"How could Master Azur be placed here?" Rellana asked in surprise, looking at Azur, who sat alone at the edge of the cliff, his body covered in dark green glintstone. "What is the purpose of these traitors from the academy doing this?"
"I don't know either," Touko shrugged. "Aoko only divined Master Azur's location and told me. As for the reason, she has no way of knowing."
Rena thought for a moment but gave up trying to figure out a mystery that was unlikely to be solved. She waved her hand, signaling the academy's mages to come over and load Master Azur's body onto a cart.
Since Touko's spatial movement ability currently only allowed her to teleport herself, she planned to use soul materialization transformation to become a flying unit and airlift Master Azur's body back to the academy.
Although she was initially interested in the Great Rune, after working with Aoko to defeat the Mother of Fingers and learning about the potential dangers hidden behind it, she lost all desire for these authority controllers, which only functioned within the Lands Between.
Thus, Touko decided to focus solely on escorting Master Azur's body back. As for subduing the Blasphemous Serpent and obtaining Rykard's Great Rune, she decided to stay out of it for now. Instead, returning to the academy to study more glintstone magic seemed far more appealing.
Her figure blurred, and the beautiful woman with long, wine-red hair transformed into a swirl of golden light. Moments later, a massive griffon appeared before the group.
Even though the mages of Caria had long known about Touko's transformation abilities, they were still amazed by her skills.
After all, transformation of this level had always been exclusive to the Crucible Aspects. Touko's approach, however, had nothing to do with the Crucible of Life.
The griffon flapped its wings powerfully, taking off from the ground with ease. Then, it grabbed the cart carrying Azur's body with its claws. After circling once in place, it flew toward Liurnia.
--- Divider Line ---
Azur's situation was very similar to Lusat's. Both had observed a unique astronomical phenomenon in the dark abyss of the universe through special means, gaining knowledge of primeval glintstone sorcery. Consequently, their entire bodies were assimilated by their own source glintstone, turning them into stone-like beings who could barely communicate with the outside world.
Following the same method, Aoko learned Comet Azur from Master Azur and then placed him in his former research chamber. If any glintstone sorcerers at the academy wished to study primeval sorcery, they could seek the opportunity to meet these two primeval sorcerers after passing the required trials, thus gaining access to the power of origin magic.
At first, Aoko instinctively thought that Thops' Barrier was an overlooked masterpiece. However… while it was indeed a monumental spell capable of establishing a new school of thought, its practical applications were severely limited for Aoko and Touko. The main reason was that their casting systems were not confined to just the sorceries and incantations of the Lands Between.
They had been in the Lands Between for quite some time now. Although they primarily studied glintstone magic, they had also researched various common incantations. Through extensive comparisons and analysis, Aoko discovered that magic and incantations in the Lands Between shared many fundamental characteristics. Thops had exploited these commonalities to develop Thops' Barrier, which was based on glintstone magic.
In other words, Thops' Barrier could only deflect spells from the Lands Between. It was ineffective against Aoko's magic bullets or manifold sorcery, as their frequencies were entirely different.
Furthermore, after conducting tests with Thops, Aoko found that some gravity sorceries, such as Rock Sling, couldn't be deflected by Thops' Barrier. The reason was simple—the rock projectiles were solid objects. Thops' Barrier could only dispel the gravitational magic surrounding them, but it couldn't physically repel the rocks themselves.
Upon realizing this flaw in his magic, Thops once again plunged into an obsessive research frenzy, vowing to develop a New Thops' Barrier that could deflect all magic. Aoko didn't try to dissuade him—she knew that researchers like him couldn't be talked out of their work.
After settling matters at the academy, Aoko and Touko chose not to inform Queen Rennala and instead secretly traveled to Redmane Castle in Caelid. This time, they also left Seluvis behind, as the old sorcerer Jerren was still managing Redmane Castle, and Seluvis' presence might have caused unnecessary conflict.
Aoko had expected the castle to be a half-abandoned ruin, much like how it appeared in the game. However, when she arrived in person, she was surprised to find that the situation was completely different.
First, all the defensive structures on the bridges near Redmane Castle had been removed. The Redmane Knights, who had been scattered across Caelid, had all returned to the castle. Meanwhile, wave after wave of warriors from various parts of the Lands Between were forming lines, waiting for the Redmane Knights to question and screen them before granting entry.
Naturally, Aoko and Touko had no intention of queuing up with these people. Instead, they cast invisibility spells and flew directly into the castle from above.
The interior of the castle was bustling with activity. Everywhere they looked, knights and warriors were sparring with one another. Aoko recognized some familiar faces while also spotting many strangers. The Redmane Knights were patrolling constantly, ensuring that the participants training for the Festival of Combat did not escalate their duels into full-blown battles.
"Hey, Aoko, is the Festival of Combat always this lively?" Touko whispered into Aoko's ear. "This doesn't really match the atmosphere of the rest of Caelid."
"I also feel like something's off…" Aoko frowned, looking at a knight clad in a gold-and-white cloak practicing swordplay with his companion. "There are so many factions here that I don't recognize. Normally, a battlefield where one fights a demigod shouldn't attract this many participants, right?"
"Hey, is that a Tarnished over there?" Touko pointed toward a warrior below, who was dodging attacks from a Lion Guardian by rolling. "Let's go ask him."
For the Tarnished, the Lion Guardian before him was a formidable foe. He barely managed to evade several of its attacks before thrusting his sword into the beast's leg muscles. However, the creature seemed unfazed by pain and charged at him with renewed ferocity, as if intent on tearing him apart.
Taking a deep breath, the Tarnished timed his move perfectly—using his left-hand shield, he subtly deflected the Lion Guardian's greatsword, altering its attack trajectory. Seizing the opportunity, he drove his sword straight into the beast's abdomen.
This time, the Lion Guardian had no choice but to acknowledge its defeat. Clutching its wound, it fell to one knee.
A nearby Redmane Knight stepped forward, raised the Tarnished's sword arm, and announced loudly: "The victor—The Tarnished!"
Tarnished turned excitedly toward Melina, who nodded at him in approval. Just as he was about to walk toward her, he suddenly heard clapping from behind.
Turning around, he saw two strange beautiful sorcerers smiling at him while applauding.
"Ara, ara, it's been a while. Your skills have improved," Aoko and Touko greeted Tarnished and Melina as they approached. "Can you tell us what's going on in Redmane Castle right now?"