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
The weapons humanity was proud of were nothing to the enemy. The bullets stopped right in front of the silhouette, rendering them useless. James couldn't accept this, and he screamed in hysteria.At the same time, the thunder rumbled louder, and the rain got heavier. Within this storm, a plane was flying straight toward the Brunhild Manor. Vermilion Bird was the pilot. Black Tortoise was holding a map and acting as co-pilot.Nox was in the cabin, while White Tiger pulled open the cabin door and roared at the sea."Can you shut the fuck up?" Nox was annoyed. White Tiger had been screaming all the way here. This was just a rescue mission. There was no need to be so excited.White Tiger roared in laughter and flexed his pecs at Nox. "Look, milord! Even the heavens fear me!"Nox was speechless. The cabin fell silent, the air colder than before. White Tiger realized he had gone a bit too far, so he kept his mouth shut like a child who had done something wrong.He was about to go back
James' screams prompted the princess into action. She was supposed to take her own life, but instead, she grabbed a pistol and came out of the safehouse, firing off at the silhouette. The bullets hurtled toward the enemy but stopped right before they hit him."Ah, the princess of Brundela. As beautiful as they say." The silhouette went past the bullets and approached Elizabeth with a vile idea in mind.A scared Elizabeth was forced to a corner with nowhere to go."Your Highness!" James charged at his enemy, but the silhouette sent him flying away with a flick of his hand. "I came for the princess. Nocturna is waiting for her. You'd better save your strength for the Ebony Skeleton." The enemy laughed.He made his move. Just when Elizabeth was about to fall into enemy hands, a silhouette crashed through the ceiling and landed in the safehouse. The silhouette didn't see the princess anywhere, so he smashed the metal door away and came into the lobby.The god was stunned to be met wit
If the altar was not unsealed, Nox wouldn't have enough power to handle the path of the martial and the path of the ancient divine. Even if he was only facing the leader of the path of the martial, he only had a sixty-forty chance of winning, and that wasn't enough to turn things around."We need to do this. At this point, we have no choice. We'll do everything we can and leave everything to fate. We must unseal the altar. Even if someone tries to disturb us, any powerup is good news for us," said Aphrodite."Fine, then we'll unseal the altar. You stay here as well. I think there's going to be a lot of this energy. I'll reach my limit very fast. You can use the energy to train as well. Queenie, you're a phoenix. If someone tries to disturb us, devour all the energy," said Nox."But I'm at my bottleneck. Devouring it won't do me any good. It's a waste." Queenie frowned."Better than letting the enemy take it. At worst, you can use them as energy bombs." Nineve curled her lips.Quee
"Will you shut up already? There's plenty of energy here. The Sea of the Fire God has a whole reserve for you." Nox sent Kirin flying away with a kick. The guy just wanted to take advantage of the situation.Replenishing spiritual energy and devouring it were different things. No matter the quality, replenishment would eventually fill up the user's tanks. Power level, however, was different. Lower-level spiritual energy couldn't be absorbed and refined, but higher-level energy was limited. There was no place to house a large amount of it.The fact that Fiery Ignis knew a place like that was a great help for Nox."Come with me." Fiery Ignis led everyone through the Altar and down to the underground. At the deepest depths was a cavern, where water and fire fused like they were perfect for each other. Weaker ones would die here if they stayed long enough, let alone pass through it.Nox used his Saint power to protect everyone as he went down as per Fiery Ignis' orders. After going thr
"The path of the martial would never destroy the Temple of Fire, but Nox forced their hand. Even though you think this is bad enough, something worse is coming," said Aphrodite.Nox first thought of Faeast, after which he remembered the path of the sword. His guesses were correct. Aphrodite explained, "They will attack Faeast, but we can't get distracted now. People will die, but they can't kill everyone. A few deaths for a long-lasting peace is worth it. What we need to do now is raze Mystia to the ground."For that, we need the path of the sword," said Aphrodite. What came next was simple. Their destination was the path of the sword's grounds."Path of the sword? We can do that, but give me some time. I need to take the Altar off the formation and bring it with me," said Fiery Ignis."Of course, but make it quick. They won't hesitate to attack the path of the sword," said Nox solemnly.Fiery Ignis laughed. "They're not as simple as they look, Nox. The path of the martial might o
"Carrying out orders? No beef with the Temple of Fire, you say?" Nox laughed. "But I have a beef with you! Naturally, I will kill you!"Nox swung his hand, and the Minor Saints exploded. Their souls flew out, and they cursed Nox as much as they could. "You're cursing me? Fine, guess you want a slow and painful death, then."They could've died a quick death, but once Nox used his Blazing Holy Eyes, they had to suffer a slow burn. The Minor Saints' screams filled the air. The survivors gleaned grim satisfaction from the enemies' suffering.Nox descended on the altar. The Temple of Fire was only standing thanks to this ancient artifact. It'd have fallen a long time ago otherwise."Mr. Nox!" The Temple of Fire survivors saw Nox as chief of them all, second only to the temple lord."Sorry, I was late." Nox nodded. He came in the nick of time. If he'd been a moment later, these people would be dead.Fiery Ignis wasn't in good shape either, but the Altar was more important. He extracted
William could finally relax a little with Nox in the mix. He told Nox that the remnants of the enemies' temples attacked him because he was friends with the guy. His pavilion was destroyed, and his mentor died in battle. A lot of his fellow students died as well.Fortunately, the Temple of Fire saved him. Before he could even take revenge, the enemies attacked the Temple of Fire. Fortunately, Nox appeared in his darkest hour.Nox cursed, "The bastard! William and I aren't even that close! Why'd you attack him? You're not leaving here alive!"Furious, Nox put the island on lockdown. No one was going to leave this place alive. Thanks to the team's efforts, a group of survivors were saved. The remnants were all cleaned up, and Aphrodite was scouring the leaders' minds with her soul technique for intel.At the same time, Kirin had arrived at the island's center and fought the leader of the invaders. The path of the martial sent out a dozen Saints to destroy the Temple of Fire. Most of
The mocked god was furious, and he wanted to see who the bastard was. However, when he realized who it was, he froze. The woman was the mistress of the Byrds. Then, his eyes shone. This woman was a prodigy among prodigies."Save me, Celestial Goddess! I'll give you everything I have," pleaded the god. He would be her slave if it came to it. The other cultivators asked for Katherine's help as well."The decision lies not with me." Katherine shook her head and looked at Nox.The cultivators were stunned, and they turned their attention to Nox. They thought the young man was unimpressive, and they wondered why Katherine would listen to him.The god of thievery threatened, "I don't care who you are, boy. Tell Celestial Goddess to help us, or I will kill you!"Bloodlust filled Nox's eyes. "You don't care who I am? How dare you! Open your eyes and take a good look. I know you know me."The god of thievery cursed and pushed through the pain of the flames. He focused on Nox's face, and w
Nox unleashed his divine sense and noticed the Temple of Fire standing in the distance. It was in shambles. Mystia's factions had attacked it. "Get to the temple right away, Kirin. I'll stay here and contact my mentors. We'll regroup in a minute," Nox ordered. He sensed cultivators fighting in the distance."Thought you'd never ask. Finally, you're not asking me to act as a guard." The trip to Celestial Domain annoyed Kirin to no end. He almost got killed without a fight, and now he wanted to fight as much as he wanted to.Kirin activated his bloodline and hurtled ahead like a meteor. Nox cast a secret art and sealed his message in talismans, then he sent them flying in all directions. Nox then kept everyone covered with his Saint power and flew ahead to where Kirin was.They flew out of the Sea of the Fire God, and they saw the Temple of Fire. It was located on an island. It was obvious the island used to have a lot of grand buildings, but now it was ravaged by the fires of war, an
If modern language wasn't of any use, Kirin tried ancient Faeastian, but the scorpion only shivered. Left with no choice, Kirin spoke in beast tongue, even though he didn't like it. The scorpion finally gave a response.Aphrodite noticed this, and she could guess the answer. If the mystery person knew Kirin would be here, they must've cleaned up their tracks. As she expected, a short while later, Kirin smacked the scorpion angrily."No wonder it's so stupid. Someone tampered with its brain. It's useless!" Not even the best soul technique users could change memories that easily. Even if they did it, it would hurt the brain of the target.Not everyone had Aphrodite's patience. The mystery person wasn't going to waste their time on a mere beast. They destroyed most of its nerves. The scorpion only survived this long thanks to its power.A while later, Nox unraveled the runes, and the formation was activated. The golden gates leading to Mystia were opened. "Done. You can come in now. K
"They still have saint power in their bodies, and their insides are intact. So are their bodies. Someone destroyed their souls immediately. They couldn't even cast their spells, so that would explain why there are remnants of their energy inside them," said Nox.Everyone was horrified. That meant this mystery person was incredibly powerful. Queenie asked quietly, "Can you deal with them if you run into them, Nono?"Nox frowned. "If my divine sense can't see them, they might be able to stage an ambush and injure me. Even if we get into a fight, they would be a formidable foe. This person alone can keep me busy." He looked solemn.Everyone, however, heaved a sigh of relief. Nox pointed at the pile of bodies on the ground. "What? You think the enemy could kill me as easily as they did these people?"Everyone but Kirin was wondering who the mystery person was. He cursed, "Damn that bastard. I can't believe they set me up! They'd better pray I never find out who they are, or else!"Tho