Trum Gorelight couldn't believe what he just saw. "That pair of eyes… Isn't that the mythical object in many tale? How did you have it?"
"Someone gave it to me." Aldred rushed forward, blade held directly at Trum.
"Time to die, old man. Spirit Thrust!" Aldred's body shone with red light, and his speed increased by ten times.
Trum struggled to move. He could not dodge the attack because his whole body refused to move. Fractions of a second later, the blade pierced his stomach, and through the back.
The old man spat out a mouthful of blood. Aldred pulled the blade, spun, and leaped into the air. Trum looked at the young man who was in the air, staring at him with the intention to kill. But there was no hatred or resentment in his eyes.
It was simply business.
"SPIRIT DOWNWARD SLASH!"
SHEEEENG!!!
Aldred slashed down, creating a vertical, thin, red line that went through Trum's body right in the center.
The old man widened his eyes as his breath were sucked out. His eyes flickered, and then he fell to the ground. The orbs fell along with him and they shattered.
"That one is a hard fight."
Aldred knelt down and rummaged around the old man's clothes, looking for any treasure. He found some Epic-grade items, and even a few Legendary treasures.
This old man had lived for a long time, so of course he had some Legendary Item with him.
[Ancient Magician's Earrings (Legendary)]
-Increase mana manipulation by 1200%
-Increase Elemental Spell mastery by 1200%
Passive:
-Condensation: preventing the wide-spread of energy within your spell to increase its damage even further.
Aldred's lips curled into a smile. "This isn't bad." He wore it on both of his ear, and then summoned a mirror. His handsome face seemed even more dignified after wearing the earrings. He looked like royalty.
"Nice. I wonder if I can get more legendary items from the other Diamond Ranks."
…
Meanwhile, the Diamond Ranks that were watching this battle from far away was shocked out of their mind.
As Diamond Ranks, they not only trained in offensive and defensive spells and abilities, but also auxiliaries abilities as well. These abilities weren't very useful for fighting directly, but they were used to gather information either through charm, espionage, trickery, hallucination, and whatnot.
And it was very hard to detect these auxiliaries spell when you were fighting.
That was why they could watch Aldred's battle from beginning to end. They all thought that Trum Gorelight would win. He was a powerful magician with powerful control over lightning. There was a story when Trum was young he fought against a Diamond Rank and managed to kill them with a single strike.
His lightning was so fast and so powerful that even a single strike could kill a Diamond Rank. Because of his old age, he even helped some people to become Diamond Ranks and they considered him to be their master.
For such a figure to die… the world seemed to flip over.
"Trum Gorelight is dead? That old man… he was supposed to outlive this generation as well."
"It's because of that Aldred. He killed Trum."
"What do we do next?"
"The Montcresian are sending their heroes, and the Empress wouldn't let us return to Ceraisian. We are trapped from both sides."
"What if we go to Thignia?"
"Are you dumb? That's the land of vampire. I have better chance to join Montcresia. At least they are still human."
"So there are only three option? Join Montcresia or the Empress?"
"No. In reality, there are only two. Join the Empress or die."
The Diamond Ranks shook when they heard that.
Zehmud Dihle, Lord Athar's right arm, frowned when he heard of this news. "Even Master Trum Gorelight is killed. This Aldred is not an ordinary enemy."
He had to re-arrange his plans. Sending the Diamond Ranks seemed to be a foolish idea since the Empress clearly had his back. But if the Dragons did not do anything, the other Diamond Ranks would began to join the Phoenix's side.
"Empress Edeline, what a fine woman you are. To be able to think this far, your wisdom are truly impressive."
…
Aldred used telekinesis to lift Trum Gorelight's body, and he put it inside the coffin.
Looking at the dead body, Aldred said: "I wanted to say may your soul rest in peace, but your soul is already in pieces."
Aldred's ultimate attack did not harm the body, rather, it destroyed the soul itself. The source of life, will, intention, desire, and even power. The brain was merely the steering wheel. It was the soul that truly had the control.
To date, Aldred did not know if there was a defensive spell against a soul attack. There might be treasure for it, but he doubted it. A soul attack was almost unheard of, so the chance to find a treasure that could defend against it would be very rare.
Suddenly, a lightning bolt struck the ground 20 meters away from Aldred. A man appeared out of the bolt. He was a tall man with tight-fitting clothes, and currently, he was glaring at Aldred.
"You killed him! Bastard! You killed him!!!"
"Sorry, is he your father or something?" Aldred asked.
"He's more than a father to me!" Electricity crackled around the man's body, then he kicked the ground, bursting with speed as he charged towards Aldred.
Aldred sighed. "Dragon's Gaze!"
The man suddenly froze in place, and then Aldred appeared behind him, thrusting Phantom Doomblade through the back.
"Death Aura!"
The man trembled as his eyes became dark. All kinds of horror filled his mind. He held his head and screamed.
"AHHHH!"
"You're a low-level Diamond Rank, but I will take you as my first Diamond Rank undead."
Aldred wanted to make Trum Gorelight as his undead, but the old man already lost his soul, so it was impossible to turn him into undead. He could animate its corpse, however, it wouldn't have any of its original power.
Aldred stabbed the man's neck, killing him instantly. Dark fog engulfed the man, and then transformed him into his undead form.
The man knelt. "Master, this Zunescin Pomeste is yours to command."
Once again, the Diamond Ranks that spied on this place was shocked. Not only did Aldred killed Trum Gorelight's student with such ease, he could also turn him into undead with its original power.
They could feel Zunescin's power did not reduce one bit. In fact, they even felt his power increasing when he became an undead.
Now, they truly couldn't ignore this and had to acted quickly. They believed that Aldred was sending a message to them.
Aldred could kill them anytime he wanted, and even if they refused to join him, and chose to die instead, he could simply turn them into his loyal undead.
Nobody wanted to be an undead. Especially not the Diamond Ranks.
The next day, thousands of Diamond Ranks began to calmly walked towards the Royal palace and bowed towards the Empress.
They swore their allegiance towards her. Some even killed their former lord who was locked in the dungeon by the Empress to prove their loyalty.
All in all, it went according to Edeline's plan.
