe her.

"Well, we would like to survive, but that's about it," Sylvia said with a chuckle.

More silence.

​ Shang furrowed his brows.

This couldn't be that simple.

"You do realize that I will have to read your mind?" Jerald asked.

Sylvia nodded. "Yes, I know."

Even more silence.

"And you are fine with that?" Jerald asked.

"Yep."

…

"And if I find out that you have done something horrible in the past, I might directly kill you. You know that, right?" Jerald asked.

"Mhm," Sylvia said with a nod.

Everyone kept inspecting Sylvia and the seven Mid High Mages.

Even the Mages didn't show any reaction.

It was like they had accepted everything that would happen.

Jerald looked at the Mages.

"Yes, I know," Sylvia said. "You can read their minds too. They've already agreed."

Jerald furrowed his brows.

This situation was more than suspicious.

For some seconds, Jerald evaluated his options.

After a while, Shang arrived beside Jerald, the three High Mages behind him.

As soon as the Mages arrived, they started to create several Magic Circles.

"If your intentions are as you claim, you surely won't mind if Count Sword enters his strongest state, right?" Jerald commented.

"Go ahead," Sylvia said.

The surroundings fell into silence again as the Mages created their Magic Circles behind Jerald. If anyone tried to attack them, Jerald would be between them and the attackers.

Some seconds later, the Magic Circles were ready.

If necessary, the Mages could supplement Shang with Mana and life energy.

In this state, he could even win against someone from the Council.

"Alright," Jerald said as he lifted his right hand. "I will read your mind now."

Jerald had already activated his Mana Shield, just to be safe.

Additionally, he was ready to use Mana Step in an instant.

Sylvia lowered her head with a smile.

The atmosphere was even tenser than if this were a battlefield.

Shang used all his concentration to check the surroundings.

The Mages still didn't move.

They just waited.

Then, Jerald's hand touched Sylvia's head, and he began to read her mind.

She didn't resist.

All of Sylvia's life shot through Jerald's mind.

This was the mind of a Council member, which meant that Jerald now got information about every single meeting the Council had had ever since Sylvia had become a member.

As he continued reading, he also saw their reactions to the war and what they had planned.

Sylvia hadn't lied.

She was supposed to come here to distract Jerald while the other seven Mid High Mages were supposed to kill Shang.

But Jerald saw all of this from Sylvia's angle.

She had intended to betray the Council even before she had come up with that plan.

She had created this entire plan just to screw the Council as much as possible.

By proposing this plan, she managed to leave the Skythunder Kingdom without any suspicion with her seven most powerful High Mages. Even more, by having Susan cast Darkness' Veil, Jerald could even claim that the Council had broken the agreement.

Lastly, by taking so many Mages from the frontlines with her, Sylvia had forced the Council to send even more of their forces to the frontlines.

After a couple of minutes of nothing happening, Jerald retracted his arm.

Shang released a deep breath.

The last couple of minutes had been tense for him.

Sylvia opened her eyes and smiled at Jerald.

When Shang saw Jerald's expression, he raised an eyebrow.

Jerald looked uncomfortable.

"Take this as a confession," Sylvia said with a chuckle.

Then, her cheeks turned red.

Jerald took a deep breath.

A Mind Read couldn't be faked, at least not by someone in the Skythunder Kingdom. Maybe King Skythunder could do something like that, but he wouldn't get involved.

This meant that everything Jerald had seen was the truth.

Sylvia had honestly only come here to survive.

She had been unhappy with the Council for several years now. In her mind, suppressing the warriors was doing more damage than good.

Sylvia wasn't against it due to some moral issue but due to her concern for the Kingdom as a whole.

The warriors were on the rise, and everyone knew that Jerald was on the warriors' side.

She had still been uncertain about how things would turn out until just recently. After all, the Council was extremely powerful.

But as soon as she heard of Count Sword, she knew that the Council was already doomed.

Additionally, she knew that the man she idolized wouldn't make such a childish mistake.

Yes, Sylvia had a crush on Jerald.

Sadly, due to her position, she had never been able to spend any time with him or confess her feelings.

After all, her job and responsibility were more important than some crush.

She had also always tried her best to stop the Council from making all of these stupid mistakes, but she had been alone against four other members.

But now, she realized that her only chance at survival was by joining Jerald's camp, and she actually didn't feel that bad about this development.

Sure, it felt a bit bad to be beaten by Jerald in warfare and politics, but he had won fair and square, in her opinion.

She could accept a loss.

After some seconds of silence, Jerald released a sigh.

"We will talk about this later. I don't have the time or resources to think about such stuff at the moment," he said with an exhausted voice.

"I know what you mean," Sylvia said.

Sylvia continued smiling, but she also twiddled her thumbs now.

This was a sign of nervousness.

Earlier, Sylvia hadn't been nervous, but as soon as her feelings were out in the open, she became nervous.

"Jeremy," Jerald said as he looked at one of the High Mages. He had learned all their names by going through Sylvia's memories. "You're next."

The Mage stepped forward and lowered his head.

Jerald went through one mind after the other until he had read every Mage's mind.

They were not all completely clean, but they also hadn't truly supported the Council's decision to suppress the warriors.

In a way, they had all resisted these decisions in their own ways.

But that was already better than most Mages.

After everything was over, Jerald looked at the eight Mages.

"Welcome to my Kingdom!"

Today, Jerald had gained a powerful Late High Mage and seven Mid High Mages.

 

495 Chapter 495

The announcement of Sylvia Eternalfrost joining Jerald's side raised several eyebrows and evoked skepticism from all the warriors.

Hadn't Duke Whirlwind promised that he would get rid of the Council?

Had their trust been misplaced in him?

Luckily, Jerald's next words cleared up a big part of the issue.

He said that Sylvia had allowed him to read her mind, and he had seen with his own eyes how every other Council member had supported the suppression of the warriors.

He promised everyone that Sylvia would be the only member of the Council that would stay alive.

He would kill everyone else.

Obviously, another important part was that Sylvia had voted against assassinating George and Mattheo when the Council had voted on it.

She truly hadn't supported these decisions.

Sadly, one person only represented 20% of the main Council, and she was outvoted four to one.

After talking with all the warriors, Jerald went back to Shang to talk to him.

"I have learned some interesting things by going through Sylvia's memories," Jerald said.

"I'm listening," Shang answered.

"The fact that Susan wants to reach the Archmage Realm has been a lie, which has been transformed into the truth, and then transformed back into a lie again."

Shang raised an eyebrow.

"The Council is far worse off than we expected," Jerald said with a small smirk.

"The Council might have made some dumb decisions in the past, but they are not actually stupid. Their power had simply gone to their head."

"But when you slaughtered their force, they woke up from their delusions. What do you think? What was their decision as soon as they heard of your power?" Jerald asked.

"I would guess that they would pool their forces and strike us down immediately before we had any chance to gain a foothold," Shang said.

"That wouldn't be that dumb," Jerald said. "In a way, this would have been a safe bet. However, they had something completely different planned, and that plan would have been even safer. Like I said, they're not stupid."

"Oh?" Shang asked. "What was their plan?"

Jerald's smirk widened. "They wanted to flee."

"Flee? To where?" Shang asked with furrowed brows.

"The Magic Purity Kingdom," Jerald said.

"After they saw your power, they immediately realized that their chances of victory were small without personally getting involved and attacking me. However, the Council has lived in comfortable safety for too long, and they don't want to risk their lives."

Shang looked at the ground for a bit as he was thinking about that.

"Can they actually flee, though? They've cost the Magic Purity Kingdom so many lives and resources. Wouldn't the Magic Purity Kingdom just kill them?"

"Shang, this is politics, and personal emotions and agendas have no place in politics," Jerald said. "Only numbers matter."

"It doesn't matter that the Council has cost the Magic Purity Kingdom so many resources. If the Magic Purity Kingdom killed the fleeing Council, they would have gotten their revenge, but several of their most powerful Mages would also die. For what? Only for some personal belief, nothing material."

"But if they accepted the Council, they would have gained several very powerful High Mages, making the Magic Purity Kingdom even more powerful. If they accepted the Council, their chances of overtaking our entire world would skyrocket."

Shang scratched his chin. "Then why did Susan say that she was planning on reaching the Archmage Realm to Duke Torrent and everyone else?"

"A present for the Magic Purity Kingdom," Jerald answered. "By giving the losing side of the internal war hope, they would keep the war going. Instead of fleeing as well, the Mages would continue fighting us, weakening both sides."

"The only party that would benefit from that would be the Magic Purity Kingdom, and this had been their plan."

Shang looked to the side for a moment. "But you said that the lie turned into truth and then into a lie again. This means that something has changed, right?"

Jerald nodded. "Indeed."

Jerald's smirk widened even more.

"King Skythunder got wind of it."

Shang's eyebrows rose.

That wasn't good for the Council.

"And what did he do?" he asked.

"King Skythunder told them that they were the most powerful Mages in the Skythunder Kingdom and that they had decades to shape the Skythunder Kingdom into whatever they wanted."

"Yet, even with nearly omnipotent power and authority, they managed to screw up everything to the point that the very Kingdom they had ruled for an eternity started to turn against them."

"Everything that was happening was their own fault, and he wouldn't allow anyone to escape."

Jerald chuckled a bit.

"If he found any member of the Council outside the Kingdom, he would come for them personally, and he also said that no Mage in the Five Kingdoms, including the Kings, would be able to stop him."

At that moment, Shang snorted with amusement.

He was happy that the Council had gotten the shaft.

"Because of that," Jerald continued, "they were forced to continue the war. If I win, they will die. The only way to survive is to kill me."

"Their backs are against the wall."

"With their new situation, they quickly tried to find a way to win against us. Of course, Susan's ascend to the Archmage Realm quickly became a possibility again."

"But, it turns out, Susan wouldn't need three months, but six months."

Shang was quite surprised.

Six months was a lot of time.

Did it truly take that long for Mages to reach the next Realm, even though they already knew the Concepts necessary to advance?

Then, he remembered that Jerald had said that he would also need several years to advance if he completely ignored comprehending any additional Concept.

"That was their second plan after the first one failed," Jerald said. "However, that plan got changed yet again when we distributed all the letters."

"They expected the war to take much longer. They thought that we would slowly consolidate every Zone we conquered before advancing."

"Ironically enough, their initial lie was one of the factors that made me decide to assault the Skythunder Kingdom at such a rapid rate. If we had more time, I would also slow my advance to consolidate the new Zones."

"Their very lie made it impossible for their next plan to succeed."

"And then?" Shang asked.

"Well, then everything returned to how you know it. They tried to kill you in the Deepwater Shark Zone, and when that failed, Sylvia proposed the next plan."

"The Council should still be in the dark, and they don't know of Sylvia's betrayal yet. Right now, they should just be waiting for news."

Then, Jerald looked towards the west with a sneer.

"How about we give them the news they are so desperately waiting for with the next set of letters?"

Shang also smirked.

496 Chapter 496

Three hours later, the warriors assaulted the Icy Wyvern Zone.

There had been two High Mages present.

The other High Mages had fled towards the north.

Of the two High Mages, one was accepted into Jerald's ranks, while the other one was executed.

The second High Mage had believed that his actions had always been reasonable in the past, but after reading his memories, Jerald didn't agree.

This was one of the High Mages that believed his actions were not his responsibility as long as he only followed orders.

Even after taking their third Zone, Jerald's army hadn't lost a single member.

In fact, they had gained several High Mages instead of losing anyone.

A couple of hours later, the next set of letters was created, and the warriors distributed it across the surrounding Zones.

By now, the High Mages grew panicked and tried their best to get rid of all the letters, but they couldn't destroy all of them.

Some of them still slipped through.

After that, the High Mages ordered the Mages to kill anyone speaking about the contents of the letters.

In just two hours, they had killed hundreds of civilians, terrifying the general public.

Over the next couple of hours, the civilians and even a sizable chunk of True Mages decided to leave.

Their commanders had lost their minds, and they didn't feel safe in their presence anymore.

This day, the letters included the fact that Sylvia Eternalfrost had joined Jerald with seven Mid High Mages.

That was a terrifying amount of power!

Even the most stubborn and fanatic people started to fear Jerald now.

Jerald might actually win this war!

Today, the biggest exodus of forces from the Skythunder Kingdom took place.

The letters from today had been the straw that broke the camel's back.

In just three hours, Jerald read the minds of 20 new High Mages!

Luckily, only two of them were executed, while only three were put to work.

The other 15 had been clean.

At the same time, fighting broke out in many different Zones.

Many Mages wanted to convince their friends to join them in going to Jerald's camp, but many of these friends were afraid of the things they had done in the past coming to light.

Their fear drove them mad and made them attack their friends.

Another ten High Mages had died in these battles.

In the beginning, Jerald had only had three High Mages below him.

The Skythunder Kingdom had had over 300.

Then, 15 died on the first assault, and another five joined them when Jerald took the Empress Cobra Zone.

One of them had been Duke Torrent.

Then, Shang killed another five High Mages when he had searched for revenge.

About 15 High Mages died in internal fighting over the next two days.

Eight Mages joined Jerald. This was Sylvia's group.

Then, another 20 Mages joined him.

The Skythunder Kingdom had lost nearly 70 High Mages in just three days.

70 High Mages!

By now, there were even some Zones that didn't even have a single High Mage within them since over 200 High Mages were stationed on the frontlines.

Finding a High Mage outside Jerald's territory had now become just as difficult as back when Shang had newly arrived in this world.

There was only one High Mage per several Zones.

Things looked dire for the Council.

The Council had always quickly given an answer after every set of letters, but this time, they remained silent.

They were probably arguing fiercely.

After Shang and Jerald saw the results, Jerald decided that the last phase of the plan could now commence.

He knew that the Council was desperate and that they would soon attack with everything they had.

They knew that if they waited, they would eventually be suppressed into nothingness. If they did nothing, Jerald would eventually stand in front of King Skythunder's castle with over a hundred High Mages, ready to combine their powers to create terrifying Spells that could even hurt the Council members.

At that point, it would be even more difficult to win against Jerald than if they had attacked him on the first day.

The Council was like a kettle ready to explode, and Jerald knew it.

He expected that they would attack tomorrow or a day later after they had gathered all the most powerful Mages in one last assault.

Jerald sent Shang out to scout the surrounding Zones, and after about an hour, Shang returned with all the locations of the High Mages.

After that, Jerald sent several warriors to go to places without any High Mages to surveil the True Mages with their Spirit Senses.

He was waiting for a sign.

And a couple of hours later, Jerald got his sign.

The warriors had overheard several True Mages talking with concern to their friends on the front.

The Skythunder Kingdom had launched several assaults at the Magic Purity Kingdom.

When Jerald heard that, he smirked.

This assault was to intimidate the Magic Purity Kingdom and dissuade them from attacking them for the next couple of days.

The Magic Purity Kingdom would need to consolidate its forces and ready a counterattack, which would take several days.

During these several days, the Skythunder Kingdom would not be under any threat of attack.

Of course, these assaults were costly.

Another 20 High Mages died just on this day alone, but they also killed around 20 High Mages of the Magic Purity Kingdom.

It had been a bloody battle.

After hearing about this, Jerald gathered Shang and Sylvia.

Originally, only Jerald was supposed to take part in this phase of the plan, but with Sylvia, Jerald could do even more damage.

Jerald told Sylvia and Shang about what he had planned for today.

Shang had already known about Jerald's plan, but Sylvia became very interested.

Her admiration of Jerald rose even more. She didn't directly announce it, but Shang could feel some happiness emanate from Sylvia.

She was probably excited that she could finally help Jerald.

After they discussed everything, Jerald took to the skies.

Shang transformed Sword into its Colossal Sword State and jumped on it.

Then, he looked at Sylvia.

Sylvia only smiled and lightly jumped on Sword's humongous body.

Sylvia couldn't fly yet.

And then, the two of them also took to the skies.

 

497 Chapter 497

Shang and Sylvia flew for several minutes in silence.

Sylvia only stood behind Shang with her typical smile on her face, while Shang only looked forward.

Of course, he still kept his vigilance up regarding Sylvia. Mind Reads were extremely difficult to manipulate, and Jerald would have noticed any discrepancies anyway, but Shang still liked to be careful.

He didn't know her, and he wouldn't take any chances.

Of course, Sylvia noticed Shang's senses, but she didn't say anything.

The two of them reached the skies of the Adamantite Behemoth Zone in just a couple of minutes. Right now, they were flying at the height of over ten kilometers, making it incredibly difficult to spot them from the ground.

Then, Shang changed directions and flew towards the northeast, towards the Cloud Serpent Zone.

The beasts in the Thunder Horse Zone were flying high in the sky, and Shang didn't want to get into a battle with one of them.

Of course, as a beast with a Wind Affinity, the Cloud Serpent's Zone was also filled with flying beasts, but there was a difference.

The Cloud Serpent Zone was a humongous gathering of tall mountains, and as long as Shang didn't directly approach them, the chances of getting noticed would be lower. Naturally, there was still some risk, but it wasn't as high as if they had gone through the Thunder Horse Zone.

They entered the Cloud Serpent Zone a couple of minutes later, and Shang avoided all the peaks. Luckily, since they were so high up, the distances between the peaks were massive.

Some beasts noticed them, but they weren't interested in fighting them.

Shang guessed that the beasts had felt Sylvia's Aura, and they had been intimidated by her.

After all, she was a pretty strong Late High Mage, and a High Mage on such a level could fight any beast in the True Path Stage.

Even powerful Peak True Path Stage beasts would most likely lose to her.

This was simply the supremacy that Mages had over beasts.

They continued traveling to the north, and a couple of minutes later, they entered a humongous, brown wasteland.

Shang got reminded of the Wasteland in the Storm Eagle Zone. This Zone looked very similar to that one.

This was the Colossal Worm Zone, the Zone east of the Skythunder Zone.

Shang could see some Soldier and General Stage beasts on the surface, but the truly powerful beasts were underground.

There were nearly no flying beasts in this Zone, and the two didn't get interrupted in their journey.

Some more minutes later, they reached the Zone northwest of the Colossal Worm Zone.

The Pontiff Turtle Zone.

Surprisingly, the Pontiff Turtle Zone was just one gigantic crater with an impossibly bright light at its bottom, bathing the entire Zone in bright light.

Shang couldn't see the Pontiff Turtle through all the light, and he was too far away to see it with his Spirit Sense, but that wasn't really a problem. After all, he wasn't here for the Pontiff Turtle.

Shang also saw many beasts with Light Affinities, something Shang had rarely seen in the past.

To his surprise, most of them were insects.

These insects had incredibly tough exoskeletons, hard horns, and powerful stingers.

Shang looked at their fights and noticed that they mostly used their Light Affinity to heal themselves.

He saw nearly no beasts unleashing any kind of ranged attacks. The entire Zone was basically filled with beasts that exclusively fought in close quarters.

Ironically, the Zone with the purest and most benevolent Element was actually the most brutal and bloody one. The beasts just kept tearing each other to pieces while healing their own injuries.

The two of them continued flying, and about two minutes later, they arrived at their goal.

Shang stopped at the northeastern border of the Pontiff Turtle Zone and scanned his surroundings.

He didn't feel any High Mage in his Spirit Sense.

Shang quickly landed about three kilometers away from the northeastern border of the Pontiff Turtle Zone, between two outcroppings at the edge of the crater.

Sylvia jumped down from Sword and simply waited with a smile.

Shang had to take a deep breath. He could fly for hours, but carrying someone else with him had consumed a lot of his body's Mana. This was also why they didn't actually wait in the sky.

Shang leaned against one of the walls and closed his right eye to recover his Mana.

Sylvia remained silent for a while.

A couple of minutes passed.

"You know, this was the first time I've ever flown," Sylvia said.

Shang opened his right eye and looked at her briefly.

He had subconsciously assumed that she had already flown before. After all, she was more powerful than him without the augmenting Spells.

Meanwhile, Shang had grown used to flying by now, and it wasn't anything special anymore.

At that moment, Shang remembered the time he had used the Gliding Talisman with Sarah, Astor, and Elver to get to the Caves after jumping off Warrior's Paradise.

Back then, Shang had felt wonder while soaring through the sky.

He also remembered that he had said that he wished he could fly on his own in the future.

Without noticing, that wish had become a reality.

Yet, Shang didn't feel like it was anything special.

It was just normal.

'It's actually funny. I loved the feeling of freedom while gliding through the sky, but now, I feel like I'm not free at all.'

'I have to take revenge.'

'I have to help Jerald.'

'I have a mission to finish.'

'I have to find a way to advance.'

'I have to keep most of my secrets to myself.'

'It doesn't feel freeing at all.'

"That's nice," Shang commented absentmindedly as he looked back at the wall on the other side.

"You seem troubled," Sylvia suddenly said.

"What's it to you?" Shang asked.

Sylvia didn't seem to take Shang's rude comment to heart. "Is it bad of me to want to learn more about Jerald's friend?"

"What makes you think that we are friends?" Shang asked.

Sylvia only chuckled. "You have this certain aura of friendship between you two. I believe you two trust each other with your lives."

Shang remained silent for a bit.

Then, he sighed.

"Sorry, I shouldn't be this hostile for no reason," he said.

Sylvia raised her eyebrows in surprise.

She hadn't expected that.

"What brought on that change?" she asked.

Shang sighed again. "It's just been a very long time since I've really talked to anyone except Jerald. I'm busy with training all the time, and whenever I talk to someone, I feel like I'm wasting my time."

Sylvia looked with a skeptical expression at Shang. "That sounds unhealthy."

"Is it?" Shang asked rhetorically. "It seems more unhealthy to me to die in battle because I didn't train enough in the past."

Sylvia pushed the long hair on her right to the side. "You know, that's not how fights work."

Shang raised an eyebrow as he looked at Sylvia.

"You know, when you're weaker, you don't attract much attention, and when you're stronger, you attract a lot more attention."

"If you become stronger in 50 years, you will fight against just as powerful enemies as if you become stronger after 150 years. They will just be different people."

"So, by training all the time, you are making it unnecessarily hard for yourself. What's the difference between reaching the True Path Stage at 100 years of age or 150? As long as you aren't in danger of reaching the end of your longevity, it seems bad to train with such fervor."

Shang's expression returned to neutral. "Easy for you to say," he said. "You have thousands if not millions of years of teachings to fall back on, while I have nothing."

"It might very well be possible that I will die of old age before I even manage to create a Fifth Realm for warriors."

"So?" Sylvia suddenly asked.

Shang furrowed his brows. "I think 'so' isn't appropriate here."

"I mean, it kind of is," Sylvia said. "So what if you don't reach the Fifth Realm? What if you do your absolute best and still fail?"

"I'm not sure if the motivation to keep on training without doing anything else has that big of an impact on your power."

"And even if you succeed, what's the point? Wouldn't you have led an empty life regardless?" she asked.

Shang's neutral expression remained.

A couple of decades ago, these words might have made him question his ideology, but that wasn't the case.

"I can kill an average Mage two levels above me confidently, and I even have a chance at winning against one three levels above me," Shang said.

Then, he looked at Sylvia.

"How many levels can you jump?"

Sylvia felt a bit put on the spot and didn't answer immediately.

Then, Shang looked away again.

"I think you are not in a position to advise me on how to become stronger."

Sylvia looked a bit uncomfortable and annoyed, but she didn't say anything else.

The two of them continued waiting in silence for a couple of hours.

And then, their target finally arrived.

 

498 Chapter 498

After a couple of hours, a High Mage entered Shang's Spirit Sense.

He was traveling at normal speeds for a High Mage that wasn't using Mana Step. Obviously, he was conserving his Mana.

The Mage was a middle-aged man with a brown beard and long red hair, wearing the typical robes of a Duke.

"He's here," Shang said after hours of silence.

Sylvia checked the surroundings with her Spirit Sense, but she couldn't find the Mage.

She had already been informed that Shang could feel others from much further away than normal, but she was still a bit surprised when she saw it with her own eyes.

"We will go according to the plan," Shang said. "I will attack him with a barrage of powerful attacks, forcing him to use up several Mana Steps to evade. You will attack, but you shouldn't go all out yet. Keep your Mana full."

"When I get close, I will put pressure on him and counter his first three Mana Steps. When you see me get close, I need you to release your most powerful Spells. Of course, it would be appreciated if you didn't hit me with those," Shang said.

Sylvia nodded.

At that moment, Sylvia summoned her Focus and readied several Spells.

Shang lifted his Colossal Sword and also readied himself.

There were two more Late High Mages in the Skythunder Kingdom that weren't part of the Council.

Originally, Jerald was supposed to take out one of them, and then they would prepare themselves for the final battle.

However, with Sylvia now having joined them, they could take out both of them.

Since these two Mages weren't anywhere close to Jerald's Zones, Shang and Jerald had to fly to them. Shang might be able to carry one person, but he couldn't carry his three High Mages with him.

Because of that, he would have to fight without his augmenting Spells.

Shang didn't have a lot of confidence in taking out a Late High Mage without his augmenting Spells, but with Sylvia helping him, it should be easy.

Shang didn't fully trust Sylvia, but he trusted Jerald, and Jerald had said that Shang could trust Sylvia.

Shang decided to believe in Jerald, but he still kept his guard up.

He didn't want to fight against two Late High Mages at the same time.

At that point, he would have no other choice but to use Entropy, and he would need to hit both of them at the same time.

And after that, he would be so weakened that he wouldn't even be able to flee. The Council would notice the battle immediately, and they would arrive within a minute.

So, even though Shang was confident in taking out the Duke with Sylvia, he wasn't confident in surviving if Sylvia decided to betray them, just like she betrayed the Council.

Or, maybe, she had never betrayed the Council in the first place, and this was all a huge scheme?

Shang kept looking at the Duke and took out a Communication Crystal.

"We will enter battle in one minute," he said.

"Okay," Jerald answered through the crystal.

Shang put the crystal away again.

In comparison to Shang's target, Jerald's target wasn't on the move, allowing him to attack whenever he wanted.

They would attack at the same time. After all, if one of them attacked first, the Council would be warned, and they would join the other Late High Mage in case they were also ambushed.

The seconds ticked by, and Shang gathered power in Sword.

"Go!" Shang shouted with a voice transmission to Sylvia.

Sylvia narrowed her eyes.

BANG! BANG!

Shang exploded forward with two Ice Blasts and reached his top speed in an instant, his Colossal Sword dragging behind him.

SHING!

Sylvia used three Mana Steps in quick succession, and as soon as she arrived at her target location, she felt the Duke just three kilometers away from her, just where Shang had told her he would be.

The red-haired Duke's eyes opened wide in shock.

A Late High Mage with prepared Spells?

Then, he noticed that this was the traitorous Council member, Sylvia Eternalfrost.

The Duke had not been prepared for a battle at all!

Yet, he was still very experienced, and he activated his Mana Shield by instinct.

At that moment, all of Sylvia's prepared Spells had already shot forward.

A vast area above her was filled with icy spires and humongous boulders that seemed to be some sort of fusion of ice and earth.

Then, it all rained down on the Duke.

To the Duke, it was like the sky was collapsing.

It was like a frosty mountain above him had exploded above him, and all the debris was now rapidly shooting at him.

A High Mage could only react so fast, and activating Mana Shield made it impossible to use Mana Step as well.

Then, the gigantic avalanche arrived.

BOOOOOOOOOM!

Over a hundred meters of the Duke's surroundings exploded with ice and stone, destroying everything.

The Duke was thrown back, his Mana reserves having taken a strong hit.

An instant later, fire gathered around him.

SSSSSSHH!

Yet, the icy boulders that had exploded had given off some kind of icy mist, and the Duke felt his Fire Mana being canceled out.

The icy mist also weakened, but it would take too much Fire Mana to get rid of all the icy mist around him.

SHING!

The Duke used Mana Step and moved to the side. Due to the force of the strike, the icy mist was rapidly moving backward, and if he decided to step away from his opponent, the icy mist would engulf him again in a short amount of time.

The Duke was quickly readying his first offensive Spell, but he couldn't finish it before something happened.

A huge crescent made of black fire was shooting at him!

The Duke gritted his teeth and used Mana Step again.

SHING!

The crescent missed him and hit a hill behind him, destroying the entire thing.

At that moment, the Duke noticed Shang and his Great Sword.

Shang was only a kilometer away from him at this point, and his Great Sword was growing into a humongous icy shape.

BANG!

Another huge spire made of ice hit the Duke's Mana Shield.

He didn't avoid the Spell this time.

If he continued using Mana Step, he would forever remain in a passive position!

And then, Shang slashed forward with his humongous icy sword.

The Duke moved his arm to the side, and a big wave of lava shot out right at the incoming sword.

Surprisingly, the ice on the sword immediately broke apart, but then the Duke saw the black fire inside the Sword.

Dawn!

BOOOOOOM!

The surroundings exploded again, but the Duke had evaded with Mana Step.

Then, the Duke stretched his arm forward again.

BANG!

Another huge wave of lava exploded as it hit another icy spire shot by Sylvia.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Yet, the Duke was thrown to the side in an instant by something else.

A streak of black fire had shot at him at insane speeds, and he hadn't been able to ready a Spell to counter it.

Star Shatter!

The Duke managed to recover his balance.

SHING!

Just to see Shang appear directly beside him after leaving behind a black streak.

In the next moment, the area around Shang started to vanish.

Domain of Entropy!

The Duke gritted his teeth, and his Focus shone.

A violently burning spear made of fire shot at Shang.

Shang had only seen it for an instant before it hit him.

It was way too fast to react to for him.

BANG!

Shang's armor activated and blocked the strike.

This had been his plan all along since that would waste one of the Duke's Spells.

The Duke gritted his teeth, and sweat was running down his forehead.

He was halfway through preparing his own Spell when he suddenly noticed something.

A five-meter-long but very thin needle of ice was floating beside Sylvia. Earth Mana infused with the Concept of Base connected the ice needle to the ground...

And that Earth Mana seemed to warp due to immense strain.

The Duke knew that Spell.

It was Sylvia's most powerful Spell and the reason for her last name, Eternalfrost.

The Duke immediately canceled his Spell and cast Mana Step.

Yet, just when he used it, the Mana for the Spell vanished!

BANG!

Eternalfrost shot forward.

Its speed was unparalleled.

BANG!

Shang's right eye widened.

He hadn't even seen the Spell arrive...

But, right now, he only saw two holes in the Duke's Mana Shield.

And between the two holes stood the Duke, with his torso having an identical hole to the two on his Mana Shield.

In less than a second, the icy needle had already traveled so far that it even left Shang's Spirit Sense.

"Hey, you!"

Shang looked over and saw Sylvia shouting at him with a grin.

"You might have stronger Battle-Strength, but I still have more power! You got that?"

A second of silence.

Then, the Duke's corpse fell to the ground.

499 Chapter 499

Shang knew that Sylvia couldn't be weak, but her Spells had been more powerful than he had expected.

Especially that last one.

Even without Shang, Sylvia would have probably been able to kill the Mage, but not before the Council arrived.

But now was not the time to think about such stuff.

Shang destroyed the body and collected the Focus and the Space Ring.

While running towards Sylvia, Shang fed Sword more ore, and when he arrived, Sword had already recovered to its Colossal Sword State.

Sword flew over to Sylvia, and she lightly jumped on top of it.

As Shang landed in front of her, he threw the Focus and Space Ring to Sylvia, who started to cast a couple of Spells.

Shang and Sword took to the skies. According to their estimates, the Council would arrive in, at most, a minute.

After a couple of seconds, Shang's Spirit Sense picked up a High Mage.

One of the Council members was rapidly charging towards the place where Shang and Sylvia had just fought, but the two of them were already 15 kilometers away.

The High Mage wouldn't be able to track them from such a distance.

At that moment, Sylvia threw the Focus and Space Ring back to Shang. "There was a tracking Magic Circle on the Space Ring, but I dealt with it."

Shang nodded and put the two things away.

Now, Shang trusted Sylvia.

This fight had been the best opportunity to backstab Shang and Jerald. Shang would have almost certainly died, and Sylvia would have thought that she would easily survive.

Yet, she hadn't betrayed them.

She had done exactly what had been asked of her, and she had helped Jerald and Shang eliminate a major threat.

There was no point in gaining their trust with this act for some act of betrayal later. This opportunity would have caused the most damage to Jerald.

This could only mean that Sylvia had truly joined their side without any scheme in mind.

Just as Shang and Sylvia entered the Cloud Serpent Zone, Shang's Communication Crystal rang.

"Are you done?" Jerald asked.

"Yes, the mission was a success," Shang answered.

Shang could hear a sigh from the other side. It seemed like Jerald had also had some worries regarding this mission.

"That's good," he said.

"How did it go on your end?" Shang asked.

"Everything went well," Jerald answered, and Shang could hear some satisfaction in his voice.

"You've waited a long time to do this, huh?" Shang asked with a small smirk.

"You have no idea," Jerald answered. "I'm so glad to finally be rid of that annoying pest."

As said previously, the Skythunder Kingdom had two Late High Mages that were not part of the Council.

Shang and Sylvia had dealt with one of them, Duke Blastfurnace.

And the other Late High Mage?

Well, it was none other than one of Shang's old 'acquaintances'.

Duke Mithril.

Shang still remembered all the trouble Duke Mithril had caused him and Jerald. Even when the Skythunder Kingdom had been relatively peaceful, Duke Mithril had still been a major pain in the ass.

He had sent traitors to Jerald's territory, and he had even set a high bounty on Shang's head.

All of this happened over 60 years ago.

And now, Duke Mithril had finally been killed.

Back then, Duke Mithril had been a Mid High Mage, but he had obviously made some progress over the last 60 years.

But that didn't matter anymore.

In comparison to Duke Blastfurnace, Duke Mithril had been stationed on the frontlines.

Jerald wasn't a big fan of attacking someone on the frontlines since the other Kingdoms were also his enemies, but his problems with Duke Mithril were personal.

He simply hated that guy.

"I noticed a Council member arriving with my Spirit Sense, but he didn't find us," Shang said.

"Makes sense," Jerald answered. "I'll meet you two back in the Empress Cobra Zone. I'm confident that the final battle will happen within the next 24 hours. The Council is on a timer, and they know that."

"I know," Shang answered. "We will be prepared."

"Hey, can you say hi to Jerald from me?" Sylvia asked from behind.

Shang's brows furrowed.

He didn't say anything for three seconds.

"Sylvia says hi," Shang said.

Silence.

Then, he noticed that the Communication Crystal had been deactivated for a while already.

When Shang had said that they would be prepared, Jerald had assumed that the conversation was over, and he had hung up.

Shang only looked forward with furrowed brows.

"He says hi back," Shang said.

"Count Sword, I can see if the Communication Crystal is active or not," Sylvia said with a giggle.

Shang slowly put the Communication Crystal away and only looked forward with an annoyed expression.

Sylvia only looked at him with amusement.

"Call me Shang."

"Hm?" Sylvia uttered.

"You've proven that you're trustworthy. You can call me by my name, Shang."

Sylvia only smiled. "Thank you, Shang."

Shang only nodded.

'That should take care of the awkwardness.'

Half a minute of silence passed.

"You're pretty powerful," Shang said.

"Thanks, Shang," Sylvia answered with a polite smile.

Another couple of seconds of silence passed.

"Sorry for being such an asshole earlier. I still didn't fully trust you," Shang said.

"Aw, that's nice to hear. Thanks, Shang," Sylvia said with a bright smile. "Mind if I ask you a question?"

"Go ahead," Shang said.

"How did you lose your eye, and can't you just recover it?" she asked.

Shang frowned.

"I fought an Abomination," Shang said.

Sylvia looked a bit uncomfortable. "I understand," she said with a sigh. "I've seen something similar before. I know of a True Mage that lost her left leg to an Abomination."

Shang didn't show it, but his interest was piqued.

"Is there a way to regrow such a lost part?" he asked.

If there were a way for Shang to regain his eye, he wouldn't say no.

Surprisingly, it wasn't that he missed his eye.

No, if he managed to regrow his eye, he would have something to sacrifice to Entropy again. He would only return to his current state, and he had gotten used to this state.

That could save Shang's life without severely impacting his future Battle-Strength.

Sylvia only shook her head. "No, we never found a way."

Shang took a deep breath, but he kept it hidden from Sylvia.

"But that doesn't mean that there is no way," Sylvia said. "After all, there is supposed to be an outside world, right? Maybe the Mages in the outside world found a way."

"Supposed to?" Shang asked.

"I mean, yeah. You and Jerald said so, right?" Sylvia added.

"You make it sound like you don't believe it," Shang answered.

Sylvia furrowed her brows. "It's not easy to simply accept something like this. If what you two said is true, it would mean that the entire world we know is only a weak, small part of the actual world."

"Think about it. After having reached the peak in power in the world and having believed yourself to be one of the strongest for maybe even centuries, it wouldn't be easy to accept that you have been wrong all this time."

"Most of the Council still believe that there has to be a different explanation. They refuse to believe that there is an outside world."

"The powerful Mage that beat the Storm Eagle could have been some powerful Mage that lived in seclusion and only comes out when the world is in danger."

"The same Mage could have also created the Star Map."

Shang's brows furrowed again.

"And the words of King Skythunder?" he asked.

"Well," Sylvia said as she trailed off. "King Skythunder is not the most trustworthy person. You saw him. It's likely that he would purposefully misrepresent the truth just to exhibit his power over us."

"It could also be that he and Jerald simply agreed on a lie before they met with the Council from back then regarding the Star Map. Also, I wasn't a member of the Council back then."

Shang looked back at Sylvia. "Is that why the Council believes that they still hold power over everything? They simply refuse to accept that they are not as powerful in the grand scheme of things as they believe they are?"

Sylvia raised an eyebrow. "Would you?"

"Yes," Shang said immediately.

Then, Shang looked forward again.

"That might actually not be such a bad thing."

 

500 Chapter 500

Shang and Sylvia landed at the meeting place and waited for Jerald. The frontline where Duke Mithril had been was much farther away than Shang's target.

Half an hour later, Jerald also arrived.

"Tell me how the fight went," Jerald said.

Shang nodded and recounted the fight.

After Shang was done, Jerald also nodded. "Good work, Sylvia," he said as he looked at Sylvia.

"No problem, Jerald," Sylvia said with a bright smile.

Jerald looked a bit uncomfortable when he saw her smile like that, and he looked back at Shang.

"I'm going to give the orders and prepare everything. I need you two to stay near the northern border of the Empress Cobra Zone."

Shang and Sylvia nodded.

"I'll contact you with further orders," Jerald said before leaving.

Shang and Sylvia traveled to the northern border and waited there for Jerald.

After just half an hour, Shang noticed over 30 True Path Stage warriors take to the sky.

The next and last set of letters would be distributed today.

The Mages had gone all out to finish the letters as quickly as possible, and the warriors would distribute them over the surrounding ten Zones.

A couple of minutes later, all the High Mages Jerald had gained over the past couple of days gathered at the northern border of the Empress Cobra Zone.

Their mood was not great.

They had all heard about what would happen, and they had all seen and read the letters.

Not many of them talked, and they only waited with stress and worry.

They knew that the last battle would take place, and in comparison to all the previous ones, they knew that there would be casualties today.

In the past few days, the war had been fought with mind games and stratagems, but today, two armies would clash head-on.

The warriors distributed the letters, and the reactions to the letters were more pronounced than before.

This time, nearly everyone decided to evacuate from the surrounding Zones.

For the next few days, the citizens would stay in Zones far away from the Empress Cobra Zone.

This time, the letter didn't include any judgments of High Mages or the next target.

No, this time, the letter was shorter than before.

It spoke about the assassination of Duke Mithril and Duke Blastfurnace, and then it talked directly about the final battle.

Jerald made it public where his entire army would gather.

For the next two weeks, the army would stay in that place and not move.

The purpose of that was to tell the Council that there were no more hidden schemes they could pull.

They couldn't slowly take out one warrior or Mage after the other before the final battle.

In a normal war, this act would be stupid. After all, the goal of a normal war was to conquer land and not necessarily to get rid of every enemy soldier.

As long as the enemy army could surround the enemy's location, they would gain the upper hand in the long run.

But this was not a normal war.

This was not a war about land or resources but a war to kill one's enemies.

All of Jerald's forces would stay in one place, and if the Council wanted to deal with him, they would need to attack all of Jerald's forces at once.

Under normal circumstances, the Council could simply ignore Jerald's army for this time and conquer all the other Zones, but the problem for them was that they were on a timer.

They had just launched an intense offensive on the Magic Purity Kingdom, and the Magic Purity Kingdom would strike back with a vengeance very soon.

If they didn't fortify their borders in the next couple of days, the Magic Purity Kingdom would invade the Skythunder Kingdom and claim several Zones in only a couple of minutes.

If the Magic Purity Kingdom still didn't feel any resistance, they would take advantage of the opportunity and directly cut off the eastern Skythunder Kingdom from the western Skythunder Kingdom.

That would be catastrophic for the Skythunder Kingdom.

Or they might just directly go for the throne.

The publicly acknowledged reason why it was important for the armies to claim the territories first was to support the King in his battle.

If the most powerful Mages in the Kingdom were taken care of, the strongest Mages in the other Kingdom could help their King in winning the battle with the other King.

Five Peak and Late High Mages could combine their powers to unleash Spells that exhibited the power of the Archmage Realm.

Of course, the true reason was very different.

Shang and Jerald knew that the Kings were simply employees of the Lightning Manor.

They weren't supposed to fight each other but rule over several territories.

The reason for that wasn't clear to them, but that was most likely how it worked.

Presumably, if one King lost all his territories, he would also lose his job and would be forced to leave the five Kingdoms.

And because of all of that, the Council couldn't afford to wait and slowly regain their territories.

They had to end this internal war in the next couple of days, or they would soon die to the Magic Purity Kingdom or King Skythunder.

After about an hour, the warriors returned and also stopped on the northern border of the Empress Cobra Zone.

Even all the True Path Stage warriors from the Storm Eagle Zone were here.

All 65 had been summoned.

Right now, the Storm Eagle Zone was completely undefended, but that wasn't a big concern.

Jerald had also gained an additional 30 High Mages ever since the war started, with nine of them being Mid High Mages.

Right now, 65 True Path Stage warriors, around 35 High Mages, Jerald, Shang, and Sylvia, were all in the same location.

This force alone could already rival one of the weaker Kingdoms.

Shang's three High Mages had already set up their Magic Circles in a heavily fortified building.

Five of the Mid High Mages were stationed around the building. With their combined powers, they could even fight a Council member.

Their entire job was only to protect this building and maybe attack an enemy if they entered their reach.

Everyone knew that Count Sword, with all the augmenting Spells and Magic Circles, could rival a Council member.

The fight between the Council and Jerald would decide the outcome of the war. Everyone else was just fighting for an opportunity to help in that fight.

If the High Mages of Jerald's forces managed to get rid of the other High Mages, they could combine their powers and shoot powerful Spells at the Council. That would be almost like another Council member helping Jerald.

All the other High Mages were stationed behind the warriors but in front of the five Mid High Mages protecting the fortified building.

The warriors were supposed to get close to the enemy Mages and force them to deal with them.

If the enemy Mage decided to ignore the warriors, the warriors would quickly go on the offensive and attack their Mana Shields.

If they attacked the warriors, they would need to spend significant amounts of Mana and time to deal with them. After all, a warrior could be very slippery and agile. During that time, the enemy Mages would decimate their forces.

The plan was set up.

Everyone had been gathered.

Now, they only needed to wait.

Eventually, the Skythunder Kingdom's army would arrive.

And then, the final battle would begin.