Release that Witch

The rush of the waves from the Realm of Mind gradually faded, and Hackzord opened its eyes.

It saw a round hall, below which lay the tranquil sea of fog, and the ceiling of the hall was out of its sight. Nine seats of different sizes were suspended in the air and were along the steep stone wall. In the middle of the circle stood a giant Birth Tower. However, unlike a real High Tower, this Birth Tower was plastered with eyes the size of a junior demon.

This was the realm created by the king.

The ”Presiding Holy See”.

Although it was not its first time visiting here, it still felt somewhat restless and uncomfortable. Unlike a dream or ordinary mental communication, the communication that occurred in this hall, which was located in the middle of the Realm of Mind, was real. If it fell in the sea of fog or was under an attack, it would truly get injured.

In contrast to the chaos outside, the hall was strictly in order.

The king ruled the Holy See.

Once someone entered the Presiding Holy See, it would be at the mercy of the king.

Nevertheless, Hackzord was confident in its absolute loyalty to the king. It could easily suppress its instinctive revolt. Only savage beasts would find it difficult to control their instincts.

”The Sky Lord is at your service,” Hackzord swept a bow at the High Tower in the center.

One of the eyes on the tower opened but immediately closed again. It said, ”Please wait.”

”Yes.”

Presently, the seats were gradually filled.

The shadows occupying the seats were blurry, but Hackzord managed to make out who they were. The one whose armor was ornamented with various weapons, as giant as a small mountain, was the ”Bloody Conqueror”, the one wearing distorted clothes and masks was the ”Resentful Heart”. Very few could distinguish these prominent figures, because it depended on how well one understood the Origin of Magic.

When the last seat was occupied, the conference began.

The king materialized in front of all the lords, and half of the eyes on the Birth Tower slowly opened as well.

”You all probably know why I summoned you here. I believe everyone has the same question as me. Several days ago, one person upgraded and reached the Realm of Mind. The upgrade created a commotion there but soon, this particular individual became unresponsive,” the king broke off and turned to the Sky Lord. ”The one who created this commotion was Ursrook, the commander of the advanced troops of the Western Front. Hackzord, what in the world happened in the west?

Hackzord felt nervous. It had expected the king to ask it this question. Disturbance of the Realm of Mind indicated that this individual must have achieved a relatively high realm, and all the lords would be able to sense such a remarkable improvement. As the battle in the Sky-sea Realm became increasingly fierce, one more lord meant a bigger chance to win. However, things suddenly took a turn for the worse. To everybody’s consternation, this new lord simply left its mark in the realm and vanished into thin air. It was their first time over the past several hundred years seeing a lord die right after its upgrade.

In fact, Hackzord had received the news of their defeat in the west not long after Ursrook’s upgrade, along with a letter written by Ursrook itself. Hackzord was so outraged by the content of the letter that it wanted to drill a hole in Ursrook’s skull to see what had made it act so recklessly!

When the king raised the question, Hackzord hesitated for a moment but finally decided to disclose the truth concerning the battle.

As Hackzord had expected, the hall erupted into a loud murmur of jeers, gasps, and exclamations.

”Huh? Did I just hear that right?” the ”Bloody Conqueror” sneered predictably. ”Your subordinate knowingly made a bad decision and sent all the troops to the Fertile Plains for slaughter? What did you call that guy earlier? A genius commander?”

Hackzord knew that the Blood Conqueror, as the commander at the Sky-sea Realm, always held a grudge against Ursrook. Fearing that Ursrook’s upgrade would threaten its status, the Blood Conqueror would naturally seek every opportunity to attack Ursrook.

”I don’t really care about junior demons and Spider Demons, but the Sky Lord should have known how precious those symbiotic demons are,” the ”Mask”, who was responsible for developing symbiotic demons commented enigmatically. ”If we successfully seized Taquila, the City of Falling Star and Arrieta, that would have been a different story because the God’s Stone mines there could provide us with supplies. However, we now not only lost those mines but also the symbiotic.”

”I’m shocked that we lost to those low lives, and I believe your lordship should, more or less, take some responsibility.”

”I think we overestimated this so-called genius. He’s just barely above average.”

”Not all the upgraded could open the gate, otherwise there would have been more than nine lords sitting here. Plus, its enemy was a Transcendent.”

”So what? This isn’t 400 years ago anymore. Do you think dying together with a Transcendent is something that we should boast about?”

Hackzord’s face clouded over as it listened to all the sniding comments. Although it did not really understand Ursrook, Ursrook had been one of its favorites. As a lord, it could not tolerate any attacks toward its old commander.

Just at that moment, the king interrupted the discussion and silenced everyone. ”Enough, I just want to know if this would affect our plan!”

Hackzord immediately concentrated its mind and replied, ”No, of course not. We have many other plans. Taquila isn’t our priority. I assure you that we’ll tread on men’s territory as planned.”

”Then keep your word,” the king said, his voice lower.

”But...” the Sky Lord said hesitantly. ”But I need to request for more troops. According to Ursrook, we need ten times the troops we have now to win this battle.” After an internal struggle, Hackzord decided to disclose the content of Ursrook’s letter. It did not know why it reached such a conclusion, probably because of the trust it had put in Ursrook or because of the horrific prediction Ursrook had made. Constantly, a voice in its head pressed Hackzord to tell the truth.

”Ten times?” the ”Blood Conqueror” bellowed. ”What are you joking about? We can barely cope with the battle at the Sky-sea Realm, and you still request for more? I won’t give you anything!”

”What did Ursrook say?” the king asked heavily.

”When he wrote this letter, the advanced troops had not fought human beings yet. Ursrook insisted in staying at Taquila under the pretext that it wanted to find out men’s weakness. If the plan worked, we would have been able to significantly weaken humans. Then, we should send more troops and exterminate the entire human race.”

”Was that a prophecy?” someone jeered. ”I wonder if Ursrook predicted its own death.”

”...” Hackzord nodded after a moment of silence. ”Yes, it did.”

A strained silence suddenly fell on the hall.

The lords exchanged looks, and the atmosphere became heavy.

The king spoke, ”What did Ursrook say?”

The Sky Lord heaved a deep sigh and replied, ”If it fails to survive, we should treat human beings as equals and exercise all our strength to annihilate them!”