Book 6 Chapter 17.1 - Returning to Stillness
Su stood at the top of the pyramid, watching as over ten thousand slaves busied about above the ruins, clearing out the crushed rock, repairing the damaged parts, dragging away corpses, and taking inventory of the damage. Maca City's residents were quite realistic, now accepting Su as their master again, silently carrying out Su's every order.
The Red Duke Kanosa' corpse was placed in a precious coffin, and in a short while, it would be cremated at the center of the plaza. Meanwhile, the thirty bodyguards' corpses were also piled on the pine wood racks, waiting to accompany their master in death. There were no lack of brave people in the empire; following Kanos' death, the bodyguards who were still alive continuously threw themselves at Su with no thoughts of personal safety. However, the wide chasm in abilities between them meant that things were fated to result in a one-sided massacre.
There were twenty four bodyguards, Su brandished the axe 24 times. Even though Su was seriously injured, just his remaining stamina and incomparable skill was enough to wipe out the remaining bodyguards, to the extent where not even a single attack was wasted.
However, there were still those who escaped, for example, the red robed warrior leader. Su watched as he entered the forest, but didn't have any intention of pursuing him. The red robed warriors weren't as adept at hiding and concealing like the black robes, and even though their frontal attack power was great, their overall combat strength was far beneath that of the black robes. That was why the Leigna along the way could track the red robed warrior leader's whereabouts all the way back to Sun God Temple, showing Su the path that lead straight there. In reality, if it was a frontal battle, the red robes' combat strength would be even greater than the black robes, after all, half of the black robes' abilities depended on stealth, and most of their combat skills relied on concealment and assassination. Only, the two black robes had the misfortune of running into Su; under the panoramic view, their concealment abilities almost completely lost effectiveness, yet they still believed that they were hiding. That was why their hidden attacks only resulted in them being attacked instead.
The reason why he let the red robed warrior leader go was because he wanted him to deliver news back, let Temple of Darkness know the conclusion of their two black robes. This was a warning, as well as a type of provocation. Su wanted more and more black robes to come out so he could kill them outside the city. The black robes didn't pose any threat to him, but apart from him, they possessed fatal threat to everyone else. Meanwhile, Su temporarily did not wish to attack Sun God Temple, because he just always felt deep misgivings. Challenging the red robed archbishop inside the temple might be even worse than fighting in an enemy's home ground.
Sun God Temple wasn't only a simple religion, this was something apparent purely from the holy elixir.
Right now, there was a large bowl made of violet gold. From time to time, dark wasp like Leigna would fly over, land on the edge of the bowl. All of their bellies swelled up, and then after landing, they would release a thick, oil like liquid. As Leigna continuously flew over, light gold liquid already filled the base of the bowl. A faint ring of flames burned at the brink of the golden bowl, an ability flame Su used up a few evolutionary points to produce. At his level, less than four levels of flame couldn't be used against an enemy at all, only enough to add heat. However, controlling the flames into a perfect ring like this was something most individuals with talent in the Magic Domain couldn't accomplish throughout their entire lives.
The violet gold bowl had long been heated to the point where it could evaporate oil, yet the golden liquid merely released fine bubbles. Even though there were still many impurities inside, one could already feel the tremendous amount of energy stored within.
"This is that holy elixir?" Su asked.
"Yes." Next to Su, the red robed warrior who lost an arm replied firmly. The red robed warriors were originally soldiers of god, as well as those with the most resolute battle willpower, but right now, regardless of whether it was from their gaze or expressions, they all seemed a bit lifeless. Whenever Su asked a question, it would always take them a bit of time before they could reply.
Truth serum was something the intelligence agency of the olden era federation already had, and the drug Su's body secreted was several dozen times greater than that of the past, able to make even the red robed warriors talk. The only flaw was that because the drug was too powerful, it would also deliver permanent damage to their intelligence.
There were still many impurities in the holy elixir in the violet gold bowl, but its purity wasn't all that great of an issue. In Su's eyes, the holy elixir wasn't only an energy liquid made of concentrated heat, it also possessed an inconceivable about of activity, able to substantially activate an organism's potential, urge evolution, somewhat similar to gene strengthening liquid, but the effectiveness far stronger. With the Blood Parliament's standards, it was a highly effective biological inducer, able to induce the display of potential, allow a biological body to display power far exceeding the normal level at the crucial moment. Only, the bodyguards were all killed by Su with a single blow, not even given the opportunity to make use of the holy elixir.
However, the holy elixir wasn't just a simple scientific product, many of its components extremely unstable, their existence only possible in the holy elixir.
A while later, a smaller half of the violet gold bowl was filled with holy elixir, and no Leigna flew over again. Su knew that all of the holy elixir these bodyguards carried had now been extracted.
After these bodyguard were killed in battle, the Leigna made their way into their body, starting to carry out a filtration of their tissues and blood, gathering all substances that could be used, and then ultimately successfully separating and filtering out the holy elixir.
Su didn't touch Kanos' remains. The Red Duke was an opponent worthy of respect, regardless of whether it was when he was alive or after he died.