System's POV

“I see. So this is Exodia,” Thirteen muttered as he looked at the monster currently tied by chains within the Domain of the Apocalypse.

Body now fully regenerated, it thrashed around in an attempt to break free from the shackles binding it, only to fail miserably.

“Can you understand me?” Thirteen asked, standing several meters away from the monster, an abomination created by the Ashford Clan to take down Lawrence, the Grand Marshal of the Central Government.

Exodia glared at the teenage boy before opening its mouth to unleash an acid spray in his direction.

The spray hit an invisible wall, stopping it midair.

“You’re a pretty feisty fellow, huh?” Thirteen smirked. “Too bad, I don’t have time to play with you.”

It was also very unfortunate that the leaders of his monster army, like Khan, Harahon, and Lord Zorca, weren’t strong enough to deal with Exodia. As a Rank 9 Sovereign, the only ones who could beat the crap out of it were Camazotz, Kamrusepa, and Paimon.

But those three also seemed particularly busy as of late and would only appear inside the Domain from time to time.

Thirteen also didn’t want to rely on them too much, so he decided to put training Exodia on hold for the time being.

When he returned to the real world, the teenage boy was forced to join the meeting of the Alliance, which would dictate their next course of action.

As the Supreme Strategist of the alliance, everyone wanted to hear his opinion, especially after he managed to defeat one of the Jinn Armies that had tried to conquer the southern part of the continent.

“Our satellite images show that the Jinns have reorganized their forces and divided them into three main armies,” Tristan explained. “They have positioned themselves on the north and the center of the continent, leaving the south untouched.”

The Field Marshal glanced at Zion’s direction as everyone in the room had been briefed that the Jinns had failed to pass through the Planar Mountain Range after facing off against their Supreme Strategist.

“All of you are already aware that we’re facing another threat just as dangerous as the Jinns, the Azothralls. Zion had encountered one in Solterra, and according to him, they are relentless killing machines developed by the Artemians.

“I won’t go over the specifics since all of you should’ve read Zion’s briefing. But I will say this—in my opinion, the Azothralls pose an even greater danger. Unlike the Jinns, they move undetected by burrowing underground to mask their presence.

“As we speak, their current location is completely unknown. That alone puts our entire defense at risk. They were last spotted at the rear of the Jinn Armies, but there’s no telling if they’ve since diverted in our direction.

“That’s what makes them so terrifying. We don’t know where they are, or when they’ll strike.”

Even Thirteen was struggling to find traces of the Azothralls since they were outside of Athena’s scope of supervision.

While it could still scan for traces up to three hundred meters below the ground, it wasn’t capable of anything deeper than that.

The Azothralls travel at least a kilometer or two deep under the ground, making them undetectable even by radar.

“May I speak?” Thirteen raised his hand.

“Go ahead, Zion,” Tristan replied.

Thirteen then scanned the faces of everyone before saying what was on his mind.

“I’m not sure if you know, but I’ve dealt with Artemians before the Azothralls,” Thirteen said. “The first time I came across them was during my sister’s First Wandering. The Artemians were connected to her mission at the time.

“Helping my sister succeed in her mission essentially thwarted the Artemians’ plans, and ever since then, they’ve hated me to the core. I believe I’m one of the main reasons the Azothralls were sent to Pangea. Surely, the Artemian King still wishes to exact his revenge on me.”

Hearing his explanation, everyone had the “so it’s your fault they’re here!” gaze, but Zion only shrugged as if this wasn’t a big deal to him.

“Regardless of whether they are sent here to get revenge on me or not isn’t important,” Thirteen continued his explanation. “The main point is, we can use this calamity as an opportunity. The way I see it, there are only four possible outcomes for this war.

“The first possibility is that the Azothralls will target the high-ranking Jinns to eat their flesh, blood, and cores, allowing them to evolve into Rank 9 Sovereigns.

“There’s also a possibility they will prioritize feeding these cores to the golden Azothrall, which would make it break through the Rank 9 threshold and become an Archon. If that happens, everyone, both us and the Jinns, will no longer have a place to stay here in the continent.

“We’re a little luckier than most since we can still evacuate. As for the Jinns, they have nowhere to go and will just have to serve as food for the Azothralls.”

Thirteen smirked before raising another finger.

“The second possibility is that they will ignore the Jinns and come to find me. They will then do their best to kill me, and once I die, everyone else will follow me to the afterlife.”

The teenage boy was smiling, but the rest inside the room was not. Based on their expression, he must’ve made a terrible joke. That said, he quickly raised a third finger.

“What most of you don’t know is that the Azothralls can breed and increase their numbers,” Thirteen said in a solemn tone. “However, they prefer to capture ladies who possess holy or divine powers in their bodies.”

Shana, who was inside the conference room, bit her lip. She could still remember how Zion fought against the Azothrall in Solterra to keep her safe.

Tristan frowned and looked at his daughter with worry. Zion didn’t include this information when he sent the data of the Azothralls.

“While Shana is a prime candidate, we can’t rule out the possibility of Jinns who also possess these qualities,” Thirteen stated. “So, if there are any Wanderers who possess holy or divine powers, the Central Government should gather them now. It’s best that we temporarily evacuate them from the continent.”

Tristan’s expression was dark after realizing that the Saintess was in grave danger.

The last thing he wanted to happen was to let the Azothralls capture Shana and make her suffer a fate worse than death.

But Thirteen was still not finished with his explanation.

He raised a fourth finger to say the last possibility, but before he could do that, a soldier entered the room in haste and whispered something in Tristan’s ears.

The Field Marshal’s face became solemn after hearing his subordinate’s report.

“The Azothralls have appeared in one of our fortresses in the North,” Tristan said in a grave tone. “A battle is already taking place. But I have a piece of bad news—they have completely destroyed the two Majin Cannons stationed in the north, which is one of our trump cards.

“I’m afraid even if we send reinforcements now, it is already too late to do anything.”

Thirteen sighed because this was one of his worries.

The Azothralls were very smart, and he wouldn’t put it past them from learning the technologies of the human race.

The Majin Cannons were one of the weapons that could harm them. Now that they were destroyed, the north would no longer have a deterrent against the Jinns who might attack them at any moment.

“Tell everyone to evacuate if they can,” Thirteen said. “We cannot send reinforcements because none of them can fight against the Azothralls. Sending our people will be just sending them to die.

“Order all the armies on the north to evacuate to the center. The northern battle lines are already compromised. We cannot risk sacrificing more of our manpower to defend it.”

Tristan knew that time was of the essence, so he immediately sent an order for mass evacuation.

Now that the Azothralls had appeared in the territory of the Wanderers, it meant that they would have to make a difficult choice for the sake of everyone’s safety.

Thirteen looked at Shana, who was looking back at him with a calm expression.

The Saintess knew that no matter what happened, Zion would not abandon her, so she didn’t panic despite feeling anxious deep inside.

The teenage boy could tell what she was thinking, so he urged Tristan to gather all the Wanderers who possessed holy and divine powers and to send them to a ship that would set sail away from the continent.

Away from the monsters, who wanted nothing more than to capture them and increase their numbers.

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