Book 8: Chapter 101: Rise (2)
Book 8: Chapter 101: Rise (2)
Madeleine’s mental flexibility was still that of a Sapientia. Although her Sapientia blood had been uprooted and removed, her Sapientia blood essence still remained. If Amethyst had burned that away, Madeleine wouldn’t be here to stand and speak to Lyla today.
However, this was fine. It was impossible to check an individual’s blood essence without their consent the same way it was impossible to take a beast’s blood essence even after they had died. Even treasures of the 33 heavens could not do this, though nothing is certain in the martial world.
This aside, Madeleine understood many things at once. The reason they allowed Primus to take control of this area despite the fact he was incompetent? It was precisely because of his abilities as a key wielder. Thanks to them, he could restrict who could and couldn’t use the teleportation formations of his territory. Before he had come to the city gates to confront Madeleine, he had definitely barred the use of the teleportation formations.
Unfortunately, though Madeleine could control sealing energy, it was incredibly crude. Firstly because her soul wasn’t anywhere near as talented or powerful as Dyon’s, and secondly because she didn’t have a treasure like The Seal to make the process easy. As a result, while she could lock Primus’ cultivation and consciousness, she could not treat him like a slave that was hers to command.
This left them with a massive problem. In just a few moments, the Sapientia would likely decide it was worth the risk of exposing themselves to send in a task force to clean up this mess. This meant that an army the likes of which Madeleine had no chance against would definitely making its way here, likely led by dao experts.
It took Madeleine days to make it here while fighting a battle, so it should only take a few hours, at most, to make it back to Middle Lily City on foot. If they made it back, even if dao experts came, they could do nothing to them.
However, would it take dao experts hours to make it here? Definitely not! This was especially so considering Primus definitely didn’t bar their use of the teleportation formations.
To make matters worse, destroying the teleportation formations was impossible. They were the property of the tower and were therefore protected under its rules.
Suddenly, the solution hit Madeleine like a ton of bricks.
“Zaire, Lyla!”
“Two steps ahead of you, big sister.” Lyla smiled brightly.
It only took a moment. Middle Sapientia City, or what used to be Middle Sapientia City, flashed with a calm halo of light. In that instant, it was no longer Sapientia Territory, it was now Lyla’s territory!
“Everybody enter the city!” Madeleine’s voice carried over.
Madeleine was almost kicking herself for worrying. After all, didn’t Zaire and Lyla just complete their middle tier trial? Not only did they complete it, they passed to the level only True Gods could.
Unfortunately, their rewards weren’t as grand as Madeleine’s two year protection. This could only be expected considering they hadn’t had the chance to take a Martial Saint Pill yet. However, this didn’t matter. They were still given 6 months each.
“Zaire.” Madeleine called to her little brother.
“Yes?” Zaire propped up Virvor who seemed to have fallen unconscious. The moment the tension he had been under broke, a wave of mental fatigue had taken him over.
“It’s a shame we had to use Little Lyla’s reward in this way, but it can’t be helped. As things stand now, we have 6 months of protection here and about 1 year and 6-7 months remaining in Middle Lily City.
“Help prepare everyone for teleportation back to Middle Lily City. Soon, I’ll lose consciousness, so I can only rely on you two.
“If worse comes to worst and I don’t awaken for a long while, be sure to use your reward on Middle Lily City. That will extend the time we have to just over two years.”
“And then?…” Zaire asked expectantly.
Madeleine smiled. “Dyon has never lost and I don’t expect him to start now.”
Zaire’s and Lyla’s eyes flamed with passion.
When Damaris saw this, her reaction was nothing like it had been before. When she first heard of Dyon, she had felt a hidden defiance within herself and a will to knock him down a peg. But, after so long on Soul Rending Peak and watching the Mortal Alliance grow to what would one day be the Mortal Empire… She felt that she too understood that passion in their eyes.
It was an undying belief that as long as there was even the small path to victory remaining, even if no one else could, he was the man who could grasp it.
There was a very simple reason Madeleine chose to stay here instead of escaping to Soul Quadrant: her fellow disciples.
While she could leave whenever she wanted, the women who had fought by her side couldn’t do so. She refused to leave them like this… It was her responsibility as the one who led them into battle to see this through to the end.
Unfortunately, the only person capable of giving them permission to enter Soul Quadrant was Dyon and even Madeleine didn’t know where he was now…
She could only believe.
As her power faded and Damaris caught her just before she fell, she had a faint smile on her face, one that said she didn’t doubt what the result would be for even a moment. When next she awoke, the Sapientia would be defeated.