Silenus lightly strummed his Lyre, while a bowl of water that was taken from the lake was placed on a barrel in front of him.
Everyone had already gone to sleep, but he volunteered to guard the flying ship for the night.
After watching the battle inside William’s Sea of Consciousness, the Half-Elf freed Ifrit from the chains that bound him as a sign of good faith, letting the Demigod of Fire regain his freedom.
William decided that he no longer needed to take the three Demigods to the Thousand Beast Domain, and just allowed them to do whatever they wanted to do on the condition that they would accompany him to the Kingdom of Edelweiss when morning came.
The Half-Elf was not afraid of losing any of the three Demigods, if they chose to escape. Optimus had already placed a tracker on them, so no matter where they ran, they would be easily recaptured and brought back to the Flying Ship by Astrape and Bronte, in a matter of minutes.
As the music of the Lyre played softly, a ripple appeared on the surface of the water in the bowl.
A few seconds later, the ripple disappeared and the image of a beautiful woman with long blue hair could be seen on the surface of the water.
“Are you well, Silenus?” Nabia, the Demigod of Water, who had successfully escaped William’s hunt, asked in a worried tone. “Did they hurt you?”
No words came out of the bowl, but the Satyr could easily read his friend’s lips, allowing him to understand her words.
Silenus didn’t reply and simply strummed the Lyre in his hands. Right now, the two of them were communicating in a manner that only they knew, which prevented others from eavesdropping on their conversation.
“It’s good to know that you are well,” Nabia said after deciphering the words behind the melody. “So, what are their reasons for capturing all of you?”
The sound of the Lyre once again played, allowing Silenus to tell William’s story, using his musical notes.
“Giants? Army of Destruction?” Nabia frowned. “What does that have to do with us?”
Once again, Silenus answered through his music, making the frown on the blue-haired Demigod’s face deepen.
“Do you really believe his tale?”
“What? You’re going to the Kingdom of Edelweiss tomorrow?”
“Uhh… such a roundabout method. Since he already has the means to make the three of you submit, couldn’t they just go straight to the Gunnar Federation and threaten those Kings with the Pseudo-Gods under his command? Why does he have to make things complicated?”
A bitter smile appeared on Silenus’ lips as he continued to play his lyre. Now that he had witnessed the might of the Army that was about to descend to their world in two years time, he decided that running away would not change anything.
Since that was the case, he would just fight to the best of his abilities, so that when the world was destroyed, he could die knowing that he did his best until the very end.
Silenus was a lover, and not a fighter.
And yet, he found the thought of fighting for the sake of the entire world to be surprisingly romantic, in its own way. As someone who pursued love and happiness, it was a scary and, yet, satisfying endeavor, which he could be proud of when the curtain closed after his performance to this world was over.
The minutes passed, and Nabia had also stopped talking. She simply stared at her friend with a doubtful expression, as if trying to discern if he had been brainwashed or not.
“I’m not going to appear and remain in hiding,” Nabia said after several minutes had passed. “Please take care, old friend. If there is an opportunity to meet, let us meet again.”
After saying her farewell, the image of the blue-haired Demigod disappeared from the surface of the water.
Silenus sighed, but he once again strummed his Lyre to play another song.
Right now, he was too preoccupied to sleep, so he just played a lullaby, so those who wished to rest would find themselves held by sleep’s embrace before they could even understand what hit them.
———
Central Continent…
Nisha sat at the throne where the Pope used to sit in the Palace of Light.
In front of her, hundreds of round mirrors hovered in the air, showing the faces of the various rulers, and influential people in the Central Continent.
“Okay, I know that everyone is busy, so let’s not waste each other’s time, shall we?” Nisha said with a smile. “I know that most of you are curious about why I have asked for a conference, and with good reason. Unfortunately, I called all of you here to deliver some good and bad news.”
Nisha paused to allow the Kings and Emperors to digest her opening words, so that they could brace themselves for what was coming next.
“The good news is that the war against the Heir of Darkness is over,” Nisha stated. “The War with the Holy Order of Light is finished as well. Right now, the only one who has the ability to conquer the entire world is none other than the Ainsworth Empire, but it is quite unfortunate that His Majesty, William Von Ainsworth, is not interested in expanding his Empire to annex your Kingdoms.”
A look of relief could be seen on most of the faces of the Monarchs who were present in the conference. However, a few could tell that this was just the tip of the iceberg, so they remained silent and waited for Nisha to continue talking.
“Now, we talk about the bad news,” Nisha said. “I know that the military might of all the Kingdoms in the Central Continent has significantly decreased after the war against the Heir of Darkness. Now that the wars are over, a time of peace and recovery would usually follow, allowing everyone to heal from the scars they have received from the previous war.
“Sadly, time is not on our side, and we are facing a threat that is far greater than the Heir of Darkness, Prince of Darkness, and the Holy Order of Light combined. A force that will easily trample your Kingdoms as if your castles were made of sand.”
Just as Nisha expected, the majority of the rulers looked at her with doubtful expressions, but she had already taken all of this in consideration when she called for a conference.
She wasn’t like William.
Unlike the Half-Elf, who didn’t want to trample on the pride and dignity of other people, Nisha was of a different breed. She didn’t care what methods she used, even if it was vile. As long as the job was done, she would do it with a smile on her face, while she carefully cleaned her bloody hand with a pure-white handkerchief, staining it with the blood of those foolish enough to defy her.
“Right now, I am officially inviting everyone to a Grand Alliance,” Nisha announced. “This Alliance will not only be composed of the Kingdoms and Empires of the Central Continent. No. This alliance will be the Grand Alliance that will unite the entire world. The Southern Continent, the Silvermoon Continent (East), the Demon Continent (North), and the Gunnar Federation (Western Continent), will all unite under one banner and fight as one!”
Nisha’s words reverberated like thunder in the ears of the people that had attended the conference. They didn’t expect that the veiled-lady who served as the Steward of Will’s territories would make such a shocking declaration.
However, for some reason, none of them thought that this was an impossible endeavor.
Now that William had the Silvermoon and Demonic Continents under his control, all that was left was the Southern, Central, and Western Continents.
If he would really be able to unite all of these divided factions together, then it would truly be a Grand Alliance, which the world had never seen before, and probably would never see again.
“Now, here is the fun part,” Nisha said as her long and slender fingertips lightly tapped the armrest of her majestic throne. “Those who refuse to participate will become my Emperor’s enemy, and would be the enemy of the Elve– oh sorry, they are Drows at the moment, the Demons, as well as the Ainsworth Empire. We will not take no for an answer, and those who say that they will not participate in the alliance will have a nice little chat with this guy.”
The Bull Demon King appeared in the throne room and crossed his arms over his chest. All the Kings and Emperors knew who he was because he was an existence that all of them had dreaded to face on the battlefield.
Now that the powerful Pseudo-God was under William’s command, it also meant that he was under Nisha’s command, and could be ordered around as she deemed fit.
“Now, let’s start the voting process,” Nisha said in a teasing tone. “Who among you wants to join the Alliance? Those who are interested, please raise your right hand. Those who are not interested, please prepare your coffin because the Bull Demon King will be heading to your Kingdom shortly to personally end your royal blood line, so that we can choose a random beggar on the streets and crown him the new ruler of your nation.”
With such a blatant threat hanging in the air, all the Monarchs raised their right hands, stating their clear intention to join the Grand Alliance under William’s command.
“Very good,” Nisha clapped her hand lightly as if enjoying an entertaining performance. “Since everyone is eager to join, we will now discuss the manner in which we will deal with the upcoming threat to the best of our abilities.
“Make no mistake, Ladies and Gentlemen, we are going to face a war that will put the Dark Era of Gods to shame. Everyone needs to carry the responsibility of defending this world, and I will not tolerate any form of cowardice and descension.”
Nisha’s overbearing presence made all those who heard her words look at her as if they were looking at the Empress of the entire world.
An Empress who was born to rule them all with an iron fist, not allowing anyone to defy her, and the red-headed teenager, who was doing his best to make the Gunnar Federation fall in line like everyone else.
