Steel and Mana

I didn't expect this summer to be like this… But it happened nonetheless. It was close to dawn when I was woken up by the horn of the Judgment arriving, blaring it from far away multiple times. I wanted to berate Mirian for scaring my city, but seeing her weakened state after coming down from the flying ship, I refrained from it. Luckily, my people didn't fall into panic, and neither did my soldiers, who noticed it the moment the ship flew over the Silver Region. By the time the sun rose, the Lion, the Princess, and our latest machine, the Rook with Polo piloting it, were already back in the city from the training grounds, guarding Avalon and keeping an eye on the Judgement itself. In the meantime, I was in the throneroom, holding an emergency meeting with my Ministers, looking at them from my throne, and also thinking about what we would need to do next.

"The Empress and Emperor are currently with my wives, and Mikan is doing a checkup on the two. The former of the duo has been sapped of a great deal of energy, probably because of the artifact she carried with her… She looks thin and someone with sapped vitality."

"What artifact?" Merlin asked, raising his hand as if we were in class.

"The very spear of Goddess Ariana." I answered after a bit of pause while the rest immediately began murmuring. I knew Merlin's follow-up question the moment he opened his mouth. "No. You can't study it." I said sternly, waving my hand, cutting it short before any word could leave his throat. "That thing is dangerous, and it seems to have autonomous properties. Maybe it is something like an AI…"

"What is AI?" Many asked, not only Merlin.

"Artificial Intelligence." I shrugged, and they accepted it without issues. It was a Goddess's work, so it made sense to them, and although I was curious if I was right, that spear was anything but ordinary. "Don't touch it. Ever." I warned Merlin one more time, "Mirian explained that it saved her life, severing the old bastard's hand before bringing her away. If it kills you, I am going to find your reincarnation and kill you myself again!"

"Hauh… O-okay!" He mumbled, shrinking back in his chair while the others began chuckling, lightening the tense mood.

"The Judgement," I continued after it became quiet again, "has been packed with many fine artifacts and servants loyal to Mirian. We need to act fast before our enemy has a chance to react! I already informed Yuri and Oleg to start preparing. Through Yuri's agents, my wife will spread the news of Pascal's betrayal and rouse the people to side with their Empress or endure a new age of tyranny. At the same time, Oleg will work with Duke Kustov in the Silver Region to organize the defenses."

Building the railway connecting Avalon with Cerna, the capital city of the Silver Region, had just become our primary focus. This will not only make our trade happen faster but also allow us to respond quickly to possible attacks. Reaction speed. It was our most significant advantage compared to the rest of the Empire. Excluding the remaining flying ships, if Pascal and those loyal to him wanted to attack us, they must raise an army first. Will the people comply? With how things are now... Who knows? They can do it, of course; forcing and conscripting the masses can easily happen, but that army will be anything but effective. Then, there is the fact they need to be armed and then marched up north. We have time on our side.

"What I am worried about," I continued, "is the west—the place from where the spies arrived. They are the nearest to us, and they could try attacking us. I already sent word to Elliot, and he will start reinforcing the western borders. I am going to dispatch a hundred soldiers under the lead of Pion to oversee the works and be the bulwark against possible attacks. I am considering sending the Rook with them..."

"What about winter?" Paxon, the minister of my industry, asked. "I know that we are still a few months away from it… but…”

"Most of the time, armies don't march through winter. We will keep the rest of the mechs back for now; their job is going to be to deal with whatever tries to come through next. With the Judgment present, it will help us deal with the situation. Until then, what it will do… I will speak with Empress Mirian about it."

"I wonder what the Emperor will do next…" Merlin mumbled, scratching his chin, making me smile a little.

"It would have been great if he killed himself like Kathrien, but I doubt that will happen. The bastard has been kicking around for a long time! Still, he needs to organize and plan anew. With him failing to take control over Mirian, his plans probably got kicked in the balls, which is good for us. We can use it to our advantage and dig in!"

"We won't go on the offense?" Kraus asked, raising his hand.

"No." I shook my head, "Not yet. We are smaller and can't afford to reach over our heads! Our best option now is to be a turtle, hunker down, and deal with what comes at us. We will use propaganda and Mirian's voice to rally the people behind us. When the fire is big enough and when Pascal won't know which blazing region he should put out first, then we can start marching. When his tyranny is opposed, and Mirian is seen as the savior, people will take up arms without being conscripted. Then we will have the backing of millions to face someone like that old bastard."

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After Mikan finished the checkup and Mirian had time to rest, I met with the Empress at a late dinner, almost close to midnight.

"You look better."

"I look like shit." She answered, waving away my hollow compliment, making me smile. True enough, she was looking horrible. Her face was sunken in, and her eyes had massive, black bags under them. "That old monster almost had me. I knew he was strong, but I never knew he was that strong. The old facade he has hides an immense amalgamation of magic… I didn't notice it because I couldn't perceive its vastness. I am afraid that he could cast Master-level spells."

"Luckily, he can't leave the city." Sasha hummed, looking at Mirian and Mikan for confirmation.

"Probably." Mirian nodded, her index finger running around the edge of her mug, filled with wine. "But he said he could if he was controlling me. He probably is capable of taking over others and seeing through them. That was the feeling I had when I was close to his fingers touching me." She explained with a visible shiver, prompting her to raise the mug and take a big gulp.

"It is probably the work of the magic that extended his life for so long." Mikan shrugged, shaking her head, "From what I know from Mikki-2's memories, is that Pascal was consuming mages to prolong his own life. The number of people he had eaten, along with their magic, could explain why he has such strength within his body."

"Great…" Luna grunted, being the most worried among us all. "He is the most powerful mage alive... Super great! Hauh!"

"Relax!" Yuri giggled, making a mess of her hair, "We will be fine! We will just bomb his castle to the ground from far away, easy-peasy!"

"The city has a spell that, if the rumors are right, could withstand Master-level attacks." Mirian added the moment she put her cup back down. "It never had to perform that feat, but it is not an overexertion!"

"But you managed to escape." Sasha leaned forward, waiting for her explanation.

"I did because I had a hex prepared on the Judgment, something that was passed down in my family. It helped me disrupt it long enough to slip out, but I don't think it would work again. Pascal will have time to fix this backdoor."

"I would do so, too, yeah." I agreed, rocking back and forth in my chair. "I wonder how many more such spells or information lie around, hidden from others. More secrets that were never recorded."

"A lot." She smiled, chuckling, "I heard you memorized his library. That is already a great amount of knowledge, but every branch has its secrets that aren't put into writing for this exact reason. Everyone knows that the Emperor of Magic managed to remember everything he has ever read. People around him became paranoid, destroying many books and letters, knowledge that they wanted for themselves and didn't want to share with him or others."

"Haah…" I shrugged, happy that Merlin was back home and sleeping. Maybe he woke up hiccuping because I was indeed cursing his first incarnation at the moment. "No matter. We already gained enough from them as they are the basis of our formations and how we approach creating them. Served their purpose well enough, I guess! We will deal with the rest as they come up. The current question is, what do you want to do next?"

"Establish a base." She answered, shortly thinking it over, "I am going to make the Silver Region my headquarters, working with Duke Kustov. People are already familiar with him and know he is loyal to me. Well… On paper."

"We are friends." I smiled at her, but she simply shrugged and continued, shaking her head.

"I will try to establish myself there. Don't worry; I am not going to rob you of it. You can keep importing whatever you need. But I will try to rally those who are with me there."

"I'm not against it. It is best if our enemies have more than one target they must worry about." I nodded, crossing my arms, "I just don't know how many would flock to you after what happened."

"We will see. From the nobles, I expect not much… but the people? That's a different game…"

"Well, before you go, there is something you may want to take with you!"

"Wait!" She stood up, already reading what I was going to say to her from just looking into my eyes.

"Yep. It is ready. We will take you to it in the morning! I am curious how quickly you will get a feel for it."

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In the shaken capital city of the Ishillian Empire, martial law has been in effect since morning, closing all its gates and stopping everybody from coming or leaving. Nobody knew what really happened the previous night, but everybody realized that troubled times were coming.

Down in his lair, Pascal was finally somewhat back together, at least in mind. His missing arm was bandaged, and his stump throbbed painfully while he tried to regulate his breathing and thoughts. No matter how angry he felt, he had to approach this through logic—even if it felt like something impossible. It was the first time he felt not to be in control.

First, he had to prepare for a long war because everything in his mind from before was built upon the fact that he would also control Mirian. He was to play both sides and, no matter what, come out on top. So, after forcing calmness onto himself, his magic began swirling as he established a connection with Otto in Hospet, the central city of Westland.

"My Emperor." Otto's voice echoed in his mind, and Pascal could see him fall to his knees with his mind's eye.

"We have to make major modifications to my plans. I heard you infiltrated the Frontier?"

"Almost." He answered at once, "I just received news that we may finally be in, and some important new information is on its way to me."

"Do everything in your power to have people established inside! Mirian escaped and is probably going to stay there."

“…” Although Otto didn't open his mouth, his shock was so prevalent that it made Pascal's stump tinge with pain, reminding him of his failure.

"Are those nobles still there, the ones she stripped of their power?"

"The Zimmermann family."

"Yes. Contact them… They will open the door for us when the time comes, and they will not only return to power but also be Dukes amongst Dukes!"

"It will be done, My Emperor!"

"Otto…. Failure is not an option. Amass an army and send them forth. You will go and test the strength of this… Frontier. We need to know what Mirian is hiding there!"