Refining the Heavens 2 (炼天二)

Chapter 55: Indra Sovereignty

"The boy has been taken" The emperor replied softly, knowing what is about to come.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY? You have destroyed your empire, you fool! Do you know just who asked for that boy?"

Emperor Axtaius continued to keep quiet, deciding not to rebuke his uncle that had so far told him nothing to the purpose of imprisoning Jones.

"I'll tell you who it is, you imbecile, this orders came from up there!" His uncle shouted, placing his beet red face right next to the viewing crystal on the other side.

"Up... Do you mean, the divine realms?"

"Yes of course! And one of the biggest worlds. The Indra Diethus Sovereignty"

Axtaius' face went pale at the dreadful revelation, not expecting that even the divine realms are involved. Failure at carrying out their instructions would mean the end of their empire.

Then, a new thought entered his mind and he started muttering under his lips, "Indra Diethus..? Indie Annie Jones?!"

.....

The group charged out of Aurolia by a small reed boat on a tiny, but deep, stream. The water has receded quite a bit, allowing them to hide from sight and under the cover of the night they quickly got away. Thanks to the waters going rapidly back into the ocean, their speed became quicker than a mount's.

Meanwhile, within the city, to assist them in their escape, the rioting that has gone down has once again been fanned alit. This time, it was Sasha who took action, setting the entire guard station on fire with her artefact.

It is a peculiar object, made of amber and shaped like a lotus, which allows her to summon flowering veins rapidly across a large surface. She manipulated the plants to quickly cover the entire building, and then had them wilt rapidly. With a torch, the guards within the barracks found themselves surrounded by flames. When they attempted to escape the building, the only two exits are both completely locked up that even with their best attacks proved difficult to breach. Unknown to them, the doors had been sealed shut by veins of the stone-plant that had even creeped between the gaps and made it unmovable.

Meanwhile, on the outside of the palace, Silvers has been creating more chaos by spreading feuds and insurgences.

During the scuffle earlier in the day, the guards had injured some of the people. And in particular one of them were wounded badly. Silvers, tracked the person to his home and used his artefact to fan the discontent of the people that know him.

A crowd quickly gathered by the palace gates and demanded 'justice'. The palace troops that received orders from the emperor, Axtaius, found themselves blocked and unable to leave.

In great anger, the royal guard commander shouted for the troops to draw their weapons, and only then did Silvers recalled the effects of his artefact and escaped to look for Sasha.

The two quickly removed their disguises, then moved into a house right beside the palace. Their plan is to sit right by the enemy's base and wait for a few days before heading to their next mission point.

Thanks to their assistance, the team made it safely out of the city and even gained some distance. According to Kairos' plans, they must now head south-east-east, until they return to Saint Empire.

When they jumped off the reed boat, a sudden tremor stopped them in their steps. Soon, as they had already expected, the land wyrm surfaced besides them with a loud and rough squeal. The wyrm had detected their presence from far and came to fetch them.

"Praise me, master!" It thought.

Kairos patted it on its head, and all of them quickly jumped up onto its back. The rest of the way was easy, and they quickly caught their breaths thanks to the wyrm. With the wind's blessing aid, they managed to cover a good distance till day-break. The following day, letting their mount to take a break from running, Kairos rolled out a map and called everyone over.

"This here is Aurolia" He pointed at the northern part, "And we are roughly here", he pointed slightly below the city.

"The distance from where we are right now, to Saint Empire is roughly 10,000 kilometres away"

The maximum speed they can maintain is roughly 30~40 km/h on foot, while the land wyrm can move at 50 km/h without tiring.

"Our first target, The rice paddy plateau, is a day away. At that place, the first team of 5 from Snowdrifts, will be providing us support", He continued, and then rolled up the map.

After resting for no more than an hour, they continued their journey. They ran through the quickest paths, ignoring stealth for speed.

Meanwhile, back in Aurolia, the palace troops has surrounded all exits of the city and prevented anyone from entering or exiting. In addition, every person in the city is to be thoroughly checked.

The emperor himself is now in a terrible rage, and all those that had blocked the palace troops the previous night had been put to death.

The citizens are in a deathly silence, and the streets are emptied even of the usual merchants.

The imperial guards went door to door, carrying out their mission, calling every citizen to prove their identity against the city's records. And soon, they reached the place where Silvers and Sasha were hiding.