Chapter 1233: Played Them All Like A Fiddle Tiona slithered deep underground, followed by hundreds of her Demons. It had been three days since they had arrived in the Antares Continent, and she was busy doing the very important mission Thirteen had assigned to her. This mission was to reconfigure the Oblivion Glyph, allowing Thirteen to gain control of the magical formation and use it against his enemies. Just as expected, King Valtheron didn’t make his appearance in the City of Xantheos despite Bask reporting Cranky’s order to bring his king back with him. But that was fine. Thirteen had already foreseen this outcome, so he had asked Tiona to mobilize her parade of demons to help her make some changes in the Great Killing Formation right under the noses of their enemies. The teenage boy and Cranky didn’t leave the Royal Palace, knowing the Blackfang Dominion, as well as the Venom Heart Cabal, had many spies paying close attention to them. Since that was the case, he couldn’t afford to leave. He even made sure that he and Cranky were always in the view of the servants of the Palace. This way, these spies would report back to their Masters and tell them that the VIP Guests were still inside the the City of Xantheos. "Zion, we already finished embedding the Rune Crystals on the southern part of the formation," Tiona reported. "We’re now headed to the eastern side of the formation." ’Good,’ Thirteen replied through his thoughts. ’Make sure to stay at the outskirts of the formation. Never go inside. Once we gain control of the outer ridges, we’ll proceed to take control of the inner formation.’ This mission would take some time to finish. In fact, Thirteen believed they would need a minimum of a week up to ten days before the formation fell under his command. ’Tiona, I’ll give you a reward after your mission is over,’ Thirteen said. ’I’m sorry for making you do such troublesome work.’ "It’s fine, Zion," Tiona replied. "As long as this will achieve your goals, I’m willing to climb a mountain of knives and swim a sea of fire for your sake." ’Thank you, Tiona.’ Thirteen meant every word that he said because he couldn’t thank her enough for what she was doing for him. While Tiona was going above and beyond to finish the task that was given to her, the Blackfang Dominion was starting to get restless. All of them made sure to prepare for battle, and even their leaders refrained from leaving their territories so they could help Rhovan activate the formation at any time. However, Kamrusepa’s guests were just lounging inside the palace, driving them crazy! Even King Valtheron was starting to consider personally going to the City of Xantheos and luring Azrael to their territory to get rid of the latter. But he tossed this idea to the side, aware that personally going to Kamrusepa’s domain was dangerous. He still didn’t know if Azrael was really a Majin King or not, but if he was, there was a chance that the invader might be able to neutralize him before he could flee to safety. No matter what happened, King Valtheron wouldn’t allow himself to be captured by anyone. Because of this, he had no choice but to play along with this stressing waiting game! "Just... what are they thinking?" Rhovan, seated at the center of a magical formation, sighed in frustration. "It’s already been a few days since they threatened His Majesty. Are they really not going to do anything? How long must I stay here to maintain the formation?!" If he only had to wait for a day or two, Rhovan would still be able to endure. But if he had to keep going for an unknown period of time, it would definitely take a toll on his mentality. What made him feel worse was the reports he received—every single one of them was just an anecdote of Thirteen and Cranky eating, sleeping, and enjoying the performances Kamrusepa had prepared for them. It was not only Rhovan and King Valtheron who was feeling this way. The other leaders of the Blackfang Dominion, also privy to the information being sent by the spies, were at their wits’ end! A few days later, everyone was close to their limit. However, on that day, the spies reported that the guests were finally planning to head towards the Blackfang Dominion! In fact, Kamrusepa even sent the spies to accompany them in their journey, acting as guides so Thirteen and Cranky wouldn’t get lost. Coincidence? No one knew, but all the spies within the Royal Palace were now part of Thirteen’s and Cranky’s entourage. Their reports were consistent, so the entirety of the Blackfang Dominion prepared for battle. King Valtheron and Rhovan went back to their positions, preparing for the clash that they were waiting for. But to their surprise, the two guests they were expecting to come stopped beside a river and started fishing! At first, they thought it was fine. Maybe they just paused to eat lunch. But they were wrong. Thirteen ordered their entourage to prepare a camp, apparently planning to stay beside the river for a few days. On that day, Rhovan shouted in anger to vent out his frustrations from within the temple. Two more days passed, but true to their words, Thirteen and Cranky remained beside the river, enjoying the barbecued fish they had caught. When King Valtheron and Rhovan were finally reaching the limit of their patience for the second time, the teenage boy finally decided to continue their journey. This piece of information made the entire Blackfang Dominion once again go into Battle Mode. But to everyone’s dismay, Thirteen and Cranky stopped beside a valley and decided to have a picnic. One of the Ministers of the Vermillion Royal Family was so angry, he flipped the table in front of him and started to break things around him. Now that Zarn was gone, he became the Prince’s right-hand man and had to deal with this matter personally. He was already very stressed because Zarn’s whereabouts and safety couldn’t be discerned, as no one had seen him in the palace. Simply put, the Vermilion Royal Family wanted nothing more than to tear Thirteen and Cranky apart right after they pried the information about Zarn from their lips! "They’re doing this on purpose!" the Minister of the Vermillion Royal Family shouted in anger. "They’re toying with us!" Since they were all part of the formation, they could share information in real time. The Minister’s ravings were heard by everyone, and frankly, all of them believed that the Minister was right. Their enemies were toying with them, but they had no choice but to grit their teeth and endure. This suffering lasted for four more days before Thirteen and Cranky finally left the valley, but returned to the City of Xantheos! Hearing this, everyone, Rhovan first, coughed a mouthful of blood out of anger and frustration from the two bastards, who played them all like a fiddle! Thirteen even made sure to laugh like a villain as he and Cranky traveled back to Kamrusepa’s city so the spies could also report this back to their superiors, who were in the middle of cursing the teenage boy and his nine generations. —------