The reactions of the nobles varied, some immediately flashed to stand in front of their young generation, the pirates were known for killing the rising stars at any given chance after all.
In case you wonder why they assumed the pirates were at fault for the sudden invasion, that is because Blackbeard casually stood up from his seat and flew towards Marcus, followed by the various pirate crews that came alongside Blackbeard.
But that wasn't all, the Stone crab ruler, which was the second ruler invited by the White ancestor snarked, before he as well as his army of magic beasts that temporary took a semi-human form also stood up in unison and joined the group that was floating on the sky.
The mana pressure of Arlion exploded all over the recently revealed enemies that were trespassing the royal castle, Triten also stood up and was surrounded by the royal guards as well as Tideus.
Unfortunately for Arlion, his pressure was countered by the Stone crab ruler who was standing next to Marcus, in terms of battle Arlion would probably win nine out of ten times against a ruler of the Maelstrom Sea, but the Stone crab ruler is a defense type knight, so blocking Arlion is not hard for him.
"What is the meaning of this, I invited you to my home and you brought an army at my doorstep?".
Marcus looked at the White ancestor with disdain as he answered.
"Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Marcus and I'm here to exterminate the "legacy" that was built with the efforts of that man".
While many didn't understand what the hell was Marcus talking about, Daimon did, since he stole the most "profitable" opportunity that was supposed to go to Marcus, to create his mission, the devil ruler system user was given the next opportunity in line, which Daimon had no idea what it was.
Marcus's system was fundamentally different than Adam's, unlike the light idiot, Marcus was supposed to act from the shadows, so it wasn't as easy to obtain information regarding his goals as it was with Marcus, in exchange Marcus received less "assistance", as there was no Maximum Stellar rank on his side, but he compensated with quantity given that Daimon safely assumed he had more than enough high stage Stellars at his side, to equal in number the ones publicly known in the four seas.
'Well, I guess the foundation of the Mermen Sea was indeed built by the "efforts" of the hero, or at least he killed their major obstacles along with Freya's second host, but to think that part of his mission would be destroying the Mermen Sea, what a predictable system', thought Daimon as he reunited with the girls, naturally Aurora was now standing in front of them, while Vincent remained "calmly" sitting on his throne.
"I bet you didn't ever expect this to happen, right, you Mermen Sea scum, that after all these years some of the magic beasts you despised and hunted, would come back to bite you", coldly said the Stone crab ruler as he glared at the other ruler that came along him before adding.
"Chailioudus ruler, what the hell are you waiting for, don't tell me you are willing to sign a treaty with the ones that killed your ancestors?", he said towards the second ruler from the Maelstrom Sea that was invited by the White ancestor, the enemy of Thea's family.
Arlion turned to see the Chailioudus ruler who unlike what expected, didn't immediately revealed to be an enemy, but has been silent as if he was waiting for something, just to see him showing his spiked teeth as he said.
"Oh, don't look at me like that, the strong preying on the weak is the way that true magic beasts follow, dying is normal when you are weak so I didn't come here for a revenge, no… what I want are resources and a way to break through the shackles of this damn prison, so my interests align with a different person".
As soon as he finished speaking, the Chailioudus ruler flashed and was now sitting next to another of the "big" fishes that were present here, one which made Aurora's eyes coldly glow, since it was none other than Abaris.
"So, the Shaman of the Elemental Sea is also betraying my White family?", asked Arlion to Abaris who stood up left to one side accompanied by his subordinates as well as the Chailioudus ruler and his army, not without saying.
"I'm not interested in fighting, as long as certain "conditions" are agreed upon, we can discuss an agreement that will extend the peace that has reigned between our seas until now", he glared at Daimon and Aurora being quite clear what part of his conditions will be.
Arlion was clearly displeased by Abaris's words, he was basically going to be blackmailed by his supposed ally, still he didn't do anything yet, not because he didn't want to, but because there was another movement among the presents which got his attention.
And this one also took Daimon slightly by surprise, the ones separating from the rest, were the people of the Blackfin family, but they weren't led by their clan head the Blackfin Duke, but by all their secondary family branches who managed to snatch away Ezequiel and his secretary.
There was also an interesting ally that was joining them right now, Horrorclaw and the Skelefiends reunited with them, the ruler of the Skelefiends took out a black mirror and then broke it, which caused a few pained screams to come from a few high ranked nobles, among which there was the Blackfin Duke.
"Aghhh!" quite a few of them exploded into mists of blood and crushed meat, quite a bloody scene, but the mess cleaned itself as a portal was formed by their remains, a mantled figure came out of each individual portal, for a total of five.
"What the hell is this!!!", the Blackfin Duke screamed at his subordinated familes, though he now had a hole in his stomach, he didn't die unlike all the others who screamed, he was lucky to be one of the few middle stage Stellar ranks in the Mermen Sea, so he didn't die, but he was gravely wounded.
The tenth mantled figure, which had an irregular shape as one of the sides of his body was clearly much larger than the other one, coldly laughed at the portal from which it came out of, which originated on the Blackfin Duke.
"Oh, nothing much, it's just that it was time for you to pay for that breakthrough potion you got from me so many years ago, but don't be angry it was due to that same potion you are still alive so besides a couple of thousands of years of lifespan you lost nothing", said the mantled figure as it walked towards Ezequiel and the others.
Daimon who was watching everything happening, wasn't surprised by his most recent discovery, those mantled figures were all… Nethereals, nothing new since the right hand in the shadows of the Duke was replaced by one, it was one of the first encounters he had with Nethereals after all.
'Well, that explains why Annete couldn't find the connection between the Duke and Nethereals, he was an idiot who got used due to greed'.
Daimon's train of thought was interrupted when he saw the tenth mantled figure arrive at where Ezequiel and his secretary where kept hostage, to place his hands on their heads.
"Dad, help me!", shouted Ezequiel, as his eyes rolled backwards, unfortunately the Blackfin Duke wasn't sure if he could keep his life let alone help his youngest son, the next second, Ezequiel's complains stopped, the ones who were holding him let him go and he even stretched his body.
"With this, the first part of our deal has been fulfilled "Arcanist", as requested my Lord has given you a blank Nether core, now it's your turn", said the mantled guy.
Ezequiel's hair which was already black, darkened a couple more of tones, his secretary, took a couple more of seconds to return to reality, only then she was let go as well.
"Fucking finally, I was starting to feel suffocated, how are doing?", asked Ezequiel to his "secretary", who closed and opened her hands a couple of times.
"Well, it's better than nothing I guess, still why do I get the body that your suit humped at night all the time?", said the girl with a voice that was completely different than the one she had back at the three-art tournament, but which Daimon and a couple of the girls perfectly recognized.
"Heh, wasn't she the one attracted to me though, besides she needed to have origin for you to use it, if you have a better method I'll hear you out, otherwise don't complain, Karla".
That's right, the voice that the girl who presented herself as Ezequiel's secretary was the same as the one of the monstrous siren, but that was secondary revelation, based on what Ezequiel just said and the burning hatred Daimon felt coming from Freya who was still hibernating as she couldn't stop the process twice, the one speaking was… the hero.
Since Karla wasn't saying anything else, "Ezequiel", nodded and then snapped his fingers before saying.
"Now, back onto business", the moment he spoke, all the members of the secondary branches of the Blackfin family all vomited blood and died, but then they all stood up again, the difference is that their skin changed to a gray tone, also most reached the peak of the Arch rank, as for the ones that were half stage Stellars, they actually became early-stage Stellar ranks on the spot.
The hero and Karla also increased their realms, to middle stage Lord ranks immediately, and their faces "teared up", as their appearances changed, for Karla she now looked like a younger version of the blue haired disguise that the monstrous siren used, as for Ezequiel, his hair grew longer and he became taller as well, not to mention he looked way better than before.
"Mm, not bad, not as good as I used to look, but we'll get to that", said Ezequiel, well, at this point it would be more accurate to call him the hero, whose name, according to Freya was Ereth.
Needless to say, but the Blackfin Duke was about to suffer a mental breakdown, no one helped him since those who used to be allied with the Blackfin family were terrified of the appearances that they now had, not to mention it was easy to see there was something wrong with Ezequiel, and those mantled guys.
"Oh, right I nearly forgot about you", said Ereth, with a snap of his fingers, the Blackfin Duke screamed before blood poured out of his eyes, nose and mouth, he fell frontwards and then got up in a similar state to the others.
"Father!!!", the only one who reacted was the other son of the Blackfin Duke, who was now looking at Ereth with hatred filled eyes.
"Don't look at me like that "brother", you were internally exiled despite your high talent, so he hasn't been your father for quite some time", said Ereth as the "revived" Duke stood next to him.
"Anyway, I don't like to beat around the bush, ancestor of the White, my fight is with the Elemental Sea, if you stay out of my way, I won't attack you, otherwise you'll have the same fate as them, total annihilation… well with a few exceptions", he said as he glared at Jasmine and Sarah.
"Hurry and tell us your standing, my Lord doesn't like to wait", added the mantled guy as the mantle was dissolved by a dark ominous mist, revealing a man with a human-like appearance with the difference that the left side of hide of his body was unproportionally larger than the right one, it pretty much looked bizarre as those generic Nethereals Daimon has see before, but at the same time he felt way stronger probably because the guy kept a human-like appearance at the end of the day.
"Don't intimidate the young generations, Garrius", jokingly said Ereth, just to see the White ancestor laughing out loud before saying.
"To think there were these much rats hiding in my Neptune, including someone that seems to have come from quite some time ago, noble warriors of the Mermen Sea, gather around me!".
The royal guards, the nobles that were loyal to the crown as well as Triten, his wives and the princes all came to the side of their guardian who, some nobles as well as neo nobles remained confused about what was going on, but since they were all low ranked ones, Arlion ignored them.
"Ancestor, do you know them, what is going on?", asked Triten, seeking advice from Arlion, who nodded at him.
"They are remnants of the ones who caused the founding wars at Neptune, and enemies that had come from outside of our native land as well, a while ago when I was the king, I was lucky enough to find about it through a record I obtained when I completed my Sea Emblem", he said as he took out a white medal with blue details.
"Ever since, I have been preparing for this day with the help of the legacy left behind by the founder of our White family", he said as he waved the emblem he had in his hand, a blinding white light shone for a second before the projection of a giant white shark appeared above Arlion.
He then walked towards Terry who was carried by one of the members of the royal guard, and placed his hand on his shoulder, the emblem shone and his burns and other wounds were immediately healed.
"Master, I-I lost", said Terry as he gritted his teeth.
Arlion shook his head in response as he put the emblem which had a chain to work as a necklace, around Terry's neck, before saying.
"Don't despair, you are my most talented descendant, sometimes we have to endure until it is our time to shine, just like I did, it is now your turn, besides don't worry, you'll never lose again…".
Terry nodded, he has seen the necklace his master now handed him, it was the most precious treasure Arlion had, according to himself and he promised to pass it down to him when the right time came.
Terry proudly stood up to face the enemies that were threatening to destroy the kingdom he was going to inherit, but then his expression froze, he slowly looked downwards just to see an arm coming out of his chest.
"M... master", his eyes lost their light in a second as the White ancestor retrieved his hand, not without saying.
"Though you couldn't accomplish a damn thing of the tasks I instilled into you, you still have a high value for me, so don't worry, you'll be the future ruler of Neptune", the next second, the emblem that was hanging from Terry's neck shone, the giant shark became a line of light that entered the body of Arlion and the wound on Terry's chest healed instantly.
"I had forgot what pain felt like after so many years of isolation and meditation, damn mortality, I guess all the efforts did pay, since I have now attained the first half of what I desired, a second youth with a much better starting point, I trust you find the temporary cocoon you wanted up to your liking, ancestor", said Terry who seemed to have returned to normal, with the difference that his previously blue hair gained a white shade.
"It fulfills our agreement, however don't forget our next target, it seems you are quite compatible with that body", said Arlion, or more accurately whoever was now occupying Arlion's body.
"Of course, it is, he inherited my pure and direct lineage since he was my son, it's a shame he lacked wit and mental strength so I couldn't keep his personality aside to give him a new vessel, but whatever, I can have as many offspring as I want in the future", said Terry.
"S-Son?", Triten whose face was as pale as a ghost turned to see Irma, with an expression of disbelief, just to see her smirking.
"Now you care, after nearly a hundred years of wanting to have that bitch, of course I wasn't going to be a second plate for a weakling like you, especially since I wouldn't be here if Lord Arlion wouldn't have saved my life back then", she said as she walked to her "son's" side.
Norma who couldn't keep up with what just happened dragged the twin princes away to not stand in Irma's way, but she shook her head in response.
"Don't worry, I won't be the queen in the future, neither will you be, but you can still be part of the dynasty that will be created, generals will be needed after all and you always were supportive of me", she said.
Irma looked at Triten who was frozen and then nodded as she joined Arlion's side, as for Ryan and Bryan, they weren't close to Terry anyway so his end meant nothing to them, Norma on the other hand glared at the Duchess before she said to Irma.
"My family will support the White like always, but what about those who always "suppressed" us?".
"Well, servants and slaves are always a need to start a new kingdom, empire or dynasty", said Irma as she glared at Annete.
"Ancestor if you would, there are some animals who don't know their place, I suggest we get rid of them first", said Arlion as he gazed at Marcus's group, but also at Daimon.
Arlion's original body nodded and then the whole area rumbled as an immense pressure flooded it, in terms of strength it didn't surpass the Maximum Stellar rank, but its intensity suppressive feeling definitely took the leaders of the other three sides by surprise.
Luckily, they were outside of the castle, so everyone just moved away taking distance from their respective enemies, at the same time the pressures coming from the ones leading each group clashed on the air.
"Boooom!", a thunderous sound echoed through the whole area, the sky darkened and the wind started blowing, it was as if the world was about to end.
"Mm, Vincent why are you at the side of the Elemental Sea, as your king I order you to bring me that brat who dared to insult me, I'll need many strong generals in the future, of course you'll be my second like it has always been", said Arlion, just to see Vincent mockingly laughing at him.
"I only fight for the people, a crazy bastard like you who killed his own offspring for his benefit and chose the easy way isn't fit to be the king… people of Neptune, is this the one you wish to follow!", shouted the old Marshal.
"No!!!", the low ranked nobles, the neo nobles and the army all shouted in unison as they prepared their weapons.
Arlion sighed.
"Oh well, to be honest I was going to turn you into a mindless doll anyway, whatever I'll kill all your allies first…", Arlion's words stopped as he felt a strange sensation all of a sudden.
"Mm?".
"What the hell?".
"It's still not the time!".
Different but equally surprised reactions came from certain people, like Marcus, Ereth and Karla, all at the same time, the reason is that small cracks started appearing on the skies of Neptune, more accurately on the limit that has always been there ever since the natives had use of reason.
'I leave this side to you, watch out the thing on the old bastard's body, Horrorclaw and that mantled Nethereal', Daimon's voice could be heard on the adult's heads, before he also sent a message to the girls.
'Be careful and reunite with the one closest to you, if I'm far don't come for me before you find each other, okay'.
'Mm!', all the girls inwardly nodded and then Daimon looked at the notification that was triggered when Marcus arrived earlier.
[Ding]
[All the raid team leaders had gathered at a sole place, as the one with the highest ranked emblem, the host has the right to start the Global Raid at any given time starting now]
[Do you wish to start Y/N]
Daimon selected yes and then the small cracks on the skies of Neptune, suddenly exploded as pillars of light fell on top of certain specific people, each pillar only covered a single person as Daimon expected.
"No, what gone wrong!", Marcus, Ereth, Arlion, Karla, as well as many others, screamed some weren't selected by those pillars of light but they couldn't do anything to those that were inside of them, to their frustration.
Years of plotting and scheming from the shadows, watching over their shoulders just to trip at the last second, or at least that's what they thought it happened since the Global Raid started before midnight.
"Dammmn!!!", curses were the last thing that could be heard before the pillars disappeared and the cracks on the skies closed, leaving a sepulchral silence behind on the previously focus point of the conflict.
But that didn't last long before Vincent shouted as he flashed towards the White ancestor, out of a better way to call whoever was now using Arlion's body.
"Charge!", and thus the war officially started.
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