Placed within the central point of the immense Aeternus plane, the only Superior plane of the Mystical Realm, the Capital City of Imperialius Aeternia was undergoing a strange event. The colossal, fantastical metropolis was covered by a several-layered incandescent dome of mana, the city glowing like a beacon, lighting up the area the size of a continent around it so that regardless of day or night, the skies were a bright blue like during the day.
The dome shifted and reassembled itself repeatedly, the protective wards and seals realigning themselves to ensure the city was under maximum protection at all times should a disaster strike the metropolis. Enormous metal walls, normally hidden within the earth, had risen to surround the city and turn it into a fortress. Everyone within the city was barricaded in, the only way to enter or exit the city for the common people being the teleportation arrays currently under strict surveillance.
Several gargantuan teleportation arrays were activated at specific marble plazas, the arrays spanning entire districts in themselves. The zones glowed the violet colouration of space mana, and lit up the surrounding areas with frequent flashes of violet light. A a multitude of ornate carriages covered in crests and emblems of many kinds and colours and pulled by exotic and flamboyant beasts appeared within the arrays, making their way down the broad stone streets. The arrays were separated by status, as the carriages appearing out of specific arrays had similar amounts of ornaments and escorts. Mana radiated off of the multitude of carriages.
While normally many carriages belonging to people of different statuses would be roaming the streets, this day was different. On this day, the broad paved roads were bordered by lines of heavily armoured men and women, members of the Royal Guard who ensured the observers crowding the streets were held back, not interrupting the procession of the many, many nobles heading towards a very specific place in the city.
Each member of the guard was covered in regal red and gold plate armour, and their blazing auras soared as they released all their mana in a show of immense power, any person in the army being early Rank-5 at the very weakest. The auras bled together in perfect sync to form a barrier between the footpaths and the roads, and the rarity of all their armour was Ancient.
None of this was soundless, however. The crowd of commoners and interested watchers were talking and chatting, all enjoying seeing the massive procession of nearly all of the Empire's most powerful nobility arriving for the Empire's Annual End-of-Year Banquet, slowly heading towards the main street, and had enjoyed seeing the delegates of All-Aeon Athenaeum, Glory Pantheon, and the Citadel of Fate arrive as well. But it wasn't only the Empire's nobility that was travelling the streets and wasn't truly what the observers had come to watch as they stood on either side of the main road. Representatives from each of the different realms had come.
The members of the Beast Realm's bloodline royalty used no carriages and used their impressive bestial forms to walk confidently through the city, freely releasing their mana into the air. The Regal Dragons, the Phoenixes, the Fenrir, Kitsune, Hydras, Sphinxes, Cerapters, and many other royal beast bloodlines walked the streets, most in their enlarged Primal Descendant forms, although even those who were not enlarged radiated such high quantities of mana that their presence could not be ignored. Some royal races, such as the Krakens, couldn't use their beast forms for obvious reasons and let their wild mana create marvellous displays around them as they walked. The sounds of the magical beasts' mana-shaking roars and cries reverberated throughout the city.
The representatives of the Demon Realm came next, letting their demonic auras and presences freely rampage throughout the area as they moved, showing no care nor concern for the way the mana distorted and crackled around them. Most members of the crowd retreated to reduce the abrasive sensation of demonic power rubbing against their souls. The archdemons of the most powerful demonic bloodlines rode inside extravagant carriages pulled by dangerous demonic beasts of similar size to the magical beasts before them, the stronger the demon beast, the more powerful the True Demon that rode within the carriage. With the strength the demonic beasts had, most, if not all of them had already obtained sapience and the ability to switch to a human form, but for demons, their mental capabilities and self-awareness mattered not. Only the strong had a say among demons. They rode past the crowd arrogantly and grandly.
Then all sound fell to barely anything besides hushed whispers as a dreadful presence rolled over the many viewers. The light around the crowd dimmed, and a dark grey fog fell upon them. Unhidden waves of death mana emanated out of the figures approaching them, the figures even more silent than the crowd. Two rows of armoured humanoids marched past them in synchronisation to the sound of some unheard drum, their metal a pitch black that reflected no light, and their footsteps making no noise. They marched slowly, and behind them was a gargantuan creature of pure white bone, its eye sockets and heart glowing with ominous light. Wings spread on either side, the skeletal Arch-Dracolich was as silent as the armoured figures even with its enormous size, draped in black silk coverings embroidered with a silver emblem of a hooded figure holding an open book.
But marching in single file between the two rows of armoured guards were ten individuals wearing what looked like a military uniform of black and silver, five men and five women with dark hair and eyes. They released no death mana, seeming like normal humans. The realm of undead had no ruling lineage, but there were certain existences no member of the realm dared cross even if their own soul flames were at stake: the ones known as the Watchmen of Tartarus, the race that was given the title of the 'Death Race' for their racial connection and steadfast loyalty to the mysterious and secretive being named the Monarch of Death. The crowd watched them pass soundlessly, hoping the dreary sensation of the death mana would remove itself from them quickly.
And when it did, the final realm's representatives came by. The crowd cheered as five immense sky boats of the Heavenly Realm slowly moved down the main road, arrayed in a line and each boat painted a different vibrant colour. The sky boats floated off the ground, and while normally the mana of the material realms would prevent this ability from occurring, the boats were consuming vast quantities of high-tiered spirit stones to support their flight.
Silk sails spread out on either side of the boats, five-coloured spiritual energy escaping the ships. The boats and their sails cast shadows over the crowd below, but the crowd gasped as figures in oriental robes matching the colour of their boats flew out of the many-tiered ships.
To entertain the crowd, large glowing projections cast by powerful formations hovered above and around the boats, showing scenes of battle between mythological creatures. The figures in oriental robes flew about on spiritual treasures and swords, using mesmerising abilities, and several playing elegant music on flutes and zithers, forming resplendent imagery of different scenes with the musical intent-filled spiritual energy. Golden lightning, raging flames, freezing glaciers, towering mountains, and blooming lotuses formed of spiritual energy covered the boats, one theme for each. It was a glorious sight.
Then, the crowd watched as the last of the Heavenly Realm's procession went through gargantuan golden gates twenty stories in height, and the gates slammed shut, the processions disappearing beyond as they couldn't be seen any longer. Finally, the carriages of the Empire's nobility arrived on the main street, thousands of the gilded coaches filtering around the front gate to take side gates matching their status. The crowd waited patiently until the last event began to occur: the only processions allowed to enter from outside of the city's walls to come to the Imperial Palace, the procession of each of the Seven Eternal Duchies.
"Do you think if the train lines become popular enough to be implemented in the Capital the Emperor would allow the nobility to take the train to the palace?" a dark-haired girl with a half-mask asked the silver-haired man opposite her.
Vincent huffed a laugh. "I highly doubt it. As much as the traffic is atrocious…" He looked out the window of their carriage. "The keeping of tradition is more important. The Empire has only lasted as long as it has because of its strict adherence to tradition and rules."
Lucille sighed as she rested the back of her head against the carriage wall behind her. "I just believe that waiting five hours to enter the gate is a little too long for any of this whole event to be worth it."
Her aide smirked. "Lucy, you should be glad that you're entering through the side gate reserved for the Aeternus plane's Counts. I've heard it can sometimes take over 24 hours for the Barons, and even longer for the Major and Minor Kingdom nobility, with how many they have. And as someone part of the Aurelian Commission, we get to enter through the gates first."
Well, that was true. The Aurelian Commission was in a special position because as an organisation backed by the Emperor when it was first created, the Counts of the Faction held more power than any other Count. Partially because the Commission was founded by the four most powerful Counties of the Aeternus plane, and partially because they were the only four Counties not part of any larger fiefdom such as a March or Duchy.
As a privilege awarded to their Faction, they were allowed to enter before any other Count. It was also because as a Faction formed because of the Emperor's order, they needed to demonstrate their loyalty to the throne before anyone else.
She and Vincent were currently seated inside a carriage of the colour of gold and violet, the emblem of the Aurelian Commission, the three overlapping gold coins, shown on its sides. And positioned in front of and behind on either side of her carriage were the carriages of Evisenhardt, Chavaret, Alichanteu and Ravimoux, escorting her to the gate. Their carriages had their Faction emblem, the three gold coins painted onto their County's signature colour, as well as their family emblem revealed for all to see.
Suddenly, the massive gates in front of the Commission's five carriages swung open, and the gatekeepers nodded to the coachmen, permitting them to start moving. With a jostle of the reigns, the low-ranked magical beast horses began moving, pulling the coaches forward. Armed knights of the four Counties escorted them on either side, but as the first two coaches of Evisenhardt and Chavaret moved through the gate, the guards split off to wait until all five carriages were through. Private guards were not allowed on Imperial property.
Then Lucy's carriage crossed the gate. A notification sounded for her and Vincent.
[You have entered the grounds of the Eternal Empire's Royal Abode: The Palace of Nine Pillars, the central Faction grounds of a Supreme Institution.]
[Warning: Entry of the Hall of the Eternal Throne without a Title of appropriate status will result in immediate removal from the Palace of Nine Pillars.]
The Aeternus nobility, royalty of the vassal kingdoms, high nobility of the lesser empires, delegates of the Supreme Institutions and the realm representatives would be allowed to enter the main wing of the palace, which contained the central banquet hall and throne room, but not anyone else. This was for several reasons, although the first was obviously as a show of power over the lesser nobility.
The Emperor's voice would be broadcasted throughout the entire palace using a magical artifact, so all the Major and Minor Kingdoms', as well as the middle and lesser nobility of the lesser empires, could hear him in their separate banquet halls. The nobility of the unranked planes were not invited to the Palace of Nine Pillars, their status being too low.
And as for the Palace of Nine Pillars itself… Lucille leaned to the side, peering out of the window, to see them slowly approach the gargantuan building, exquisite flowering trees decorating the road to the palace. Rainbow mana radiated off of the building like it was the very sun itself, almost blinding all those who approached. Beautiful, tall gardens filled all the space around the palace, creating incredible scenery and scents.
Outside of the gates of the palace, you could see the building, towering above the rest of the city's buildings and placed directly in the centre of the city, so nearly everyone could see it at all times. However, if someone was to try to get to or fly near the palace, they would discover that no matter how far they travelled, they never got any closer to the building. That was because the entire palace grounds were enchanted with spatial expansion magic. And once one entered through the gates, the immense size of the palace was revealed, being triple the height it showed outside the city gates.
The Palace of Nine Pillars was called such because there were nine immense pillars arrayed out the front of the building. Reaching up to a third of the palace's height, each pillar was made of ornately carved gemstone, a different colour for each. They glowed with light and were the main cause of the blinding rays emanating from the palace. Three were placed on either side of the colossal double doors of the palace, and three above the doors, they held up a peaked roof above the doors and above the pillars over that. The carved gemstones were covered in runes, phantasmal projections of the runes hovering above the pillars' surface as mana rolled about within them.
The palace itself was separated into three tiers. The first tier, with six of the pillars, curved around the bedazzling lake of crystal-clear liquid mana that was in front of the building. It stretched out on either side to contain other wings of the palace, crystal walls and silken coverings decorating it all. The second tier was above the main door, where three more gemstone pillars resided above. Here, white stone carvings depicting ancient battles sprawled across the walls, under the second peaked roof.
Then was the third tier, with an enormous glass dome for a roof above the centre of the palace. Vine-filled gardens sprawled across the roofs, leaving no space uncovered. The main stone of the palace was reflective marble filled veined with gemstones of the same colour as the pillars and with gold in some places.
The five carriages of the Commission slowly travelled around the lake, drawing closer to the palace. They came to a stop before the wide staircase leading up to the double doors. The coachmen of Lucy's carriage opened the doors, and Vincent stepped out first. Inwardly she sighed as she took his hand, because she couldn't avoid following etiquette here, and stepped out of the carriage.
The doors of the other four carriages opened to reveal the groups of Count Ravimoux, Count Evisenhardt, Count Chavaret, and both Artair and Arwen. Count Ravimoux was accompanied by Viscountess Femidela and his aide, Tarquin, while Count Evisenhardt was accompanied by Vincent's father and eldest brother, Haraldus and Lysander.
Count Chavaret was accompanied by his eldest son, Martelemore, and Artair and Arwen were accompanied by the High-mages Lucy had seen them with on separate occasions, the bearded older High-mage, and the light-blue-haired High-mage.
As for why the others accompanying the Counts could even enter the main palace without a fiefdom Title such as Count, Viscount and so on was because they did have Titles. They were normally Titles such as '13th Grandchild of the Evisenhardt County' or similar, and that was enough to allow them entry. As long as the lineage wasn't so distant that the System didn't acknowledge it, they were allowed to come to the Imperial Palace as Aeternus nobility.
The Empire didn't follow the practice of handing down lesser nobility titles to relatives, unlike Earth in the medieval period, so just being part of a noble bloodline was enough to be considered a full noble. Those with fiefdom Titles were still held in higher esteem, however.
And when it came to Lucy, who didn't have a noble Title of any kind… that was one of the reasons why Count Evisenhardt had gone to the Emperor to appeal for the Commission Head's seal two months ago. It was also to request that the Faction settings of the palace be temporarily altered to allow her to enter the main building to receive her Honorary Count Title. If the Emperor didn't want her to gain the Honorary Count Title, then all he had to do was not change the settings so she would be removed by the System.
That was why she was even able to come here when her 'no-interaction' status meant magic couldn't analyse her. If the scanning operations were anything but System-based Faction functions purchased using crystalline tokens, she would be caught up in a very complicated situation of being unable to be scanned by the magic, and registering as a threat.
The wives of Count Evisenhardt, Count Chavaret, Haraldus, and Lysander, who was married, would be arriving later, as they didn't necessarily have to come to the opening ceremony.
Lucy turned to Vincent. "Then, time for your first Empire banquet event," she said to him.
He raised an eyebrow. "Lucy, isn't this also your…" He hesitated, then narrowed his eyes at her. "Actually, is this your first time coming to an Empire banquet?"
She blinked and then smirked. "Hmm… I wonder. Possibly?" She turned to look at the Counts as Vincent narrowed his eyes further with suspicion.
Count Evisenhardt nodded to her. "I believe it is time for us to enter, then." The other Counts also nodded as they began climbing the steps, prepared to enter the throne room. "I am sure you will do an excellent job."
She shrunk her perception field, as it was a risk to have it open too large in the palace in case someone detected it, and followed behind them with Vincent at her side, more carriages arriving behind them. Guards lined the entrance staircase. Then, they moved past the gargantuan open double doors to walk down the long, red-carpet-lined hallway, spanning a hundred metres in width.
The walk was mostly quiet, with the Counts discussing things with the people by their side. It took at least twenty minutes before they made it to the end of the hallway, and when they did, the doorkeeper dressed in a red and gold uniform saw them. Before they stepped out onto a balcony to reveal their presence to the thousands of Baronets, Barons, Viscounts, lower-status realm representatives, vassal kingdom and empire royals, and Supreme Institution delegates below, the doorkeeper grabbed a bell-shaped magical artifact and raised it to his mouth.
The blare of a trumpet-like instrument briefly sounded, the sound travelling throughout the room due to being imbued with mana, and heads turned below them to look up at the balcony. The doorkeeper spoke into the bell-shaped artifact, and his voice resounded throughout the throne hall.
"Now Announcing the Entrance of the Entourages of the Aurelian Commission's Four Counties: Count Sevastian Edgar Evisenhardt of the Silver County of Evisenhardt, Along with his First Heir and First Grandson!"
Count Evisenhardt, Haraldus and Lysander began climbing down the stairs to one side of the balcony.
"Count Donovan Raymond Chavaret of the Red County of Chavaret, with his Heir!"
The two red-haired men likewise began their descent.
"The Representatives of the Blue County of Alichanteu, the First and Second Heirs!"
Arwen grimaced when he heard 'second' heir, but Artair smiled and happily walked down the stairs, their two escorting High-mages behind them.
"Count Regulus Fardevrio Ravimoux of the Black County of Ravimoux, along with the Viscount and Viscountess of Femidela!"
The dark-haired man smirked as the two people by his side followed him down the staircase. Vincent shared a look with Lucille, and she smiled as the doorkeeper spoke again.
"And Finally: Lucille Adrienne Goldcroft, the Head of the Aurelian Commission, Alongside her Aide!"
With that, she began walking down the steps, Vincent right behind her. The red carpet came down these stairs as well, leading across the immense hall. She followed its path and avoided looking at the thousands of curious gazes directed her way, shrinking inward to appear nervous, and only walked towards where she knew the seats of the Aurelian Commission Counts were reserved, closer to the throne than the Viscounts and other low nobility. The lesser nobility had to stand at the back of the hall, where she had just entered, but those with higher status got to sit in sections reserved on either side of the red carpet.
And at the end of the carpet, was a series of steps that led up to a towering throne. Cast out of solid gold, nine jewels of the same colour as the pillars outside the palace were set into the seat. Ornate carvings of airborne ships, ancient battles and primeval beasts covered the throne. And engraved on the back of the throne was the image of a tree, spreading out so its tips reached the nine jewels. The channels of the carvings and engravings gently released luminous mana into the surroundings, the nine crystalline stones also releasing light. A smaller throne in a similar style, this one placed lower than and next to the larger throne, was also at the end of the scarlet carpet.
She made it to where she saw the other Counts standing in front of their seats, five of them in total. She came closer, and with an 'order' from Vincent, she sat down in the middle one, decorated by a silken gold and violet covering embroidered with the Faction emblem. Then the Counts sat down on either side of her, the chair of Alichanteu remaining empty as Artair and Arwen sat down in smaller chairs behind it. Like Vincent, who stood behind her, the other people who came with them stood behind their lords.
There were many mutters and discussions from the nobility in the rows behind and further away from them, all directing attention to her and Vincent, both two figures unknown to the central Empire's world. Unfortunately, it would be extremely disrespectful for them to leave the spots where they were supposed to be waiting for the Emperor, and so sadly for them, they couldn't approach Lucy and Vincent.
The doorkeeper began to announce the arrival of the other Counts from the Aeternus plane. After the Commission's Counts, the youngest - and more likely closer to the Royal Family – Counties' representatives were announced first, and slowly it changed as Counts of older and more powerful Counties which were more loyal to and under the 7 Eternal Duchies were introduced. The later they were introduced, the further they were from the Royal Family's authority.
It took well over three hours for the Counts to be introduced, and it was only that short because the Empire, with how large it was, couldn't give long introductions for absolutely everyone,. That was why Vincent's and the names of the others weren't revealed.
Then the Marquesses began to arrive. They had more people accompanying them as the more powerful families were allowed to bring more members along. Many Marquesses radiated strong auras, showing that they had high personal strength as well. Lucy watched them all to ensure she remembered everything, her perception field shrunk only to a few metres wide, so she had to use her eyes with how far away they were. She only carefully recorded down any details with her thought strands, not giving them much of her focus, but she did pay attention when one particular Marquess family was brought up, one of the few Marquess families not part of the 7 Eternal Duchies.
"Announcing the Arrival of the Representatives of the Evernight March of Vampyreus!"
With unnaturally pale skin, black, white, or silver hair, blood-red eyes and inhumanely beautiful features, the members of the Evernight March entered the hall. Lucy knew if you talked to one, you'd sometimes be able to see they had long, fang-like incisors, and several of the 'Vampires' even had their leathery black wings out.
Hopefully, Hargrave will take my advice and avoid them. They're not pleasant people to deal with at any time, to the extent that if Olden ever discovered what goes on in that March, they're bound to use it to start another long debate over non-human rights and their access to titles of nobility. Come to think of it, I don't recall hearing about the Evernight March getting involved with Hargrave in the past…
The rest of the Marquesses were introduced and took up their seats closer to the throne. She took note of one Marquess, the Marquess of Ashthrope, who was a man appearing in his mid-50s with greying black hair. He sat in a position much closer to the throne, in the same area as seven other unique chairs. However, there were still more people to be announced before the final highest level of Aeternus nobility arrived.
"Announcing the Arrival of the Delegates of All-Aeon Athenaeum, Glory Pantheon, and the Citadel of Fate!"
For fairness' sake, the arrival of the Supreme Institution representatives occurred at the same time. All-Aeon Athenaeum, the organisation with the longest history, was announced first, Glory Pantheon next because their weapon clans were an important part of the Empire's military might, which left Citadel of Fate for last.
Around ten members of each of the Institutions walked down the steps. All-Aeon Athenaeum had an Archmage of each of the essential elements, three wizards, and an Archwizard, embroidered crests on their robes to indicate what position they held. Glory Pantheon had seven men and three women wearing full armour of different colours without helmets, although they didn't carry weapons. The Citadel of Fate had nine Paladins entering in white and gold armour, with a leading armoured man at the front, his armour gold with green embellishments.
It seems, judging by the colour of that man's armour, that they sent the 8th Templar of High Renewal. They might be sending a message, because 'renewal' could be taken as them saying the year is about to renew, so they wish the Empire well until the next end-of-year banquet…
Lucy prevented herself from smirking when she saw some of the nobles eyeing the Templar with suspicion.
…or they could be telling the current Emperor to abdicate the throne soon so the 'Emperor' is quickly renewed.
The Emperor of the Eternal Empire held their position for a maximum of a thousand years and then must pass it on to the Crown Prince. As it was the 73rd year of the 102nd millennium after the realm's assimilation, and as an Emperor's term always ended in the first century of the millennium, the current Emperor only had 27 years before he had to give up the throne.
The Citadel of Fate was a force essentially backing Olden, with the current Emperor being from Radical… so the likelihood of the message being the latter was quite high. She found it amusing, but she was sure the forces of Radical and the loyalists of the Royal Family were less than impressed.
"…it seems someone thought they were being funny among the Sages…" murmured Count Evisenhardt, having come to the same conclusion as her. The other two Counts nodded, Count Ravimoux with a smirk on his face.
The forces of the Supreme Institutions took up positions in sections reserved for them alone, all of them sitting on the side opposite that of the Aurelian Commission's Counts. Then, two large doors on either side of the throne opened up. Men and women began streaming through them, to take up positions in seats in front of the Marquesses. A doorkeeper wearing robes different to that of the other doorkeepers standing beside these doors raised his artifact to speak.
"Announcing the Entrance of the Imperial Princes and Princesses of the Eterial Royal Family!"
If a noble below Aeternus Duke met one of the Princes and Princesses in any other situation, they would've had to bow or even kneel depending on their status, but as everyone in the hall was waiting for the Emperor, their priorities had to be on that. Nobody moved from their seats as they waited for the next people.
"The Five Queens of the Eternal Empire are Now Entering the Hall of the Eternal Throne!"
At that announcement, everyone in the room rose from their chairs, but they didn't bow or kneel. The five gorgeous women sat in ornate seats to the right of the smaller throne.
"Empress Helenea Melodisen Araminta Eterial of the Eternal Empire is Now Entering the Hall of the Eternal Throne!"
As the woman wearing a deep scarlet dress and train, a golden crown on her head, entered through one of the doors, everyone bowed their heads. The woman with long curly golden hair and brilliant green eyes nodded once, and they all stopped bowing. She climbed the steps to the smaller throne and turned around to face the thousands of people in the hall, but didn't sit down. Then a long trumpet call sounded, blaring through the room, and a final person emerged from another third door. Many guards stood on either side of him as he walked towards the throne.
The man appearing in his mid-40s with a dark brown beard and hair, dressed in a scarlet and gold imperial jacket and flowing cape, climbed the stairs of the larger throne to turn to the crowd, a sceptre of luminous gold held in one hand. On his head was a crown containing nine glowing gems, the same as the pillars of the palace and embedded in the throne.... and his irises were a mesmerising deep crystalline blue that glittered in the same fashion as a gem, a near-exact replica of one of nine jewels of the pillars, crown, and throne.
"Emperor Rodrigue Vilentasar Saphirus Eterial has Entered the Hall of the Eternal Throne. Kneel Before the Emperor of the Eternal Empire!"
I am back! Huzzah! So, the glossary will still take a bit of time, and I'm slowly working on reformatting all the chapters, but the important parts of the first ten chapters have been rewritten. I'm onto writing the next major arc now, so I'm quite enjoying what I'm doing!
Patreon (up to x8 5k chapters!):
Discord (Come get your Qualified Scytale Feeder role!):
Honorary mention of my first Plebeian: Purplexa
[Title: Nobility | Type: Discord/Role]
None! Yet
[Title: Rank-5 | Type: Discord/Role] (This is getting kinda long)
secret
Inzuris
Kabi
Malahadiel
Starfall20
Shoutloud
WIk
ChaosOmega98
deathbunnies
wind.celestial
Spacemanspiff
Hibou Ronchon
eroth
magicaltaliyah
arcanorum0421
corefish66
Mitchell
sami027
[Title: Demon Nobility | Discord/Role]
None! Maybe when I finish this tier someone will join
"Emperor Rodrigue Vilentasar Saphirus Eterial has Entered the Hall of the Eternal Throne. Kneel Before the Emperor of the Eternal Empire!"
As soon as the announcement was made, everyone did so, their eyes looking at the ground respectfully. The Emperor and Empress sat down in their thrones, and a wave of mana washed over everyone within the room. The gems within the crowns and thrones increased the intensity of their glow, elemental mana streaming from them. Then, the glow faded, and the Emperor hit the base of his sceptre against the platform of the throne, letting it make a loud thud.
"You may all rise and be seated," he stated with authority, his voice low and commanding, and the magic of the throne allowing everyone to hear him.
Everyone stopped kneeling and returned to their seats. Nobody dared to speak, waiting for the Emperor to begin his speech. The doorkeeper in a unique uniform who had announced the Emperor's entrance walked in front of the throne to bow to the Emperor, then turned around to address the hall.
"Emperor Rodrigue Vilentasar Saphirus Eterial will now begin his opening statement of the Eternal Empire's End-of-Year Banquet," the man announced, revealing himself to be the Master of Ceremonies for this event. He stepped to the side, off the centre of the red carpet.
The Emperor stood up, hitting his sceptre base against the platform again. "Today marks the beginning of the 101,073rd End-of-year Banquet after the Mystical Realm joined the Tower," he announced loudly. "And marks our 201,073 End-of-year Banquet since the establishment of the Empire. It is a matter of celebration that the Empire has had yet another successful year."
The Emperor gestured to the assembled nobles with his free hand. "There are many things I could say, but there are also many things I won't. After all, you have all heard me say this at every single Banquet without fail for the past 973 years, have you not? Surely you must have tired from all this, as I certainly have," he said with a hint of a wry tone in his voice. His audience of nobles smiled at his joke, well familiar with the manner of the Emperor.
But then he continued to say something else, his tone still level and authoritative. "Perhaps when the successive Emperor takes up their position you may all enjoy having a renewal of the script recited each year."
They were still all staying silent, which allowed them to hear the Emperor's words very clearly. Quite a few members of the audience struggled to hide their amused coughs, and many eyes sneakily glanced at the green and gold-plated Templar sitting on his elaborate chair. The Templar showed no outward reaction, although the Paladins standing behind him didn't seem so unfazed. The Emperor continued speaking.
"But I must come back to the main reason for my speech," he said. "As the Emperor of the mighty and ancient Eternal Empire, the ruling power of the Mystical Realm, I welcome you all, you who have demonstrated your loyalty and commitment to the Empire by being here today, and welcome those who have come to bring their good wishes from the other realms as well. On behalf of the Empire, I thank you for your presence and intentions to enjoy celebrating this grand event with us."
With that, he sat down. There were a few murmurs of assent and calm nods from the lesser members of the realm delegate entourages standing off to the sides, as the lead representatives would be called up soon. The Master of the Ceremonies stepped back onto the red carpet.
"To give greetings to the Emperor of the Empire, may the realm representatives of the four realms enter the hall in the order of the realms, as has been a tradition for 101,073 years."
The man stepped to the side once more. A door below the balcony Lucille had been introduced from opened up loudly, allowing 30-ish people to walk forward, individuals from the royal beast bloodlines, their partial beast forms activated to show furred, scaled, and feathered limbs, tails, or ears. Their powerful mana swam about in auras of different strong colours, restrained tightly around them to prevent their bestial presence from pressuring the nobility of the hall.
A young male individual in front, with two large white scaly wings, scales on the back of his hands and cheeks, and two curved horns that extended over the back of his white-haired head came forward to stand on the red carpet in front of the throne and bowed, but didn't kneel.
"On behalf of the Sovereign beast race and all magical beasts I bring greetings and our wishes for the Empire's continued prosperity," the man stated simply, short, and to the point as most magical beasts normally were.
The Emperor nodded and gestured with a hand for the man to straighten up. "I accept the dragon race and the bloodlines of the Beast Realm's wishes and greetings," he replied. Then he held his chin. "I must confess, however, I do not recall having met you before, lead representative of the Beast Realm."
The dragon in human form smiled. "My name is Airras, the 3rd son of Wiferal, the Dragon King of Wind."
"Then the Empire is honoured to have a pure bloodline member of one of the five most powerful dragon clans here with us for this event," the Emperor said. "I look forward to meeting the rest of the Beast Realm's representatives during the banquet."
Airras nodded and understood that was their cue to leave. The beasts all bowed again and walked off to take up their seats. As soon as they had done so, eight people walked through the door below the balcony. The four in front let their aura freely wash over all the nobles, the rough energy grating at the minds of all present.
In the lead was an unbelievably attractive individual who looked like a young man with dark eyes and long dark brown hair, coiling black demonic script covering any exposed part of his body. Behind him were three others, all equally attractive. A female with wavy black hair and orange-red eyes glowing dimly like smouldering embers. A male with strange grey hair that flickered and switched between black, dark grey, light grey and white at varying intervals, the air distorting strangely around him as dark and light mana danced upon his skin. A third male with two massive red-black draconic wings behind him and a ferocious rampant aura being released, two large curled horns on his head. There were four others with weaker auras behind them, who showed no emotion and only followed closely behind the people in front, their auras restrained.
"The four Demon Duchies of al'Abyssus, Nefas Infernalis, Lux-Tenebrae Khaoticus and Draco Bestia send their regards," the lead demon said with a wide smirk. None of them bowed.
All the surrounding nobles scowled at the demon's attitude and blatantly disrespectful behaviour, but the Emperor just narrowed his eyes. Then, without a sound, a ripple of the air moved out from him and over the demons, an overbearing presence descending upon them. They strained against the pressure as it forced them to their knees.
"You attempt to withstand my aura every year, demon, yet you never succeed," the man with sapphire eyes stated with a frown.
A feral grin appeared on the face of the leading Abyssal demon, blood dripping from his clenched hands, squeezed tight enough that his fingernails had dug into flesh.
"Only an individual who has proven their strength is worthy of having personages of the great Archdemon lineages bow before them," the demon replied, still trying to stand up against the weight pressing down on him.
The Emperor seemed to let out a slight sigh as he snapped his fingers, the pressure being released from them. "Do not allow yourself or your fellows to begin trouble at my banquet, demon Dovatocus al'Abyssus, or you may all find your astral soul shards very greatly reduced in power by the time they return to your main bodies."
Dovatocus just smirked as he stood up, the four leading demons withdrawing their demonic aura. "Don't trouble yourself in worrying over that, Your Majesty. I wouldn't dare create or allow an upset when our time to play will arrive in only a few years. It would spoil the fun." The demon brushed off any dust from his clothing with his already-healed hands and gestured to the other demons, so they all followed him off the carpet to their designated position.
Then, with uncanny silence, the next group of representatives came in. Their steps left only silence as they crossed the carpet, they walked in perfect timing to each other, ten individuals equally split between male and female with dark hair and dark eyes, and sickly appearances, dressed in black and silver-adorned military uniform. No sign of any aura was released from them, but while they seemed human in looks, the strange silence of their movements and unnerving presence indicated they were not what they appeared. The male at the front came forward and bowed to the Emperor, while the males and females behind him kneeled all single file.
The dark-haired male gave an Empire salute, one clenched hand on his chest. "Vsakoxuth, 1st Sector Vigil of Tartarus," he introduced. "On behalf of my race and behalf of the entire realm of Tartarus, I bring our greetings and congratulations to the Empire for the progress it has made this past year."
"I accept and thank you for your words towards the Empire," the Emperor stated. "And has your… lord found it in himself to comment on the Empire's success?" he continued seriously. The nobles paid close attention to the Tartarus Realm representative's words.
Vsakoxuth shook his head calmly. "He has shown no such intentions for us to relay anything, as has been the case for the past 101 millennia. We can only surmise he is content with the progression of the Empire, which we have assumed since his first and only message."
"Yes, as we assume as well," the Emperor replied, moving on. "Then I am glad to have all of your realm's representatives here with us today. It is infrequently that the Empire gets to entertain members of the death race and ones with such high status as yourselves."
Vsakoxuth smiled and nodded, and then the people behind him stood up. They followed him off the red carpet.
The door below the balcony opened a final time to let ten individuals in colourful oriental robes walk out. Seven men and three women followed behind a beautiful woman arrayed in pale green clothes. Appearing in her early thirties, her dark hair was half tied up into a bun. The bun was held in place by a green jade hairpiece in the shape of a blossoming lotus, with small pink stones and gold embellishments providing additional detail to it.
Her layered pale green dress shimmered with flickers of colour, with each semi-translucent layer embroidered with the pattern of a different kind of plant, all of them flowering in shades of pink. The dress trailed behind her along the ground, and she wore a transparent white mantle across her shoulders, unusual characters that seemed to shift every few seconds painted down the mantle.
The other people were walking in two rows behind her. Besides one woman in green robes walking directly behind the woman in front, the rest of them walked in pairs, matching Sect robes of the same colour for each pair. Directly below the two women in front was a pair of men, one older one with silver hair and a younger one with brilliant gold hair, dressed in exquisite robes of purple and white colouration. Behind them was another pair of men, one older and another younger with scarlet red hair. Their robes were a vibrant red, burning itself into the eyes of all who saw them.
The third pair were of a white-haired man and young woman, both of them wearing clothes of white, blue and in some places, black. The bearded old man had eyes of deep blue. The final pair were once again a pair of men, dressed in searingly bright yellow and light grey robes, with them both having statures that rose above the rest of their entourage.
With a gentle smile on her face, the elegant woman in the very front stepped forward and gave a bow, hands clasped together. "As has been a tradition instituted since the Five Heavenly Sects were first invited to this event, we have taken our turns to represent our realm. I, Leng Xiuying, have come as the lead representative of the Heavenly Sects for this event."
The Emperor raised an eyebrow slightly. Lucille knew he probably wasn't surprised, however. "I wasn't expecting you to come in person, Sect Leader Leng."
Sect Leader Leng's smile widened as she straightened up. "It has been a while since one of us Sect Leaders have come to the Empire's End-of-Year Banquet, yes. I hope my presence here does not cause you issues?"
He shook his head with a faint smile. "Not at all. Please, enjoy the banquet to your heart's content."
She nodded. "Then let us represent our Sects in relaying their messages." She stepped forward and bowed again. "The 5th Heavenly Sect, the Profound Emergent Jade Lotus Sect, offers the Empire our highest congratulations and hopes your continued reign is as prosperous as the Empire's growth this year. As do I personally, the Sect Leader of the Profound Emergent Jade Lotus Sect."
Then she stepped to the side and gestured with a hand for the next people to step forward. Rather than the two men dressed in white and purple, it was the two men at the very back of the row, dressed in yellow and grey, who came forward. They bowed before the Emperor, and the older man stepped forward.
"The 4th Heavenly Sect, the Earthly Immensity Impartation Sect, congratulates the Empire for another successful year while under the rule of Emperor Rodrigue Vilentasar Saphirus Eterial. Sect Leader Yue Qiqiang wishes for the fortune of the Emperor and Empire for the coming years as well."
The two yellow-robed men stepped to the side. The man and woman dressed in white, blue, and black came forward, then bowed. The older white-haired man straightened up.
"The Vast Longevity Flowing Glacier Sect, the 3rd Heavenly Sect, likewise congratulates the Empire on its prosperity this year and has divined that the future of the Empire under its current Emperor will remain as or have even greater prosperity. Sect Leader Zhang Bojing gives you his regards on behalf of his Sect, an ally of the mighty Eternal Empire."
The two white and blue-robed Sect members also stepped to the side, making way for the two men in vibrant red robes who came forward and then bowed. They also gave the Emperor their Sect's messages, the older man standing up straight to announce the message.
"The 2nd Heavenly Sect of the Supreme Nine Hells Descension Sect commends the Eternal Empire on their expansion into the lesser planes this year, vanquishing the inferior nations with their immense might. Sect Leader Diao Xiaotong gives the Empire his wishes for its successful military conquests to continue."
Then, finally, after those two had stepped aside, the two men dressed in white and vivid purple came forward, both bowing and then the older man with silver hair straightened up to announce the final message.
"And the 1st Heavenly Sect, the Worldly Origin Extinction Sword Sect, applauds all the successes mentioned before, and all the successes the Empire is bound to make in the future, as is only right of an ally of the Five Heavenly Sects," the man announced grandly. "Sect Leader Wu Weisheng of the Worldly Origin Extinction Sword Sect asks that the relationship between the Five Heavenly Sects and the Eternal Empire stays as firm and steady as always with Emperor Rodrigue Vilentasar Saphirus Eterial continued honoured rule over the Eternal Empire."
With that final statement, they rearranged themselves into the order they entered the room, standing behind Leng Xiuying who stood in front of the Emperor again. She spoke, "Our words are not without substance, of course. The Heavenly Sects look forward to presenting you with gifts from our realm during this banquet."
The Emperor nodded. "And I look forward to seeing what your realm will show me this year. I give my thanks to your Sects for these words you have all said."
With a calm smile, Sect Leader Xiuying bowed again, then walked off the side of the red carpet to find the section reserved for the Heavenly Realm delegates. Then the Master of Ceremonies walked down the red carpet to stand in front of the door below the balcony.
The Emperor gave a slight nod, so the Master bowed, then straightened up and took a breath.
"As has been a tradition since the first of their conception, the Seven Duchies of the Aeternus plane must travel directly from their Duchies to the Imperial Capital and march around Imperialius Aeternia to demonstrate the might of the Empire," he announced loudly, the hall silent around him in waiting. "It is now time for them to finish their march, beginning the conclusion of this ceremony."
Trumpets sounded again before the Master of Ceremonies revealed his next words. "Let the first of the Eternal Duchies enter the Hall of the Eternal Throne, beginning the completion of the grand march of the Seven Duchies!"
This was one of the most important parts of the banquet. Lucy hadn't seen all of the Sovereign Dukes before, only three of them, from the 1st, 2nd, and 5th Eternal Duchies. Lucille and the rest of the nobles paid very close attention as two large side doors of the hall opened up, revealing darkness beyond. Then, ten people on either side of the hall marched out of the doorways, their auras oppressive and turbulent, leaving the sensation of a metallic tang on the tongues of those within the hall as the energy rolled over them.
The twenty armoured men turned to form two lines and walked down the scarlet carpet to kneel before the Emperor. Then the door the realm representatives entered through opened.
"Duke Deimos Antaris Haevaph of the Sky Razing Duchy of Haevaph, the 1st Eternal Duchy, has Entered the Hall of the Eternal Throne!"
With silver and gold armour, and the symbol of a white thunderbolt and storm engraved on his chestplate, the intimidating man in his mid-50s marched down the carpet, an immense, glowing greatsword on his back. His wild gold hair that framed his solemn face was accompanied by a beard, and his grey eyes flashed with bright light every few seconds, stormy clouds circling within his irises. His searingly bright aura crackled and thundered with flashes of lightning and electric energies, sending shivers down the spines of those he walked past as the hair lifted from their skin. He walked between the two rows of knights and planted his luminous greatsword on the ground in front of him, then kneeled, bowing his head.
"I, Deimos Antaris Haevaph, bow to the Emperor of the Eternal Empire," he stated loudly.
The Emperor nodded, and the armoured men dispersed to stand on the sidelines while the Duke withdrew his aura. The sound of footsteps coming from the two side doors was heard again. This time, knights armoured in purple and grey with designs of stars on their armour streamed into the hall and kneeled before the Emperor.
"Duke Ladeleus Exeor Medolin of the Star Fall Astrum Duchy of Medolin, the 2nd Eternal Duchy, has Entered the Hall of the Eternal Throne!"
Out of the end door came a man in his late thirties, dressed in long robes of pale purple and dark grey. On his chest was a brooch depicting a nine-pointed star, indicating his status as a 9th circle wizard. He had no beard and his wavy dark hair reached his shoulders, with his eyes a brilliant silver-blue. Embroidered on the back of his robe were a twelve-pointed star and two crescent moons, the robe decorated by small stars and moons elsewhere. His elemental manifestation summoned small stars of silver light to orbit around him, his presence emanating a palpable sensation of mystery and awe. His staff was solid silver and likewise shaped in the form of a twelve-pointed star at its end.
He came forward and planted the staff in front of him then kneeled next to the Duke of Haevaph, bowing his head as well.
"I, Ladeleus Exeor Medolin, bow to the Emperor of the Eternal Empire, may the stars forever align in a way favourable for him."
With another nod from the Emperor making him withdraw his aura, the knights moved to the sides of the carpet, leaving only the two Dukes kneeling. A third time the sounds of footsteps echoed from the side doors, and the lights in the hall seemed to flicker as a dark and malicious aura descended upon the room. Twenty armoured knights in heavy dark plate armour marched into the hall and knelt behind the two Dukes. A heavily built figure appeared in the doorway beneath the balcony.
"Duke Morberos Ragnis Genest of the Ever-Present Shadow Duchy of Genest, the 3rd Eternal Duchy, has Entered the Hall of the Eternal Throne!"
The sensation of the dark aura increased tenfold as the man with wavy black hair who appeared in his early 40s stepped into the hall, an arrogant smirk on his face. Fully plated in black heavy armour with an even darker howling wolf engraved on the front, he stood taller than the Duke of Medolin was when standing and gripped a massive war axe in one hand. What looked like a black tattoo of a wolf was on the side of his neck, and his eyes were dark blue. A twisted scar cut across his face from the right of his forehead down to his jaw on the left. He slammed the end of his war axe into the ground with a thud and kneeled, the smirk still on his face as he bowed his head to the Emperor.
"I, Morberos Ragnis Genest, bow to the ruler of the mighty Eternal Empire, Emperor Rodrigue Vilentasar Saphirus Eterial, my sovereign and lord."
The man had gone off script, making the other nobles watch the Duke closely, but the Emperor just nodded, and the dark knights stood to the side like the rest of the knights while the dark aura retreated. This time, a wave of heat seemed to fall upon the room as a fiery glow appeared on either side of the hall. Twenty crimson knights marched out to kneel before the Emperor, their armours glowing with orange light.
"Duke Celadion Lumenor Solarmane of the Allblaze Duchy of Solarmane, the 4th Eternal Duchy, has Entered the Hall of the Eternal Throne!"
With a cold and aloof gaze, the man with a mane of luminous red and orange streaked hair marched into the throne room, wearing the same scarlet armour as his knights. He looked to be in his late 50s, and a large spear was held in his hand. Engraved on the front of his chestplate was the symbol of a flaming sword, glowing with the same orange light as his eyes. The heat increased as he stepped past, the temperature warping the air around him that flickered with the embers and sparks of his fiery aura. He kneeled next to Duke Genest.
"I, Celadion Lumenor Solarmane, the ruler of the Allblaze Eternal Duchy of the Aeternus plane, bow my head to the Eternal Empire's Emperor," he stated indifferently.
Many nobles in the audience scowled when they heard the Duke emphasizing how he was a ruler in his own right. The Emperor narrowed his eyes but eventually gave a nod. The scarlet armoured men moved to the sides as the heat dispersed. Armoured footsteps sounded again and this time, a sharp and cold aura, like the sensation of a metal blade, released itself through the room. Twenty knights releasing the sharp aura marched from their respective doorways and kneeled before the Emperor. Their armour appeared to be a light-coloured metallic grey, like that of polished steel.
"Duke Feidhlim Skallagrim Isærnelghen of the Steelheart Duchy of Isærnelghen, the 5th Eternal Duchy, has Entered the Hall of the Eternal Throne!"
A man in his mid-30s with steel-grey hair and eyes and a stern expression marched into the hall with purpose, a sheathed longsword belted to his waist. A symbol of a silver bleeding heart shone on his chestplate, his silvery armour lightweight compared to that of the other armoured Dukes. His movements were rigid and militant as he saluted, drew his sword, planted it on the ground and knelt next to the other Dukes, forming a row of five.
"Feidhlim Skallagrim Isærnelghen of the Steelheart Duchy bows his head to the Emperor of the Eternal Empire," he said, his words curt and without excess.
The Emperor nodded to allow the knights behind him to position themselves on either side of the carpet with the others, the Duke withdrawing his aura like the sheathing of a weapon. 100 knights now bordered the scarlet carpet leading up to the throne.
Then, a dreadful, overbearing presence rolled out over the room, the glowing lamps fizzling and crackling in response to the aura. A sensation of doom and imminent destruction swam about the hall, laced with the red hue of thick killing intent. 20 more knights wearing dark grey, brown, and bronze armour marched in sync to kneel behind the five Dukes. Their auras flickered through varying shades of brown, red, grey and slivers of bronze. The symbol on their chestplates was a red-bronze and grey flame.
"Duke Harpax Dorripan Extermina of the Havoc-Reaver Duchy of Extermina, the 6th Eternal Duchy, has Entered the Hall of the Eternal Throne!"
With a vicious grin on his face covered in scars of battle, the heavily built man marched into the grand hall, his arms from the elbows down covered in heavy dark-iron gauntlets, which were splattered by fresh scarlet blood, dripping from the metal armaments. Wearing heavy plate armour from the neck down, he had unruly dark-brown hair accompanied by reddish-brown eyes, which perhaps might have been only brown if not for the thick killing intent emitted by him causing his irises to gain a red hue. Appearing in his mid-30s, he slammed his two armoured fists together with a clang and then knelt with his ferocious grin still on his face. His bloodied gauntlets dyed the carpet a darker red.
"I, Harpax Dorripan Extermina, bow my head before the Emperor of the Eternal Empire, may his glorious battle prowess as a warrior never be forgotten!"
But the Emperor only showed anger at his statement. "Harpax Extermina, withdraw your aura!" the Emperor commanded harshly.
The man smirked but did as asked, letting many in their seats release sighs of relief. The Emperor frowned at him. "Extermina. What made you dishonour yourself by participating in violence just before you entered this room to represent your Duchy?"
The bloodthirsty grin returned to the man as he replied, "I don't believe I dishonoured myself, Your Majesty. I caught a member of the Royal Guard attempting to steal from the Royal Treasury just a few minutes before I was due to enter."
The nobles in the hall let out gasps of shock, which only made the grin of the Duke widen.
"As is only right by someone of my status, I executed him on the spot," he said, followed by a short bark of laughter. "A Royal Guard should not dare to touch the possessions of his only lord, the Emperor of the Eternal Empire."
The Emperor narrowed his eyes, looking stern. "Duke Harpax Extermina," he stated shortly. "Do not be mistaken that I would accept this as adequate justification for your actions in disrupting the opening ceremony of the banquet. You will be called to explain your behaviour to me in more depth at a later date."
Duke Extermina shrugged, looking relaxed and not worried in the slightest. The other Dukes had varying reactions, from indifference or mild curiosity, all the way to anger.
The Emperor sighed and waved a hand. "Nonetheless, we have stalled this ceremony for too long. Our last Sovereign Duke and only Archduke have been made to wait, and we cannot let that continue. Let the knights of the Aethereal Duchy enter the Hall of the Eternal Throne," the Emperor commanded.
At his words, the knights of the 6th Duchy stood on the sidelines, and the march of more footsteps echoed into the hall. Lines of knights armoured in light blue armour marched into the hall, their armaments letting off soft light. A white circle of runes was engraved on their chestplates and embroidered on their flowing blue cloaks. Their sky-blue auras were rigid and unified, almost giving off the sensation of being solid, yet they were perfectly translucent. Many nobles watched the knights curiously, as the 7th Eternal Duchy was much more reserved and let less information flow out of their borders compared to the other Duchies.
"Archduke Stolas Septamere Eterial of the Aethereal Duchy of Septamere, the 7th Eternal Duchy, has Entered the Hall of the Eternal Throne!"
And this was when Lucille paid very close attention to the person who would exit the door at the other end of the royal carpet. She had never seen the Archduke before, and she was supposed to be meeting him in a few days, so she looked to see who would exit and…
She stared as the man with long white hair and sky-blue eyes came forward. Appearing in his mid-20s, he wore a light blue and silver imperial uniform in the style only worn by the royal family.
What is with that hair colour?! It's like someone found a way to bleach reality to even the smallest atom so no colour is left at all and what's left is the brightest white the System limbo can summon! I swear it looks like it glows. That's weird. Aether's colour is light blue, not white, so how did he end up with that hair?
Also…
She frowned slightly and put a hand to a temple.
I… feel like I've seen him before, but… no, I'm certain I've never met him, so… what is this the reason for… feeling like this?
Lucille took another glance at the man who knelt in front of the Emperor.
In fact… he looks like an exact replica of that… that portrait I saw in…
She put another hand to her other temple and rubbed them both, feeling a headache beginning to emerge.
But, but… no! That portrait was supposed to be a picture of… of-f him, not of-
Her thoughts cut out as she winced, the headache increasing in intensity for a split second. But something was off.
Wait… why am I feeling a headache? I haven't used my soul for a while, so it's not unstable enough to cause a headache. That shouldn't be happening. I shouldn't be able to feel a headache, because I can tell there's nothing physically wrong with my body using my spiritual perception.
The headache's even gone now like I never had one at all. But what instigated the feeling of a headache in the first-
She paused to stare at her hand as she removed it from her temple, feeling like she was missing a very, very important idea or detail of some sort.
What was I… thinking… before this…?
"Lucy?" she heard Vincent whisper behind her, leaning closer with a questioning look on his face.
I… I'll check my soul later. For now, I have to watch the rest of the ceremony.
"It's nothing," she whispered back to him.
"I, Stolas Septamere Eterial, bow before the mighty Eternal Empire's Emperor, the ruler of the most powerful nation in the Mystical Realm," the Archduke said with a calm smile on his face.
For some reason, that expression on his face gave Lucille an intense sensation of incongruity, although she had no idea why.
"All seven of my Dukes have assembled themselves before me once more," the Emperor stated, rising from his throne. Then he looked at the Archduke. "Duke Extermina owes you an apology for the delay, Archduke Septamere. It seems he caught a member of the Royal Guard attempting to steal from the Royal Treasury, and thought it appropriate to enter the Hall of the Eternal Throne with fresh blood still dripping from his fists."
Duke Extermina glanced sideways at the white-haired man, watching him carefully, but then scowled as the Archduke didn't even bother to look at him, replying to the Emperor with his calm smile still present.
"The delay matters not. All that matters is that the seven sovereign Dukes of the Aeternus plane have finally gathered in the Palace of Nine Pillars, so the entertaining part of this event, the banquet, may commence," he stated smoothly.
The Emperor let out a laugh. "A fine answer, and a far better one than what Duke Extermina tried to excuse himself with."
Duke Extermina's expression turned dark, while the other Dukes showed different reactions to this show of favouritism. Duke Genest watched the show the narrowed eyes, while Duke Haevaph and Duke Isærnelghen ignored them. The Emperor gestured to the kneeling Dukes.
"The mighty Eternal Duchies of the Aeternus plane have protected the Empire for millennia, no matter their number. As the Emperor of the Eternal Empire, I thank the Eternal Duchies for this and their future protection and support." He spread his arms. "Dukes, you may all rise, and take up your seats as the right and left hands of the Empire."
All the Dukes bowed their heads and stood up, then saluted. After that, they walked over to their sections, their knights following them, and stood directly on either side of the throne. The Archduke and Duke Haevaph stood closest to the Emperor, followed by the others, with four Dukes on one side and three on the other. But the rows weren't uneven, because the fourth spot was filled by Marquess Ashthrope.
The Master of Ceremonies stepped onto the carpet and faced the hall. "It is now time to hear the chosen member of the royal family recite the founding words of the Empire. Please stand."
Lucille and the rest did so, as she internally shelved her troubled thoughts and prepared for the last few hours of the ceremony. She could analyse her thoughts another day, as she still had a few days before she had to meet the Archduke, with the entitlement from the Emperor being her priority right now. She needed to be given her Title of Honorary Count.
But she couldn't help but glance at the blue-eyed man standing near the Emperor's throne, feeling deeply uncomfortable about something.
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[Title: Nobility | Type: Discord/Role]
None! Yet
[Title: Rank-5 | Type: Discord/Role] (This is getting kinda long)
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[Title: Demon Nobility | Discord/Role]
None! Maybe when I finish this tier someone will join
"I, Stolas Septamere Eterial, bow before the mighty Eternal Empire's Emperor, the ruler of the most powerful nation in the Mystical Realm," the Archduke said with a calm smile on his face.
"Now Announcing the Entrance of the Head of the Aurelian Commission, Lucille Adrienne Goldcroft, and her Aide, Vincentimo Sorviere Evisenhardt!"
Lucille and Vincent stepped down the stairs into the ballroom where that day's event was occurring. It had been about four days since the opening ceremony, and during that time they had had to deal with many nobles approaching them for discussions and introductions, trying to decipher what the dynamic was in the Commission. The other Counts had gone off to do their own thing, as they had non-Commission-related politics to deal with as well, so it was just her and Vincent for now.
Vincent himself had been doing very well, not that she expected him to struggle to deal with the nobles at the banquet. The personality she remembered him having the few times she had met him as an Admiral of the Navy was coming through, the one that enabled him to be one of the leading figures amongst his generation. She had to admit that one of the reasons why she enjoyed annoying him was because he acted so differently from what she remembered when he wasn't with other nobles. He had a much more interesting character than she had expected before coming to the Commission's Headquarters.
But today was an important day. Today was the day the Emperor would be handing out Titles of nobility. In other words, she would gain her Title of Honorary Count.
She glanced in the direction of the large table raised above everyone else. There sat the Emperor and Empress on two thrones in the centre on a raised platform, with other important royalty sitting at two exquisite tables on either side of the thrones. That included the Archduke, while the other Dukes sat at extravagant tables on a level just slightly lower than the Emperor. There was one other person who sat at the table of the royalty next to the Emperor who wasn't a member of the royal family, however. It was Marquess Hepherson Ashthrope, whom Lucille had seen at the opening ceremony.
She and Vincent made their way over to the silvery carpet that led up to the Emperor's table, where they had to greet him as the first thing required by individuals of their status. They lined up behind several other nobles waiting to pay their respects to the Emperor, and eventually, they came forward and kneeled.
"I, L-Lucille Adrienne Goldcroft, bow my head to the Emperor of the Eternal Empire," she stammered as she lowered her head, introducing an artificial slight tremble in her words and limbs so she appeared nervous. She avoided all eye contact.
"Vincentimo Sorviere Evisenhardt bows his head to the Emperor of the Eternal Empire," her aide smoothly stated behind her, no nervousness shown by him at all.
The Emperor's gaze on her lingered slightly longer than it had for the other bowing nobles, but he nodded, allowing Lucy and Vincent to leave. They stepped off the carpet into the main ballroom area, some of the Dukes glancing at her as they left. The Archduke seemed to ignore her as he spoke to another noble next to him, which for some reason unknown even to herself, she garnered a strange sense of relief.
With Vincent behind her, she continued walking to where the Commission's separate table was. But before they made it to the extravagantly decorated circular table, a noble came up to them. And it was someone she recognised.
"Lady Goldcroft!" the man with a goatee exclaimed, a smile on his face. He gave her a slight bow. "It is a pleasure to see you again."
She made herself blink and then nod with a smile. "Ah, yes. I feel the same as well, Viscount…" She pretended to hesitate and try to remember his name, making the expression of the man in front of her, the Viscount of the Tua'Cethla Kingdom of Shifting Sands she had met for the debut, twitch.
"Viscount Naram Eil-Mlimar, my lady," he informed her with another bow, his voice sounding slightly less happy. "We met at your debut."
"Right, we did," she replied with a large, easy-going nod as if she hadn't acted as she had forgotten that just a moment earlier. The smile of the Viscount became slightly strained, but it brightened up as he turned to the silver-haired man beside her.
"And I am very pleased to see you again, Sir Evisenhardt," Viscount Eil-Mlimar said with a wide smile, holding out a hand for Vincent to shake.
Vincent smiled politely and nodded. "As am I to see you, Viscount Eil-Mlimar."
The Viscount went to say something, but Lucy spoke to him before he could, "Last time I saw you, I recall there was someone else I met?"
Viscount Eil-Mlimar scoffed and shook his head. "Bah, that low noble with such poor, garish taste from the Aeternus plane?" He gestured with his head to a certain direction, where a reedy, gemstone-decorated man was smiling at a few other nobles. "Baron Syagrius Groth is busy discussing…. 'important' deals with some of Alichanteu's direct vassals. I doubt anything will come out of it. Alichanteu's vassals are better than to stoop so low as to fall for his words."
The gaudily-dressed Baron in the distance noticed the Viscount's gaze and narrowed his eyes at the red and white-robed man, and they glared at each other for a few seconds, before both turning back to their communication partners with wide smiles.
"But never mind that," Viscount Eil-Mlimar said, waving a hand dismissively. He turned to Vincent as his smile grew wider. "As a loyal vassal of Evisenhardt, I am very much inclined to give my aid to the Silver County as the Aurelian Commission goes through these tumultuous times. If there is anything I could do to support the County, then I would not hesitate to involve myself in a discussion over this…" The Viscount glanced at Lucille as he trailed off, and she and Vincent picked up on the hint.
"Lucille, how about you go sit down while I talk to the Viscount?" her aide asked her, putting his hands on her shoulders to guide her.
She blinked as he gently pushed her. "What? But- I mean, is that fine? I'm supposed to be the Faction Head…"
"Of course it's fine. You can just wait for me at your table," Vincent replied.
Taking that as enough fake conversation for the Viscount to see, she nodded and went over to her table, which was covered in a gold and purple-decorated covering, cutlery and dishes made of gold set on top. Bowls of fruit radiating mana were placed on the table, and several dishes were already served as snacks. She sat down in her chair and pretended to be distracted by what was in front of her, but she was paying close attention to what the people around her were saying. She was also paying attention to the Dukes.
The golden-haired Duke Haevaph sat at a long table directly to the right of the Emperor, with other golden-haired Ducal family members likewise seated at the table. The Sky Razing Duchy was named as such because the Haevaph family was also a powerful clan of the Glory Pantheon, called the Sky Razing Sword clan.
They were known to be the 1st ranked clan of the entire Pantheon, and their Duchy was the base for all the most important Tournaments and Championships. Their Duchy even contained the building called the Grand Columns of Accolades, where the Major and Minor Disciplines kept a copy of all their mana-arts for preservation.
Their famed lightning-element sword mana-art of their family, one of the rare Heroic Arts, was only 2nd ranked out of all the Sword Major Discipline's arts, however. That was because the 1st ranked sword mana-art was called the Imperial Aeternus Swordsmanship, the mana-art practised by the Royal Guard and the higher-ups of the Battalions. But even so, their lightning art was still a Heroic Art, one of the most powerful mana-arts of Glory Pantheon.
The Haevaph Duchy were steadfastly loyal to the Emperor, and the Emperor alone. They were part of the 'Imperialist' forces, which didn't support Olden or Radical's ideals, and weren't part of the neutral faction.
Opposite the Haevaph Duchy's table on the other side of the silver carpet leading up to the Emperor was a table draped with purple and grey silk. There sat the members of the Star Fall Astrum Duchy of Medolin, who had created the high-level element of Astrum hundreds of thousands of years ago, a compound element containing the elements of light and air to navigate the constellations.
Duke Medolin and his relatives were mostly talking with noble mages and wizards from All-Aeon Athenaeum, as the Duchy was one of the most powerful forces within the Athenaeum. They were Olden purist magic users who disliked any of the new magic styles and spells developed by commoners emerging, including magic engineering.
Then, at a table of pitch black wood positioned next to the Haevaph Duchy's table, was the table of the Genest Duchy, the Duchy of the dark element. Duke Genest spoke with many of the more powerful nobility such as the Marquesses, all of them being the most outspoken supporters of Olden. While they had a dark element mana-art, the Duchy's power mostly stemmed from a unique dark-element Constitution only obtained by individuals of their lineage, a Constitution that gave them a black tattoo in the shape of an animal.
The Ever-Present Shadow Duchy had a tradition of sending their young members out undercover into the Empire's wider borders and had a bloody hidden battle for succession to become the next Duke. Illegitimate or legitimate, it didn't matter, someone only needed to have the Constitution to be eligible for the Title. There was no end date for when the succession battle would be over. If Duke Morberos Genest died to a distant relative of his in the ballroom there that day, that relative would become the new Duke. The cycle would never stop repeating itself.
Covered in a searingly bright red and orange silk dining cloth next to the Medolin Duchy's table was the table of the Allblaze Duchy of Solarmane. The Ducal members with burning orange eyes sat overlooking many of the nobles with distaste, for the most part. A few were in arguments with some supporters of Radical, but most of them sat next to their close supporters in silent judgement of their surroundings. The Ducal family of Solarmane wasn't known for their hospitable and welcoming attitudes. They were part of Olden and used the fire element near-exclusively.
Then, next to the table of Duke Genest was the table of the Duchy of Isærnelghen, the metal element wielding Steelheart Duchy. The Isærnelghen Duchy was part of Radical and was very strongly involved with all aspects of the Empire's military. They were favoured among the commoner members of the Battalions for their leadership and fair treatment of all military members, regardless of noble status, rank, or Title.
Their mana-art worked irrespective of weapon type, as it enabled them to gain increased elemental manipulation rather than just increasing their physical ability. Their Duchy was where many craftsmen flocked to if they wanted to become involved in developing and manufacturing new weapons for the military.
Opposite the Isærnelghen Duchy's table, and beside the Solarmane table, was the table of Duke Harpax Extermina, the head of the Duchy that used the high-level element of Destruction, an element containing fire and darkness. The Havoc-Reaver Duchy was officially known as being part of 'Radical', but the reason why the Duke supported Radical wasn't because he aimed to give commoners greater rights.
No, he supported Radical so more conflict would occur between nobles and commoners, inciting fights he could take part in to cause bloodshed and wage wars. He was recognised as a volatile bomb by the entirety of central Empire nobility, someone who couldn't be trusted in case he decided to turn against you to pursue his agenda of blood-crazed battle lust.
Lucy knew Duke Extermina used to be the ruler of the 1st Major Kingdom, a nation that used battle to choose its ruler until the Emperor at the time had offered him the position of Duke. The man was hostile to all the Duchies that came before him, his inferiority complex being somewhat of an open secret, but he was even more hostile to the Duchy that came after his Duchy.
"Now Announcing the Entrance of the Representatives of the Four Demon Duchies: Dovatocus al'Abyssus, Vibenia Nefas Infernalis, Lyconides Lux-Tenebrae Khaoticus, and Isidorius Draco Bestia!
Lucy blinked as the four demon representatives entered the ballroom, followed by their entourages who had likewise come, the ones who hadn't formally greeted the Emperor at the opening ceremony. The groups of demons split into their respective Duchies, as they weren't exactly allies with each other in normal circumstances. The entourage of twenty or so Abyssal demons walked by her table, and she compared them to their matriarch, whom Lucille had met in the Daemonium Palace.
Dovatocus must be a great-great-grandchild of Lilith or further. I've heard the Abyssal Duchess is around 210 millennia, and the number of demons in the Archdemon clans can reach several hundred thousand.
The demons of the Draco Bestia Duchy, the Demonic Dragons, walked by, their red and black wings manifested behind them for all to see, and they were soon followed by the Chaos Demons, with shifting grey and white hair and warped auras. Then, after that were the Infernal Demons, with dimly lit smouldering red eyes and hair having colours of black or scarlet.
It sounded like she was describing the characteristics of the Demon Emperor, but they didn't have irises as large as the Demon Emperor, and historically, the Demon Emperor actually had a very different hair colour other than the black he had when she visited. She didn't know why he decided to make his hair black this time around, but it wasn't like she was about to go ask him why he changed his hair colour the next time they met, was she?
But then she accidentally overheard something from two nobles standing nearby that made her freeze up.
"I wonder if they'd reveal what made the Demon Emperor so mad a few months ago if one of us went up to them and asked them," a brown-haired man around his thirties muttered, dressed in an embroidered silken suit.
The blonde-haired man beside him gave the other noble a strange look. "The Demon Emperor? Mad?"
The brown-haired noble blinked and nodded as he turned to his conversation partner. "Yes, it's been one of the most discussed topics among the central nobility these last few months. Nobody's ever seen the Demon Emperor, or heard of him doing something since his existence was announced, so it's a massive deal for all the realms." He glanced back at the demon nobility. "None of the lower demons seem to know anything, so I was wondering if the Archdemon bloodlines might."
"How do you know he was even angry if nobody's seen him?" the blonde-haired noble asked with a raised eyebrow.
The other man laughed. "Why, the entire Demon Realm was quaking due to the tremors, that's how! People say the Demon Emperor let his demonic power spread far enough to reach even the unassimilated demon clans on the realm's borders."
He lifted his hands to emphasise his words, raising his voice with grandiose. "Earth-shaking thunder, eye-rending bolts of red lightning, mind-bending soul pressure that rocked the souls of all within his presence! And on that matter the entire Daemonium Palace Stronghold was under so much pressure from his demonic aura that it was the equivalent of the earth element gravitation Grand-spells, multiplying the gravity twenty times over or higher. Only the strongest demons could walk in the city."
"That sounds like a few demons happened to exaggerate their ruler's anger to brag about their realm," the blonde noble pointed out with scepticism, knowing demons didn't exactly have a reputation for being very honest creatures.
"Possibly," the brown-haired noble replied with a shrug, turning back to watch the demons. "But I do know that it's an uncontested fact that the realm's storms didn't cease until a full month had passed, and they never waned in power, only abruptly cutting out one day. The Demon Emperor's presence was said to have been felt right up until the very end, with no lapse in strength."
"How long ago was this?"
The noble thought about it. "Either early October or late September. Around that time I believe."
The blonde man stared at the other man. "And you said the entire Demon Realm had felt his demonic aura?"
The brown-haired noble nodded. "Oh yes, all the demons concluded it was terrifying, feeling his presence for that long."
The other noble slowly nodded. "I suppose this reminds us that even though the Primordial Demon only lives for two and a half centuries, when they're alive, they're a force to be reckoned with."
"Indeed." The brown-haired man shuddered. "I hate to imagine what's going to happen when the Empire faces him on the Millennium Chapter battlefield."
The two nobles moved away from their position, moving on to different topics, but Lucille couldn't help but stare at them.
He… got angry? …at the end of September…? That's a very odd time frame…
It… couldn't be because of me, right?
She considered it and shook her head.
No, there's no way. He was perfectly fine when I visited. There was no sign of him being that mad. Yes, there's no way the Demon Emperor's anger was because I came and revealed to him the existence of the Hero and how he and I would mess up the Demon Emperor's carefully prepared plans. Yeah, no way that's it.
Lucy buried her head in her hands.
Oh, this is obviously because of me, isn't it? It's impossible to pretend otherwise. Didn't withdraw his aura for an entire month?! He showed no sign of being that mad when I was there! None!
…well, except for when he pressured me with his aura… and before that when I told him he would fail…
……I am so going to be killed by him.
She let out a sigh as she leaned back in her chair.
Maybe he won't be so angry by the time I visit him in March, as six months will have passed. But knowing my luck…
"Lucille? Is something wrong?"
She blinked as Vincent approached her, looking curious. He had finished his discussion with the Viscount. She shook her head. "It's nothing important." She glanced in the direction Vincent had been in earlier. "Not going to take the chance to strengthen your reputation as the 'real' Faction Head?"
Vincent shook his head. "Not now. Not ever, if I had a choice. I don't want to have to deal with the other nobles. Viscount Eil-Mlimar is enough for me," he muttered. He sighed. "The Emperor is about to begin announcing the achievements of the Empire's nobility now, which means he's also soon going to be rewarding them." He glanced at her. "This includes calling you up to grant you your Title."
Lucille nodded and looked over in the direction of the Emperor. It was likely that during the event, she'd be called to meet with him in private as well, so he could understand her real personality, and also validate what Count Evisenhardt likely told him about her age. She turned back to Vincent.
"Does he address the County level of nobility first?" she asked.
"No, actually," Vincent replied. "It's the Maj-"
"The Commendation of the Exploits of the Major Kingdoms will soon begin! Please be seated for this part of the Event!
The announcement reverberated magically through the air. Vincent nodded. "And there it is. After that, the County-level nobility will be commended."
She nodded. The 108 Minor Kingdoms had been commended the day earlier, a very long and tedious procedure. She assumed the 24 Major Kingdoms would be faster to go through.
As the nobles of the hall all moved over to their respective banquet tables, the Master of Ceremonies came and stood in front of the Emperor, facing the rest of the hall with the Dukes behind him, and unfurled a large ornate scroll. A wave of mana washed over the hall, and Lucy knew that what the man said next would be broadcast across the Capital City through the mana, allowing the news to spread across the Empire.
"Our glorious Eternal Empire is composed of many powerful nations," the man began loudly. "And all of them exist under the banner of the authority of our Superior Aeternus plane. We have revealed the achievements of the 108 Minor Kingdoms and their changes in ranking. It is now time for us to proclaim the triumphs of the Major Kingdoms!"
The nobles listened in silence as the man continued, "To the citizens of the Gold-Dias Conquerors Kingdom of the Golden Warfield plane!" One particular table of nobles dressed in heavy armour paid close attention to his words. "The Empire congratulates the 1st Major Kingdom for keeping its status as the 1st ranked Major Kingdom for the 142nd millennia in a row. Your War Overlord has shown his capabilities as the sovereign of your land and continues to make great victories as your forces partake in the conquering of the lower planes. We have great expectations that this will continue."
The announcer moved on. "To the citizens of the Moonlight Symposium of the Populace, of the Melodious Lunar plane! Your scholars and historians have contributed to the records of the Empire this year once more, expanding our archives and knowledge! The All-Aeon Athenaeum especially thanks you, the 2nd Major Kingdom, for your efforts in translating the ancient records of the Old Era planes! The Empire hopes your knowledge and expertise continue to expand under the leadership of your Grand Elect."
A table of twenty people nodded with calm smiles. The Master of Ceremonies continued to the next Kingdom.
"To the people of the Fierenze Kingdom of the Sun Pyre, of the Blaze Forest plane!" he shouted. "Working alongside the Allblaze Duchy of Solarmane, you successfully conquered twenty lower planes, the highest amount from a Major Kingdom this year! The Eternal Empire congratulates the 3rd Major Kingdom on their conquests, and will ensure its forces are given their deserved rewards!"
"The Wintery Frost-Isle Queendom of the Snowbell Aurora plane!" the man said, his voice growing even louder. Three women in white and blue gowns smiled as the man spoke, "You have successfully surpassed the Everlasting Evenfall Mountains Kingdom and become the 4th Major Kingdom! The Empire gives you its highest praises for this grand achievement!"
The man paused to allow the nobles of the hall to clap. He continued speaking after a few moments, "Your successful conquest of a lesser elemental plane of wind for the Empire has increased your status! Work hard and well for the Empire so you may keep your new rank!"
He moved on as the women gave firm nods. "To the people of the Everlasting Evenfall Mountains Kingdom of the Abiding Dusk plane! Do not be disheartened, as the Wintery Frost-Isle Queendom's rank is as of yet still in question! You have also made great victories this past year, and if you surpass your previous selves in the coming year you may still ascend from your new position as the 5th Major Kingdom!"
The man moved through the Major Kingdoms, summarising what they did during the past year and praising them on the Empire's behalf. Lucy heard him mention the Viridescent Emerald Kingdom, Annaliese's homeland, the 8th Major Kingdom, and the 12th Major Kingdom of the Tua'Cethla Kingdom of Shifting Sands. He continued and concluded after praising the 24th Major Kingdom of the Fervent Flora plane, the Dancing Bloom Kingdom.
He said his closing remarks for the Major Kingdoms and then announced something else.
"Now we come to the Empire's very own nobility, its loyal Aeternus Counts, who govern its many powerful and important Counties, working as the right and left hands of the Marquesses and Dukes. Our grand Emperor Rodrigue Vilentasar Saphirus Eterial himself will give them the grand honour of hearing his words on their achievements, and will allow them to renew their vows of loyalty to their lords."
The Master of Ceremonies bowed to the hall, then bowed to the Emperor, and walked off the centre of the silver carpet to stand off to the side. The Emperor stood up and stretched out an open empty hand. With a glow of golden light, his sceptre was summoned in front of him, and he grasped it. He hit the sceptre on the floor of his throne's platform, commanding attention as the sound rang out.
"Our most powerful Counties, and the only four under no March or Duchy," the Emperor stated loudly. "Counts and the County representatives of the Aurelian Commission, come forward to kneel before me."
Count Evisenhardt, Count Chavaret, and Count Ravimoux calmly stood up from their tables and walked to the end of the silver carpet. Artair and Arwen came a few moments later, following the Counts to walk along the carpet and kneel in front of the throne platform's last step.
"I, Sevastian Edgar Evisenhardt of the Silver County, bow my head to the Emperor of the Eternal Empire," Count Evisenhardt stated.
"I, Donovan Raymond Chavaret of the Red County, bow my head to the Emperor of the Eternal Empire," said Count Chavaret.
"And I, Regulus Fardevrio Ravimoux of the Black County, bow my head to the Emperor of the Eternal Empire," Count Ravimoux stated. Artair and Arwen stayed silent behind him, not allowed to speak up as they weren't Counts.
"Counts of the Aurelian Commission," the Emperor began loudly. "As members of the Aurelian Commission, your Counties have prospered under your governance, and your Faction has attained greater heights over this past year. But an event has occurred that may bring the Commission to even greater levels of power."
He held up his sceptre. "Lucille Goldcroft and Vincentimo Evisenhardt!" he called out. "Come forward and kneel before me!"
Lucy and Vincent traded eye contact, and Vincent gave her a slight nod. With the nobles watching her closely, she made a show of taking a deep breath, and with slightly stiff movements she walked onto and down the silver carpet, Vincent right behind her. She kept her eyes down and added a slight tremble to her limbs, her observers only seeing a nervous young girl. The Dukes watched her with varying levels of interest, however, the Archduke was talking to Marquis Ashthrope, paying her no heed. Appearing slightly pale and hesitant, she stepped in front of the three Counts and awkwardly kneeled.
"I-" She took another deep breath for added effect as she faked stumbling over her words and restarted her sentence. "I, Lucille Adrienne Goldcroft, bow my head to the Emperor of the Eternal Empire."
Vincent only lowered his head due to his status, but the Emperor acknowledged it with a nod and returned his gaze to Lucille.
"For the first time since the Founder of the Aurelian Commission, Crawforde Lockhart," he said authoritatively, "Someone has inherited the Founder's inheritance token. You, Lucille Goldcroft, have become the first successor of the Aurelian Commission's Founder since its creation. That entitles you to the position of the Head of the Aurelian Commission." He gazed solemnly at her. "This position carries heavy responsibilities."
He stepped forward and walked down the stairs until he reached the last step. "Lucille Adrienne Goldcroft, do you vow to lead your Faction with full comprehension of the power it holds?"
"I-I do," she replied.
"Lucille Adrienne Goldcroft," the Emperor continued sternly, "Do you swear upon your own life to use this power for the betterment of the Eternal Empire and the Aurelian Commission?"
"I swear," she said.
The Emperor raised his sceptre upright and slammed it down, sending out a pulse that stirred the mana throughout the hall. "Lucille Adrienne Goldcroft!" he shouted. "Will you make an oath to serve me, my successors, and those who come after me who bear the Title of Emperor of the Eternal Empire, for as long as you carry your status and position as the Head of the Aurelian Commission?"
"I will."
He pointed his glowing sceptre at her. "Then touch my sceptre and do so," he commanded.
With a trembling arm, she reached out to touch the end of it, but not before giving Vincent a quick, wide-eyed glance. He gave a subtle nod, which made the Emperor narrow his eyes, but she placed her hand on the end of the sceptre, and it released a wave of mana, glowing brightly. She began the oath she had memorised beforehand.
"I, Lucille Adrienne Goldcroft and Inheritor of the Aurelian Commission's succession token swear an oath to serve my liege and ruling sovereign, the Emperor of the Eternal Empire, whoever they may be at any point in time," she said. "I will obey their commands to their will and letter. I will work to ensure all actions taken with my status are motivated by the intention to bring glory and power to the Empire, and not by personal ambition."
Internally, Lucy couldn't help feeling the desire to roll her eyes at the sheer hypocrisy of the oath, but she kept up her acting.
The glow of the sceptre died down as she heard the sound of a notification.
[The Supreme Institutional Authority of the Eternal Empire has forcefully bestowed and activated the following Title:]
[Title: Honorary Count of the Aurelian Commission | Type: Nobility]
Rarity: Unique
Desc: The Emperor of the Eternal Empire has bestowed the Title of Honorary Count of the Aurelian Commission for the User having soulbound the Token of the Aurelian Commission's Founder and succeeded the former Faction Head.
[Benefits: Honorary Count permissions on the Supreme Institution, Sub-Faction and Allied Faction grounds of the Eternal Empire]
Technically I could've obtained this Title with my Authority if I wanted, but now I can legally use it.
The Emperor nodded and she took back her hand from the sceptre with quick movements, continuing to appear nervous and jumpy. The Emperor raised his sceptre again, and grasping it in one hand, he spread out his other hand towards them all, kneeling on the carpet.
"Do you all swear to follow Lucille Adrienne Goldcroft as your Faction Head and respect the status she holds?"
"We swear," they all replied.
"Then I now announce the bestowment of the Title of Honorary Count of the Aurelian Commission on Lucille Adrienne Goldcroft, the new Head of the Aurelian Commission!" the Emperor proclaimed to the rest of the hall.
The nobility in the hall all stood up to clap, congratulating her on her new status. As the applause filled the room, the Emperor spoke quieter to them, "You may rise and return to your places of seating." With his sapphire gaze fixed on her, he added something else. "I look forward to seeing how the Commission will prosper with their new Faction Head."
With that, he turned around and climbed back up the stairs, cape trailing behind him. They all stood up and calmly walked back to their seats. She sat down with a sigh as Vincent sat next to her.
"Now you're truly a noble of the Empire," he said.
"Ha. Complete with all its benefits and detriments," she replied with a wry voice.
"Hopefully you'll get to experience more of the benefits than the detriments," her aide said. He glanced at the other Counts of the Commission at their tables. "Although I noticed he only asked them if they would respect your status, instead of asking for them to announce their loyalty to you."
"It isn't a relationship formed with loyalty as its base in the first place," Lucy said, reaching for a cup to take a drink of water. "Nor have I demonstrated any qualities that should mean they'd swear loyal-"
She paused as she saw something out of the corner of her eye, and turned to look. However, her gaze only fell upon the Emperor and Archduke discussing something. She watched for a moment, hesitantly taking a sip from her cup.
I thought I saw the Archduke looking at me just then. Was I seeing things?
"Lucy?" Vincent frowned.
I don't think he's looked at me once during these last few days. Which is a slightly strange observation to make, but there's been all kinds of off things I've felt about him these last few days, making me pick up on these small details. Ever since…
She put down her cup and rubbed her temples.
Ever since… what exactly? I can't seem to recall why I'm paying so much attention to him. It can't just be because I'm meeting him in three days, can it? Was it when I saw him for the first time? I think he reminded me of something, but I don't know what.
Well, I guess I've probably just forgotten it. I'll remember it eventually.
Then she was hit with a distinct sense of incongruity, and Lucille lowered her hands to stare at them.
I've… forgotten… something…?
A hand waved in front of her face and she was broken out of her thoughts. Vincent was looking at her with a frown. "Lucille, are you all right? I've noticed you've been out of sorts these past four days."
"It- uh." She winced as she felt a headache form, and picked her cup back up. "I'm all right. I think I just need to take a break."
Vincent watched her silently, appearing unsure, but he slowly nodded. "Don't push yourself too hard, Lucy."
She nodded as the Emperor called up other Counts. Lucille prepared herself to watch the rest of the ceremony, recording all and any details she could with her eidetic memory.
She couldn't help letting her sight stray over to where the Archduke was sitting, however, beginning to feel slightly apprehensive towards her planned meeting with him in three days.
I did a sketch of the Archduke around... three months ago? It's been quite some time.
The yellow light in my house makes the shading near his eyes look terrible.
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[Title: Demon Nobility | Discord/Role]
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That's not how you use "reckoned with". Although it's spoken text, so the speaker may just have got it wrong. It should be ...
"While they're alive, they're a force to be reckoned with."
That's not how you use "reckoned with". Although it's spoken text, so the speaker may just have got it wrong. It should be ...
"While they're alive, they're a force to be reckoned with."
Yeah, that's about what I expected would happen there. Lucy's mentioned before that she knows there are memory altering things that can affect her. So, randomly forgetting something or getting headaches when thinking about a single individual should normally be setting off all the alarm bells.
There's another point to consider. Even the system can't read her mind. So something that prevents her even associating the archduke with a person could only come from her or from someone stupidly powerful. Given that she's explicitly meeting stupidly powerful beings and has a meeting scheduled with him, my money is on the Archduke being one of them and her knowing it. Just not right now.
Scytale called whoever she was going to meet scary, but she seemed to like him. I'd say this sort of matches up with that. Someone hiding their power and using wide ranging mind alteration that prevents him being associated with another identity would be terrifying to most beings. However, Lucy is special. Plus, she probably has a way around it but is deliberately not using said method right now.
Chapter 45 (2 of 2) A Demon Wants to Unauthorize Lucy's Existence.
Lucille blinked and placed the teacup she was holding on the table before her. A few moments ago, she had received word from a servant of the estate she resided in that someone would like to speak to her. So now, standing in front of her, was a man with his hands behind his back, dressed in the official uniform of the main wing of the Palace of Nine Pillars' servants. That could only mean one thing.
"How soon should I visit?" she asked, prepared to leave at any moment.
"Within the half-hour," the servant replied indifferently. "You are not expected to dress formally or bring anything due to the limited time frame in which the meeting may occur."
It was unlikely the man in front of her would leak any details if he was the representative of whom she believed he was, but it was better to be careful. She glanced towards the door 'nervously', and then turned back to him. She hesitated a moment before asking a question. "Can I… bring my aide?"
He shook his head. "No. No guards are allowed to come either."
She let out a short breath to calm herself and stood up. "Let's go then. I don't have anything to do right now."
As the man nodded and left the room, Lucy followed him from behind. She briefly expanded her perception field to find Vincent working in another room, and then she sent him a spiritual transmission to alert him to what she was doing.
'A messenger from the Palace's main wing has visited me. I have to go alone, so don't panic if you can't find me. I don't know when I'll return.'
Vincent paused when he heard her message, and hesitation and unease warred on his face, but she watched him let out a sigh and give her a slow nod. With that response, she shrunk her perception and followed the messenger out of the building, where a coach with the insignia of the royal family sat before the front entrance. She got into the coach that was covered in a maze of strong protective enchantments, and the coach began moving as the coachman lifted the reigns of the magical horses. The messenger sat opposite her with his eyes closed, showing no intention to tell her anything more.
Lucille was going to visit the Emperor.
Well, she expected this. He would want an accurate understanding of her real personality before allowing her to return to the Gilded Dome plane, to ensure she didn't become an unpredictable factor. He'd likely also want to make sure she had no intention of supporting Olden, which would be the last thing she would ever, ever do.
Without fail, every annoying uppity noble or mage she met in the past was from Olden. They were the plague of the Empire.
Radical and Olden were the Empire's two strongest political factions. Olden, named after its connection to those who existed before the assimilation of the realm, proclaimed their firm support of the Empire's traditional laws and customs, with a strong belief that it was these customs that allowed the Empire to keep its strength up to the present day.
Radical was formed after the assimilation of the realm and was a group that stood up for more progressive and new regulations and policies. They supported the idea of allowing commoners to hold more sway within the Empire and had been a main instigator of the Coalition's eventual rise to power. Not to say any of them believed in a concept like democracy, however.
The Eternal Empire had a very different culture and societal structure than Earth, with the inheritance of power being something handed down through bloodlines and Constitutions, and physical power being a requirement for rulership. The authority granted by birthright wasn't something they advocated to change.
But they did wish to allow the Empire to gain more control over the major Guilds and other commoner Factions of the different realms due to the combat ability they had, and so tried to instil goodwill among the commoners so they would form Factions that would be willing to work for and alongside them. Radical had seen a major rise to power after the creation of the Metal-Borne Coalition, becoming a true rival of Olden a few thousand years prior to Lucy entering the Tower.
Both political factions had forces in all four of the Supreme Institutions, although the Citadel of Fate chose to support people based on the reading of Fate, so their political alignments were considered more wishy-washy. Olden was the faction with fewer numbers, but around 70% of all high nobility, wizards and Archmages were part of it. Radical was larger but made of the less powerful lower nobility and influential commoners.
The middle-level nobility was roughly split into thirds, with a third being Olden, a third being Radical, and a third neutral. The neutral faction was what the Aurelian Commission was part of because as merchants, they didn't want to lose out on any potential sources of revenue. The Commission's four Counties, along with several Marquesses, were considered the leading figures of the neutral faction.
Although it was rumoured that the position of head of the neutral faction would be usurped by the Archduke in the coming years…
With coincidental timing, a massive estate covered by a sky-blue dome appeared outside her window, the carriage travelling past the Aethereal Duchy's official residence in the Capital. It may have been called the 'Aethereal Duchy' residence, but truthfully, it was the residence of only one person. The Septamere Duchy only had one bloodline member.
Before she could continue thinking about the Duchy, the carriage rolled past and the massive front gates of the Palace appeared. The carriage didn't go through them but took a turn to take a side entrance. A little while later, the window revealed a view of the immense Palace of Nine Pillars, complete with the nine gemstone pillars that each resembled an eye colour of the royal family's lineage. The Eterial royal family of the Eternal Empire were descended from nine individuals, and the traits of gem-like eyes were inherited through the generations. One lineage had died out though, so only eight eye colours could be inherited by the royal family's descendants now.
The coach pulled to a stop, and the messenger exited. He offered his hand to help her step down which she took out of politeness, and then the man turned to face the entrance.
"Follow me," he told her curtly, before walking forward.
Feeling slightly nervous, she followed him, making sure her perception field was smaller so nobody would have a chance of sensing it, and so she wouldn't upset her soul's stability by forcing her mental constructs to analyse the huge amount of mana contained within the Palace. They entered the building, walking down the long, ornately decorated hallways.
She had met Emperor Rodrigue before when she was Admiral. In her 15th year of being in the Navy, because of… an unusual situation that occurred back then, she was called to the Capital to be rewarded for her merits at a decennial military event hosted by the Empire. They had a short private meeting afterwards, where he wanted her personal report on the events of the Distorted Depths. Ten years later, she quit the Navy, and the Emperor abdicated only two years after that to retire on the Empire's origin plane.
Which meant that personality-wise, she didn't have much to go on. She knew he was very politically capable, as he was the first Emperor from Radical to ascend to the throne and a good ruler who formed policies to protect commoners from noble authority yet never created instability within the Empire. He was also charismatic and mostly well-liked by the nobility when political differences were ignored.
But none of this meant she knew what he'd be like to her, the 'Commission Head' and not an Admiral, and what he'd ask her, whether he would demand answers about her past, or if he'd want her to complete tasks in return for keeping her position.
The messenger turned a corner to take a narrower hallway which would contain fewer people, and she followed calmly. Then the messenger paused when they heard voices, and slowly walked forward to see two men discussing something while walking past.
One was a man dressed in military uniform, while the other man appeared in his mid-30s with brown hair and brown eyes. Her eyes widened slightly when she realised who the man was.
"-but the finance allocated for these levels of Main Army military operations is not high enough, so if you want to organise an Aberration Conquest in the Aethereal Duchy, you'll need explicit permission from a General in the Duchy. I can put you in touch with one if you wish, however-"
The brown-haired man paused when he noticed them. He dipped his head to the messenger. "The Emperor is unoccupied. His Grace has just left the study."
The messenger nodded, but then the brown-haired man gave her a curious look. "And… the new Count Goldcroft, I see." He stepped forward with a smile as the military man next to him nodded politely to her. The brown-haired man held out his hand for her to shake, which she did. "Congratulations on your new Title. But I should introduce myself, as you probably don't know me. I'm-"
"Count Daymar Bentsen," she replied. She gave a slight shake of her head. "No, I know who you are. It wouldn't be fitting of a noble of the Empire to be unaware of the aide of the Archduke."
The man blinked, surprised, before smiling. "Well, I'm still flattered you know of me." He glanced at the messenger and then nodded. "I won't keep you here for any longer. It was a pleasure meeting you, Count Goldcroft, and…" He gave her a strange smile. "I look forward to enjoying a longer conversation with you when we next meet."
Count Bentsen and the man from the military walked off, continuing their discussion. She watched him go cautiously but followed after the messenger.
He's probably referring to tomorrow when I'll have to go to the Archduke's estate to meet him. But if he's here… is the Archduke here as well?
She looked around but didn't see any sign of the man with long, white hair. She felt slightly relieved by that fact, as over the past two days, she had been getting increasingly worried about why she felt so uncomfortable about the Archduke.
Archduke Stolas Eterial wasn't a bloodline member of the royal family. The Archduke had been given the surname of the royal family by the Emperor, so he was technically adopted into the royal family. That was why he was an 'Archduke' rather than 'Grand Duke', having no bloodline connection to them. It was also why his fiefdom was only a 'Duchy' rather than 'Archduchy'. His title of Archduke wasn't inheritable by his descendants, and so if he had any, they would have the last name Septamere as well as only the Title of 'Duke'. All this was why one of his other Titles was 'Foreign Prince'.
But she didn't know that much about him, besides what personality most of the nobility described him as having. A passive person who didn't have much interest in things outside his Duchy besides his job of improving relations between the Empire and other realms, especially the Heavenly Realm. Politically capable and on good terms with the Emperor. An incredibly talented user of the high-level element of Aether, someone who used barriers to protect his domain. Polite and well-mannered to all nobles, regardless of status. The youngest sovereign Duke ever, at just under nine years from turning two and a half centuries old.
Now that Lucy was considering it though, his description almost sounded too perfect. Normally a few rumours about someone always leaked out when it came to high nobles, but she couldn't remember ever having heard a single bad thing about him. That event Vincent described about the fire Archmagus also seemed like it had a justified reason for occurring. But even if he secretly had a terrible personality, that didn't explain why she felt he was so familiar.
The messenger came to a stop before a fancy carved door, and she was shaken out of her thoughts. Two armoured guards were on either side, barring the door with their blades.
The messenger turned around and bowed to her, then stepped to the side for her to go through. "You will enter this room alone," he said.
Giving him a shaky nod to keep her image, she straightened her white gloves as the two guards removed their weapons from the door. It swung inward, revealing two people, one brown-haired man in a chair with sapphire-like eyes, and a standing man in his mid-50s with black and greying hair.
Lucille walked forward with rigid, awkward movements, and kneeled, keeping her head low so she wouldn't make eye contact with either of them.
"L-Lucille Adrienne Goldcroft greets the Emperor of the Eternal Empire," she said, trembling slightly.
Through her perception field, she saw the Emperor watch her curiously, then trade glances with the man next to him. The Emperor held his chin thoughtfully. "If Harpax Extermina had this level of ability to hide his real emotions, I dare say the Empire would already be in dire straits," he remarked with amusement.
"We should certainly count our blessings when it comes to that one," the man beside him replied wryly.
"Indeed." The Emperor gave her another curious glance, then waved his hand. "Well, I don't believe we could have any meaningful conversation with this manner of behaviour, so how about we lose our masks and speak properly to one another now, Count Goldcroft?"
There was a pause before the trembling of her limbs stopped. Her stiff movements relaxed and became fluid and regulated, and the tone of her skin returned to its usual colour. She lost her nervous expression and instead, a calm smile appeared on her face. She dipped her head in a bow, this time a confident and self-assured one, with no awkward movements. Lucille looked up and made eye contact with the Emperor, a wide smile on her face as her eyes narrowed.
"Then, let me introduce myself properly, Your Majesty," she replied. "I am Lucille Adrienne Goldcroft, the new Faction Head of the Aurelian Commission." Then she looked at the man standing next to the Emperor and gained a slight smirk. "And I greet you as well, Prime Minister Hepherson Ashthrope."
The Emperor tilted his head slightly. "I had almost thought Count Evisenhardt had been exaggerating when I had seen how you've been acting this past week, but it's evident he told me no lies regarding your abilities." Then he narrowed his blue eyes at her. "But it's yet to be seen if he's lied about other details relating to you."
Her smile only widened. "I'm ignorant of what you discussed with Count Evisenhardt, so you may have to enlighten me on what particular details you're interested in, Your Majesty."
Prime Minster Ashthrope held his chin, gazing at her with curiosity, while the Emperor showed no reaction.
"Hmm." The Emperor tapped his fingers on the armrest of his chair, then seemed to make up his mind about something and shake his head. "Let us start with the less important details. Do you happen to know the location of your home world?" he asked seriously.
She shook her head. "Unfortunately, the System prevented any attempts to discover my world's location in relation to the planes. I doubt the Empire will be able to locate my home world until it's been assimilated."
"Disappointing, but expected, considering the Citadel and Astrologers both revealed that they were unable to find your origin," the Emperor said. He gestured to the man beside him.
The Prime Minister took out a sheet of paper. "Now, Count Goldcroft," he began. "Out of all the Archmagus, Archmages and Wizards in the Athenaeum reported missing or dead over the past over 200 millennia…" He smirked as he looked up from the page. "None have been documented to have your characteristics or ability to use soul magic."
Lucille grinned slightly. "It's not mandated that a magic user must join All-Aeon Athenaeum, and there have been past examples of people reaching the pinnacle of magic without going through official channels."
"Even so…" The Prime Minister considered it and shook his head. "Well, I suppose it's not important. Instead, what is important…" He looked at the man on his right.
"Lucille Goldcroft," the Emperor stated solemnly. "Do you intend to break the Aurelian Commission's neutrality policy?"
Her expression went serious, and she shook her head. "No. The Commission is needed to balance the conflict between Radical and Olden. Changing its position would strengthen either faction to levels that would cause instability within the Empire."
"But that doesn't inform me of your personal agenda," the Emperor said with a stern expression. "So, tell me… what do you want?"
She fell silent for a few moments in the expectant silence, and then slowly replied, her face expressionless. "What I want is to obtain personal power that can let me stand among the many members of the Empire and realms as an individual and not just the leader of a Faction. The Commission is only a shield until I believe I have the power I desire. Then I will take matters into my own hands."
"So you're saying you won't interfere with the central Empire's politics until you've reached this level of power you want," the Prime Minister said.
She dipped her head. "That is correct, sir."
The two men traded glances, some unspoken message passing between them.
"Very well," the Emperor stated. "We will wait to ask you this again. Instead, let us discuss in detail the plans you have for the Commission and the nobility's potential response to these changes…."
…
Lucille left the Emperor's study soon afterwards. The timeframe they could have a meeting was small, so they couldn't talk for long. But it was enough for Lucy to plant a seed in the minds of the Emperor and Prime minister that the 'power' she wanted to regain was her status as an Archmage. Becoming an Archmage could take as long as 10 to 30 years depending on the talent of the individual, so the Emperor likely thought it would take at least that long before she'd begin using her status as the Head of the Aurelian Commission. In reality, the 'power' she wanted to gain would take a lot less time, if she was careful.
And she didn't plan on abandoning the Commission once she earned that 'power'. The Faction was too useful for her to do that. She needed political backing as well as individual power if she ever wanted a chance at defeating the Hero.
But it seemed the Emperor was now sure she was older than she appeared. She was aware he would find a way to determine her age for certain, but she had detected the presence of Leng Xiuying behind a wall and had felt the faint whisper-like sensation of the Sect Leader's spiritual sense brush over her. The woman had quickly retracted her spiritual sense once she had detected Lucy's soul, having seen her soul age and that her soul was strong enough that she couldn't analyse her strength, but Lucille believed she must be revealing what she discovered to the Emperor. As the Emperor, Prime Minister and Leng Xiuying now believed she was a reincarnated Archmage, that was the image she must uphold.
The first and most important task before she returned to the Commission's Headquarters was now complete. Normally, that would remove most of the stress she felt, but the second task…
The next day she would meet with Archduke Stolas Septamere Eterial to negotiate a deal, and she was determined to discover just why his very presence triggered such a strong sense of repudiation in her.
…
-The next day-
The door of Lucille's carriage swung open and she stepped out, faced with the towering white building in front of her. The carriage had passed through the Aether wards shielding the estate with ease and the blue-armoured guards and gatekeepers had formally saluted the carriage as it entered through the gates, demonstrating the fact that she was permitted to visit the Archduke that day. A fountain spraying mana-imbued water into the air sat in the centre of the estate's front paved entranceway. Straightening her black half-mask and white gloves, she climbed up the steps of the white and grey mansion. The frosted blue and pale white glass was set into the windows.
The tall double doors made of white wood were opened to allow the staff easy access into and out of the building. Two men servants on either side of the doors spotted her and one stepped forward.
"Count Goldcroft?" he asked.
She nodded and took out her violet pocket watch for them to Inspect, where he nodded back and then gestured with a hand to the entrance hall behind him. "This way please, your ladyship."
She followed the servant as his partner walked behind her, guiding her to where she would find the Archduke. She looked around the place to pass the time and also for her own interest. The ornaments were tasteful and matched the curtains, wallpaper, and carpets' blue, white, and silver décor. None of them were gaudy or flashy, nor were they releasing extravagant waves of mana in a show of power. For a high-noble, it was quite bland. It seemed the Archduke wasn't very materialistic and didn't care much for objects or decorations.
She was led down the main hallway until a familiar man with brown hair crossed their path. He looked up and smiled when he saw Lucy.
"We meet again, Count Goldcroft. It was quite coincidental to have that meeting yesterday, wasn't it?"
He dismissed the servants with a wave of his hand as she smiled and gave him a polite dip of her head. "It was, indeed, Count Bentsen. I don't believe we should consider the accidental crossing of our paths a true meeting, however."
Count Bentsen chuckled and gestured down the hallway. "No, I suppose not. Let me lead you to the room where we will meet with the Archduke."
She nodded in agreement and followed him, the Count talking happily to her in the meantime.
"It was unexpected for us to find a letter from the Aurelian Commission Head herself appearing on the Archduke's desk when the Duchy's weekly letters were delivered," he began cheerfully. "After all, there has been no word of anyone receiving a message straight from the new leader of the Commission."
"Well, until I had met the Emperor, I was not allowed to go to any public events, so I would always have to have been constrained by the walls of the Commission," she replied with a smile. "There wouldn't have been much reason for me to contact anyone before the banquet."
He gave her a slightly wry grin. "So, you mean to say that Vincent Evisenhardt isn't the one all correspondence between the central nobility and the Commission should go through?"
She smirked and shook her head. "I never said that."
"Hmm." He looked at her curiously but moved on. "Well, I have nothing to say on the rumours of the Aurelian Commission Head's status within the Commission, whether they be true or not. But is it possible that I may know what you plan to discuss today? Not that I want the deeper details, as they should be saved for when His Grace is with us."
"Ah. Well, the main reason I wanted to organise a meeting with Archduke Eterial is because I intend to strengthen the neutrality position of the Aurelian Commission," Lucy explained. "While the relationships between the other Duchies and the Commission are relatively firm, the connections between the Commission and the Aethereal Duchy are less formalized."
"And so, you want to negotiate a few deals to strengthen these connections?" he said thoughtfully. "I can understand your reasoning. The Aethereal Duchy could indeed benefit from more economic involvement from the Aurelian Commission as well. I believe this may be possible, depending on the specifics of this arrangement, and on the will of the Arch-"
Count Bentsen paused when he saw someone standing in the hallway in front of them and bowed. "Your Grace."
She stiffened slightly as she saw who it was and then bowed, a fist pressed against her chest in the Empire's traditional salute. "It is an honour to meet you, Your Grace. I am Lucille Goldcroft, the Head of the Aurelian Commission."
"You may raise your head," she heard him say. "It is a pleasure to meet you too, Count Goldcroft."
She sped up her thoughts to analyse the man in front of her.
The man known as Archduke Stolas Septamere Eterial appeared like he was only around 25-26. He was wearing the imperial-style formal jacket worn only by royalty, made of sky-blue fabric – the Duchy's official colours – with silver fastenings and tassels to secure it. He wore a cloak of white and silver over one shoulder, and his hands were covered by white silk gloves. He had no visible weapon or sheath attached to his belt, appearing completely unarmed, although it would be a disastrous mistake to believe he was defenceless.
His eyes were a near-neon bright blue that seemed to watch her movements with piercing acuteness. The Archduke was tall, very tall. Lucy was five foot five in height, but he stood head and shoulders over her even then, which would put him at over six foot seven. The average height of people in the Tower was higher than on Earth due to Rank-3s and above having the ability to change their appearance, so he was only somewhat taller than normal for the realms, but he still had an intimidating appearance as his physique didn't suggest he was the pure Aether manipulator he was spoken of to be.
As for his looks… she couldn't think of a more proper descriptor than 'gorgeous', as much as it was strange to apply it to a man. His androgynous appearance made him a striking figure, although the impression wasn't helped by his long white hair that reached mid-way down his back. She couldn't associate his features with a human.
Half of his blindingly white hair was pinned back, the rest falling over his shoulders. She had heard he was known as a desired partner for many noble women of the Empire, but he was still single after 242 years of his life, with no rumours of him ever being entangled with someone. She didn't know why he kept his current young appearance if he didn't want to have a relationship with anyone.
In summary, Lucille felt like something was very, very, extremely wrong about the man in front of her, and every single one of her thought strands was telling her to get away from him.
I also still can't shake this distinctly strong sensation that I've seen him before. But I am certain I have had no interaction with him nor appeared at any events he was present at.
Actually, he almost looks like an exact replica of that portrai-
She hesitated as she considered her thoughts.
Haven't I… thought… that… before…?
She set one of her major thought strands to pilot her body while she considered the problem in more detail. "I'm glad to hear those words from you, Your Grace."
The Archduke only had a calm smile as Count Bentsen spoke to his lord. "Your Grace, do you intend to begin our discussions in the main sitting room?"
The white-haired man glanced at him, nodded, and then turned around to walk down the hallway without another word.
Lucy watched as Count Bentsen gained a slightly strange expression in response to the Archduke's actions, but he quickly schooled it into a smile as he turned to her. "Then, let us have our discussion there before we have refreshments."
She returned his smile, mentally noting the brown-haired man's reaction. "If that is what has been arranged."
She walked next to Count Bentsen as he followed the Archduke. "Have you accustomed yourself to the ways of the central nobility yet, Count Goldcroft?" the Count asked.
"Some of it has been tiring, but for the most part I've had no struggles," she replied, trying to ascertain why she felt déjà vu about her thoughts.
My thought strands have registered that I've thought that before, but my memory contains no records of that occurring to me before this. All the data comparison strands tell me he shares many similarities with another individual, but for some reason, a cohesive image of the individual keeps failing to be recreated by my other thought strands. That's not a symptom of an unstable soul, so why…
"Is that due to the support of the four Counties?" Count Bentsen asked curiously.
"They have been helpful, but the credit mostly belongs to my aide," she responded.
The level of familiarity is far too high for it to just be an error, but the information I'm getting seems to be making my thought strands very disturbed or scared in some way. Even before my return, I can't think of something that would cause me to feel that way. And this growing headache...
"It seems the relationship between you and your aide isn't quite as different to what you both portray as I suspected," the man beside her said, giving her a sideways glance.
Let's put aside my emotional changes and assume I do know him for now… why would I be unable to remember who he is?
"Vincent Evisenhardt is my aide, in all understandings of the word."
It can't just be that I'm forgetting something, because I don't-
She stiffened up for a moment as her eyes widened, then she sped up her pace slightly as they continued walking towards the room, following the Archduke.
I don't forget anything! It's impossible for me! That's the core reason why this entire situation has felt so wrong! I'm being influenced by a thought and memory-altering effect!
Now aware that her own thoughts and memories had been compromised, every single one of her core personality matrix's thoughts was thoroughly analysed by her thought strands under accelerated speed by applying her mental power, working through the splitting headache that had formed in the meantime. She double-checked everything in her panic, trying to make sure she missed nothing that could be a clue.
Lucy released a sigh of relief when she finally determined that nothing was being changed right then. It seemed it only occurred when she focused on the Archduke and the incongruities she felt.
"I see," Count Bentsen said. "Then I'll take your words into account if the negotiations proceed smoothly and further contact with the Commission is required."
She nodded distractedly, feeling highly disturbed.
But what kind of thought manipulation is this? It's not intrusive enough to make me unaware of the effect, but I still can't form any connections that could give me insight into what the issue is. And the e-emotions I'm feeling from my lesser thought strands are beginning to get overwhelming for m-my consciousness…
Count Bentsen gave her a strange look, but she didn't notice. He tilted his head slightly. "Did your meeting with the Emperor go well?"
"It was successful," she said. Then she paused, feeling slightly stunned at what she said because the results of a private meeting with the Emperor were not something she was supposed to reveal to anyone.
And it seemed Count Bentsen had asked her that on purpose as a test because he slowed his walking to turn to her with a slight frown. "Count Goldcroft, are you well? You've been acting a bit dazed."
"O-Oh, ah…" She internally winced as her headache increased in intensity, before replying, "N-No, I'm fine. I've just been a little tired from this week's events."
He studied her but didn't seem satisfied by her answer. "Are you certain? We could postpone this meeting if you're truly not feeling well."
"No, this meeting will not be postponed," a voice interrupted.
They turned to look at the Archduke, who was looking back at them. "Count Goldcroft has no need to leave, and is fine."
Lucille was feeling very nervous about the fact the Archduke had chosen to interrupt them only when the prospect of her possibly getting away from him was brought up, but Count Bentsen had a very slight frown when he heard the Archduke's response. Eventually, he sighed and dipped his head. "As you wish, my lord."
The Archduke continued onwards without a word as soon as he heard the response, leaving Count Bentsen and her to follow after him in a slightly uneasy silence. Count Bentsen didn't try to continue the conversation, seemingly preoccupied by his liege's strange behaviour, frowning at the man.
And Lucille was preoccupied with the sensation of mind-splitting pain pounding inside her head, her headache having increased to the point she was struggling to think.
I can't- I can't think straight. My thoughts are fragmenting before I can collect them back together. Any time I try to associate the sparse few details I can keep consciously thinking about, the pain increases and scatter- scatters them into… into pieces. E-Every time I try to c-connect two thoughts, t-this damn headache keeps b-blocking more thought, especially when I think a-about that portrait and that realm and that m-meeting and why can't I just ASSOCIATE them with this PERS-
Every single one of her thoughts froze to a halt as one single word resonated with her.
Association..? Assoc- Association?! No, I know what this is! This is an Association Limiter! I can't associate anything because the very construct connected to my soul is preventing it!
Association Limiter?! The System is interfering with my mind? It doesn't want me to recognise this person- why doesn't it want me to recognise this person?!? What am I getting involved in right now?!?!
Her hands felt clammy as she clenched them tightly, the pain in her mind being tossed aside as anxiety and confusion took its place to near-overwhelm her. Her normal ability to suppress her emotions with her thought strands was failing, and she focused on several sentences to keep herself fully aware of what was happening to her. Instinctually, she knew her heightened emotional state wasn't because of her own doing, but she was barely able to keep a grip on her thoughts right now.
The System- the System is- is preventing me from thinking about something. I won't be able to associate anything because of it. There is nothing I can do about this situation right now unless I discover what's going on with the Archduke and find out why it doesn't want me to recognise him, but I can't, because of the limiter. And I can't do anything to remove the limiter until I work out what's wrong with the Archduke. This… I can't resolve this! I'm just going around in circles!
She rubbed her temples and ignored the worried look Count Bentsen gave her. The Archduke didn't pay them any attention, walking onwards.
And it's affecting my emotions now. This isn't good. I need to work this out before I lose recollection of all concrete facts about this situation. I've dealt with the Association Limiter before, I just need to do it again. I can still remember how I went about it, so none of my past memories are changing…
The silence drew on as Count Bentsen glanced between her and the Archduke.
The Association Limiter works the same as an info lock. It will be impossible to break unless complete and undeniable fact is placed before the individual. I already know something is extremely off, I've reached the first step. I just need to see one more key detail before I can fully break it. But to do that, I'd need something capable of detecting the System, so I'll be able to see past any disguise the System has set up through Influence. But any object like that can't be found until the 7th realm. An object like that is…
But there was one item she had that was capable of seeing Influence, the medium for skills. One object she had decided to put aside researching until she had the power to do so. An object called {The Shard of Totality}.
She hesitated as she considered the idea.
But if it did help me break through the limiter, that would mean this shard in my eye has a level of power close to the… No, that's not important. I have no other option if I want to understand what's wrong.
She glanced at the Archduke and took a breath.
Here goes nothing.
She took her internal mana, making sure none escaped her body in a way that could alert the two men near her to her mana manipulation, and moved it into her right eye, allowing her to see through her mask.
At first, nothing happened, but with the feeling of her soul grating against its very self, her perception was opened up to a new sense and her vision distorted and twisted. The fabric of the world frayed and bent, rearranging itself to reveal the links and connections of intertwined cause and effect, stretched out over distances immeasurable with her mind. A new image transposed itself over her sight, revealing the hidden aura of the Archduke.
At first, she could see the sky-blue hue of the high-level element of Aether around him, blending in with the lower-element version of itself, the non-elemental mana around them. But with the straining of her mind, that vision was erased to reveal the chaotic red energies tinged with flashes of black, the fierce aura pressing down on the spiritual energy surrounding them.
And the white hair of the Archduke- no, not white hair, but was now black-as-night hair transformed, falling past his waist. The constant pressure that had been on her mind which she hadn't even noticed had been suffocating her thoughts released, and her mind broke free of the mental shackles with a hallucinatory sound of shattering, the pain gone. She instantly made the connection.
Oh… no, no, no, no! There were still three months left! I don't want to deal with him again so soon! No wonder I felt something was strange, change the hair and eyes and the Archduke looks exactly like him. He even has the hair colour that the demon is supposed to have. This is bad. I need to finish these negotiations before he realises I know who he-
But then her eyes widened as the shard acted again. The Archduke's image was reverted back, the red aura withdrawn. Instead, the sky-blue aura made its reappearance but morphed and structured itself into plates of blindingly brilliant semi-translucent armour, interlocking and overlapping to cover the Archduke from the shoulders down.
And in the same fashion as what she had seen when she received the shard, within the armour mechanical cogs of illusory material whirred and turned, threaded through by white-blue chains ascending up through unseen layers of the realm, the immaterial armour functioning as small parts of a much larger, much more powerful, invisible mechanism and construct of unknown origins. Placed over the Archduke's heart was an instrument made of the same cogs, beating in sync with the rhythmic workings of the armour.
There was only one individual she had managed to obtain information of in her deep delving into the Obelisk Repository that had such a fundamental, intricate connection to the very System itself.
Ah...... crap. He's the Authorizer.
There was no way she was leaving this place peacefully.
Can I run now? Is it too late to back out? Oh, who am I kidding, it was too late to back out the second I stepped into this building. Am I able to erase my memories? No, I can't even do that, my accelerated thoughts mean I've generated far too many memories to resolve it so simply. I'd be affecting my consciousness permanently if I did that.
She stiffened up slightly when Count Bentsen finally looked at her, the three of them coming to a stop in front of a door. "Here we are, Count Goldcroft. In around half an hour we'll take a break to have tea, and then we can further discuss-"
"Count Bentsen."
Lucy and the Count paused when they heard the Archduke speak up and turned to him. The Archduke wasn't facing them, his gloved hands held behind his back.
"You won't be needed for this discussion, so you can leave us to continue your work. I will continue the negotiations with Count Goldcroft."
Lucille's thoughts froze when she heard what the Archduke said, but Count Bentsen just gazed silently at his lord for a while. The Archduke didn't look back. The man bowed with a sigh. "Yes, Your Grace. If that is what you wish."
Count Bentsen smiled and nodded at Lucille. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Count Goldcroft. I look forward to when we will meet again."
She gave him a slightly strained smile in return, dipping her head and wishing she could ask him to stay. "…likewise, Count Bentsen." She went to turn around as the man left.
If the Count leaves it will be… just me and… him. That's… not good. That's not good at all. What does he want with me? …is he asking the Count to leave so he can kill me? I should've put a clause in the contract stating he can't kill me, but then I'm not even sure it would work with a clone-type skill like-
She froze as she realised the Archduke had turned around and was staring at her. She didn't move as he tilted his head slightly, no expression on his originally calmly smiling face.
"You know who I am," he said.
It was not a question. It was a statement. He was aware, without a doubt, that she had broken through the Association Limiter.
But she couldn't just admit it so easily, as she was unaware of how he would react.
She gave him a wide smile, hands behind her back. "Your Grace, I'm not sure what you mean. Are you referring to your status? Then yes, I'm aware that you're the Arch-"
The words died on her lips as the Archduke disappeared from her vision, and she felt a gloved hand slip around her neck, the Archduke reappearing right in front of her. His eyes, while not having the large glowing irises of his main body, had turned the same brilliant ruby-red that could only indicate he was emitting strong killing intent. He lowered his head to whisper into her ear as he tightened his grip on her neck.
"Did you think that was the response I wanted to hear, Goldcroft?" he hissed icily. His hand began to squeeze harder.
"…no, Your Majesty," she managed to get out, feeling choked.
There was a tense silence as neither of them moved, but then he slowly pulled back his hand and straightened up with a cold expression. He turned around and walked off.
"Follow me."
She quietly followed the Archduke as he had ordered and internally, Lucille sighed as she switched off her expression regulator.
Time for a deal with the Demon Emperor…. take two.
I have no regrets naming my chapter what it is. Also, a second pic I drew of the Archduke:
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Honorary mention of my first Plebeian: Purplexa
[Title: Nobility | Type: Discord/Role]
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[Title: Rank-5 | Type: Discord/Role]
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[Title: Demon Nobility | Discord/Role]
None! Maybe when I finish this tier someone will join
Just found this and read it over the last few days. I really like it.
One thing that's bugged me though is the elixir stuff in chapter 1 that hasn't been clarified since. It seems like it's related to Earth's (or the Cosmic Realm's) way of advancing in power without the System, which can only be inferred to exist because every other Realm has a unique way of advancing in power that predated the System's introduction and is still worth using even with the System. But what the elixirs do hasn't been established and that bothers me more the longer it goes on. It feels like a Chekhov's gun that's taking several hundred thousand words to be fired.
Just found this and read it over the last few days. I really like it.
One thing that's bugged me though is the elixir stuff in chapter 1 that hasn't been clarified since. It seems like it's related to Earth's (or the Cosmic Realm's) way of advancing in power without the System, which can only be inferred to exist because every other Realm has a unique way of advancing in power that predated the System's introduction and is still worth using even with the System. But what the elixirs do hasn't been established and that bothers me more the longer it goes on. It feels like a Chekhov's gun that's taking several hundred thousand words to be fired.
Well, in chapter 39 I mentioned how many places before the system has some way of pre-awakening origin skills through their own methods. But uh… yeah, it's taking a long time for me to explain those.
Huh, I was not expecting that reveal. However, I'm not surprised she was able to deal with the problem.
The weird part to me is the system explicitly doesn't have that much of a view into her mind. That was the entire reason why it had to ask a question during the inheritance trial. So, how does this work, but almost nothing else does?
Huh, I was not expecting that reveal. However, I'm not surprised she was able to deal with the problem.
The weird part to me is the system explicitly doesn't have that much of a view into her mind. That was the entire reason why it had to ask a question during the inheritance trial. So, how does this work, but almost nothing else does?
The system can't access her memories of the previous timeline. It's perfectly capable of accessing her memories from the current timeline, as well as her current thoughts - but if one of her thoughts pings off of previous timeline info, it'll seem like she abruptly started making impossible leaps of logic. I don't think she ever met the Demon Emperor in the previous timeline, but she did meet him this time around, and the system's keeping her from associating the Archduke with the Emperor.
She slowed her pace for a bit. "It can definitely still see those. That is likely the only reason why it hasn't locked us up to study us or killed us outright. It knows our plans don't intend to harm its goals, but without my memories to analyse my personality, it cannot predict with accuracy how I will react when faced with certain situations, making me an uncontrollable variable.
I am surprised that she doesn't have more monitoring around the system port, or just in general for this type of situation. I mean, I would expect her to at least have some sort of semi-autonomous diagnostic looking for that type of thing. Even if it's just something that scrubs through the days memories and alerts her to inconsistencies. So, she doesn't know what she's not allowed to know, but knows that there is something there.
Realistically, things like the association limiter mean that the system cannot be trusted completely. Which has some pretty nasty social consequences. That function also means that it would be foolish for someone like Lucy to not at least examine the possibility of creating portions of her soul that are either "write once" or are isolated from the system.
She wordlessly followed the man - or demon - in front of her. The Archduke opened the door of what seemed to be the sitting room where they were originally going to discuss her proposals with Count Bentsen. He marched over to one of the armchairs in front of a low table and then sat down. He pointed at the chair opposite him.
"Sit," he ordered coldly.
Quickly doing what he asked, she sat awkwardly on the edge of her seat. Then, with a sound of whirring, he held up a gloved hand and a beam of blue light appearing seemingly from nowhere fell on his hand. The light slowly coalesced to form a bound folder of white-blue with the symbol of a cog on the front. He placed the folder in front of her.
"Sign it," he said.
She glanced between the Archduke and what she knew to be a System contract on the table before her. Then, without complaint, and without reading it, she flipped through to the very back, took off a glove and placed her index finger on the area to sign, inserting her spiritual energy. Blue blocky letters bloomed across the section, printing out her name. When it was done, she tensed as the mounting pressure built around her mind, and then it released, almost like it was gone. But if she focused, she could sense the thin but powerful immaterial chains wrapped around her soul, connected to the person in front of her.
She took a breath before awkwardly speaking up, as the Archduke hadn't moved. "May I please read the contract now?" she asked weakly.
His expression was still cold and his eyes still scarlet, but he very slightly tilted his head.
Lucille figured that was as much of an answer as she was going to get from him, and quickly picked up the book to flick through the pages. She accelerated her thoughts as quickly as she could to avoid making the Archduke wait any longer and found out just what exactly she had signed herself up to.
The contract, for the most part, was not that malicious. She supposed if the System had gone to the effort of wanting her to be bound by a System contract it would avoid limiting her actions in ways that could prove unfavourable for them both, but she hadn't put her name down to be a slave for all of eternity. However, that didn't mean the contract wouldn't be in effect for all of eternity. The contract had no end date and could only be removed by the System's Authorizer, the individual in front of her.
In essence, the contract could be considered as an extension of the demonic contract she had formed with the Demon Emperor, only it covered all her plans to intentionally affect the timeline on a large scale. She was to obey whatever order the Authorizer gave her regarding the preservation of the timeline and survival of the realms. Luckily, this didn't extend to impacting her desire to gain strength as the System wanted its Users to grow stronger.
But there were three key points she noticed.
One: She was to reveal exactly what her plans were to the Authorizer if they were going to fulfil a purpose that lay outside of purely increasing the Commission's growth, or made use of a secret she knew because of her memories.
Two: When it came to the timeline changes and the stability of the empire, his orders were to be given priority. He would have the last say on whether she should carry out her plans or not.
And three: Following all terms of the contract did not ensure she would keep her life. If, at any point in time, the Authorizer tried to kill her, the contract would not prevent him from doing so. She was treading a very fine line between being useful to him, or a threat to be eradicated.
Although the fact the Archduke had even given her this contract suggested that he may actually be incapable of killing her somehow…
She looked up from the contract and hesitantly asked another question. "Your Grace… it says we'll contact each other every month. How will we do that?"
There was a pause as he seemed to consider her words for a brief moment. Then he snapped his fingers and a glowing blue orb, the size of a marble, appeared in his hand. The orb disappeared from his hands onto the table in front of her. "Eat this."
She stared at him, then at the orb. When she didn't pick it up instantly, his ruby-red eyes narrowed. Suppressing a sigh, Lucy picked it up and placed it in her mouth.
The orb disintegrated before she could swallow it, and in a way similar to the System contract, her soul strained in some strange way before it left. She blinked when she heard a notification.
[Status Modifier – Type: Communicator has been activated on User Lucille Adrienne Goldcroft]
[Connecting User Lucille Goldcroft to User ############ ###########-#########.......]
[Connected. Status Modifier is enabled]
She glanced at the long name.
Ah… right… He's… that person. No wonder I kept thinking of the portrait, he must've modelled his skill off his old appearance.
"This will allow me to send you messages," the Archduke announced indifferently. He tilted his head at her. "Do you have any more questions?"
"No sir," she replied.
His expression grew colder. "Then leave."
She placed down the glowing contract, swiftly got up, and left the room, trying to ignore the gaze of the individual behind her as she shut the door. Then, she quickly walked down the hallways of the estate to find the entrance she came through. She descended the steps and got into her carriage.
When the carriage had left the boundary of the dome-shaped Aether ward, she finally allowed herself to relax her tensed body, and she let out a weak laugh.
Nothing can ever be easy, can it? I should've known something would go wrong before the end of the year.
She looked out the window.
Thinking about it now, we never discussed the real reason I was there today. Well, it's not like I'm about to go asking him now.
In the empty hallways of the Aethereal Duchy's Capital residence, a tall individual with long white hair and ruby-red eyes gazed coldly in the direction Lucille had left in. There was a strange, tense silence in the air as if a heated argument was on the brink of bursting out. The disguised Demon Emperor opened his mouth to speak.
"I want to kill her."
A new voice sounded, paired with a glowing box of blue text.
[No.]
The immediateness and firmness of the answer made the Archduke instantly scowl, and he turned around to storm off in the opposite direction.
[No, you are not killing her. Don't be ridiculous.]
If Lucy had been able to hear it, she would've been stunned by the sound of the voice accompanying the white-blue notification of the Archduke, because it was an unmistakable voice that every single User of the Tower heard almost every day of their life. But the emotional intonation in the voice was completely alien and unfamiliar, sounding like it shouldn't belong to such a sound.
The Archduke ignored the second message to keep marching onwards with a scowl.
[You can sulk all you want, Alectis, but I am not letting you kill her.]
He glared at the message but didn't respond.
[Wow, I'm so scared, the big bad Demon Emperor is mad at me. Somebody help me, please.]
The Archduke's expression twitched but he turned away from the message and tried to ignore it, keeping his quick pace. Unfortunately, he couldn't ignore the voice inside his head.
[It's been three months and you still haven't gotten over it. Seriously, why do you want to kill her so badly? This is the first time I've seen you be so insistent on something]
"Her presence infuriates me," the Archduke muttered, not looking at the message.
[And that's good! Well, okay, maybe not for Goldcroft, but you haven't felt anything at all for nearly 300,000 years, Alectis. This could be a change for you]
He ignored the message, still storming down the long hallway. The voice in his head groaned.
[We've been over this. Goldcroft can't die, because we need her to understand what has happened to the main timeline. Unknowns aren't supposed to be a thing when it comes to the System – although it's somewhat amusing that she doesn't seem to know what the distinction between me and the System is…]
"She'll be useless."
[Useless? Useless? Who's the one who's fundamentally part of a near-omniscient construct in charge of the entirety of this Reality's operations and can determine if she's useless or not? That is me, Dion! Not you!]
The Archduke stopped scowling just long enough to give the box a dubious look, making the voice sigh.
[Okay, yes, yes, I know there's the thing with the other An0̷̛̮̫̻̰̂͗̊̆̀̏̀̄̚͝m̶̠̺̪̌̓̊̒͐̐̽̓̕͘--- An0̸͚̹̳͊͆̆̍̅̏̾̏͘͠m̷̝̼̮̪̘͚̮̮̅@̵̨̧̲̗̱̠͉̦̥̠̳̰͓̀̈́̍̎̅̀͝---]
The notification distorted and fizzled out for a second, before appearing anew.
[-urgh, yuck, this must be what it's like for a mortal to feel a headache for the first time – The other User, but that's a small detail in the grand scheme of things. A teeny tiny one. A near-irrelevant detail]
"That near-irrelevant detail is giving us this much trouble," the Archduke muttered in response, but that was a terrible mistake. The voice renewed its side of the argument.
[Yes! It's giving us this much trouble, which is why we can't kill Lucille Goldcroft until I've seen her memories! Get over your desire to kill her already!]
The expression of the Archduke darkened and he sped up his pace, but he refused to look at the message.
[On a side note, aren't you curious about how she managed to discover your real-]
"I don't care."
[-of course you don't, that was always going to be the response, wasn't it? Yeah, you make a great Authorizer because you're the amazing great powerful mighty Demon Emperor, but wow, you can boring sometimes]
The notification box changed its position from slightly to the side of him to directly in front of his face.
[Look, if there's anything you want me to do for you…]
"Then let me kill her."
[….anything but that! You utterly stupid, brain-dead demon, get it through your thick skull! She is not to be killed!]
A glare and silence was the only response, but the voice wasn't done yet.
[And Alectis, don't think I didn't notice that thing with the Status Modifier you did there. You're not getting out of this so easily. You will be meeting her in person, and it will be regularly]
The Archduke stopped marching and stared incredulously at the message. The voice grew louder, sounding taunting.
[What? You mad? You want me to take it back?]
Then it turned sarcastic.
[Well maybe if you got off your supremely lazy royal backside and did something instead of sleeping all day then maybe I would!]
He scowled again and stormed off.
[And look at you, going all sulky again! You have no comeback, don't you! You're at a loss for words!]
Then it seemed the Archduke had an idea, because he paused, turned to the notification, and stared at it. Then beside it, a screen of settings and System-controlling buttons appeared. He flicked a few.
[What are you- hey wait, don't-]
The Archduke stormed off again, the notification box frozen in place and stuck in one spot behind him. Not that the voice went away.
[Hey! Alectis! You know how hard it is for me to directly interfere to fix stuff like this! Get back here! Change it back!]
The figure with white hair didn't respond and continued walking away, using his well-practised ability to ignore the strangely verbal voice in his head gained through uncountable years of dealing with it.
[HEY!]
Thud!
The arrow tip embedded itself in a wooden lever, barely visible in the dimly lit cavern. The force of the arrow allowed the lever next to a stone door to flick down, and with the hum of activated mechanisms, the small grimy lantern hanging above the door glowed with yellow light, flickering erratically.
Rumble!
With the grinding of gears and shaken dust of the cave roof above the door, the stone barrier slowly slid up, revealing a dark room on the other side. A thin mist of murky green-brown monster miasma leaked out, falling over the ledge in front of the door to drop down into the pitch-black darkness below.
A woman with dark brown hair and blue eyes blinked and lowered her longbow when a notification sounded.
[Mystical Realm Event: Dungeon of the Cursed Gem Mine]
[Exploration Progress +1%]
[New! Exploration Progress: 79%]
She walked over to the edge of the platform she was on and cupped her hands around her mouth to call down, "Conlan, I think I found the entrance to the last layer!"
The man with brown hair and gold eyes looked up, then nodded. "Got it, Lili! We'll be up there soon!" He swung his sword to hack into a vaguely humanoid clump of rocks that had formed to attack him. It collapsed when it was sliced in half and the man ran away to say something to the red-haired woman fighting nearby.
Placing her longbow back in its holder, Liliana watched the door to ensure no monsters would start using the rickety rope bridge connecting her stone platform to the door's ledge opposite her. A few minutes later, two people arrived on the platform after climbing the wooden stairs set up by the miners long ago. One was the armoured man with golden eyes from earlier, and another a young woman with short fiery red hair and vibrant green eyes, a spear held in her hand, and leather armour protecting her body.
Liliana gestured to the door on the other side of the bridge. "Our exploration progress went up when I activated the lever."
"How did you activate it?" Conlan asked curiously.
She pointed to the lever. "Just with an arrow. I've been doing the same for any other levers I can see from my post up here, and it turned out that the door's lever was still functional. Monster mana is leaking out of there."
"Then we definitely haven't been there before," he replied. "The miasma has retreated completely from the places we've cleared out. The spawn rate has dipped down to less than three each hour."
"Has my awesome fire burnt all the monster smog already?" Catherine asked with a grin.
Liliana smiled as Conlan shook his head wryly. "That's not how it works. The core's just been retrieving its mana so it can strengthen itself."
Catherine clicked her tongue and placed her spear in its holder on her back. "And here I was thinking it was scared of us." She gave Conlan a curious glance. "What is a Dungeon Core, anyway? Is it a species of monster?"
Conlan took a step towards the bridge and shielded his eyes with one hand, trying to peer through the darkness on the other side of the door. "Nope. Not species. It's two things. A designation given by the System for the realm's unique Events, and a variant of monster."
"Variant? Of which kind?" the redhead asked.
"Any and all. The Dungeon Core is the monster core of the Dungeon's Boss Monster," he explained, turning back from the steep edge. "And the Boss Monster can be any species of monster, although it's typically a monster suited to the environment. It's just a monster that can live with its core outside its body and control its monster essence to spawn more monsters and manipulate the territory around it."
"Huh," Catherine thought out loud. "But why? Like, what causes monster miasma to spawn a Dungeon Core over another normal monster?"
Liliana watched as Conlan hesitated. "Oh, er… let me think." He scratched his head with a frown. "Last time I took an Adventurer's Guild Dungeon course was ages ago…" he muttered.
She immediately became curious. When did he have time to do something like take an Adventurer's Guild course?
"What did that book say about their formation? Something about man-made landmarks…" Conlan mused. Then he blinked as he remembered, and he snapped his fingers. "Right. Dungeon Cores form in areas of artificially induced mana instability. Instead of how Lairs form in the Beast Realm, which is because of chaotic conflicting elements often caused due to fighting beasts, Dungeons are formed when artifacts and magic items go defunct."
Conlan walked over to the rope bridge to test it with his weight. "When their spells go haywire with unpredictable effects, the mana becomes extremely chaotic but still retains some order. But the mana instability affects and breaks any artificial item or object in the environment, and so the chaotic mana spreads until there's no more man-made object or item around, and then turns into monster miasma. In other words, a Dungeon Core only forms in a building or structure of some kind."
He looked up at the roof. "Like this mine."
"Too complicated," Catherine complained. "Basically, someone's item broke and sent the mana into a hissy fit?"
He sighed. "I guess that's it."
"So then…." The redhead looked around. "What happened to this place?"
"Oh! I can answer that one!" Liliana spoke up, happy to contribute. "I asked the Adventurer's Guild before we came here. The noble son of the mine's owner came to visit with his friends, and they got into an argument." She recalled what she heard. "The young noble had a dark affinity, so he cast a weak curse he learnt, but missed his friend and cursed the core gem of the main tunnel borer device down here. The local mana eventually became monster miasma."
"Neat," Catherine replied. She looked around. "Sounds like the owner would've been pretty mad, looking at this."
"I think this is probably safe to cross," Conlan said, coming back from the bridge. "There's no other contraption around here from what I can tell. This will be the last part of the Dungeon."
"Finally!" Catherine exclaimed, raising her hands above her head. "It's been nearly a month of this stupid Dungeon! I want to see the sun!"
"We should go back to camp if that's the case," Liliana said to Conlan.
He looked at her and nodded. "I'll mark it on the Dungeon mini-map."
Soon afterwards, they descended the wooden stairs to the deeper levels of the layer below, making their way back to their rest point. But Liliana looked at Conlan curiously.
"Both the Beast Realm and the Mystical Realm have Unique Events, right? Is it only those two realms that have Unique Events because they have monsters?"
Conlan shook his head. "No. All of them do. The Demon Realm has the Strongholds, while Tartarus has Catacombs. The Heavenly Realm has Ancestral Inheritances."
"But… what about our realm?" Catherine asked.
Conlan went to say something, but Liliana answered her first. "That would have to be the Rifts, wouldn't it?"
"Ah…" Catherine nodded. "Right."
They made less conversation after that, using the map to navigate their way back to their camp, and killing the occasional stray monster that appeared along their path.
…
"I'm soooo hunnngrrryyyy," Catherine whined, slouched as they trudged back to their campsite.
Conlan shot her a mildly exasperated look as they turned a corner to see their array of tents around a campfire, the glow providing light for them.
"It's barely past midday. We had breakfast only a few hours ago," he said.
"Yeah, and those few hours were full of fighting!" Catherine retorted. "I need to eat three times as much to cover for that. No, five times!"
"Maybe Anthony has cooked lunch already," Liliana replied placatingly as they stepped among the tents. "The fire is lit at least."
"Wouldn't bet on it," Catherine grumbled. "Besides, it's just going to be the same bland slop we've eaten for the last three weeks."
"My lady, if that's what you truly think of my dishes then I'll be an utterly heartbroken man," a new voice interjected.
They looked over to the campfire to see a young man with reddish-blonde hair and blue eyes smirking at them, seated on a log. A large pot filled with boiling water was sitting on the campfire in front of him. "My creation this time is the finest culinary finesse to come from Earth. I hold great pride in my work, but your words nearly bring me to tears ."
Catherine rolled her eyes. "Anthony, you have as many manners in you as a warrior can do math in this realm. Cut the 'lady' thing. You've kept it up for the last week but it's starting to get tiring now."
Anthony, another person from Earth that Conlan has asked to join their party for the month as he did Liliana, gasped in mock horror, a hand on his heart. "How dare you! You insult the deepest part of my character, calling everything a mere act! Your cruelty rends my heart to pieces!"
"If it did then my day would finally be going well," Catherine retorted.
He shook his head sadly as Liliana and Conlan sat down on the long log next to him.
"We found the entrance to the next layer," Conlan stated seriously.
Anthony paused, having started stirring the pot, and looked at him. "You have?"
The three of them, including Catherine, nodded. He rubbed his chin. "That means you guys will fight the Boss soon. Do you think you're prepared?"
"I have no doubts we'll be able to kill it," Conlan said. "We're all Level 80 or higher, and killing this monster will get us over Level 90." He held his hands out to the fire and rubbed them together to warm them. "Level 100 is when we receive our pocket dimension skill. If we can get it before February, it'll be useful for when we're in the Navy."
"I can't comment on the Navy thing, as I don't plan to join it," Anthony replied. "But if you think you can fight it, then I'm ready whenever." He leaned back and stretched his hands above his head. "I'll be making quite a profit after all this is done, and my blacksmith skill has tiered up quite a few times just from the skills I've gained working with the materials found in the mine." Then he grimaced. "Although my warrior class hasn't been making that much progress. I wish gunner was a class. I'm good with a gun, but there's no such thing in the Tower."
"Even if you don't have much talent as a fighter, you're a pretty good crafter," Catherine said, looking into the pot on the campfire to check what was in it.
Anthony blinked and then gained a broad grin. "Ah, so my lady does love me after all! Those earlier comments must've been jokes, how foolish of me to misinterpret your words. I'm overjoyed to know that my affections are returned."
She scowled. "Forget I said anything."
Anthony chuckled as he stood up and began serving the stew that was in the pot into bowls. He handed a bowl and spoon to both Liliana and Catherine, then gave them a fancy bow.
"Bon appétit, my ladies."
They looked into the bowls, to see… what had been their staple food of boiled preserved meat and vegetables, the exact same thing they had had for the past few weeks. Catherine glared at him, but sighed and dug into her food.
Conlan raised an eyebrow. "Where's mine?"
"Ladies first," Anthony said with a smug grin. "Unless you want me to consider you a lady as well?"
Conlan shook his head wryly and served some for himself. They ate in silence for a while, and eventually put their bowls down on the ground once they were empty.
"When should we fight it?" Catherine asked first.
Liliana watched Conlan frown slightly, rubbing his chin as he considered it.
"I think…" He continued thinking, then nodded. "Three days should be good. We've fully explored the cavern connected to the entrance, and the miasma has thinned enough that we won't be getting any monsters close to our levels spawning. Three days would give us a good break and a chance to check our inventory again. We also need to pack up the camp."
The three of them nodded. "Sounds good," Anthony said. "Then I'll start finishing off my stuff for the next few days. Time to say good riddance to this Dungeon."
…
-3 days later-
The plank of wood under the red-blonde-haired man's foot creaked, and he winced. "You know…" Anthony said, "Are you sure this thing is safe?"
"The Dungeon Core wants to kill us to convert our bodies into mana to strengthen itself," Conlan replied calmly, standing in front of the rope bridge leading across the gap up to the door. "It won't make it impossible for us to get to it, otherwise it can't gain our mana."
"Great, so I'm once again reminded of the fact that we're intentionally heading towards something that wants to eat us," Anthony muttered.
"If you want, Anthony, I could go first," Liliana volunteered.
With a thoughtful look, he glanced back at her, then at the bridge, appearing like he was contemplating the idea. He coughed and straightened up. "Uh… no, no, how dare I let a girl go before me. No, I shall brave the dangers of this bridge first." He slowly took one step onto the next plank of wood, then another, and then another.
With an evil grin, Catherine came up to the bridge and stomped a foot on the end to shake the bridge.
"Hey!" Anthony exclaimed. "Don't do that!"
Catherine snickered as Conlan sighed. "Please guys, we want to get this over and done with."
Eventually, Anthony managed to cross without harm. Liliana nodded to Conlan. "Then I'll go next."
With quick, light steps, she made it across, far quicker than Anthony had. He looked a bit sour because of that.
Conlan was the next to cross the bridge. The armour he was wearing made him heavier than Anthony or her, but he safely crossed it. They all turned to wait for the final member of their party.
"Alright Cathy, it's your turn!" Liliana yelled.
But the redhead paled and then gulped as she came towards the edge, looking very nervous as the realisation that she now had to do it dawned on her. "Uh… um… right. My turn."
She slowly placed a foot on the first step and tried to put her body weight on it. The wood let out a groan that made her hastily step back. "Uh, I'm beginning to think this isn't safe anymore. What if it breaks all of a sudden?"
"You'll be fine, Cathy!" Liliana cheered. "You can do it!"
Catherine grimaced, and tried again, but quickly stepped back when it creaked once more. "No, I really don't think I can do this…"
Liliana tried to think of how to help Catherine while Anthony stayed off to the side, but before she could do anything, Conlan stepped forward.
"We need you to do this, Cathy," he said. "We can't complete the Dungeon without you coming over here."
"But I-"
"There's no choice," he interrupted her. "You have to come over here."
Catherine glanced between the bridge and Conlan, looking uneasy. "Maybe we could leave the Dungeon here? We can probably reach Level 90 in other ways…"
"Catherine, you'd be disappointing the other members of the party if you did that," he stated shortly. "We decided to complete this Dungeon weeks ago, and now you're going to change your mind all of a sudden?"
She went wide-eyed and shook her head. "No, I-"
"Then please come over here," Conlan said.
Liliana shared a look with Anthony. She knew Anthony didn't actually mind whether they fully completed the Dungeon or not, and she hadn't actually stated her mind one way or another.
But Catherine glanced at Liliana, Conlan, and Anthony, and seemed to decide how they would feel about backing out all on her own. She grimaced again and slowly began to make her way across the bridge. At one point when she was over the middle of the bridge, it shook slightly, making her go pale, but Catherine clung tightly and continued after it stopped moving. When she finally crossed the bridge, her limbs were trembling.
Liliana quickly came up to her and hugged her. "Great Job, Cathy!"
Anthony smiled at her as Catherine nodded shakily, stealing glances at Conlan.
Conlan smiled and patted her on the shoulder. "Good job."
It seemed that was all the reassurance Catherine needed because she quickly recovered and smiled back. "Thanks."
They took a few minutes for her to get ready again, and continued through the open door, green-brown monster miasma coiling around their feet. Conlan held up the small mana lamp they had bought for the trip, trying to see around them as he led their group. They had their weapons in hand, ready for anything.
The surface of the floor was completely smooth, with no tunnels or chasms to be seen. It appeared like a vast room, although once when Anthony accidentally kicked a stone, it skittered off into the darkness to sound like it hit metal. The monster miasma thickened as they walked. It continued that way for the next half hour, their exploration progress rapidly ticking up.
[Mystical Realm Event: Dungeon of the Cursed Gem Mine]
[Exploration Progress +1%]
[New! Exploration Progress: 90%]
"Where's the Boss Monster?" Catherine asked in a hushed whisper.
"I… don't know," Conlan replied, "But it's sure to appear eventually. The last 10% of a Dungeon is always the Boss room."
The silence went on as their exploration progress increased by 1% again. Then Conlan abruptly stopped, and they stopped as well.
"What is it?" Anthony asked.
Conlan gestured to them to keep silent, and he crouched to let the light reveal a large, brass structure of some kind, embedded with jewels, on the ground. The jewels were dull and appeared like rocks, with none of their normal spectacular sheen to be seen. The metal seemed to merge and fuse with grey stone along its length, the bronze plates buckled and bolted at random intervals.
"Oh… great." Conlan sighed. "This isn't what I wanted."
He stood up. "It's an earth element symbiont. A symbiont is a monster that absorbs materials to strengthen itself," he explained. "Which means that-"
RUMBLE!
All of a sudden, the earth began shifting beneath their feet, and the gems on the stone-metal structure lit up in a staggered order. An ominous red glow emanated from a gem the size of their heads above them, and they heard the grating of metal. The cavern was flooded with light to reveal a haphazardly assembled metal roof structure, brass beams bolted and melded with each other at different points.
And in front of them was a giant vaguely humanoid creature made of stone and metal, with no neck and its 'face' a round sphere that contained the red 'eye' of the monster, surrounded by a ring of metal. Its unwieldy fists were covered in bronze, mimicking gauntlets and twisted beams of iron joined to its back stretched out like metal whips and tentacles. In the centre of its chest, a black gem shone with malevolent light, projecting distorted black runes into the air that released a sound faintly reminiscent of screaming. A hazy aura of green and brown monster essence swam about it.
[Dungeon Boss: Lesser Cursed Iron Symbiont – Lvl. 99]
[HP: 15000/15000 {+122.7/1m}]
"… It's stronger than normal," Conlan finished.
Alectis, play despacito.
Alright, I have a lot I want to say here: This Demon Emperor = Archduke thing has been one of the most heavily foreshadowed details of my story. I'm not referring to Lucy's skill, mask, or even the prologue. It's his name. 'Prince Stolas' is one of the demons listed in the Ars Goetia. The Demon Emperor's pseudonyms (most of them) that Lucy listed are also demons from the Ars Goetia: Duke Eligos, Prince Orobas, Marquis Phenex, and Count Andromalius. 'Viné' is also a demon from the Ars Goetia, but it's too close to just looking like 'Vine', so I put vine into the English to Latin translator and got Vitis. I took the last names of the Demon Duchies from Latin too.
The other parts of the Demon Emperor's name also have meaning. 'Imperatoris-Daemonium' is pretty obvious: Demon Emperor, but his middle name, Exolvuntur, means cycles in Latin. Remember Lucy has mentioned a cycle to him and Hargrave?
Most of my characters I did research or brainstormed a lot to find names that would fit them the best. 'Caspian' comes from the Caspian Sea, and to come up with his last name my thought process was this: Whale + fin = Whalefin, Whalefin + wharf = Wharifin. The sea theme is strong in this one.
Conlan... DUN DUN DUUUN... means 'Hero'.
I explained the pun on Scytale's name before, but Scytale or Scitalis is a serpent in medieval bestiaries with fancy patterns on its scales. Scytale is half illusion serpent, and 'Scytale' has sometimes been spelt 'Skytale' as well as has the same sound as Sky, so I figured the name was perfect for him, as he has wings.
Vincent... eh. It sounded posh.
'Adrianna' and 'Adrienne' both mean dark, being derivatives of the same name. It fit Lucy's hair colour, and Adrianna... idk, sounded standoffish enough. Riftmire was just something I came up with because it sounded cool, but, well... there's an in-story reason for Lucy to come up with it.
Jasten Albrecht was my attempt at sounding French-ish and European enough to be 'knightly'.
Annaliese just sounds innocent and naive. Sedric felt like it fit, but the first thing people think of when they hear 'Cedric' is either the sparkly vampire actor guy in Harry Potter or some fancy knightly British noble person. So, I picked a different spelling for that one.
Lucy... I can't deny it. Lucy sounds like it belongs to someone evil. Someone with a name as suspiciously innocent sounding as Lucy (compared to Annaliese which is closer to country-girl naivety) has to be secretly the bad guy or a demon summoner in disguise. Funnily enough, Lucille actually means 'light'. I only picked Lucille over Lucy as her actual first name because how dare I give my protagonist a four-letter first name!!!
Basically, I've worked hard on selecting names for my characters. Sometimes they don't mean anything, but for all the important ones... they do. Because in the same way as how I ensure I put rich descriptions in my story, I want the mental image of my characters to be instantly summoned to mind.
Patreon (up to x8 5k chapters!):
Discord (Come get your Qualified Scytale Feeder role!):
Honorary mention of my first Plebeian: Purplexa
[Title: Nobility | Type: Discord/Role]
getthepoptart21
[Title: Rank-5 | Type: Discord/Role]
secret
Inzuris
Kabi
Malahadiel
Starfall20
Shoutloud
WIk
ChaosOmega98
deathbunnies
wind.celestial
Spacemanspiff
Hibou Ronchon
eroth
magicaltaliyah
arcanorum0421
Mitchell
sami027
bali123456789
sam.lind
Lars
Jonathan
Abdulaziz
[Title: Demon Nobility | Discord/Role]
None! Maybe when I finish this tier someone will join
Hmm, not sure how I feel about this one. I don't think you meant to change The System from interesting to a hated part of the story, but you have. One which I know I'll never get the catharsis of seeing destroyed.
Despite at Lucy said, that level of control is basically a slave contract. I mentioned earlier the ramifications of just the system preventing someone from knowing something. Enslaving people is a whole other thing. A type of evil.
Not to mention the wording is so overly generic that it's stupid. Like literally going to the bathroom is a plan she would have to reveal. Even if it's just paraphrased, every single thing she does having to be reported by an automated system means zero privacy.
Plus, considering contracts signed under duress or with unknown terms as enforceable is explicitly one of the main reasons why the Fey are hated and feared.
Anyone with any sense would immediately be attempting to find alternatives to the system or to neuter its ability to do things like that.
If this is how the system behaves and the the type of evil it encourages, then destroying it is the ethically right thing to do. Lucy might not be able to do it, but I can see why there are outside factors that do. They're the good guys of the story!
@Infinityphoenix I want to ask you how big of an impact this will have on the story. From my perspective this is a pretty dark turn for something I've enjoyed so far.
There are entire series about the protagonist trying to get out of forced contracts like this or stop people or systems that make them possible. Yet, you've so far shown The System to be overall benevolent or at least neutral until now.
Watching someone willingly advance evil, but knowing they're doing it because of mind control is just so tragic it makes Worm look bright and fuzzy. Even if the action is miniscule.
We already know the system can read and modify her thoughts and memories. With what you've revealed about the contract so far, everything we see her say and think has to be colored with the thought that she is a slave who is mind controlled so every action supports her enslaver and the system that makes it possible.
I sure hope that wasn't your intention, but that's how it's written.
@Infinityphoenix I want to ask you how big of an impact this will have on the story. From my perspective this is a pretty dark turn for something I've enjoyed so far.
There are entire series about the protagonist trying to get out of forced contracts like this or stop people or systems that make them possible. Yet, you've so far shown The System to be overall benevolent or at least neutral until now.
Watching someone willingly advance evil, but knowing they're doing it because of mind control is just so tragic it makes Worm look bright and fuzzy. Even if the action is miniscule.
We already know the system can read and modify her thoughts and memories. With what you've revealed about the contract so far, everything we see her say and think has to be colored with the thought that she is a slave who is mind controlled so every action supports her enslaver and the system that makes it possible.
I sure hope that wasn't your intention, but that's how it's written.
That wasn't my intention at all. It was a mistake I made because I was trying to keep the restrictions on Lucy open-ended enough that I wouldn't write myself into a dead end where she couldn't do something, but it backfired so it seems like there's even stronger restrictions. Another part was I didn't fully clarify 'drastic' timeline changes and when I mentioned that she had to listen to the order of the Authorizer, I intended for it to be in the context of the timeline changes.
I've already written a section to change that up and was going to post it along with the next chapter tomorrow, but I guess I can show you here:
So… I, uh, made a mistake. I didn't want to accidentally leave loopholes and make the plot inconsistent by giving Lucy fixed limitations, but it seemed that backfired to make it seem like she has even bigger limitations. So, I rewrote the contract section in last chapter. If you want the summary of the changes, here it is:
'Drastic' changes to the timeline has been changed to Intentional changes in the timeline, and she must inform the Authorizer of her full reasons and desired effects from doing so.
She was to obey whatever order the Authorizer gave her relating to the preservation of the timeline and the continued survival of the realms. As stronger Users are what the System believes will preserve the reams, her leveling will not be impacted.
I added a sentence that shows Lucy realised that the fact this contract is in place instead of the Demon Emperor killing or threatening her outright, even though there was no clause stating that she would be protected while under this contract, means that the Demon Emperor wouldn't or couldn't kill her for some reason.
Again, sorry for not being clearer. This was never supposed to end up as a story where Lucy was restricted for most of it, and Lucy was never written as a character that could survive being so extremely restricted. While details may still not be fully clear, Lucy is not going to end up being under strict limitations.
So quit panicking about her agency because if you haven't noticed, Lucy isn't panicking about the contract!
In the scheme of things? This contract would've had about a 10% impact on the first half of the story. But in the chapter I'm writing right now, I've also made it clearer what Lucy's thought of this whole situation is, so hopefully that will ensure people know where I plan to go with all this.
And in the discord I also mentioned I kinda forgot only I know the personalities of the Demon Emperor and 'Dion' so I failed to realise what this all looked like in everyone else's point of view.
And in the discord I also mentioned I kinda forgot only I know the personalities of the Demon Emperor and 'Dion' so I failed to realise what this all looked like in everyone else's point of view.
I had a big reply written but my browser crashed and I lost it.
Thanks!
I wasn't worried about her leveling, just the mind controlled slavery bit. Emphasizing that it's a method of keeping her from destroying things and not Lucy as the Demon King's plaything helps quite a bit.
They stayed completely still as the monster seemed to 'look' from one person to the other, the ring of metal around its red gem whirring and clicking. Then the gem began to slowly glow brighter.
"Er… this is just a thought, but Conlan…" Anthony began, "How do tunnel borer machines work in this realm?"
"…they melt stone to form tunnels," Conlan said in a low voice.
All of a sudden, a loud high-pitched screaming sound emanated from the monster. Conlan's eyes widened.
"DODGE!"
They dived to either side as a beam of searing fire mana shot out from the red gem, liquifying the ground where they had stood only moments before. Aware that the battle had now begun, they all split up into their positions, Conlan as the main tank, Liliana as a long-range attacker, Catherine as the secondary front liner, and Anthony to fill in the gaps in their team, his abilities being very different from the rest of them.
Conlan dashed forward and struck a leg of the symbiont with his longsword.
[-150 Damage]
"Great, its CON focused," he muttered. He stepped back to avoid the wide swipe of the monster.
Now that Conlan had gotten the creature's attention, Liliana was ready to begin attacking it herself. Quickly holding up her bow, she pulled the string taught and launched her magic metal-tipped arrows towards the monster, the metal enchanted to do x2 more damage.
The three arrows lodged themselves in the gaps in the monster's makeshift armour but hardly did anything.
[-50 Damage]
[-50 Damage]
[-50 Damage]
[Dungeon Boss: Lesser Cursed Iron Symbiont – Lvl. 99]
[HP: 14700/15000 {+122.7/1m}]
Catherine struck out with her flame-covered spear, the metal turning red where the flames grazed it.
[-200 Damage]
"Hey! I told you you'll draw aggro if you don't time your attack!" Conlan shouted.
"My bad!" she said with an evil grin as she ducked under the metal beam swinging towards her.
As Liliana readied her next shower of arrows, Conlan deflected a twisted whip of metal and struck the black gem in the centre of the symbiont's chest. The distorted screaming sound grew louder, and a flash of black pushed back his blade.
He clicked his tongue. "We need to disable one of its main weapons! I don't like the look of that curse!" he called out. "Anthony!"
"Already on it!" the man replied. Anthony dodged the metal beam heading towards him and threw a strange sort of metal net over the monster's 'head'. Small orbs within the net stuck to the monster and the glow of the red gem decreased slightly, but still slowly began to brighten as it readied itself for another beam of fire mana.
"They're supposed to drain mana but they're not made for monster mana!" Anthony said. "It'll only delay the attack!"
"It's enough!" Conlan called back. His blade lit up with a golden haze as he activated his light-element sword skill. "Incomplete Mana-Blade – Light!"
The glowing sword struck the massive fist of the symbiont heading towards him.
[-900 Damage]
[Dungeon Boss: Lesser Cursed Iron Symbiont – Lvl. 99]
[HP: 13656/15000 {+122.7/1m}]
"If we keep this up we'll be good!" Conlan said.
He got shouts of affirmation in return, and they kept up their shower of attacks. Occasionally the high-pitched noise from the monster would begin again, and they would quickly dodge the stone-melting beam fired at them. But they still had yet to see what the curse would do when it was finally cast.
Anthony regularly threw out several small bombs and other devices he had made with his blacksmithing class, his warrior class just enough for him to last in combat without protection. Liliana began coating her arrows with water mana, the elemental reaction with the monster's fire mana-charged gem allowing her to do more damage.
Eventually, they whittled its HP down to the halfway point.
[Dungeon Boss: Lesser Cursed Iron Symbiont – Lvl. 99]
[HP: 7499/15000 {+122.7/1m}]
"Halfway done!" Conlan shouted. "Be careful though, because when a Dungeon Boss feels threatened it-"
Suddenly, the black gem in the chest of the symbiont released an ominous black light, and the curse runes distorted and blew up to larger sizes. The air crackled with near-palpable magical tension as the monster activated its second ability.
BOOM!
A wave of dark mana burst out from the symbiont and washed over them all, sending prickling pain through their bodies as the dark mana conflicted with their affinities. Conlan was hit harder, being the person closest to the gem and the one with an affinity for light, and his limbs trembled when he felt the dark mana, but he firmly gripped his weapon.
The dark curse mana faded, revealing the symbiont's metal plating to be covered by the curse runes and its red gem slowly heating up again to fire at them, but nothing else had happened. No pain nor strange effect could be felt by them.
They traded glances and Liliana opened her mouth to say something. But nothing came out. Her eyes widened and she watched as the others tried to say something too, but couldn't. They were silenced. Conlan looked at her and Catherine and then held up his hand to sign using the Navy's hand signals.
'Liliana, go help Anthony,' he told her. He signed something to Catherine and they began attacking the monster again.
Liliana moved over to Anthony, helping him fend off the twisted beams of the creature with a few arrows here and there. She knew Anthony couldn't signal to anyone as he didn't know the Navy's hand signals, so she aided him in attacking the monster and prevented his situation from getting too difficult.
Closer to the monster, which had begun to show a few chips in its stone and metal body, Catherine was still fighting. But her spearhead's flames had dimmed and were flickering slowly, their vibrant intensity gone. Catherine looked pale and was breathing heavily.
Liliana knew Catherine didn't do well with protracted battles. Her strengths lay in quick battles and a fierce outpouring of attacks, her movement speed increased by her second affinity for wind. Unfortunately, when up against a monster with high CON such as the symbiont, she grew tired quickly.
Then the ear-piercingly loud scream of the fire gem released from the monster, quicker than it had the last few times. The beam of fire mana shot out early, flying towards Catherine, who had a delayed reaction because of her tiredness.
Conlan noticed and grimaced, before dashing towards her. He grabbed Catherine and dodged the beam, throwing her to the side. Then he whirled around and ran back towards the monster. His golden mana surrounded him and formed the temporary battle aura he had used in the Navy.
That made Liliana worried because Conlan had told them that the aura had a long cooldown. He wouldn't be able to use it for the next few weeks if he didn't want to overdraw his mana and hurt himself. But as his blade struck the side of the symbiont, it was clear it was working.
[-2700 Damage]
[Dungeon Boss: Lesser Cursed Iron Symbiont – Lvl. 99]
[HP: 2999/15000 {+122.7/1m}]
The large amount of damage made the monster release a loud roaring noise and fiery cracks spread out from the red gem on its head. The heat from its body distorted the air around it and the edges of Conlan's battle aura warped. He grimaced and quickly stepped back.
As the monster took another swipe at Conlan, Liliana raised her bow and tried to shoot a few arrows imbued with water mana at it to do some more damage, but the amount of fire mana emanating from the creature was enough to disperse what little added help her mana did to the arrows.
[-25 Damage]
[-18 Damage]
[-21 Damage]
The arrows didn't stay in the symbiont, bouncing off of it. Anthony tried to run forward and do some damage with his longsword but had to step back, the heat being too strong for him.
Catherine noticed that they weren't getting anywhere, as Conlan was preoccupied with defending against the monster's physical attacks, and gritted her teeth. With a sudden flare of more fire mana, her hair flickered with windswept flames and she charged forward again.
The air vibrated in some way to let them know she had activated a skill, but what skill was unknown as the silencing curse was still active.
Conlan glanced at her and his eyes widened. He hastily tried to sign to her. 'No, Cathy, don't-'
[-1000 Damage]
The flaming spearhead collided with the monster's black curse gem and it let out a mechanical roar. The dark and fire mana flashed and crackled as red and black mana twisted about the symbiont. Screaming black runes that had been there from the very beginning let out a horrendous screech before fading, the dark mana dissipating. The monster went still.
Catherine, swaying slightly from exertion with her hand struggling to keep its grip on her spear, gave a grin of victory.
Then the creature bellowed and its entire brown-green monstrous aura turned a searingly bright red, the stone melting beneath its glowing stone feet. Fire mana radiated off of it as it leapt forward with violent strength, bounding towards Catherine with steps that shook the cave.
Catherine was too tired to run away from the monster, and Liliana watched in horror as the symbiont attempted to grab the redhead in one of its glowing heated claws.
But Anthony quickly dashed forward and swung his sword at the claw to deflect the monster, shoving her out of the way. The monster angered that its prey had been taken from it, roughly shoved into Anthony, sending him flying with an audible crack as his arm snapped to crash into the wall of the cave, unconscious.
Conlan took that moment to launch himself up and stab his sword into the back of the monster.
[-2500 Damage]
[Dungeon Boss: Lesser Cursed Iron Symbiont – Lvl. 99]
[HP: 503/15000 {+122.7/1m}]
The monster twisted its head to look at Conlan and faced its red gem directly at his face, the gem glowing orange as it prepared to fire its melting ray at the man's face. But somehow, whether it was due to mana exhaustion or damage, or some other reason unknown to them, the gem flickered off and failed to activate.
Conlan didn't waste a moment and raised a mana-clad fist to punch the gem of the symbiont.
SMASH!
[-550 Damage]
[Dungeon Boss: Lesser Cursed Iron Symbiont – Lvl. 99]
[HP: 0/15000 {+122.7/1m}]
[User Conlan Griffin has slain Lesser Cursed Iron Symbiont – Lvl. 99]
[Dungeon Boss of the Dungeon of the Cursed Gem Mine has been killed]
[Exploration Progress +5%]
[New! Exploration Progress: 99%]
The symbiont crashed to the ground. Its cracked stone pieces fell apart, the disjointed metal plates falling to the ground. The heat from it disappeared and the air vibrated again as they received varying levels of experience equivalent to their contribution, increasing their levels. They felt dark mana dissipate from inside their bodies, the silencing curse removed.
Catherine, Conlan and Liliana all took a moment to register the death of the monster, breathing heavily. Liliana ran forward to help Catherine up, who used her spear to support herself. Conlan, still wary, raised his blade and looked around to check for any other monsters, but when a few minutes had gone by and nothing else was there, he sighed heavily and sheathed his sword. He glanced at Catherine, then Liliana, and then Anthony.
"Liliana, go check on Anthony," he ordered.
She quickly nodded and ran over to the man, who seemed to be bleeding and had his skin badly burnt on his broken arm. However, she could tell he wasn't permanently hurt, and could probably be healed with a potion. She took one out of the pouch on her belt and poured it into his mouth.
Anthony spluttered as his consciousness returned, and the air around his broken arm and where he had his cuts glowed briefly before dimming. Liliana could tell the arm hadn't completely healed by the way the man winced as he moved it, but he was at least able to move.
"Not my most amazing experience," he said with a chuckle.
"Do you think you can get up?" Liliana asked him.
He nodded, so she stepped back to let him stand. They both walked back over to Conlan, who was investigating the walls of the cave for some reason, while Catherine sat down on the ground, taking a break.
"Conlan? What is it?" Liliana asked curiously.
"I'm looking for…" He paused and nodded. "Here it is." Flicking a lever that was hidden behind some rocks, the cave rumbled for a second, before rocks suddenly came falling down above their heads.
[Exploration Progress +1%]
[New! Exploration Progress: 100%]
They hurriedly stepped back to see a hatch open up above them, and a series of metal steps extended down, to be used as a ladder to climb up to the next level. The three of them looked at Conlan.
"Our exploration progress wasn't 100%, so I figured there must be a hidden area," he explained.
Catherine slowly stood up and walked over. "Wouldn't the logical thing be to think we missed a spot earlier in the Dungeon?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
Conlan glanced between her and the steps and smirked. "But there was a hidden area."
Catherine considered it but shrugged after a moment. "Sure, whatever I guess." She looked at the steps. "So… do we head up? Or find the core first?"
"We can always find the core later," Conlan replied. "The Dungeon can't move its core without its Boss Monster." He glanced at Liliana. "I think you should go up first, Lili. Anthony and Catherine should go last, and between you and me, you're the lightest."
She nodded and gripped the two railings of the metal steps. Slowly climbing up, she stuck her head into what looked like a crafting workshop of some kind, lit up by dim and grimy mana lamps on the walls. She checked the room for monsters and then walked back over to the entrance to call down, "I think it's clear!"
The others climbed up, one after the other, and viewed the room curiously. Anthony walked over to a strange metal gauntlet placed on a workbench and played with the knobs and switched on it with interest.
"Looks like it's made to shoot a projectile of some kind," he said. "Wonder why they chose a gauntlet for the base."
"Hey, uh… Conlan, aren't these cannons?" Catherine called from the other side of the room.
They all looked over and saw the massive metal tubes embedded with gemstones sitting in rows along the edge of the room, some disassembled and missing plates, all of them incomplete or unfinished in some way. They came over and inspected the devices.
"These definitely look like long-range weapons of some kind," Anthony mused.
"Is… the Empire supposed to have technology like this?" Liliana asked hesitantly.
Conlan rubbed his chin as he bent to take a closer look inside a cannon. "The dwarves of Rocht'guardes have similar devices, but the Empire's Battalions didn't start using them until magic engineers were a thing, I'm pretty sure. Something to do with the difference between dwarven runes and human runes."
He turned to look at them and placed a hand on the cannon. "But the Coalition is the Empire's main manufacturer of magical cannons and long-ranged weapons. And because they are such important weapons to the Metal-Borne Coalition… the crafter who made this must've been pretty high up in the crafter hierarchy."
There was a moment of silence as they looked around at the workshop, wondering what that would mean. Conlan eventually shook his head and gestured to the room. "There might be valuable tools, weapons or equipment the guy left here, so let's check everywhere to see what we can find."
They nodded and all split up, searching through incomplete machinery and discarded gems to find anything interesting. Liliana spoke up after a few minutes, "Hey, Conlan?"
"Yes?" he replied distractedly, digging through a large wooden chest of sorts.
"Why would there be a workshop like this in a gem mine?" she asked curiously.
"I'm not sure. The Adventurer's Guild said nobody came near this mine for the last 200 years, which was why the Dungeon could return to its full strength after its core was last shattered several centuries ago," Conlan explained. "But the noble family who owned this place became fallen nobles, as you said earlier, so I doubt it will be a problem for us in the long term."
Conlan looked down at the chest and stopped moving for a second before a broad grin appeared on his face. He pulled out a heavy leather-bound tome and waved it in the air. "Guys, I found something!"
The rest of them came over curiously as Conlan walked over to a workbench and placed the heavy book down. Catherine read the title engraved on the front. "Mana-Charged Metalworker's Foundational Manual: Ordnance and Artillery? And that is supposed to be… what exactly?"
"Ordnance means military supplies, mainly weapons," Anthony explained. He opened the book to a random page filled with diagrams of weapons and mana-circles. "This is an interesting book."
"I think this is a crafter's inheritance journal," Conlan said. They all looked at him as he smiled and explained to them, "This is probably a manual used by the less experienced crafters to evolve their class to a specialised role. The Coalition has the most standardised methods of teaching crafters techniques than anywhere else in the Empire."
"So… this is valuable?" Liliana asked.
Conlan nodded. "Yes. It contains a section of a completed path of progression. So now we need to decide who this goes to." Conlan glanced at Anthony, who was still reading the book. "But I think this should go to Anthony."
Liliana and Catherine looked at the man. Anthony blinked and looked up when he saw everyone was staring at him. "Hm? Sorry, what was that? I became a bit too absorbed in the manual when I discovered it has blueprints for several hand-held weapons."
"Anthony, you said you're good with guns, right?" Conlan asked.
Anthony rubbed his neck. "I mean… I've had some experience with them, yes. I used to practice shooting a lot for fun. My granddad still had a few from before the first break and energy usage became a thing."
Conlan smiled. "How would you like to have the manual then?"
The man with red-blonde hair stared. "Me? The manual?" He looked down at the book on the table. "I… would love to, if I could. The skills and class it gives seem perfect for me." He looked at them. "But doesn't anyone else want it? I'm not even a permanent party member of yours. We'll be splitting up after this."
Liliana and Catherine looked at each other. Catherine shrugged. "I don't care. I'm not the crafting type myself, and I'm not worried about money. Better for it to go to someone who can use it."
Liliana nodded. "And I think you deserve it after saving Catherine," she said with a smile. "It doesn't matter that you're not going to be with us permanently."
"If you're still hesitant to accept," Conlan said with a smirk, holding out his hand, "Then let's make a deal that you join our party permanently once we leave the Navy."
Anthony glanced between the book and Conlan's outstretched palm, nodded once, and then shook hands with Conlan. "It's a deal then."
Conlan smiled. "Then let's pack up anything valuable, break the Dungeon Core, and get out of here."
They all nodded until Catherine hesitated. "Wait… why was the curse of the monster to keep us all silent?"
They traded glances. Liliana thought for a moment. "Don't you think it was because the young noble who cast the curse tried to get his friend to shut up?"
The forest's treetops rippled in the soft wind, the dark green undergrowth only filled with the sound of small birds and beasts on the ground. Sunlight of the late afternoon streamed through the trees, and all seemed calm and peaceful, not a thing out of place. In a wide clearing within the forest, a group of armoured men sat, chatting amongst themselves.
"-and I'll bet anything that the Guild Master will have Saden's head when we get back to the Guild Headquarters," said one man with tanned skin and a war axe resting by his side.
Another man cleaning a bloody longsword on his lap with a rag snorted. "As if Mistguard's going to let that fly. If Saden even dares to harm his precious little prodigy's status he'll threaten to up and quit, and Mistguard's presence in the Guild this year has expanded it by a whole 30%. Saden wouldn't risk that."
"Hmmm…" the man with a war axe turned to the third member of their group, a heavy-built man with a thick scar going down from his left eye to his jawline. "Sir Firedal, what do you think?"
Firedal raised his eyes from the ground in front of him and gazed solemnly at the two men. "I'd suggest putting more effort into coming up with ways to hide from the Shadow Blade's detection than discussing what-ifs."
The men went silent, both grimacing. The man with a war axe scowled and slammed his fist into the ground beside him. "Dammit. So you think the rumours are true? That the King employed the Black Hand for this battle?"
"I saw the envelope informing the Guild branch first-hand," Firedal replied. "Without a doubt, it's them."
"Just our luck," the blonde man with a longsword muttered. "Finish the battle with an overwhelming victory, and find out our traitorous little king employed the most famous mercenaries just to stab us in the -" He saw a flicker of shadow pass through the treetops and quickly stood up, raising his longsword. "Who's there?"
Nobody responded. The men behind him watched carefully as the blonde-haired man slowly stepped closer to the clearing's edge, eyes darting from one tree to another.
"Anything there?" the man with the axe asked.
The blonde-haired man slowly sheathed his longsword. "I don't know. Seem like there's not, but-"
A shadow dashed out from the opposite side of the clearing and pounced on him. The man with the axe widened his eyes. "Vard! Watch out-"
Blood spurted out of the back of the blonde man as he collapsed to the ground, dead. The true form of the figure manifested from the shadow and was revealed to be someone completely covered by overlapping light plates of metal, pitch black in colour, their helmet's visor a sharp downward pointing arrow. Their shoulders were covered by a light cloak that spread out on either side behind them, almost like wings. The end of their cloak drifted with whisps of black smoke as they held their thin silver longsword.
The axe-wielding warrior stood up and charged forward with his weapon, roaring as he slammed it down onto the figure. The figure's form rent in two, the darkness splitting into two shadows. They re-coalesced behind the man and their sword sliced through his unprotected neck, beheading him. They turned around to face the final man sitting down on the ground behind them.
"Don't you think that was a bit cruel? Letting them get betrayed by their Captain as well as their king?"
Firedal gazed solemnly at the figure. "Raven's Wing."
The figure stepped forward and flipped up their visor, revealing bright blue eyes. "I'm slightly curious as to what you want, considering you didn't tell them I was there even though I ran right past you. It's almost like you wanted to discuss something privately." Their voice seemed to be distorted behind their armour, an enchantment of some kind disguising their identity.
The man slowly got up as they came closer, guarded but not in a position suggesting he was hostile. "This kingdom's only a small corner of the realm but my Guild likes being a big fish in a small pond. I'd rather jump ship to somewhere with better prospects." He nodded to them. "I heard someone with a token from the Black Hand is allowed to skip the entrance test."
They tilted their head. "So, you want my token? But what about you makes giving you one worth it?"
He slowly unsheathed his longsword. "Would you like me to prove myself?"
The figure's eyes showed they were smiling as they crouched and raised their sword. "That sounds fun."
A loud clang sounded as their weapons clashed, the armoured figure forcing Firedal back. He gritted his teeth at the unexpected strength and pushed back with a growl, disengaging their weapons. They slowly circled each other for a few seconds before the figure charged forward again. Metal rang against metal as they began to speak casually to the mercenary.
"So, Firedal was it?" they said. They aimed a sharp blow towards the man's neck and he blocked it with a swipe of his own weapon. "You seem to know who I am."
"Of course," he said through clenched teeth, dodging another quick strike from his opponent. "The Black Hand's Shadow Blade Division became my Guild's opposition. It's important as a Captain of my Guild to know who my strongest enemies are."
"The Guild you're planning on betraying," they replied, sending a slash towards his side.
He hissed as he failed to dodge it completely and it left a shallow cut across his skin. "The king betrayed us first. And I was planning on leaving the Guild anyway."
"Leaving to try to enter the enemy Guild of your own Guild, just because they're better," the figure commented. They sent a sharp kick towards Firedal's abdomen and he doubled over, wheezing as the air was knocked out of him.
"…your… ha… point… being…?" he said, through harsh breaths. He straightened up and readied his sword again. "I never heard of the Black Hand having a moral standpoint."
"I don't really have a point. I was just making conversation." The figure abruptly took a few steps back, then tilted their head as they watched him. "Hmm… well, I believe I've seen enough of your abilities to make my decision. But I do have to say something."
With a flicker of black light, they disappeared only to appear right in front of him. Firedal's eyes widened as he tried to take a step back but they rammed their elbow into his neck with sudden power, revealing that they had never been using their true strength. He fell to the ground on all fours, coughing and spluttering.
"It's true that members of the Black Hand receive four tokens to give people during their lives," the figure replied casually. "However, I've already given out three of mine. I only have one left, which I don't want to waste."
They pointed their blade at Firedal. "And… you don't make the cut."
He hastily scrambled back, trying to avoid the weapon. The figure came forward with confident steps and jabbed towards his neck. He raised his sword to block the blade.
"Wait! Okay, let's forget about me joining the Black Hand. It's my Guild badge you want, right?" he asked hurriedly. He tore off the metal on his shirt and threw it at their feet. "There, now you can give them that as proof of my death. You don't need to kill me."
The figure paused. "That's a very quick change in attitude. Why are you- oh." They glanced at the badge, then turned back to him. "Ha. I see now. You wanted to kill me to take my token, if you failed to prove yourself to me."
His face turned white. The voice of the figure turned cold. "Unfortunately for you though, you're too weak."
They sent a slash towards the man, the ends of their blade flickering with blue and dark mana. The attack cut him deeply across the chest, killing him instantly. The clearing fell silent as his dark blood leaked into the grass, along with the blood of the other two dead bodies. The other two dead bodies disintegrated into white light.
The figure walked back to the edge of the clearing and sighed as they removed their helmet, revealing long wavy black hair framing a woman's face. She glanced at the bodies with disdain. "The Aeternus plane's Guilds haven't used nameplates as proof of death in thousands of years. Why use those when we have Quests for authentication?" She shook her head and walked into the forest, helmet held under one arm. "These backward planes, honestly."
She looked up and saw the sun drawing closer to the horizon. She replaced her helmet. "Time to head back," she murmured to herself.
…
"-Barbosas, even if you're her sibling, I can't just give you the letter meant for her."
"And I'm telling you that I'm basically an honorary member of the Guild, so why can't you just let me read it already?!"
"No, Mr. Barbosas, the point is that even if you were already part of the Guild, we are not allowed to hand out personal letters to anyone other than the one they're addressed to!"
In a large hall, many people were paying attention to the argument occurring between one man and a woman. The woman, wearing a uniform and seated behind a desk like many of the other staff in the hall, was gazing exasperatedly at the man who had his hands slammed down on the desk, glaring at her. The man in his had messy nut-brown hair, green eyes and a spear strapped to his back.
When it was obvious the woman wouldn't budge, he groaned and stepped back from the table. "Come on, Larena never gets any letters! You can't just tell me that someone came to the Black Hand's branch in this city and delivered a letter for her, then not tell me what it's about!"
The woman sighed. "Please just wait until your sister is back to read the letter, Mr. Barbosas."
He clicked his tongue. "Larena took on a mission this morning. She might not be back for a few days yet."
"I'm proud to know you have such high expectations of my abilities, Garthe," said a sarcastic voice.
They turned to see a woman dressed in dark plate metal coming closer, a helmet held under her arm. Larena came up to the desk and placed an arm on it as she faced the clerk. "So, what has my brother been nagging you about this time?"
"A courier from the Aeternus plane delivered a letter for you," the clerk explained. She pulled out a key from her dimensional inventory and unlocked a drawer of the desk. Then she picked up the thick envelope with a blue seal of an insignia of three coins on the front. She handed it over to Larena.
"From the Aeternus plane?" Larena looked at the letter curiously. "This looks like it's from the Alichanteu of the Commission."
"Why would they be contacting you?" Garthe asked, coming up beside her and trying to see the letter better.
Larena shoved him away and opened the letter, using a bit of dark mana to undo the seal. "I don't know, so let me read this first."
She went quiet for a moment as she read it. Then she smiled. "It's from Efratel."
"Efratel?" Garthe blinked and looked over her shoulder to read the letter. Then he pointed to a line on the page. "Hang on, doesn't that say… 'Lucille'…?"
They fell silent, read the line, and then traded glances. Then suddenly, Garthe gained a broad grin and raised his arms in the air. "We're going to be rich!"
Larena whacked the side of his head. "Just because she's now his sponsor doesn't mean we're going to be able to use her money. But this outer plane… I like the sound of this," she said as she read the letter again.
Garthe nodded. "And it would make up for you rejecting the Shadow Blade Captain's offer of coming with her to aid the Genest Duchy's expedition on that dark elemental plane. I still don't get why you ever rejected it. The dark element natural treasures would've increased your strength massively."
She gave him a dismissive wave. "It doesn't matter, especially as it means we can now do this. Because this outer plane event has been offered to other nobles, I'm sure some of them have already commissioned missions from the Black Hand for this." She turned around and walked away. "I'm going to check out these other missions' details to collect information, then I'll work on clearing my schedule for this meeting we're having with the others." Larena glanced back. "I assume you're taking his offer too?"
Garthe smirked and crossed his arms. "Of course. What adventurer would ever give up a chance to explore an abandoned plane's ancient ruins?"
Chapter 46 part 1 has been changed, and the contract section rewritten. Sorry about that. But now it's time to move on to the last four (or eight) chapters of the arc!
Patreon (up to x8 5k chapters!):
Discord (Come get your Qualified Scytale Feeder role!):
Honorary mention of my first Plebeian: Purplexa
[Title: Nobility | Type: Discord/Role]
getthepoptart21
[Title: Rank-5 | Type: Discord/Role]
secret
Inzuris
Kabi
Malahadiel
Starfall20
Shoutloud
WIk
ChaosOmega98
deathbunnies
wind.celestial
Spacemanspiff
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arcanorum0421
Mitchell
sami027
bali123456789
sam.lind
Lars
Jonathan
Abdulaziz
Aria
[Title: Demon Nobility | Discord/Role]
None! Maybe when I finish this tier someone will join
"So, now that we're back in Gilded Seat, will you tell me what happened between you and the Archduke?"
Lucille furrowed her brows but kept looking out of the window of the carriage, distractedly tapping her fingers against her seat in a rhythmic pattern. She didn't respond to her aide.
Vincent sighed and crossed his arms. "Lucy, whatever it is that has been making you act like this since the end of the banquet, as your aide and the aide of the Aurelian Commission Head, I need you to tell me." He frowned at her. "This is about the Archduke, one of the Empire's seven Sovereign Dukes. If this becomes a major political issue…"
"It's not," she suddenly announced, turning back to him.
Vincent blinked at the strangely quick reply but raised an eyebrow. "Then what is it?"
She let out a small groan as she pressed on her temples with both hands. "It's…" She sighed and tilted her head back to rest it against the wall of the carriage behind her. "It's… not a political issue. It is… something personal."
"Personal…?" Vincent asked quizzically. "In what way?"
Lucy hesitated but resigned herself to telling Vincent something to get him off her back. "When I went to meet with the Archduke… I realised I've met him before…" She grimaced. "And I wasn't supposed to realise that."
Vincent gazed at her strangely. "You've… met him before?"
She nodded. "When we met I was unaware of his identity. He was aware of who I was, of course, but… when we met again I recognised him. In other words, I was never meant to find out he was the Archduke…"
"But where did you meet?" Vincent asked. He scowled at her when she pressed her lips together and returned to looking out the window. "Lucille…"
"I'm not avoiding telling you because I want to, Vincent," she said, glancing back at him. "This pertains to one of the Archduke's secrets. One of the Eternal Duchies' secrets." She crossed her arms. "He didn't want me to know, so I'm not bringing anyone else into this, because they would definitely not be meant to know. I'm not going to risk revealing his secret to you."
Vincent went silent, looking pensive. Eventually, he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Fine. I'll accept remaining unaware for now. But how does this impact you?" he asked seriously. "Is he hostile now?"
Lucy considered it deeply but shook her head. "He's not. He might take advantage of this to ask me to do some things, but he wouldn't push it too much in case I revealed his secret to someone."
Not that Lucille would ever risk such a thing. She doubted anyone would believe her because of the Association Limiter protecting him, anyway.
Vincent frowned. "Ask you to do something?"
"Things like aiding a political venture of his or similar." She looked out the window again. "Considering he's mostly well-liked and passive in the eyes of the Empire, while also being part of the neutral faction, I don't believe it will be dangerous or disadvantageous for me to help him."
"But did you manage to arrange the deal you met with him to negotiate in the first place?" Vincent asked, raising an eyebrow.
She grimaced. "No."
Vincent sighed but before they could continue the conversation the carriage pulled to a stop in front of the Commission's Headquarters. They got out and entered the building.
"So, what plans do you have now?" Vincent asked.
"I'll set some events in order, and then in three days Scytale and I will head to the Beast Realm to-"
Lucy was interrupted by a silvery winged snake that came slithering into the hall.
"Hey! Lucy! You're back! What happened? I couldn't send a message to you because you were too far away, but I could still feel your emotions leaking through to my side, and something got you real freaked out, so what- hm?"
Scytale hesitated as he noticed Lucy's expression. Vincent blinked and looked at Lucille when he saw Scytale's strange reaction. Lucy had her arms crossed as she stared at the snake, not blinking.
"Wait… I know that look… you're about to show me something I really don't want to see, aren't you?" Scytale said with eyes narrowed in suspicion. He backed away as he flared his wings in front of him. "No, Lucy, don't tell me it, whatever it is, don't-"
Lucy ruthlessly shoved her memories of her encounter with the Archduke into Scytale's head and he recoiled in horror.
"No! I don't want to know that! Get it out! Erase my memories now!" He hastily shook his head from side to side as if that would do something about his new knowledge. "That's terrifying! Let me live in blissful ignorance, please!"
"No. You get to live with the knowledge of that secret because you got to stay here enjoying the peace while I went to the banquet," Lucy stated flatly, walking past the snake.
"You're holding a grudge because of that?!? I'm not a noble! I couldn't come!"
Lucille ignored his complaints, heading into the lift while the snake whinged about what Lucy had shown him.
And Vincent was beginning to think that maybe it was best he remained in ignorance after seeing Scytale's reaction.
…
-3 days later-
Lucy stretched her arms above her head and then looked down at the shiny winged snake on her right. She was wearing her black and brown adventurer gear, Apophis and Ouroboros sheathed on either side of her waist. The dimensional bag was tied firmly to her belt.
"Alright. Let's get to Level 10, and complete these stages," she said to her bond.
Scytale nodded. "Yup! I've been itching to get them done for ages!"
Lucy smirked. "Yes, well, considering the realm the first ten stages are based on, you'd be right at home."
"Any User always likes the stages of their home realm," Scytale said. He slyly flickered his tongue. "And I bet you're going to looove the Beast Realm's stages too."
Lucille shook her head wryly, aware of what he was hinting at. "Let's go to the Beast Realm."
They entered the Obelisk of Gilded Seat they were standing in front of, appearing in the clear box high above the city.
Lucy called out to the System, "Open Obelisk Directory."
[Directory: ]
Beast Realm
Demon Realm
Tartarus Realm
Mystical Realm
Heavenly Realm
[ ]
[You have 2 uses available. The next one will be gained on January the 1st.]
She selected the [Beast Realm], as Scytale did the same with his own Directory. She crossed her arms. "Where should we go?"
"There's no point trying to find some special valuable Lair or something. We just want to get to Level 10 and re-enter the Obelisk," Scytale said. "I reckon we just go to one of the lower-ranked regions."
She nodded and scrolled down the list. "Give me a minute and I'll find somewhere."
After a few seconds, she looked at Scytale. "How about this one? The Daylight Forest Region ranked in the bottom thousand for strength. Forest regions typically have normal monsters without affinities for mid-level elements and have low levelled ones."
"Sounds good enough to me. Let's do it," he replied.
Lucy nodded and tapped on the region. Scytale tapped on the region in his own Directory, and they both scattered into fractured light.
…
As was likely where the region got its name from, the forest was thin with light foliage, allowing the sunlight to stream down through the branches. Dead leaves and branches crunched underneath Lucille's boots as they were crushed under Scytale's scales.
"How do we want to do this then?" Scytale asked.
Lucy hummed as she looked around the forest. They were following a trail that led deeper into the trees. "Well, this will be the first time I ever use Apophis and Ouroboros in combat, so whatever we choose to do has to be simple. It needs to be a weak target too, as I won't be able to assign the stats from my new levels in any way."
"I think I'd be pretty capable of blocking an attack if it comes your way," Scytale said.
"I don't doubt it, especially with your Primal Descendant skill," Lucy replied, looking up at the trees. "But Ouroboros might be just as capable of shielding me from damage as you are."
"How- oh, her shield skill? I forgot about that." Then Scytale titled his head. "Wait a second… would monster skills even damage you? Because you still have that pseudo-invulnerability thing going on."
Lucy blinked and looked down at her bond. "No, that only applies to magic cast by Users. The System has to be involved somehow." She looked around again. "The only reason I have that 'invulnerability' effect is due to the System struggling to calculate damage between another User's spells and my own fake stats. Monster abilities would still affect me because I'm not immune to mana or spiritual energy."
Lucille started walking forward again. "But regardless, it would be best to reduce any chance of needing Ouroboros, as I still haven't begun learning to fight with the weapons." She looked down at the daggers on her belt. "It's possible I might not use their true forms while fighting."
Scytale nodded. "So… can you see any monsters with your perception field?"
"Yes." She stepped over a fallen log. "There's a few Armoured Formicidae around the corner."
He was silent for a moment. "… ants?"
She raised an eyebrow at Scytale's reluctant tone. "Scytale, we're not fighting a pack of Direwolves for our first fight."
"I get that, but…" He reared up and flapped his wings. "They're ants! Who wants to go fight ants to level up? What kind of battle would that be? Let's go squash insects to gain powerful magical abilities, yay!"
He hesitated. "Uh… I didn't think I had, but something about your tone is making me question my memory now…"
She shook her head wryly. "Just wait a few minutes. You'll see what you've forgotten soon enough."
After a while, they rounded a bend in the trail. Lucy stopped and pointed. "There, you see?"
Scytale squinted his golden eyes. "See what? All I see are the promised ants, and they look completely… normal….."
The trio of monstrous ants came slightly closer to them, revealing themselves fully. Covered in hard black exoskeletons with strange multicoloured sacks attached to their barbed legs and abdomens with stings, the meter-high ants communicated to each other with high-pitched squeaks and clicks of their mandibles. Their antennae reached up another half metre above their heads, bringing their total heights to 1.5 metres.
"Armoured Formicidae are a species of giant ant," Lucy stated, crossing her arms. "Please don't underestimate insects the size of Great Danes, Scytale."
"… okay. Right." He shifted his wings as he got ready to launch himself towards them. "So, our plan of attack?"
Lucy unsheathed the two daggers and crouched. "Let me go first. They'll think I'm an easy target because of my low mana, and probably won't attack all at once. Let me get a handle on using the two blades, and then you join the fight when the other two begin attacking."
He nodded as she waited for when the three monsters were beginning to walk away. Then, she crept forward, trying to keep her footsteps as soft as possible so the ants didn't pick up on the vibration. Focusing on the shard brought up their information.
[Lesser Armoured Formicidae – Lvl. 6]
[HP: 1550/1550 {+39.4/5m}]
[Lesser Armoured Formicidae – Lvl. 5]
[HP: 1450/1450 {+38.1/5m}]
[Lesser Armoured Formicidae – Lvl. 5]
[HP: 1350/1350 {+36.7/5m}]
A few seconds later, the weakest ant, the one at the back, lifted its antennae and turned around to face her. It chittered to the other two as she readied her daggers, and it came forward, clicking its mandibles at her.
Then it let out a high-pitched screech and charged. The foul sensation of monster mana washed over her as she dived to the side to roll out of its path, the creature leaving a trail of trampled leaves and branches behind it. It whirled around as she stood and held her daggers up again.
Its antennae waved near her like it was trying to gauge her strength. It chittered again, before opening its mandibles wide and releasing a loud hissing sound. An orb of orange fire mana coalesced between its mandibles as an orange-green sack on one of its legs shrunk.
She leaned to the side as a blazing fireball hurtled past her and she ran forward, stabbing downwards with Apophis towards its face.
[- 300 Damage]
[Lesser Armoured Formicidae – Lvl. 5]
[HP: 1050/1350 {+36.7/5m}]
She had been aiming for its neck, but the blade glanced off of the exoskeleton of the ant's face as it moved. It shook its head and lashed out with a barbed leg towards her own legs.
Lucille kicked its face before the hit landed and the ant screeched as one of its mandibles was crushed beneath her boot.
[- 20 Damage]
Not hesitating to take advantage of the moment, she rammed her knee into its side, making it stumble. She stamped on it to shove its body into the ground, then sat on it to keep it down. She didn't waste a second and stabbed Ouroboros into its neck behind its head, making it let out a ghastly screech.
[- 500 Damage]
[Lesser Armoured Formicidae – Lvl. 5]
[HP: 532/1350 {+36.7/5m}]
She stabbed the vital spot twice again, and it died instantly, fluids and monster mana escaping from the cut. The xp flowed into her, with the 1.25 xp gain multiplier from her Regressor Title active.
Behind her, the other two ants screamed and charged forward, but Scytale chose that moment to attack them, his enlarged form bowling them over. He shredded the exoskeleton of one ant's neck with his fangs, killing it instantly.
[-1450 Damage]
[Lesser Armoured Formicidae – Lvl. 5]
[HP: 0/1450 {+38.1/5m}]
Scytale then launched himself at the other with wings spread wide to deflect the barbed legs of the insect. He sent his tail swinging to kick the legs out from under the ant.
[-270 Damage]
[Lesser Armoured Formicidae – Lvl. 6]
[HP: 1280/1550 {+39.4/5m}]
The ant struggled to get up as Scytale moved closer. As Scytale went to bite its neck, the ant's antennae gained a sickly green substance, which sizzled as it dripped to the ground. The acidic liquid sprayed over Scytale when it lashed out with the antennae, making him hiss.
[-50 HP]
[-50 HP]
[-50 HP]
[HP: 1350/1500 {+39/5m}]
Scytale backed away, which gave the ant time to get up again. But off to the side, Lucy had gotten up and decided to shoot a mana orb at the ant.
[-10 Damage]
It didn't reduce its HP much, but it did make the ant stumble again when the orb crashed into one of its legs. It raised its head and screeched at Lucy. Scytale took the chance to launch himself at the ant from the opposite direction, using his fangs to gouge into the ant's exoskeleton.
[-270 Damage]
[Lesser Armoured Formicidae – Lvl. 6]
[HP: 1000/1550 {+39.4/5m}]
The ant screeched in pain, but Scytale strengthened his grip on the ant's neck while wrapping his body around it, crushing it.
[-260 Damage]
[-280 Damage]
[-290 Damage]
He clenched his jaws and with one final pull he ripped the neck of the ant.
[-170 Damage]
[Lesser Armoured Formicidae – Lvl. 6]
[HP: 0/1550 {+39.4/5m}]
It collapsed, dead.
[User Scytale has slain Lesser Armoured Formicidae – Lvl. 5]
[User Scytale has slain Lesser Armoured Formicidae – Lvl. 6]
[Scytale has reached Level 2]
[Scytale has reached Level 3]
Because of Lucy's spell, she also gained xp from the fight.
[+2 xp]
[Xp: 11/104]
With all three ants dead, Scytale unwrapped his body from the ant and took a moment to relax slightly, recovering from the exertion. He deactivated his Primal Descendant skill, losing his enhanced STR and CON. His max HP decreased but he kept the same percentage of damage that he had received in his larger form.
Lucille walked closer and placed her hands on her hips, both daggers sheathed. "Instead of using your Rays of Purity skill, I think we should just wait for you to heal. It will only take fifteen minutes with your current regeneration rate."
He nodded. "Right. We should save my mana for later when we're fighting more of them."
Lucy sat down on the ground next to him and pulled out Apophis to study the blade. Scytale noticed and tilted his head.
"What's wrong? Is something up with the daggers?"
Lucille took out Ouroboros as well and opened the skill sheet of the dagger's second skill.
[Skill: Twin Souls: Order | Type: Soul/Link ]
Desc: Two souls were locked together in abandoned space, with diametrically opposed natures for millennia. Where others may have destroyed each other, these two souls became as close as siblings, and as linked as those by blood. They understood the Supreme Cycle of Chaos and Order, embracing their similarities and differences as one.
Abilities:
Supreme Cycle of Chaos and Order – Two comprehended the incomprehensible.
Gives the weapon the ability to sense and have a telepathic bond with its soul twin at all times.
Gives the weapon and its User the ability to be immune to the forces of Chaos or Order. No demonic or spiritual mental influences will affect it or its User.
Gives the weapon the ability to transfer spiritual energy to its soul twin. {Must be used alongside Twin Souls: Chaos, 3rd}
Gargantuan Serpentine Mimicry – The body and jaws of a serpent
Gives the weapon the ability of independent movement.
Gives the weapon the ability to extend infinitely, as long as the User has energy to support it.
Gives the weapon the ability to extend in width, as long as the User has energy to support it. Ratio: 1/8 weapon's length.
Domain of Chaos and Order – Ordered Chaos
Gives the weapon this skill when within 1km of Soul Twin: Chaos
Gives the weapon a x5 multiplicative stat effect when this skill is active. ATK, MATK and SATK x5.
Gives the weapon an x5 multiplicative ability effect when this skill is active. Energy requirements and cooldown ÷5. Skill effectiveness x5.
Gives the weapons the ability to switch places with their soul twins.
[ ]
She read the information of the last activation again. "I was wondering why they only did 300 damage each. I just discovered the issue."
"What do you mean, 'only'?" Scytale asked. "That's amazing for a Level 0 sentient weapon. Epic weapons are enough for a warrior to use until the Late Level 400s and these guys are still evolvable. No Level 10 gets to fight with weapons that do 300 ATK."
She sighed. "Yes, but Scytale, their third activation says their stats are multiplied by five when within one kilometre of each other. I should've been doing 1500 damage."
He looked between the skill information and the weapons. "…. Oh. Huh. Okay."
She grimaced as she looked at them both again. "I think the third activation only works when I'm using their true forms. I can't use their full potential unless I use their snake-sword forms."
"So… you probably won't end up being a dual-dagger-wielding warrior then," Scytale said.
Lucy shook her head. "Not if I want to be a good fighter. With my stat issues, the power of these two weapons will be my lifeline. These two are the only way I can have strength on par with other warriors of my level." She looked at her bond. "You seemed to deal with the two ants pretty well, considering you had to get used to your weaker strength."
Scytale nodded energetically. "Oh yeah, the Primal Descendant skill is great. At the Obelisk after we bonded, I added 10 of my free stat points to STR, so with ATK being equal to STR multiplied by five I do 270 ATK on average because my skill multiplies that again by 3."
She rolled her eyes. "I bet your MATK and SATK are terrible though. How many points do you have in WIS and MENT?"
He fell silent. "…9 and 13," he slowly replied.
Lucy raised an eyebrow. "9 for WIS and 13 for MENT?"
He didn't reply. She smirked. "You didn't put any in WIS, and you put only two in MENT, even after I told you to do it to fix your soul. You have a pathetic MATK of 45 and miserly SATK of 65."
He hissed at her. "Yeah, but at least I have MATK! My 100 MP can do 45 damage per point, but what can you do? 1 MATK for each MP?"
"I don't need to care about that." She unsheathed Apophis and smugly raised the dagger. "Both of my two weapons come with 100 MATK and 100 SATK on their own. That's much more than a mere 45 and 65."
He sent her a mental imitation of a 'tsk' and turned away. "Whatever." Then he glanced at her. "So, are we ready to continue?"
She smirked and stood up. "Yes. Let's go kill some more ants."
…
With a crack, the head of an ant was split in half, the demonic aura-encased black blade coming down hard on its exoskeleton. Lucy took a second to breathe as the notifications sounded.
She glanced over to where the sound of an ant's dying screech could be heard. Scytale ripped his fangs out from the monster and came back over to her.
[User Scytale has slain Lesser Armoured Formicidae – Lvl. 7]
[Scytale has reached Level 7]
"Are you still fine, Lucy?" he asked her.
Lucy nodded, looking at the red-jewelled blade in her hand. "I am. It's just… a bit hard to keep up with the agility of these monsters. Apophis is also quite heavy to wield in his sword form." She looked at the other dagger sheathed at her waist. "Without any STR I can't dual wield these."
Scytale thought for a moment. "What about telekinesis though? You wouldn't have any problems with using that, would you?"
"I'm still trying to keep my soul as stable as possible," she explained, crossing her arms with a slight frown. "As it is currently, it might just be stable enough to gain a soul-related Aspect for it after the stages safely. I've barely managed to settle it after that… meeting during the banquet."
Scytale looked at the several monster ant carcasses sprawled over the ground before them, slowly releasing murky monster miasma. "Then let's go to the centre of this Lair and find a point where you can extend a weapon and quickly wipe out a bunch. I'll deal with any of the ones left."
She nodded. "Alright. We'll get this over with as quickly as possible."
They tracked through the forest, brown-green mist pooling around their feet. It steadily grew thicker, and Lucy gestured for Scytale to stay quiet as they moved behind a tree, Lucy's perception field revealing the crowd of five to ten ants guarding the anthill's entrance in a small clearing.
"So, the plan is: You stretch out Apophis to launch a big attack and I'll deal with the ones that are left."
Lucy nodded and glanced at her bond. "Do you have enough STR?"
"Yep. I put 15 in STR, 10 in CON and the rest in AGI so I do 495 ATK in my Primal Descendant form now," he replied.
"And here I am sitting with 55 free stat points I can't even use." She sighed.
Scytale shuffled his wings in an approximation of a shrug. "Better get used to it. You're going to have thousands of unused free stat points down the line."
She pulled out Apophis and stepped out from behind the tree. "Time to start." Letting the weapon shift into its longsword form, she swung her arm back as if she were about to do an underarm throw. The monster ants in the distance seemed to detect something was off, and looked in her direction, but they noticed too late.
Lucille activated Apophis's demonic aura and slashed the crimson-hued blade, the sword lengthening instantaneously with the staggered sounds of clinking metal. The black blade cut through the bodies of the monsters with little to no resistance, segments revolving around it to create hundreds of small lacerations to the ants' exoskeletons, making them scream in pain. The whip-like movement of the weapon pulverised most of the ants, the few remaining suffering major damage to their bodies.
The sound of the System notifications rang constantly as she retracted Apophis, the surrounding trees' bark marred by countless serrations from where the blade had cut across.
[User has reached Level 10]
[Xp: MAX]
[User has reached MAX Level for Rank-0]
[Please complete the Main Quest (Rank-1: Beast Ream) to unlock Levels 11-199]
Lucy fell silent as she took in the devastation, but Scytale didn't waste a minute as he pounced on the remaining injured ants, killing them all within seconds. With Lucille already having reached Level 10, any share of the xp that would've belonged to her from her damage was transferred to Scytale, allowing him to quickly get to the same level as her.
[User Scytale has slain Lesser Armoured Formicidae – Lvl. 5]
[User Scytale has slain Lesser Armoured Formicidae – Lvl. 7]
[User Scytale has slain Lesser Armoured Formicidae – Lvl. 6]
[User Scytale has slain Lesser Armoured Formicidae – Lvl. 8]
[Scytale has reached Level 8]
[Scytale has reached Level 9]
[Scytale has reached Level 10]
"Haha! Yes!" Scytale exclaimed. "I can feel the power flowing into me! Beware, hero, I shall soon obtain the strength needed to destroy you!"
Lucille didn't respond, still observing the clearing. Scytale noticed her silence and came over to her, turning his eyes to what she was looking at. He glanced between her and the clearing. "Er… what are you looking at?"
She crossed her arms as she stared at the clearing, then scowled. She threw a hand out to gesture at the devastation. "Can you explain to me, Scytale, how exactly I'm supposed to use this demonic weapon of mine?! I'll kill everyone around me with this weapon, friend or not!"
Scytale considered it. "You know Lucy… because it's a demonic weapon, I'm pretty sure that's the entire point."
She sighed and crossed her arms again. "It's just… I don't know how I'm supposed to use these. If I don't learn to fight with them, I won't be able to make use of their strong abilities, but I need to learn how to fight with them in the first place."
"You're complaining to a limbless reptile, Lucy," Scytale said. "What experience would I have fighting with weapons?"
Lucy shot him a flat look. "I'm aware. But you have enough experience battling the races to understand my issue."
Scytale took another look at the clearing. "Well… was he easier to wield when extended?"
She tapped her fingers against her arm in thought. "Yes, he was. He was much lighter."
"And you can control his movements with telekinesis?" her bond asked.
Lucy nodded. "I could, as long as I focused my will and spiritual energy correctly. His autonomous movement reduces the load on my soul. It's just that his demonic aura and rotating segments have an extensive area they affect."
Scytale nodded. "Then you're probably overthinking things. The way I see it, using these weapons would've always resulted in you turning into a massive area-of-effect damage dealer," he stated. "These swords are essentially made to be endlessly expanding and enlarging weapons, as long as you have the mana and spiritual energy. Apophis even absorbs energy. Just use Ouroboros if you're worried about his demonic aura."
Lucy paused and then unsheathed Ouroboros. "Ah, yes. We need to check Ouroboros's Rebirth from Death skill."
Scytale blinked. "Huh? Why?"
"To see if she's collected any skill shards and stats."
Ugh. I really need to continue working on reformatting these chapters. I'll get around to it eventually. But yes! levels! Fighting!
Patreon (up to x8 5k chapters!):
Discord (Come get your Qualified Scytale Feeder role!):
Honorary mention of my first Plebeian: Purplexa
[Title: Nobility | Type: Discord/Role]
Zilch. Nadda.
[Title: Rank-5 | Type: Discord/Role]
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[Title: Demon Nobility | Discord/Role]
None! Maybe when I finish this tier someone will join
So, there's kinda a problem with the HP values I'm seeing here.
So far, the assumption I've had, and that seems to be implied with the story so far, is that statistical values and 'direct' power in the System run along something like a logarithmic curve wherein everything can increase sharply up to a point that it plateaus until you change scales (by getting to a new rank of levels, upgrading Class rarity, upgrading Class, upgrading weapons, Origin Skill shenanigans, misc combo skills/spells, etc.)
But basically the point is that for non-cheatsy characters the statistical difference of even a few levels should be insurmountable (y'know, barring specialization like Casters blowing melee fighters apart from range with impunity, and those same casters getting beaten black and blue by a big barb with a bigger stick up close), leaving the real difference up to the quality of their relevant stuff, and their actual skill (not Skill, though that helps) in combat. Which is why fighting monsters is even possible considering that they are also supposed to be more powerful in basically everyway even with the same stat/level value.
Despite the boss being more then ten times its level, in a completely different Rank, a Boss monster, and also an aberrant 'stronger' boss.
The only reasonable explanation I could see is that HP =\= EHP (effective health points), and that as levels/stats go up, armor/barriers/damage mitigation becomes exponentially more powerful. Such that the EHP of the Symbiont is closer to 3-4 magnitudes higher then the ant, and Conlan's party would be doing 5-6 digits worth of damage to anything in Rank 0 if they attacked it.
But, while that would work...I REALLY recommend not doing that. Because it's another complication in an already complex system (not that EHP and mitigation shouldn't be a thing, they just probably shouldn't be so extreme and important when there's already so much focus in the system on Rarity and the complicated path of advancing Classes/Skills.)
Instead, what would be better is if the Ants were NOT weak monsters in R0, but preferably abnormally durable ones, preferably also in the double digits of levels. Ones that normally Lucy's absurdly powerful weapons could one shot anyway (because an Epic weapon from R4+ should honestly insta-kill anything normal on R0-1 even with baby non-fighter stats and no Skill support, that's how big the difference between Ranks has been emphasized to be), but they just don't because of the unexpected lack of boost.
Then have her kill fewer for more experience (maybe even with an experience cap to emphasize how grindy the System is for normal people, and/or have it be an in-built limiter to just boosting people with over-powered gear and 'busing). Definitely scrap that bit about going to a 'lower level area', because it's absurd to think that a level 1-10 noob with maybe 2 digits worth of damage and what should be a couple hundred health could possibly fight even one Ant that has 1500 health and 50+ damage. Much less a swarm of them.
One problem that comes with anything like The System is that it seems to fundamentally be an addition to reality rather than a full replacement.
What do I mean by that? Take the HP issue mentioned above. HP is an arbitrary reflection of someone or something's health. Yet if we take it at face value, then healers and doctors should be a rarity, since a basic health potion takes the place of aspirin and can fix broken bones, concussions, and major burns.
"Mana" gets thrown on top of everything, but where the system ends and physics begins is something that's always fuzzy in a setting like this.
Doubly so in that Monsters are explicitly created / not destroyed as a means of progression for individuals. Which is sort of weird in and of itself to match the supposed goals of the system.
@Nalanaya When it comes to complexity, the System has hidden attributes and is a black box. I have a suspicion that it's less "read the manual" and more "take this physics course, but for the system".
