Age of Adepts

The entire battlefield was silent!

The arcanists had long since stopped considering the adepts as one of their kind. Instead, they regarded adepts as cruel, evil creatures, much like the disaster creatures and starbeasts. However, when they witnessed a giant two-headed adept bite off their companion’s head and chew it bite by bite with their own eyes, it was completely different! Their hearts trembled and shivered in fright!

As such, when the flame giant, the two-headed adept, and the terrifying adept in the astral construct surrounded them, the arcanists’ spirits broke down.

The arcane tower that was fighting against Adept Holly unleashed a violent arcane attack, forcefully repelling the astral construct. It then fired a guiding bolt at its ‘companion’ to drag it out of the starlight array. The two towers turned and flew into the distance without ever turning back.

They had retreated.

These arcanists had retreated without a fight! Intimidated by the evil adepts, they had fled!

The two-headed adept couldn’t help but spit at the sight of the fleeing silhouette of the enemy. He spoke, disdain thick in his voice, “Hmph! Eggshells that have never seen the battlefield.”

Even Greem couldn’t help but sigh as he looked upon the enemy’s slowly vanishing figure.

The arcanists’ fighting spirit was simply too weak!

Perhaps those old scholars and antiques with their vast knowledge held higher positions and authority within the Arcane Empire in the realm of academics.

With the arcane towers, floating cities, pseudo-planar fortresses, and the arcane guards, the arcanists didn’t personally need to do anything at all. Of course, this meant that they would never run onto the frontlines of the battlefield to do battle like a barbaric warrior.

In their understanding, the so-called war was hiding leisurely in the safe and secure backlines, pressing crystal buttons to command their cannons (pseudo-planar fortresses) and their cannon fodder (arcane guards) to tear at the enemy’s ranks viciously.

Meanwhile, they simply had to throw massive arcane spells at the enemy while under the protection of arcane barriers.

War was an art form, and all they needed to do was to crush every single opponent with their overwhelming knowledge!

It was the influence of such a belief that caused the arcanists to become such weak and cowardly people, who were constantly scared for their own lives. When the battlefield got too bloody, they would turn and flee without hesitation.

In truth, if they had been a little more rational and a little more determined, they would have seen that defeating or stalling the attacks of three evil adepts was more than likely with the cooperation of two arcane towers. Unfortunately, even though their security towers had not been broken, the hearts of the arcanists themselves had been bent and shattered.

Those useless fools.

Adept Holly clicked his tongue in disdain as he turned towards the broken and battered tower. He smashed open a hole with his hard astral hand and flew into it.

A short moment later, he emerged from within and tossed a large knowledge crystal at Greem. Judging by his smiling expression, his harvest had been bountiful.

Now that the battle was over, the three adepts gathered in front of the security tower once again.

The two-headed adept had already reverted from his transformed state. His aura was weak, and his body was covered in wounds. There was a large hole the size of a fist near his stomach, and his blood had spilled across the ground.

Even so, Mangus still appeared as excited and joyful as ever.

A dull thud sounded as Mangus dropped the Fourth Ring arcanist’s tattered body to the ground. Blood flowed like a river from the headless neck, quickly staining the earth a crimson red.

Greem looked at the corpse and saw no spatial equipment resembling a storage device on its body. Thus, he looked away and made no mention of the issue. Adept Holly seemed to have discovered this peculiarity as well. However, seeing that Mangus had contributed significantly to the battle earlier, he decided to let it slide.

The three adepts cleaned up the battlefield hastily and hurried into the forest towards their next target before new enemies could appear.

…………

Floating City Reisin Garden.

Great Arcanist Freila could no longer suppress her fury. She almost wanted to tear apart the roof of this arcane hall.

She roared angrily, slamming the rectangular obsidian table over and over again. Her sharp and pointed reprimands caused the two Fourth Ring arcanists to bend their heads down in shame.

After shouting sternly for the arcane guards to take the two arcanists away, Freila looked around the hall as the anger faded from her face. Instead, it was replaced by sorrow and frustration that seemed to come from the depths of her soul.

After thinking and organizing the words in her mind, Freila finally spoke.

“I have received orders to retreat sent down from central command. This order was personally issued by His Majesty Garcia, co-signed by eleven Seventh Ring Great Arcanists.”

The faces of the arcanists flushed white when they heard the word ‘retreat.’ In this one hundred and twenty-seven-year long defensive war, they had listened to the countless pieces of bad news. They all knew how difficult it had been for the Arcane Empire.

But…the word ‘retreat’ still terrified them!

Morrian Plane was the arcanist origin plane. Now that the enemy had arrived at their doors, where could they retreat to? Were they supposed to abandon their origin plane and flee into a lesser plane to live the life of a vagrant mutt?

“Why is the order only from His Majesty Garcia? What about His Majesty Newman?” An elderly Fourth Ring arcanist stood up with some difficulty and stared at Freila as she asked.

Garcia and Newman were the two emperors of the Arcane Empire that held absolute authority in their hands. However, the citizens of the Arcane Empire preferred to refer to them as Administrator Garcia and Arbiter Newman.

In truth, the Arcane Empire was a parliamentary republic. Arcane Emperor was more of a title of honor, not an actual reference to the Arcane Empire’s governmental model.

The muscles on Freila’s faces twitched when she heard the elderly arcanist’s question. Finally, she replied.

“A division has occurred between the leaders of the Empire. His Majesty Newman does not agree with His Majesty Garcia’s viewpoint. He believes that the Empire can persist in this war. Thus……”

“Thus, His Majesty Garcia advocates for a full retreat, while His Majesty Newman advocates for a stand to the very end. What about the Great Arcanists?”

“The Great Arcanists have also split into two factions. One faction believes that Morrian Plane is doomed and that we must move the core of the Empire’s forces out of the plane before the defensive line collapses. Meanwhile, the other faction believes we can make a total retreat into the plane and use the floating cities and arcane towers to obliterate every enemy that dares to enter our realm. After all, once the enemy enters the plane, even the strongest of them will not be more powerful than the peak of Fourth Grade. We will have the home-field advantage. It is entirely possible to wipe out all of the enemy’s elites within the plane with minimal effort.”

“That would be using the planar world itself as the battlefield. If the war was to occur in this manner, even if we were to win, there would not be much left of Morrian Plane!”

Freila fell silent.

It wasn’t as if the Arcane Empire had never invaded other planar worlds. Naturally, they knew how much damage would be inflicted upon ordinary mortals once the terrifying invaders had entered the plane. Blood would flow like rivers, and lives would be worthless. These words weren’t even enough to describe the horrors of a planar war.

Barely one out of every hundred mortals would be fortunate enough to survive a planar war.

Moreover, the Arcane Empire wasn’t facing a single enemy this time. It was a massive conglomerate that had combined several of the most powerful races of the multiverse. There was almost no chance for the Arcane Empire to survive this ‘calamity.’

The more they reflected on the issue, the more the arcanists felt their souls being torn into two halves.

They also wanted to stand behind with His Majesty Newman for a last stand against those otherworldly monsters, in hopes of a chance of survival amidst the endless carnage. However, their rationality as arcanists told them that this would only be a dead end. It would instead cause the entirety of the Arcane Empire to be caught within the enemy’s grasp, and never again would they have a chance to return to their former glory.

As such, the hearts of all the arcanists in Reisin Garden bled as they listened silently to Freila describing the split that had occurred between the higher-ups of the Empire. It felt like their hearts were being torn into two pieces.

“What do you think then, my lady?” Another arcanist stood forward.

“At the moment, the Empire’s defensive line outside the barrier is still holding steady. Apart from a few rats that have broken into our world, there is only that horde of disaster creatures and a few individual starbeasts. Also, news of the Empire’s retreat must not be leaked prematurely.

“Remember, the Empire’s leadership will only provide us with a limited amount of time and quota. Every arcanist of Third Ring and above can bring two people with them, while arcanists of Second Ring and below can only bring one person along. Apart from that, the Empire has also provided our Reisin Garden with a transfer quota of two hundred people. When you go back, properly choose amongst your apprentices. Report the especially talented young ones to me, and I will consider placing them on the list of transfers.

“I repeat, news of the Empire’s retreat remains a matter of high confidentiality. Every arcanist in this meeting must maintain silence. At the very least, I do not wish to see leakage of this news, causing chaos in the floating city before the plan of retreat begins. Do you hear me?” In the last sentence, Freila’s tone turned cold and harsh. The intimidating aura of a Great Arcanist instantly engulfed the arcane hall.

“Understood!” Every single arcanist stood straight and nodded in understanding.

“Remember, anyone that leaks this information will have their name removed from the transfer list. Do not blame me for being heartless when that happens!” After warning her subordinates once more, Freila’s expression relaxed. She waved her hand lethargically and said, “Go down and make your preparations then!”

Freila let out a silent sigh as she watched the arcanists leave. She turned and returned to her room.