Chapter 1078: Jinns Versus Artemians [Part 1] Return Zia and try to fix the rift that he created between the Artemian Army and the Jinns. Or he could hide Zia with the other researchers, not caring about what would happen in the future. The first choice would allow the survival of the Artemian Army, but the Jinns would never trust him again. The second choice would lead to the destruction of at least half of the Artemian Army and would put them constantly on the run in fear of being found out by the Jinns. ’If only the Head Researcher is here.’ Lucan gritted his teeth. The Head Researcher was a true genius, and with him around, Lucan was willing to take the second option. It wouldn’t matter even if they were constantly on the run. As long as he had Zia, he was confident that he would be able to become a High Archon, which was equivalent to a Majin King. But now, only uncertainty remained. His choice was to either return Zia, or escape with her along with the Artemian Army and hide underground where the Azothralls made their underground colony. After an internal struggle, a long, helpless sigh escaped his lips. He then walked toward the Healing Pod and stared at the sleeping beauty inside of it. Lucan had made his choice, so he opened the healing pod to enact it. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞 A few hours later... "We will arrive in Cressmont City in ten minutes," the Scout, who had flown ahead, reported to Prince Aurelion. "Good." Prince Aurelion nodded. "Tell everyone to prepare for war." "Yes, Sir!" the Scout replied and passed the Prince’s message to the message bearers, whose role was to inform the entire army. When they were five minutes away from the city, Prince Aurelion saw hundreds of winged Artemians, followed by two Golden Azothralls headed in their direction. Leading them was none other than Lucan, and he was carrying Zia in his arms. "Bastard," Prince Aurelion muttered under his breath. While he trusted his subordinate’s ability, he was still not a hundred percent sure that Lucan did have Zia. However, seeing her now, the anger that he had been keeping in check once again rose in his chest. Fortunately, he managed to rein it in, signaling to his people to halt their advance. The two factions stared at each other for nearly a minute before the Dragonkin Prince gave an order. "Bring her here, Lucan," Prince Aurelion demanded. "Of course, Your Highness," Lucan replied. "We were lucky that one of our patrolling teams saw the kidnapper running away within our border, allowing us to rescue Princess Zia. "In fact, the kidnapper is a Jinn, and it seems that they are not working alone. They have also kidnapped our researchers, but we only managed to rescue the princess. Even now, we are still looking for the whereabouts of our people." The Shadow Guard hiding in Prince Aurelion’s shadow informed the Prince that Lucan wasn’t completely lying—the Artemian Researchers were truly missing. However, he confirmed that Lucan had lied when he said that they rescued Zia from the kidnapper who crossed their border. "It must be hard for you to lose your people," Prince Aurelion commented. "I felt the same way when Princess Zia was taken away from me." Lucan smiled faintly before flying close to the dragon that Prince Aurelion was riding. The Prince personally stood up and flew toward Lucan. He then reached out to demand that the Princess be turned over to him. The Artemian Commander gave the princess one last glance before handing him over to Prince Aurelion. The Dragonkin Prince glanced at the princess in his arms, feeling relieved that he managed to rescue her before Lucan managed to succeed in whatever he planned on doing to her. But just as everyone thought that the tension would finally decrease, something unexpected happened. Princess Zia opened her eyes and looked at Prince Aurelion with a smile. The Dragonkin Prince smiled back and was about to assure her that she was now safe. However, the princess in his arms suddenly transformed into a Shadow Wolf, shocking everyone in the scene. "Sorry, Commander Lucan," the Shadow Wolf said. "I wasn’t able to keep my transformation for a long time. Please forgive m—" The Shadow Wolf wasn’t able to finish whatever it was going to say next because the Dragonkin Prince had crushed it, making it explode into a black mist. "You bastard. How dare you try to fool me?!" the Dragonkin Prince roared. Lucan’s eyes widened in shock, for he truly had no idea what was happening. The Shadow Wolf was a clone of its original body, which was currently inside the Mobile Fortress. It had reported what was happening to Tiona in real time, and their Queen gave it an order to do things exactly as she described. She intended to pit the Jinns and the Artemians against each other, so both sides would suffer losses. "Your Highness, please calm yourself!" Lucan shouted. "This is a misunderstanding!" "Shut up, scum!" Prince Aurelion didn’t hesitate to summon his spear and attack Lucan without holding back. The Artemian Commander hurriedly gave an emergency order for his entourage to return to Cressmont City and prepare for war. Lucan understood that Prince Aurelion wasn’t in the right state of mind to listen to reason. So the only thing he could do was endure and fight the Prince in a one-on-one battle, trying to make him understand reason! The Jinns didn’t get in the way of the fight of their Prince, and instead, they targeted Cressmont City. The Artemians had already prepared for the worst and activated the special weapons they had brought over from their world. Magical Cannons roared like thunder as they decimated the Jinns that tried to get near Cressmont City. The Azothralls, who were hiding underground, emerged and ambushed the Jinns, dyeing the ground red with their blood. Above the air, on land, and underground, battles were being waged. And from where they couldn’t see, Tiona watched them all with a cold sneer plastered on her beautiful face.