Chapter 26: Abducted?
Chapter 26: Abducted?
Logan and Claire looked at each other with apprehension in their eyes.
The disappearance of the soul mark could only mean that Davis had either died or the soul mark they had placed on his soul had been erased by some method.
The soul mark Logan left had been relatively gentle, not leaving an ounce of heaviness or restriction in Davis's soul. Hence, the soul mark can also be easily dealt with by any Third Stage Soul Forging Cultivators without much trouble.
Logan and Claire clearly trembled, wanting to rush to see Davis's wellbeing, yet now, they could only hope that Hendrickson had rescued Davis in time.
There was a moment of silence before a voice sounded out.
"Do you promise not to touch the Ruthless Sword Sect and Piercing Dragon Sect?" The two Sect Leaders who were behind Logan came forward together.
"Of course, I have heard of your famous names across the continent, Sect Leader Heian and Sect Leader Pedro."
"Good, then we'll sit this one out." Heian, the Sect Leader of Ruthless Sword Sect, accepted and withdrew.
"Your Majesty, this isn't considered betrayal as we are just going to watch from the side-lines. The result doesn't concern us as we are staying out of this mess." Pedro, the Sect Leader of Piercing Dragon Sect, gave out some trivial reasons as he moved out of their way.
Logan didn't even glance at them and was just looking at the two Emperors coldly.
"Anyone else? Our promise still stands, and we absolutely won't attack anyone who stays out of this war." Emperor Raven still expected some people to defect as he could see some hesitation in the two Noble Family Heads.
The two Noble Family Heads looked like they were in deep contemplation.
After a few seconds of consideration, they raised their heads and declared, "We will stand by the Loret Empire; hence, nothing will stand in our way to protect our Empire."
"Hmm?" Not expecting the two Noble Family Heads to reject, Emperor Raven frowned.
"Hahaha!"
Logan laughed heartily. He didn't expect that this would happen, but he held hope. After all, the three families crossed the rebellion together.
"Emperor Raven, do you think that those who have crossed the rebellion with me can betray the Empire or me that easily? If they wanted to betray, they would've done it long ago during the rebellion." Logan indifferently said.
"So what? I've still got a proposal. Oh, Little Emperor, we both know that we don't have to harm each other. If we fight, we cannot say who might win this battle." Emperor Tritor abruptly said.
"Heh... What is this? Are you backing out?" Logan sneered.
"It isn't we who needs to back out, but you!" Emperor Raven shot a look at Claire, who was beside Logan.
"Hmm? What's this? Isn't the Empress pregnant? What a joyous affair! Do you want to see your wife brutally murdered and violated before you die?" Emperor Tritor shouted out, his voice echoing throughout the battlefield.
"You dare!?" Logan immediately tried to rush out but received a soul transmission, prompting him to a halt.
"Dear! Don't go! They're provoking you!" Claire shouted in his mind.
Her stomach was a little bloated, as a baby was forming inside her womb.
Logan stopped but shot a glance filled with hatred towards these two bastard Emperors.
He could only swallow down this humiliation. If he went out to fight, one would hold him back while the other might do something worse to Claire.
"That's why I've got an idea. Why don't we play a game? We make our armies fight each other.
"Isn't the end already clear? You bastards will surely win! What is this game for? Further humiliation?" Logan gritted his teeth and shouted in anger.
"Are you up for this game or not?" The two Emperors further laughed, clearly wanting to humiliate him before enjoying the looted riches.
Logan gnashed his teeth so hard that blood was coming out his mouth. His eyes spewed flames of anger and hatred.
If he made a move, he could say goodbye to Claire without a doubt, but if he doesn't make a move, then his army will be decimated.
'I thought I would be able to die proudly defending my Empire! Naïve, I was too naïve! I couldn't give my family up! I'm a failure of an Emperor.' His palms were bleeding as he put so much pressure with his fingers while tightly clenching his fists.
He wanted nothing more than to ruthlessly hack them to pieces, but he was powerless to do so!
At this time, he received a sound transmission from Hendrickson. His face immediately turned ugly.
"What did you do to my son!?"
"Oh? Did the assassins I sent succeed? No worries, I will release your son if you accept the game and win."
Claire became stunned for a second.
"Nooo!!" She miserably let out a scream hearing the conversation between them.
'No!!! Am I going to lose him again? I don't want to lose him again!! This isn't happening, no, no, no, no!!!' She almost started having a mental breakdown while hovering in the air.
Logan grit his teeth as he wished that he could kill and slice their corpses into ten thousand pieces. He wished that he could subject them to every available torture method in this world.
"Your Majesty, allow me and my subordinates to leave our lives for the Empire." A voice could be heard behind him. He checked behind to see Commander Randal kneeling in front of him.
"You all will die..." Logan replied, his voice heavy and sorrowful.
Randal kowtowed, "I know, we just request your Majesty to give us a chance to prove ourselves on the battlefield, that we aren't cowards who would run without facing our enemies. Please let us get back the honor we lost in the Alfred Kingdom."
Logan became moved. He etched this scene into his heart as he turned back to look at those two Emperors and unwaveringly said.
"I agree!"
"Good, let's sit back and enjoy this show to our heart's content!" Emperor Tritor laughed as he returned towards their camp.
An army of 2,500,000 soldiers marched outside the Imperial Capital.
Raven Empire had 1,000,000 soldiers, while the Tritor Empire had about 1,500,000 soldiers.
They were all cultivators, and most of them were at the First Stage while some of them were at the Second Stage, and very few were at the Third Stage, most likely the captains and commanders. As for their Supreme Commanders, perhaps they were at the Fourth Stage.
Soldiers mostly trained in Essence Gathering Cultivation and secondly in Body Tempering Cultivation. Hence, their Soul Forging Cultivation could be said to be pretty much non-existent or extremely weak.
Soul Forging Cultivation Manuals were a luxury, and perhaps over 95% of the population in the Grand Sea Continent does not have access to it. Hence, the road to training in Soul Forging Cultivation required status, wealth, talent, and luck.
Looking at their line-up, most people of the Loret Empire realized that their enemies probably conducted a mass recruiting in their Empires to invade their Empire, but no one knew if this matter was true or not.
The soldiers of the Raven Empire were clad in black armor while the Tritor Empire's soldiers were clad in reddish-grey armor.
An army of 1,000,000 soldiers stood outside the gates of the Imperial Capital. They were the soldiers of the Loret Empire. They were clad in blue armor, and their presence on the battlefield was imposing and heavy, but their counterpart released a heavier presence and pressure at them, rendering their courage and battle experience almost useless.
The Loret Empire's army line-up was the same as the invading empire, only having experts up to the Third Stage when excluding the Supreme Army Commander, Randal.
A war filled with cultivators wasn't like a mortal's war. Whoever possessed the greatest fist ends up winning, but the Loret Empire seemed to have only one such individual while the other two Empires possessed many.
"Hoho, this is pretty pitiable, why don't we add something into the fray?" Emperor Raven shook his head and laughed.
"You are right, jejeje! Little Emperor, you can call people from the Imperial Capital to fight for you. Anyone below the Third Stage is welcome..." Emperor Tritor added fuel to the flames.
Logan had an ugly expression on his face. Involving the people of the Empire was forbidden as the morale would drop, and even his own people might defect. Not only would he become a laughing stock, but all the other empires might besmirch him at the same time.
Logan's pupils trembled as he could see that this war is... utterly hopeless.