After the festivities and small auctions in the City of Shadows, everyone retreated to a safe place, while now, the sky of Asshai was taken over by dozens of Masters who, after many years, decided to emerge again, to fight Iahssa, the devourer of souls.
In the Mage's Throat, Vitarys had replaced Rafael, together with 10 disciples of the Order of Sages and another 10 adventurers from the Alliance, and maintained a shield that protected the entire Middle Tower. They were not going to participate in the fight and were just keeping the place safe.
Vice-leaders Liana, Old Xu, and the newly promoted Vice-leader Asimov protected the Alliance's other three most important towers that held the spiritual roots, the home of the horned rabbits, and the tower of the immortal soul. At the main location of the Adventurers' Alliance, where the trees of the fruit of immortality were, the last Master of the Alliance was also preparing for the fight against Iahssa.
Furthermore, this was the first time that the Immortality Fruit would publicly appear in Asshai, the Alliance had only conquered this tower less than 60 years ago, and most of the fruits so far had been used by Alliance members and family members, but because the secret of the location had been leaked through a spy in recent years, Master Sun was on high guard, so he went out to protect this most valuable location. There were too many natural treasures in the Adventurer's Alliance, too many for him to protect all of them alone, he just needed to stay alive for a little longer, and he would be able to use some of the wealth he would earn from the auction to buy some relics or with luck even some primordial item...
While Rafael and the other members of the Order of Sages gathered atop the Yin Yang Tower, ready for the fight with the Immortal Dragon, there was a guest who was not part of the Order with them. And this was the now adult Salim, from time to time, he whispered and pointed his finger, showing some towers in the distance, while introducing the Masters of Asshai to those inside the barrier:
"Well, you already know Master Ezio and Baron Bones, right? The first is a Master Assassin who rarely refuses an assassination job, while the second is the new magnate and leader of the Aristocratic and Commercial Alliances, which is a novelty since there has never been a single Master for these two groups..."
"Do you see that Master in the blue robe? His name is Master Zima, one of the oldest Bloodmages in Asshai. The strangest thing about Zima was that he was always a man, but after a while, his appearance and personality completely changed, and he was now a woman. No one knows the exact reason. Some say it was an experiment gone wrong, others say it was a curse, but most just say he changed because he wanted to..."
Just as Salim finished introducing these three Masters, and was about to speak about another group, an unusual man who wore no mask or robe came flying into the skies of Asshai. His body was so tall that he resembled a giant, he was so muscular that he looked like a bodybuilder, he also didn't wear many clothes, wearing only shorts made of some white animal skin and metal protectors on his wrists, he had strange tattoos all over his body, his hair was long and flowing, and it had a brown color as well as his tanned skin and eyes. His face was masculine with stubble and a square jaw.
As soon as he entered the city's skies, he let out a loud and outrageous laugh and began to greet some older Masters, but he ignored Master Zima, who seemed quite excited as she waved upon seeing him. Rafael didn't need Salim to know who the three-meter muscular man was; many in Asshai had already heard his legends. He was Kane, the King of Ulthos, but here, most knew him by the nickname Master Invincible, the strongest Combat Master in the entire history of Asshai. He would always appear to fight Iahssa and then disappear again, returning to the unknown and dangerous continent of Ulthos…
Salim then continued showing and introducing the Masters:
"Do you see that group of seven Masters in a single tower? They are the Seven Horadrim Masters, a group whose sole purpose is to uncover the secrets of the Relics, so that they can recreate these miraculous items that have only been found within the dungeons. They must be testing some new prototype today, everyone is eager to see if they have had any success in the last 100 years…"
"Those four Shadowmancer Masters are also a well-known group, they are called the Shadow Society, they are focused only on their research, hardly getting involved in the affairs of Asshai, just like the Horadrim, rumors say that they study a rare type of shadow manifestation, but little is known about their experiments…"
"Ah, look at that woman, it is Master Venus, the greatest beauty of Asshai! We do not know who those other two women are with her, but we suspect that they are new Masters…"
At that moment, Salim spoke in a very energetic voice about the greatest beauty of Asshai, which made Rafael, Omar, and the other men smile.
As Salim continued to introduce the many Masters, he also paused slightly, looking in the direction of Laura and Yuri, making it clear that he also knew about the two new Masters of the Order. When he continued, he introduced Master Cold and Master Poison Soul, both of whom had participated in the battle that happened 8 years ago and were survivors. Master Cold was one of Kalindor's disciples and someone Rafael had been looking for for a long time. He had finally found him. But now was not the time for conversations.
Salim also introduced Master Odin, the second Master King of the shadow men, and lastly, he showed a pair of brothers and told them to be careful with them. They were called the Val Brothers, the oldest was Valder, and the youngest was Valmir. The first was a Master Necromancer and the second a Master Bloodmage. I didn't understand his warning, but I suspected that they could be involved in something that only the Master of Whispers knew.
I left that aside for now and continued observing the other Masters. There was Master Blood Armor, Master of Beasts, and his wife, Master of Plague, the many Pope Priests of the temples, who were also considered on the level of Masters. And at least two dozen other Masters or "supposed" Masters who, like me, wanted to make a show of power and intimidate the others in Asshai. Here, only power was respected, and the target everyone was waiting for to show their power had arrived, whether they would show power or weakness in front of the mighty Immortal Dragon, that would soon be seen…
Announcing his arrival like a true king, a huge roar sounded on the horizon:
"ROARRRRR"
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