There must be a reason why Silver wanted to instigate a war between the empires before he would eventually strike. Either he didn't have the number to face five empires at once or he didn't want the world to know what he did.

Empires at the same level were allowed to battle among themselves, so Silver and the Nànata could hide behind that fact and ruin the entire continent.

Whatever the reason, Tairen and Juwaira weren't enough to help him. He needed a whole empire at his back.

From the news published by the media during the previous loop, the Biyakis seemed to have understood the ploy earlier than the others.

First, the emperor was the one who had tried to stop the Ura army from reaching Shurein. Despite also missing his two daughters and son, that didn't cloud his reasoning to study the situation with foresight.

Silver had probably thought along those lines too. And that fueled him to use the remnants of the Dikan empire which Biyakis had destroyed a few years back, to attack the capital.

Abdin hadn't been to the capital to see for himself, but he was sure Dikan wasn't the sole attacker. The Nànata army and Silver were also there, probably disguising themselves as Dikans.

They would give the Dikans the impression that they were helping them to take revenge, but in truth, all they wanted was to destroy the entire continent.

After the last war, the Dikans had mostly sought refuge in Shurein and Dadiyan, and they wouldn't want the whole continent destroyed. Because that would render them homeless if it happened. How many of them could make it out to another continent?

Something struck Abdin just then. Looking at how the world's leadership was at the moment, Silver and the Nànata were not on the same side.

Silver was with the Yusta'Diyum empire which stood at level 6 and ruled over all the world's empires. Among those empires were Biyakis, Shurein, Ura, Dadiyan, and Dikan.

The man was supposed to be protecting these empires. But he was here conniving with the Nànata - who weren't under any empire system - wanting to destroy an entire continent. Perhaps, he covered his face so he wouldn't be recognized.

Was Silver working with Nànata to destroy the continent, or was there an unknown reason behind it all?

Abdin didn't know that answer yet, but it wouldn't stop him from making plans.

One thing he knew was that he needed the pol and the skills to get rid of Silver. Even with the support of Biyakis's army, he still needed to defeat Silver by himself.

From everything he knew, the Biyakis emperor had no power to face Silver. Even with the powerful treasures of the royal family at his disposal, the emperor might not exceed the Deva.

Silver Mask was at a level of cultivation that even the soul disc referred to him as the Mighty. Abdin himself didn't know what that meant.

But from his research, it was clear that 'Mighty' was a unique term that the soul disc recognized.

It was humans and demons who sat down and drew the designated levels of ki condensation, foundation establishment, core formation, and Deva. But the soul disc didn't recognize all these terms - or maybe the terms weren't high enough for the disc to acknowledge them.

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Either there was a level above the Deva, or there was a level that didn't follow the rules guiding those stages of cultivation, that the soul disc regarded as Mighty.

Silver was a Mighty. Abdin knew that more than anyone because this wasn't the first time the man had killed him. Facing the man needed a special plan. He would need to test the man's current strength as well.

Abdin took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He had his sword and skills. He needed pol more than anything now.

With a thousand years of pol, he could block Silver's compulsion and rebel against him. And with the castle's help and a powerful skill or sword formation, he could face the man one on one and win. He wouldn't be caught off guard again.

If nothing unexpected happened, he would just expand the castle and take the soul of the invaders, then he would use it against Silver, killing two birds with one stone.

He checked his wristwatch. It was time, so he came out upon the wall to welcome Juwaira and her men.

None of them had an inkling of what transpired in the previous loop.

Abdin glanced at Laluri and smiled wickedly. This simple gesture of a smile was absent during the previous loop, and Abdin knew that a simple smile could alter the way things would go. But he didn't care, not today.

He opened the gate and let them in.

He was gifted a month's worth of bonus this time. Because of how the loop worked, he wouldn't get the exact amount of pol as earlier even if he would mimic everything he had previously done.

And, even after killing Laluri, driving away Will of San, and capturing Tairen, all he got wasn't more than three years' worth of pol.

And despite his meditations, he was still nowhere near the appointed expansion. His pol even became less because of the number of skills he used.

Tairen's job would change this time, and as soon as Abdin drove Will of San away, he returned to the castle and brought the young man out for interrogation.

After some moments of staring at each other, Abdin said, "You look alike." He even nodded as he said that as if he had discovered an important fact.

"With whom?" Asked Tairen. It seemed like he was forcing the words out and wouldn't speak otherwise.

"Silver Mask," Abdin said. "Blood never lies."

Tairen frowned and opened his mouth to speak but eventually shut it.

"How am I related to him?" He finally asked.

Abdin opened his mouth in feigned ignorance and said, "They said he is Leader San, your father."

Tairen heard the conversation between his uncle, Muwadd, and Abdin before they fought, and he heard Muwadd telling him they didn't know the man.

So, either Abdin didn't believe what his uncle told him, or he was just teasing or baiting him.

He figured the last would probably be the case, so he said, "If there is anything you want to know, just ask."

Abdin smiled. Since the young man was straightforward, it would only be fair to deal with him in the same way.

"What relationship do you have with him that would make him agree to work for you? I believe, were it not for him, you couldn't have been lucky enough to break my sturdy gates, am I right?"

Tairen looked down at his feet without speaking. He looked up after a while and said, "His deal was three thousand men at the ki condensation stage and five hundred foundation establishment stage experts as mercenaries. I didn't support it because he didn't tell us what he was going to do with them. They are my fellow disciples if nothing else. My uncle and the other three elders of the sect decided that that was a minor price to pay for the Castle."

He kept silent and studied Abdin to see how he took the revelation. Abdin didn't move and his expression was deadpan. But he was inwardly surprised. Mercenaries? What was the masked man planning to do with them?

"Say it, we lack empathy, we are savages and don't consider the lives of our inferiors..." Tairen said, smiling bitterly. "But you are also at fault. All these would have been avoided if you had agreed to give us fifty percent of the castle... I am sure most sects would do as bad as we did or even worse."

Abdin took a deep breath. Tairen had gotten him wrong. It wasn't what they did that struck him dumb, anyone could have done that.

What got him thinking was, why was Silver only targeting the empires on the continent and not the cultivation sects. True, there weren't any notable sects here but their number was still high and they would give him trouble when the time came and they realized their lives were at stake.

There must surely be some unknown conspiracy going on.