After Michael left the duchy of Valeria, the guardians were tasked to rescue the people stuck under the ruins and make a report of all the casualties. Normally, the kingdom itself would do that. However, the current circumstances put the guardians in charge. The biggest reason for this was Victoria ordered all the troops to guard the capital. The news of her mother and Booth's death still hadn't reached Victoria. Xanali ordered a group of soldiers to find Valeria's body even though she knew it'd be like finding a needle in a haystack.

The battle completely flattened the smaller castle behind Booth's castle, and only a couple of towers remained tall in Booth's castle. Xanali stood atop one of the towers, gazing at the destruction left behind by Ghost. A few days ago, this duchy buzzed with people and life. But now, only ashes and ruins remained. People's cries for help replaced the songs of early birds and the noise of crickets. She couldn't even imagine what would have happened if Noah hadn't helped her bring the guardianships to rescue people. Thinking of Noah, she looked all over the place, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Guardian Captain," Xanali looked over her shoulder to see Evan landing behind her. He had a silver scroll and a quill in his hand.

"I got the names of everyone on the ships. If we can get the record of everyone in the duchy, we can cross off who's dead and missing," said Evan.

"Also, I received some disturbing reports from Diamond valley and the capital,"

"What could possibly be more disturbing than this, Evan?"

Evan took a deep breath and really hoped the reports he received were false.

"Vampires attacked the thusian soldiers stationed at the diamond valley," Xanali turned around with a bewildered face.

"That's what the reports are saying," said Evan. He was just as shocked as XXanali when he heard the reports. To him, it seemed like the Thusians were really stuck in a mess. Ghost was destroying Thusia from one; now, the vampires may have joined in the battle.

"Do the reports say why they assume it's the vampires?" asked Xanali.

"Apparently, some of our men saw black-cloaked figures biting the soldiers in the neck and found a couple of dried bodies,"

Xanali rubbed her temples. Of course, the guardians had many captains and Alpha guardians to deal with new threats. However, she felt the pressure because of Edith's connection to Thusia. Xanali didn't wish Edith to get hurt by the destruction of Thusia. As far as Xanali could see, the war wasn't going in Thusia's favor. The thusians bet on King Maxim Barnes's breakthrough to the Half Immortal stage. After witnessing how powerful Ghost was, Xanali doubted even if Maxim Barnes reached the Half Immortal stage, he would be strong enough to beat Ghost.

"That's not it, Guardian Captain. Holy Guards have reached Thusian Captial with his holiness of Ozer continent,"

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"Why?" frowned Xanali. For some reason, she didn't think the head of the Holy Church in the Ozer continent came for Thusia's help.

"The holy guards are keeping the reason for their visit a closely guarded secret. But our spies learned that the holy church has recently received a disturbing recording of a high-level vampire breed called the blood prince admitted to working with King Maxim Barnes,"

Xanali's eyes widened. This was a strong allegation. The Guardian Guild and almost all the great eight clans had branded the vampire clan as mortal enemies. Anyone who was in relation to the vampires would be severely punished once found out. So if King Maxim Barnes was working with the vampires, it would brand Thusia as an enemy of all great eight clans and kingdoms. Simply put, Thusia would be isolated and marked as the betrayer of all lives.

"Rumor has it that the deal between this Blood Prince and King Maxim Barnes went south, which was why the vampires had suddenly launched an attack on the Diamond Valley. Guardian Captain, if this was true, Thusia's in a whole world of trouble,"

Xanali shook her head,

"Something's not right here. I can't say what, but we are missing something. After we clean up here, we must go to the capital. This time, we have to be prepared to minimize the casualties as much as we can when Ghost arrives at the capital," said Xanali. Seeing all this destruction, even Evan felt a pain in his heart.

"I had no clue Ghost was capable of doing all this," Evan sighed.

"He always was so calm and peaceful. Something really messed up must have happened between Thusia and him,"

"No matter what, he can't justify the lives he killed," Xanali shook her head.

"Guardian Captain," A guardian leaped onto the tower,

"We have found Queen Valeria's body," said the guardian.

Xanali took a deep breath. She didn't know Queen Valeria much, but her death made Xanali a bit sad. Her death was sudden and brutal. Xanali could only imagine what Victoria would feel when she saw her mother's body. Atleast Xanali could bring the body to Victoria and help her give Valeria a proper funeral.

"Evan, go to the diamond valley and investigate that matter,"

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"What would you do, Guardian Captain?" asked Evan.

"I'll take Queen Valeria's body to the capital,"

Xanali jumped off the tower to reach the ground while Evan headed for the diamond valley. Not a single building remained intact. When Xanali landed on the ground, she saw the guardians and healers they brought running around, tending to the wounded.

Fortunately, the guardians managed to drag out people stuck under the rubble. After a long time, people actually thanked the guardian with their whole hearts. The casualties would have hit the sky if it wasn't for the guardian guild. It was apparent that Ghost did not give a damn about innocent people being collateral damage. Xanali followed the guardian in silence to Queen Valeria's body. The guardians blanketed the body with a white cloth. Xanali squatted beside the body and slightly lifted the cloth. The strong stench of blood and mud nauseated Xanali. She saw a headless body with crooked arms and legs when she lifted the cloth. Since Valeria's body hit the ground from the sky, her bones were shattered. No one could recognize her body, and if it wasn't for her robes, even the guardians would have failed to find her body.

Xanali quickly closed the cloth and exhaled heavily.

"She didn't deserve this," Xanali closed her eyes for a moment, praying for Queen Valeria's peace in silence.

"Take her body to my ship and set a course to the capital," Xanali ordered one of the guardians. She then turned her gaze to a guardian girl in golden robes.

"Leave a group of guardians and healers here and tell the rest to board the ships. We are going to the capital," ordered Xanali. Finally, Xanali threw the last glance at once beautiful duchy before ascending to the sky. To her surprise, Mutrad was waiting for her on her ship.

"Xa-"

Xanali slapped Mutrad. The guardians on the ship were stunned by her action. Her slap caught even Mutrad off guard.

"You could have prevented all this. If this was your people, would you have stood here and watched?" Xanali growled with rage. Her eyes turned red as her body trembled.

"One day, he will do the same to your people, and you will feel their pain," Xanali said. She didn't bother to wait to hear what Mutrad was trying to say. Instead, she walked into the captain's quarters and shut the door with a bang.

**********************************

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A few hours later, Evan finally arrived at Diamond valley. Since his reports said they found the soldiers dead near the diamond mine, it was Evan's destination. A she arrived at the mine, he saw the mine entrance was blocked with large boulders. It would take more than one man and spells to clear the path. So Evan had no way but to look around the area.

The entire duchy seemed desolate, with little to no people. It was not a surprise to Evan. Who would stay in a place where two immortals went all in? The thusian were lucky Xanali evacuated most of them before Ghost fought another Half Immortal. After seeing Ghost's vengeance against Thusia, Evan had a feeling he purposefully led the Half Immortal to the Diamond Valley and destroyed the duchy with little effort.

"Evan," a smile emerged on his face when Evan heard the gentle yet dominant voice. He slowly turned around to see Victoria walking toward him. ( Not Princess of Thusia Victoria but Victoria of GoldenValley Sect and Evan's lover)

"Are you alright?" asked Victoria. Evan's felt a warmth in his heart, seeing a glimmer of concern in his girlfriend's eyes. Two years ago, they were at their throats, trying to beat each other. At that time, Evan had never thought they would fall in love.

"Why wouldn't I be?" asked Evan with a smile.

"I heard explosions and saw signs of intense battle on Valeria," said Victoria.

Evan sighed deeply.

"Tell me what happened there?" asked Victoria. Seeing no reason to hide what had transpired on Valeria, Evan began to tell everything he had seen and heard that Ghost did. A few minutes later, drops of sweat appeared on Victoria's forehead. She felt a chill running down her spine. Ghost was always an asshole and low key bully in her eyes, but she had never thought of him to be such a cruel and vengeful guy. Deep down, she really felt lucky that she didn't come across him too often.

"Do you happen to see the guardians on your way here?" asked Evan. He didn't want Victoria to pay too much attention to the destruction of Thusia.

"Yeah, they set a temporary campsite over there," Victoria led Evan to their campsite where the guardians preserved the bodies of the thusian soldiers.

"Where is Xanali?" asked Victoria, leading Evan to the campsite.

"Went to hand over Queen Valeria's body to the princess. Man, I really feel bad for her," said Evan.

"So even after all this, no one is willing to stop Ghost? But what's the history between him and Thusia? He must have some kind of reason to go crazy on them," said Victoria. Although she hated Ghost even more after hearing Evan, she couldn't help wondering about the reason behind his vengeance against Thusia. In fact, every single newspaper and sect had the same question.

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Eventually, the two of them reached an open barren land with a large tent erected in the middle. Evan nodded at his fellow guardians around the tent and followed Victoria into it. The moment he stepped into the tent, he was welcomed by a shocking sight.