Chapter 1012: Chapter 1011: Forward Gear

Boundless magic surged around, transformed by the spell mould into brilliant light and heat. Every inch of blood vessels and nerves within him turned into a heated source during this process, as if scorching magma was flowing between his organs and flesh. Clement felt as if he had ignited. Everything in his view twisted and deformed in the high heat, becoming some kind of bizarre, white-hot illusion, which reminded him of the magic conduits he had observed in the magic laboratory before they burned... If those conduits had life, wouldn’t they see such a scene in their last moments before burning?

Within one-tenth of a second, Clement seemed to hear a cracking sound deep within his soul. He felt all his senses suddenly heightened, as if the entire world was under his scrutiny. He clearly saw every thread of magic’s trajectory around him, saw the powerful energy pulsating endlessly within the war machine, and even saw the battle scene in the sky behind him — under the force of the miracle, he had ascended to legendary status.

Then, a gigantic explosion swallowed everything.

Clement’s final consciousness turned into an echo through the communication spell, piercing through the rampant blizzard and traversing the long battlefield to reach distant Bitter Winter Castle —

"Beware! Palin! They have dragons!!"

...

The explosion was so fierce that it tore open a visible crack in the blizzard, and the steam clouds erupting from the cooling grids of the armored train segments were instantly blown away by the powerful shockwave. Maryland, about to board the Iron Scepter, was startled by the earth-shattering commotion. He looked towards the direction of the explosion and saw a small mushroom cloud rising from the tail of the mortal world Serpent.

From the tactical segment onward, half of the armored train’s carriages were engulfed in the massive explosion, and the chaotic magic then poured into the power spine, causing the remaining carriages to explode sequentially.

The effect couldn’t have been achieved with just the self-destruction devices set on the iron throne.

"Is that some Typhon Empire weapon?" an adjutant remarked in shock. "Some kind of super bomb? Why are they using it only now?"

"...It was a self-destruction, sir, I saw it," a staff officer swallowed, "I saw a mage fall from the sky — presumably a mage, with extended tentacles and tumors behind him..."

Maryland said nothing, only gazing in the direction where the mushroom cloud was rising. A few seconds later, he nodded slightly towards that direction, then turned and boarded the armored train behind him.

Fireballs and thunder intertwine amid the blizzard. In the cloudy sky, the aerial forces of Typhon Empire and Cecil Clan were still fiercely fighting to the death. Below on the earth, mortal world Serpent, the massive war machine, finally came to a stop on the bombed railway, while another armored train roared through the wind, snow, smoke, and wreckage, continuing to race towards Shadow Marsh.

The damage control team has already extinguished the fire within the armored train. The dense anti-aircraft fire on the Iron Scepter roared once again. The weave of magic crystal shells and high-energy beams was harvesting the remaining attackers in the sky, as dragons and flying machines shuttle among the clouds, further compressing the space for combat Mages and gryphon Knights. All of this seemed like a tapestry disordered in time and era —

This tapestry has come to its closing moment.

The commander’s demise did not lead to the complete collapse of Typhon Empire’s aerial troops. Those gryphon Knights with unwavering morale were still executing their assigned tasks with unwavering determination, and the remaining combat Mages were exploiting the last ounce of human potential to seek further victories. They had already noticed that one of the two armored trains had been destroyed, namely the infamous main battle train, with the other heavily damaged and spewing thick smoke. In some sense, they had achieved their scheduled outcome—though at an unexpectedly high cost.

They were no longer capable of destroying the other train, nor able to withdraw from this terrifying battlefield.

The dragon Cavalry Fighters, which had previously retreated due to heavy losses, once again returned to the combat zone. Protected by dragons, these tireless flying machines began to slaughter those gryphon Knights and combat Mages who had practically exhausted their "miracle," as the remnants of humans and gryphons rained down from the sky, quickly buried and swallowed by the blizzard.

A combat Mage paused among the clouds. Panting heavily, he looked around and noticed that the aerial battleground had become deserted.

Formerly, the dense swarming allies in the clouds had dwindled down to sparse combat units of three to five, mostly temporary regroupings. The most fanatical gryphon Knights were already nearing annihilation, leaving only a few twisted and mutated Knights attacking the dragons soaring in the clouds. The roars and explosions from all sides gradually diminished, and the anti-aircraft fire from the ground had already ceased unnoticed.

A deep, majestic roar suddenly came from nearby, the sound infused with terrifying power. Using his last bit of strength, the combat Mage posed defensively. In the next moment, he saw a massive creature break through the dense clouds beside him — it was a black dragon, clad in full body armor, with wings and claws armed with steel. Its jaw was fitted with a menacing ramming horn, and although the missile launchers on its flanks were already damaged in the battle, the combat Mage knew that at this distance, the fearsome beast could kill him with claws and breath alone.

It was time to serve the Empire loyally.

The combat Mage was prepared, yet the black dragon merely hovered before him, silently confronting him, its massive eyes reflecting the distant clouds and snow. This nerve-wracking standoff lasted a few seconds, then the black dragon suddenly nodded — perhaps an illusion, but the nod seemed to carry a hint of approval — and then the sovereign of the skies abruptly spread its wings, swiftly ascending into the depths of the clouds.

The dragon herd retreated.

The combat Mage blinked his eyes, still not daring to believe what had just occurred. After a brief moment of puzzlement, he looked around to realize that all gryphon Knights were annihilated.

The flying machines of Cecil Clan had retreated, the dragon herd had retreated, and the armored train had retreated. Amidst the mountain region were scattered all sorts of debris — humans, gryphons, machines... billowing smoke and remnants of fire surged among the wreckage, yet all were extinguishing at an observable speed, as the blizzard gradually devoured everything.

On Fog Month 35, year 2 of Cecil Clan, above Winterwolf Fort Defense Line, the first large-scale aerial battle recorded in human history came to an end.

...

Palin Winterhold, with a group of Mage guards and protectors of the realm, stepped into the desolate meeting hall. The overwhelming stench of blood and the eerie scene before him made him furrow his brow, eliciting low cries of surprise from some of his escorts.

In the vast circular meeting hall, the flame which served as the ritual’s core had long since extinguished. Within the massive fire pans, only a few sporadic sparks flickered. Around the fire pans, the priest Clergy who participated in the ritual had all transformed into corpse-like states, their bodies enveloped in a layer of iron-gray hue, with dried bloodstains stretching from their feet to the fire pans in the center of the hall. From a bird’s-eye view, everything here resembled some dark ritual of blood sacrifice.

Dark ritual... This is something any normal church would deeply despise, only appearing in twisted and depraved evil-cult groups. Palin Winterhold never thought he would witness such a scene at the War God’s ritual ground.

"Under normal circumstances, a ’miracle’ only requires devotees to pay sufficient devotion. Kehr would never demand anything beyond that limit," the Magic Lord whispered to a Mage Advisor beside him, "But obviously, the War God in this ’miracle’ has extracted an extraordinary price, all the priests involved in the ceremony have been ’drained’."

"Out of control..." The Mage Advisor said with a serious expression, "It seems that the prayers directed towards the War God have become more dangerous than before... The balance in front of us is pretty much at its limit."

Palin Winterhold approached the altar, glancing at a shapeless heap near the fire pans, as if talking to himself, he sighed lightly: "War cannot pacify the gods; there is no improvement... This aligns with His Majesty’s judgment."

The Mage Advisor paused for a moment in silence, then lowly asked: "Master, what do you think of the last message sent by Earl Clement before his death?"

"You mean regarding the ’dragon’?" Palin Winterhold raised his eyebrows and then slowly said in thought, "Dragon... I have gathered some intelligence. There have always been scattered messages suggesting Gawain Cecil himself has some connection with the Dragonkin, but there’s no evidence proving the Cecil Empire has established relations with the true dragon herd. If I’m not mistaken, the dragon Earl Clement mentioned... should not be the real dragon but the Dragonborn."

"Dragonborn?" The Mage Advisor subconsciously repeated the term, "You mean... the Sacred Dragon Kingdom?"

"Cecil successfully knocked on the doors of the Sacred Dragon Kingdom last year and established diplomatic relations with that mysterious country," Palin Winterhold lightly nodded, "To date, there is still little information about that country, but one thing is certain, the Sacred Dragon Kingdom has always claimed to be ’Dragonborn’. They seem to possess a certain degree of dragon power but some books record they are actually incomplete dragons who cannot fly and fight like true dragons... Regardless of the truth behind this, it seems now that the Cecil Clan must have gained the assistance of those ’Dragonborn’."

The Mage Advisor lowered his head regretfully, saying: "... So, without realizing it, we’ve fallen far behind our opponents once again."

"Yes, we also tried to establish contact with the Sacred Dragon Kingdom, but after hitting several walls, we opted to give up... This may be a huge loss," Palin Winterhold shook his head, "There may be more hidden truths behind this, which we are powerless to investigate further, just report everything that happened here truthfully to Aldernon."

As he spoke, he raised his head, gazing through the central dome skylight at the still-cloudy sky—the divine power has receded, and those clouds are now just ordinary clouds.

"Whatever the future may hold, everything that happened here today... is destined to be recorded in history."

...

Emperor Rosetta Augustus quietly listened to the war reports coming from the front line, his expression neither sorrowful nor joyful, Duke Ferdinand Wendell stood by his side, likewise silent like a statue.

This intelligence was directly sent from Winterhold, despite spanning a great distance, barely delayed in time—under direct push from the Royal Mage Association and the royal cabinet, the Empire’s communication system in all key sectors underwent cost-unconcerned upgrades and replacements. The new communication array replaced the old communication spell, and personnel flow within the entire network of communication Towers was greatly streamlined, now, critical intelligence from the border can directly be delivered to Emperor Rosetta Augustus’s office without going through tedious transmission, transcription, and delivery processes.

Before the storm at the border ended, Aldernon had already been aware of the outcome of this aerial battle.

After finishing communication, Rosetta paused slightly and looked at his side: "Ferdinand, what do you think?"

"In terms of short-term gains, we finally destroyed the Cecil Clan’s offensive power in the Shadow Marsh area; for some time, they won’t be able to use armored trains to initiate ’Steel Advancement’—though the Cecil Clan has two armored trains, they can’t all be brought to the front line. Additionally, we successfully eliminated a large part of their aerial forces and explored part of the opponent’s strength; this is the first time we’ve obtained such positive gains on the aerial battlefield since the war began. Of course, the price we paid was extremely high, even... it can be described as painful," Ferdinand shook his head, "These gains were achieved at the cost of the complete annihilation of the national first, second, and fourth Gryphon Knight Orders, Earl Clement fell in battle, and the two Combat Mage Regiments he led were almost entirely wiped out."

"Out of one hundred seventy-two regular Knight Orders, nearly one-third have been lost now... Ninety-six Combat Mage Regiments, with ten percent lost," Rosetta sighed lightly, "The cost is inexcusably high in clearing the ’contamination’ within the Knight Orders..."

Rosetta’s words made Ferdinand’s expression grow more serious; this old Duke knew those were more than just numbers.

It’s the threshold the upper echelons of the Typhon Empire can endure, the critical point for Augustus Royalty relying on royal authority to maintain internal order—though the royal family and some influential aristocrats are aware of part of the truth behind this war, knowing it essentially aims to clear "contamination", it doesn’t mean all this can be handled with simple addition and subtraction.

Every day the front line sees deaths, the royal family continually sends troops and aristocrats into the "Winterwolf Castle Meat Grinder", and the pressure from all this continuously accumulates, with the Empire’s tolerance having its limits.

Even if the emperor himself is highly competent, royal authority is awe-inspiring; this reverence and trust cannot be endlessly depleted.

"It’s almost time." Rosetta suddenly said softly.

Ferdinand looked at him: "Your Majesty?"

"Prepare yourself, Ferdinand," Rosetta stood up from behind the desk, speaking casually as if instructing the day’s dinner, "We should head to the front line."

Ferdinand was momentarily stunned, then widened his eyes: "How can you..."

"It’s a necessary step," Rosetta said calmly, "You go and prepare."

Ferdinand stared into Rosetta’s eyes, after several seconds, he seemed to confirm something, let out a long breath: "I understand, Your Majesty."

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