Whoooo ~

Swoosh-Swoosh

A bitter winter wind blew throughout the day in the forests of the border of the Cloud Kingdom, thanks to their Elite Division uniforms with thermal effects, the recruits of team 1 could withstand such temperatures as they ran towards the nearest outpost of the Abysmal Kingdom.

On the other hand, although he was carrying Aldvid and the mercenary, the Asherit clone did not even flinch in such weather, this because he was not made of flesh and blood, but of wood and fire.

In such circumstances, the only ones who suffered the blows of these icy breezes were the mercenary and Aldvid.

The last man of the dead rose mercenaries was a mage related to the water element and with a Medium G Rank under normal circumstances he could withstand this cold, but, the Asherit clone had paralyzed his cultivation with a 'Point Manipulation' technique, thus preventing mana from circulating through his body.

As for Aldvid, not only could he not use his mana but he had also been stripped of his upper limbs and the cold in his recent wound brought him immense pain and also filled him with humiliation.

Shua!

Without prior notice, the Asherit clone stopped causing everyone to follow suit.

"The outpost is in front so we will part ways here, see you"

Swosh

"Senior, wait..." Findra and the other recruits from team 1 were about to thank this man who saved their life, but he didn't even wait a second before disappearing.

Swosh-Swosh-Swosh

Suddenly, 3 men in Elite Division uniforms appeared right in front of these young men.

'I see, the seventh prince did not want to meet these elders and that is why he left so suddenly' Mariel, being the only one aware of the identity of the man who saved them, was able to better interpret Asherit's actions while in part amazed at his incredible perception.

"Why are there only 5 of you?, The detection matrix captured 8 people entering the area" The question from one of these elders took Mariel out of her thoughts.

"Greetings Sirs, I’m Malduin, current leader of team 1 of new recruits",

"The major who escorted us here, along with two prisoners left just before you arrived" Malduin answered with some respect.

"Ooh, why would someone escort you here and then leave without letting us know about the situation?" One of these men asked with some doubts to be resolved.

"Well, some things happened that led us to this sir, let me explain..."

…..

As the members of team 1 explained their situation, the Asherit clone followed the route he traced to intelligence headquarters for this Elite Division operation.

'The influence of a mere family within what is supposed to be the Kingdom's Elite Division is incredible' Thought the Asherit clone as he advanced at full speed, since it was his clone, he had the same consciousness as Asherit and after two days of not receiving a response from the intelligence headquarters on a subject as sensitive as the one those young recruits reported, he deduced that members of the Helm family within the Elite Division were blocking such information.

'Well, it's only about a day's walk until I get there…' Without thinking further about it, the Asherit clone continued to advance on its way while holding Aldvid and the mercenary.

…..

Whoooo ~

In a remote place to the Northeast, where the cold was much more intense, a large war camp had been erected for some time.

This was the intelligence headquarters of the 5 Great Families of the City of Abundance and the 4 tribes that were collaborating with them.

Inside the camp, different types of people could be observed, some in great style war uniforms, others covered with skins of some kind of animal, a few even mounted on large flying beasts.

The scene and diversity of cultures was incredible, today there were many more people than usual and the vigilance had tripled because an important event was taking place inside the largest tent in this camp.

"THAT'S RIDICULOUS!",

"Postponing our plans for 3 more months will only give the Abysmals time to prepare!" With some anger in his voice, commented a man with a reddish skin tone and covered in bright reds that made him look imposing.

"My red friend is right, we have already prepared enough and we have the territory where the battles will take place under our hands, so there is no point delaying this attack even more..."

"It's true, also in past meetings you were the ones who pressed the most to accelerate the attack..."

"Yes!", "The great families of the City of Abundance are not so impressive cowering at the last second...", "Their uncertainty will only make us lose our chance"...

Inside this huge tent, the leaders and representatives of the 5 Great Families of the City of Abundance, as well as the leaders of the 4 tribes involved in this operation, were standing in front of a large table where a map was placed.

In front of them, there was a young man of about 24 or 25 years in a white robe and embroidered with detailed blue clouds, his face seemed delicate, but he had a horrible scar on his neck that he was trying to hide with a garment.

Anyone who entered this tent would realize that this young man was the main commander of this operation. His name was Nasim Stratus, the second prince of the Cloud Kingdom and who incited these tribes and families to act together to conquer the borders of the Abysmal Kingdom.

Behind him, there was an old man in a simple robe, which had a small symbol of a cloud and was leaning on a rather strange staff, if Asherit and Thyriel were in this place, they would recognize this old man as the old blacksmith who offered them help when they reached the City of Abundance.

His name was Ra and since the birth of the second prince he was by his side, his task was to train him, guide him and protect him.

As was customary, in the Cloud Kingdom the King would choose one of his children as successor to the throne, and among them, the first prince, being the son of the Queen and not of a concubine, had much more support from the different factions, besides since he was the oldest, his experience and skills were greater than his brothers.

However, the second prince had been born with an amazing talent for cultivation, at his young age of 25 he was already a Medium E-Rank Mage and Medium F-Rank Warrior, with such abilities, many factions began to show more support for this prince and in his arrogance, he challenged his older brother to a duel at a family event.

Because the first prince rarely displayed his skills, no one really knew his level of cultivation and the second prince believed that although he had much more support than him and was an excellent strategist, his older brother did not have such a great talent for cultivation.

After the King accepted this duel, a battle unfolded in the royal palace and the one that everyone believed would be a great battle, actually it just seemed like a simple warm-up for the first prince, who showed great superiority over his younger brother and left a scar on his neck to remind him of his position.

After that event spread, the support for the first prince grew stronger and, looking sidelined, the second prince with the help of his mother's family recruited 4 tribes with amazing powers and the 5 great families of the City of Abundance.

With such power, the elder Ra, the second prince, and his mother, were sure to conquer the borders between the Cloud Kingdom and the Abysmal Kingdom, and if such an achievement were to be accomplished, the second prince's reputation and prestige would rise once again and he would be within the grace of his father, the King, again.

Now his plans were almost ready but these people wanted to delay them for three months, that's something he didn't want to see.

"It’s Enough!" Prince Nasim ordered and everyone fell silent, turning their gaze to him.

"Major Leaf, Uncle Liaf, a few weeks ago you mentioned that you were ready to start the attack, why are you asking me for 3 more months of time now?" Although he was too arrogant, Nasim was aware that if he wanted to compete against his brothers for the crown, he needed the support of various powers of the kingdom, no matter if they were small or large, on the other hand, the two men he referred to, had a great fame in the Cloud Kingdom for his various contributions in battle, therefore, although he was somewhat annoyed, he spoke to them with some respect.

"Second Prince Nasim, it is true that in the last meeting we the 5 Great Families of the City of Abundance had claimed to be ready, however, an incident has just occurred in our city",

Hearing Liaf Laschyu's words, everyone inside the tent was quite surprised, even though it was on the border, or perhaps because it was on the border, facing his enemies, the City of Abundance possessed one of the arrays with the best defensive capabilities of the kingdom.

For this reason, although the battle was planned to take place in the forests, towns, and borderlands between the Abysmal Kingdom and the Cloud Kingdom, if something went wrong, the Cloud Kingdom's troops would fall back using the City of Abundance as fort to stop their enemy.

While they hoped they wouldn't have to back down to the protection that the City of Abundance offered them, the simple fact that it was there was a great symbol of protection that everyone involved in this operation trusted, so if something went wrong in this city, the morale of his troops would surely suffer and the consequences if something unforeseen occurred in the attack would be more than terrible.

"Uncle Liaf, what...?" Being aware of all the above, Nasim started to get a little nervous.

Liaf without answering him, turned his gaze to Brankh Laschyu and nodded at him.

"Second prince, the situation happened in this way, as you know, maintaining a large defensive array like ours is a superhuman effort and due to its complexity, it is given monthly maintenance so that there are no openings in it", Nasim and the others nodded at the explanation that Brankh Laschyu had begun to give them, understanding why many cities in the kingdom could only envy the City of Abundance.

"In one of our recent maintenances, one of the array elders suffered a Qi reversal due to a heart demon from his past...", everyone felt some empathy with this old cultivator, they were all experts and at some point of their lives as cultivators, they had fought internal demons that turned into demons of the heart and a simple carelessness could harm or even kill them.

"The old man survived, but our array suffered some damage in a complete division...", everyone's faces darkened as they heard that their lifesaving fortress had been damaged.

"Chief Brankh, is that why you are asking us for 3 months of time now?" Nasim commented, deep inside he was full of fury, because for him, it would have been better if that damn old man died and nothing happened to the defensive array.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Yes, we have already obtained the necessary elements and materials, but even so, it will take us 3 months to carry out the repairs and reinforce the array a little more" The current head of the Great Family Laschyu, Brankh Laschyu, replied.

"Second prince, I know that everyone thinks that at this moment we have the advantage in this territory, however, everyone is forgetting a very important matter..." Although these words annoyed him, Nasim still directed his attention towards Liaf.

“From what we have found out, we will actually not only fight against the regiment of one of the great armies of the Abysmal Kingdom that is stationed in the area, but also, there is another platoon, a very special one, guarding this area, according to our reports, such a platoon is known as the Elite Division” Liaf commented with a face full of seriousness.

"Mr. Liaf, if your 5 great families are so afraid, please just say so, it is true that we have recently obtained reports of that division, but as far as we all know, that division does not exceed a thousand people.." Some among the 4 tribes laughed at the comment of a man who looked like a small titan and wore a helmet with bison horns.

"Having muscles and not a good brain can sometimes be detrimental..., Sigh..." Recited a handsome man who although he looked young, exuded the aura of an expert and was actually also the head of one of the 5 great families of the City of Abundance.

"Jack bastard!"

"It’s Enough, Chief Yak, it is true that the people in that platoon are very few, but, its name, the Elite Division is not just something to be heard well", Liaf stated, taking control of the situation.

“Many reports and rumors pertaining to the Abysmal Kingdom mention that each of the experts in that platoon are comparable to entire regiments, not only in strength, but possessing impressive methods that have turned the tides countless times or even gained total mastery of the board in their confrontations against various kingdoms”,

"I remind everyone, that such a race conquered one of the greatest kingdoms of that time and all the Central Kingdoms in just a little over a decade, its strength, methods and magical advances are beyond what we can imagine" After Liaf's words, the atmosphere began to feel heavier inside this large tent as everyone began to remember various stories of this warlike race.

“The suggestion of our 5 Great Families is that during the 3 months in which the repairs to our defensive array are carried out, the necessary investigations of the Elite Division on our border are also carried out and we prepare much more for any possible situation” This time, it was an old and slow voice that was heard, coming from the oldest among the leaders of the 5 Great Families, Leaf Laschyu.

Now that everyone knew the main reason why these families wanted to delay the attack for 3 months, nobody was willing to be the first to comment, because this was a situation that nobody expected.

Even the second prince Nasim did not know what to say, although he was undoubtedly a great talent, he was still inexperienced.

"Young Highness, I think the most sensible decision is to follow the suggestion of the 5 great families" Elder Ra's voice behind the second prince, broke the silence inside the tent.

It had to be understood that this old man was the strongest being among all of them, an existence capable of eliminating them all and that he was full of experience, so his comment made everyone accept this route of action.

"Hmm, Elder Ra is right.." the second prince commented respectfully.

"Okay, from now on, only focus a quarter of our attention on the border regiment of the Abysmal Kingdom, our remaining attention will be on investigating and preparing to fight versus the Elite Division"

"Yes, your highness", "Okay, I have some ways to get information about them",

"Mm, we can't stop keeping an eye on that strange squad",

The discussions continued until late into the night and after that, they all retreated to their own camps.

"Nasim, although the reason for those villagers is credible, I feel there is something else behind" With only the second prince and him present, the elder Ra began to refer to the prince more intimately.

"Hmm, I have the same feeling..",

"Grandpa Ra, could you please contact my little sister and Grandma Lia for their group of assassins to investigate further about this" With a face full of seriousness, Nasim requested the elder Ra.

"Okay, I'll leave right now"

Woosh ~

After the old man left, Nasim thoughtfully left in the direction of his own tent.

...

"Red brother, this doesn't smell good to me" Yak commented to the reddish-skinned man, after that meeting, the leaders of the 4 tribes had met in their own camp to clarify certain doubts and make other decisions.

"Mm, I also feel like those bastards in town are up to something else, brother Hyx, can we ask you to investigate those guys?" This reddish man asked a young man with a strange face and covered with spiky skin.

"Sure, leave everything in my hands, I'll find out what those bastards are up to" With a rather strange tone, said this young man.

...

Inside another large tent not far from where the gathering of these people occurred, the leaders of the 5 Great Families of the City of Abundance had put up various barriers to isolate their conversation.

"Brother Liaf, are you sure of this?" A bearded man asked, with some doubts.

"I have been taking this medicine for about a month and I have not suffered any harmful side effects, what's more, my strength began to increase at a better rate after the first advance I had when taking it",

“I ordered Laf and the boys not only to produce medicine for the young people, but to produce enough for all of our 5 Great Families, even so, they assured me that in just one month said miracle medicine would be finished…”,

"While increasing the strength of our youth the future of our families will be wonderful, increasing the strength of our elites, our present will be as well", they all nodded towards the words of Liaf who commented with enthusiasm.

"That is why I’m proposing to distribute this medicine to our elites as soon as possible and to use these 3 months to stabilize our cultivation, when the news of our strength reaches the King, he will surely turn to see us with greater esteem.." Later hearing this speech, everyone in the area was thrown into their own thoughts.

“Big brother Liaf, since these words come from you, I agree with your proposal and my Gallard family will follow your instructions” The handsome young man declared his decision, causing Liaf to nod at him.

“Now that we have come to this, my Altan family also accepts your proposal”,

"We Baug also accept",

"The Avaric will not be the exception, so consider us within your plan" After everyone accepted Liaf's proposal not to wait for the young people to try the medicine, but to use it as soon as possible to increase their forces, the leaders of These 5 great families continued to refine some details for several hours.

...

In the border area, in a large swamp, a small and isolated fortress had been built, on the outskirts of this, two guards interrogated a young hybrid harshly.

"Recruit, you still do not explain how you found this place" One of them commented, this was the intelligence center that had been built specifically for this operation, only a few elites and high ranks knew its location, but now, a new recruit had come this far and apparently had not found them by chance.

"As I already mentioned, I will explain this later, now I urgently need to find the leaders of this operation" Obviously, this young hybrid was Asherit's clone, since he still did not want to expose his methods, he was looking to speak with someone with power inside the intelligence center.

"Your superior is giving you an order!, So.."

"Enough…",

"Let the boy in" One of the guards was scolding the Asherit clone, when he was stopped by an old and imposing voice.

"Y-yes sir!" After nodding in a certain direction, both guards led the Asherit clone, who although curious about these facilities, went straight to where they were leading ...

"I'm surprised to see you here soldier, I won't ask you for an explanation of how you found us, at least not for now, but tell me, what is the urgent matter you need to express to us?" A tall, gray-haired old man asked, causing the Asherit clone to stop staring at the plain room he was in and focus on the people in front of him.

"Colonel Jaze, Major Vade, Lieutenant Hun, Lieutenant Sean, Lieutenant Carol, this recruit offers his regards to the elders" To his surprise, at least by sight, Asherit had met everyone in this room, so he quickly saluted.

"Sirs, first of all I must explain something, as you know, the specific requirements of the Fairui'Fuin team's mission were very vague, 'Prepare a Field with Advantages for the Abysmal Kingdom', that is the main objective of our mission" All they nodded at the words of this young prince, although their mission seemed simple at first glance, the truth is that their evaluation would be more than rigorous and this would test how far the skills of this young prince and his prodigious companion could go.

"Since such responsibility was entrusted to us, we did not want to disappoint the expectations of the elders..., as some may have realized, I’m in front of you through a clone" The lieutenants were a bit surprised, because they still hadn’t realized that this was just a clone of the seventh prince, only Vade and the Colonel nodded without much surprise, however, only Colonel Jaze realized how powerful this clone was.

'These children are incredible, that young girl managed to create such a refined core and the seventh prince such powerful skeletal armor and they both managed to perfectly unite such creations, it is certainly impressive' Thinking that Thyriel and Asherit had worked together to create this clone, Colonel Jaze was amazed at its excellent synergy.

"On the other hand, my real self is actually very close to the City of Abundance.."

"Whoa?!" Everyone was surprised at such a statement, to create such a powerful clone, it was undoubtedly required a lot of effort and control of it could only be done at short distances, the City of Abundance was a few thousand kilometers from here so such a feat it was unthinkable.

"Although at this moment, I’m not actually inside the city, I have already infiltrated it"

Shua!

Now even Colonel Jaze got up in shock, he had great knowledge about that city and its great defensive array, so he knew how difficult the actions Asherit was telling them.

“Seniors, I know it's hard to believe, but I'm not lying to you, I recorded some scenes from memory with the help of my Elite Division suit that I will show you right away, but, most importantly now and the reason why we strive so much for creating this clone, it is for you to study the following "

Clap

Clap

Pfa

The Asherit clone made some strange hand seals and then, in front of his chest, a small light began to be born.

ZzzOm! ~~

A small ball of milky white energy began to manifest and then everyone began to see how it was taking the shape of a beautiful ark.

Puff ~

Finally, this little ark was finished consolidating and after a few seconds of observing it, Colonel Jaze's gaze was filled with amazement and fascination.

"Ss-Spirit Ark!" Nor did he believe his words when came out of his mouth, yet in front of him was what in some ancient records he had known as a spirit ark.

"Seniors, there is not much time, please come closer and put your hands on this ark" Everyone woke up from the shock they had been in and after seeing Colonel Jaze nod, everyone approached and followed Asherit's instructions.

Zzh-Zzh-Zhzhzzzh ~

After everyone put one of their hands on the little ark, it began to fluctuate between its original milky white and a blue light, and after a moment, the ark turned completely blue, but no one had time to be surprised as lots of information began to travel to their spiritual seas.

"Do not resist so that all the information can arrive without problems please" Asherit commented while everyone nodded...

A couple of hours passed slowly, as these elites continued to absorb the information with their eyes closed.

Crack ~

At a certain point, the spirit ark began to break apart and then vanish, when the last part of the ark dispersed in the air, everyone opened their eyes still full of shock, perhaps even full of horror.

Although without many details, the information kept in the ark told how Thyriel and Asherit had infiltrated into the City of Abundance, murdered the evil Laschyu brothers, Flor and Barkh to steal their identities, such information also counted how they had created a miraculous medicine and with it they had earned the trust of all the high command of the 5 great families of that city.

In addition, they also told them about how they were creating large quantities of said medicine to increase the strength of these great families and although up to this point it would seem like a betrayal, the last part of the information mentioned the plan that Asherit wanted to carry out with such actions, and what the Elite Division would need to accomplish to do so.

Hu

Hu

Huu ~

"Yy-your highness, this..." In a sexy and mesmerizing wat, Lieutenant Carol's chest rose and fell as her warm breath reached Asherit in a seductive way, but without her noticing.

"Lieutenant!" Major Vade rebuked her with a small cry, causing Lieutenant Carol to come to her senses.

"Colonel, Major, Lieutenants, now that you know the current situation, I would like to know if I have your support in carrying out such a plan" Without being moved one bit by the Lieutenant, Asherit addressed everyone quite seriously.

"Hahaha, wonderful, really wonderful, such a contribution will certainly go down in history...", everyone nodded as they agreed with the Colonel's words, on the other hand, he continued.

"Of course, we will not miss the advantages that you have created for us",

"Sean begins to collect hundreds of thousands of Ghostly Monarch Butterflies, Hun creates various facades so that no one suspects Sean's actions",

"Carol continues to direct our forces in the border territory, takes control of the regiment, that all missions continue and puts in place various plans so that our enemies remain entertained",

"Vade, begin to approach the City of Abundance and try to find out more in detail the plans of our enemies, specifically the 5 great families"

"Yes Sir!" They all responded in unison to the Colonel's orders, and then turned their gaze to Asherit.

"Seniors, due to the long distance, I cannot communicate with my real self so I would like Major Vade to try to update me when get near the City of Abundance" This clone of Asherit commented politely.

"Mm, so shall, Vade, provide Asherit with everything he needs and do not hesitate to work with them to carry out your mission, the Fairui'Fuin team has shown that they have the capacity to do so"

"Yes sir" Vade nodded to the Colonel's order, and everyone agreed on the capabilities of these young men.

'There is no doubt that you are the son of his majesty the Abysmal King and even more, of that amazing woman, Elizabeth Empyreal Ignis' Still surprised to the core, Colonel Jaze began to think about how incredible this young man in front of him would become.

Since everyone knew the importance of this event, Vade and the lieutenants quickly withdrew to fulfill their missions and when only Asherit and the Colonel remained, Asherit commented.

"Colonel, I have another matter to discuss with you, although it is not part of the mission, it is something important for the entire kingdom..."

"Ooh, go ahead then" A little surprised to learn that there was still more, the Colonel invited Asherit to take a seat and tell him.

"It's about Aldvid Helm, a few days ago when I was traveling towards here..." Inside that room, Asherit continued to tell Colonel Jaze a few things...

...

Although the border area between the Abysmal Kingdom and the Cloud Kingdom seemed calm, behind the curtains, the threads had begun to interweave and the various factions had begun to sharpen their swords and fill their quivers with arrows.

An event that would be recorded in the glory of history was about to happen and all its actors were preparing for when the curtain rose.