Chapter 276: Chapter 276: The True and False Crowns
Kain Continent.
The main material world where the Second Imaskar Empire is located.
This main material world is not like Faerun, and it lacks a belief in deities, making it a barren land of faith. Thus, it escapes the gaze of the gods.
Moreover, before the arrival of the Second Imaskar Empire, the native species and power structures were ordinary. After the remnants of the ancient Imaskar Empire arrived on this continent, they conquered the entire continent in just about a thousand years, establishing the territory of the Second Imaskar Empire.
Nearly three years have passed since the Seventh Secret of Imaskar was lost.
About two years ago, the royal family of the Second Empire gathered the remaining six Secrets and, using a device capable of bridging the gaps between planar worlds, maximized the sensory connection between the Empire's Secrets in an attempt to locate the world plane where the Seventh Secret resided.
To the Second Empire's surprise, just as the device began to detect a trace of the Seventh Secret, and while the members of the Second Empire were rejoicing, this faint trace disappeared suddenly before it could be fully determined.
It seemed that the creature that took the Seventh Secret knew the Second Imaskar Empire was searching for it and used a method they couldn't decipher to hide the Seventh Secret. Because of the connection between the Secrets, using the other six Secrets, they knew the Seventh was not destroyed, just unlocatable.
Despite this, the Second Imaskar Empire was not discouraged.
The six Secrets remained in the hands of the royal family, not dispersed again.
Almost periodically, they would restart the localization process, never stopping despite consuming vast amounts of precious resources. The Secrets of Imaskar were too important to the empire; they did not want to face a sudden emergence of a Third Empire one day.
There can only be one legitimate successor to the ancient Imaskar Empire's legacy.
In such an unceasing process of localization,
About two months ago, the device suddenly picked up a signal from the Seventh Secret again.
The Second Empire, which had always been diligent in this matter, immediately took it seriously.
Concentrating a large amount of resources, the Second Empire began to localize the Seventh Secret again. Although the signal from the Seventh Secret was vague and intermittent, they believed it wouldn't be long before they could determine its location, snatch it back, make the thief pay a price, and demonstrate the power of being an artificer empire.
The magic shipyard was always ready.
The Second Empire's military forces operated efficiently, with a fleet of magic ships ready to launch at any moment, awaiting the time to reclaim the Imaskar magic ring.
What they didn't know was,
Just recently, before they could pinpoint the location of the Imaskar magic ring,
The current master of the Seventh Secret had quietly arrived at the Kain Continent, on the empire's territory, with the Seventh Secret in tow.
Buzz. Over the vast ocean, a region's space rippled like flowing water.
Two legendary giant dragons crossed the crystalline barrier, their forms shifting from ethereal to solid, arriving in this new main material world.
After completing the planar teleportation, Garon did not immediately put away the Imaskar crown.
Under his control, the Imaskar crown continued to unleash its power, its deep blue glow gently sweeping over the trembling space. In just a few seconds, the planar crystalline barrier, disturbed by the opening of the planar portal, stabilized as if nothing had happened.
The Second Imaskar Empire had not set up a planar barrier on the Kain Continent.
However, they had deployed a network of devices to detect spatial fluctuations.
Once creatures from other planar worlds crossed the crystalline barrier, the disturbances they caused would be emitted and captured.
Then, the relevant departments of the Second Imaskar Empire would deal with the extraplanar creatures.
Facing a vast army of artificers, especially on their territory, even creatures with the ability to cross planes have little chance of contending.
And Garon was aware of this.
If he intended to launch a surprise attack on the Second Imaskar Empire's royal court, he could not alert them prematurely.
As the First Secret of Imaskar, the Imaskar crown could perfectly smooth out spatial fluctuations, erasing the traces of his and Yuna's arrival on the Kain Continent, avoiding early detection by the Second Empire.
After arriving on the Kain Continent, the silver dragon looked around, observing the surrounding scenery.
The azure sky, like a gigantic blue gemstone, was boundless and pure.
Below the gem-like sky was a vast, sparkling ocean, with countless schools of fish swimming freely. Birds occasionally streaked across the sky and the ocean, sometimes swooping down to snatch plump fish or being dragged into the sea themselves, swiftly reversing the roles of predator and prey.
Garon withdrew his gaze from the ocean.
He looked far into the distance, his sight piercing through layers of space with his extraordinary vision, and could make out the vague outline of a continent to the south.
"Guide us to the location of the Second Empire's royal court."
Garon's plan was straightforward.
He intended to execute a decapitation strike.
The artificer army of the Second Imaskar Empire was nearly endless. If Garon and Yuna were dragged into a quagmire of encirclement by the artificer army, even they would find themselves in an extremely difficult situation. After all, their stamina and energy were limited. Facing a vast army alone would easily lead to a loss of initiative, and there were plenty of legendary artificers and artificer creations.
The reason the vast artificer army of the ancient Imaskar Empire could not stop the divine saints wasn't primarily because of the demi-godly power and authority wielded by the saints.
The saints' strength lay in their connection to the divine entities.
A constant flow of extraordinary divine power from the deity to the saint kept them always at their peak. Thus, the numerical advantage of the artificer army and the tactic of overwhelming numbers meant little to the saints. If it weren't for the saints but rather just two dozen demi-gods, they might eventually destroy the ancient Imaskar Empire, but the empire would definitely make them pay a painful price.
With sufficient resources to create artificers, the combat power of an artificer army is beyond imagination.
The Imaskar magic ring knew the location of the Second Empire's royal court.
"As you wish."
Upon receiving Garon's command, the Imaskar magic ring did not hesitate to betray its former holder.
In the eyes of the Imaskar magic ring, those who could not protect it did not deserve to be its master.
Immediately, a spatial coordinate emerged in Garon's mind.
Dimensional anchors and other forms of spatial blockades were set up around the location of the Second Empire's royal court.
Like the artificer pyramid before, ordinary spatial teleportation spells could not reach the location of the empire's royal court.
But Garon had the Imaskar crown.
The First Secret of the ancient Imaskar Empire, when used for spatial teleportation, wouldn't be stopped by the Second Empire, a successor of the ancient empire. The Imaskar crown could move freely through any dimensional anchors or spatial blockades within the empire's territory.
After obtaining the location of the royal court, the Imaskar crown was activated again.
Meanwhile,
In the capital of the Second Imaskar Empire, located in the central-southern part of the Kain Continent,
Under the scorching summer sun, a bustling city was revealed.
Giant buildings made entirely of gold or silver metal stood tall, shining brightly under the sun, erect on the ground, reflecting a dazzling luster. The elegantly dressed Imaskar nobility maneuvered artificer shuttles, moving between buildings via tracks and platforms constructed among them, while countless artificer golems maintained the basic operations of the metallic city.
In the center of this bustling city,
Many oddly shaped tall buildings clustered together, forming a shape akin to a giant crystal cluster, resembling a blooming metal flower.
This was the location of the Second Imaskar Empire's royal court.
Naturally, the royal court was surrounded by a powerful artificer army, with various high-level mechanical constructs stationed around, silently standing guard. Artificer runes flickered gently on the surface of the metallic constructs, ready to activate and sweep away any invaders in an instant with the force of thunder.
The Royal Court.
A spire tens of meters tall stood in a corner of the royal court, surrounded by a multitude of legendary artificer weapons. Controlled by several dozen legendary artificers, the artificer spire constantly emitted strange fluctuations, like currents of water passing through the planar barrier, capturing signals belonging to the Seventh Secret of Imaskar.
Suddenly,
The signal captured by the artificer spire became clear and intense.
The previously intermittent signal seemed to solidify at this moment.
The artificers monitoring the artificer spire were astonished, not understanding what had happened.
These artificers reacted quickly.
Although they didn't know why the signal from the Imaskar magic ring suddenly solidified, it didn't prevent them from immediately trying their best to pinpoint the location of the Imaskar magic ring. The artificers busied themselves, analyzing the location of the signal.
"Report this situation to the empire's higher-ups immediately."
"In less than ten minutes, we will be able to determine the location of the empire's Secret."
A legendary artificer let out a breath, gradually becoming excited.
The empire's fleet, which had been lying dormant for a long time, was ready to launch. Once the location of the Secret was determined, it would be time to showcase the empire's formidable power.
However, at that moment,
Beep beep beep. The runes on the surface of the artificer spire began to flicker at a high frequency, emitting a sharp and loud sound.
"What?"
An artificer was momentarily taken aback.
"The location of the Seventh Secret of Imaskar has been determined."
Without waiting for the artificers to painstakingly search, the intelligence of the artificer spire, through the enhanced signal, pinpointed the target's location.
"Where is it?"
"The Seventh Secret of Imaskar is currently located..."
Buzz buzz buzz!
A deep blue luster appeared in the sky above the royal court, strange spatial forces emanated, and under the watchful eyes of the artificers, a massive spatial portal rapidly formed.
Dimensional anchors were rendered ineffective.
Initially, the artificers weren't overly surprised.
Many of them had witnessed this scene before; it was the appearance of the Imaskar crown in action.
How could the empire's own dimensional anchors block its Secret? Not only would using the Imaskar crown within the empire's territory not be intercepted, but it would even thrive with the assistance of the local artificer runes, making spatial teleportation smooth and seamless.
However, within just a breath's time, some artificers realized something was amiss.
Mainly those guarding the artificer spire.
Clearly, the spatial gate was opened by the Imaskar crown, but most artificers knew that at this moment, the Imaskar crown and the other empire's Secrets were inside the artificer spire, using its power to enhance their sensing abilities in search of the Seventh Secret's signal, with no one wielding it for use.
Then, the question arose.
How was the Imaskar crown, which was not in use, able to perform spatial teleportation?
It seemed not to be teleporting away from the empire but directly towards the royal court from elsewhere.
Simultaneously,
Under the fearful and tense gaze of the artificers, enormous figures emerged inch by inch from the spatial portal.
In full view of the crowd, two dragons appeared in the domain above the royal court, their wingspan covering the sky, casting terrifying shadows on the ground. One of the dragons, a silver giant, had its left wrist adorned with nine differently colored gems, housing the Imaskar magic ring.
"The Seventh Secret of Imaskar is currently located four thousand meters above the Kain Continent, above the imperial royal court."
The intelligence of the artificer spire provided the exact coordinates.
However, the current situation no longer required its coordinates.
"Enemy attack!"
"The lost Seventh Secret is on that dragon!"
"Capture it!"
Somehow, the dragons had breached the dimensional anchor's blockade and directly descended above the royal court. This spectacle was witnessed by the artificers, who immediately realized what was happening. Regardless of how these two dragons achieved this, the most important thing now was to capture them.
Almost instantly,
An energy shield capable of covering the entire royal court appeared, enveloping the crystal-cluster-like royal court within it.
At the same time, throughout the metallic city, terrifying destructive energies began to rise, targeting Garon and Yuna. The artificer constructs stationed around the royal court activated, their engines roaring like thunder, ready to launch an assault on the two dragons.
Facing an entire city's fierce attack, including numerous legendary-level energies, even Garon and Yuna would not fare well.
Yuna sensed the potentially fatal danger and showed a hint of nervousness.
"Garon, I might not be able to defend against their attacks."
Beings that reached the legendary level possessed extremely sharp instincts. At this moment, Yuna felt a subtle tingling sensation all over her body.
She layered herself and Garon with multiple force shields, still feeling uncertain and ready to summon her force dragon elder at any moment.
But the silver dragon remained calm, speaking softly, "Don't worry, watch this."
Magic surged like a tide, pouring endlessly into the Imaskar crown.
In an instant, the Imaskar crown shone with a brilliance comparable to the sun, an endless deep blue glow adorned with dense artificer runes, like a vast curtain spreading out from Garon as the center, sweeping in all directions, enveloping each building and artificer within it.
Wherever the deep blue glow passed, all the recently activated artificer weapons froze.
One by one, the just-lit artificer runes dimmed and went out.
The sense of being locked onto Garon and Yuna disappeared.
Groups of artificer weapons that had been attacking from all directions, whose engines had just roared a few times, suddenly fell silent, not even managing to approach their target before beginning to plummet towards the ground.
Even the energy shield protecting the royal court flickered a few times before dissipating like a bubble.
The Imaskar crown, the empire's First Secret, was created primarily to prevent rebellion by artificers within the empire's territory, hence it possessed the ability to forcibly shut down a wide range of artificer weapons. The artificers of the Second Empire never imagined that the power of the Imaskar crown would one day be used to dismantle their own empire's defenses.
And where did this Imaskar crown come from?
A legendary artificer of the royal family, holding the Imaskar crown just retrieved from inside the artificer spire, glanced between the crown in his hand and the one in the dragon's grasp.
"Two Imaskar crowns?"
This artificer, who had the right to use the Secret, was utterly baffled.
The artificers and the forces of the Second Imaskar Empire found themselves in a predicament. With their defenses momentarily neutralized by the unexpected intervention of an external Imaskar crown, the well-prepared and mighty offense aimed at Garon and Yuna was halted in its tracks. The strategic advantage they believed they had was suddenly, and quite literally, turned off, leaving them exposed and vulnerable.
The moment called for swift action and adaptability. However, the initial shock of seeing their own empire's mightiest defenses rendered ineffective by a device identical to their most sacred and powerful artifact left many unsure of how to proceed. The revelation that there were indeed two Imaskar crowns - one in the hands of an enemy capable of controlling their artificer creations against them - was a scenario for which the empire was unprepared.
As Garon and Yuna hovered imposingly above the now defenseless royal court, the balance of power shifted dramatically. The artificers and their mechanical minions, usually the enforcers of the empire's will, could only watch as the two dragons prepared to enact their plan without the immediate threat of the empire's retaliatory might.
The situation at the royal court had reached a critical point. With the empire's defenses momentarily compromised, Garon and Yuna had a unique opportunity to press their advantage. However, the presence of two Imaskar crowns - one a powerful symbol of the empire's authority, the other a mysterious and unanticipated challenger - introduced an element of uncertainty into the conflict.
The outcome of this confrontation would depend not only on the physical might and magical prowess of the participants but also on their ability to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances and to leverage the unique capabilities of the Imaskar artifacts at their disposal.
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