The golden dagger flashed.
In just two seconds, Mary had managed to slice open and disassemble every single metallic component and connective node beneath Vanessa’s neck. It was as graceful as the movements of a skilled pianist playing the most beautiful song. The golden dagger then lightly picked and took out the still-beating mechanical heart.
It was at this moment that Mary finally withdrew from her hypersensitive state.
Without anyone realizing what had happened, Mary had appeared before Vanessa like a goddess. She grasped Vanessa’s head in one hand, and in the other, she had a strange metallic heart balanced upon her dagger. Vanessa’s metallic body collapsed to the ground and scattered like loose sand.
“—all!”
Vanessa did not seem to have noticed the abnormality around her and was still screaming out loud. However, when the last note dragged on for far too long, and the expected explosion still did not happen, Vanessa couldn’t help but fall silent and look around her in shock.
It was then that she realized, to her horror, that her body had been reduced to unrecognizable metal parts. Only her head was still suspended in the air in the enemy’s hand.
No, no, no. She still had a heart, a mechanical heart with Third Grade energy, now being toyed within in the hands of the opponent.
As for the self-destruction? Without the body’s support and the control of her consciousness, Vanessa could not control the heart remotely. She had only obtained it a year ago and was not compatible enough with it. As such, this mechanical heart, which had reached the threshold of self-destruction, was freely exposed to Mary’s nearly whimsical toying.
The energy within it quickly leaked out like a deflated tire, and the heart started to wither and shrivel visibly.
“Girl, how far have you gone down the adept’s path? You would try to pull such a trick before a high-grade adept with your power? Hmph! Remember, power is the only truth amongst adepts. If I don’t want you to die, then you will never hope to die!” After lifting Vanessa’s head to her eyes and berating her, Mary tossed her above to Deserra.
“I’ll leave the girl to you. Make sure to interrogate her and find out everything she knows.”
Deserra caught Vanessa’s head, and a vicious smile appeared on his face. He said, “Don’t worry, Lady Mary. I will make sure to extract everything in her mind!”
The losses inflicted by the goblin rebellion on the City of Machines were far too severe. It had ruined his reputation as the stationed adept. As such, there was no way Deserra would let the mastermind off easy now that he had her in his hands.
In all seriousness, this goblin rebellion had been more of a nuisance than an actual threat.
The goblins did not have sufficient power to actually resist or break free from the Crimson Clan’s rule. Their Secession Plan was fated to fail and would only draw the anger and ire of the Crimson higher-ups.
The reason the situation had devolved to this state was undoubtedly due to a much more well-hidden mastermind behind the scenes. Everyone knew who this ‘mastermind’ was. They simply lacked the evidence to accuse him at this point.
Having lost Vanessa, and with the other goblin nobles having fled, the Crimson adepts defeated the rebellion’s magical machine army in the blink of an eye.
At this moment, the state of the battle couldn’t be any more obvious. The ‘neutral factions’ hiding in the City of Machines could no longer sit still. They quickly emerged to maintain order and attack the rebels.
For a moment, the fires of war were everywhere throughout the City of Machines as magical machines belonging to both sides fought to the death in various districts and regions.
Meanwhile, Mary led the vampires forward and retook control of the central tower.
A short moment later, a massive projection of a woman appeared in the skies above the City of Machines. It was Mary, with a sweet smile on her face.
“Citizens of the City of Machines. Due to reasons that everyone understands, military rule and a temporary curfew will be imposed in the city. From this moment onwards, anyone that remains on the street will be our enemy. They will be attacked by the adept guards. All goblins must remain in their rooms and drive away any suspicious individuals until the rebel forces have been thoroughly rooted out. Anyone that fails to follow these orders shall be regarded as conspirators of the rebels and will be attacked by the adepts.”
As Mary spoke to the entire city, the fires of war in the streets were quickly extinguished. Almost every single adept got onto their hawkstriders and hurried back to their homes. That undoubtedly made the outsiders and rebels amongst them stand out conspicuously.
The three dozen vampire adepts flying above the city immediately knew their targets. They pursed their lips, screamed, and dove downwards.
A new battle quickly erupted!
Mary silently waited for news from Deserra in the central tower.
Soon, Deserra and Snorlax walked in with solemn expressions.
“How is it? What did you find?” Mary asked.
“Lady Mary, even though we do not have direct evidence, the memory fragments extracted from Vanessa’s soul reveal that that thing has indeed participated in the goblin rebellion. The large numbers of second-generation machines in the rebel army are reinforcements sent by that thing!” Deserra said as he gritted his teeth.
“Moreover, we have captured a few of the leaders of the rebellion. We have discovered signs of mental intrusion on all of them,” Snorlax added.
Mary tapped the table with her slender fingers. Her crimson eyes appeared to be rooted in thought. Finally, she spoke.
“The purpose? Can someone tell me what his purpose is? Is it to rely on these incapable goblin rebels to overthrow the Crimson Clan’s rule? I’m sure that fellow isn’t so foolish, is he?! What exactly is he planning by spending so much effort to aid these goblin rebels? Is he not afraid of infuriating Greem? Is he not afraid Greem will confront him?”
“My lady…” Deserra hesitated for a moment, but finally decided to speak the truth as it was. “I checked our inventory earlier. The losses of the central tower aren’t severe, but the sixty tons of Queyras alloy stored in our treasury…have vanished!”
Mary’s finger stopped in mid-air.
As one of the real leaders of the Crimson Clan, Mary knew quite well that the Queyras alloy was a core resource of the clan, used to forge the magic generator furnaces. Every magic generator furnace was a battleship or an army of high-grade magical machines for the clan.
They were of utmost importance to the Crimson Clan!
“Good, very good. It seems like that guy has made up his mind to challenge the clan’s bottom line. Good. That is simply delightful. I want to see how far he wants to take this!”
The vampire adepts quickly exterminated the rebels in the City of Machines.
Meanwhile, Deserra also took the opportunity to deal with conservative factions among the goblins, taking back into his hands full control of the magical machine military of the City of Machines.
Mary left Soros and the vampires in the City of Machines to help Deserra maintain control. She returned to the World of Adepts and quickly found Greem in Fire Throne.
Naturally, no one knew what went down between the two of them.
However, when the furious Mary relayed news of what had happened to Greem, nothing else seemed to occur next. It was like a massive stone had been thrown into an ocean, only for it to sink silently.
After leaving Fire Throne, Mary returned to the Crimson Clan’s new headquarters and stopped speaking about the matter entirely. Greem remained hidden in Fire Throne, secluded in his room.
The entire clan took no further action after quelling the rebellion as if they had no intention of pursuing the real mastermind.
As such, the days passed, just like that.
Chapter 1064 - Fire State
Chapter 1064 Fire State
After the Crimson Clan’s headquarters tower was constructed, Fire Thr
one became Greem’s personal adept’s tower.
Not a single living person could be found in the tower apart from Greem himself.
His seclusion lasted for twenty-one long years.
During this time, Greem spent one year completing the replacement of his bloodline with the starbeast bloodline, and another six months adjusting the condition of his body. Once he had completely assimilated the starbeast bloodline, he carefully removed the Flame Fiend’s Heart in his chest as well as all the Flame Fiend transformation tattoos on his body. He then constructed a ‘Heart of Flames’ in his heart using his fire powers.
For seven years, Greem soaked in an energy pool, wildly devouring ferocious fire energy to nourish the Heart of Flames.
This Heart of Flames took seven years of Greem’s time to develop fully!
With this Heart of Flames that was perfectly compatible with his adept talent, Greem would not need to worry about running out of magical energy, even after advancing to Fourth Grade. Greem would never face a lack of power as long as his Heart of Flames was not damaged, even if he entered low-magic or no-magic planes.
After completing his Heart of Flames, Greem could finally let go of all his concerns and focus solely on advancing to Fourth Grade!
To prevent interruption from the outside world, Fire Throne’s exterior was protected by the Crimson Clan and the magical golem dragon. There were also many magical machines and magical golems protecting Greem on the inside. He had sealed off Fire Throne from the outside, cutting off the teleportation array and severing all connection with the outside world.
In the blink of an eye, thirteen years passed!
The Crimson Clan leadership could not contact Greem during this time, nor could Mary or Alice. No one had any idea about his recent condition.
Until……
Today was the selection contest for the newest generation of young pseudo-adepts in the Crimson Academy.
Apprentices that had ambitions of joining the Crimson Clan gathered at Namulith to demonstrate their abilities in the hopes of being selected by Crimson adepts to become members of the clan.
The form of the selection was arena dueling.
Apprentices that had drawn the same number would walk onto the arena and fight with all their strength to defeat their opponent. The various core adepts and stationed adepts of the Crimson Clan’s many headquarters were seated on a tall stone platform to the side of the arena.
Apprentices who won five duels in a row would become official members of the Crimson Clan, assigned as disciples of the various core adepts. Even the defeated apprentices could become foreign disciples if they caught the fancy of any of the Crimson adepts. They would attend classes as guest-students.
As such, every single apprentice that stepped onto the arena would try their very best, regardless of victory or defeat. They wanted to demonstrate their talent in the arcane arts to the fullest extent.
Yet, while the selection contest was well on its way, one of the apprentices turned back and saw something. He pointed at the distant horizon and let out a cry of surprise.
“What…what is happening there?”
Everyone turned back and was shocked to find that the entire horizon had turned bright scarlet, as if the skies had suddenly caught on fire. Fire could be seen everywhere, along with burning clouds.
The adepts of the Crimson Clan quickly took to the skies, using their magical techniques to see what was happening in the distance. Unfortunately, neither divination wands nor magic spirit scouts could obtain any more information.
Was this some significant energy leakage from an adept’s tower, or did something terrifying happen?
A core adept from the clan headquarters suddenly let out a surprised cry while everyone was talking amongst themselves.
“It’s Fire Throne. That direction is where Fire Throne lies!”
The other adepts instantly understood what was happening when they heard this.
Indeed. One hundred and fifty kilometers away in that direction was the origin of the clan– the location of Fire Throne.
However, with the sealing off of Fire Throne and the repeated warnings of the higher-ups, no clan adept dared to even approach the area. Fire Throne had become a taboo topic in conversations among the adepts. No Crimson adept dared to talk about the tower publicly.
After a few decades, people gradually ‘forgot’ and ‘ignored’ the existence of Fire Throne!
However, with the appearance of the flaming clouds in the air, an unstoppable commotion spread throughout the adepts.
Could there finally be news from that clan leader of theirs?
While the adepts talked passionately amongst themselves, two streaks of light cut across the sky. A faint, slender silhouette could also be seen flying ahead of them.
“It’s Lady Meryl and Lord Gargamel,” One of the adepts shouted out loud.
The other adepts nodded their heads as well.
The red streak of light was radiating dense fire elementium aura and a fearsome dragon’s aura of might. It was an aura unique to Lady Meryl. Meanwhile, the green streak of light was filled with the terrifying smell of curses. It was most certainly Lord Gargamel.
As for the faint shape flying at the very front? The adepts all looked at each other with a strangely knowing smile on all their faces.
There was no one in the Crimson Clan that didn’t know that the shockingly beautiful yet vicious Lady Mary was the ‘partner’ of their clan leader, Lord Greem. It was only natural that Lady Mary was in such a hurry! Such a major event had happened after so many years of silence in Fire Throne!
Could the clan leader have emerged from his seclusion?
Everyone knew that the clan leader had gone into seclusion to advance to Fourth Grade. If he was emerging from his isolation, could it be…?
For a moment, the other adepts all looked at each other, a fire burning within their hearts.
The Crimson Clan had been firmly guarding the Ailovis Region over the past few decades, never taking a single expansionist military action against the neighboring lands.
Why?
Because they were all waiting for news from their clan leader!
Even though the clan was acknowledged as a Fourth Grade force by the world twenty years ago, the lack of a proper Fourth Grade adept in the group caused the clan members to remain not fully confident in their strength.
Now that there was movement from the clan leader, it could mean that a massive change was going to occur in the clan. These changes could mean a large influx of resources and magical crystals for these adepts and apprentices at the very base level of the clan.
…………
Mary was the first to arrive at Fire Throne.
Mary looked down from mid-air. She could see traces of crimson aura radiating from the ground around Fire Cave into the air.
The ground where the crimson aura lingered was slowly being roasted. Moisture evaporated from the earth, and cracks were starting to appear in the dirt. The plants growing in the area were also rapidly withering and shriveling, twisting in agony as they did so.
Mary could feel how difficult it was to breathe while she was in this dense cloud of fire.
The surrounding air appeared to have been heated by the aura. When it entered her lungs, it felt like her internal organs were being burned and scorched.
While Mary observed all this was a frown on her face, a wild gust of wind descended. Meryl arrived at Mary’s side in dragon form, her wings beating furiously as she came to a stop.
“Lady Mary, is Teacher finally coming out?” Meryl impatiently asked upon arriving.
Mary shook her head in frustration.
“I can’t establish for the moment. The fire elementium aura down there is far too dense. It’s enough to distort any magical probe. Even I can’t contact that guy!” Mary’s voice was filled with anger when she said that guy!
He had said he would go into seclusion to advance to Fourth Grade, but he never mentioned that his
isolation would last this long.
Even though there was more than enough food in Fire Throne, along with plenty of elementium servants, the long period without communication still made Mary extremely worried. If it weren’t for Alice stopping her, Mary would probably have been unable to resist the urge to charge inside and check on that guy’s condition!
While the two of them were talking to each other and discussing whether they should enter Fire Throne to investigate, they smelled a pungent odor in the air. Gargamel had arrived.
“Lady Mary, is the clan lea—”
“Alright, enough. Stop asking. Even I have no idea how that guy is doing! However, judging from all this fire aura, he probably succeeded in his advancement. The question is, why make all this commotion?”
Mary’s resentful voice had just finished when Greem’s crisp and bold voice rang out in the air.
“You think I made these clouds of fire? Hmph! Even I can’t help it right now.”
“It’s Teacher.”
“It’s the clan leader.”
Meryl and Gargamel couldn’t help but cry out in joy when they heard this voice.
“Alright, the three of you don’t need to be worried anymore. Since you are already here, come in and take a look!”
Greem had just finished speaking when the three of them felt the crimson aura quickly gathering around them. The aura enveloped their bodies tightly. The next second, lights flickered as they instantly appeared in a large and vast hall without any preparation whatsoever.
There was nothing in the hall. There was only a blazing humanoid standing in the center at over a hundred meters in height. Terrifying and blinding light shone from the fire humanoid’s chest, illuminating the entire hall in red light.
“Tea…teacher.”
Meryl had already reverted into her human form. She stood at the feet of the hundred-meter-tall giant. Meryl could hardly see the giant’s complete appearance, even when she lifted her head. She hesitated for a moment and called out for her teacher when she sensed the familiar soul flux within the flame giant.
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