Soul of Searing Steel

Midnight.

A sudden heavy downpour with crystal shards fell from high above the sky, the dark clouds gathered on top of the mountain and covered the beautiful starlight. The rain fell onto the snowy ground and generated fog which clouded one’s sight.

Suddenly, a purplish lightning ripped through the sky in the thick dark clouds, bringing light to the ground like the sun normally did.

Through the lightning, it unearthed a massive huge city in the rainy fog which could be seen built between three hilltops.

Starfall Year 831, the 21st of December, 8.35 p.m., North Empire, Imperial City.

Three black hilltops could be seen, which separated this area from the next. Behind this sturdy wall, it had a clean, white massive city. It was situated in between the mountains on top of the rocks. There were small castles and mage towers on top of the three hilltops; their towering height protects the human Empire’s important city.

In the dark night, the prismatic light shone on the streets and the chilling night froze the rain which turned into thin ice. The people on the streets appeared to be in a hurry to get home but still walked with caution to avoid slipping.

A man wearing a hooded white long robe slowly walked on the streets; his body tall and his wrinkled hands wearing three diamond rings. The man was elderly.

He witnessed that the surrounding people had difficulty in walking. He shook his head and smiled as he mumbled, “It is too difficult to even walk in this weather.”

He chanted a few words and pointed in the distance. An unknown magic started to spread throughout the whole city covering few thousand meters of land and melted the ice. At this moment, the people around were surprised to feel that they no longer had difficulty walking and that it was safe.

The hooded man smiled as this problem had been solved; he then continued to walk towards the center of the city, there is a beautiful palace made of basalt.

That was the Emperor’s residence, Morlaix Palace.

Morlaix Palace was like a city within a city; it was surrounded by sturdy city walls and at the entrance, there were countless Steel-tier knights patrolling. Their armor and weapons were the finest of the finest and they bore the royal insignia of five stars enveloping the sun, which looked majestic.

From the sentries’ demeanor, physique, and gait, one could tell that they were veterans. They are the best among the best who were suitable to guard the palace.

The hooded white long robe man reached the doorstep of the palace entrance and a weird power stroke of the rain and snow around his body. Upon seeing this strange sight, the patrol knights stepped up to question him.

The first person to approach the man was the team leader of the Steel-tier patrol.

He used a stern but polite way to talk to this hooded man, “Sir, this is the emperor’s land, please leave if you have no business here.”

He pointed to a direction and said, “It is best to not use spells within the Empire, if you want to avoid rain please head towards the street management center where you will get a free umbrella.”

The hooded man was surprised after listening to the guard’s polite dissuading; he looked at the knight in front of him and he smiled.

“Israel’s men have a greater knight’s demeanor, they are different and far better than his father’s.”

An old man’s voice came out from the hood, he took off his hood and showed his appearance of white hair and a long beard. He smiled at the knights.

The Steel-tier knight was astonished for two minutes and the chilly rain splattered on his face which startled and woke him up. He stepped back flustered, bowed down and said, “Sir, I’m sorry I didn’t know that it’s you! Grandmaster, please head inside, the emperor is expecting you in his study!”

The other knights were also astonished to see the old man’s face and they all bowed when they saw him.

The old man pat on their soldier to let them get back up and continued to stride through the palace hall.

He walked across a long path and into the courtyard. Along the path were statues of the late emperors. The old man finally reached the innermost section of the magnificent palace, with a golden door in front of him.

“Lil’ Israel, I am here.”

The old man opened the door and walked in without knocking.

The room glistened gold. Along the path, there were a few huge luminescent rocks on the ceiling. They were as bright as the sun shining down, lighting the room up. The floor was made up of white crystal marble and there were huge metal racks on four walls. In the middle of the room, there is a Feiun wood carved study table with a dark-gold haired man sitting on the chair reading ancient books.

This man was tall and athletic; his handsome and angular face was expressionless. He wore a red beast hide long robe made of leopard skin. The beast hide and scale was from the chest of the red dragon, the sturdiest skin.

The young man sighed, closed the book and said, “Teacher Nostradamus, one must knock before entering a room, have you forgotten your own teachings?”

“I did teach you that there is no need for formalities between two known friends.”

The white-haired old man did not take account of the statute of the young man as he smiled and walked in front of the table. He waved his hand in midair and a goat fur chair appeared. It seemed comfortable to sit on. “Excessive distance is not a good thing, my lord.”

Israel Diamond who was the North Empire’s highest ruler shook his head and laughed at the old man in front of him. The old man had been his teacher and guide for many years; he was unable to show an emperor’s prestige towards this man. The young man cleared off the books to one side and said, “Understood, head of the Imperial Royal Mage Guild, Grandmaster of the Empire. Four hours ago, you told me that you have something urgent to tell me. Now that you are here, care to explain yourself?”

Nostradamus frowned and had a strange look on his face. “Your Grace, do you really have no clue at all?”

Israel shook his head. He pounded the table and two summoning circles appeared. Two cups of hot tea appeared after a bright light. He handed over one of the cups to the old man and he himself sipped the tea and said, “The three armies have invaded the daemons’ castle for a long time but there is no result, I am even considering to go the frontline myself. Not to mention the recent Dark Tide appearing everywhere, I do not have the time to worry other things.”

“Your Majesty, you do not need to worry about the Black Rising at all.”

The old man disagreed with the emperor’s statement while he adjusted his robe and said sternly, “The black dragon that caused the Dark Tide in the North, you didn’t even send someone to slay it.”

As an emperor he disliked people to doubt his decisions, even if that person was his teacher. “Teacher, your claim is completely wrong. A few weeks earlier I ordered Examiner Mengsk to deliver a dragon-slaying stone to the Radcliffes. With the item’s help and their power, not even a full-fledged giant Gold-tier dragon stands a chance. Not to mention just a couple of berserk daemons and Gold-intermediate tier dragons.”

“If it is a giant dragon, who told you that it is still a dragon?”

The old man shook his head took out a white report, on it, there were tons of words and there also a red seal that said, “The Royal Mage Guild discovered that the recent event of Dark Tide in the Empire is not only caused by the black dragon’s virus. It is confirmed that there is Chaos power in it!”

Nostradamus pointed at the facts and said, “That is a Chaos being! Think about it, what does a Chaos creature going to the North want to do?”

The emperor frowned as he opened the books on the table and murmured, “Gate keepers from Radcliffe family, it tried to attack Moldavia and open the dimensional rift?”

“No, it has already opened the dimensional rift.”

The old man was lost for words. “Your Grace, I know that because of the late emperor you have been focusing too much on the battle with the orcs. But it is in fact not important as they have yet to recover from the last battle. We, on the other hand, have to recover for many years, even if the battle drags on, the orcs are sure to lose.”

“Chaos is humanity’s biggest nemesis!”

“Teacher you are right. The orcs are nothing, I’m too obsessed with them. Hold on, did you say that the dimensional rift was opened?”

The emperor was not angry as he knew his teacher spoke the truth. After a while, he reacted to his teacher’s words and become serious.

The young emperor did not doubt his teacher; he was furious and said, “The dimensional rift has been opened?! Damn, what are those examiners doing? Why am I not informed of such important things?”

As an emperor and also a legendary warrior, he was unable to focus everything at once about what happens in the Empire. So after he ascended the throne, he formed ‘Anbu’ the intelligence group to gain control of the noble court. Now, the seemingly kind emperor interest was piqued with his subordinates’ incompetence.

“No, the northern four plains have five Gold-pinnacle tier warriors, but the Wilson family’s warrior was slain by Radcliffe family’s young heir. They are unable to ward off the Chaos tide with their strength.”

Now is not the time to be angry, the dark golden-haired emperor stood up and his scary determination gushed out and stopped the movement of everything; even dust was frozen in midair.

“This is a continent-level catastrophe, I must gather my finest troop to hold it!”

“Israel, you are wrong. There is always someone that is extraordinary.”

The old man who was the head of the Royal Mage Guild was not affected by the legendary warrior’s or his student’s power. He stood up and said, “Just like that time when I led a mage group and successfully defeated the orc shaman army in one fell swoop. Also, like you who single-handedly cut down the chief orc by charging into the horde and entered Legendary. There is always someone who is able to do extraordinary things. The dimensional rift has been closed!”

The emperor had some doubt in his eyes and the old man said, “Today at 10.20 a.m., the Mage Guild detected magic disruption for three hours and the source was at Moldova. Approximately forty minutes later, while I was going to inform you of it, the scout group reported and said that the disruption had stopped and the dimensional rift had been closed completely.”

“Due to the equipment’s delay, I thought that it must have been a mistake. However, after a series of verifications, I have confirmed that the dimensional rift had been opened and then someone destroyed the seals and forcefully sealed it up.”

“This is great news, it seems that I will have to prepare a big reward.”

“Israel sat back on the chair, feeling relieved. “The dimensional rift was opened and in no more than four hours it was destroyed. It is an outstanding achievement. So teacher, why are you here today?”

“The dimensions of other worlds need to be sealed.”

“These important incidents I will need to do it myself, otherwise I will be worried,” said his teacher with a smile.

“To be able to quell the Dark Tide and forcibly close the dimensional rift. I look forward to meeting this young warrior.”