Fifteen minutes passed by, and for these elves with long life spans, they can say for sure that these were the longest fifteen minutes of their lives. The Queen had to focus on reinforcing the city's barriers using her power and the Sacred Tree.
Meanwhile, the elders would also take time to transfer their mana to her to alleviate the situation. However, after the fifteen-minute mark, the complexion of everyone was hard to look at.
Fifteen minutes was more than enough time for the Arcane Empire to receive the message and deploy a rescue fleet. Such a conclusion was not without basis.
During the past years of this war, there have been too many messages in the Universe's Web of planets and people who talked about how fast the Arcane Empire came to rescue them after surrendering and asking for aid.
The fastest record was 3 minutes and 23 seconds.
The Arcane Empire has built a marketing campaign about how fast they are to respond to come to their allies' aid. And the oldest recorded time was 11 minutes and 18 seconds.
But now, fifteen minutes had passed, and nothing happened.
"Maybe, something is holding them off," commented King Abion, who wished to remain positive. The elders nodded, but anyone with a keen observation could see the luster in their eyes dimmed greatly.
Another five minutes passed, and the shield was holding on with the great effort of the Queen.
"Something is wrong," said the wisest elder, her old eyes looking at the sky full of the brilliance of intelligence.
"Isn't that obvious?"
"No, I'm talking about this attack. Why can we last so long? I don't mean to underestimate the Queen and the Sacred Tree, but the Undead should have broken through our defenses long ago."
Her words made everyone quiet.
"Now that you mention it, it's odd that Guzznad did not personally take action. With his strength, it would be a miracle if we lasted more than five minutes."
These elders immediately began to analyze this anomaly.
"Could it be that Guzznad only sent a clone to scare us? He only showed up before leaving?" asked one of the elders, his words full of hope. Alas.
"No, I can sense his presence outside of the planet," added the Queen, and the feeling of hope was once again extinguished.
"We are nothing but bait," said the wise elder, her expression extremely calm for such a situation.
"You mean…"
"Yes. Guzznad attacked us to lure the Arcane Empire. His plan was probably to ambush them and deal a severe blow to their force."
The elders had a sudden look of realization.
"This may be good news for us," commented King Arion, who refused to give up.
"What do you mean?"
"We know the Arcane Empire has a great Intelligence Gathering Agency and a Divination Department. Maybe, they learned of Guzznad's plan beforehand and are waiting for the perfect time to counterattack.
"So, maybe, if we wait and survive long enough, they will appear at the last minute to deal a blow to Guzznad."
Such a thing was possible. However, for such a plan to succeed, the Arcane Empire would have to wait until the final moment, when Guzznad believed they would not show up, to appear.
And by then, their people might reach the brink of extermination.
Of course, all this assumption is based on the fact the Empire did not abandon them after the recent events.
"This is our only chance, so we must persevere," said Queen Mirthal, her spirit sublimated to the highest peak.
Forty minutes after she sent the distress signal, the shields remained. However, someone was impatient. A black scythe descended from out of space and landed on the planet.
The scythe's landing spot was one of the cities the Queen protected. However, her shield was nothing to that psyche as it penetrated smoother than a hot knife cut butter.
Then, it released a terrifying black gas that killed every elf in that city. Then, it made them undead of different qualities, tiers, and varieties. The process was fast, leaving no room for reaction or negotiation.
The worst part was this was just the beginning. The black gas released by the Divine Weapon began to expand at an alarming rate. And whenever it encountered a protected city, it would only take a few seconds before breaking them and doing the same.
The process lasted until one place remained: Clemnor.
Queen Mirthal resisted. Her body shrunk until she was almost a mummy, her hair turned all white, and wrinkles appeared all over her face. However, her aura drastically increased, along with her mana.
The shield that was about to be destroyed was reinforced, buying her kind a few more seconds of survival. Then, the king and elders followed the same fate as her, sacrificing their lives to keep powering the protective shield.
Validor–the Sacred Tree–withered in a matter of a few seconds. Suddenly, the elves in Clemnor felt an intense sadness overwhelmed their mind; it was like someone close to them had passed away like their own mother had shed her mortal coil.
So, all the elves in the remaining city began to shed tears, knowing that their Sacred Tree was no more. Furthermore, they also knew their race was on the precipice of being destroyed.
The older elves with Tier 6 flew into the sky, trying to follow the path of their elders. Queen Mirthal wanted to open her mouth and refuse their help. Unfortunately, she knew this was the only way to buy enough time for their race. Furthermore, she was currently too weak to even speak,
After sacrificing themselves, these elves brought more time for their people. Sadly, it was only a few more seconds. So, the young man and woman who reached Tier 6 followed their predecessors.
A chain reaction occurred after the first batch. After the young Tier 6 died, the Tier 5 Elves flew and followed the same fate. They repeated the process until the children were just born.
As a blessed species, all their members were born with mana. However, this young one did not even have enough mana to be classified as Tier 1. They could not fly nor use such a technique as sacrificing their lives.
Queen Mirthal was now the only fighting prowess of this once mighty kingdom that ruled over the Milky Way Galaxy. She glanced at the few hundred remaining of her kind.
If her body could, she would cry tears of blood for a second time. Alas, she was now only hanging by sheer determination and obsession.
Queen Mirthal raised her head to look at the sky, mustering all the remaining strength she had left:
"Arcane…Emperor… If…you…are…watching…this…please help…my people. I…am…willing…to do…anything."
A wind blew from the void, but nothing appeared. So, the lights in her eyes finally dimmed. With her spirit broken, her body could no longer remain. So, Queen Mirthal began to rapidly disintegrate into particles as small as sands.
'I have doomed my people,' thought Queen Mirthal. Then, a look of unwillingness appeared on her face. So, before entering absolute darkness, she cast one last spell.
A white space that seemed infinite:
Edward suddenly appeared in this place.
"Huh? Someone can forcibly summon my spirit?" He looked around while on guard. "Where is this?"
He soon saw someone opposite him and immediately recognized who it was: "Queen Mirthal? You're responsible for this."
"Why? Why did you not save my people?" she asked, almost roaring.
Edward did not answer her but continued analyzing the situation and environment: 'This place is familiar. And the power used to summon, it's not the first time I've experienced.'
His mind worked extremely fast: 'Cronai–that's her power.'
"Answer me," roared the Queen, and Edward finally paid attention to her.
"You were watching our downfall, were you not?"
"I was."
"Then, how can you be so cruel? Why not save my people?" The despair in her voice made the surrounding space tremble.
"Is it because of the way I acted during our meeting? I know I was wrong but is such an act enough to allow an entire race to perish? I thought you were more open-minded than this."
"I am," replied Edward calmly.
"Liar!"
"Then why are my people gone?"
"Technically speaking, they are not?"
"What do you mean?"
"I have acquired the bloodline sample of 80% of your population, so in the future, they will be revived as clones and citizens of the Empire."
"I see," muttered Queen Mirthal. "You decided that it was not worth including our people in the Empire because of our arrogance and already established world views.
"So, you chose to clone us, recreating new elves with blank slates that are more easily brainwashed and incorporated into the Empire."
"Exactly."
Mirhtal did not know how to feel about all this. In some ways, her race did not become extinct. But, they also cannot be called her race since they will now have a different view, culture, and even customs.
"Wasn't there a better solution? One where such extreme methods were used?"
"One where you can live and still be the queen?" asked Edward with a sneer. Mirthal did not answer.
"Even if I was not the queen."
"After our conversation, I already determined your people were incapable of integrating into the Empire. Your culture, custom, and heritage are too ancient and noble, making them ingrained into your soul and blood.
"After joining the Empire, your people would only use our knowledge and resources to thrive and return to the time of your ancestors–the Sun Elves. Then, you would try to either leave and regain your sovereignty or try to overthrow the Empire and return to the top.
"Whatever choice you made, you would have become an unstable factor. And I don't want to deal with all that nonsense."
Mirthal was quiet as he knew the Emperor was correct; if her people were forcibly incorporated into the Empire, there was a high probability they would follow the course he described.
Mirthal exhaled deeply.
"Maybe, this is for the best," she muttered before finally dissipating for good.
"Wait," yelled Edward. "You haven't told me how you summoned me here?"
"Allow me to explain," said another voice.
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