"Vera!" As Vera was marveling over the sheer power that the airship was capable of dishing out, Mordred burst through the entrance to the dimension and called out her name. HIs voice reached up high in the sky, carried by mana.
The young boy quickly jumped up, taking control of the ambient mana in the air to form a lift made of wind. Before he could get too high, though, he passed through an invisible barrier that was projected by the ship.
Whoosh!
"Ah!" Mordred's mana immediately lost control and he fell out of the range of the barrier before regaining his control and catching himself. "Ah, damn. I forgot about that."
The reason why he had lost control of the ambient mana that made up his floatation spell was because the airship projected a constant anti-magic barrier against all things that were not on the ship itself. While this barrier could be overpowered, it could handle anything up to High B rank with no stress. Even Peak B rank mages would find it incredibly difficult to maintain the cohesion of their spells within this barrier.
"Mordred? What is it?" Vera's head peeked over the side of the airship.
"It's a reply from the message you sent to the Central Continent! His Excellency Leon has replied!" Mordred replied quickly.
"Come up!" Vera replied and turned to Mirabel. A few moments later, Mordred felt the mana around him change slightly and he ascended, landing on the airship's deck a few moments later. He handed the letter over to Vera who quickly opened it and read.
As Leon did not use the same type of magic she had used to compose her message, there was no magical projection. She read word for word of the message he had written down.
"He... He accepted! He is on his way here!" After reading through the letter, Vera felt her heart soar! Such a powerful individual was coming to Rivera to hear her out. If she could convince Leon to support their cause, then perhaps they would be able to achieve their goals with much less loss than what was estimated!
"That's wonderful!" Mirabel and the others that were in the know gasped in unison.
"It is! I want us to focus our efforts on churning out as many airships as possible in the next month! I will send a letter to him and confirm when he will be here. By the time he gets here, I want us to have as little as five airships!" Vera instructed and Mirabel's eyebrows pulled into a frown.
"Five airships? Even if we work all day and night, getting two airships done in a single month will be cutting it close. Five is impossible!"
"Don't worry. I plan to pull out the big guns." Vera smirked.
.
.
In the majestic castle that belonged to the Emperor of the Elven Empire, Emperor Alvar Henisie was seated on a grand chair behind a table. His eyebrows were pulled together in a frown as he noted the intelligence reports that had been coming in from his informants on the Central Continent.
"The Undead, Leon Cromwell, is moving through the continent with a flying city? What is his goal?" Alvar rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
He put aside the report and skimmed through a few more. These ones came from the Demon Continent. The threads of the Elven Empire's intelligence network was all reaching. Not even a place like the Demon Continent could hide from it.
"The Demon King has been silent ever since they lost the wars. Infighting has gone up. The Undead Peak is particularly rowdy as the Undead Kings are vanishing one by one..." Alvar hummed again. While he could not find out the exact things that happened in the bedroom of the Demon King, it was enough to know what happened everywhere else. He even had a few spies in the Demon King's palace, but they could not give him anything too solid.
"Dyson." Alvar called out. There was no one in the large study with him, but when he spoke, the air seemed to ripple and a humanoid form appeared. From within the rippling air, an aged looking Elf stepped out. He had a noble and snobbish air to himself and held himself high. But in front of Alvar, he was submissive and bowed his head.
"Emperor, what do you wish me to do?" Dyson asked without raising his head.
"What is the progress on tracking down the rebels? Any clues?" Alvar asked as he picked up another report.
"We have yet to zero down on their locations. Any bases we have found were either just decoys, or had been cleaned out and abandoned before we could send our forces to strike them." Dyson replied.
"I see... When next you have a lead, go yourself. Get them and squeeze out all the information you can. We need to put a stop to this nonsense." Alvar growled. He dropped the report in his hand and looked up, staring right at Dyson until the other Elf raised his head.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Dyson went down on one knee.
"You are dismissed." Alvar waved his hand and Dyson vanished.
The interaction between the two men was short and precise. The reason why Alvar could so easily boss a Peak A rank was not just because of the fact that he was his emperor. It was not just because of pure loyalty.
No. It was much more.
Alvar himself was a Peak A rank, and one that could hand Dyson's ass to him any day. After all, he did not reach the threshold that separated a Demigod from a God. He had gained insight into Divinity long ago and was just a single step away from comprehending it. He was by far the most powerful being in the world, aside from the Demon King. In fact, when compared with the Demon King, he had a certain confidence that he might win. The only thing he had to account for was the great amount of variables that could come from the Demon King's long accumulation.
The powerful Elven Emperor stood from his seat and turned to walk to the window behind him that stretched from floor to ceiling. The light of the setting sun streamed into the room, giving everything a golden glow.
"Vera is still out. That girl can't get her nose out of the streets. Those poor children don't need her." The man shook his head. He believed that Vera was out, roaming the continent to help those who were living substandard lives. He had not questioned her and only asked for his intelligence network to give him periodic updates.
So far, everything he got back, all the reports and messages, were okay. She was fine, and many towns and villages had already benefitted from her presence.
"I will let her learn. She can try to help them by fingering through the grassroots, but when she ascends this throne and becomes Empress, she will understand it all. She will know that no matter how much she cares, she cannot satisfy the wants of all the people."
He turned to the side and walked up to a large portrait hung up on the wall.
"My Empress, is that not right? You tried, but it was all for naught. Now, look where you are." He shook his head slightly and turned back to take his seat.
Just as he sat down, a black shadow in the corner moved and his sharp green eyes darted over.
"Garessa. It is quite unusual for you to drop by unannounced." Alvar said as the shadow stretched up and into the sunlight, forming a dark figure.
"That is because there is usually no need to seek you out. But lately, a need has arisen." Garessa, the robed servant of the Chaos God that Garr served spoke up, her voice monotonous, yet chilling.
"You are right. What is it that you need now?" Alvar sighed.
"I need to borrow a few Peak A ranks from you. I have a little shadow to hunt." Garessa said, a set of sharp red teeth appearing in the dark depths of her hood.
"Oho? Tell me more." Alvar leaned forward, putting the reports he was sorting through only moments ago behind him. He was interested in anything that could make Garessa mobilize. She was someone who stood on the same level as himself, after all.
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