Badge in Azure

The white divine runes became golden as the Magical Element Tower rammed into the ship. However, this defense proved inadequate during the strong impact of the collision with the tower.

In fact, this anger-fueled collision had cost Saleen quite a lot. The powers of all six Blue Ice Maidens, which were powering the tower, were depleted by more than half. Moreover, they were all summoned back to the elemental badge!

The leader of the Blue Ice Maidens had yet to recover, and it would have required the six of them to rest an entire month before they would be able to restore their powers to their peak conditions. It did not even make things better that the Blue Ice Maidens were deployed in seawater, where they were able to borrow powers that were several times their own from their surroundings!

As for the tower, it was entirely unscathed in the impact, while the small-sized ship was torn apart immediately. Its thick spine, which had been crafted using divine spells, was entirely broken.

Saleen himself never had never done any experiments to find out how hard elementites actually were, but he was able to roughly tell this information based on observing Gaine’s performance. Even a powerful astrologer had no way of carving an imitation magic array upon it, and only a very powerful mage, whose powers were comparable to those of the gods, was able to craft elementite.

The level nine sorcerers from Sreeger Island were only able to help Saleen craft magic arrays that were incapable of being fixed in place. As a result, they underwent considerable wear and tear with every use.

With that said, Saleen was reluctant to use the tower when he was heading back to Ceylon City. So, he opted to use the Dragon Remains Combat Vessel instead.

The clash between elementite and metal resulted in the metal being torn into shreds. The divine rune cage on the ship was unable to avoid the impact as well. When the elementite pierced through the ship, its tip tore the divine rune charm array apart, sending the cage flying.

There were also massive casualties among the soldiers on the ship. All of the officers, the leaders, and even the holy masters were sent flying during this assault as well. At that time, the leader of the wardens spread out the white wings of light behind his black armor.

As for the warriors, they were unable to achieve the true stated of flight before reaching level nine. As such, the level eight soldiers were capable of only short distance flights, which would have done them little good in this particular situation, as they were unable to escape crashing into the vast ocean!

At this moment, the young man in the black cape took to the air. Four warden leaders, who had wings of light spread behind their backs, stood behind the young man. They were then were immediately surrounded by 12 powerful holy masters.

There were over 30 warriors, all with wings of light shooting out of their suits of armor, who were standing by at his side and awaiting his orders. They were clearly ready to charge at any given second.

The wardens who fell into the water were not so fortunate. This was because they were all wearing metal suits of armor and were without any means of survival when they fell into the water. This was due to the fact that the Tribunal had never even considered the possibility that such a mighty warship could be torn apart like that!

The warship had a very limited offensive capacity, as it had been created with all of its powers focused on its defenses for safety reasons. However, the Magical Tower’s intense physical attack far exceeded what the warship had been designed to withstand. No one had expected the ship to be rammed by something several times its size from below!

The Magical Element Tower had 24 floors, each floor being nine meters tall. It was a humongous structure that was built entirely of elementite, which meant that it was terribly heavy. As such, the force of its impact was naturally quite high!

The divine rune cage that flew into the air had a crack on it. The Eye of the Storm knew that it had no chance of escape, so it shrieked when the crack appeared, “Help me, and I’ll follow you!”

Saleen, of course, did not take those words to heart. Besides, he did not want a monster to be among his followers. The one who really wanted the Eye of the Storm was Nailisi, not Saleen.

The young man from the Black Dungeon simply smirked. There was no anger to be found on his face.

“Honored sir mage, would you mind letting me see what you look like?” the young man asked the tower, which was emerging from the water’s surface.

The tower had only stuck the eight floors at the top in order to conserve energy. Currently, Saleen was on the 17th floor, which coincidentally was one of the floors that was sticking out of the water.

The powerful hurricane that the Eye of the Storm had wrought before was nowhere to be found, and once again, the sea was calm. Saleen was dumbfounded to see his enemy so composed, even though he had just destroyed their ship. He tapped at the gourd at his hip, summoning the Water Puppet.

He then said, “Rossen, go talk to that fellow.”

The Water Puppet had been unable to keep up with Saleen’s speed of advancing ever since it had wanted to become independent. It had only the powers equal to that of a level eight sorcerer by then. The Water Puppet bowed after taking Saleen’s orders, just like a human would have.

“I’ll go at once, my liege,” the Water Puppet said.

It then went through the tower and took Saleen’s form, flying to the top of the tower. The connection between it and Saleen was strong as long as it stayed within a radius of a hundred miles away, which made it more like a summoned creature than the Winged Skull. However, the Winged Skull did not want to leave Saleen’s side, while the Water Puppet often thought of being independent and becoming a human.

“Are you looking for me? My name is Rossen.” The Water Puppet’s expression was ice-cold. It did not call itself Saleen, as it figured that it would hardly matter if it did, as the enemy would have seen through it right away, regardless of the name it used right then.

“You’re… Saleen’s!” The golden glow in the young man’s eye grew increasingly strong after he took a look at the Water Puppet, while struggling to keep his curiosity to himself.

After all, this was a piece of equipment that possessed a real life force, or rather, it was a living weapon of war. However, most of such weapons came in the form of warriors. He had never heard of a weapon coming in the form of a mage!

“Who are you?” he asked.

“Van Gogh… From the great Tribunal of the Faith,” the young man wearing a black cape said.

He then waved his hand, causing the divine rune cage that fell into the sea to float behind him. Sarcasm could clearly be seen all over his face, but it was not directed at Rossen.

Van Gogh then added, “The Tribunal is so great, it is just a matter of time before the mainland is united under its name.”

Saleen observed the young man from the Tribunal closely from within the tower. He was unable to tell for sure, but he felt as if every single organ in the young man’s body was perfect.

Mages believed that humans were the most perfect existences out of all living beings, and that Van Gogh was the most perfect existence among the humans. He looked even more perfect than Fycro, who Saleen had seen personally.

If the ratio of his figure, his features, movements and voice were to be calculated using Figaro’s Magic Formula, it was a state almost perfect balance. Fycro was rather hostile, and yet, the man called Van Gogh before him showed no hostility. In fact, Saleen even felt like he wanted to be friends with him.

“I want that thing over there!” The Water Puppet pointed at the divine rune cage in the distance.

“Sure!” Van Gogh’s quick answer startled Rossen.

But, Van Gogh then added, “Kill every single one of us, and that thing can be yours!” Van Gogh said to Rossen, the Water Puppet, nonchalantly. He was clearly being very sincere, as there wasn’t a hint of sarcasm in his tone.

Rossen the Water Puppet also did not seem angry. This was not surprising, as it was not a human, so it was still learning about human emotions.

As such, the words Van Gogh said were more for Saleen’s ears than anything. “I’m not joking. You would never be able to escape from us your current speed of flight. I have a magic tower right behind me… You’re welcome to try to leave.”

“This is funny… You’re threatening me!” Van Gogh raised his brow and continued, “But, if you were truly able to make good on your threats, you wouldn’t be wasting your time just talking to me now, would you?”

Saleen sighed as he thought that Van Gogh really did have an astute sense of judgment. His Magical Element Tower was only capable of using powerful attacks when it was hovering in midair. As such, he could have given chase if the other party was to fly away, yet he was unable to engage in battle while chasing him.

“That is not quite the case. My liege only did what he did because he didn’t want to have any unnecessary casualties.” Saleen knew that the Water Puppet was unable to keep its identity a secret, so he chose to do so.

“Then… How about this? You follow me, and I’ll give this thing to your master?” Van Gogh suggested.

“Sir, you can’t do that!” The 12 black-robed priests were frightened, and they all exclaimed in unison. Van Gogh’s words were unfathomable to them, and they wondered… How can he make a trade like that, using the Eye of the Storm just to get one of the enemy’s followers?

“I can’t do that. I’m not going to leave my liege,” the Water Puppet answered plainly, while looking for an opening.

Saleen had given it the Crystal Ring when it left the tower. He was, at the moment, a level eight sorcerer, whose body had been formed using the water element. As such, he would have been able to withstand the effects of the recoil better than Saleen even nowl. If it was not for the fact that Saleen had gotten himself a pair of gloves, he would not have been able to use the Crystal Finger skill.

The Crystal Finger was a skill that only a sorcerer above level ten would have been able to use safely. Also, the level ten sorcerer would only be able to attack once he was wearing the ring. And.. he would have to deal with the recoil if he was to use it a second time.

“You can’t? Really? After all, you’re not his pet! Follow me, and I’ll grant you true freedom, allowing you to become a true human!” Van Gogh got straight to the point.

He seemed to know everything, and this startled Rossen to the core, leaving Rossen with no idea how to respond.

“My liege. Van Gogh’s prophecy spells are too powerful. You must never leave the tower!” A feeling of fear suddenly emerged within Nicholas’ heart.

He thought that he would never need to fear anyone from the Holy See, even Theisio, now that he had a new Scepter of the Fallen. However, the fact that Van Gogh was able to determine the Water Puppet’s background with just the prophecy spell alone, then made requests and tempted the Water Puppet, floored him.

“Wait, does he have some means of keeping you under his control?” Van Gogh was startled as he took off the black cape, revealing his bare arms. There was a long chain around his hand, which had a pointy spearhead at its end.

Suddenly, the chain shot out without warning, the spearhead piercing through the lower abdomen of the Water Puppet and sticking out toward the tower behind him. Even though the Water Puppet was a level eight sorcerer, that attack had simply come too fast, leaving no time for deliberation. As such, the Water Puppet was hit and fell into the sea, its body going immediately limp.

The spearhead did not make any sound when it hit the Magical Element Tower. It was as if air had rammed at the wall instead. Van Gogh was startled to find that his Lance of Order was incapable of piercing the tower!

“There is no point in playing dead in front of me.” Van Gogh smiled and wiggled the chains on his arm, flinging the Water Puppet away.

After the Water Puppet composed itself, it took flight again, the tower behind its back. It intended to get close to Van Gogh and ambush him using the Crystal Finger.

However, Van Gogh’s Lance of Order that was on his hand was something that was capable of picking up the minute conditions within the enemy’s ranks, and when Van Gogh saw that there were human-like organs within the woods, he felt elated. He also felt lucky for not having killed the humanoid weapon right away.

This is because he wanted to use Rossen and develop a true ghost ship, which would end Cloudflow’s reign at sea. While the ghost ship that the Tribunal had created was powerful, it needed the Eye of the Storm around to successfully fight its enemies.

At that moment, Van Gogh wondered to himself… Why is that magic tower so solid? My Lance of Order was a true godly item, something that the Lord of Glory crafted by killing a god of the same level. Yet, it was unable to penetrate a piece of equipment that was crafted by a mage?