"Our elders and representative can help Aalejah, of course, but they are also our most powerful warriors so they are bound to be often in the field whereas she can hold the control room on her own." Athung said.
Elves had an ill reputation and few trusted them, but desperate times called for desperate measures. Also, once Athung vouched for Aalejah and Raagu for Athung, the matter was solved.
"Do I have your word that Lith will craft something decent for her in exchange for the knowledge I'll impart Tista?" Athung asked Phloria.
Everyone knew of his deal with Salaark and of the existence of the Sage Staff that he constantly improved. Athung knew many Forgemasters way more skilled than Lith, but she couldn't afford them nor to lose the staff due to a mistake.
"Depends on what you teach her. After all, you will keep the staff just like Tista will keep her knowledge." Phloria replied before turning to Raagu again. "One more thing. If you want to fully commit to this war, you should open a channel with the Royals.
"If the Awakened and the Crown coordinate their efforts, your odds of success will dramatically improve. Also, you would get the help of one of the most accomplished strategists of the Kingdom. My mother, Jirni Ernas."
That name was renowned even in the Council and several murmurs rose when it was mentioned. Not only was Jirni considered an outer member of the Gernoff bloodline, but she was also notorious to have never been bested in mind games.
"The Royals are fake Awakened so a deal with them is reasonable. Involving a mere human, however, is out of the question." Raagu said with a spiteful gesture of her hand.
"My mother is anything but a "mere human" and she already knows that Lith is Tiamat. She even grasped the basics abilities of Awakened while fighting against Nalear. If you allow me to fill her in the few details that she's still missing, you'll gain not just one invaluable ally but two." Phloria said.
"My father is a great Forgemaster and he would do anything to help the Kingdom."
"Please, there's nothing a Royal Forgemaster can make that any Awakened can't do better." Lotho said and the others nodded.
"Really? Then why has Salaark been trying to recruit him for years now? My father crafted Reaver, the blade thanks to which I survived going toe to toe against Vareen and mastered a Blade Tier spell despite my blue core." Phloria unsheathed the estoc for everyone to see.
"He has worked along with Manohar and Balkor, another of Salaark's prized geniuses. The only reason Reaver can't store Spirit Spells is that my father doesn't know of their existence.
"If he were to learn about Awakened, forget about weapons like War, there's no telling what he might be able to craft."
This time her words were met with silence as the Awakened Council pondered the issue. To them, Phloria was just a child boasting about her parents, but Salaark's holding Orion in high regard couldn't be denied.
"She's right." Leegaain spoke for the first time since the meeting had started. "I can vouch for Salaark's intentions and for Orion's skills. He can make swords like Reaver and War anytime he wants.
"Manohar's Surgeon and his Grimlock are on par with them and, with a little help, Orion Ernas might achieve much, much more. Beware, though. Without the command of the Royals or his wife's influence, he'd rather die than help any of us."
The revelations of the Guardian of Knowledge sent the room into an uproar, yet Raagu needed but a wave of the hand to silence her peers.
"We'll postpone the decision to another time. Sharing our respective secrets with Awakened is already a huge leap of faith. Trusting non-Awakened without properly discussing the matter, however, would lay the foundations of our own extinction."
***
Ernas Household, at the same time.
With Solus still recovering from her meeting with Bytra and the shock from her confession, the tower had become off-limits. Lith and Solus spent most of their time working in the Forge, learning how to control the abilities of the Fury.
Their experiments required focus and quiet so they had asked Tista to find herself another place for her training. It was the reason she had asked Quylla for hospitality and Nyka for help.
The Ernas Mansion had cutting-edge training facilities that could reshape themselves into any conceivable scenario, self-repair, and lots of cloaking arrays that made it impossible to see or hear what happened at their inside.
It was the perfect place for the Vampire and the Red Demon to go all-out against each other without the risk of being noticed or their techniques being stolen. Kalla's adoptive daughter wore a simple white shirt and linen pants while Tista's clothes were a light Orichalcum sparring set.
Even though she was an Awakened with perfect body refinement, the mass of the Red Demon was the same as Tista's human form and her physical abilities alone couldn't compete with the physical prowess of the undead.
They both could use fusion magic on a similar level which was the same as not using it. But while Tista's hits left no damage on the Vampire's soft skin and her claws opened wounds that healed in an instant, every of Nyka's blows cracked the Red Demon's scales and left a dark bruise on the skin beneath.
If not for the Orichalcum, Tista's body would have become a collection of broken bones in the space of a few exchanges. Quylla sat outside the borders of the stone ring, grumbling from time to time.
She was tired of being the third wheel and waiting for her turn.
Nyka dodged Tista's claws aimed at her neck with a spin and struck at the back of her head with a roundhouse kick that sent the Red Demon sprawling on the floor.
"Dammit!" Tista said amid pants, her eyes burning respectively with red and silver light. "I Awakened when you were still an infant. I am the second member of the Demon race and I've trained my ass off with Faluel as much as Lith. Then why do I keep losing to you?"
"First, I'm an undead. I learned how to walk, count, read, write, and fight all in the same day." Nyka swept back her raven-black hair that looked as if she had just left a hair salon instead of a fight.
No matter how much they exercised, Vampires would never break a sweat.
"Second, I didn't spend my days sitting on my thumbs. While you enjoyed your peaceful life at Lutia and the Academy, I fought every day against magical beasts who wanted to kill me.
"Then Aunt Scarlett taught me how to fight against Emperor Beasts and Uncle Vladion Awakened me. I may be young, but I doubt that even humans triple my age have put as much effort as I did in combat."
"Let's say that you are right." Tista hated to admit it, but before joining Lith in his training under Faluel, she had always fought against opponents weaker than her.
She had never slacked off but she hadn't been forced to give her all either.. The few times that she had found herself involved in her brother's missions, like in Othre, she had always ended up having her ass handed to her.
