Chapter 333 Still in Progress

At the middle-aged mage’s words, Shaoke merely smiled, then gestured for the mages to leave the area. "You want to seize my mage tower?" Shaoke quickly twirled his staff. "Is it necessary to go to such lengths to snatch a few mage towers?" With that, he stopped spinning the staff.

"No, we are not seizing your mage tower; we aim to trade for it." The Middle-aged Mage shrugged, made an elegant bow, and added: "Furthermore, we have letters from the previous owners of these mage towers. They have decided to transfer those towers to us, along with some control rights over the academy." The mage then produced some papers with writing that showed the previous owners' intentions. However, Shaoke did not bother to look at them.

"Don't talk to me about this. Everything here is mine. If you’re here to plunder..." With that, Shaoke lightly waved his arm. Upon receiving the signal, the White-robed Cleric immediately used the control stone pillar to tightly seal the only door of the mage tower.

"We will provide you with some money and magic materials as compensation," said the Middle-aged Mage, a hint of panic in his voice as the stone door closed. "Our Orpheus Family will never let you be shortchanged in this deal." Emphasizing his point, he added, "Besides, even if you refuse our terms, you’ll still have to deal with the Mage Guild’s threats. So I suggest you think carefully whether you would rather offend the Orpheus Family or the Mage Guild."

"Don't talk to me about that. Death is your only way out for trespassing on my territory today." With that, Shaoke waved his staff, signaling the Cleric to begin controlling the mage tower for an attack. He first activated his own Defensive Spell, then instantly cast two Fourth Rank Rending Rays to strike these intruders.

Everything went smoothly. With the help of the mage tower, not a single one of the twenty-odd professionals survived; after all, the highest among them was only a Sixth Tier Mage. Facing a mage tower that could continuously cast Sixth Rank spells, no one could survive. Moreover, Shaoke's spells were even more powerful; almost every spell he cast took down a professional.

"Perhaps we should have discussed this with them properly," Mage Roman said worriedly, looking at Shaoke. She didn't understand why he had killed these mages so quickly. Shaoke summoned some low-rank mages and had them cut off the heads of the corpses, then placed them not far from the mage tower.

"If we had talked with them today, others would come to negotiate with us tomorrow. I'm sick of people making demands on me now." With that, Shaoke swung his staff forcefully. He didn’t care even about Eighth Tier Mages, much less low-level beings.

Faced with Shaoke's stubbornness, Mage Roman could only shake her head helplessly. She didn't know why he had taken to using violence to make his point. Of course, she had no idea that under the influence of the golden horn's imprint, Shaoke was gradually revealing his true nature—a fact even he hadn't noticed.

News of the deaths of over twenty professionals from the Orpheus Family quickly spread among the major forces and organizations. They were astonished that Shaoke's weak organization had done such a thing. After all, the Orpheus Family was an extremely large family; it was said that even some people in the military dared not provoke them.

On the night after the Orpheus Family members died, hundreds of professionals of all kinds stormed the Fallen Academy and found Shaoke's mage tower. They intended to punish him for the killings.

Shaoke had only controlled the mage tower for three or four years, and while he couldn't control it completely, it was good enough for defense. Under Shaoke's orders, all thirteen mage towers instantly activated their defensive spells and launched a frenzy of magical attacks on anyone who entered their range. This continued until dawn.

"Mage Xueye, if you do not make amends for the deaths of our Orpheus Family members, this Fallen Academy will never function properly again." With that, the speaker signaled his mages to continue attacking Shaoke's mage tower, indifferent to whether the magical explosions harmed others.

"Continue the attack," Shaoke sat calmly atop the mage tower and, through a magical link, told the mages inside to work the arrays for a furious assault. This time, all attacks were area-of-effect spells. He cared even less about the consequences of unleashing these spells here. He also sent messages to Mage Roman and the Cleric, telling them to unleash area spells as well, without worrying where they landed.

Since last night, the students of the Fallen Academy had already fled the area as the battle began.

Shaoke's orders were extremely reckless. Under this chaotic, indiscriminate attack, almost everything in the Fallen Academy was devastated. Flames began to rage within the city. Shaoke deliberately instructed the mage towers to cast only fire-type spells. He wanted to set the Fallen Imperial Capital ablaze, to destroy it with fire.

This battle had already drawn the attention of the major forces, but they didn't care. Moreover, the Orpheus Family had already discussed with them beforehand; they were not to interfere in this battle, including the Death Mage Corps.

But Shaoke's command to have all mage towers frantically cast fire-type spells into the surroundings caused considerable trouble for the major forces. Many buildings in the city were wooden, and under these flames, large areas began to burn. Although they organized many professionals to intercept and extinguish the spells, they didn’t dare let the fire spread.

"Can't the Orpheus Family send an Eighth-order being here?" Just as Shaoke was directing the mage towers to release spells, a rough voice came from above. Then an eighth-order being in warrior garb flew down and hovered, signaling everyone to stop. Shaoke recognized his identity and then signaled his men to cease.

Though Shaoke's side stopped, the Orpheus Family members continued their assault; they had lost over a hundred low-order professionals in the battle and had no intention of stopping.

A loud explosion suddenly rang out, and after it, no more fighting occurred in the ruined Fallen Academy. The Eighth Tier Warrior had descended from the sky and slammed heavily into the ground where the Orpheus Family had gathered. His impact left a pit three to five meters deep on the ground and killed dozens of Low-order Warriors and mages.

"I think now we should have a proper discussion," the Eighth Tier Warrior said, returning to the sky. He was an Eighth-order being previously sent here by the Blue Feather Empire, and had once helped Shaoke in a brief conflict with an Eighth Tier Mage.

"Orpheus Family, leave here immediately, or you will stay here forever." With that, the Eighth Tier Warrior swung the flail in his hand. "Who allowed you to fight inside the city? I don't want this to happen again, or I will erase every trace of your Orpheus Family here." He swung the flail forcefully.

The flail whistled through the air, and a pale golden light fell to the ground, splitting it with a crack dozens of meters long.

Under the forceful demand of this Eighth Tier Warrior, the surviving Orpheus professionals quickly withdrew. However, before leaving, they stated that Shaoke would have to pay a price for this. Then they departed. But Shaoke paid no attention to their words.

"Doing this will anger a lot of people," said the Eighth Tier Warrior as he slowly descended before Shaoke's mage tower. He signaled for Shaoke to open the door and let him in. Without much thought, Shaoke quickly agreed. He also sent a message to Mage Roman and the Cleric, telling them to rest together in one mage tower. Then he talked with this Eighth Tier Warrior.

"Who is displeased?" Shaoke asked, twisting the corner of his mouth. The bloodshot red in his eyes was gradually fading.

"The Death Mage Corps, the leaders of other major organizations and families here," the Eighth Tier Warrior said, casually finding a chair to sit on. "What you did today has wrecked so much of the Blue Feather Empire’s years of work here." He picked up the wine Shaoke had poured for him and drank it in one gulp.

"You mean the Fallen Academy?" Shaoke also poured himself some wine. "We built it ourselves back then. I'll deal with it as I see fit. The order in the Fallen Imperial Capital was also built by us so-called weak organizations. I'll do as I please." He gripped his cup tightly and added, "Don't they want to seize control of the Fallen Imperial Capital? If I can't have it, they won't get it either. I'll burn it all down." As he spoke, his face, still that of a man in his twenties, twisted in anger.