Chapter 98: One Minute to Midnight_Trapped in Another World With No Magic

Chapter 98: One Minute to Midnight

 Sundenelle stares at the bust of one of her ancestors, Emperor Huyurest kos Lindenmorg the Second. He’s considered one of the more effective emperors in history, having brought several kingdoms back from the brink of civil war and overcame a drought and the resultant famine.

 For the moment, though, she’s using the bust as a stand in. She was just practicing how to talk to a potential suitor face to face; particrly, a suitor that she is strongly considering as an option. It’s veryte at night, shortly before the next day officially begins at clockset. She couldn’t sleep with everything that’s happened and a youthful anxiousness filling her heart.

 “Lord Daniel… No, Emperor Daniel… You have a strong, but simple name. Easy to pronounce. But, I must make an argument to continue the name of Lindenmorg, as my ancestors have a long lineage of noble history. And, with your name being unheard of,... No, that’s rude… With your family name being fairly new… here on Zenkon…”

 Byleathea, who is seated on a lounge sofa with her legs crossed, watches quietly, simply yawning from thete hour as she keeps her daughterpany. She’s the only other one in the room, as usual, and she’s unsure what advice to give. She was a mistress to the former Emperor, and she was fairly reserved and shy. She also didn’t hold the bnce of a war and the entire continent in her hands. She also doesn’t possess a name with a long and storied legacy.

 “May I ask, dear Sundenelle, what the goal of your reply is? I was under the impression that you are trying to rein in this otherworlder and return him to imperial control.”

 “I… He caught me off-guard, Mother. I admit it. But,... it’s not the most… Is it unwise? If he’s my husband, he has to listen to me, right? I mean, at least a little… A-And, he’d have at least some vested interest in protecting the Empire. It’s better than conquering through battle…”

 “But, it’s still a conquest. And, you would apparently be simply a mistress in a ratherrge and obvious harem.”

 “Would you prefer I marry the Grand Prince, Mother?” Sundenelle looks to her mother, who takes a breath and sighs.

 “That disy was rather unbing of him… But, the nobility would rather see that than you married to the enemy.”

 “Even if it means avoiding war?”

 “If it means their positions as nobility be precarious, absolutely. You have your position to think of. An Empress shouldn’t be lowered to mere mistress.”

 Sundenelle takes a seat on the same lounge sofa, and her mother pets her back. The young Empress remarks softly, “I don’t personally care about the title. I only wanted to protect the Empire. I’m terrified that… if we do the wrong things, Daniel’s weapons will be turned on us and many people will die. He’s ruling over demon-kin. Even if he cares about his wives, surely he doesn’t care about his soldiers as much.”

 “I will always be your mother, my darling Empress. I understand that you are weighing options I can’t fully empathize with. Whatever you choose, I will stand beside you as your mother and yourdy in waiting. Even if you… choose to demote yourself to mistress.”

 Sundenelle smirks. She faces the bust again -her makeshift ‘Daniel’-, and she clears her throat. “Ahem. Daniel, lord of the Citadel and Emperor of the Fievegal, I, Empress Sundenelle kos Lindenmorg do proudly dere… no… humbly ept? No… That’s not right. Mmm… This is hard!”

 Byleathea, watching with ackadaisical amusement, simply smirks. She remarks softly, “If you’d like to know; your Father, his Imperial Majesty, proposed marriage to three potential wives before the former Empress. He simply dered, ‘You are a beautiful woman with a great personality. Much better than these daughters of dukes and marquesses I’m constantly surrounded by. What do you say we run away together?’” She scoffs. “He said the same words to me. In secret, of course.”

 Sundenellle chuckles. “Really?”

 “Of course. Your father was a charmer. I truly did love him. And, I’m proud of what came of our rtionship. In truth, I’m often thankful I was never Empress. She had more authority than I did, but I had the Emperor’s love, his most precious daughter, and a rtively care-free life. I merely resided out of sight of the noble court, and I raised the next Empress.”

 Sundenelle perks up. “I see, I see.” Sundenelle cups her chin as she thinks on her mother’s words. “So, if I have Daniel’s child, and raise him or her to be a legitimate heir… Yes…” She faces the bust again. “My dearest Emperor Daniel, my beloved… Yes, I have decided. I shall join hands with you to create a legacy stronger and more resilient than any before us. The Empire and the Fievegal shall stand together for a thousand lifetimes. So, make me your Em-... No, Please, take care of me, and I shall take care of your legacy.”

 Byleathea remarks softly, “Seems you have made your choice, your Grace.”

 “Yes. What do you think, Mother. Should my reply include the fact that I ept, or should I request another audience? But… if I’m going to be his wife,... should I go to him? He said he would be at Fort Twilight for a time to await our response… my response. Should I inform him that I’d like an audience and meet at the Citadel? It would be a chance to see the Citadel for myself…” Sundenelle paces as she thinks, biting her knuckle to help her deep deliberations.

 “Alright. I’ll ept the marriage proposal. In the worst case scenario, we can try to pull a Queen’s Slip.”

 “Hah! Ask me how many sessful Queen’s Slips I’ve seen in my life.”

 Sundenelle looks at her mother, who has an amused smirk. “Or rather, ask me how many failures I have witnessed in my time, my beloved Empress.”

 Sundenelle scoffs. She knows that, even for a queen assassinating her own husband, she is likely to be one of the first, if not the first, suspects in the investigation. Additionally, there is always a risk that the targeted king will survive, thanks to healers’ magic and the all-too-rare revival potions smuggled out of the demon wilnds. No fewer than four assassination attempts on either Sundenelle’s father or vassal kings have urred just in Sundenelle’s lifetime, let alone Byleathea''s. And, of the four, one was definitely attempted by the king''s legal wife, which he survived by luck and timing of a passing cleric versed in a broad range Of counter-poison spells.

 Sundenelle finally answers, “I know the answer is one, Mother. And, I know the point is that it’s wishful thinking shared amongst royal wives since the dawn of time. Specifically those whose husbands are cruel or stupid. I don’t expect to need to assassinate Daniel, but if anyone can…”

 “Remember, dearest Sundenelle,” starts the headdy in waiting. “A man''s behavior in public does not reveal his behavior in private.”

 “That’s true of everyone. How many people see me like this? I''m having a fanciful conversation with a statue.”

 Byleathea chuckles. “True.” She stands up and approaches Sundenelle, standing behind her to hug her daughter over thetter''s shoulders, studying “Daniel” as well. “How I wish your father was here, Sundenelle. He was an excellent judge of character.”

 “Is that so?” asks Sundenelle yfully.

 “The former Empress was a calcted decision. That he named you the inheritor of the crown instead of your half-brothers is proof of his insight.”

 Sundenelle nods. She was teasing, but she understands everything her mother is trying to make a point of; Sundenelle can’t predict every contingency, and Daniel is an unknown human with behaviorpletely abnormal to Zenkon.

 “How are they, by the way?” asks Byleathea.

 The young empress sighs briefly. “Same. They constantly demand to be set free, with exception of Themihk. He tries to y the ‘adoring younger brother’, and we have fun together ying board games. He asks about you, a lot.”

 “I see…” remarks Byleathea.

 “I’ll give you permission to visit him, if you’d like, Mother. I’m sure he’ll be happy to see you.”

 Byleathea sighs softly. “I betrayed his trust. It’s probably best if I don’t.”

 Sundenelle frowns sympathetically. She replies softly, “He has forgiven you, Mother. I know he knows you did what you had to for the Empire.”

 “Perhaps. But, I always did my best to treat him kindly. I don’t know that my heart could take it if he pleads for freedom and mercy for his family.”

 “You’re his family, Mother. Even if not by blood, you helped raise him. And, I’m d for it. If I had a better way to handle his mother and brothers, I would free him myself. But… I can’t risk it. Not yet.” She smiles, looking directly at the statue again. “If my husband, however, were to supercede my authority, then I suppose the issue of session would be moot.”

 Byleathea scoffs. “That’s one way to look at it, I suppose…”

 Sundenelle puts her hand on her mother’s forearm, saying gently, “Mother… I’ll convince Daniel to be my loving husband, and to treat my half-siblings and their mother with respect.”

 Byleathea nods in agreement. “I know you will.” She kisses Sundenelle’s cheek. “I love you, my illustrious imperial daughter.”

 Sundenelle scoffs. “I love you too, my wise and ever-present Mother.”

 ***

 Choul reads the report as he paces anxiously in a circle. It’s early morning, and the sun is only barely starting to rise. Apparently, Daniel ‘epted the proposal for marriage from Sundenelle’, which is just a simple but clever way to throw her off. Choul wanted to participate, in case there were any more surprise attacks. However, the audience apparently went rather smoothly, and they left with both the Empress and someone in the position of ‘Grand Prince’ rattled by the spectacle, as well as unrest amidst the nobles.

 Now, the extravagant ‘Royal Shuttle’ the stand-in golems rode in has returned to Fort Twilight to make the illusion of Daniel and his inner circle taking a brief furlough at the fortress to await a reply from Sundenelle.

 As such, Choul is doing his best to leave the golems alone. They may appear to be Daniel and his Empresses, but the more they interact with those familiar with them, the easier it will be to see that they are mere imitations, currently on autopilot. They’re good enough to fool strangers for a time, but if Choul identally asks a question the golems don’t know how to answer, he’ll have given away the ruse.

 Choul epts that Fort Twilight has been baited, and they are waiting to see what happens next. Ideally, Choul alone can defend the fortress without casualties, but because he can’t cause harm directly, he is unable to adequately protect the entire fortress from all damage.

 He’ll have to do the best with what he has. A third tank arrived, thanks to the manufacturing teams, as well as a handful more new recruits. It’s not much in the grand scheme of things, but the fortress has been reinforced, allowing Choul to send half of the golem forces back to the Citadel to conserve the Citadel’s mana reserves.

 Daniel has been trying to be more conservative with the mana expenditures of his strategies, and technologies to offset the difference are only just bing operational. The generators can convert mechanical power into electricity, and then electricity into mana, which is then absorbed into the Citadel’s mana-reserves. It’s inefficientpared to mana donations, which is less efficient than deaths urring within the Citadel.

 Of course, Daniel forbids deaths in the Citadel with extremely limited exceptions, making mana donations and the generators the priority. They’re better than nothing, but it’s taking time to overtake the mana expenditure many of the things they could do tend to expend, such as deploying golems remotely.

 Choul observes the golems from a distance. ‘Daniel’ is speaking with the dattakorien and ogremanders, while the ‘Empresses’ follow him like loyal and humble wives…

 …Almost exactly the opposite of how the four Empresses would behave in rtive privacy with Daniel. The grey dragon has no objections to the behavior of the Empresses. The dragon empresses, specifically, are treasures to the dragon race, and they have chosen their emperor.

 Likewise, Hekate is very likely thest of her race. As rulers of the Fievegal, the rising power in the west, they have the choice to choose their primary partner. They have chosen Daniel as their emperor, as has Choul.

 One of the dattakorien soldiers, Nourta, approaches Choul. “Sir General! I have a report.”

 “Go ahead, lieutenant.”

 “Thank you, sir! Reconnaissance teams have reported movement on the eastern front. Apparent Imperial Ally troops are encroaching on Fort Twilight’s controlled zone. We estimate ten thousand troops, and a mobile weapon of unknown design.”

 “Unknown design?” repeats the dragon general.

 Nourta nods. “Yes sir! Going by his Grace, Emperor Daniel’s designs, it is some kind of artillery weapon, but not a cannon of any kind, from what our scouts can tell.”

 “Can we get anyone close enough to destroy it?”

 “The scouts have been doing what they can, but the troops surrounding the weapon are highly alert and have repelled all infiltration attempts. If I may rmend, we may wish to evacuate Fort Twilight, Sir General. Without knowing the capabilities of this weapon, we are at risk of losing many forces for a fortress we don’t actually need.”

 Choul scoffs. “You are correct, logically speaking. Do you think it’sparable to Daniel’s rumored god-killers? Daniel and a king from the Kingdom of Mornistae bothe from a different world.”

 “I can not say, Sir General. I have not, myself, witnessed the power of such weapons, though I’ve heard rumors that the global mana weariness that swept across the world was a result.”

 Choul nods as he thinks. “Yes, I believe I have heard that as well.”

 Choul looks at the soldiers he has working around him. It’s not an overly-abundant amount of soldiers yet. They number around four thousand, now, with 50,000 golems on standby.

 “Begin evacuations. We don’t have to clear out everything, just make sure all of Daniel’s weapons and the radio are taken.”

 “Of course, General. I’ll begin right away.”

 “Thank you. Oh, and please report to the Emperor here. I’ll be observing the east front to intercept any attacks if I can.”

 “As you wish, General.” Just as the lieutenant is jogging a few steps away, his whole body shivers intensely.

 Choul knows exactly why. Dattakoriens are considered demon-kin, but they are closer to humans than to demons as far as most things go, including magical prowess. As such, it is a rare talent for a dattakorien to be able to detect mana or magic with any remarkable uracy.

 But, the sensation that just rippled across the lieutenant also smacked Choul’s senses like a stick across his back; sudden, jarring, and potent.

 Both of them look to the east. It’s not technically visible, but Choul can see the immense storm of mana swirling like the world’s mana is being drawn to a single point partially obscured by the trees. It’s well beyond archer range, and many riflemen would have trouble hitting a target half as far with reliable uracy.

 Choul can feel the mana rushing towards that point, like the heat of a fire in a strong wind. His skin crawls. It’s an immense amount of mana being drawn into a spell.

 Choul shouts, projecting his voice using wind magic, “Everyone! Evacuate west, now!”

 He begins chanting the most powerful magic interference spell he knows, which he learned from Ryuogriar. She created the spell after the mana depression caused apparently by Daniel’s super-weapon to negate magic for a time.

 As the time goes on, Choul breathes quickly, strengthening his body with as much magic as he can. In his human form, he is still pretty much just as powerful in magic as he would be in his true form, but his physical attacks and movement speed are lower.

 Regardless, he can see the spell itself beginning to grow on the horizon, both because of the concentration of mana glowing like a star emerging, contrasting starkly with the pitch ck orb of concentrated magic thatprises the spell.

 But, there are two of them side by side.

 The grey dragon nces over his shoulder, verifying that the base is being cleared out as the golems march eastward towards the enemy.

 I have no idea what’s going to happen. Daniel killed the Devourer with his weapon. If this is one of those… Please, make your way out as quickly as possible.

 The golems standing in as Daniel and the others have been evacuating as many people as possible with teleportation.

 He snaps his gaze back to the weapon when he detects the next change; the weapon justunched the ck orbs towards Fort Twilight.

 Choul grits his teeth, casting his interference spell.

 No effect.

 The ck orbs, spaced a small distance apart rtive to their own massive size, continue their race towards the fortress without even a single sign of being affected by the interference spell.

 Choul thinks as quickly as he can, trying toe up with something to defend the fortress and the lives still present. The ck orbs pass through the trees effortlessly, annihting the portions of the trees that reach the orbs themselves, as well as pulling air and lighter materials into their own ‘mass’.

 Seeing no other options, Choul makes a difficult decision. He, himself, represents a great deal of the Fievegal’s military might, especially if Daniel were to rx the contract. He is not just a weapon, though. He is a General charged with protecting the Fievegal and its people.

 They won''t survive the weapon. Choul might.

 He quickly transforms back into his true form, roaring a bellow as he kicks into flight. If he can intercept the orbs directly, he might be able to stop them.

 Not one to waste time that he could be trying things, he exhales a powerful breath of fire into the right orb, trying to stop it with the power of his dragon mes. The orbs have passed half the distance.

 Time is running out, and the mes seem to have no effect.

 ***

 Shortly before, Ahok checks the fittings of the void artillery, ensuring nothing hase loose during the journey. They’re getting close to Fort Twilight. The firing range of the artillery is quite far, nearly a mile, especially because they don’t want to be too close when the orbs intersect for the detonation.

 As she walks carefully along the cart carrying the weapon, she overhears the soldiers driving the buckrokhs pulling the cart.

 “... know how this could be a good idea. I’ve heard from one of my cousins who fought at the Citadel that Daniel keeps thepany of goblins.”

 The driver scoffs. “I can’t imagine that’s true. A human and a goblin? Especially a guy pretending to be an Emperor.”

 “Still, you think it’s a good idea that she’s with us? What if she has some… homesickness or something?”

 “Hm? Oh,... The Lady? You know who the other is, right? Count Baumalde. Between a goblin and a human count? Who do you think they’d send?”

 “True. I’m just worried she might be a liability.”

 “She’s three feet tall and spends all day in ab. I doubt she’s a threat.”

 “Yeah, you’re right. I just hope they don’t expect us to go out of our way for a goblin. Makes my skin crawl thinking about it.”

 “Another reason Baumalde wasn’t sent.”

 The two soldiers chuckle together, and Ahok makes her way further back on the cart, staying out of their peripheral line of sight. She takes a seat on the cart, letting their words sink in.

 She knows she’s not looked upon favorably, thanks to her being a half-goblin. She doesn’t know either of her parents, nor which was the goblin and which was the human. Ahok has been looked down on -figuratively and literally- for her entire life, especially once she was captured by the military and turned over to the merchant she stole from, who would go on to be her benefactor and open the gateway to her bing a magic artisan.

 In fact, one of the only people in her entire life to make a concerted effort to speak to her on an equal level was Daniel, when he took a kneel to speak to her. Some adults speak to children in the same way, but it was the first time she wasn’t craning her neck to speak to someone.

 More importantly, she didn’t want to think it, nor would she want to believe it if she did allow herself to think it, but her worst fear has been realized.

 She’s considered expendable by the kingdom of Mornistae, including Rikuto. Even more so, the soldiers aren’t especially intent on protecting Ahok, even though Rikuto convinced her they would prioritize her safety.

 When she sees the tower of Fort Twilight, the soldiers have alreadye to a stop. It sinks in what’s about to happen.

 Supposedly, Daniel is currently residing at Fort Twilight along with his invading force.

 Before she can do anything, the soldiers trained to fire the artillery are already spreading out the stabilizers and cranking the core rods apart. When it’s fully deployed, the weapon looks like a massive mechanical crab, but one thatunches powerful void magic.

 Ahok jogs to themander of the void artillery expeditionary force. “Commander!”

 Commander Kopudael turns and looks, angling his head down when he realizes it’s Ahok. “Lady Ahok. What is it?”

 “A-Are… we casting from here?”

 “That’s the n. ording to the forces that fought at the Citadel, Daniel’s golems employ magic staves that have an attack range of over two hundred yards. To my understanding, the void artillery can cast urately out to a mile.”

 “B-But… We’ve just arrived. Aren’t we going to… I don’t know… Aren’t we supposed to give them a chance to surrender?”

 Kopudael snorts sarcastically. “You can’t be serious.”

 “I-I am. This weapon has the potential to do cataclysmic damage.”

 Several soldiers, including themander, scoff and chuckle. One of the soldiers nearby retorts, “I should hope so.”

 “She knows we’re up against dragons, right?” asks another rhetorically.

 Commander Kopudael chuckles a little longer, before he replies to Ahok. “They’re right, Lady Ahok. The dragons can respond too quickly for us to take warning measures. Our orders were to deploy the weapon as quickly as possible and retreat.”

 “Y-You can’t do that, though! What about… What about innocent workers? O-Or, soldiers that would surrender. I-I surrendered. A-And I designed this weapon.”

 Kopudael shakes his head with a more disgusted scoff. “Listen, no one is surprised that you’re soft, but to take credit for the work of Count Baumalde.”

 The half-goblin recoils in shock and horror at thatst statement. “P-Pardon?”

 “No one discounts your effort assisting his lordship, but is it wise to try to im that you designed it?”

 “Y-Yes! W-What do you mean? I designed it. Count Baumalde was my assistant!”

 The soldiers andmander all look at each other. They shake their heads, not saying anything. Though, it’s clear they don’t believe her.

 Commander Kopudael turns to the artillery casting crew, ordering, “Artillery crew, bring alignment to the tower of the Citadel and begin priming the spell.”

 “Aye, Commander!” The soldiers jump into action, and those on defense form a perimeter, ready to intercept attacks from the scouts and any units that charge them. They stand little chance against a dragon directly, but anything else they should be able to hold off long enough to fire and retreat.

 Suddenly, startling cracks of thunder boom out in rapid session, and the soldiers on defense scramble, some falling quickly.

 “Enemy attack!” screams one of the men at the front, repeated by others as they do their best to hold the enemies at bay. Ahok can’t even see anyone, but the shes of Daniel’s ‘demon wands’ and ‘demon staves’ seem to be the cause.

 Commander Kopudel grips Ahok by the neck, startling her. He snarls, “See why we shouldn’t have even pondered it? They were lying in wait.” He shoves her away, saying loudly, “Make sure the goblin doesn’t do anything foolish. Artillery; cast when ready!”

 “Aye, Commander!” The soldiers are now moving at a feverish pace, and Ahok tries to object, “Wait! But, we can still…” She is dragged backwards by one of the soldiers, and she can hear a stunning crack as something zipped by her faster than she could see, only noticeable thanks to the sound. The soldier shoves her to the ground behind the weapon, taking cover as he tries to make sense of the battle. The aires alive with a devilish hum. Mana is being concentrated at full strength into the orbs now, and the weapon is priming tounch its deadly attack. Mana fuses together into what appear to be variously colored sparks of lightning across the full range of colors; mana being pulled and concentrated violently. It’s the first true firing of the full-size void artillery weapons, since the crystals required to power it have nearly bankrupted Mornistae.

 The artillery thrums with a rattling shake of the carriage it’s on, digging the stabilizers into the dirt. The colossal orbs, each over ten feet across and pitch ck at their cores, race towards Fort Twilight at a slight angle towards each other.

 Ahok briefly feels a dip in her mana, and she recognizes the sensation from that day that mana all across the kingdom seemed to droop for a brief time. Still, the orbs race ahead, undeterred by whatever interference that is.

 Suddenly, a roar drowns out all of the other sound in the area, even from as far away as it is. Though her ears are rather big for her size, Ahok’s hearing isn’t especially sensitive over a human’s. It’s likely the only thing protecting her from the volume of the bestial roar.

 Now having appeared on the horizon where the tower of Fort Twilight is emerging from is the titanic form of a beast no one in any kingdom could mistake; a stone-grey dragon with wings that spread further across than three wagons and a bodyrger than the entire void artillery they built.

 The avian titanunches itself into flight straight for the orbs, and it breathes a powerful blue and violet me that spits off licks of red and orange as the column of fire disappears into the inky void of the magic orbs.

 The dragon then tries to cast a barrier spell while also using its wings to gust hurricane-force winds towards the orbs, trying to disrupt them with anything it can.

 Even Ahok is impressed that the orbs are unfazed by a dragon’s impressive attack power. Dragons canmand all of the four worldly elements, and some can evenmand the divine elements of light and dark magic.

 In this case, the dragon, hovering backwards as it tries to fight the unstoppable orbs of condensed omni-magic, summons an ability that makes Ahok feel cold, and the soldier with her also seems to go pale.

 The sensation is the evil-seeming nature of the smoke-like magic that the dragon exhales, and just using the magic seems to be visibly exhausting the dragon. It narrowly hovers out of the way of the orbs, sinking to the ground as the orbs ignore the smoke-like breath. Where the smoke descends to the tree line, the trees immediately decay away into seeming ash, not burning through mes but simply disintegrating into dust.

 The dragonnds on the ground, breathing heavily as it watches the orbs draw closer and closer to Fort Twilight itself.

 The dragon takes one exhausted look over its shoulder towards the group of soldiers, making eye contact with them. It starts to move towards them, likely for retaliation, but the orbse into contact over the area just east of the main fortress of the militarypound nestled in the mountains.

 A bright sh at the point of tangency where the orbse into contact signifies the ignition of the true spell; a discharge of two packets of magic so concentrated, each can overpower a dragon.

 The test spell with a pair of modified magic staves wielded by a mage each was able to annihte almost every piece of a heavily armored cart roughly the size of a medium dragon, about 60% of the size of the dragon trying to defend Fort Twilight. It also created a perfectly hemispherical crater where the radius of the circle extended below the ground.

 Firing at a target nearly a mile away is barely far enough for the full-sized void artillery. What happens after the tangential sh makes Ahok sick to her stomach, and begins a chain of nightmares she could never imagine.

 ***

AliNovel

Chapter 98: One Minute to Midnight