"It's alright. Boys tend to think a lot. We grumble sometimes." Nox laughed."That was no ordinary complaint! I won't allow you to leave! If there's work to be done, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise can do it! You want to train them, right? Then don't do everything yourself!" Nineve kept hounding Nox, refusing to let him leave.Nox said nothing and took her into their bedroom. He listened to her complain and cry until she was tired, and then she hugged Nox and fell into a deep sleep."My princess, you were here to sleep, and now you have what you want." Nox kissed Nineve gently and hugged her as he fell into sleep.The next morning, Nox left his room. He cast a sleeping spell on Nineve so she wouldn't wake up. She'd have a nice dream."The princess is worn out. Let her rest. Do not wake her. She will stir in due time," Nox told the servants that came from Imperia, then he left the residence.Vermilion Bird, White Tiger, and Black Tortoise were already waiting outsi
These people were stationed abroad and were rarely home. Seeing Nox was a pipedream, but now that their dream had come true. The lads teared up."Thanks for the hard work, people. This is the final stretch, so put your back into it." Nox went and shook hands with the secret agents."It is our duty to serve the nation, milord! It is an honor to serve you! We're prepared to die for the nation!" The secret agents saluted.Nox was glad. No nation's agents could compare to Faeast's. They were the most lovable people in the world.They didn't spend too much time on small talk. Nox was here for business. Vermilion Bird's return meant she would take over Shadow Division. They had bases all over the world and collected information from all corners of the globe. This was the most advanced intelligence agency in the world.Vermilion Bird's underling was reporting the latest news to Nox. Nox found out about it from Vermilion Bird before, and that was why he decided to come to Eropa."Milord,
Then, a confused White Tiger asked, "Interesting. They're helping this guy to the throne, so he's the gods' lapdog. He's their puppet, but they gave him control over the military?"Vermilion Bird and Black Tortoise were speechless."Not everyone's as mad as you are, White Tiger. Not even Soulcatcher works on you, but that puppet king must be under the gods' control now. They don't have to worry about him fighting back. The gods can even prolong a mortal's lifespan by 500 years, remember?" Black Tortoise explained.Vermilion Bird added, "Not just 500 years. Once a slave, always a slave to the gods. Even if you're a god, divinity is always a heavy cross to bear."Nox said, "True. The gods only became gods because they toppled Faeast. It's never easy being a god, especially for mortals. They have to give up everything. Him alone will never repay the debt. Not important, though. He's probably happy to be their slave. Faith is one hell of a drug, after all."He used to cultivate in Mys
The secret agents were flabbergasted. The information they had was limited to the Mortal World's. They weren't privy to the stuff happening in Mystia."Go on. Where's the remaining royal family member?" Nox asked."She's the former heir to the throne, milord. She's the princess of Brundela and the darling of the royal family—Elizabeth Snowden. She's under the royal guards' protection. Currently, she's in Brunhild Manor, located on the royal island."The puppet king who swore his loyalty to the Assad Temple's gods, Dickson, has found out where she is. He's also her uncle, and he will be attacking her soon," the underling said, and he projected the map of Brunhild Manor onto the screen.Then, a wave of chill attacked them. "Pinnacle Legend Realm!"Black Tortoise, White Tiger, and Vermilion Bird were on guard. They saw a wave of ice energy attack the base, and it stopped in front of Nox."Ice Temple scum! How did they find out we're here?" White Tiger cursed.Vermilion Bird and Bla
The soldiers were spread out all across the island, but they didn't move out in the open. Instead, they operated from the shadows.A girl with golden locks remained in her bedroom, staring at the photo album in her hand, her mind elsewhere. She was staring at a photo of her and her mother, the recently-deceased Queen of Brundela.Tears blurred the girl's vision, and she started to cry."Your Highness." A gentleman in his forties came in, wearing a butler's suit. He was a prized secret agent for the empire, and he had defused conspiracies against the empire many times. The man completed every single mission perfectly.This time, however, he was pale beyond recognition and looked troubled.Elizabeth wiped her tears away and smiled at her loyal agent. "Sir James!"James forced a smile and bowed to the princess."Any news, James? Have you established contact with our carrier units?" They had to escape Brundela to survive. Only by contacting the carrier units and leaving through the
They thought they could escape easily, but alas. While Elizabeth was mustering up her courage to fight to the end, Ebony Skeleton had gathered all its members. The group was made up of Brundela's most elite special force units.The public thought this group was made up of Dickson's personal soldiers, but they had no idea that the Assad Temple's gods had made them into super soldiers. They felt no pain and feared nothing, not even death. They were robots who would do anything to complete their mission.The Ebony Skeleton members boarded rubber canoes and rafted their way to the island. While they were on the move, the commanders of Brundela back on the fleet were on standby.Though they were commanders of Brundela, they were taking orders from an outsider—the gods of the Assad Temple. The one in charge of this operation was called Nocturna. He was in charge of all assassination jobs for his temple, making him a master assassin himself.All his followers were demigods. One of them re
"If Ebony Skeleton's that easy to take down, we wouldn't have lost so many soldiers and royal family members."Right after that, some Ebony Skeleton members leaped out of the fire, their limbs broken. That shocked James."What is this, Sir James? Are they really super soldiers?" These were people of the modern era. Elizabeth had a doctorate in biology. No matter how good a human's body was, they couldn't even stand up after half of it was blasted off and the other half was burning.Even if they could, they'd be running and screaming in pain instead of brushing it off like nothing."Curses. Are they zombies? Snipers, shoot to kill!"The snipers fired at the enemy and blasted their heads off. Even so, they still managed to walk for a short while before falling down. James inhaled sharply. 'These people are not humans,' he thought.Another team of Ebony Skeleton members came forward. They fired off their weapons without aiming and took out all the snipers from a few hundred yards aw
The remaining special force units set up a defense line outside the manor. This was their last stand. James was in the safehouse, his nerves wracked. To keep the royal family's dignity intact, Elizabeth asked James for a dose of cyanide. Should the manor fall, she would take her own life.Then, the tension broke, and thunder roared overhead. The thunder almost took the island apart, and a storm raged across the seas while torrential downpours assailed the island. The rain blocked James' sight, and their comms were affected. All they could hear were the screams of their soldiers."We are at our final moment, Your Highness. The enemy outnumbers us too much, and our soldiers have done their best." James made a cross over his chest and gazed at the princess, then he resolved himself.James walked out of the safehouse for the final battle. It was a mess outside the manor. Bullet shells and corpses were strewn everywhere. Ebony Skeleton had surrounded the manor. The remaining special forc
Brundela's so-called fleet only consisted of three tiny ships. In comparison, the Faeastian fleet consisted of nearly a hundred ships, over thirty of which were large-scale battleships. It even included a recently commissioned aircraft carrier.The sight made the commander of the Brundela ships sigh in envy. Centuries ago, Brundela was the ruler of the seas with a navy no one could defeat. However, things had changed. Brundela's navy had fallen from grace, replaced by Faeast, the nation everyone once picked on.Just the might of this one portion of the fleet could overwhelm all of Brundela's navy.Moreover, according to Vermillion Bird, these were just the ships from the Southern Sea fleet that could be deployed in an emergency and just one of Faeast's five fleets.Brundela's commander was left gaping the entire time.With both fleets united, Nox led Elizabeth onto the Southern Sea fleet's flagship. With state-of-the-art technology, it was a top-tier capital ship. It would not be
White Tiger was extremely savage. The ship’s crew was scared to the brink of death, and the demigods from the Assad Temple were so shaken that they abandoned the ship and ran off. "Where are you running off to, scum?"White Tiger leaped off of the ship and slaughtered the fleeing demigods. The wind had stopped howling, and the rain came to an end. Everything on the ships went back to normal, swaying with the ocean waves. "Lord Nox, the ships are settled. As ordered, we have killed off everyone from Assad Temple while leaving the crew unharmed."Still, if you didn't send me over to keep an eye on things, White Tiger would have been crazy enough to slaughter the crew as well," Vermillion Bird said to Nox in a message. "Very well. Your Highness, it's time for the transfer."Nox led Elizabeth and the survivors to the ships. As James and the other team members rowed toward the ships, Nox flew across the sea with Elizabeth in his arms. Nox was not just the Nine-State Lord. I
On the ship's bridge, Vermillion Bird noticed something was off. The deck below her was engulfed in a dark cloud that her Divine Sense could not penetrate."Stupid White Tiger. You refused to strike back then. Now, look at this. You've given him a chance to use the Forbidden Arts. If I weren't here, who knows how much more time you would have wasted?" she grumbled. Just as she was about to make a move, White Tiger's voice reached her."Stop! Who are you looking down on? I don't need your help! Also, keep a civil tongue! I am ranked second among the Four Great Generals. I am your superior!"She fell silent."You're a fool!" Vermillion Bird rolled her eyes. After informing White Tiger to deal with his own mess, she ignored the fight and went into the bridge control room to contact the security center of Brunhild Manor.As she communicated with them, White Tiger's fight continued.However, it was not White Tiger who made the first move. It was Nocturna, who had merged with the black
In the straits near the Brunhild Manor, a fleet of three ships was stationed there.Thunder crackled across the skies as the waves crashed in fury.Even so, the three ships remained stationary on the sea, unfazed by the weather.This was not good news to the ships' crew members.It felt like the ships were haunted. It was just too creepy!A dark and sinister force enveloped the three ships, causing the crew to panic and fervently pray to their gods for protection.On the flagship, all of the crew members were rendered immobile on the floor by a horrifying aura.Occasionally, shrill screams of pain would echo across the ship.Half of the corpse of a demigod from Assad Temple crashed through the ship's cabin walls, leaving a trail of blood across the deck.Not long after that, Nocturna was pinned to the deck by an immense force. It took him a long time before he managed to stumble to his feet.At that moment, Nocturna lost all of his previous confidence. His face was stark whit
Elizabeth grabbed Nox's hand, forcibly shaking it. "I'm Elizabeth Snowden, and I've always admired you. How did you survive being surrounded by the ten nations in the Ocean of Death?"Nox chuckled in shock. How did the princess of Brundela know of that?At the same time, he felt some awkwardness. After all, what he did in the Ocean of Death was not something to be commended for.Even James could tell Nox was feeling awkward. It was a surprise to find the Nine-State Lord anxious."Your Highness, the martial arts masters of the ten nations in the Ocean of Death were no match for Lord Nox. He was only surrounded by enemies because he was betrayed by a woman he trusted," James explained.As a national intelligence officer, James naturally knew the truth behind the Ocean of Death incident."Please stop talking about it. It was so embarrassing. I've never been so pathetic before," Nox said with a wave of his hand."No! How can it be embarrassing? It was none of your fault. In fact, it
Nox could fully represent Faeast, but James couldn't do the same for Brundela, so he had no idea how to answer.Nox said, "It's alright. We'll strike up a partnership with the royal family. I'll handle the affairs with Brundela after that."James heaved a sigh of relief. Without Nox, Elizabeth would've died. Then, James remembered that Dickson's fleet was still in the waters."This isn't a safe place to talk, Nine-State Lord. Dickson's fleet is here. If they were to fire their cannons, none of us can leave," James said quickly.Vermilion Bird gave him a look of scorn. Cannons were useless. With her lord around, he could stop even a forbidden item."I'll handle him when the time comes. Is White Tiger done? Check on him, Vermilion Bird. I don't want him taking out the whole fleet. They're our exit ticket."Vermilion Bird quickly went to the fleet. At the same time, Elizabeth stirred."Your Highness!" James and the royal special forces huddled around Elizabeth. They were overjoyed
"So, you're Vermilion Bird?" James' eyes shone. His respect for her was obvious. He had heard of Vermilion Bird, of course."Good, then let's cut to the chase. Thanks to my lord, we won the battle with Winterosch. It is now our vassal state. He has also slain Ice Emperor on Nineside Peak and scared the Light Nations into submission."We came to Brundela to get rid of the Assad gods. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, as they say. So now you know why we came," finished Vermilion Bird. There was a veiled threat inside.James looked grim. They were trying to force Brundela into a partnership. James said darkly, "We can strike up this partnership, but I don't think you're just trying to partner up with us, are you?"Vermilion Bird didn't even bother arguing. "So what if we aren't? Do you think you have a choice? Faeast is not the same nation you once knew. A hundred years ago, Brundela was the first to attack us and poison our people. You stole so much from us. Our vengeance is justif
James then remembered that the princess asked that he give her cyanide. Their intel did say that Nox was a miracle healer, so James quickly let Nox check on Elizabeth.Nox could tell if Elizabeth was poisoned or not right away, and she was not. However, he pretended to check on her anyway. "She's fine. She's just weakened and a little shaken. She should wake up soon."The princess was fine, yet Nox picked her up. James knew what he was doing, but he couldn't do anything about it. The guy blasted a god into nothingness. James prayed that Nox wasn't the same kind of scum these gods were.The rain of bullets came to a stop. With their bullets finished, Ebony Skeleton's members whipped out their knives and pounced at Black Tortoise.These super soldiers were made by the hands of gods, and they were killing machines. However, they were nothing but jokes when their enemy was Black Tortoise. They only felt no pain and didn't fear death when their enemies were people like Brundela's specia
"Well, that's rude of you. I helped you regain your sanity. You'd have to spend the rest of your lives in an asylum otherwise," Nox joked. Then, he realized these people didn't speak Faeastian.Nox was about to ask Vermilion Bird to translate, but James spoke in fluent Faeastian."Who are you? What do you want to do to Her Highness? She is the princess of Brundela. Are you going to take her as well, Faeastian?""Huh, that's some fluent Faeastian. Wait, I think I've seen you before." Nox realized that the agent looked familiar, and he remembered seeing the guy on TV. "Ah, I've seen you on TV before. You must be the celebrity agent. The movies are based on you, aren't they?"Nox gave him a thumbs up. The adaptations were well done, after all. James let a bit of his guard down. He was about to ask who this guy was. After all, not everyone could scare a god. He wondered if Faeast had gods as well.On closer look, James thought Nox looked familiar. "Wait a minute. I've seen you on TV b