The starry but moonless sky above provided little illumination for the ragged plains and rocky hills underneath it. The place was especially dark since it was a battlefield between the cities owned by humans and the faes. There might be buildings around, but were all reduced to ruins long ago. It was impossible to hope that there were lights from there. However, for a Fae whose special ability lied on vision enhancement, the darkness was not much of a hindrance. Even from a hundred miles away, riding a winged reptile similar to the war pet of the fae youth Barak, the Fae scout could see what had just taken place on that black hill. Everything was visible to him as if it was still daytime.
"Such an imposing wall."
Drake, the fae scout, mumbled with an expression full of admiration. Thanks to his ability, his blue eyes sparkled like little sapphires that had small black marbles at the center, looking so mysterious and fascinating.
It was just a weird thing that this guy paid more attention to the vast expanse of ice filling the horizon more than his fellow fae members tied up and dragged into the enemy"s carriers. The male fae too did not show any desire to save them, as if they being captured was none of his concern.
However, if one were to be in his position, they would have likely reacted just the same. His job was just different, and of greater importance.
From his spot, he could see just how majestic the ice walls were, looking like it had transformed the whole territory beyond it into an ice fortress.
But there was another thing that made him sport a blank face and exclaim in shock. "The prediction comes true. This is a serious matter for the Holy Temple. I must report this to them ASAP."
"The chief priest said to report directly to him if an ice expert not in the database suddenly appeared on this battlefield."
Without dilly-dallying, the fae scout urged his mount to fly back. He was supposed to tell their commander about the capture of two of their most promising youth teams from the Talent Camp. Yet when he entered the domed city, he only sent a file to his superior, with some details even missing or not elaborated in detail due to his mind being preoccupied with something he deemed more important.
The first place he stopped by to was not the military headquarters, but the only odd, ancient-looking paG.o.da in the middle of this highly futuristic city, the Holy Temple.
"I am a scout directly under the command of His Excellency, requesting audience with the Pontiff!"
Flas.h.i.+ng his token, Drake announced to the guard manning the high entrance of the tallest spiral building. The entrance was for people who were riding flying mounts to enter to, accessible only to important people and subordinates of the Pontiff.
The guard there looked up to him and then nodded in acknowledgment. As the fae race also had their own network of communication, there was no need for Drake to be delayed at the doorway since the guard could just directly send a message to the priest serving as a secretary to the Pontiff.
"Your Holiness! General!" The scout greeted upon being granted permission to enter.
The room belonging to the Pontiff was painted all white and even though not as grand as the offices of other high-ranking leaders, every piece of decorations screamed of high price tag, if not of being priceless. At the center of the place was an elegant wooden table where two people were seated, both dressed simply yet with aura commanding respect and awe.
After saying his greeting, the fae scout immediately knelt on one knee, not daring to lift his head.
"It"s you, Drake." The Pontiff was a fae who looked like a normal handsome youth with the same strange pair of eyes in his twenties. However, his actual age was over two hundred years old. He looked up from the table and threw a casual glance at the scout.
"What"s the matter that you sought me for?"
The voice of the highest leader of the Holy Temple sounded ethereal, like it was from the heavens. None of the fae in this world or from their real-world knew of this person"s real lineage, yet they treated him not as a mere messenger of the heavens but as an actual G.o.d due to his powers.
It took a few seconds for the scout to recover from the trance. The Supreme General, a fae wearing a military coat with his personal insignia pinned on it, also looked over in curiosity.
Drake spoke, "Your Holiness. Please forgive my unheralded visit, but I deemed it important to report about the thing you have predicted before. West of this domed city, on a row of black hills near the military headquarters of the humans, an expert who could build an ice fortress in an instant turned up."
The Pontiff lifted his head from the chessboard again. "An ice expert, huh? Do you know his ident.i.ty?"
"No."
"He might be from the other human territories, just using some sort of mask to camouflage his actual appearance. I know they have some intriguing inventions letting them change their faces."
"That might be the case, Sir." The scout acknowledged, then added. "But before this person made an appearance, a group of human soldiers was fighting with one of our youth teams. Just a minute after he appeared and erected a barrier, every member of that team was caught."
"Hmm. Which team?" It was the General who spoke this time, glancing briefly at Drake before a projection popped up before him. Looking at it, the General"s face crumpled a bit. "Mohan"s? Or Frau?"
"Both, Sir. It"s Mohan"s squad which confronted the human soldiers first. Frau"s team was spectating from a distance, but because they were not very far from the black hill, they got spotted and captured as well."
The Pontiff made a contemplative expression, pondering for a moment before voicing out. "General, I know of those kids. There are three high n.o.bles in these two groups. Of this is not handled properly, the families of those youths will definitely give you trouble."
"I know." What the highest-ranked priest just said was true, and this was precisely the reason the face of the one seated across him was sour. "It won"t end with just them demanding explanations."
Drake gave the frowning General a look. To be honest, the presence of this person was unexpected to him.
Then, he continued his report, not forgetting what truly made him fly all the way here, "Your Holiness, please let me continue. When I was spying on them from afar, the ice expert on the human"s side seemed to not notice me. I took advantage of that to connect my terminal to Frau"s before he got captured. I have then got to eavesdrop on the conversation of the humans. I managed to overhear the name of the unknown person."
"Hmm. That"s making me curious."
"He said it is Jiang Li," replied Drake who was then manipulating his terminal to share it with the two high ranking fae race leaders.
"Hmmm?" Since the white-robe-wearing Pontiff continued looking down, no others saw his eyes dilating for a second.
"It"s a standard name of those from that domed city," commented the General who was already busy gliding his fingers in the air, sending commands to address the issue about the two teams of prisoners.
The scout added more details, giving opinions when his other superior began to ask about Mohan and the others.
Time pa.s.sed by just like that. The pleasant smell of the bamboo generated by the few potted shoots on one side of the room was lingering throughout as the two other people exchanged words. Yet the Pontiff looked absentminded, staring at the sent images. He didn"t join any more in their talk.
A few moments later, he muttered something, in a voice that was still as pleasant and unhurried as usual, but in a language that was foreign to everyone else present in that room.
"The guy changed his face. But I"m sure now, it is him."
Since the other party already had his powers awakened, or more like regained his ability, the Pontiff"s lips were twitching in annoyance as he imagined a troubled future.
"What a sh*tty day it has been."
"In the end, the motherf*cking b.a.s.t.a.r.d has descended to this world."
…
One thing that Jiang Li"s failed hypnosis verified was the real status of the villainess. Twenty-two years old, yet the city"s armed forced made sure she would not be put under mental control by anyone, not even of someone who had at least a thousand years of experience. How many resources had been spent on her, he wondered?
This was their first meeting and even the backup plan failed. Therefore, Jiang Li"s ridiculous offer was rejected. w.a.n.g Yu Yan might not have detected the attempt to hypnotize her, but she was somebody with responsibility and knew her worth to the military.
"I"m sorry, Mr. Jiang. I can"t make a decision about this right away. Please give me some more time to think." She said to tactfully refuse.
Jiang Li could only shrug. Anyway, it was not that bad of an outcome since his goal from the very start was to have a reason to be near to the target.
Was a middle-aged wanting to recruit a disciple not valid enough?
Oh well, even it wasn"t, he could just shamelessly stage coincidental meetings in the name of recruiting every time the villainess and the male lead were about to cross paths.
"Someone among you must have sent an SOS signal, right?" After laughing and shaking his head, Jiang Li pointed to a direction. "I can feel several presences moving towards here from there."
"Lieutenant Hou Liqin here. Yes, Sir. I requested a reinforcement earlier," said one of the human soldiers who went over after transporting the captives to a vehicle that was later driven away by another soldier.
Jiang Li nodded. "Good response. Though, these new guys came late."
An awkward expression flickered briefly in the eyes of the villainess, although it vanished not long after. "I got a message from the commander in that group and they immediately dispatched some people upon seeing the walls senior has made. But yes, it"s still quite late."
"We can"t thank you enough, Sir, for your help in this battle."
Jiang Li shrugged again and looked at the thick wall of ice as he contemplated what to do next. Several seconds later, he decided to just leave it like that. On when it would melt away, he didn"t know and didn"t care.
After waving a hand at the villainess" group, he disappeared into the shadows cast by the black hill.
"Yu Yan, are we going to include that senior in our accounts later?" Watching the person faded away from their sight, the middle-aged guy acting as the leader asked.
The woman did not even have to spend a second thinking about what to reply to him. "With such a gigantic thing as a souvenir, there"s no other to explain why we managed to win against those faes. We have to be honest and show our recorded footage of the battle."
"We don"t know him. It"s doubtful why he would infiltrate the camp despite his abilities. What if he"s a member of the society of those pessimists sc.u.mbags?"
Because the person in question was no longer around, the soldiers no longer had to put up a respectful front, showing what they truly felt about the unknown individual.
It was common sense that despite the tough resistance, the human side was not faring well against the fae. Negativism naturally arose within the ma.s.ses and there were d.a.m.nable extreme ones proliferating in every city that humanity would be doomed if they didn"t surrender. The soldiers naturally hated those people since they were indirectly saying that them fighting for their homeland was without meaning.
"I don"t think he"s with them. The fact that he didn"t kill doesn"t automatically translate to that. Anyway, the commander is coming. They can decide the next course of action."
Tomorrow morning, it was reported that a new recruit with ice ability vanished from the record of the military.
At the same time, another meeting was conducted by the higher-ups in the central part of the domed city. The place was near the auction house where Jiang Li first appeared. There were many foreigners from other domed cities belonging occupying more than half of the seats available. All of them had serious or grim expressions on their faces, which showed how important this meeting was to the future of their race.
When the villainess entered the place, she could already smell a large scale war or operation being hatched.
Yes. This time, w.a.n.g Yu Yan, young, yet one of the brightest strategists of all humanity, was in attendance. However, she was not there just to report about the weird expert who helped catch the n.o.bles of the opposing race. It was to join the discussion about the two other domed cities that recently fell in the hands of the fae.
None of them knew that on the side of the Fae, a meeting was also convened and all the mayors from the conquered cities unhesitantly flew over to gather. After all, it was the highest leader of the Temple, whom everyone revered, was the one who called it.
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