Badge in Azure

The Star of Wells had only isolated the powers, allowing the general to get a clear look at the battle inside.

When the grandmaster died, the general felt as if all of his powers had been drained. He stopped attacking and looked at the goddess before smirking.

“What is that snicker for?” The goddess did not retaliate immediately. She had been able to brave through the flurry of attacks the general threw at her, and the general no longer had what it would have taken to launch attacks like that again. The outcome turned out better than she expected.

“Don’t you think that being alive is painful?” The general asked. The armor on his body still looked shiny and new, while the blade in his hand remained looking terrifyingly sharp. However, the general himself looked as if he became a withered old man and felt very tired.

“Not at all. Be it life or death, it’s all very normal to me,” the goddess answered seriously.

“Yeah, I forgot that you’re the Goddess of Life.” The general stuck his blade onto the ground and began taking off his armor.

Saleen put the Well of Stars away. He had yet to use any of the other godly items. He walked to the place where the grandmaster disappeared and cast a wind tunnel, sucking up the grandmaster’s bone powder.

The grandmaster had another request—tear down his grave and send it all to the edge of the crystal wall system.

No powers could have been revived in such a place, and that was the grandmaster’s resolve.

The general continued taking off his armor while he said, “I’ve lived long enough. When Saleen killed the grandmaster, I came to realize something all of a sudden, that I was a piece in a game of chess. If those people wanted to come back, they would have needed our help. The Cemetery of Heroes is a joke in itself. I was but a scapegoat back then, and I still am.”

“Scapegoat? How are you a scapegoat?”

“You’re afraid that those people are going to return, so that’s why you’re trying to kill me.”

“Hahahahaha!” The goddess burst out laughing. “Oh General, this is where we’re different. I’m not the kind who is always looking for excuses, yet you keep thinking people owe you.”

Seeing that the General was staying silent, the goddess continued, “All those years ago, after I knew that I had been using the power of the Source of the mainland, causing the place to be on the brink of falling apart, I chose to die instead of leaving the plane.”

The general had no way of retorting, given how the goddess put it. He simply said, “Now that the Grandmaster is dead, the heroic spirits out there are definitely no longer a match for your Nature Legion. I’ve nothing else to say, but help me out in one thing.”

“You want to pass down your art?”

“Indeed.”

“Well, I couldn’t promise you anything in that regard. Did you see Saleen kill the grandmaster? I’m going to fight him after I’m done with you. If I were to lose…”

“You couldn’t possibly lose.”

“Are you certain? Saleen mastered the power of lightning, and he had possession of the Lightning Moon.”

The general did not know what to say to that. One such mage was indeed terrifying, so much so that even a god at the pinnacle of level 18 would not have necessarily been able to win against.

“I’ll talk to Saleen about it for a bit.” The goddess added and came before Saleen.

“So what now? The general has lost the will to live as well?” Saleen asked immediately. He was actually able to hear the conversation. His Thundering Sound skills were actually capable of more than just doing damage. It was the same for any magic spell. The true use of magic was to allow humans to adapt to their environment better, after all.

“Indeed. What we did out there destroyed the heroic spirits’ will. We won’t even need to do anything. Just keeping them from escaping will be enough.”

“What does the general want then?”

“He wants to pass down his art.”

Saleen pondered for a bit. “I have a warrior who has reached level 14 with me. I could do the introductions.”

The goddess chuckled. “There is no need to fight me over this. All my followers have their own lineage, and they definitely wouldn’t be taking the lineages of others.”

Saleen’s constitution, being at such a level, was stronger than that of most warriors, and so he had naturally gotten thick-skinned as well. He was hardly embarrassed when the goddess put it that way. He simply smiled and continued, “What about our showdown then?”

“We’ll let the general have his way for once. It’s best to show some respect to someone at such a level after all.”

Saleen nodded. He had been quite an as**ole before because he wanted to provoke the enemy. That had been done for the sake of winning. Now that he had won, he was free to drop the act.

Furthermore, inheriting the general’s lineage of combat would do a lot to help his people. Anyone who inherited the general’s lineage would definitely have a shot at becoming a level 18 warrior.

The general sat on the ground, leaning on the huge blade that he stabbed into the ground, spacing out.

Saleen brought someone before long. He brought one of the four magic beast swordsmen that he had subjugated in his early days, who went by the name of Singiles. He was brought on that trip because he was the strongest among the four and was no longer in charge of Demon City, He had taken the position of the supreme commander, leading one of the armies of the Kingdom of Metatrin.

Singiles was overjoyed to hear what Saleen proposed. He stood before the general and bowed respectfully.

The general took a look at Singiles and sighed. “Well, your talent is somewhat lacking, I can tell that much. If you are to slack off, there is no way for you to reach my level.”

“I understand, sir…”

Singiles’s talents were actually considered to be on the better side among the warriors of the Kingdom of Metatrin. However, the general was comparing him with warriors of ancient times. At that time, extraordinary people were abundant, and it was fairly common to find level 18 warriors around.

The general did not mind. The one whom Saleen brought was probably the best among warriors who lacked a lineage. Saleen would not have picked anyone for the task, given how he had the might of his forces to consider.

“Myers, keep watch here. I’ll go and have a look outside,” Saleen said and left the general’s grave.

The goddess had no choice in the matter. She was the one fighting the general, so she naturally had to be the one to keep watch.

Saleen left the grave for the sole purpose of observing how the goddess’s followers fought.

The fighting in the cemetery was not over. Saleen and the goddess were quick at disposing of their enemies, as both the general and the grandmaster were severely injured. Both Saleen and the goddess were pulling punches, but they managed to finish dealing with their enemies first.

Saleen was rather disappointed after walking out of the cemetery. None of the followers of the goddess were doing anything anymore, handing combat entirely to the Nature Legion. Saleen’s emergence startled the goddess’ followers, but then quickly saw that Saleen did not attack them, and that meant that the goddess was fine.

Saleen came before the Grandmaster’s grave, hesitating for a bit before walking into it.

The Grandmaster’s grave was not as barren as that of the General. There was actually a magic tower in it. The tower was not something out of the ordinary—a standard 17-floored tower.

Saleen walked into the tower and found the place to be really huge, which meant that the Grandmaster was far more knowledgeable about space magic than he was. The floors of the tower held everything that the grandmaster collected, and most were not actually precious things. They were simply kept around for sentimental reasons.

Saleen was unable to help but feel sorrowful, wondering what had the Grandmaster’s life been like.

What the grandmaster clung to was nearly meaningless to him. All the equipment and items of mediocre value were things that he held dear to.

At present, however, the Grandmaster hoped for everything to be destroyed, as if he had never come to that world.

Saleen deemed him to be out of his mind.

If it was true that everyone had self-destructive tendencies in their hearts, then the Heretic God would eventually be resurrected. That was just like how gods of black magic worked. Those kinds of gods were capable of being born in the void, so long as someone was providing such powers.

The grandmaster left behind several magic notes, unique materials, and equipment. There were also magic nuclei, dragon crystals, and Saleen even saw the remains of a giant inside. The remains were sealed within a crystal, seated as if it was pondering something.

Saleen walked all the way up to the top, seeing how the mage went from being an apprentice to being one of the most powerful. The Grandmaster’s powers were not just given to him. Every enemy had their past, as well as what they loved and hated.

It was a living person that Saleen had ended up destroying.

Saleen felt very stunned about all of that, due solely to the fact that he too, was a mage.

Saleen chuckled and said to the void of the magic tower, “Grandmaster, let the past be the past. I can put all those tricks you were trying to play behind me. I’ll take your grave to the chaotic void. If there is to be a day where I sense your will of wanting to be resurrected, I’ll bring the entire tower back here.”

The place was dead silent, and Saleen sighed.

The Grandmaster did not completely die, but he had long died inside. Saleen realized all of it suddenly. It was difficult to die when one had reached such levels. If Saleen’s soul were to be able to continue existing after leaving the body, he wondered what would happen to him if his physical body were to cease to function.

Saleen had once thought he would end up in purgatory or some planes that had to do with souls. After Saleen’s souls completely returned to his body, he knew that that was not the case at all.

He did not touch anything in the magic tower. If he had been like how he was in the past, he would have cleaned the entire place up.

He walked out of the tower and began laying down forbidden arrays around it. They were not meant for guarding against the Grandmaster; they were to keep outsiders from treading inside.

The life of a level 17 mage was legendary. Saleen planned to look into it further if he found the time to do so in the future.

“I could at least have that much, couldn’t I?” he thought to himself.

The inside of the grave was very clean. He toured around the place and did not find anything out of the ordinary, before walking out of the grave and putting the entire grave into his magic amplifier.

“Sir, the grave should be destroyed,” one of the goddess’s followers came up to Saleen and said.

Saleen shot a cold look at them. The warrior had their hand on their sword, being ready to fight.

“If you were Myers, you wouldn’t have said so. She might be a god, but she at least knows respect. Are you questioning me in her stead? Or are you telling me what to do?”

Saleen used Thundering Sound skills when he said that. The warrior was covered in sweat by then, finding themselves unable to even draw their sword.

“Relax, I’m not going to kill you. This is between me and her.” Saleen walked to another grave when he finished. A ball of lightning was conjured in his hand, which he blasted at the grave, blowing it to bits. The attack was incredibly eerie. The grave simply collapsed to the ground after it shattered, instead of being sprayed everywhere.

All 12 of the followers had initially thought of testing Saleen’s prowess, but they were all stunned by him instead. The brunt of that attack had been completely borne by the target, without the slightest bit wasted. If Saleen were indeed out to kill them, it would not have taken him long.

Graves after graves were toppled and one heroic spirit after another died a complete death. That place of memory was slowly destroyed by Saleen and the goddess. Saleen gazed far away and no longer found all the huge, towering buildings of the Imperial City of the Abyss.

No empire could last forever, and no one could live forever either.