novelraw Chapter 357 - 356 - Broken Bonds
Chapter 357 - 356 - Broken Bonds
The end of the war came in a way no one expected. The Demon Empire was not only defeated but destroyed entirely. No one knew the whole truth, or if they did, they were not sharing.
What was shared was that the Empress Resha had been taken to Cimmeria for trial and executed publicly for all to watch. As they had played key roles in thwarting the southern continental attacks as well as assisting in the north, the Moebius Sect was granted the former location of the Demon Empire.
If all that followed was that, the commoners would have simply tried their luck in the other devastated areas. It was, however, the least shocking announcement.
The Heavenly Maiden Sect broke all ties with the Moebius Sect. This was followed by the Saint Kingdom. The former gave no details but the latter seemed happy to lay out many reasons.
The illegal entry of demonic forces was decried as a violation of their territory regardless of intent. Further, the invaders were handed off to an enemy state rather than to the Saint Kingdom itself.
While some could see the point of that a bit, the victor really had the say in what they did with their prisoners. The fact Moebius Sect did not ask for compensation could be seen as perfect equality for that situation.
The Saint Kingdom did not agree.
They also accused the Moebius Sect of being collaborators to demon centric views. They had made such accusations before but more than just words were used. They actually levied crimes against members of their sect within their borders and jailed them.
While some expected intervention at that point, they were rather stunned by Lind Frey's response. A surgical strike was implemented that did not kill a single soul but extracted safely all his people from the Saint Kingdom.
If that was all he did, the Saint Kingdom would have little to complain about at all but apparently all of the world had not truly learned how vicious Lind Frey could be.
Slaver rings, caravans, and other openly funded groups suddenly found themselves crippled. The systemic assault was done at the exact same time with a minimum number of personnel. Again, no deaths.
The first action could be explained away by life saving treasures on disciples to locate them in a rush and acting on it quickly, but the latter action was a methodical and well planned assault!
The mystery no one could figure out was the lack of deaths. Guards were left unconscious and safely moved before demolition of buildings began. Formations did not seem to slow them down at all nor did any defensive measures based on how quickly the entire Saint Kingdom was swept clean in only a week!
The Heavenly Maiden Sect filed an objection, but not a strong one, against the Moebius Sect, yet all knew it was mere formality.
Despite how the Saint Kingdom named itself, it was a human supremacy nation through and through such that few powers took it seriously. Alliances existed, as in the case of the Demon Empire invasion, but their hypocritical actions burned any goodwill during those times.
Their open endorsement of slavery, while not entirely discouraged in many powers, was abused too far in the Saint Kingdom. Most powers, however, had limited resources or truly did not care what smaller powers did with their time.
Exceptions would be those that had disciples on missions in those regions and only the insane would poke the sleeping dragon in those instances. The short history of Moebius worked against it as many underestimated exactly how much martial strength it had.
Because smart tactics were used during the short war, the higher ups of the Saint Kingdom relied on their reputation more than actual strength to cow Lind Frey and his compatriots.
The small battle had massive fallout as the Saint Kingdom invoked its right to Stardust Emporium to sanction a power invading another. It was one of the methods a relative peace was kept but the actions had to be egregious and at a certain level to trigger it.
Gold and Diamond Tier cultivators had to moderate some actions but overall were barely affected on an individual basis. Sky Realms, on the other hand, were clearly heavily restricted without a good cause to act behind them.
Many actually expected Stardust Emporium to act, but a missive was sent that since Moebius Sect only attacked known criminal slave rings and returned illegal slaves to their homes or powers without killing anyone, the Saint Kingdom had no grievance to stand on!
The petulant supreme power then threw a tantrum.
It demanded the Heavenly Maiden and Divine Sword Sect act to censure Moebius Sect per their own alliance rules! While the Heavenly Maiden Sect again sent a missive, harshly worded, with little power behind it, the Divine Sword Sect's answer was more direct.
A massive sword was pierced through the golden dome of the Hogath Citadel that was the capital meeting hall for the Saint Kingdom. At the time, the various royals and sect heads were meeting and the sword brought silence. It was the treaty sword!
The Divine Sword Sect broke off its connections to the Saint Kingdom!
Chaos ensued after that but only in verbal arguments. Many scrambled behind the scenes to secure their centers of power as it was clear the Sarth continent had fractured. Darkmoor basically looked on in amusement as the supposed righteous powers seemed to fall apart in front of them.
It was the existence of Darkmoor that moderated any risky ideas more extreme members of the Saint Kingdom put forth. While all of that was happening at a very high level, The Moebius Sect was quietly doing what it had to do.
Lind rubbed his brow as reports continued to fly in everyday. There was no conceivable way to keep up with it all even with all the help he usually had, besides, he pushed other projects forward.
Kexin was standing near him in nervousness as they waited for a particular jade communication stone to light up.
A haggard Wyndam was carried off by his wives to bed while piles of scrolls and jade slips seemed to fall out of his robes. The clink of the many artifacts actually tugged a smile from Lind.
"If you had not revealed all you did, this would have been worse, wouldn't it?" Lind nodded at Kexin's question. She was one of the few that knew the full truth. Tal was currently curled up with a pale complexion near Lind but her presence fueled him to continue.
Finally, the violet jade stone lit up.
"Master Frey, we are ready." Tessa's voice released a massive amount of strain in his heart. Kexin smiled wide as he nodded at her before she rushed off.
"Begin the countdown, Kexin will be ready soon." A flash was all he got for acknowledgement but they could not risk much more. The Shadow Sect had strangely allied with them for the moment but he had also paid them handsomely.
He also thought they secretly enjoyed helping chaos along. Half the reason his surgical strikes worked so well was due to the help of the Shadow Sect. His contact seemed amused for certain at the restriction of as few deaths as possible.
Even he had been shocked when no one died.
The slave ring strikes were always a plan if the Saint Kingdom became a bit overbearing. It was a statement that Moebius Sect would not bow to reputation alone. Those that relied on the resources sent as bribes now were left twisting in the wind with nowhere to vent their frustration without revealing their ties.
It also bought the thing Lind needed most, time.
Finally, they were ready. Lind sent out a few signals and then looked out at the view one last time. The pristine tower was a thorn of pain in his side. His open statement that Maidens would still receive aid if needed made some angry inside the sect but he would never abandon the long held ties to individuals.
He also had some messages from old friends begging his forgiveness and saying it will only be a short time before fences were mended, but Lind doubted they could do it.
In the grand scheme of things, Valkyrie saw them all as ants. There were likely many branches of the Heavenly Maiden Sect so a single set of them in a mortal realm were of small concern to her.
The one hitch was his status. The pale green badges were rather large deals even beyond the Floating Isles from what he had learned. The number of Heaven grade experts was small hence they were highly valued and respected.
Lind did not let it go to his head. While he and Valkyrie disagreed, she was honest and open to him. Others would always have hidden daggers. His nearly 150 years of being alive had shown him that.
"You have worked hard to apply what you learned in the Divine Inheritance to work in the mortal realm, Lind. Even I, who have seen many attempts, can say I am impressed." Senior dragon soul was hanging on but even Lind could feel she was getting weaker every day.
"Your lessons and guidance helped speed it up, senior. I also always wanted to try out certain ideas and had a lot of time to test it. We can only do it once due to using my resources, but it should act as a warning." Lind had an almost evil smile.
He had pushed every expert in the sect but what he taught them had been mind breaking for many. The fragility of a mortal realm was not truly understood until now. Lind knew that even if spies were seeded in, they would not be able to warn anyone in time as they did not fully grasp what he was doing.
He smiled as the same jade stone lit up once more.
"It is time, Master Frey." Tessa sounded nervous but for once, Lind had superior knowledge. It was simply a lack of resources that held them back. There would be some that did not understand what he was about to do but there would be those that did.
"Everyone, we are a go. Light up for me." Lind spoke to his room but an array of crystals embedded into his desk lit up in sequence until all were glowing brightly until the final demon crystal lit. He then did something only he could do.
The Qi in the air churned to his command as his soul began to feel weaker as if a massive chunk had been taken but not as damage. The only comparison he could give it was stamina. It was as if the sustaining reservoir had been drained, but unlike the body, it took a lot longer to recover.
He could function normally but a soul attack would have a much higher success rate during his recovery.
In midair, above the desk, lines began to appear. It was a simply set of sigils but the massive cost showed his inexperience. The sigils then floated down until landing on the desk and attaching to each crystal.
The light of Qi began to exponentially rise around the Moebius Sect. Many had left as the rumors and attacks had occurred. Some left because they were from the sects and powers allied with the Heavenly Maiden Sect so went where commanded. Others left because they saw danger with 2 supreme powers opposed to the sect.
Lind did not blame them. They, however, would not be welcome to return so easily. As he looked out at the walls and streets, they all lit up as people looked down in curiosity. A few cultivators became concerned but it was all too late.
"Goodbye, Sarth. The bird has to leave the nest to fly." As if his words were the key, the Qi finally rose into the sky over the sect and connected a complex set of arrays into a massive formation.
Anyone with an inkling of formations would feel the profound patterns but then the scary part began. The void opened around them as the blue sky became a bottomless pit of no hope or chance to live. It was brief, but it was necessary.
The ground shook and all the screams rose but Lind knew the formation would protect them as they were swallowed into the void. Just as all hope was lost, a massive landmass appeared in the void. It was a mix of stone and earth.
People blinked but it happened at that moment.
The Moebius Sect vanished from the central location on Sarth Continent and a stretch of stone with desert took its place. It had a few beasts but nothing too dangerous. The heavy traces of Qi were dangerous but quickly dissipating.
Anyone watching on could only be in shock as Moebius Sect had vanished, but seemingly to have swapped with some other location. Anyone that had been there would recognize the features of Rith.
Moebius Sect had moved as a whole to the Rith Continent!