It didn't take too long for exactly 1,000 of Mermaid soldiers to fully prepare themselves in front of the docking area.

Commander Ava walked in front of her troops as she looked at the ocean in front of her and said, "An important force of our ally is in great danger. As their closest ally, we would naturally lend them a hand, right?"

"Yes!"

"I can't hear you!"

"YES!!"

The loud roar of numerous men sounded throughout the entire place.

"We are the sword that defends the Western Region of Blue Fin Kingdom, and no matter how big the wave is, we will still dive our way through it!"

"Men, onwards towards Floating Mountain!"

Commander Ava roared as she pointed her sapphire saber towards her front, specifically the southwest direction, which is towards the Floating Mountain.

"Charge!" The respective Generals of the army immediately roared at the top of their lungs.

*Whaaash! *Whaaash! *Whaaash! *Whaaash *Whaaash! *Whaaash! *Whaaash! *Whaaash!

The 1,000 soldiers quickly jump down towards the ocean. The ships waiting for them also began sailing, and after a few seconds, the soldiers jumped up from the ocean, their Mermaid tails quickly turned into feet as they landed one by one on their assigned ships.

At this moment, Leo, teacher Homer, and Axel, and the others weren't riding on their ugly looking boat anymore. They were now in one of Commander Ava's proud ships called the Blue Orca, specifically in the same ship as Commander Ava.

"Homer, how many times do you estimate till the ceremony finish?" Commander Ava asked.

"Basing on the time we took to arrive here, I'm guessing around 4 to 6 hours." Teacher Homer replied.

"Okay!" Commander Ava turned around as she grabbed an object that looks like a shell. Soon after, a voice enough to be heard by every ship sounded very loudly, "Attention men, full speed ahead!"

*Whaaash!

Because there was no exact time given, Commander Ava directly assumed the worst-case scenario, which is 4 hours.

Along the way to Floating Mountain, no Magical Beast Sharks, no matter what level, dared to block their group of ships.

With 1,000 soldiers that no one that clearly knows what their exact capability is, it's only natural for the Magical Beast Sharks to feel afraid. Moreover, Commander Ava was currently releasing her Magic power all around the ships, so the Magical Beast Sharks are now fully aware of what kind of powerful existence is on the ship.

.....

Meanwhile, back at the Floating Mountain, it was only teacher Lee and teacher Marvin remaining alive.

The 4 other teachers that were once with them a few hours ago had unfortunately got killed by Lu Ming's merciless counterattacks.

At this moment, teacher Lee and teacher Marvin is currently staring at the group of puppets in front of them with helplessness in their eyes.

"You even turned our colleagues into one of your puppets!!" Teacher Lee exclaimed with anger evident in his voice.

"How cowardly of a person are you?!" Teacher Marvin clenched his fist tightly out of rage.

"Foolishness! On the battlefield, there is no right and wrong!" Lu Ming replied.

"You're still a coward nonetheless!" Teacher Marvin berated. Putting his hand up in front, he quickly casted a Magic spell, "Burning Chains!"

*Whooosh! *Whooosh!

Right after, dozens of chains appeared as they went straight directly towards the 12 puppet teachers.

"Hundred Vines!"

Hundreds of vines quickly intercepted the burning chains. Though, because it was nothing but mere vines, the burning chains were still able to destroy it. But unfortunately, the burning chains lost all of its power eventually before it could even reach the 12 puppet teachers.

"Rock Pillars!"

*Whooosh! *Whooosh! *Whooosh!

Dozens of rock pillars threatened to crash down towards teacher Lee and teacher Marvin from the top of the cave.

"Ice Web!" Teacher Lee quickly casted.

Numerous of webs made out of ice shoot out towards the rock pillars from teacher Lee's hand as he then quickly put the webs together and connected them in each side of the wall to act as a net to their heads, successfully causing the Rock Pillar spell to stop from moving any further.

"Flaming Shots!" A puppet teacher casted towards the ice webs.

*Whooosh! *Whooosh! *Whooosh! *Whooosh!

The ice webs were quickly melted, causing the rock pillars to continue falling down.

"Rock Pillar!" Teacher Marvin quickly decided to meet the rock pillars with his own Rock Pillar spell.

*Boom! *Boom! *Boom! *Boom!

"Stop hesitating, Lee! Go and destroy them! That's also what they wish for you to do right now!" Teacher Marvin persuaded teacher Lee.

Ever since they found out that the dead teachers were turned into puppets, teacher Lee had quickly shown hesitation in his every action. He was always using his Magic spells for either defensive or restriction purposes only.

"They..." Teacher Lee wanted to say 'They are our friends' but teacher Marvin suddenly sent out a slap directly straight to his face.

"Wake up, this is the exact reason why we weren't able to save Astrid and the others before!" Teacher Marvin stared straight into teacher Lee's eyes.

"Lightning Spear!"

*Whooosh!

*Boom!

An unnoticed rock pillar was immediately blown into pieces by a sudden Lightning Spear spell.

Turning their heads, teacher Lee and teacher Marvin immediately saw teacher Smith flying towards them.

"What the f*ck are you guys doing?! The enemy is just right in front of you guys, so why are you fighting amongst yourselves?" Teacher Smith immediately yelled out to everyone, not realizing that the other teachers have now turned into Lu Ming's puppet.

Teacher Marvin quickly realized this as he pulled teacher Smith to his side and informed, "They are no longer Human!"

"What?!" Teacher Smith was stunned as he quickly turned around to look at the other teachers carefully. It was then that he finally realized that strings were now attached to their bodies.

"How did this happen?" Teacher Smith was having a hard time believing. He immediately rushed here as soon as he recovered all of his energy in hopes of lending a hand to them since teacher Candice and teacher Daisy are enough to guard the students. Unexpectedly though, he shockingly realized that he was too late since its only teacher Lee and teacher Marvin remaining alive.

"F*ck this!" Teacher Smith swore loudly.

"Hundred Vines!"

"Rock Pillar!"

"Whirlwind!"

"Flaming Shots!"

"Ice Spikes!"

"..."

Dozen of Magic spells were suddenly thrown towards teacher Lee, teacher Marvin, and teacher Smith's direction.

"Holy Shield!"

"Ice Barrier!"

"Lightning Defense!"

Teacher Lee, teacher Marvin, and teacher Smith quickly casted each of their Defensive Magic spells.

*Boom! *Boom! *Boom!

*Bang! *Bang! *Bang!

"Our Defensive Magic spells won't last long if their barrage of Magic spells wouldn't stop soon!" Teacher Smith warned.

"Lee, stop holding back!" Teacher Marvin persuaded again.

"Go and die!" Teacher Lee finally accepted that those people were no longer the friends he used to know. He stopped hesitating as he began casting a Magic spell, "The coldest star of the coldest night, grant me this Magic spell to purify the enemy in my sight, Ice Tundra!"

*Whooooosh!

Ice quickly sweep throughout the entire cave, causing the place to immediately be covered in ice right after except for teacher Lee, teacher Marvin, teacher Smith, Lu Ming, and the Leviathan.

The 12 puppet teachers were frozen in ice, unable to make any moves anymore. The Magic spells they have casted was stopped mid-air as they were also covered fully in ice.

"Hahahaha, you are actually capable of casting a Galaxy level Magic spell?" Lu Ming said in astonishment, "Sadly, it's still not enough!"

*Crack! *Crack! *Crack!

The ice that froze the 12 puppet teachers suddenly began cracking.

*Bang! *Bang! *Boom!

Finally, the 12 puppet teachers destroyed the ice that covered them.

"You..." Teacher Lee can't believe his most powerful Magic spell was still not enough to destroy the puppet teachers.

"The Magic spell you used might be a Galaxy level Magic spell, but it's no different to a Star level Magic spell if it's just a Star level Mage using it!" Lu Ming mocked.

"It's enough to buy me some time, though!" Teacher Marvin suddenly interrupted, "The undying flame of the depths of hell, I release you in the mortal world with this Magic spell, Nether Flame!"

*Whooooosh!

Purple-colored flame came out of teacher Marvin's hand, shooting directly straight towards the 12 puppet teachers.

"Ahhhh!"

The 12 puppet teachers roared out loudly in pain caused by the nether flame the moment it started burning their bodies. Although they were now nothing but mere puppets, the teacher's souls were still inside their bodies, and it's exactly the souls that's being burned by the Nether Flame spell.

Teacher Marvin is fully aware that his action was an unforgivable act, but he also knows that he will never be able to completely destroy these puppets if he doesn't destroy their souls.

From the moment the teachers turned into puppets, their bodies were no longer those of the Human's body anymore, but rather a mere doll. The souls were what Lu Ming controls, and since the body is now just a doll, it can be repaired as long as Lu Ming keeps on supplying Magic power to it. However, the moment person's soul gets destroyed, the body will also follow along because a body without any soul can keep on staying alive.

Puppets were always thought to be soulless objects, but actually, a Human puppet or any living being that was turned into puppets was entirely a different story.

If Lu Ming was using a wooden puppet or something similar to that, then it will keep on regenerating as long as he keeps on sending Mana. But, on the other hand, a living being's puppet would simply die the moment it lost its souls the same way as to how Viper died hours ago.

"Thank you..." The 12 teachers said as their bodies exploded one by one.

"Sorry..." Teacher Marvin can't help clinching his fist really tight, causing his fist to bleed the moment he saw the 12 puppet teachers turned into mere ashes. They might have thanked him for finally giving them peace, but he still can't forgive himself for destroying their souls, since that also meant his friends could no longer reincarnate into another life.

"Another Galaxy level Magic spell!" Lu Ming gasped in astonishment. Being able to cast a Galaxy level Magic spell wasn't something that could easily be done, especially to Star level Mages.

In order to cast Galaxy level Magic spells, a Mage needed to specifically gather a huge amount of Mana, which supposedly only a Mage with Galaxies instead of Stars should be able to gather. It may sound easy since it only requires enough mana, but for someone like teacher Lee who is currently 3 levels below the Galaxy level, it is something that should be impossible. Not to mention, teacher Marvin is even 6 levels below the Galaxy level. So, it's really astonishing to see someone capable of achieving such a feat.

"How about you two become my discipline? I can give you the Magical resources you needed to become much more powerful!" Lu Ming quickly decided to offer teacher Lee and teacher Marvin to become his discipline. Killing these two Star level Mages is obviously a waste of good seedlings since it's obvious already that they have a good potential to become much more powerful.

Although teacher Lee and teacher Marvin were somewhat of old age already, hence it's not guaranteed whether they can still breakthrough to become a Galaxy level Mage, their help would still be helpful nonetheless.

"Tch! You even turned one of your powerful subordinates into your puppet, not to mention your disciplines. In fact, I haven't even seen a single discipline of yours yet. So, it's pretty easy to assume that they have already become one of your puppets!" Teacher Smith was the one to answer.

"Shut up!" Lu Ming said in irritation as he casted a Whirlwind spell straight towards teacher Smith.

*Slash!

However, it was quickly destroyed by a slash of teacher Marvin's Crimson Sword.

"Even fools wouldn't want to become your discipline!" Teacher Marvin mocked.

"Suit yourself!" Lu Min shook his head as he put his hand up in front of him, "Bringer of darkness, God of everything, discipline these people who dare not to believe in your will, Night Bringer!"

*Whooosh!

Suddenly, the cave that was once covered by layers of ice quickly turned into complete darkness. Soon after, countless hands tried to crawl out of the dark, until it finally revealed its complete form.

"Face the Dark God's soldier, Fiends!" Lu Ming announced as he turned around to continue the ceremony.