Pivot of the Sky-Chapter 206: One man’s battle with an empire

Many people thought of a terrifying incident. The Adoratrice, Lord Maria, had activated the scroll of Tiamat’s Wrath in the Shrine of Isis, but what kind of demon was it that had forced her to do so? Thinking about it there was only one biggest possibility, and that is, it was not some demon which had descended to earth, but Seth himself. No matter who it was, the thought of this made one shiver. They could only think about it but definitely not say it publicly!

The Shrine of Isis in the city of Memfis had now become the Shrine of Seth, which was the only shrine named after Seth among the main shrines of the cities, and was also the most important shrine in Lower Ejypt. Everyone believed that the “blasphemous demon” would never let go of this shrine, so the “demon” was bound to head to Memfis next.

The city of Memfis was not like other places, it not only had the Empire’s elite Isis Legion stationed in the city, there were also six supreme mages and eleven supreme warriors, as well as the largest team of mages in Lower Ejypt. Even if Amon was powerful, it was impossible to come and go freely when the Temple of Seth was guarded. “As long as the demon is here, he must not be allowed to escape!” This was the order given by the Pharaoh.

As a precaution, the magical formation that enveloped the entire Memfis City was also activated. For the first time, this formation was activated not because of war but because of one person. Although it did not fully utilize the offensive and defensive power that was meant for war and only activated its powerful detection function, the number of parangons consumed every day was still astounding, and it also required a supreme mage together with a dozen mages to take turns presiding over the formation.

Amon really struck again, but to the disappointment of all those waiting for him in Memfis, he did not go to Memfis. Instead, he headed south along the Nile River, crossing the river a hundred kilometers away to the west bank, and suddenly broke into the city of Herak. The “demon” rushed into the main shrine of the city to repeat the same trick, destroying the statue of Seth with a single strike of the sword before flying away. The shrine guards of the city did not catch up with him, and a large number of experts who rushed to Herak from Memfis did not manage to find the “demon”.

At this point, someone remembered that Amon was once the Supreme General of the Empire. He was proficient in the art of war, and not only was he able to command the troops to fight well in military formations, but he was also particularly good at surprise attacks. Could this be a diversion tactic so that he could strike at Memfis while the experts were gone? As a result, the experts hurriedly returned so that they would not fall for the “demon’s” trick.

But Amon’s movement was once again unexpected. This time, he traveled a thousand kilometers in three days and three nights and attacked the main shrines of Polis and Pano one after another, looking like he had already left Lower Ejypt and plunged straight into Upper Ejypt. The people could not help but be alarmed again, could it be that the “demon” was going to attack the shrine of the capital, Thebes?

Pharaoh Merneptah was building a new capital, Hillmore, three hundred kilometers south of Thebes, but Thebes was still the economic, political, and divine center of Upper Ejypt, and was more closely guarded than Memfis, so he immediately activated the magic formation to guard the whole city, and sent a large number of experts and elite guards to guard the main shrines of several small cities nearby.

But after waiting for more than a month, there was still no movement of the “demon”. It was as if he had given up his crazy actions, but the area around the city of Thebes did not dare to lower down their guard. At this moment, three thousand kilometers away from the city of Thebes, there was once again news that the main shrine of a city in Lower Ejypt, Butor, had been attacked by the “demon”, and the statue of Seth was destroyed.

The city of Butor was north of Memfis, the northernmost border of the Empire adjacent to the sea. Amon actually turned back to Lower Ejypt after going around in a huge circle and attacked a city that no one would expect. Before anyone could react, Amon suddenly headed west and attacked another coastal city, Rosetta.

Amon rushed into the main shrine of Rosetta, cut down the statue of Seth with a sword before flying away. This time, he was intercepted by a flying shuttle controlled by a supreme mage accompanied by a supreme warrior as he flew away in the air, and two other shuttles flanked him. However, before the army could surround him completely, another “demon” took action to assist Amon and escape from the encirclement.

The city of Rosetta was the residence of the Osiris Legion, which guarded the northern sea border of the Empire, so the defense force was not weak. Gabriel, who had been secretly assisting Amon, had once again taken action.

In four months’ time, Amon attacked the main shrines of twelve cities in a row. As a ninth-level warrior or a ninth-level mage, this “war record” was actually insignificant. Using such a long period of time while employing intricate surprise attack tactics, he had traveled over thousands of kilometers without killing a single enemy but only destroyed twelve statues.

But the impact caused by this incident on the Ejyptian Empire was indescribable. It could be said that Amon had incurred the smallest cost while dealing the heaviest blow to the Empire. Every strike of the sword to the statues of Seth was equivalent to striking at the weak points of the Empire, silently shaking the seemingly unmovable foundation of this great empire.

This was a battle between Amon and a great empire. if he was still the Supreme General, this tactic was really too despicable and outrageous, but terrifying at the same time!

This was a land where divine and royal power were united, where the pharaohs who ruled the empire symbolized the incarnation of the gods on earth, and where the shrines of the cities were the spiritual pillars of the people. The rituals of offerings held in the shrines were the most important source of spiritual support, entertainment as well as politics. Such a crazy move by Amon caused the cities to be on guard around the main shrine for several months, normal ceremonies and rituals were completely stopped, and the authority of the gods, as well as an imperial rule,

were struck and questioned.

Although it was only the statues that were destroyed, this was no longer a sudden event, but a constant occurrence throughout the Ejyptian Empire. People wondered where Seth was. Even though the statues in the main shrines of the cities were chopped down like vegetables, why couldn’t the Pharaoh of Ejypt, who represented the earthly incarnation of the gods, stop it?

Seth, who was called the head of the neteru, now left the impression of timidity, incompetence, and cowardice to the people. If Seth could not perform his miracles to punish the “demon”, then who would offer sacrifices to him in good faith? The “mighty leader of neteru”, Seth, was slow to stop the demon’s actions, and his image in the eyes of the people of Ejypt was already crumbling with the collapse of the statues.

Amon could not force Seth to show himself and was unable to fight with him face to face, but used such a way to pick him off the altar.

Doing this was actually a great risk to Amon. If he was not careful, he could end up in pieces at any time. No matter how strong he was by himself, it was impossible to fight against the Empire’s army and numerous experts at the same time. If he got surrounded, even if Gabriel appeared, it would still be impossible to escape. But on the other hand, the Pharaoh, the elders of the Academy of Magic, as well as the top brass of the Empire were having more headaches at the moment.

They were not facing a large army, nor an enemy who attacked head-on. This “demon” was more like a roving bandit, and the craziest madman the continent had ever seen! This person was willing to put life and death aside, not even fearing the gods, but acts extremely strange and cautious, wandering around the huge Ejyptian territory while never leaving a trail. Nobody knew where he would be, and when he would appear.

At first, except for a few people who guessed the identity of Amon, most people did not even understand what the purpose of this “demon” was. But later, many people also gradually came to realize that this “demon” was really a god, and it was either Horus who had come to take revenge, an evil god from the foreign world, or Amon himself, who had already taken on the status of god in the distant Plains of Duc.

From an unknown time, a rumor started spreading that this series of events was God Amon challenging Seth. What’s more, some people even said that God Amon had already killed Seth. But what was the truth? No one could be sure, and probably only the real gods themselves knew.

Seth had Seth’s troubles, Ejypt had Ejypt’s troubles, and the Pharaoh also had his own troubles. After all, the meaning of the name of Pharaoh “Merneptah” was “the light of An-Ra, the guardian of Seth”.

Pharaoh Merneptah held an emergency meeting to discuss countermeasures. Someone came up with the stupid idea of sending a supreme mage and two supreme warriors to sit in the main shrine of every city that had not been “patronized” yet. In particular, the two supreme warriors must carry weapons in front of the statue of Seth all day and night and take turns guarding the statue. If the “demon” rushed into the shrine, they could at least block one blow, so he could not destroy the statue, and others could then take advantage of the opportunity to entangle the “demon”, even if just to figure out the identity of this “demon”.

This was a very effective stupid solution but was rejected by most people. One reason was that it was difficult to gather so many experts, while the second reason was that even if they somehow managed to gather those numbers, it was not advisable to spread all these experts around to simply guard the shrines. If this were to happen, many important daily political and military affairs of the Ejyptian Empire would not be able to function properly, and the loss would not be worth the gain.

On the other hand, Pharaoh Merneptah and the priests of the Empire were constantly praying to the gods, asking them to send down an oracle to punish the demon. In the end, they did receive one. It was said that the neteru had come to earth and were now looking for the “demon” everywhere. The “demon” was too cunning and unpredictable while adept at hiding, so he had not been caught yet, but the neteru would definitely capture him and present him to the Ejyptian Empire for disposal.

……

There were dozens of divine emissaries in the Ennead system, and they were the most dangerous foes that Amon could face. According to what he learned in Schrodinger’s spiritual imprint, more than ten of these dozens of divine emissaries were good at fighting. Amon had already experienced that personally at Aeru, and he definitely did not want to experience it again.

Amon himself also had the ninth level of achievement of the power of origin, and he understood the habits of these emissaries very well. They would never be willing to take any risk personally until they have no choice but to do so. The emissaries in Aeru did not react at first, and when they realized the seriousness of the situation, they found that Amon’s whereabouts were difficult to find.

At first, they decided to concentrate on a few important cities, but Amon did not come, and the situation was getting out of control. So they made a decision to send one emissary to the main shrine in each city to keep an eye on it. These divine emissaries may not be Amon’s opponents, but they have a very special way of transmitting information to each other, and once they found Amon’s trail, they immediately summoned the divine emissaries of nearby cities to start encircling Amon and close in.

In the case of not being able to find Amon’s trail, this was the best arrangement, and it really worked.

Amon was briefly intercepted during the surprise attack on the Rosetta shrine. At this moment, the insect god Kebri happened to arrive at Rosetta. However, he did not strike immediately but immediately sent a message to other emissaries who were rushing to the nearby city. The Serpent God Edjo, who had planned to go to the city of Scheiss, was the first to come to Rosetta.

Kebri intercepted Amon halfway, and Edjo attempted to delay Amon long enough for the other emissaries to arrive. Seeing the danger of the situation, Amon and Gabriel quickly joined efforts to get away from the two divine emissaries and immediately disappeared, leaving the borders of Ejypt and the territory of Ennead to the north and flying far into the vast ocean.

The process of their escape was thrilling, but in the end, they were not caught. For a long time after that, the divine emissaries still waited in the shrines of the cities of Ejypt, but Amon did not appear again.

The city of Rosetta happened to be located at the northern border of the Ennead, so he was able to escape from the encounter with the insect god Kebri, but if he continued to attack other city shrines in the Ejypt, it would be no different from throwing himself into the trap, so he simply disappeared.

Amon was the active party, while the divine emissaries were the passive party. Amon could choose the right time and place to strike again, but how long could those divine emissaries wait? Amon finally determined one thing, Seth was definitely not willing to show up in front of him. Even though the matter had progressed to this extent, he still did not show up. Even if Amon destroyed all the statues of Seth in the main shrine of all 24 cities in the whole territory of Ejypt, Seth will not appear.

This made one thing clear, for Seth, there were more important issues to consider than the status of the king of Ennead. Compared to the meaning of the existence of the god, Seth valued the existence of the god itself even more. He had already transcended eternal life, becoming a near-eternal existence, and was not willing to fight with Amon, something that could lead to his fall. Even if his status had collapsed in the hearts of the people of Ejypt, Seth had to bear it.

Perhaps this god had been seriously wounded to the extent that he had not yet recovered and thought to himself that he was not a match for Amon right now. Or maybe he feared the power of Tiamat’s Wrath.

The whole world knew that Nero succeeded in making a scroll of Tiamat’s Wrath, and Amon received the relics of Nero, which was the reason why many powerful gods were reluctant to confront Amon. Seth did not guard against Maria at first, never expecting that Maria would launch a real Tiamat’s Wrath. Some people speculated that it was given to Maria by Amon, but no one dared to be certain.

The Shrine of Isis had once gathered many master scroll makers and tried to create Tiamat’s Wrath, but they were unsuccessful. However, who could determine the truth of that? Probably the goddess Isis and the successive generations of Adoratrice knew the real situation. What if the Tiamat’s Wrath in Maria’s hands did not come from Amon? What if Nero made not one but two Tiamat’s Wrath and Amon gave one to Maria and kept one in his own hands?

This possibility was very small, but Seth did not dare to gamble. If he made a mistake, his eternal life could very well be extinguished for real. So no matter what Amon does, Seth was determined not to appear.

It was intriguing that Maria once said: “Hearing your voice, I feel as if I saw your fall.” Seth chose to hide because he did not want to lose his eternal life, but could it be because of this that Maria foresaw the fall of this god?

Amon took Gabriel away from the pursuit of the insect god Kebri and the snake god Edjo, and flew towards the pale sea in the north, far away from the territory of the Ennead. Soon after they got away, the rest of the dozen divine emissaries also rushed to the sea border of Rosetta city, but they decided not to pursue Amon any further.

The sea was vast, and it was hard to be discovered if one found a random place to hide. And if all the divine emissaries left the territory of Ejypt and the Ennead at the same time just so that they could aimlessly search for a person, it would leave their territory somewhat empty, and this was also inappropriate. So after a short discussion, all of them returned to the main shrine of the cities they were guarding respectively.

Amon and Gabriel flew at low altitude, almost touching the tip of the waves on the sea, while the waves and turbulent lights and shadows that surged up from the sea were also conducive to the usage of concealment magic arts. After flying in this way for several days and nights, when Amon was sure that there were no more pursuers, they finally stopped at a lonely island in the sea.

The island was about three kilometers long and two kilometers wide, with two hills, one tall and one short. Halfway up the higher one, there was actually a pool of water formed by rainwater stored in a natural rock socket, a place where people could live. But its location was thousands of kilometers away from the mainland, and there were no other islands within a thousand kilometers around, so it was uninhabited.

The island was covered with lush jungle, and the shallow waters and beaches surrounding the island were inhabited by a large number of sea animals. Amon also found dilapidated houses halfway between the two hills, which were built by cutting down the trees on the island, left a long time ago, indicating that people had once lived here. It may be a place where pirates had stopped, or perhaps a fleet of ships that crossed the sea had stopped here temporarily, but right now there was no trace of humans.

Amon decided to stay here for a while. The environment was very good, just right for training in seclusion. For the time being, he would no longer attack the shrines of the cities of Ejypt, so let the Pharaoh and the emissaries of the Ennead divine clan wait in agony for as long as they wished.

……

Amon was far away from Ejypt, training between the blue sky and the blue sea, silently accumulating power, but the troubles of the Ejyptian Empire did not end immediately because of Amon’s departure. According to previous experience, no one could tell where the “demon” would appear after disappearing for a while. The cities were still on high alert, the divine emissaries were still on guard around the shrines, and the daily operations of the whole empire were seriously disrupted and in an abnormal state.

Although the emissaries did not intercept Amon in the city of Rosetta, it was not without gain. They finally discovered the identity of the “blasphemous demon”, and it was indeed “God Amon” from the city of Salem in the Plains of Duc. The Pharaoh and the imperial high priests who prayed to the gods every day finally heard the latest oracle.

To their great surprise, it was not a neteru who sent down the oracle, but An-Ra, the father of all the gods of Ennead, and the “one and only God” of the Ejyptian Empire today!