Arcane Journey

Chapter 288 Dark Holy Grail
Sing a song of the League of Seven Towns

sing of its waters, trees and hills
The sun rises from Chiya, and the fields are always green.

There is always joy here, and the courage is home.

Fame spreads all over the world, and there is never a slave.

Sing a song of the League of Seven Towns

The enemy has come to the city

Thousands of hectares of fertile land are cracked, and the shadow of the evil kingdom is coming.

The enemy rider is the mainstay, holding a sharp ax and swinging like lightning.

Shouting to charge into the battlefield, the enemy's army suddenly dissipated.

Sing a song of the League of Seven Towns

sunset nightfall

Sleep peacefully with the sunshine until the sun rises.

We bind mortal bodies, life is bound to die.

However, he also sings about the territory until his death.

…………

She whispered ancient songs to the dreaming child in her arms.

This precious little guy will one day become the heir of the floating city of Sultanza.

No, no, Sultanza is no more, and there never will be again.

Now there is only the City of Shadows, full of ghosts.

His father's scepter was shattered, bloodied, and lost in time.

High Prince Revaran Tanshul of Shade no longer wields the lost scepter.

This baby immersed in dreamland will never possess the scepter that symbolizes the highest authority of the floating city of Sultanza.

This made Rui Varan feel pain.

But he saw that the baby lying in the mother's arms smiled.

Again her mother sang the Netherese ballad, old enough to recall the Dawn of the Seven-Towns when the League of Seven Towns had just been formed.

The baby stretched out his chubby little hand, put it on his mother's shoulder, and gently pinched it...

...the dry bone claws penetrated deeply...

"what!!!"

The Shadow Prince screamed and jumped to his feet.

He saw his pure black heart beating wildly in the skeleton-only chest, forcing him to take a deep breath.

For an endless, horrifying moment, he could feel the pain caused by the undead hand clutching his mother.

Then he blinked hard, letting the fear recede back into the depths of his memory.

The Shadow Prince touched his face with his hands, and felt that his hands were full of tears, he could only try his best to stop his trembling.

It's just a memory, not real, he told himself self-deceivingly.

But all this did happen.

Sitting on the bed, the Shadow Prince was recalling what happened before he fell asleep. He joined forces with the priestess Elirel and others to block Simbu, the elector of the goddess of magic.

Who would have thought that the reinforcements of the wizard queen of Aglaron arrived very timely. In this battle, he was seriously injured by the magic of the mad witch Simbu.

After he escaped from the city of Sergante in embarrassment, he found in despair that the city of Sacross had fallen to the ground, and the shadow temple of the lost lady had completely collapsed, and he passed out because of this.

As usual, whenever he was seriously injured and unconscious, the nightmare would haunt him again.

"Is everything I did right or wrong?" the Shadow Prince muttered to himself.

The Netheril calendar is a year of courage, and many great things have happened.

Iolum, known as the 'Father of Nether', abandoned his floating city, Sinlenar, in this year, and it was also in this year that the Saren Spirit and Felin Mokui confronted each other for the first time.

The Prophet Acindor, who once assisted the empire in translating the scrolls of Nether, appeared on the territory of the empire for the last time. Even the floating city of Sacross rose to the sky in this year.

But only he and the Lost Lady knew that in the age of courage, Rivalan still had one of the greatest secrets hidden in his heart.

This year, as a person without arcane talent, he was just a mortal, a part-time mercenary and adventurer warrior.

But the lost lady Shar found him and told him the future fate of the empire and the only way to save the empire.

So, under the order of the Lost Lady, he personally killed his mother, a priestess who abandoned the faith of the Lost Lady.

In doing so, he performed his own sharing of 'his secrets' with the Lost Lady, for for supplicants in her clergy this is the most important ritual of committing to the Lost Lady's faith.

And what he got in return was to use his divination ability to help his father successfully send the city of Sultanza to the shadow plane, avoiding the disaster that destroyed the entire empire.

"Am I really doing something wrong?"

The Shadow Prince came back to his senses, got out of bed, took a luxurious robe, put on boots, and went to the Hall of Shadows to look for the Night Prophet.

The Night Prophet knew about his nightmare and had told him that he could come to it whenever he needed company or someone to talk to.

As usual, the Night Seer always seemed to be waiting for him.

It hovered in mid-air, its shadow-condensed body was wrapped in a purple halo, and it continuously emitted a faint and beautiful rhythm, flashing a comforting light.

The Shadow Prince appreciated the comfort, which always calmed his heart slowly, as sweet and comforting as a spring in the desert.

The Night Seer of the Shadow Temple sometimes speaks words that can be heard by those around him, and sometimes speaks directly to someone's heart and mind.

Now, it goes the second way.

"Honey, are you sad again... Your dream disturbed you again."

The Shadow Prince nodded, bowed slightly to the Night Prophet, and said with a little embarrassment, "I always thought that they would always end."

"They will..." Nightseer's gentle voice assured him, "...as long as you prepare for their demise."

"You've said this before. But why do I know I'm not ready yet?" The Shadow Prince could hear the impatience and anxiety in his voice.

"There are things you have to do before you can find peace. There are things you have to understand, you have to accept, and let them become one with you. The Goddess needs your help. The healing a person needs always comes one way or another , but sometimes it is difficult to recognize. Sometimes, the best and most important gift is wrapped in pain and blood." Night Prophet comforted the Shadow Prince with a soft voice.

"Sorry, that doesn't make me feel any better." Rui Valan shook his head slightly.

"When you realize that there is a gift hidden in everything that happens to you, maybe you will think differently," said Night Prophet.

The Shadow Prince closed his eyes. "Forgive me, but it's hard for me to think that way."

He once witnessed the destruction of his beloved country, and even he himself was corrupted into evil, and his mother was killed by himself.

So many descendants of Netheril who survived in the shadow plane were transformed into ghosts by his own hands... His evil deeds, his fear, his regret, his family affection... He seemed to have lost everything.

"No, not everything. We always benefit from what we do. Every shade you transform, every person you guide into the arms of the Goddess, makes them into better beings... …all of these, and the joy they bring, become a part of you, as much as your pain, and both should be remembered by you. Children blessed by darkness and shadows, I say, believe in every Everything has a purpose. But you already know this. You see the results of your efforts. Don't ignore them, don't despise them. Taste them, savor them. For they belong to you, Just as they belong to many others."

The Shade Prince's tensed chest eased a little, and peace crept into his heart.

Only then did he realize that he had clenched his fists.

He opened his hands, and saw tiny dark moon-shaped purple spots—the marks of his nails on the flesh.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

This time, he didn't see his own terror, nor his mother killed by him in the old ballad—a sight that always weighed more heavily on him.

He saw only darkness, soft and gentle darkness.

It makes harsh light soothed and more bearable.

It provides a safe haven for wild creatures and privacy for those who want to temporarily create a world for two.

The darkness was so comforting, as sweet and soothing to him as a spring in the desert.

Shade Prince Rivaran felt the warmth of the Night Prophet caressing him, like a feather caressing him.

"Go to sleep, children favored by darkness and shadows, don't care about the fall of Sacross City, don't care about the collapse of the Temple of Shadows, and don't care about your own failures, you just have to believe that when darkness defeats light, there will be no more There is war, there will be no more terror, there is only peace and stability. The tranquility and nothingness in the beginning is the ultimate goal we are pursuing."

"Life and living things should not have appeared. If there was no life, there would be no conflict between light and darkness. War, disease, murder, death, magic and other gods, would not be in the aftermath of this war of gods. was created out of..."

"Thank you, I understand. I am ashamed of my inner turmoil, and thank the Goddess for forgiving me." The Shadow Prince lowered his head in shame, and the original coldness and wisdom reappeared in the bewildered pale red eyes.

"I know what to do next, just as the goddess needs me to do." He solemnly assured the Prophet of the Night with his firmer words than before.

When the Shadow Prince was about to return to the room, he saw the 'black veil' Yiliriel walking towards him.

Rui Valan could feel that the priestess of the Lost Lady had a very clear goal and came to find him.

He didn't dare to neglect, and immediately reached out his hand to signal, and came to the meeting hall with her.

"This failure is even more unexpected than expected." The veiled priestess said in a voice full of temptation.

"Indeed." The Shadow Prince was unmoved, just nodded slightly, but his heart was full of mixed feelings.

Although the floating city of Sacross avoided the fate of crashing, the Shadow Temple collapsed in this disaster, and a large number of priests died as a result.

This was an extremely heavy blow to him.

This not only made him lose the ability to attack Cormyr, but also made it difficult to execute his plan against Tivington.

In the plan of the Lost Lady, Tivanton, which is located at the node of the magic net, is the top priority, and no mistakes are allowed.

"Mither's energy core is intact, so we must find a way to let Sacross rise into the sky." He said to the priestess, "Only in this way can we have the power to deal with the mage towers in the Kingdom of Cormyr. "

Only the mage tower can deal with the mage tower.

On this point, Rui Valan is still very clear. Only by letting Sacross rise to the sky again can the ghost tower in the floating city be able to play a role in countering the towers in Mokou Town and Araby City.

"Time is running out." The priestess shook her head slightly and said:
"I have concentrated all the power of the church in the Kingdom of Cormyr, the Valley, and the Cormanthor region to the city of Sergante. Even so, I want to rebuild the Shadow Demon Network system and let the city of Sacross rise to the sky again. , and it will take at least two months."

When Rui Valan heard this, he looked at the priestess warily and frowned.

He frowned not because of the time when the floating city was lifted into the air, but because of the previous sentence of the priestess.

She actually transferred all the power of the church to the city of Sergante without her own permission, which made him smell something.

He would not naively think that the other party would come to help him out of kindness.

After all, as the most powerful priest of the Lost Lady, Priestess Elirael serves the Ancient Night Temple, which is also the oldest and most powerful temple of the Lost Lady in the material world.

The dancer before dawn, the appearance of 'Black Veil' Elyrell, every word she said can be used as the meaning of the lost lady.

Could it be that Ms. Lost has begun to feel dissatisfied with this failure?The Shadow Prince thought inwardly.

"Put away the tricks you played in the city of ghosts, I don't have much interest in you ghosts." The priestess seemed to see through the prince's thoughts, and said disdainfully: "Things are not what you imagined, There are other reasons why I transferred all the power of the church to the Kingdom of Sambia."

"What's the reason?" Shadow Prince asked subconsciously.

"Recently, Cormyr's battle mages and Harper Alliance members are like a group of smelly cats, always able to find the church's hidden places and uproot them." The priestess sighed, " I did it out of desperation.”

Prince Yinhun showed a look of surprise, and nodded deeply.

In this matter, he still has a say.

The Lost Lady is a lady who hides secrets, and the church will always be set up in extremely secret places.

The city of Tivanton in the Kingdom of Cormyr is a living example.

The church in Tiffanyton was so hidden that even he himself could not sense it through divine magic, and the clergy there also lived an isolated life, only preparing for the moment of sacrifice.

But it is unbelievable that the consul of Tivanton still noticed the location and uprooted it, so that the opportunity to sacrifice the city has never been completed.

Thinking of this, he suddenly recalled an extremely coincidental event.

According to the information sent back by Tiffany's shadow agent, he learned that the reason why Tiffany's consuls were able to detect the hidden location of the church was entirely because of the information provided by the lords of Mokou Town to their consuls.

This news was inadvertently learned by the spy from the mouth of the tiger man governor.

And the time when the Harper Alliance unplugged the church stronghold coincided with Brian's trip to Misty Valley to meet the leader of the Harper.

"Could it be that..." The Shadow Prince was taken aback by his guess.

So, he truthfully told the priestess Elirael what he thought.

"I never believe in the so-called 'coincidence'." The priestess said:
"Just the battle a few days ago gave me a new understanding of this young mage lord. If the current rules of the magic net hadn't been changed, I even think that this man from the Kingdom of Harua Mage, really inherited the Netherese Empire's Grand Arcanist inheritance."

"I've seen a real great arcanist before." Shadow Prince Ruivalan said calmly, "In my opinion, Brian's spellcasting rules... are even more terrifying than the great arcanists of our empire. When it grows up, I am afraid it will become our biggest obstacle right now."

"He has grown up, and his growth can be regarded as a legendary story." The priestess said with a lack of interest, "Forget it, let's not discuss him for the time being, and we will have a chance to deal with him later."

"The purpose of my coming here is to tell you." She paused for a moment, and continued: "I have found a way to sacrifice Tiffantun silently."

"What method?" Prince Shade asked curiously, looking at the mysterious face of the priestess hidden in the veil.

As the spokesperson of Miss Lost in the material world, he did not doubt the authenticity of the other party's words.

"Undead creatures..."

The priestess tapped the table with her long and slender fingers, and said slowly, "I believe this restless master must be very interested in the 5 population of Tiffanyon."

The Yinhun Prince's eyes gradually widened as the priestess' fingers outlined a skeleton scepter, and finally a look of shock appeared, and his voice trembled slightly:

"You have to think about it clearly. Cooperating with him is an extremely dangerous thing. Even a spellcaster who talks and laughs with devils dare not..."

"This is the only way we have right now, and it is also the fastest way to sacrifice Tifington. As for how to do it, I have my own discretion, and I don't need you to remind me." The priestess interrupted his words domineeringly, and lightly snort.

Prince Yinhun didn't say much anymore. From the fact that the other party was able to drive the mercenary yugoloth from the Burning Hell, it could be seen that Illyrael had definitely participated in many bloody battles in the abyss.

The most important thing is that in the battle a few days ago, her strength was able to suppress Simbu's crazy witch all the way, and finally retreated unharmed.

This is a terrible woman.

Even because she was the voice of the Lost Lady, the two were unwavering, front-line allies, and Riveran always subconsciously wanted to guard against her.

"Tiffanton's problem is solved," the priestess continued. "I need you to do something for me."

"Do you know the news about the 'God of Thieves Mask'." Before the Shadow Prince could speak, the priestess asked again.

"Of course." Rui Valan nodded slightly.

"Then I'll be blunt." The priestess said, "Mask was hunted down by the Chaos Demon Dog. In order to survive, he voluntarily gave up his priesthood of stealing and thieves. Only the body of the priesthood of shadow was imprisoned by the goddess and remade Killing God Sword."

"Two-thirds of the divine power is contained in the Sword of Killing God, which has been absorbed by the seeds placed in the material world by the goddess in advance." She glanced at Prince Yinhun, paused for a moment, and said again:
"The remaining one-third of the divine power is kept by the goddess in a container called the 'Dark Holy Grail'. Your task is to retrieve the Holy Grail. With the strength of the two of us, it is enough to absorb the remaining divine power in the Holy Grail. Use this to implement the next plan.”

"Where is the Holy Grail hidden?" Prince Shadow was not dazzled by this gift, but asked calmly.

"Hidden in a temple of the goddess." The priestess said to him, "This temple is not in the world of Toril, but in Bra star, which is known as the 'pirate paradise'."

"Tell me the location of Star Bra." The Prince of Shadows nodded thoughtfully. If he wanted to go to the barren universe outside Toril, he needed a spaceship, and the City of Shadows happened to have one.

The moon in the world of Toril is called: Suren, the goddess of the moon, the sworn enemy of the Lost Lady.

Accompanying the moon are hundreds of asteroids known as 'Tears of Suren'.

It is not as simple as imagined for him to find the location of Brahma from hundreds of asteroids in the barren universe, and then find the hidden lost temple.

Priestess Elirael smiled and told the Shadow Prince the location of Brasin in detail.

…………

The upper floor of the mage tower led by the female university is brightly lit, and dozens of glowing pyroxenes illuminate the round library on the top of the tower like daytime. Staying in the mage tower, it is difficult for people to imagine that they are actually under the ground .

If it were replaced by the Lord's Mansion above, it would be equivalent to a Babel Tower, and it is also the favorite place of Hui Yao Sister Jielina.

Because through the window, she can easily overlook the whole picture of the tower, looking at the busy figures like ants surrounding the mage tower, a feeling of controlling all living beings emerges in her heart.

This always made her involuntarily recall what it was like when she was a mortal.

It is a pity that Terina has very few memories of the past, and her clearest memory is on the River Styx.

She remembered that she had been drifting in the turbid River Styx for a long time, and the river water penetrated her soul, making her forget too much, leaving only a little bit of vague memory.

It is said that the period of memory before death is the clearest.

It's a pity that Jie Linna only remembers a vague shadow now. As a newborn Sister Hui Yao, she doesn't care too much about her past. Now the succubus' natural desire to control makes her want to gain more power.

Pleasing her mother, the Queen of Succubus, Meikanxiet, is her most important thing.

Because if she can't prove her worth, she will become a plaything for her mother.

The Succubus Queen has always been a man and woman, and she has an almost pathological pursuit of beautiful things.

Only by proving that he can gain power, status and freedom can his mother regard himself as the most beloved child among the 13 glorious nuns.

Whenever she is free, Jie Linna will take out a book from the bookshelf that records the history and secrets of the forgotten kingdom, sit by the window and read it slowly. Drow bloodbrew of blood.

Since taming the female leader Mirabetta, Terina has relaxed.

For the task that was getting closer and closer, she was not nervous, but a little more looking forward to it.

The life of more than 200 years made her feel very boring, and the invincible devil prince that her mother told her seemed to be an opponent enough to stimulate her.

It's just that the chaos in the Underdark is still several years away, and she needs to set up a new goal to pass the rest of the time.

There are very few people who can enter Terina's sight, and the young mage lord Brian in Mokou Town happens to be one... and the only mortal who can arouse her interest now.

He was not favored by anyone, but he stood out alone in Mokou Town. With a dilapidated town, he fought against the Shadow Empire in the desert, and won many times. He finally became the protector of the powerful kingdom of Cormyr, second only to the regent. under.

I have to say that this kind of person is really rare, and it made her grit her teeth with hatred.

The battle a few days ago left a deep impression on her.

She never dreamed that since she appeared on the material plane, she has encountered so many battles, and even fought against the elect of the goddess of magic. In the hands of mortals who came out, they were forced to the point where they showed their original form.

As far as she is concerned, the identity of Sister Hui Yao is completely exposed, which means that she will have fewer opportunities to go out for dental festivals every time.

humiliation!

The fight felt like a humiliation to her from start to finish.

Because from the beginning to the end, she was like a dog, being chased by the lunatic in front of her and bombarded with magic.

Pooh!
wrong!

It was like she was being chased and bitten by a mad dog.

The most unbearable thing for her is that until the end of the battle, she didn't know who the opponent in front of her was!
It made her feel like she was going crazy too.

However, after learning more about the other party's information, she began to become more and more interested in this young mage lord.

This man's style of conduct is very unique, and his unscrupulous abolition of slavery, as well as the promotion of knowledge dissemination and land reform, won him the unanimous love of the people.

He even changed the situation in the Kingdom of Cormyr by himself.

It would be a pity if such a person were to remain in a small kingdom in the material world.

The bottomless abyss is his destination.

Therefore, she must find a way to make Brian belong to her mother, or become a part of herself.

Sister Hui Yao couldn't help but licked her lips, feeling that if she could be recruited, her mother's next plan would be much easier.

Just as Terina was thinking about how to deal with Brian, the door of the library was pushed open, and Mitabella, the head of the women's university, walked in.

"Is the meeting over?" she asked.

Mother is very satisfied with this female Grand Leader, and has made Mitabela one of the candidates for the next Brilliant Sister.

This is the reason why the Succubus Queen entrusted her with the difficult task of dealing with the Demon Prince, which all the sisters wanted to grab.

"Yes." The female commander rubbed her neck and complained:

"It's good for you, sitting here reading and drinking every day, and I have to accompany those old guys... No, it's a group of ghosts smoking black smoke. Do you know? Especially that pervert named Lamorrak, There is only a black bone frame left, and he is still staring at me all day long, I really want to kill him with a breath of dragon breath."

"That's not nonsense, it's related to the future of the Sambia Kingdom."

Terina shrugged and analyzed calmly: "Although we have reached a military alliance with the ghosts, their enemy is Mystra, the goddess of magic. As the saying goes: Justice may be late, but it will never be absent. No matter the final result No matter what, we have to leave a way out for ourselves."

"Whatever." The female commander yawned and said indifferently:
"I heard from them that if they want to transfer the Shadow Temple in the floating city of Sultanza to Sacross, all people from the City of Shadows and the Church will also be transferred here, and even two Princes of Shadows have come. It seems that they are separated from High King Telamante."

Sister Hui Yao nodded thoughtfully.

"Okay, don't think so much." The female commander got up and walked to her, grabbed the book and threw it on the table, "I have an appointment with Illyrel today, the three of us have some exciting fun together."

Jielina nodded slightly. The injuries she suffered from the battles of the previous few days are only recovering now. She really needs to take some meat, punish herself a little, and relax.

So, she walked out of the tower with the female leader and came to the city of Sergante.

"Hey, didn't you agree to relax, why did you bring me to this... small tavern?" When the two came to a small tavern opened by a tauren, Terina asked curiously:
"And there are so many men? If you want men, why don't you just find a few noble knights?"

"Huh... Terina, I think it would be nice to let them mess around as they please?"

The female commander stood up slowly, brushing away strands of hair that fell to her forehead.

"After all, aren't there too many men that the two of us took the initiative to seduce?"

indeed.

They won't get sick, won't get pregnant, and can quickly recover from some injuries. Mirabetta and Terina are invincible in pushing men.

"Well...can you guarantee that Heisha really ordered them, and it's just for us? That's no problem..."

Unwilling to be lonely, the three wanted to play a different game this time.

"Hey, speaking of which, where is Hei Sha? Could it be that there are too many people and you are scared?"

"She probably wants to make sure that no one around is curious about this place. After all, if you see too many people, it will be inconvenient to deal with it afterwards..."

In a small tavern in the city of Sergente, the busy workers worked from the bright morning to the night when the tavern was enveloped, and then left one after another satisfied.

"Oh, is this the end?"

"Tsk, quickly deal with this place, after all..." The female commander straightened up, and there seemed to be a light on the ravaged messy pretty face.

"We still have work to do."

Later, in about seven or eight days, there were nearly a hundred deaths of unknown causes in the city of Sergante.

Most of the dead were young men, and their common feature was that they had been to a certain unknown tauren tavern to drink.

The tauren owner of that tavern died in an accident shortly afterwards. He was crushed to death by a wine barrel that didn't even have a big head when unloading the goods.

…………

(End of this chapter)