Tales of the Endless Empire
Chapter 173: The Last Preparations Before Stage Four (2)

"Maike, please let everyone in this base know that Jim is under the control of the witches and that the blessing might have negative effects," Thalion sent to Maike using his token so that no one else could listen in after Amalia and Jim left the meeting.

"Sure! Should I add a few more horror stories about what the witches have been doing? By the way, I recorded this conversation with one of the new tokens I bought. Would it be bad if that recording somehow found its way to the citizens of this base?" Maike replied enthusiastically, grinning broadly.

"Yep, I think you should do exactly that," Thalion sent back, now feeling much better about the situation.

With everyone in the base aware of Jim’s situation and the witches’ intentions, far fewer people would accept the blessing. Many might even reject Jim as their religious leader, despite his higher blessing, once they realized he was nothing more than a puppet with the witches pulling the strings.

The witches were openly hated ever since their true nature had been exposed.

At some point, Thalion would have to deal with them one way or another. There was no doubt anymore: peaceful coexistence with them was impossible. Eventually, they would come for his head.

The only reason he hadn’t already killed them was to keep the blessed in check so that no one would come after him.

Getting rid of the witches might be more difficult than he first thought. Their network stretched far and wide throughout the city. They might not have been strong in direct combat or at least, that’s what they wanted people to think but they definitely had tricks up their sleeves, especially when it came to running and hiding.

Aside from that, their classes weren’t all that impressive once someone knew what they really were.

Afterward, the council discussed their battle strategy against the undead in more detail.

Most mages could fly and would be able to bombard the enemy lines from above. However, flying was extremely exhausting, and they wouldn’t be able to stay airborne for long. The vampires would likely have many aerial fighters as well. Thalion and the council hoped that their skyships would give them the advantage.

The skyships wouldn’t just be used to attack the undead. They would also be essential for resupplying airborne fighters with resources via magic circles.

On the ground, they would rely mostly on heavy warriors, as most of them lacked any kind of flying ability.

That was something Thalion never understood. Why didn't they pick a flying skill? Flying was the coolest thing in the world!

The only real issue was what to do with the healers. If they were positioned too close to the frontline warriors, they would be targeted and killed first. But if they were stationed too far away, they wouldn’t be able to provide effective support.

In the end, they decided to position the healers on the battlements and the skyships. From there, they would be close enough to the battlefield to heal effectively but difficult for the enemy to reach.

There were further discussions about what the smiths and alchemists were working on but that was quickly solved too. Most of the people already got good equipment and most of the smiths would turn to crafting munition, while some would continue to work on armors and weapons.

Before long, Thalion left. He still had some time before the battle and wanted to focus on cultivation until then.

Back in the basement, he swallowed two more of the shrunken blue crystals as a Tidecaller Serpent. Then, as an Umbral Predator, he filled his belly with enchanted plants before throwing himself onto the gravity array.

Every half hour, he shifted between his different forms. Each one needed as many stat as possible.

The Time passed quickly until it was finally time to activate the teleportation.

Thalion was as ready as he could be, his body brimming with anticipation.

He was now dangerously close to level seventy five. The Sanguine Thorn was as powerful as ever. Eagly had fully embraced the storm and was a true airborne monster. The Umbral Predator had fallen behind in upgrades, but the Elemental was steadily growing in strength.

With a bit of luck, he could even transform the three earth-based skills he had stolen from the termites into darkness-attuned abilities.

Before reaching the fifth stage, Thalion wanted to fuse with the darkness elemental.

The fifth stage was likely where the true powerhouses of the undead faction would be waiting and he needed as much strength as possible then.

Politically, the situation was looking good as well.

The witches still had control over the other blessed, preventing them from acting independently. That made them a growing problem, but Thalion doubted they would make a move as long as the undead remained a major threat.

All in all, things were going well.

With a smile, Thalion activated the teleportation, and 16,204 people, along with the entire base, were transported to the fourth stage.

<--

Seraphina exited the system shop and appeared above her palace.

The last few weeks had been incredibly difficult—far from a pleasure. Her newfound rival, Nerissa, was growing in power at an alarming rate and seemingly didn’t care at all about her patron’s commands. Now, Seraphina understood why.

Her patron was preoccupied with other matters, as her domain appeared to be under attack by other gods. Even though Seraphina was blessed, it seemed the goddess didn’t have all the information. She knew that the system prevented gods from retaining memories of people in the tutorial, but she had assumed that receiving a blessing would lift this restriction. At least for the god who bestowed it. Now, however, it seemed that even blessed gods still lost some memories. Not as many as they would have without the blessing, but still a concerning amount.

She had already spoken to her patron multiple times about Nerissa’s growing power and the likelihood that she was planning to kill Seraphina. Yet, each time, the goddess seemed surprised, only to forget again soon after. It was infuriating.

So much so that Seraphina had finally decided to purchase the sacrificial ritual from the system shop. Constructing it would take some time, but it was far easier than she had initially expected.

All she needed was a crimson-red crystal the size of her fist. The ritual’s range was vast—large enough to sacrifice everyone in her palace. And that was exactly what she intended to do.

Her fingers clenched tightly around the crystal, and she caught herself repeatedly brushing her hair back. It was a massive risk, and she could only hope her patron would never ask what had happened.

There were twenty-five blessed in her palace, along with the rest of the inhabitants, who had been baptized either by her or by Nerissa but mostly by Nerissa. That had been one of Nerissa’s tactics to gather more supporters.

Seraphina’s eyes sharpened with anger at the thought of the little girl, who was gaining power at an alarming rate, not just politically but also in strength.

She wasn’t even sure she could defeat Nerissa in a one-on-one battle anymore, given how much the girl had progressed.

But now, she would reap the rewards of her ritual.

The entire sacrificial ritual was simple. All she had to do was infuse the crystal with enough power, and a circle would begin forming in the air above the palace. Once it reached the desired size, she could activate it.

That was where things would get interesting.

If she had understood the instructions correctly, the activated circle would pull the souls from every body within range and use them to empower her even further.

Seraphina would have to overpower each person in a contest of will. To prepare, she had been training her soul day and night. She had even purchased additional treasures that would temporarily boost her soul’s strength.

There was no question that she couldn’t overpower everyone at once—but fortunately, she had the option to do it one by one.

Once the ritual was activated, they would likely attack her. Her position on the highest tower of the palace made her an easy target.

That’s why she had installed multiple mana shields around herself.

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And these shields were no mere barriers. No one should be able to break through them quickly.

Seraphina didn’t want to kill everyone, so she had already sent some of her servants, along with the best craftsmen and alchemists, out of the palace.

Soon, the system shop would close. Once that happened, no one would be able to escape.

In just six hours, the entire palace, along with everyone inside, would be teleported to the fifth stage.

The good thing was that anyone who had accepted the group teleportation could no longer trigger an individual teleportation to leave.

This was crucial because it cut off one of the only escape routes for those inside.

Additionally, she would deactivate their tokens and activate the outer wall barriers. This would trap them within the palace, making it incredibly difficult for them to break through the shields on their own.

Even if they managed to escape with combined effort, only a handful would make it out—and she could easily catch up and kill them.

Once the ritual was complete and everyone in the palace was dead, she would become far stronger.

Then, she would have nothing to fear—not the vampires, and certainly not someone like Nerissa.

Murder gleamed in her eyes as she watched the last few people enter the palace.

Most people had to stay inside overnight.

Hunting was difficult enough during the day, but at night, the wilderness was absolute chaos. Only the strongest could survive outside the palace walls.

As the last person stepped inside, Seraphina activated the defense formation, triggering multiple layers of mana shields.

So far, no one had noticed her standing atop the tallest tower of her palace.

With her command token, she deactivated all the personal tokens that had been distributed.

Then, she activated the outer barriers.

A shimmering blue dome enveloped the palace.

Seraphina held the crimson-red crystal before her and activated the ritual.

The amount of mana it consumed was insane, but she was standing within a magic circle that instantly replenished her mana pool.

Ten meters above her, the outline of a glowing red circle began to form, matching the crystal’s hue.

As time passed, more and more runes appeared along the edges of the circle.

At first, it was only two meters wide, but as Seraphina continued to channel mana into the ritual, it steadily grew larger.

The circle expanded and expanded.

By the time it reached ten meters in diameter, the sheer power radiating from it was immense.

Still, she kept pushing.

At first, no one noticed what was happening.

But when the ritual circle reached twenty meters across, people began pointing up at her in alarm.

Now, crimson light shone down on the people below her.

It didn’t take long before she saw Nerissa storming out of the palace, looking up at her. Panic was rising rapidly, with many people now screaming.

Nerissa and some of her goons summoned a river below them and quickly surfed up toward Seraphina. They shouted at her and launched attacks at the barrier in front of her.

Seraphina grinned as she noticed that Nerissa was the first to strike—her followers hesitated at first but soon followed suit. However, when they realized that the mana barrier was far too strong to be pierced, they retreated back down, where thousands of people were now gathered.

Her sacrifices desperately tried to destroy the ritual circle in the sky, but the moment a wave of ice magic hit it, it instantly began reforming. Restoring the damage required more mana, but Seraphina had more than enough to sustain it.

She smirked down at them, especially when she saw even Nerissa beginning to panic. Hundreds of people ran toward the exits, but the gates were locked, and the shields were active.

They were trapped with her.

A laugh escaped her lips as she watched the first people slam into the shield sorounding the palace, still expecting to pass right through it as they normally would.

Meanwhile, the ritual circle continued expanding as attacks hammered against the palace gates. The gates were shielded, but there were weak points—something that annoyed Seraphina as one of the builders pointed them out to Nerissa and the other strong fighters.

It didn’t take too long before the ritual circle completely enveloped the palace.

With a mental command, Seraphina activated the ritual.

Immediately, she could feel every soul within its range—or was it lifeforce? She wasn’t entirely sure.

With her current vision, she couldn’t distinguish individuals, so she simply started from the center and worked her way outward.

The people tried to resist, but she ripped their souls—or their lifeforce—straight from their bodies. There was no point in struggling. She was simply too powerful, and being the ritual’s caster gave her a massive advantage in this battle of will.

With each kill, her power grew—and the next soul became even easier to take.

There must have been dozens of system notifications, but she had no time to check them.

Then something happened.

Someone had escaped the ritual.

No—many had escaped.

She redoubled her efforts, killing as quickly as possible.

How frustrating!

She was so close to finishing, and yet someone had actually managed to break through the gate or pass the shield.

Annoying.

But she was almost done—just a few more.

When the last life faded from within the ritual circle, leaving only her own, she opened her eyes and ended the ritual.

Power coursed through her body.

She felt reborn.

This had definitely been the right decision.

But as she stepped forward, intending to leave the ritual circle, she realized something was wrong.

She was still connected to it.

The ritual hadn’t ended.

As the collapsing ritual pulled in more and more power, it forcefully surged into her body.

At first, it felt exhilarating.

Then it hurt.

And then—

Darkness.

She lost consciousness.

When she woke up, barely a minute had passed.

The ritual was finally over.

Her body ached. In some places, her skin had vaporized or burned away entirely. She quickly drank a healing potion, sighing in relief as her wounds closed.

The air around her hummed with energy.

She was stronger than ever. Much stronger.

Not just by a little—she had gained over sixty stat points.

And that wasn’t all.

Her body was now far more attuned to mana. Her soul had reached an entirely new level.

She threw her hands toward the sky and let out a triumphant scream.

But there was no time to waste.

Quickly gathering her thoughts, Seraphina sent a mental command to the people she had sent away earlier. It was time for them to return. They wouldn’t survive the night outside the walls.

With that done, she activated her movement skill and shot toward the broken gate, where over twenty people had managed to escape.

She would find them and kill every single one of them.

There wasn’t a shred of doubt in her mind.

Even though some of them had reached E-grade, it didn’t matter.

Seraphina flew through the barrier and followed the lingering mana from their water-based skills.

It didn’t take long before she spotted Nerissa and the group. It were just over twenty who escaped her ritual.

They were forty meters underwater, speeding toward land.

Not that it would matter. Seraphina was faster.

Nerissa must have noticed because, with a look of shock, she led the group upward.

The entire party burst through the surface and started surfing along the waves, gaining some speed but not enough.

It only confirmed how much stronger Seraphina had become.

Unlike them, she didn’t even bother surfacing.

She stayed underwater, cutting through the ocean like a blade.

Her body tempering was so advanced that she was actually faster beneath the waves than on the surface.

It wouldn’t be long now.

She was catching up fast.

A wild smile played around her lips when she thought of how she would tear Nerissa apart, limb by limb.