The Five-Battle Pact: Mas, the Storyteller

Silvermoon Island, as its name suggests, ought to have been named for the moon in the night sky. Yet, in truth, the island's geographical shape is remarkably... discordant with its name! Viewed from high above, Silvermoon Island is not shaped like a full moon at all; instead, it's an enormous, elongated island with one flat side and the other jagged, resembling a serrated blade more than a crescent moon.

At the heart of this 'Great Serrated Island' lay a towering forest, spanning over a dozen *li* in circumference. Even the shortest trees here rivaled the height of a Golden Behemoth on the McAllen Prairie, while the tallest loomed like legendary Titan Giants, gazing down upon the earth.

At the very center of the forest was a spring erupting from underground, its waters fanning out to form a small lake named Moon Lake—one of the Three Continents' most wondrous natural phenomena. As night fell, regardless of whether a radiant moon graced the sky, its gentle ripples would always reflect a silver moon. This, then, was the true origin of Silvermoon Island's name!

With Moon Lake serving as the dividing line, the Dragon Clan's stronghold occupied the northern part of Silvermoon Island, while Du Chen now found himself at the Papal Curia's camp to the south of the lake.

Within the sprawling camp, dominated by gold and silver hues, Mas led Du Chen to a golden-domed tent, its height comparable to the shorter trees in the adjacent Eye of Heaven Forest. Pointing to the 'mobile palace' before them, he chuckled, "Brother, wait here for a moment. His Holiness is currently meeting with those old demons… ahem, I mean, those Divine Envoys!"

Despite at least a thousand people gathered in the nearby camp, it was so quiet one could hear the crisp chirping of birds in the forest. The Eye of Heaven Forest's canopy blocked the sunlight, yet the camp was brightly illuminated, with a golden mist slowly rising from the ground, enveloping the entire area. Amidst such a sacred and mystical ambiance, even Mas's language had become considerably more refined.

Du Chen followed Mas into a smaller tent beside the 'mobile palace.' Handing Beibei to Deboning, he grinned, "Boss Mas, it's still early. Tell me in detail, what exactly is the current situation?"

"Ugh, don't even get me started!" Mas fumed. "The Papal Curia has been wronged to hell and back!"

Mas sat cross-legged opposite Du Chen, seething with indignation. "Half a year ago, the Godfather of the Arcania Diocese sent a report to the Pontiff, claiming he'd found traces of Constantine within Arcania's borders. That unlucky old fool thought this might be an opportunity to put the Dragon Clan in His Holiness's debt, so he rallied the Masters of the Arcania Diocese to apprehend Constantine, while also requesting His Holiness to send reinforcements!"

Mas grabbed a jug from a nearby table, larger than his own head, and gulped it down. Yet, there wasn't a hint of alcohol—drinking was forbidden during wartime; if you wanted to drink, it was only water!

"And guess what happened next? That old fool actually encountered a metal-elemental Sacred Dragon! The dragon wasn't in human form at the time, but it looked exactly like Constantine's dragon-form! The two sides immediately clashed… Damn it all, the Arcania Godfather was unlucky; he died on the battlefield. Not only did he lose his life, but 'Constantine' also got away! Isn't that an injustice, I ask you!?"

*Smash!* Mas shattered the jug, fuming. "But not long after, the Dragon Clan came knocking, looking for trouble! They insisted the Pontiff had captured Constantine and demanded His Holiness hand him over. If not, then it was war, damn it!"

"Something's amiss, isn't it?!" Du Chen murmured, a frown on his face.

"Who says it isn't?! I, Mas, may be a crude man, but even I could see something was wrong here! His Holiness the Pontiff spared no expense in investigating, but they found absolutely nothing!" Mas stood with hands on hips, pointing north and yelling, "Did those winged lizards eat too much shit, their brains filled with dung?! They insist His Holiness is harboring Constantine…"

"Hold on," Du Chen interjected, deep in thought. "The Dragon God accusing the Pontiff—a potential war between two deities, that's a colossal matter. What evidence does the Dragon God have to accuse His Holiness of harboring Constantine? As the Dragon God, it's unlikely he'd make an accusation without proof, right?"

"Evidence? Evidence, my ass!" Mas roared. "The Dragon God claims one of his Sacred Dragons personally witnessed Constantine, after being wounded, being escorted into a church by several Papal Curia members—the Cathedral of Namir's Light!" He slapped his head, adding, "It's that Cathedral of Namir's Light right across from your Junior Brother Cassian's palace!"

Du Chen nodded, understanding the significance of the Cathedral of Namir's Light. It was equivalent to the Holy Church's Saint John Cathedral in Lanning's capital, personally controlled by one of the Papal Curia's nine (now eight) Arch-Godfathers. Its role was to monitor and influence the situation across an entire continent… For a Sacred Dragon to personally witness Papal Curia members bringing Constantine into the Papal Curia's most Core Institution on the Arcania Continent… that was certainly enough to ignite the Dragon God's fury!

"And then?" Du Chen asked.

Something was definitely wrong. Andy had already extracted the truth from Balu and others: half a year ago, Constantine had discovered a connection between the Star of Turaam and the cave where Sophia disappeared, and he was planning to seize the Star of Turaam in Thornwood Valley! There was no way he could have been on the Arcania Continent.

"And that's how we got to this mess!" Mas shrugged. "The two sides clashed a few times in secret, but neither gained an advantage. Neither wanted to wage a continent-wide war, so, damn it, they just sat down to negotiate!"

Du Chen chuckled, "But when negotiations failed, both sides resorted to settling matters with their fists again, thus establishing the Five-Battle Pact!"

"Exactly, that's it!" Mas stroked his beard. "Silvermoon Island has this Moon Lake, and that thing is quite peculiar when there's no moon—it can help Battle Gods boost their power! So, our leader and the Dragon God agreed that at the beginning of each month, when the moon is absent, they would send combatants to duel at Moon Lake, allowing both sides to unleash their maximum strength…"

Seeing Mas grow animated in his storytelling, Du Chen quickly cut him off. "Just tell me the results!"

Mas nodded, slightly disappointed. "Oh, alright then! In the first two months, the scaled beasts sent out two Sacred Dragons, and they took out one of our Deacon Godfathers and the Inquisitor General! Damn it all!"

Mas slammed his foot onto the table. "Our leader saw that this wouldn't do! Out of five battles in total, we'd lost two Masters right at the start – unacceptable! But our ultimate trump cards couldn't be revealed just yet, so we had to call in help from elsewhere… and that's when your teacher, Zigurd, arrived!"

Du Chen smiled faintly upon hearing this. Mas certainly had the talent of a bard! He probably wouldn't starve even if he stopped being a Battle God!

"That old rascal Zigurd… ahem, that esteemed old gentleman has skills! Wielding his newly acquired Ninth-rank sacred artifact, the Thorned Water Ring, he actually transported all the seawater near Silvermoon Island into the sky, creating a Great Thorned Illusion Array! And guess what? The strongest of the Sacred Dragons, their Second Brother, circled inside that magic formation for three hours and still couldn't find his way out… Haha!"

Du Chen burst out laughing with him.

"But the fourth battle was troublesome," Mas continued. "Among the Sacred Dragons, only the weakest, their Old Five, remained—the father of those three she-dragons. Although that old fellow was the weakest, he was still a Sacred Dragon! Among our leader's forces, there was no one who could openly stand against him… So, our leader consulted with Zigurd, and they called for Roland!" Mas stopped his ranting, instead gesticulating excitedly.

"The Sword Emperor of yesteryear truly lived up to his name! That night, Roland stepped onto the stage, glanced at the Sacred Dragon, and uttered just one sentence… Guess what it was?" Mas said coolly, hands on his hips. '"Since you are an earth-elemental dragon with the strongest defense, if I cannot shatter your shield within three moves, I lose!" '"

Du Chen was startled. "Three moves to defeat a Sacred Dragon?"

"Yes, just three moves!" Mas exclaimed, pounding his chest. "For the first move, Roland, being metal-elemental, conjured a streak of sword light and slammed it onto the Sacred Dragon's head, but it had no immediate effect! However, with the second move, that first streak of sword light suddenly shattered, and the fragments swirled around the Sacred Dragon's shield, slowly grinding it down until cracks appeared…"

At this point, Mas abruptly fell silent.

Beibei, nestled in Deboning's arms, was listening intently and urged, "Quick, keep going!"

Mas offered a slight smile. "It's over, that's all!"

"That's all? Beibei doesn't believe it!"

"That's right, the duel ended right there! After Roland finished his second move, he turned and stepped off the stage. Everyone was stunned… I was stunned too!" Mas chuckled awkwardly. "But then, our leader, His Holiness the Pontiff, smiled and said, 'What a technique, 'Iron Tears, Lingering Silk'! Three moves have passed, Dragon God, and we have won this battle!' Immediately after, that Sacred Dragon collapsed!"

Roland's heroic bearing that night seemed almost tangible, and Du Chen chuckled, leaning on the armrest.

Beside them, Deboning spoke solemnly, "Using a metal-elemental Secret Technique to draw forth Water Element and infiltrate an earth-elemental shield, shattering it from within… Roland's day of achieving godhood is not far off!"

"Who says so, right?! I only understood what happened later, after our leader explained it!" Mas interjected. "At the time, the Dragon God, to his credit, just left after uttering one sentence—'What a pity, what a pity I couldn't witness the Sword Emperor execute this technique with his Sword of Resentful Water!' "

Deboning exclaimed, shocked, "Roland defeated a Sacred Dragon in three moves, yet he didn't even draw his sword!?"

Mas nodded. "Precisely. Roland's sword light was entirely conjured from the gauntlets on his hands… he didn't even bring the Sword of Resentful Water with him!"

Deboning suddenly sighed, shaking his head. "The leader of the Five Peaks of Myriad Streams truly lives up to his reputation! Mars, the Battle God, which tent is Roland staying in now? I'd like to meet him! Don't worry, it's not for a challenge! We both come from metal-elemental backgrounds, and we're both at the critical juncture of integrating a second element. I have some questions I'd like to ask him!"

Du Chen, hearing that Deboning wasn't going to challenge him, didn't stop him. It was rare for the usually stoic Deboning to actively seek advice from others.

However, the tactless Mas blurted out, "Roland, you say? Ah, his enemies arrived! Before I even came to get you, he had already fled to the ends of the earth… He ran faster than a three-eyed rabbit!"