Ekham's right arms grew immediately, but for a Diamond Rank to regrow their limbs, they had to sacrifice their life essences as well. Life essences were basically their life span, potential, and overall power.
Diamond Ranks rarely lost a limb because their body were extremely durable. Warriors had easier time regrowing their limbs, magicians needed some sacrifice, but it could easily be fixed with some potions and rituals.
As long as Ekham survived this battle, he would replenish his life essences again, though it would cost a lot of money. Diamond Ranks generally consumed a lot of resources to keep growing stronger. Even though they only became stronger by a tiny percentage, it was all worth it in the long run.
Most Diamond Ranks needed someone with a lot of resources to rely on. That was why nobles and kings could have so many Diamond Ranks under them. Of course, these people value loyalty as well, and the Diamond Ranks had to proof it.
The kings and nobles also had many ways to ensure their loyalty.
Spark flashed on the cannon, and another beam of light shot towards Ekham.
"Spatial Warp!" Ekham pointed and casted a spell that vibrated the space in front of him.
When the beam struck again, it was bent to the side. But the aircraft began shooting shells and missiles at him.
Ekham warped the space around him a bunch of times, but under the endless hail of shells and missiles, the spell could only last a minute before he had to cast them again.
"If this continues, my mana will be depleted soon!"
Even though Diamond Ranks had a vast amount of mana, they still had their limits. Not everyone was like Aldred who had unlimited amount of mana.
The CS-Armageddon-57 was one of the Mechanicum's most powerful weapons specifically designed to destroy bunkers and level an entire city. It brought enough batteries and shells to completely change a landscape within a single day.
Ekham was a powerful mid Diamond Rank, but even he had to struggle against such machine.
"Sir, we have to retreat. We cannot defeat them," One of his subordinates shouted as he created a barrier to protect himself against the hail of shells.
"The lord ordered us to destroy the enemy. How can we return without finishing the task?" Ekham replied.
"Sir, the enemy is stronger than anticipated. We can retreat and ask for more support."
Ekham frowned. He was enraged and became emotional because half of his army were killed, but thinking rationally, it did not make sense for him to fight a losing battle.
"Wait, the golem master is usually weaker than his own golem. Find his location!"
The Diamond Ranks magicians began to gather around him and some of them casted a barrier to protect themselves while the others created a circle and sat down in a cross legged position.
"Began the ritual!" Ekham pushed both of his palms out and blue energy came out of them, moving around in the center of the circle.
The other magicians did the same thing, and the energy formed in the center, creating a crystal clear mirror. The mirror then revealed the location of Aldred sitting in his throne room.
"So that's where you are." Ekham smiled.
Aldred saw himself being seen through the floating screen and raised an eyebrow. "If you think you can defeat me, come here."
"I will." Ekham vanished along with his magicians and appeared right inside the throne room. But suddenly, the space around him warped and he was teleported 20 KM outside the castle.
"Spatial defense… this man is not ordinary at all."
Spatial defense was the term created for magic that prevent teleportation for a certain area. It usually prevent or delay the teleportation spell. It was a very hard spell to learn and master. Most people used special treasure to achieve this effect, and they cost a lot.
Golem masters were known to be wealthy, so it wasn't surprising if he could buy the item. Not all golem masters own this type of item however, because it was very rare.
"You cannot hide in your castle forever, Aldred!" Ekham shouted from outside.
Suddenly, ten CS-Armageddon-57 flew out of the mountain nearby and floated above the castle.
"Oh, I think I can," Aldred's voice came.
"Shit! Spatial Warp!" When Ekham saw the cannons on the aircraft lit up, an ominous feeling welled up inside him. He instantly casted a defensive spell, and activated some of his defensive treasure.
His magicians did the same thing and they combined their power to create a thick barrier.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The ear piercing noise of car-sized shells slamming onto the barrier was mind-numbing.
Each shell was as powerful as an attack from a low Diamond Rank. And thousands of shells were constantly flying towards them every second.
The barrier collapsed on after another, but they continued to cast more and more barrier to replace them.
However, the defensive spells collapsed seconds later. The magicians were torn to shreds by the fearsome shells.
Ekham activated his teleportation spell. His body flashed, but he stayed still in his original spot.
"Fuck! Spatial cancellation! How did he do this?"
Before he got an answer, thousands of shells crashed onto him. Half of his body was blasted to pieces, but he managed to fly into the sky all the while casting barriers that that kept getting destroyed.
"Use everything in our arsenal to kill him."
Ten CS-Armageddon-57 revealed their beam cannon and began firing an extremely powerful beam directly at him.
Ekham turned around and his whole vision was filled with white light as he was completely devoured by the beam.
When Aldred saw Ekham being engulfed by the light, Aldred mused: "Even mid Diamond Ranks were killed. And CS-Armageddon-57 isn't even the Mechanicum's strongest weapon."
There were a lot of defensive mechanism all over city. He also built these defenses in other cities of his territory. So if anyone wanted to attack him, they should be ready to take a big loss.
"Corduul,"
"Yes, master?"
"What is the biggest mountain in this kingdom?"
"From the information within my database, the biggest mountain in the Kingdom of Withokere is located in the center. It is called Bland Mountain. It stands 19,848.89 m tall."
"Destroy it. Destroy it and make sure everyone in this kingdom can see that it is being destroyed."
"Yes, master."
The underground base under the city whirled and churned with mechanical arms and robots moving around assembling a large rocket.
It took them a few hours to assemble, but when it was done, it was fitted in a slot and entered a silo.
"Coordinates received. Checking status… check complete."
"Rockets ready. Deliver?"
Corduul looked at Aldred awaiting for affirmation.
"Launch it."
The silo blasted open and the rocket was pushed upward before it fired upward high above in the atmosphere.
The rocket sped up so fast it trembled despite the reduced air friction.
The rocket was called CK-47, also known as City Killer. Its speed was around 25 KM per second and it bring the payload equivalent to 150 million tons of TNT.
One could already imagine the destruction of such a weapon.
