Prince Farodis returned to Nathalas Academy, where he immediately summoned Headmistress Aieria Bluemoon and his trusted advisors.
He briefly outlined the current situation to everyone: "Sin'dorei has been occupied by demons. Gale and I are preparing to gather our forces to suppress them."
Bluemoon asked, "Your Highness, has the situation deteriorated to the point of needing military action?"
"Yes, the demons are enslaving Mages, draining their Arcane Energy to expand their portals. Many Kaldorei have been slaughtered, their life force extracted by the demons. If we cannot reclaim Sin'dorei quickly, the Empire will lose at least a million people."
Bluemoon fell silent. In recent years, the Kaldorei Empire had vigorously developed its population, which had just exceeded two million. Now, a single disaster threatened to wipe out more than half, which she found hard to accept.
However, she was an academic talent, skilled at training Mages, but not at strategizing. Nevertheless, she was extremely loyal to Prince Farodis: "Your Highness, what does the Academy need to do?"
"I need to assemble all Mages willing to fight."
"As you command." Bluemoon bowed and withdrew to gather the Mages.
The advisor, Vandos, then asked, "Your Highness, with the situation in Sin'dorei so dire, what is the status of Queen Azshara?"
"Unclear!" Prince Farodis shook his head. "Gale did not see Queen Azshara in Sin'dorei, but he speculates that Queen Azshara might be colluding with the demons."
"Just a speculation?" Vandos couldn't help but ask.
Prince Farodis looked at Vandos, "I know you have always been loyal to Queen Azshara. I also don't want to admit that Queen Azshara is involved with the demons, but everything that has happened in Sin'dorei proves that Queen Azshara has betrayed us. Gale is right; even if Queen Azshara was deceived, she cannot escape responsibility for the slaughter of tens of thousands of Kaldorei."
Vandos pleaded, "Your Highness, not all Kaldorei will think this way. If they knew about this, what would they think?"
"Then we should break their illusions even more!" Farodis said decisively, "If we cannot abandon our illusions about Queen Azshara, then our actions will be rebellion."
Vandos fell silent, lowering his head, his eyes flickering.
He didn't know these words came from Gale; he only thought Prince Farodis wanted to depose Queen Azshara and take the throne himself.
"Your Highness, please forgive me for being unable to accept this for now. I need to calm down. Please give me some time."
Farodis patted his shoulder, "I understand you. We still have a few days."
Vandos excused himself, his face terribly grim after leaving. He hurried back to his Mage Tower and entered a secret room. In the center of the room was a large gem, which, when activated, immediately showed the figure of a Kaldorei Mage.
"Vandos?"
Savis was very surprised. "Have you come to your senses?"
Vandos shook his head, "Mage Savis, I'm not here to discuss personal matters."
Savis said angrily, "If you don't want to serve me, why contact me? I am busy with the Queen's great cause and have no time for idle chat with you."
Vandos: "I also have no time for idle chat with you! Savis, Prince Farodis and Gale are preparing to attack Sin'dorei; they want to overthrow the Queen's rule."
"What did you say?" Savis said furiously, "They actually want to rebel!"
Vandos said, "They believe the Queen should be held responsible for what happened in Sin'dorei."
"Responsible for what?" Savis sneered, "Just some mortals died. The Queen is welcoming a great deity. Once the deity descends upon this world, the entire world will belong to Her Majesty. Vandos, your message is very important. I will immediately report it to Her Majesty. Once these rebels are eliminated, you will receive Her Majesty's reward."
Vandos was excited, "I will act as an inside agent to assist Her Majesty in eliminating Farodis and Gale."
"Very good, await my message!"
Savis closed the communication crystal and couldn't help but laugh, "Farodis, I've wanted to eliminate you for so many years, and now I finally have the chance."
He immediately rushed to the Eternal Palace and exaggeratedly reported the matter to Azshara.
Indeed, Azshara was extremely angry. She had sacrificed so much to welcome the "great god," and yet Farodis and Gale actually wanted to rebel?
"If they want to die, then let them."
Savis said, "Your Majesty, they certainly deserve to die. Gale is cautious; when he escaped, he even took all the communication crystals from the Mage Tower, so we currently have no way to deal with him. But Farodis can be dealt with. With Vandos as an inside agent, we can completely catch Farodis off guard."
Azshara stood up and said to Vaschi, "Bring me the tidal scepter."
Vaschi quickly entered the treasury to retrieve the tidal scepter.
Azshara looked at Savis, "Have Vandos activate the Mage Tower's positioning crystal. I will detonate the tide stone to warn those rebels, especially Gale. Don't think that just because you have the pillars of creation, you can do whatever you want."
"Yes!" Savis nodded and immediately contacted Vandos.
After receiving the order, Vandos immediately went to the top of the tower and activated the large positioning crystal at the spire. Then, with his last bit of Arcane Energy, he teleported outside Nathalas Academy.
In the Eternal Palace, Azshara stood on the bridge, gazing north. When she saw Vandos's Mage Tower's positioning crystal light up, she immediately raised the tidal scepter, establishing an energy supply channel through the delicate connection between the scepter and the tide stone.
Then she drew upon the Well of Eternity's energy, transmitting it through the channel.
In the sky, a purple light streaked across, projected from Sin'dorei to Nathalas Academy.
Prince Farodis, holding the tide stone and watching the Arcane Energy continuously pour into it, desperately shouted, "Run! Everyone, run!"
The Mages were also terrified, preparing to cast teleportation spells to leave. Unfortunately, the massive Arcane Energy disrupted the space of Nathalas Academy, preventing the Mages from using teleportation spells.
"Boom—"
The tide stone suddenly exploded, a mushroom cloud rose, and the entire Nathalas Academy was razed to the ground.
Pure Arcane Energy destroyed the Mages' bodies but preserved their souls. The wonder of Arcane is that no one can truly understand it.
The Forging Factory was also half-collapsed. Mages and craftsmen escaped, only to be stunned and bewildered by the sight before them.
-------------------------------
I've already uploaded over 40 chapters of this story on Patreon.
If you're enjoying it and want to read ahead, feel free to check them out here:
[patreon.com/TripleCrown07]
Thanks a lot for your support, it really helps me keep going.