“Whenever you have to make a difficult decision, remember my words. Remember how much is at stake.” Sylpha said.
Kamila’s heels clicked as she gave the Queen the salute and walked out of the Throne Room.
‘I remember the three years I spent with Lith very well, but I also remember his words in the barn. He said that he loved me, putting me in the past. Ever since his escape, he never tried to contact me.
‘Jirni and her daughters receive regular updates through Faluel whereas I’m left out of the loop. I know what I have to do, yet I pray the gods will give me the strength to go through with it.’ She thought.
The voice of the Queen still echoed through Kamila’s head, making her clench her fists so hard that they bled.
Her family and her job were all her life. Protecting them was a mission that she needed no order to pursue at all costs.
***
Nestrar Region, a mana geyser near the south border, Golden Griffon Academy.
After finishing checking Lith’s properties, Orpal went back to celebrate with the Mad Queen. He carried a bottle of expensive wine and a box full of sweets that he was certain she would enjoy.
‘I may have not beaten Leech physically, but I’ve still driven him out of the Kingdom and destroyed his life. Now that I’ve proven my worth and cunning, Thrud must have changed her mind about me.’ He thought, still believing to have a chance with her.
Thrud was the most beautiful woman the Dead King had ever seen and he considered himself the most perfect man on Mogar, making them a match made in heaven.
He had even brought Moonlight along, willing to allow her to spend a bit of time studying the tower if she agreed on spending as much time alone with him. Despite his repeated failures, Orpal was nothing if not tenacious.
Yet he found the main gate missing. The double doors of the academy seemed to have simply disappeared, replaced by a solid wall. Orpal circled the entire structure, finding no access or a way to communicate.
“I demand an audience with the Queen!” He snarled.
“The Golden Griffon is closed today, Dead King.” The hologram of Headmaster Sevenus Hystar appeared in front of him. “The Queen is in the middle of an important experiment and can’t be disturbed.”
“What experiment?” For a moment, his curiosity surpassed his anger.
“I’m not at liberty to say.” Hystar replied, vanishing as quickly as he had appeared.
“This is bullshit, we are equal allies! I demand-” A sudden Warp Gate led him to the middle of the ocean, where the shock of surprise and the weight of his armor made him plunge into the abyss.
Moonlight was still there so the Headmaster used all the spells at his disposal and conjured the best Forgemasters of Thrud’s army to study the steed before its master recalled it.
Meanwhile, inside the Golden Griffon, Thrud, Linnea, and Jormun were working together, commenting on Orpal’s performance.
“Gods, that guy is a creep. I don’t want to meet him ever again.” After Awakening, Anela Linnea had used Body Sculpting to return her body to the youthful appearance she had in her thirties, making her a target of the Dead King’s unwanted attentions.
The ex-Headmistress of the Lightning Griffon had been Awakened at a late age and had just a few centuries to live, yet she wasn’t aware of that. Also, unlike Quylla and Thrud, her Awakening had lasted for days.
The Unwavering Loyalty array had saved her life and tempered her body until it could endure the power of her bright blue, converting the energy that had overloaded it for decades into vortexes.
She had only recently gained the deep violet and her body was still adapting to the changes. Her role was to collect the memories of the fallen soldiers as their bodies were reconstructed in the academy’s core.
From such information, Linnea would study the circumstances of their defeat, the Kingdom’s strategies, and the weak points of Thrud’s. After that, she would devise new plans and countermeasures for the next battle.
She also helped Hystar to teach the fallen soldiers how to improve their magical abilities while they waited for their bodies to reform. Linnea had been an excellent Headmaster and had a solid understanding of all specializations.
After learning true magic, it hadn’t taken her long to update and adapt her knowledge before imparting it to her new students.
“I know. I wish we could keep him out forever.” Jormun grunted as he used his Dragon strength to move the giant devices and connect huge cables between them.
“I know that you are angry about what Orpal did to your little brother, dear, but at least he’s still alive. Also, now that Verhen is gone, there are only two obstacles left on my path.
“The Awakened Council and the Academies. Today, we’ll strike one of them off the list.” Thrud said while watching the line of Arthan’s Madness devices they had prepared.
The other two Awakened nodded as Hystar let the test subjects inside the room.
Ever since the Council had joined the Royals, the War of the Griffons had reached a stalemate. Thrud’s army could barely keep up with the reconquest rate of the elders of the Council.
Her soldiers were immortal, but their enemies were centuries, if not millennia old, monsters with powerful equipment. Yet the Mad Queen knew that sooner or later she would have had to get rid of them, and had planned for a solution in advance.
She had waited until that moment to put the final step of her plan into motion because it had taken time for her Emperor Beasts to reach the deep violet and get used to it. On top of that, Thrud could bestow her gift only to the most loyal, powerful, and cunning among her followers.
Lined up in front of her stood over thirty lesser Phoenixes, Dragons, Griffons, and even one Scorpicore.
“Iata, my friend, are you sure you want to do it?” Thrud asked, her eyes filled with worry. “Your foremother only recently became a Sekhmet and there’s no telling if your blood now carries her powers.”
“Only one way to find out, my liege.” Iata nodded and with her a Drake.
They were the first lesser Dragons and had always been curious to find out if the power of a Guardian was also passed on to their original race.
The Emperor Beasts entered their respective Madness and the glass door sealed the entrance the moment they took position. Ambrosia flooded the capsules and a steady stream of universal life force flooded the beasts’ bodies.
Back in Lightkeep Thrud had harvested a limited amount of such precious resources and now she was going to use them down to the last drop. Once the process was over, she would have over thirty Divine Beasts leading her army.
Thanks to their colossal bodies, their violet mana cores, and the bloodline abilities of their ancestors, not even the Council would stand a chance against them.
***
It took Jirni over one week to find a date when Vastor’s and Orion’s duty in the war didn’t interfere with the meeting of her research team.
The five of them met in a secret lab that Vastor had set up in one of the free states that bordered both the Griffon Kingdom and the Desert.
