Jones holding on to the sword given to him by his brother marvelled at the refinement done to it, but a confused expression soon appeared on his face, "Bro... This weapon"
"Is there something wrong?" Kairos asked with concern, he had put in a lot of effort to create the perfect weapon for Jones, and worries if there is something not to his liking.
"Its... too strong!" Jones said in a depressed manner.
"Whaaa... Is that all? That's a good thing isn't it?" Even Kairos is confused by now.
"I can't use this, it will create a dependency in my martial arts. I'll gladly keep it, but it may be better for me to use a regular weapon until my techniques are more refined"
"I'll make you a titan ranked weapon for now Jones. But this weapon I gave you will grow together with you so you should just treat it as a part of your body when you become strong enough for it. It will never need to be changed as long as you don't completely break it"
An amazed look appeared on Jones' face, and after thinking for a short moment, he explained his thoughts, "You're telling me to treat this weapon a permanent weapon? Hahaha! That's something unthinkable for most swordsmen...! We regularly break or outgrow our weapon.
So to have a blade that grow together with me, it would change the very basis of my swordsmanship. The day that I catch up to its power, I will definitely treat it as another limb of mine"
"Okay, then for now... let's see what we have" Kairos checked through the things that had accumulated so far, but everything is simply too high tiered and he gave Jones a wiltering look of failure.
"That's alright, my swordsmanship has already improved during my time in prison, I don't really need an actual weapon to display my sword skills. That gigantic sword I met during my selfless cultivation is ancient and its wisdom unbounded. Heheh, I don't mean to boast, but I am already above the spirit sword style of my Solitary Blades Clan. BWAHAHAA"
"You're totally boasting..." Kairos laughed.
"The tides are ready. It's time to escape!" John called out, beckoning everyone over.
.....
In the Phrixus palace, the darkness that engulfed everything has faded. The escaped prisoners turned the place upside down and then disappeared. Those that were about to be captured has killed themselves on the spot instead.
The royal family were in an uproar, and when they summoned Syriong, the realm's guardian, they were shaken to discover he had barely retreated with his life and is in an unconscious state. They find out hard to accept that whoever had caused such chaos in this place were capable enough to defeat a triple S ranker.
Emergency treatment was carried out on their guardian, but at this point, Axtaius Phrixus, the emperor of the Silent Lambs Empire is already beyond consolable. His treasure room was found broken into, his guards beaten, and Jones were missing since the chaos began.
Retreating to a hidden room behind the throne, Axtaius stood humbly before a gigantic crystal ball. The image on the crystal shows a wondrous scene of a room grander and more elaborate than any rooms of the palace.
In the middle of the screen sat a man looking quite similar to the emperor.
"Uncle", Emperor Axtaius began, but before he could continue the man addressed him with an unhappy grunt.
"What is it you are here again for? I've told you many times before, now is not the time to pass that boy over to our hands yet. Don't tell me you've killed him?"
"No, of course not Uncle. We have carried out your orders faithfully, it's just that..."
"Just what?" He snapped.
"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.