Spreading over a 100 square kilometers lies the domain of the kingdom of Sapphire.
This once beautiful and prosperous territory, now looks like a kingdom in ruin, as if hit by a plague the land of the territory is now covered by a Veil of dark mist.
The disparity is visible, hunger, desperation and helplessness eminent in their eyes.
Children running wild, laughing and playing in groups was almost a foreign sight, most children had eyes so dull, if one didn't know better they could have blurted out something like they were walking corpses.
The air on the streets was tense, everyone was vigilant, the men walking around had their senses heightened and the women and children didn't dare leave their strongholds.
The shops were all closed, the windows were shut tight, some even nailed the panels.
They were all well aware as to what an important day it is, and none of them were eager to witness it.
A bit further away from the people's district, stood a mountainous castle towering well over 200 meters and as wide as 4 cricket fields combined, beautiful grassland with trees and a garden full of flowers surrounded the castle encased by 10 meter tall walls on all its sides.
The whole sanctuary was in a hexagonal shape and archaic patterns were drawn all over the fields using the haze grown for aesthetics, from the ground it may seem like a complicated yet incomplete maze constructed for no practical reason, but from above it was clear that the patterns were no mere drawings, they were, what people in this world called "Magic Circles" in this case a magic circle on such an enormous scale is referred to as "Magic Circuits".
This magic circle in particular was responsible for deployment of a defensive covering the whole Sapphire Kingdom, also it served as a surveillance system to monitor the use of magic by tenants roaming around on the streets, but other than security the one function of the circuit that nobody except the sapphire royal family knew of was, the circuit basically used magicule storage units as a power source to supply and maintain its functions covering the whole territory but instead of using the power from the storage unit it could also directly extract the power from the territory.
How? One may ask, well it's pretty simple actually by using its 3rd and final function, "Life Force Extraction", as the name suggests it can drain the life force of any living being in its immediate range, and the ones in its immediate range were none other than the denizens of the sapphire empire and the royals were about to use them as sacrifices.
In the middle of the castle spread for about 20 square meters laid an open space, no ceiling above the head and no obstruction between the people standing on the space and the open murky but clear sky, standing there were 10 tall figures each adorned in black with black hoods over their head covering their faces, and about a meter or two away from them stood 3 more figures one female and two males.
"Simon, are you positive that this time the ritual will be successful"
Spoke a man with a domineering yet calm voice, he stood at an height of 6'1 adorned in luxurious clothes an a red cape with an insignia of two Sapphire cross swords on it, he had a bulky build and a face full of scars, his expression was stern yet his gaze filled with uncertainty and hope.
This was the king of the sapphire kingdom "Lanchester Sapphire", he had green pupils, a mark of the sapphire royal family and silver hair.
"Yes, your majesty I assure you that nothing will go wrong with the ritual, I swear on the name of my Church"
Replied the man named Simon, the archbishop of the church located in the holy empire of "Ruberios" the capital of the western continent.
He was standing at a height of 5 '8, his figure was almost round, his face was chubby and his eyes were a shade of orange, his hair was long and made into a ponytail behind his head. He wore white clothes with a black overcoat, his fat figure stood out like a sore thumb and he wore a pendant with a mark of the Holy Empire, a golden Sun like shape with a pair of white wings and an eye like shape in the middle.
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"Hah, really now are you still going to say those words of oath after already failing over 68 times, your words sound more like deception to me now."
"Just because I am a king of a small kingdom doesn't mean that I will let you get away with anything you do, it doesn't matter if you belong to the strongest kingdom of this world."
"I don't have much left to lose anyways once that thing reaches my kingdom everything we have built will crumble, everyone we once held close to us will die and this kingdom will meet its demise."
Spoke Lanchester Sapphire in a solemn tone.
"So"
An intense invisible pressure rained down on the archbishop.
"Ugh, your majesty wha—-"
Simon fell to his knees and placed one of his hands on the ground to make sure he wasn't plastered to the floor.
"If you dare to deceive me, your end will be ever so painful, all the sufferings that will be experienced by my people, you will experience them all, by my hands"
Spoke Lanchester Sapphire in a menacing voice his face contorting in anger, his surroundings started to look hazy as tho there is a fire burning, his voice resounding in the whole castle, but none of the guards dare to come and take a look, because they all already knew what was happening, it was not a new occurrence.
"Your majesty, please calm down"
Spoke the woman standing next to the king, she placed a hand on his shoulder and tried to hold him back.
This woman was the Queen of the sapphire kingdom "Rachel Sapphire", she had a beautiful figure, her face sharp, her eyes were a shade of light green, her hair a color of silver, she was adorning a long dress embroidered in gold and black, with an insignia of the sapphire kingdom.
A cold sweat trickled down Simons back, he used his free hand to clench the pendent hanging from his thick neck, an uncertain grin appeared on his face but because he was looking towards the ground the two royals didn't see his expression, but before anything happened one of the hooded men spoke.
"Your majesty the preparations are completed"
Both Rachel and Simon had an expression of relief on their faces, Lanchester had a grumpy look on his face but reluctantly gave up and released the pressure he put upon Simon.
"You, better not disappoint me this time."
"Of course"
Simon thought inwardly and chuckled.
A magic circle was inscribed on the ground, blood of countless species was used as its catalyst.
"Sigh, Those were the last bottles of blood in our treasury"
Lanchester sighed feeling helpless, because this was their last chance, those bottles of blood were no ordinary blood bottles, the bloods of countless rare and disastrous and even catastrophic monsters were in it.
Blood of Vampires, Elves, Angels, Dragon's, Demons, Mythical class monsters like a garun, a phoenix and basilisks, it even had the blood of the royal family members mixed in it.
The men in hoods surrounded the magic circle and started chanting in unison.
A tremor was erupted shaking the whole kingdom and a lot of its surroundings, flying creatures could be seen flying away from the trees and ground in large flocks, with the tremor some shock waves was produced from the magic circle making the people present there take a step back, a black and red aura started emanating from the circle the blood started evaporated and condensed up in the air a few feet above the circle a red ball of blood was starting to take shape and it started growing.
"This-this is the part where always fails"
Both the king and queen clenched each other's hand tightly on their own, praying for the best.
An infectious grin appeared on Simon's face, his expression becoming more and more unsightly as the time passed.
But at that moment.
Shing
A screech resounded in the whole kingdom, everyone looked up and to their absolute horror the magic barrier covering the city turned from invisible to a shade to crimson, black vein like patterns appeared on the whole hemispherical barrier and slowly it started to glow.
People in the empire could feel their life being drained, everyone clenched their chest and started wailing in agony, children started screaming in pain their, the old and the weak almost instantly died but suffering do not discriminate everyone was in pain, wails and cries were heard from every single place even a single human resided, their eyes were bloodshot, their mouths foaming, some vomiting blood and some even went crazy ripping their own flesh to shreds, no one was spared from this torture.
Back in the castle the king, queen and the 10 figures all were on their knees gasping for air, short wails escaped their mouths but they endured it somehow, although the effect of life drain was minimal in the castle but still, life force draining is a painful experience it doesn't matter how much is being drained it all feels the same.
Everyone was in pain, everyone except the archbishop, who was standing there with a dazed expression on his face.
His plan was ruined, his plan to make the kingdom fall was now all in shambles.
The plan to stop the "Summoning Ritual" at all costs.