Chapter 1099 - 852: Afraid You’ll Run Away!

The area was deathly still, as the people had just left. And in the blink of an eye, they had all been wiped out, making the atmosphere among those present a bit heavy. The remaining dozen or so mages from the Sanctuary looked at one another, each hesitant to speak.

"Issue a notice, urgently summon all mages from the Ancient Mage Tower to enter the Imperial City, and put the Imperial City on first-level war readiness! Prepare for full-scale warfare!" Dana said.

Hearing Dana’s order, some ’Ministers’ showed hesitant expressions on their faces. The experiences of the past few planets were still fresh in their minds—whenever all the mages were summoned, something bad invariably happened next. The move itself wasn’t a problem, and Long Yi had also been proven to be out on some distant, desolate planet. But something still felt ominously amiss.

Seeing that the people below wanted to speak but held back, Dana waved her hand and said, "I know what concerns you all have, but gathering our forces is currently the best option. Or would you rather we flee like rats, driven out of this Empire? Maybe you can, but I can’t, I must fight to the end. So, muster your spirits; there’s no room for the slightest neglect. Although I don’t know how those soldiers of the Divine Auffa Empire turned into the Sanctuary, what I do know is that they only have a numerical advantage. In terms of experience and combat strength, they are far inferior to our Ancient Mage Tower!"

Dana’s words actually found agreement among the crowd. The mages present had full confidence in the magic knowledge of their Ancient Mage Tower and firmly believed that no one could defeat them in terms of magic.

Despite this belief, if it were up to them, they would definitely not choose to fight here. But after all, Dana was the Empress, the one who truly commanded, and everyone had no choice but to follow the order.

"Your Majesty the Empress, it now appears that the enemy intends to rescue the Emperor. What should we do?" a mage asked.

"Mobilize all the forces of the Imperial City and head to where the Emperor is imprisoned. Put up a token resistance to buy some time and gauge the full extent of their strength. Then immediately retreat without any direct conflict," Dana said. "Everything else can wait until all our forces have assembled!"

After the battle, the Legion of the Divine Auffa Empire never encountered any more resistance; the enemy had recognized the terrifying nature of this group and naturally didn’t continue to seek their own deaths. Therefore, the entire force moved swiftly forward, pushing on to where the Emperor was held. It was there that Ai Lin finally met the self-proclaimed Empress, Dana, and her party of a hundred followers.

"I thought I was facing some formidable soldiers, yet they’re just a motley crew," Dana said with a sneer, mocking the opposition while boosting the morale of her own people.

"How odd that now all sorts of riffraff dare to call themselves Emperor, not even aware of their own dire straits. No wonder her subordinates are so dim-witted; turns out you’re just as foolish," Ai Lin said loudly, full of scorn.

"What, you think because you defeated a few of my people, you can beat my army?" Dana asked disdainfully.

"Your army?" Ai Lin looked around curiously, "Are you referring to those lackeys who crumbled after just one blow? Or this small group of barely over a hundred people?"

"These hundred plus individuals before you are elite warriors from the Ancient Mage Tower!" Dana declared loudly. The mages by her side roared in unison, unfolding their Sanctuary Halos, and the Resonance of Mana brought an increase in magic power and a boost to their confidence.

"Do these elite warriors have access rights above level five?" Ai Lin still wore a mocking face.

That hit a nerve. In the Ancient Mage Tower, access rights meant everything. If you lacked the rights, you were nothing. With one comment, Ai Lin stripped everyone down to their true stature.

"Look at that, fallen silent? But I know, in the Ancient Mage Tower, the most important thing is access rights, isn’t it? If you really had such high access rights, would you be running around as lackeys for a fool? Obviously, your days in the Ancient Mage Tower weren’t so great, and only now at this planet have you realized that the surface dwellers you despised—even a regular family—is a hundred times stronger than you. And in the so-called noble Ancient Mage Tower, you were nothing but silent, wretched worms, hearts full of superiority but without the matching rewards. Isn’t that particularly galling? So you come here to play house, to play being Emperor, to play being Minister? Do you know how to govern a country? Do you know the formulas for collecting taxes? Do you know how to manage disasters? Do you understand urban development and management? Look, you understand none of these things, you’re just a bunch of wastes living everyday in a giant ship; if we speak nicely, that’s the Ancient Mage Tower, but if we speak frankly, it’s nothing but a wasteland for garbage!"

Ai Lin’s words could be said to be the ultimate in mockery, striking at the hearts of each Ancient Mage Tower mage present.

Indeed, in the Ancient Mage Tower, they were all lowest-tier mages, busying about every day with work that never seemed to end. But upon arriving here, they had shockingly discovered that the surface people they always looked down upon were living far better lives! It was exactly this inexplicable pride and envy mixed together that had twisted them.

Now Ai Lin highlighted everything thoroughly, leaving some people overwhelmed with shame, while many others were furious to the point of thundering rage! They were nearly incapable of containing their anger, yearning to unleash their strongest magic and kill Ai Lin on the spot!

At this moment, they were waiting for an order, waiting for Dana’s order. Without an order, no one could take action on their own.

Dana stayed silent, listening, as uncontainable rage ignited within her. Although she called herself Emperor here, she really had no idea how to be one, even the very process of holding an audience with the Emperor had to be taught on the spot by the ceremonial officer of the previous Emperor. Dana often discussed with the former Emperor about what it took to be one, and every time she was told, "Give it up; an Emperor needs not mana, but knowledge. You lack that knowledge, even if told, you wouldn’t understand."

In fact, up to now, the country was practically running on its own, the same as it was before the previous Emperor left. She and her ’Ministers,’ although having issued some orders, had only caused chaos instead of help.

Dana was unwilling to accept it, but she had to, for it was the truth.

But to have that truth spoken out loud by Ai Lin and thrown in her face?

Even though Dana had warned herself to stay restrained, she nearly lost control of her emotions.

"So you really think you’ve lived long enough!" Dana’s eyes were filled with fury as she glared at Ai Lin.

"Even if I have lived enough, it’s not up to you; your wisdom and your mana are no match for mine," Ai Lin said unapologetically.

Dana was on the verge of madness. When had she, who grew up bathed in the fame of being a prodigy, ever been mocked like this? She was breathing heavily when suddenly an idea came to her.

"Since you’re so confident, do you dare to face me in a one-on-one duel?" Dana’s face regained its confidence.

"Since you’re begging for a lesson, why not? I’m always generous," Ai Lin said nonchalantly. The two aides by Ai Lin’s side immediately tried to dissuade her: "My lord! Absolutely not! It must be a trap!" At that moment, Ai Lin was disguised as someone else, and the aides did not realize it was her. If they had known, they would probably have been cheering already.

"Right, I’d advise you to stay safely under the protection of others. What if it is a trap?" Seeing the reaction of the other aides, Dana grew even more confident that this commander did not seem very strong.

"It’s okay, breaking traps is what I do best. Everyone from their side is here, and even if they had started to mobilize the full force of the Ancient Mage Tower to the Imperial City from the moment we arrived, it would take at least two days to get here. After all, we have just destroyed all the Teleportation Gates," Ai Lin said carelessly.

Dana was shocked. The Teleportation Gates destroyed? When did that happen? How did I not know? She turned to look at her subordinates, who was equally baffled.

"Remember!" Ai Lin called out loudly to her soldiers, "All the schemes and tricks, no matter how frightening they may seem, ultimately require people to carry them out! And if we are stronger than them, we have no reason to fear any schemes! Got it?"

"Got it!"

A thousand people roared in unison, the sound thunderous.

Then Ai Lin slowly rose into the air, positioning herself between the two sides, while Dana also stepped forward facing Ai Lin.

"I know you’ve been buying time, hoping for your reinforcements. Weren’t you particularly desperate when you heard me say I had destroyed all the Teleportation Gates?" Ai Lin asked with a smile.

"What are you talking about? I don’t understand!" Dana said sullenly, her pride in her intelligence feeling crushed for some reason.

"No worries, you wouldn’t understand with your intelligence, and you don’t need to worry. After I defeat you, I’ll be sure to explain it to you!"

Dana, however, thunderously unfolded her Auffa Halo from behind her hands: "Defeat me? You won’t have the chance!"

Dana struck first, launching her practiced magic. Since this was not an army battle, she specifically chose the spells she was most skilled at in the hope of accomplishing a combo attack. But Ai Lin was far more agile than she had imagined. Her initial spells were all dodged by Ai Lin mid-air. If the initial spells didn’t hit, then the subsequent spells were even less likely to.

Dana was extremely anxious; she had never encountered an opponent who could evade spells so nimbly in midair, especially one who had not even deployed any Auffa Halo!

Dammit!

Dana, now enraged, abandoned her plan of chaining a set of spells at her opponent and instead chose the most suitable spells for the moment, trying to adapt as the battle unfolded. This time she had some success, some of her spells limiting Ai Lin’s movements, forcing her to expend more energy to dodge.

Yet even so, Dana had unleashed over a dozen spells so far and not a single one had hit Ai Lin!

At this point, Dana was inwardly frantic; things weren’t going as she had expected.

"Is dodging all you can do?" Dana shouted.

Ai Lin just giggled and said, "I’m afraid if I make a move, you won’t be able to withstand it and will flee immediately." (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation votes and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users can go to m.qidian.com to read.)