The Alliance Headquarters
Year 2851 | Month 3 | Day 21
“He has been slaughtering my forces for weeks now! Are you not going to do anything to deal with this problem?!” the acting ruler of Hardlight shouts across the large round table – one far too large for the two people in the room – at the current king of the Collective Kingdoms.
“Both your nation and our own have already decided to leave the Undying Magician be,” the King of the Collective Kingdoms states with a cold look on his face.
The acting ruler of Hardlight glares at the King of the Collective Kingdom and slams his fists on the table as he shouts, “You just don’t want to draw his attention to the Collective Kingdoms! What sort of alliance is this that you can-”
“An alliance of necessity,” the King of the Collective Kingdoms says, cutting off Hardlight’s own ruler. Then he says, “Without the aid of a Class S magician, we won’t be able to hold the Undying Magician. We’ve learned that much from his time in the White Kingdom’s captivity. And we have also learned what happens to those who kidnap him.” He shakes his head with a frown and looks at the screen that appears above the large table showing the Undying Magician’s current actions on the battlefield. “The only ones who could hope to capture him and keep him from the Dead King and Fire Overlord are our own enemies.”
Silence fills the chamber as the two stare at the screen for several seconds.
Eventually the silence is broken when the King of the Collective Kingdoms states, “So we wait until the plan is complete. Then we try to draw the Undying Magician over to our side. Or keep him out of the conflict entirely.”
The Ruler of Hardlight grits his teeth as a wave of fury envelopes him. Because he knows full well that the Collective Kingdoms is just sacrificing Hardlight as a decoy while their plan goes through to kill the doctor and the Chairman.
Silence once again fills the chamber before the Ruler of Hardlight calls a pause on the meeting and both leaders move to other rooms. At which point the Ruler of Hardlight makes a quick call to the Class S magician of Hardlight to inform her of the news.
And to his complete lack of surprise, he gets the answer he was both expecting and hoping for. Then he proceeds to go back into the meeting chamber and once again meets with the King of the Collective Kingdom.
But this time he goes in with over a dozen soldiers, making the king narrow his eyes. Both with understanding and irritation.
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Almost like he knows exactly what the Ruler of Hardlight is planning on doing.
And the Ruler of Hardlight is pretty sure he probably does know. It’s not hard to figure out considering who the Class S magician of Hardlight is.
So without any hesitation, the Ruler of Hardlight declares, “Hardlight will officially be leaving the Alliance starting now.” Then he nods his head once in respect for his former ally and leaves the chamber, along with the fully crumbled alliance behind.
An alliance that no longer has anyone in it other than the Collective Kingdoms. Marking the complete and utter end of the alliance as a whole.
And it doesn’t take long before the Ruler of Hardlight makes a call to the Dead King personally.
When the call picks up, the Ruler of Hardlight immediately declares, “Hardlight officially requests of the Kingdom of the Fallen to accept Hardlight as an annexed state of the Kingdom of the Fallen with independent ruling rights.”
“Very well,” the Dead King answers immediately without any hesitation or emotion in his voice. “Contact my son about the details.”
Then he hands up the call without another word, making the Ruler of Hardlight let out a sigh of relief.
The reason the Ruler of Hardlight decided to submit to the Kingdom of the Fallen is a simple one.
Their Class S magician requested it.
There’s no more reason than that.
Katherine Nash cares about nothing more than her own nation’s safety and influence. But with the way the war has been going recently, Hardlight would eventually end up destroyed and under someone else’s control anyways. So submitting to a force that isn’t the one who betrayed them and also isn’t the one they were previously attacking is the only way for them to survive.
And doing it this way grants them individual ruling rights even if they are under the Kingdom of the Fallen’s control in the end.
On top of all of that, the Kingdom of the Fallen is the only power with an alliance still remaining, and they’re led by the Dead King and Fire Overlord. With an immortal magician sculking the battlefields.
The Ruler of Hardlight, Arnold Hardlight, frowns as he walks through the halls of the alliance headquarters with his soldiers all around him to protect him from any possible retaliation by the Collective Kingdoms. But no retaliation ever comes even as he leaves the building and enters his own battleship on the shore outside of it.
After giving out numerous commands while making his way to the bridge of the ship – specifically ones to end hostilities with the Kingdom of the Fallen – Arnold finally stops, takes a deep breath, and begins to look for the Undying Magician’s contact details. Only to find nothing but contact details for his organization.
The Undying Caverns.
Arnold takes a deep breath before glancing at a notification on his terminal telling him that Katherine is finally ending her assault on the anti-magic magician and returning back to the base. Having at least succeeded in freezing his arm and destroying it. Completely killing off the cells near it and in his body’s own blueprint to make it impossible to heal.
She would have done a bit more, but the battle was too dangerous, and her priority is to protect her own nation. Not to kill the Chairman.
So after feeling a little relieved to know that Katherine is returning, Arnold finally focuses on calling the Undying Caverns.