A huge pillar of deep blue fire rose from the barren land, rising high in the sky. It was so high that not just the people of the Royal City but people of the faraway City could also see that flaming Pillar.
The City of Apophis was being bombarded by the Church of Lightning and the Church of Water simultaneously which was placing a lot of burden on the City's defenses.
Lambard had tried a lot to draw the enemies inside the city, but they just refused to fall for his trick. Lambard knew that his city was definitely strong enough to outlast the attack for months without any troubles, but that was the case at the current pace of attacks.
The Two Holy Priestess hadn't yet used their stronger attacks. Moreover, once other Churches joined in, it was only going to be harder.
Another option which he had was to go out and fight. With his current fighting strength, he was sure that his maid alone could destroy at least half the event army, bringing their number down.
The problems were the Two Holy Priestesses. Even with his Numens, facing the two at the same time was an impossible task, especially since he didn't have the Robe of Nullification that Izen possessed.
Lambard wasn't someone who wanted to take a risk when there wasn't an absolute chance of victory. That's why he preferred not to leave the city in this situation. That left only one other choice...
"Looks like I'll have to end this fight prematurely..." He stood up and left the room. "After I did so much to establish our city here, now this."
His heart was filled with anger, as if all the hard work that he had placed behind establishing himself here had gone down the drain, and there was only one person he could blame for this...
He went to the deepest section of his castle. It was the place where only he was allowed to go. It was where the core of the City was present.
After twenty minutes, Lambard reached the depths of the Castle where he hadn't gone in a really long time.
"Time to end this war... For now."
He sat on his knees in the core of the city and closed his eyes.
He started speaking some words, but it was unclear just what he was saying as those words weren't a part of the language... At least not the language that was known around the world.
After half an hour, he finally opened his eyes, feeling the entire room filled with spatial energy.
"It's been so long since I last used it..." He stood up, letting out a sigh as he left the room. Slowly, the Spatial Energy started spreading out of the room.
It took twenty more minutes before the Spatial Energy surrounded the entire city, taking the city in its embrace.
Lambard returned to his room, where the maid was still waiting for him.
"Master, what is this strange energy that I feel?" The Maid asked Lambard. It was even her first time seeing something like this.
"This is another safety mechanism of the city," Lambard answered. "One that isn't often used."
"Will it kill the enemies?" The maid asked.
Lambard shook his head. "As I said, the city is only for defense. It can't attack anyone as long as they are outside the city."
"Then what is this strange energy for? What does it do?"
"You'll know soon enough." Lambard didn't directly answer. He just stood near the window, observing the spatial energy that had covered the entire city.
Before long, the Spatial Energy formed a dome around the entire city, covering it in a beautiful white light.
Even the forces of the Churches outside the city were stunned, wondering just what was happening. For a moment, they all stopped attacking.
No one could see inside the city through that white barrier. It was the same for people inside the city who couldn't see what was happening outside the city.
After only two minutes, the white light disappeared.
"What?" As soon as the White Light Barrier disappeared, the young maid exclaimed in shock. There was no enemy outside the city now. Were they all killed? What was happening? Didn't Lambard say this wasn't an energy that was going to attack anyone?
"What happened to the Church forces?" she asked in surprise.
Just as shocked as her were the forces of the Churches. After the white light disappeared, they were all taken aback to see that the place where the city used to be was completely empty!
"Invisibility Cloak? What trickery!" The Holy Priestess of Lightning scoffed as she cast another attack. Even if the city was invisible, it didn't matter! The attack was still going to land.
Boom~
Her attack of Lightning came falling from the sky like the Wrath of Heaven. Strangely enough, it didn't face any barriers at all.
The Lightning fell on the ground, leaving deep craters behind.
"It's not invisibility?" Elora was also surprised to see the attack hitting nothing. If it were just an invisibility, the attack would've still hit it.
****
"No, they aren't invisible," Lambard told his maid. "And they aren't killed either. It's not that something happened to them. Look around the city once again, and you might realize..."
The Maid flew high in the sky and observed her surroundings. The area around the city was definitely different. But why?
"Ah, did we...?" It didn't take her long to realize just what might've happened. She landed back near Lambard.
"Yeah. I teleported the entire city to avoid that mess. We'll just have to contact all our sources again and give them this location," Lambard informed the maid.
The City of Apophis wasn't called an absolute fortress of defense for no reason at all, as it had many such tricks to protect its citizens, and one such trick was Teleportation to a different part of the world.
The Teleportation couldn't be used randomly and needed a huge amount of energy to be gathered before it could be used a second time, but Lambard believed it was worth it in this situation. This gave him more time.
"Where are we now?" the maid asked Lambard. "Are we still within the boundaries of the Lumen Kingdom?"
Lambard shook his head. "Not anymore. If I'm not wrong, we should be inside the land of the Arecia Kingdom..."
****
"Where did they go? What happened to them?" the Holy Priestess of Lightning raged as she flew where the city used to be. It was clear that the city wasn't there anymore.
"I feel remnants of Spatial Energy." Elora also landed next to Thalia. "It's as if a large-scale Teleportation took place..."
"A Teleportation that covers the entire city? Is that even possible?" Thalia was taken aback. It was her first time hearing of teleportation of an entire city!"
"If it's a Numen, maybe. Lambard is more resourceful than we expected. With him working with the Dark Priests, he would definitely be a headache in the future..."
Elora came here to destroy a future threat when they had a chance, but even she didn't expect an outcome like this. Lambard was supposed to be an ordinary human, but thanks to his Numens and the wealth he had amassed, he was a very powerful enemy for the future... An enemy that they needed to take care of.
"It doesn't matter where he hides. Even if he is hiding in the depths of hell, I'll find him. He has upset the wrong person now!" Clenching her fist, Thalia stood up. She had decided that no matter what, she was to wipe out Lambard the next time she met him.
Elora nodded. It was time all the Churches came together. As she was thinking of what to do next, she felt something strange.
She looked to her left. "Hmm? What's that?"
Thalia also looked in the same direction, noticing a bright blue pillar of light.
"That's... Lumen Royal City? Is it under attack?"
