An army clad in white and gold traversed the ruinous valley of soil and mud. Their vigorous footsteps did not stop for they held a firm belief in the conviction of their leader. Any foe that dared bared its fangs towards this unrelenting horde of warriors was met with a swift fate of death.

“Lord Elias, we’re near Aganth, it’s best to prepare for the battle. A Great Dragon is no easy foe.”

The current hero of the branch of the Salvo Empire, Elias, sighed in annoyance. “It’s not like I’m going to be doing anything at all.” He turned his gaze to the side where four silhouettes behind him were standing. Each one of them was terrifying in their own right to the point that together they might even be able to stand their own against Alyur.

“Worry not, Lord Elias. We’ll ensure you perfect victory against the Great Dragon.”

“Let’s hope so…” Elias’ hand created a small magical circle in mid-air, creating a visualized area of Aganth.

As they were finally close enough, Elias now had the opportunity to check the current state of Aganth. He wasn’t hopeful, he wasn’t even expecting much except for a few survivors fighting for their lives yet what awaited his sight was even more grim than what he had anticipated.

The virtual screen before him shook slightly. Elias’ subordinate meekly asked, “Lord Elias, are you alright?”

“I’m fine.”

A voice from behind Elias commented. “I guess there’s no need for us to prepare for battle after all… it’s already over.”

Elias stood up and roared out his commands, “The medical unit run straight ahead! Rescue the remaining survivors! The assault unit, clear up the remaining beasts around here. Everyone else, hand out our supplies to those in need. Now!”

“Sir, yes sir!”

Countless soldiers before him rushed out in accordance with his will. They bore the same sentiment. Aganth may have fallen but that didn’t diminish their will to save those who they could. Their fellow humans suffered a great tragedy so they must try to preserve them at the very least.

Elias narrowed his gaze, intently staring down the four powerhouses he was given to lead. “You all should’ve known this beforehand. Why did no one tell me?”

These four priests didn’t seem to be threatened at all as one of them enthusiastically said, “Lord Elias, nothing had deviated from the plan. As the bishops have ordered us, we kept up our duty to protect you. And with this grand gesture, your standing with the world will greatly increase.”

“As a city that had decided to mesh together with inferiors, they have already made their choice.” Another one of the priests said as a matter of fact. “If it was another city that only had pure humans, we would not hesitate to offer our help in their time of need.”

Elias felt a headache coming on.

An expected answer. I should’ve been more iron-willed. The Salvo Empire truly was a human-centric empire, everything was for humans, by humans.

This will not happen again.

[Teleport | Lose Combat Power: -??? | Elias: ???]

Before their very eyes, Elias had disappeared. He had taken more drastic actions to try aid those in need as soon as possible. For if he wastes even a single moment then another person might lose their life.

The four priests looked at each other and could only helplessly continue on this play. “Lord Elias still has a pure heart, so pure that it encompasses every single living being yet…”

“Sooner or later, he will come to understand that he must put his own species ahead of everything else. We must let him slowly understand the difficulty of his viewpoint. Or better yet, he comes to understand this himself.”

“We don’t need to be too afraid. We all know what his decision was back then. He might not trust us yet there’s no reason for us to do the same. His character is exactly what the true Salvo Empire requires. Among the outer branches, I dare say we have the greatest chance of merging with the true Salvo Empire.”

“For now we must let him mourn, give him enough space to breathe and govern himself. Push him in the direction we desire without depriving him of any other path. He must grow and grow until his potential becomes his strength.”

“Agreed.” The other three priests nodded their heads and traveled outside of their carriage. They quickly ran out to aid the remaining survivors, yet without as much enthusiasm as they would normally would have.

“Say, look there, do you all see it?”

“Two Great Spirits? Even seeing an avatar is a once-in-a-hundred-year occurrence out here. The Vis Empire’s hero seems to be making rapid progress. He might’ve gotten the Great Spirit of Water, Naia but what really impresses me is that he actually managed to gain the Great Spirit of Water, Sylph’s attention.”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“Sylph… another catastrophe’s about to come. Let’s hope the Vis Empire actually does something about it this time around. The last time she had her eye on a certain creature was the last time the world underwent a massive shift.”

The four priests slowly explored the aftermath of the battle. When Alyur, the Great Dragon of Moonlight, took off with Marie, the monsters under her control immediately felt their bodies weaken forcing them to run away. Yet this didn’t mean that some problematic monsters didn’t stay.

Even until now, numerous beasts occupied Aganth, consuming the scorched corpses of whatever creature was left. These four priests slayed everything in their path, cleaning up everything that they deemed problematic. A few human survivors popped up to which they promptly healed.

“Magic!” A young girl who had her mother gravely injured marveled at how all the pain within her disappeared as if it didn’t exist in the first place. She held her mother’s hand, crying out in happy tears.

“Actually, there’s someone else-” The young girl’s mouth was immediately closed by her mother, hoping that these four priests would ignore her words.

One of the priests sighed and saw through this. “Let me guess, there’s an inferior that has helped you tide through such difficulties. Now you want our help to heal him as well. There’s no point trying to hide it.”

“I-It is… true…” The mother trembled as her heart started pounding. She knew what reputation the Salvo Empire held. Now that one of the priests of this notorious empire came to know about her situation, it was clear what would befall her.

She threw her daughter to the side and kneeled before the four of them. “My daughter didn’t know anything about it. At the very least, please spare her. She’s just a child.”

“I’ll make it quick.” One of the priests hovered his hand over her head, slowly forming a magical circle above her head. As he was about to unleash this lethal attack, he shifted his hand, attacking a nearby area where a wounded beast was hiding.

He turned his head and looked up above the sky, looking at completely nothing. He turned his head to his companions and nodded. Elias was watching over them, looking at what their actions were. Although there wasn’t much Elias could do, there was no reason for them to strain their relationship even further.

He turned his head and looked up above the sky, looking at completely nothing. He turned his head to his companions and nodded. Elias was watching over them, looking at what their actions were. Although there wasn’t much Elias could do, there was no reason for them to strain their relationship even further.

“Take this and give it to him, he should heal right back up if he’s in the Awakened Stage and below.”

“T-Thank you!” The mother bowed for their mercy and immediately ran off. She didn’t expect that a priest of the Salvo Empire would act like this. She was slightly hesitant about whether this potion would work but she wasn’t given much of a choice. After giving this potion to the minotaur that aided them, he fully recovered without any side effects.

“You went a little too hard there. Giving her a weaker variant would’ve achieved the same effect.”

“It’s at times like this, through small gestures, that I can show my sincere hope that Lord Elias will come around. It does not matter, let’s continue on…” The priest’s nonchalant expression turned ferocious. “A Great Devil.”

The other three came to check the surroundings and confirmed that it truly was the case. First, it was Sylph, now it was a Great Devil. This wasn’t as simple as the war for the Hatchling anymore, there was something even more absurd happening in the background.”

“The Genesis Foundation, even those outsiders started acting out here. It must’ve been hell, in the truest sense. I’d say we were the only force that didn’t have a hand in this battle. So, any idea on who managed to win the struggle?”

“From the looks of this… it seems that those outsiders won. They managed to secure the Hatchling. That is what I wanted to say but after seeing that werewolf’s corpse, I’m afraid it’s the worst possible scenario. Alyur managed to take the Hatchling back to their nest. That Hatchling’s going to be a giant threat in the future.”

“That’s for the higher-ups to worry about. As for us, we just need to stick to the task at hand. After we deal with the aftermath, we need to continue creating even more waves. Enough so that it will all merge together to give Lord Elias the impact he needs to overwhelm the competition.”

“Lord Elias’ progress finally started to halt. It’s not easy to progress through the Revelation Stage properly. No matter how talented he is. How about we let him traverse the Wasteland of Mortality?”

“With who? No one can hold a candle to him in terms of talent. The only rival he could possibly have is Sadin yet that would be improper. I don’t see the point of letting him explore this empty land with a bunch of liabilities by his side.”

“Instead of choosing who he goes with, why don’t we let him choose instead? The Vis Empire’s already given Sadin the ability to travel freely, why not do the same as well? They might be lunatics but they understand the best way to grow one’s strength.”

“We’ll see what the higher-ups have to say about this. For the time being, I think we need to talk about the most pressing issue we have ahead of us.”

“Agreed.” The three other priests started traversing the extremely large hole in the ground. It was as if an unholy hand came from the very heavens and grabbed the soil below. This was the heart of the battlefield. The core of everything.

“[Annihilation Nova]. A chaotic offensive attack that gathers the very core of an entity’s inherent ability and condenses it to the point that it starts to consume itself. It’s extremely draining yet at the same time extremely powerful. It had come to the point that only Great Dragons could properly utilize the spell.” He started taking the surroundings into great detail, trying to figure out which entity used [Annihilation Nova] here.

“It wasn’t Alyur due to there having no reminiscent energy of moonlight. This could only mean two things, there was another Great Dragon hiding within the city or…”

“An outsider has come under the protection of the Dragon Clan. Heh, hahahaha!” One of the priests started maniacally laughing. So did the other three.

“Both outcomes only mean one thing.” The head priest showed a wide unsettling grin. “The Dragon Clan has grown weaker, weaker than ever before. This is great news. One of the few remaining species that could touch humanity’s toes has started to decline. So what if the Dragon Clan regained the Hatchling? There’s nothing to fear if they can’t even protect themselves for that future to come.”

They all looked extremely satisfied with the outcome. “Dragons, creatures that have pride only just below humans, finally faltered? This is great. So what if you have Supreme Beings within your ranks? Cracks have already started showing, it’s only a matter of time before the entire Dragon race gets wiped off the face of this world!”

Elias managed to rescue everyone involved, as long as they were alive, they were saved. There wasn’t any bit of discrimination at all. All grudges were suppressed until everyone was healed.

[Assimilation Requirements:

Condition Cleared: Save a City from ruin | Reward: Unlock Messiah’s Talent]

Elias tightly gripped his fists. “I didn’t even do anything.”