Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

  As all had known, the Eagle Wing Sword was the emperor’s sword passed on from generation to generation within the Eagle Kingdom. It was also the key to activate the Three Eagle Artifacts. Any human who mastered the power of god could be regarded as the true “Eagle Descendant” and believed to take on the whole state.

  In other words, the Eagle Wing Sword symbolized the king of Eagle Kingdom. The one who used the sword was not necessarily the king, but a qualified king must know how to use the sword.

  Leon Igor was the only living descendant of the former king; thus he had the legal and constitutional, undoubted right of inheritance. Moreover, he was capable and had a good command of the Eagle Wing Sword. This made him well-equipped to succeed as the king and nothing would step in his way of doing so.

  Therefore, he was certainly in the position to issue orders to the Eagle Kingdom. In fact, when the eagle was flying across the sky, many old followers of the former king who had never witnessed the Eagle Wing Sword by themselves had all been astonished and cried with joy. And the young had also been excited at seeing that, knowing what it had implied, though most of them had never seen the Eagle Wing Sword before.

  “I guess you would allow me to take on the battle on behalf of the Eagle Kingdom.” Leon swung his sword, intensifying the lights around him as well as the cheerful crowd. “Your Highness, Emperor of Orcs, now the question is, will you or someone else take on the battle?”

  The battlefield became silent, and all humans and Orcs looked at the golden flag of the Emperor of Orcs.

  How would the man under the flag decide?

  Would this battle end with a dreadful slaughter or a relatively mild fight?

  If it were a fight, who would win?

  Junero Tiger frowned anxiously, for he had not expected such a situation and was thus rather hesitant.

  He was confident in defeating the other, even though this capable young lad was at the legendary peak and held a holy weapon to enhance his strength.

  Yet, Junero Tiger didn’t want the fight.

  Being a top master, Junero had always been promoting his leadership of mass line with wisdom and personal charm. In his opinion, a king should always be with his people rather than enthusiastically fighting alone. That was why when he was in the Orcs’”golden tent martial competition” to fight for the crown of the emperor, he had chosen to spend his time convincing the contesters one by one rather than defeating them in the ring. This was his principle.

  Masters of his level usually stuck to their own principles because only in that way could they find the meeting point in the origins of the world and obtain their deity to finish the key step towards becoming a god. This process marked the integrity of human dignity and deity so as to proceed to the level of a god.

  Junero had been working hard for so long, and he was not willing to sacrifice his past efforts just for one battle.

  However, the Orcs had long been honoring force and brave fighters and would probably be disappointed if he rejected Leon Igor’s challenge.

  “Your Highness, let me fight against him!” the Presbyter of the Divine Temple said. “I will not lose to him!”

  Junero forced a smile and shook his head secretly.

  Indeed, the presbyter was equally capable as the opponent. But at such an old age, the possibilities of him either making another breakthrough in the radical fight or staying powerful were both worrying.

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  Besides, the real problem was not about capability. Junero Tiger didn’t wish to fight in this way!

  He lowered his head and thought for a long time. At last, he raised his head again and said decisively, “I reject your challenge. But if you still wish to fight with force, please come to me by yourself!”

  His words shocked all.

  It was widely accepted for people to fight one on one for something. It was a tradition of romanticism and a solution which could avoid unnecessary loss. Normally, one would not reject another’s invitation for a fight as long as they were at a similar level.

  Before the results were settled, the most suitable way to tackle problems was through a fight. But the Emperor of Orcs rejected Prince Leon’s invitation, and not even willing to send someone to fight on his behalf. This was completely different from the common practice.

  Leon was the most surprised. He had never expected the Orcs—the force-honored race—to have an emperor against using force. Now Leon was still flying in the air, feeling a bit embarrassed at being rejected.

  Luckily, Junero Tiger didn’t keep him embarrassed for long. He waved his hand again and ordered all his forces to attack.

  “Forward! Defeat all these humans! Throw each of them into failure and despair and give them no excuse to feel safe! I want an outright victory to lay the foundation for long-term peace and security in the empire’s new southern border!”

  With his order, all his troops—though they had just been depressed by his rejection of Leon’s fight—burst into a roar and rushed to attack.

  As humans were on the edge of being defeated, Leon frowned and made a decision.

  “Not daring to fight against me? Fine, let me come to you!”

  Leon was glowing as he picked up his Eagle Sword and rushed towards the flag of the Emperor of Orcs.

  White light shone, and the eagle spread its wings. The sword brought along with it a gust of air as fast as the eagle flying towards that strikingly tall, golden battle flag.

  Before the strong gust hit the flag, the Presbyter of the Divine Temple appeared there right in front of it. He waved his Staff of Imprisonment and called a giant human skeleton into the air to stop the sword’s eagle-like airflow.

  With a horrendous sound, a strong wind swept over the whole battlefield and stopped the Eagle Sword.

  The Orc troops cheered while humans froze with fear.

  The Eagle Sword had long been reputed as unrivaled. Countless times when the Eagle Kingdom troops had been in danger, the king would wield the Eagle Sword to turn the tables and defeat all their enemies.

  In the hearts of the people on the Eagle Kingdom, the Eagle Sword had been their symbol of unbeatable strength and their faith!

  But now, it was stopped!

  For many of them, it was just like the end of the world, and they immediately lost all will to fight. If not for the remaining anger towards the Orcs and their pride as soldiers, they would have given in to the enemies.

  Leon was also shocked. He was very clear about how powerful the sword was and had never expected this Orc, who looked too old to fight, to defend against it so easily. This made him worried.

  At this time, the Eagle Sword, the Eagle Crown, and the Eagle Clothing shone brightly along with strange sounds in the sky.

  The Three Eagle Artifacts were chirping together.

  In the next moment, Leon had changed his appearance in the midst of the lights. He was in a fabulous feather coat armor which covered golden chainmail. He was wearing a feather crown on which diamonds were beautifully shining on his god-like face. He was holding a giant, feather-like sword which was surrounded by electric lights. The lights flew around him in the shape of a lightning eagle, hovering and chirping.

  What was more impressive was a strong power that was felt. Before, Leon was seen as no more than a powerful human. But now, he looked like someone beyond the mortal world, exactly the same as the God of Knights who descended to the world previously.

  With the Eagle Sword being the key and the peak of legendary strength being the basis, the Three Eagle Artifacts had awakened!

  The Eagle Descendants would receive strong power from the three activated artifacts—strong enough to rival the gods!

  And now, such power belonged to Prince Leon, the most legitimate heir of the Eagle Kingdom!

  Leon slowly raised the completely different Eagle Sword, looking at it surprisingly.

  It had been so long since the last time the three artifacts were awakened.

  Though the previous kings of the Eagle Kingdom had used the Eagle Sword to wake up the three artifacts and obtain strong power, it hadn’t caused such a huge difference as today.

  At the same time, in the chamber of the temple of Eagle Kingdom, the fire started to burn in the middle of the tiny lights. From the fire came a looming figure which was wearing an eagle crown, a feather robe and was holding a long sword.

  The senior presbyter was kneeling in the chamber with two of his followers and bowing in worship to the fire.

  “Our God! Are you coming back?”

  But the figure was not getting any clearer.

  The senior presbyter raised his head slowly. He thought for a while and nodded slightly.

  “I see! Your Highness can’t return because your belief has become too thin to corporealize itself, even if you have a vessel.”

  “Then what shall we do with it?” one follower, the current high priest, asked with concern.

  “There is no simple method. We can only take time to preach,” said the senior presbyter. “But don’t worry. Since we already have the descendant to support His Highness’s return and the deity of His Highness has also been awakened, His Highness’s return is only a matter of time.”

  “I am too old to wait until that day, but you are still young. The most important thing is that the prince, who can help with His Highness’s return, can live a long life.” He smiled. “Take your time. Someday you, or at least your followers, or your followers’ followers, will reunite in the kingdom of His Highness!”

  His two followers nodded seriously, feeling excited.

  The senior presbyter smiled again. “To help His Highness’s belief spread widely again, let me use my dying body to contribute the last bit of my strength!”

  His body started to burn from his feet to his head. His body soon became a mass of golden flame and flowed into another burning fire in the corner of the chamber.

  At the next moment, Leon suddenly felt a strong power flowing into his body from the three artifacts, largely increasing his power again.

  His eyes shone like the stars in the sky, the airflow around him was nearly burning, and the electric lights on his sword could light up the vast land beneath him.

  He smiled and looked at that Presbyter of the Divine Temple.

  “The real Eagle Sword has come,” Leon said. “How about trying again!”