Chapter 790: Three Water Blades

The Flame also carried a large land bird, Loki.

In the great sea battle, Liszt had no intention of showing off by riding a dragon—that would be far too ostentatious, like using a cannon to kill a fly. So he just brought Loki with him, planning to ride him and capture sky knights.

Loki was only a mid-tier dragon beast with mediocre flying speed, but his incredible leaping ability allowed him to jump from one ship to another. This made him particularly suited for ship-to-ship combat, where he could catch fleeing sky knights. The only thing to be careful of was dodging arrows, as Loki was just a slightly stronger dragon beast with poor defenses.

From the third day onward, the Sapphire fleet encountered ships from the Kingdom of the Eagle. Unsurprisingly, these scattered vessels, even if claiming to be merchant ships, were captured and seized. By the fourth day, the encounters grew more frequent, and by the fifth day, they faced entire fleets.

For the first five days, Liszt hardly intervened, as he saw few sky knights and couldn’t be bothered competing with the Sapphire knights for glory.

But by the sixth day, the fleet had reached the nearshore waters of the Kingdom of the Eagle, where resistance grew stiffer.

By then, many sky knights from the Kingdom of the Eagle were active on the ships. Seeing this, Liszt gleefully rode Loki around, singling out any cocky knights—those overpowering the Sapphire knights—and charging at them.

He captured them and dumped them onto the Flame’s ships.

Over the sixth, seventh, and eighth days, as the fleet struck along the coast, Liszt captured a total of five sky knights. Unfortunately, the strongest among them was just a Sword Saint Earl. Fleets from the Kingdom of the Eagle rarely deployed powerful sky knights, especially since lords seldom ventured to sea.

After all, the ocean was the Sapphire Duchy’s domain, and high lords weren’t about to risk their necks.

However, starting from the ninth day, the Sapphire fleet arrived at the first confirmed harbor of the Kingdom of the Eagle—the port of Rubble City.

Rubble City was a new settlement, built just over a decade ago, but it was a full-fledged port city with numerous shipyards. It was almost certain that this city was constructed after the Kingdom of the Eagle acquired shipbuilding technology from the Bull family.

Moreover, Rubble City’s location was strategically placed to avoid areas frequently targeted by the Sapphire Duchy’s annual expansion campaigns, such as Sardine Bay, Muddy Coast, Roaring Estuary, and the Dense Corridor.

Instead, it was built at the mouth of a river called the Scorching River.

"Enemy attack!"

Smoke signals flared, and war horns sounded.

The knights and mages of Rubble City fought back fiercely, but the Sapphire fleet’s knights surged in, laying waste to the port city.

"Charge!"

"Attack!"

"Crush the enemy!"

A cacophony of war cries erupted, shaking the heavens.

Liszt didn’t focus on Rubble City. Instead, he said to Acheronides, "Acheronides, drown out the smoke signals in Rubble City with some water."

"Understood, brother."

For an Archmage, this was a breeze. A torrent of water surged toward Rubble City, extinguishing the barely smoking signal fires before they could spread.

Not a single wisp of smoke rose.

"Knighthood’s glory is with us!" The Sapphire knights roared with even greater fervor. Everyone knew that this expedition had the protection of both a dragon knight and an Archmage—this great sea battle was destined only for victory and spoils, never defeat.

Liszt glanced at Rubble City but did not join the assault.

Instead, he focused his energy on the shipyards near the harbor, disregarding his status and personally leading the knight contingents of Flame Territory, Ox-Tail Territory, and Red Crab Island to plunder these shipyards under construction. Especially the shipbuilding craftsmen—not a single one was spared; all were bound and taken captive onto the ships.

One shipyard was ransacked, then onto the next.

The knight orders guarding the shipyards were already cowed at the sight of Lee William riding a mighty magical beast, let alone expecting a dragon knight to personally lead the raid.

In mere moments.

Liszt had looted all ten nearby shipyards, even barging into those already being raided by the Sapphire knights, forcibly taking the craftsmen. Every shipbuilder was claimed by him, with no intention of leaving any for the Sapphire Duchy.

To dominate the seas, he needed shipbuilding craftsmen.

By the time all the shipyards had fallen, Rubble City remained unconquered. This a half-city, half-fortress port boasted astonishing defenses.

"What incompetent fools!" Liszt sneered, annoyed at the ordinary knights wasting time, though he had no intention of personally storming the city—he still had to maintain some dignity.

Unfortunately.

His forces lacked powerful champions.

Emily hadn’t yet grown strong enough, Parris had only recently achieved her breakthrough, Fox and Jia Xiya were only standard sky knights, and vampires like Mary were even less suited for siege warfare.

"Very well, Acheronides, I leave this to you. Give Rubble City a few water blades."

"Mm." The Small Mermaid’s innocence and purity had long been tainted by Liszt. Apart from him, she felt little connection to other humans.

Raising her hand, she connected to the Magic Web.

Soon, a massive blade of churning water formed above the sea. With a gentle flick, the super magic known as "Chainsaw Ultra-High-Pressure Water Blade" arced toward Rubble City.

Boom!

A single slash cleaved through one of the city’s thick walls—as fragile as tofu despite being two meters thick before the super magic.

After the first strike, Acheronides began preparing a second.

Three slashes later, Rubble City crumbled, and an eerie silence fell over the battlefield. The knights and mages inside the fortress were stunned, as were the besieging knights, all rendered speechless. Their fierce exchange, the exhilarating clash—had suddenly ended.

Yet, aboard the drifting *Flame*, Acheronides merely asked calmly, "Brother, is this enough?"

"It’s enough." Liszt glanced at the ruined city, and couldn't help marveling. Ordinary magic had grown so feeble they could barely participate in war. But in an Archmage, one could still glimpse the shadow of the Moon Empire era, when mages ruled the world.

Truly.

Had the Magic Web not withered, even dragon knights would stand no chance against Archmages. A siege that required only two or three super spells—utterly devastating. In an age where the Magic Web thrived, if mages could freely unleash magic, knights would have been obsolete.

But this era had ultimately abandoned mages. The Magic Web’s decline had nearly crippled ordinary spellcasters.

More importantly, there had been no news of new Archmages for years. Even Acheronides, who barely ascended thanks to mermaid tears and her siren heritage, couldn’t reverse the decline of magic. Of course, Liszt’s initiative to transition mages into scholars was at least a viable path forward.

"I am a knight, so… mages should hurry and adapt, focus on scholarship. Leave world domination to the knights."

Hands clasped behind his back, Liszt watched the knights clean up the battlefield, a faint smile curling his lips.

The only Archmage was Acheronides.

Perfect!